Date : Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:34:09 +0000
From : philpem@... (Philip Pemberton)
Subject: Teletext receiver revisited
Rick Murray wrote:
> Did you mean to reply off-list?
> Let me know, as this seems to have arrived just for me, and I'll repost
> this publically otherwise.
Hm. Nope, I'm sure I hit Reply All...
Ah well...
> I doubt it. Subtitles are p888 (actually p088 but that's an internal
> issue), so they would need to exist within the normal teletext stream.
Ah, but you can have different packets turning up on different lines...
thus, you could (in theory) send the main stream on lines 6-15, shove
some ITS patterns in the middle, then use 22 for the subs. In theory, at
least.
I'll bet my Evil Plan is prohibited by the EBU specifications...
>> In the case of the BBC you then put out an alert that Ceefax is bust
>> and will continue to be so until /X/.
>
> Or say "sod it, Ceefax has closed pending the change to digital...
> digital viewers, press Red now".
Yeah, that'd be the most likely path.
"We said 2012 because we thought the kit would last until the Digital
Switchover. It didn't, so we're going offline early. Ta-ta, folks, it's
been a fun ride. Ta from all your friends at BBC Engineering."
> > In the case of ITV you ignore the problem and hope nobody notices :)
>
> I think that's giving ITV too much credit. You're assuming THEY notice!
Too true!
> I am working just fine with an ancient 60cm Sky mesh dish (from the
> analogue days) and a three-quid LNB from Lidl.
When we got SkyDigi installed, the installer refused to do the install
unless he replaced the dish and cabling as well ("CT100 isn't good
enough for digital satellite, you need CT125" -- he installed cheap
low-grade shitty CT100; the existing cabling was actually WF100). On top
of that, he stole a Pace Apollo receiver and an external decoder on his
way out (can't remember what decoder it was, Nagra maybe?). Thieving
bar-steward.
His excuse was "to get the Sky ?90 install, you have to trade in your
old kit." -- Dad believed him, despite the contract saying nothing about
this. So he calls Sky and has a good go at them, they swore blind it was
nothing to do with them, and
As it turned out, the pillock re-used the rusty old Amstrad
dish-bracket. Couldn't even be arsed to replace the lock bolts. All he
did was fit the Sky dish (badly), do a slapdash job of aligning it, and
make sure the box got a signal. Had to get someone else out a month
later to redo the alignment... another ?45. Once again, Sky denied all
knowledge...
Now nobody touches that thing except ME. Unfortunately the bracket
probably needs replacing now (the bolts are utterly wrecked) and the
dish might not be far behind (rusting, rusting everywhere). Fixed the
alignment with a ?15 Maplin sat-finder, which was fun with seized bolts
on the dish.
If I ever do replace it (which may be quite soon), I'm putting a 60cm up
whether the Crazy Guy Who Thinks He's King Of The Neighbourhood likes it
or not.
> I _love_ my mesh dish. The whole kit'n'caboodle is held in place with
> coat-hanger pieces. And it rode out the gales last week, no probs. It
> took a near hurricane to push it out of position. Oh, and that time a
> flippin' great crow crashed into it (WTF?!?).
HAHA!
I had a bloody magpie make a nest in mine! No eggs or chicks, but that
nest got moved elsewhere PDQ.
> > I wanted to put a bigger dish, a triple LNB mount (Eutelsat and the
> > two Astra constellations) and a DiSEqC switch up, but the neighbourhood
>> pen-pushers and busybodies decided to make a big deal out of it
>
> I believe you can tell them exactly which orifice you can insert the
> LNB...
Noooo, they can have the *old* LNB, and its mounting bracket, but not
the new one. I need that :P
> At least British beaurocrats are like Russian mobsters. French
> beaurocrats are about as fulfilling as talking to tombstones in a
> graveyard.
That sounds suspiciously like Leeds City Council...
Or the Computing Services Helpdesk at Huddersfield Uni...
"Hi, I'd like to report a fault with the wireless network."
"Oh, sorry, fault reports need to be filed through your department's
Computing Helpdesk."
"Um, no. Computer issues in the Comp Sci building are their
responsibility, the Campus WLAN and machines in Central Services are
apparently yours. Basically, they told me to come here."
"Well, they're wrong. You need to get an FR-21/2009a form from them,
fill it out, get a member of IT Support staff to confirm the issue, then
request that they pass it along to us."
"You have a stack of those forms on your desk. Why can't I just have one
of those and fill it out?"
"No, you don't understand. These are FR-21/2009a2 forms. You get one of
these after the Fault Report is acknowledged."
It only gets worse from here.
> And if you know a blonde chick called Elizabeth, graveyards
> are a lot more interesting when she's around... :-)
OK... Nope, don't get the reference.
Cheers,
--
Phil.
philpem@...
http://www.philpem.me.uk/