I just want to play consoles, and not watch TV. Do i need to pay for a licence?

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Or is there a type of screen I can buy which doesn't function as a telly station receptor?

Seriously I only ever use my tv for my ps2 and xbox these days.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 January 2007 10:53 (nineteen years ago)

afaik, you have to have a license, even if your tv has no tv reception, no aerial, no digibox, whatever.
ie, if it can be 'detected', you need a license.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Thursday, 18 January 2007 10:56 (nineteen years ago)

life is so unfair :(

― Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 January 2007 10:59 (nineteen years ago)

is there no way of routing console receptions to computer monitors?

― Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 January 2007 10:59 (nineteen years ago)

I don't really know much about that kind of thing, but wasn't that a hobby of GZeus?

― teh_kit (g-kit), Thursday, 18 January 2007 11:31 (nineteen years ago)

i found something called the VGA Universal box 2, but its got crap reviews and is apparently of rubbish quality.

i think i'll just have to bite the bullet and pay the licence fee.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 18 January 2007 11:35 (nineteen years ago)

you can get TV cards for your computer, I assume you can play games with them but I'm not sure

― a.b. (alanbanana), Thursday, 18 January 2007 12:12 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not 100% certain on this, but I think the case is that if you have equipment "capapable of recieving a TV signal" you have to pay a license. So, I've always assumed they would have a hard time trying to prosecute you if you had, say, one of the early LCD tv's that didn't even have a tv tuner of any sort in them, or if you used a PC monitor somehow for your consoles/dvd watching.

That said, I'm sure they have ways of screwing everyone over. unfortunately. I'm much the same, I rarely watch TV and pretty much use my TV for playing games and watching DVDs.

― CraigG (Craig Gilchrist), Thursday, 18 January 2007 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

Some consoles are stock compatible with VGA monitors.
However, sadly not all of them do that in PAL territories. The RGB mode's horizontal refresh is dropped from 31 to 15 and now ...nah.
gamesx.com(the forums are fuckwad retarded. the biggest dick there is the admin) has alot of info. Look at the WIKI(top left). Nothing else gets updated. He spends all his time trolling his own forums.

XRGB FIRST VERSION apparantly is very good at what it does, but the second+ add features that somehow ruin everything.

I'd say get emulators for everything that is emulated properly(16 bit era) and then move one to buying the upscan convertor.
It's legal to download and use software(yes, that includes ALL console games) that you already own. At least in the USA.

What is this 'license' stuff, anyway?
You have to pay to watch broadcast TV??

― Lukewarm Watery G. Tornado, Smackababy with a Grampas Guitars (The GZeus), Thursday, 18 January 2007 13:57 (nineteen years ago)

yea, BBC tax

― roc u like a § (ex machina), Thursday, 18 January 2007 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah. Government TV...
Aren't there like 4 channels without cable?
Does Sattelite TV exist?

Wait...Detected? They can tell if you have TV? Figure out exactly how to un-do that and you're home free.

― Lukewarm Watery G. Tornado, Smackababy with a Grampas Guitars (The GZeus), Thursday, 18 January 2007 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

In the UK, you have to pay a licensing fee (or licencing, when in Rome etc.) to merely own a telly.

― c('Â°c) (Leee), Thursday, 18 January 2007 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

And as far as I know, they send state agents to people's flats and root around until they find a telly. This is what I learned from Fast Eddie.

― c('Â°c) (Leee), Thursday, 18 January 2007 19:27 (nineteen years ago)

how much is the licensing fee

― Blastochrist (blastocyst), Thursday, 18 January 2007 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

they used to have trucks that could tell if you had a telly in operation. sounds like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking

― roc u like a § (ex machina), Thursday, 18 January 2007 19:37 (nineteen years ago)

In the paper, Van Eck reports that in February 1985 a successful test of this concept was carried out with the cooperation of the BBC. Using a van filled with electronic equipment and equipped with a VHF antenna array, they were able to eavesdrop from a "large distance".

― roc u like a § (ex machina), Thursday, 18 January 2007 19:38 (nineteen years ago)

Aren't there like 4 channels without cable?

There are now five channels, as well as some scattered local channels which launched at the start of this decade (like Channel M).

Does Sattelite TV exist?

Yes, in the form of Sky TV, which has been going since early '89.

― Chriddof (Chriddof), Thursday, 18 January 2007 20:12 (nineteen years ago)

Can't you just get an LCD/plasma without a tuner in it? How would that be different to owning a PC monitor?

― webber (webber), Friday, 19 January 2007 00:40 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's likely that they'll have a SCART connector on it.
At that point you=screwed.

― Lukewarm Watery G. Tornado, Smackababy with a Grampas Guitars (The GZeus), Friday, 19 January 2007 01:40 (nineteen years ago)

Just break the ariel off and if they come round you can prove that you're not watching tv.

― Darramouss! (Darramouss), Friday, 19 January 2007 02:51 (nineteen years ago)

Bad reception's probably not a great defense...

Also, it's apprantly insanely easy to make a CRT-Spy device.
You need either an AM or FM radio, black and white TV, and maybe 4 other parts.
You can then watch what's on the CRT screen of anyone within 500 feet.

― Lukewarm Watery G. Tornado, Smackababy with a Grampas Guitars (The GZeus), Friday, 19 January 2007 03:14 (nineteen years ago)

BASTARD: [shoves his way inside the house] Right, where's this telly. Ah-hah! So you do have it! You little runt! [walks over to Vyvyan, who has successfully eaten the TV, save for the cord, which hangs out his mouth. Vyvyan waves to Mr. Bastard] The old trick, eh? Eat the telly before I get a chance to nick you!

― badg (badg), Friday, 19 January 2007 04:57 (nineteen years ago)

dAFSzgrsfxhcgjvhkhvuahahaha!

BUt I still want to make one of those spy visiony things.
Watch someone else's TV on your tv... ok.

I Don't think it would work too well with modern CRT computer monitors.
Refresh rates upwards of 70hz makes things hard to deal with.

― Lukewarm Watery G. Tornado, Smackababy with a Grampas Guitars (The GZeus), Friday, 19 January 2007 05:31 (nineteen years ago)

I always get confused by this: at this point, wouldn't the UK government come off way less annoying if they just folded the BBC fees into your main federal tax? You know, like any other public service? I feel like the "fairness" of only collecting from potential viewers must be overwhelmed by the authoritarian annoyance of being all up in people's homes searching for TVs.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 19 January 2007 06:47 (nineteen years ago)

They also send you rude letters about it three times a week even if you don't have a TV.

― Michael Philip Philip Philip Philip Annoyman (Ferg), Friday, 19 January 2007 11:20 (nineteen years ago)

THey have cameras on street corners.
I think looking at your roof for an antenna is a bit low on the priorities of people who care.

― Lukewarm Watery G. Tornado, Smackababy with a Grampas Guitars (The GZeus), Friday, 19 January 2007 12:39 (nineteen years ago)

There was a TV license advert a while ago which bascially admitted that all the 'detection' stuff was total bull. To paraphrase, it said 'we don't need equipment that can detect your tv, we have a list of every household in the country which doesn't have a tv.' Which of course explains the letters you get when you don't even own a TV, etc.

Also, apparently if it's your first offence they only fine you ~£150, which is only marginally more than the years license. So, if you get away with not having a license for slightly more than a year you're really just breaking even, anything more than that and you're making a profit.

― CraigG (Craig Gilchrist), Friday, 19 January 2007 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

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