I quit watching TV altogether many years ago, and I don't miss it at all, however, back in November I was told that Channel 10 was screening a documentary on the Claremont Serial Killer and I decided to watch it

I found myself greatly missing two things: the ability to speed up the program by 1.25 or 1.5 times (to deal with slow talkers) and a skip/fast forward facility (to move on from bogged-down, repetitive stuff), two features that I have become very used to with YouTube.

This came back to me over Christmas while at dinner at friends' house when they had their TV on. I really cannot watch broadcast TV anymore.

I only watch the cricket, and sometimes the news, and sometimes pokemon.

The ads are enough to drive anyone insane, most of the movies are repeats, and the rest largely useless.

I don't have pay TV, or kayo/netflix etc etc, as I don't think I'd do any better.

My only beef with youtube is since i'm not a member I get a lot of those "this is age restricted - you need to sign in". Forget it google, I'm not giving up personal info for you.

Google thinks it knows me but everything apart from my IP address is bogus.

I reckon I am in good company here. Whenever this subject arises, I always boast about my TV screen dimensions.

3oo cm X 180 cm yep 3 metres X 1.8 metres. It's called a window. One channel only, beautiful bush scenery, subtle changes all year round.

Finally: "I always find television educational-----the moment someone turns it on I go to the library and read a good book." Groucho Marx.

Yes, BBTV we have a similar "big screen" 280 x 150. Picture is up the entrance road to our cul-de-sac about 50m to a main road.
We can sit in comfort reading a book etc and look up every now and then, check the neighbours going out, watch the cavalcade of passing traffic at a safe distance in quietness.
We do have a TV set, the one we bought to watch the Y2000 Olympic games.
Its a NEC with a STB so we can look at the ABC news and Peppa Pig.
Sometimes we turn to one of those other stations and look at Father Brown and repeats of Heartbeat.
Stuck in the past, you bet, what's wrong with that!
Ok we do like the Chase and Tipping point.
As for the other brain-dead tripe, not a chance.
I've been on the fringe of music, TV production, studios for the first half of my life and just know how much manufactured BS those shows are including the 6 o'clock "news".
Otherwise, its music non-stop on AM, courtesy of 2UE in the house and workshop.

Fred.

I watch very little on the telly these days. I refuse to watch anything on the ABC due to its political bias and I haven't watched anything on the broke and woke Channel 10 for more than 25 years now. The only thing I watch on the SBS is the Tour De France. That leaves Channel 7 and 9. I am sick and tired of the political BS in cricket and footy so I don't watch that any more and I don't go to the matches either. When I buy a ticket to watch sport I want to see sport, not a bunch of idiots taking the knee or wearing pride jerseys.

That pretty much leaves Channel 7's news, which is the news I prefer when I do turn on the telly.

For me to watch more telly, all the reality TV shows would have to go and be replaced with good shows like Get Smart and The Bill, and some educational documentaries like what we used to see from Jack Absalom and the Bush Tucker Man.

We have gone from four channels (two in regional areas) when I was a kid to around 60 channels of absolute unwatchable garbage.

Actually netflix is my go to. It actually has good quality viewing.

Hah, I remember the days of just 4 (or 2) channels (I guess we all do). Sydney had 2,7,9,10, Wollongong had 4 and 5A, while Newcastle had 3 and 5A.

Sydney people in high positions had an extra antenna pointed to the country to get those extra channels, while the country viewers had an extra antenna pointed to Sydney. People obviously wanted as many choices as possible. One reason was if the cricket was being played at the SCG (Sydney) it wouldn't be shown on Sydney channels, but it could be seen on the country ones.

Even though my Sydney house is in the south-west, there's a hill directly behind me, so little Wollongong reception, but I was able to pick up the Newcastle channels. Sometimes the 2 5A channels would get into a bit of a fight, but it wasn't too bad. My father was a sports nut, so he'd drive all the way over here from Carlingford so he could watch cricket on the ABC while I was at work.

I experimented with a rotator, and found that by pointing it out a bit south of west, channel 4 reflected off some hill and could be received in colour.

Interesting times. Of course, once Wollongong went to UHF, there was no more reception. And when they all went to digital, long-distance TV was ended.

At Hilltop, there's 2 large arrays - one for Sydney and one for Knight's Hill (Wollongong). These worked both for analogue and then for digital (with a masthead amplifier). But even then, with something like 56 channels (or whatever), there's very little to actually watch.

That's what I love about city people. They come up with all of these wonderful digital transmission stuff having not a clue as to how it will work in the real world. Then introduce it with the usual fanfare, gusto, massive cost, typical of the bureaucracy. Wilfully ignoring the fact that just about every thing they introduce will not work, or if its a train for rural use, the wheels fall off.

It is interesting to note that will all of the DX radio etc. We knew about the hole in the ozone layer in the 1930's and everything that was needed to know in respect of terrestrial radio propagation before the start of WWII.

Most of the Digital anything around here, where its hilly is marginal or a fail & more are likely to die because of it.

I actually said to a new Superintendent of Police to beware of where she drives, as she may find herself with no functional communications.

ABHN was originally on Channel 5. It shifted to 5A to permit more space for FM broadcasting in the Hunter.

When I lived in Concord (Inner West Sydney) as a child we had a rotatable antenna to permit reception from WIN-4 Wollongong when the Third Test was on. Back in those days there was a local media blackout on cricket until all seats at the ground were full and we always wanted to watch the whole Test. Reception was usually pretty good.

The problem with digital anything is not so much the transmission technology but the power output of the transmitters and the frequencies used. Every time there is a new service, there is seldom reuse of existing bandwidth and new services keep climbing the frequency ladder. The higher the frequency, the higher the requirement for line-of-sight.

27MHz AM CB for instance, range could be improved by transmitting close to a large body of water and even better still on an overcast night. A good CB radio then and now has a typical range of around 10km unless the antenna is a really good one or an illegal linear amplifier is added. Back before the Internet, I used to talk to mates I couldn't normally reach by driving the car down to one of the many boat ramps along the Parramatta River and range would increase. That doesn't tend to work with UHF CB radios as they run on 477MHz and transmit/receive on FM.

Actually, I think that Channel 9 had the cricket in the capital cities, while the ABC had it in the country.

After aggregation (all city channels available in the country), then the cricket went to the channel 9-associated channel (WIN around here), so that meant Channel 4 in Wollongong.

As I understand it, WIN-TV is widespread throughout Australia now, but it originally began as a single station, WIN-4 in Wollongong.

Quite correct about WIN. I think it goes to most places now except northern NSW and the NT, unless WIN now owns Imparja TV - I have not done any recent research on consolidation of regional stations. Fortunately, telecast blackouts ended well before network television hit the bush.

Here is an interesting statistic. Channel 7 and WIN TV are the world's largest commercial television networks by signal reach, affiliates included. WIN held the title for a while until 7 bought out its regional partner Prime.

My Bluray box has an excellent PVR. I rarely watch FTA TV live, pretty much always record it, even if it's just the Pause Live TV function.

You can then skip ads and even the ABC's political bias.