"Anyone who fails to understand photography will be one of the illiterates of the future." - Lazlo Moholy-Nagy (stated in the 1920's)
Funny how they say the same thing about new pervasive technologies. Like computers now. And with a lot of truth in each case. If you don't understand a pervasive medium, you're well boffed.
I found that quote in an excellent documentary about photography (and its history). (Thanks to Wonko and his friend who DVD-recorded it for me.) Living the UK, I have to pay for BBC even though my TV is only used for DVDs. But I can live with it because the BBC makes a lot of excellent programming which probably would not have happened otherwise.
Living the UK, I have to pay for BBC even though my TV is only used for DVDs.
ReplyDeleteNo you don't. If you never use the TV to receive broadcasts you don't have to pay the licence fee. Having no aerial connection and all the channel tuning set to blank bits of the spectrum should be sufficient to show that.
Personally, I don't have a TV and just watch a few DVDs on my laptop.
A friend of mine bought a combined TV/VCR to play some language learning tapes she'd bought. To make absolutely sure on these rules another friend, then a BBC Outside Broadcast Engineer, removed the tuner module for her and gave her a letter, including his BBC employment details.
ReplyDeleteTalking to other BBC people, it seems that was a lot more than was really needed.
This TV Licensing page is pretty specific that the use is significant:
You need a TV Licence to use any television receiving equipment such as a TV set, set-top boxes, video or DVD recorders, computers or mobile phones to watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown on TV.
This Wikipedia article on UK TV Licensing seems to indicate so, too:
Exclusions not requiring a TV licence are: ... televisions used solely as a video/DVD player
I'm sure I found other sites quicker last time I looked. Still, on page 10 of my Google search I found Statutory Instrument 1991 No. 436 which says:
...namely such apparatus installed or used for the purpose of receiving television programme services....
It was stuff like this which I read before. The second page is particularly detailed.
Note, you do need to have a licence to watch broadcast TV over the internet. There's talking of requiring a TV licence for all broadband connections - something I think is totally outrageous.
Thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteI'll give it a shot.
Citizens Advice Bureau
ReplyDeleteParticularly.
Oops, that "Particularly" should reference the second-to-last section on the CAB page in the first reference.
ReplyDeletePerfect!
ReplyDeleteI think Moholy-Nagy's statement was intended to imply a deeper understanding than mere familiarity, which is pretty much as far as most people went with photography until the digital revolution. Now millions are learning post-production along with camera skills, but cameras themselves are getting almost too complex to really understand. And as for the art of it all... I'd say less than 1% of camera operators 'understand' that.
ReplyDelete