Set top Boxes for Pensioners

[sails]

Why not just provide one of these? Cheaper than Cynical's costings. Plug it in, let it auto search for channels:

And here is Bolt's take on it: This Government’s latest disaster explained - before it happens

But here is the best and fairest fix of all - one that seems never to have occurred to this grotesquely incompetent government. If we really must help pensioners switch to digital, why not simply give all of them $50 as compensation, to be spent exactly as they wish?

They don’t want TV? Then spend it on the garden. They can get their children to do the installation for free? Then we’ve all saved something. Already made the switch? Then we haven’t punished the prudent.

 

[pedalofogus]

If we are spending $43 billion on a useless nbn, why don't they use the $400 per pensioner to get them set up with internet tv.

 

[sptrawler]

Get a grip people A digital STB installation that works consistently in 99.5% of weather conditions would include the following.

• HD-STB $65 > $80
• Digital antenna $75 > $100
• 10> meters RG6 Coaxial cable + conduit etc, cable run, fittings etc $40 > $60
• Call out charge + 2 > 3 hours labour $80 > $110
• Possible replacement of antenna mount $30 > $50

Above is a typical metro install on a single story house...Km charges 2/3rd story and multiple outlet charges would apply.

Hope this helps give a little taste of reality to the uninformed.

So_Cynical, If they have a currently working t.v with an aerial it will work with a new hd lcd with built in tuner. Most of the new t.v's have an r.f amplifier built in so they will actually recieve better than the old analogue t.v.
Granted the signal degradation would be lessened with RG6 but I don't think a pensioner would pick it.
I am sure they would prefer an lcd than the analogue with a stb.
What do pensioners like my mother and my mother in law get because they have already bought themselves a new t.v.

 

[Julia]

Pensioners can't wire up their TVs and some may not be very suitable.

$400 would include organising the delivery, installing it, transport, ect.
I estimate that it would cost $150 to install allowing for travel etc. $50 for the set top box and cables $150 for the organising, tendering etc. Total $350.

The govenrment will have to operate a switchboard to work out which pensioners need the set top box, some will have upgraded to a flat screen, some will have a set top box, possibly supplied by family, I know I have for my parents and parents in law.

Maybe it will come in cheaper but $400 isn't far off the mark.

Private industry can do it cheaper. Just send the pensioners $150 each and be done with it. And that would cover travel and delivery. If you can't buy a perfectly decent HD STP for $70 you're not trying.

Or as others have said, a LCD television set with HD tuner built in, for less than $400, no problem.

More taxpayers money blown on (yet another) bureaucracy. Echoes of the health sector.

What about the pensioners who already have a set top box, which might be a surprisingly high number. Old ST boxes coming onto the resale market soon. Watch for them at your monthly village markets.

Knobby, Logique has more than adequately responded to your calculations.
Further, he has raised a potential for social disharmony when we think about those pensioners who have already spent their own money installing either set top box or bought a new TV out of their own hard saved funds, and who will now be missing out on a handout.

If I were one of these pensioners I'd feel pretty damn annoyed that once again those who take responsibility for themselves are being penalised.

Once again GG has his fingers on the pulse, The Fed's will have to run full page ad's in all newspapers including the Birdsville Times calling for quotes to supply STB , They will be imported from China which keep them buying Coal etc, The feds will have to set up an Office in Collins street to monitor the scheme and appoint a STBO ( set top Box officer) some friend of Gillzard, print cards . lease limo's this help the car manufactures , Unemployment goes down , companies will be given funds to establish training for workers to install, because the feds will take the cheapest quote break downs and repairs will go through the roof more employed, The insulation will upset the signal, workers will be electroplated in the ceiling running cables, undertakers employed, pensioners can sell them off for funds for Bingo, pokies, and as they don't know how or what they are for will never us them, they will try to set it to NTSC and not PAL D and plug in the AV cable when they vacuum or drool on the carpet , work for cleaners, their heart will attack them more funerals , flowers etc, as they will spend the rest of their days trying to find the remote and work the STB they will not be getting their daily exercise more funerals, less cars on the road less Carbon, better educated 90 yr old will know the sex lives of nematodes in Madagascar by watching the History Chanel and the luck one with amnesia will see a new show ever day.

Those who took out reverse mortgage will die early so the bank can cash in the house before the market tanks, the kids get to spend the inheritance early on new play stations games etc, balanced budget
To me it has win win written all over it. you tube my space and I'll goggle your yahoo
Now back to work to pay for it all and enjoy the benefits.

Very funny, Glen.

Get a grip people A digital STB installation that works consistently in 99.5% of weather conditions would include the following.

• HD-STB $65 > $80

• 
  Why $80? There are plenty advertised for well under $50/
  
  
  

  [*]Digital antenna $75 > $100

  Radio talkback program today where several antenna techs phoned in saying if the resident was currently able to receive SBS, then they have the dual function antenna and would not need a new antenna to go with their supa dupa government supplied STB.
  
  
  

  [*]10> meters RG6 Coaxial cable + conduit etc, cable run, fittings etc $40 > $60
  [*]Call out charge + 2 > 3 hours labour $80 > $110

  Why on earth would it need up to 3 hours of labour? Don't be silly.
  
  

  Hope this helps give a little taste of reality to the uninformed.

  Don't try to defend the indefensible. It's once again this incompetent government wasting more of our tax dollars.
  
  What would imo be far more reasonable, and far more fair to all pensioners including those who have already paid out for upgrading their reception, would be to give them all say $150 which would be:
  
  (a) half the cost of a new TV/DVD which according to several talkback callers who have bought these have automatic tuning which eliminates the need to pay for someone to 'instal and tune'.
  
  (b) cost of set top box plus any installation costs.
  
  (c) salvage to the political irritation of those pensioners who have already taken the initiative themselves and who should not be penalised for such initiative.
  The government should be encouraging everyone to make their own decisions and take their own initiatives rather than depending on the nanny state to decide everything for them.
  And yes, this includes pensioners who are not necessarily incompetent, senile or stupid.

 

[So_Cynical]

So_Cynical, If they have a currently working t.v with an aerial it will work with a new hd lcd with built in tuner. Most of the new t.v's have an r.f amplifier built in so they will actually receive better than the old analogue t.v.
Granted the signal degradation would be lessened with RG6 but I don't think a pensioner would pick it.
I am sure they would prefer an lcd than the analogue with a stb.
What do pensioners like my mother and my mother in law get because they have already bought themselves a new t.v.

In perhaps 40% of households the Digital signal delivery system (antenna and wiring) would be 97% suitable for a simple box only installation...in the other 60% of households it is not.

I did digital TV and Satellite TV installations (foxtel) in Metro Sydney for about 3 years..about 10 to 15 installs a week.

Why on earth would it need up to 3 hours of labour? Don't be silly.

You have no idea how silly some people can be...customer education can take up to an hour...especially with older women who are very set in there ways and resistant to change or think they know better or have all the answers.

 

[Julia]

Why not just provide one of these? Cheaper than Cynical's costings. Plug it in, let it auto search for channels:

Sails, this is what was referred to by several talkback callers I heard today.
All these pensioners were very happy with them and found the auto search worked perfectly. None of them required an installer so the price of the TV was their total outlay.

 

[sptrawler]

In perhaps 40% of households the Digital signal delivery system (antenna and wiring) would be 97% suitable for a simple box only installation...in the other 60% of households it is not.

I did digital TV and Satellite TV installations (foxtel) in Metro Sydney for about 3 years..about 10 to 15 installs a week.

If a consumer is picking up SBS and all free to air channels with their current antenna and wiring, I am sure it would sufice with a new LCD with inbuilt tuner.

Actualy maybe it will work out o.k , when their analogue t.v s#!!!ts itself and they buy an LCD. The pernsioners can sell the stb at the market. The only problem being there will be thousands for sale. LOL,LOL,LOL

 

[medicowallet]

Get a grip people A digital STB installation that works consistently in 99.5% of weather conditions would include the following.

• HD-STB $65 > $80
• Digital antenna $75 > $100
• 10> meters RG6 Coaxial cable + conduit etc, cable run, fittings etc $40 > $60
• Call out charge + 2 > 3 hours labour $80 > $110
• Possible replacement of antenna mount $30 > $50

Above is a typical metro install on a single story house...Km charges 2/3rd story and multiple outlet charges would apply.

Hope this helps give a little taste of reality to the uninformed.

Of course.

Tell me again why we should be subsidising this when we have had many many years notice of this happening and many many handouts in the interim?

I understand pensioners do it tough, but imo the money would be best invested elsewhere or given to them directly, not to installers who will rort the system.

 

[So_Cynical]

If a consumer is picking up SBS and all free to air channels with their current antenna and wiring, I am sure it would sufice with a new LCD with inbuilt tuner.

Granted the signal degradation would be lessened with RG6 but I don't think a pensioner would pick it.

The big difference between analogue and digital tv is that with a poor or weakish signal analogue picture quality will simply degrade...with digital it simply stops, if the tuner doesn't get enough information to draw the picture it simply stops (frozen pixels result from the tuner redrawing the last image because it hasn't got enough info to draw the next image) the vast majority of the $400 will be spent on delivering a very strong signal to the outlet.

Tell me again why we should be subsidising this when we have had many many years notice of this happening and many many handouts in the interim?

I don't think this should be done and agree that people have had ample notice that this change was coming....however Govts have a responsibility to govern for all people including the idiots that haven't invested in digital TV delivery systems, adequate flood insurance, adequate super savings, smokers and people with poker machine addictions etc etc.

 

[Tightwad]

Digital tv will cause a lot of hassles for some people, instead of what people tolerated as just "poor reception", you'll lose signal completely or it will break up.

For some people a $30 box will be ok, but if you have problems, you may need to upgrade cabling and possibly antenna. Buying a new tv won't solve those reception problems.

 

[Glen48]

Thanks Julia.. Has any one factored in the cost of advertising you will get promoting this scheme?

 

[sptrawler]

The big difference between analogue and digital tv is that with a poor or weakish signal analogue picture quality will simply degrade...with digital it simply stops, if the tuner doesn't get enough information to draw the picture it simply stops (frozen pixels result from the tuner redrawing the last image because it hasn't got enough info to draw the next image) the vast majority of the $400 will be spent on delivering a very strong signal to the outlet.



I don't think this should be done and agree that people have had ample notice that this change was coming....however Govts have a responsibility to govern for all people including the idiots that haven't invested in digital TV delivery systems, adequate flood insurance, adequate super savings, smokers and people with poker machine addictions etc etc.

How many people including your parents, grandparents, disadvantaged friends and children do you know who don't already have an updated t.v or hd set top box.
I am not being funny but over the last 3 years people with standard set top boxes have had to upgrade to H.D to recieve most chanels.
On top of this wasn't the government handouts a couple of years ago about encouraging people to update their t.v's.
It rings of an election gimmick that WILL be rorted.

 

[burglar]

Personally I prefer the Coalitions record on pensioners just let them go hungry..............give them nothing.

The way I heard it, Lil John Howard gave a grand to any pensioner that had a grand in the bank.

He musta figured that any pensioner with a grand in savings wasn't likely to be a labor voter! lol

 

[joea]

The desk top box show is another example of "doing it twice".

When I and many people I know purchased didital, we just plugged them in, and perfect reception.
It may have been because we had more modern antennas. ONCE THE OLD SETS "STUFF UP " they will be replaced by digital.

In the next week we will see the "budget bisected and dissected" by so called economic experts.
The business spectulator already has a heading " Nine hits land a lethal combination".
I.E. NINE BLOWS TO MIDDLE INCOME EARNER.

When the dust settles, just more people will realise that Swan "got his economics degree in a raffle".

However he may have won some temporary votes from the pensioners.

Cheers

 

[DB008]

And all the money for these products will also leave Australia to places like China where these (or the majority of) are manufactured. China must be grinning like a kid in a candy store.

 

[Logique]

The opportunists already have their thinking caps on, and seriously why wouldn't you.

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/..._latest_disaster_explained_before_it_happens/
David replied to Regional
Tue 10 May 11 (01:30pm)
Heres the plan. Take advantage of the Govt’s deal and get new cabling and a new antenna for free. (Just make sure your old antenna is accidently damaged before the set-top box Installer shows up). Then toss out the set-top box and buy a decent new flat screen TV. You’ve saved yourself about $300.

 

[drsmith]

It is, put simply, nanny state gone mad.

$50, at most, for all pensioners is what should have been done.

 

[Julia]

The way I heard it, Lil John Howard gave a grand to any pensioner that had a grand in the bank.

He musta figured that any pensioner with a grand in savings wasn't likely to be a labor voter! lol

Really? When was this? I'd be very surprised at differentiating between pensioners in terms of how much they had in the bank. Perhaps you could provide a link to this?

 

[Knobby22]

I don't agree with it, nanny state at work.
But if they don't do it - the opposition, be it Labor at state level or Nat/Lib at Federal will be going around to some 93 year old lady house who served in WW2 who now can't watch TV in her final years.

60 Minutes will make a special on it.

Tell me it won't happen!!

 

[burglar]

Really? When was this? I'd be very surprised at differentiating between pensioners in terms of how much they had in the bank. Perhaps you could provide a link to this?

I believe this refers:

Savings Bonus

John Howard Lie #27

On a promised savings bonus:

"You get the $1,000 savings bonus if you are 60 years or over."

". . . in addition to the pension increases, there's the saving bonus for everybody at sixty years or beyond of a thousand, an additional two thousand for self-funded retirees at pensioner age." - John Howard, Prime Minister, John Howard, interviews on Radio 5AA, 14 August 1998, and Sunday program, 16 August 1998

The Truth:

"It was very clear that pensioners who had income from savings of up to $20,000 could be eligible for the $1,000 bonus and that from $20,000 to $30,000, depending on their income, the bonus would alter." - Larry Anthony, Minister for Community Services, Parliament, 28 June 2000

". . . Almost 60 per cent of Australians have received the full $1,000 and nearly 75 per cent of those older Australians have received $500 or more . . ." - Larry Anthony, Minister for Community Services, Parliament, 29 November 2000