Next box opinion ?

[bottletop]

You know what? I'd rather have that than a phone which won't work when there's a national emergency.

That reminds me of when I dusted off a corded landline phone. Keypad wasn't working well but the physical on/off hook action was fine, so I could hear the dialing tone, but not dial out properly.
Had to take it apart to clean under the keypad - nothing obvious except it looked a little dry/small debris between keypad and PCB contacts. It was almost the opposite of when a (TV) remote requires cleaning - the usual mess between the keypad and PCB is often oily. So anyone having spare time should check their old/emergency phone still works!

 

[MikeSh]

So anyone having spare time should check their old/emergency phone still works!

Hardly worth it at this point.
We used to keep a wired handset for backup, as our main phones are wireless, but I haven't seen it in years. We have mobiles and a decent network signal at home these days, so it's not been a problem to call the power company or check their website ... so far.

 

[SemiRamis]

There's a fair bit of resistance building up on that one!

Do you have some references?

 

[antipodean]

Do you have some references?

There has been a backtrack by Telecom recently because people have complained about problems getting connected and unresponsive call center staff when they try to make a fault call. It was in the news somewhere, might have been one of the news web sites.

 

[trog]

There has been a backtrack by Telecom recently because people have complained about problems getting connected and unresponsive call center staff when they try to make a fault call. It was in the news somewhere, might have been one of the news web sites.

Sadly not a full u-turn.

Digital landline switch paused for vulnerable people

UK phone providers such as BT and Virgin hold off making users upgrade after "serious incidents".

www.bbc.com

 

[bottletop]

.... We have mobiles and a decent network signal at home these days, so it's not been a problem to call the power company or check their website ... so far.

I can't find the info on it at the moment, but I'm sure I read somewhere that the emergency services have priority over the mobile networks. They can also block calls for general public. I'm sure I've had issues getting connection (on the mobile network) during local panics. Although that may have changed in recent times. I'm not sure.

 

[SemiRamis]

Sadly not a full u-turn.

Digital landline switch paused for vulnerable people

UK phone providers such as BT and Virgin hold off making users upgrade after "serious incidents".

www.bbc.com

What happens if you become a vulnerable person in the future?

 

[trog]

What happens if you become a vulnerable person in the future?

Dignitas (non-profit organisation) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[MikeSh]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the emergency services have priority over the mobile networks. They can also block calls for general public. I'm sure I've had issues getting connection (on the mobile network) during local panics.

Yes, but that's not really any different to the landline system. They are built for normal use plus a bit spare, but when there's a panic and everyone is trying to call the systems are overloaded.
I can remember Christmas days where families would spend hours trying to call family long distance. You had to book international in advance IIRC.

 

[SemiRamis]

Dignitas (non-profit organisation) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But you can't call them in the first place. Your landline is dead

 

[/df]

@MikeSh

I'm not sure anything can legally record streaming outside of the relevant app (like being able to download content on a mobile device to watch offline).

All the bastard companies in the world want to run their code (app) on your client instead of running a proper website but if they send it to you from their webserver, you have to have it on your client: whether that local cache is erased or written to users/MikeSh/Precious content is not under the originator's control. But apart from iPlayer the material saved will require decryption before playing that probably infringes whatever version of DMCA applies to your consumption of the content. Nonetheless, such large files could be useful for disk capacity tests, etc.

 

[bottletop]

I can't find the info on it at the moment, but I'm sure I read somewhere that the emergency services have priority over the mobile networks. They can also block calls for general public. I'm sure I've had issues getting connection (on the mobile network) during local panics. Although that may have changed in recent times. I'm not sure.

Something like this

When the phones went dead: 7/7 showed how disasters call for tomorrow's tech

The chaos of 7/7 meant even many of the emergency services couldn’t use their phone. But 4G should change that.

theconversation.com

 

[MikeSh]

@MikeSh



All the bastard companies in the world want to run their code (app) on your client instead of running a proper website but if they send it to you from their webserver, you have to have it on your client: whether that local cache is erased or written to users/MikeSh/Precious content is not under the originator's control. But apart from iPlayer the material saved will require decryption before playing that probably infringes whatever version of DMCA applies to your consumption of the content. Nonetheless, such large files could be useful for disk capacity tests, etc.

I'm sorry, but after reading that three times I'm not sure what exactly is your point. I get you don't like the control exercised by the content owners, but that's just the way copyright/IP/whatever works in real life.

 

[/df]

Just that what you wrote before seemed to suggest that the app provided by the streaming service is the only way to access the content, which might be true as implemented by Humax in the Aura, but isn't a legal requirement. What would stop you saving your content to watch offline is a legal Emperor's New Clothes that makes manufacturers pretend that content you can access is not actually accessible.

 

[MikeSh]

Just that what you wrote before seemed to suggest that the app provided by the streaming service is the only way to access the content,

Do you know any other way to get (eg) Netflix without hacking?

which might be true as implemented by Humax in the Aura,

It's an Android box, uses Android apps.

but isn't a legal requirement.

Not in a law of the land way, no. But permissions are required to use IP owned by other people. Much of that will involve legally binding contracts.

What would stop you saving your content to watch offline is a legal Emperor's New Clothes that makes manufacturers pretend that content you can access is not actually accessible.

See previous comment. Streaming services take steps to protect their content (ie. revenue stream) and manufacturers will be bound by the contracts they sign to be allowed to provide those functions.

I don't think they are pretending you can't access it. The streaming service apps provide the data stream which the Aura supplies to the TV over HDMI which is itself a content protection fence. Humax could probably tap that steam somewhere and make it available for the customer to save or copy off, but that would probably be commercial suicide as they'd be sued by and have their licences revoked by all the streaming services.