Lady- E ,In my latter days ,I NEVER climbed a pole- not something an internal TO did. We had minions to do that for the BBC blokes, AND they always provided a ground feed for the BBC FOLKS . The amp/ speakers were massive, about four foot high, by at least   two foot square. Two speaker fixtures, which got take up stairs for the Xmas party. I've memories of being caught in a corner by one randy telephonist , who had ideas of getting me in a dark corner,.

Ah hem, it wasn't just blokes worked for the Beeb.   In fact Radio employed a lot of women in Radio operations (still does). When we did footie matches, the box was often, but not always, up the pole, not at the top, but high enough that you needed a ladder, or to climb on the roof of the OB vehicle (assuming you were close enough). I always figured this was because if the footie supporters found it they would rip it off or do something silly with it. They used to stand on a wall next to our OB van at one small ground (it might have been Wigan Rugby) and pee on the substation!!!!!!!!!! It made me laugh on two counts. One, it was usually very cold and two, there was always the possibility of the Benjamin Franklin effect to look forward to.

 

BBC monitor speakers were always pretty chunky things, I wonder if you had the old LSU 10s? The LS3/7 was a later 70/80s speaker and had a handle on either side of it. not 4 foot high, but a pretty big box. I couldn't lift them on my own

I've never had any problems with philips, even blu Ray and DVD players.

 

 

I was talking to an old friend - a couple years ago (to his shame), he was working in Warranty returns for Dixons. He told me that they had more Philips TVs returned for repair than every other make they sold put together.

 

Back On Topic, a friends early Panasonic LCD has developed an interesting problem; the TV Guide has stopped updating properly, you try and check the schedule and only a small fraction of the channels display any program data.

 

At first we thought it was a signal problem, he had just moved house; but he moved again only a few months later - back to near his original house - and the TV guide still isnt working properly. I have tried everything, including a factory reset; signal strength and quality is fine and the TV works correctly in every other respect.

 

At least it gives him an excuse to replace it; when he saw my new 4K TV he commented "the picture quality makes mine look like ****!!"

I was talking to an old friend - a couple years ago (to his shame), he was working in Warranty returns for Dixons. He told me that they had more Philips TVs returned for repair than every other make they sold put together.

 

Maybe I've just been lucky but have personally never had an issue

That is really good, especially as Philips TVs have one of the worst reliability reputations on the planet.

Philips used to be dreadful, particularly in the 70's. Apparently, back in the '50s they were good.

 

Parents had a 14" portable analog Philips  TV in the 70s where the solder used in the tuning circuit had crystalised within six months of purchase from new.

 

Haven't they just announced, like Sony, that they're pulling out of some consumer products ?

 

Its interesting. I tried replacing the rechargeable batteries in the remote with newish Duracell alkalines and, although the channel changing fault is still there, the frequency of occurrence is significantly reduced. V. strange.

 

Nick

Edited 3 April, 201511 yr by Clunkclick

Philips used to be dreadful, particularly in the 70's. Apparently, back in the '50s they were good.

 

 

Our first colour TV was a mahosive 20" Philips with (gasp) SIX channel selectors. It was probably one of the first sold in the UK (dad had a really good job and got it heavily discounted through work as well). I remember it finally giving up the ghost in the mid 80s after a LOT of abuse from my younger brother - various repair men regularly found strange items had been forced through the vents onto the main board.

 

My grandparents brand new Philips caught fire during the Queens Speech a few weeks after purchase (about 1985); strange, I didnt think the speech was that inflammatory!

 

A useless bit of trivia for you, the first UK TV program filmed in colour was STINGRAY !!

Ah hem, it wasn't just blokes worked for the Beeb.   In fact Radio employed a lot of women in Radio operations (still does). When we did footie matches, the box was often, but not always, up the pole, not at the top, but high enough that you needed a ladder, or to climb on the roof of the OB vehicle (assuming you were close enough). I always figured this was because if the footie supporters found it they would rip it off or do something silly with it. They used to stand on a wall next to our OB van at one small ground (it might have been Wigan Rugby) and pee on the substation!!!!!!!!!! It made me laugh on two counts. One, it was usually very cold and two, there was always the possibility of the Benjamin Franklin effect to look forward to.

 

BBC monitor speakers were always pretty chunky things, I wonder if you had the old LSU 10s? The LS3/7 was a later 70/80s speaker and had a handle on either side of it. not 4 foot high, but a pretty big box. I couldn't lift them on my own

Apologies, Lady E, but I always dealt with blokes on OB duty. One of the best ( usually ) cushy numbers .Turn up an hour before, Check all is well, then sit back and relax till we got the all clear. our speakers were on castors, so easy to move around.

Edited 17 April, 201511 yr by VWD