Arbitron has selected our house for TV ratings

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

arbitron is legit. If you are a sales person in TV/radio, you have to have arbitron data to price yourself effectively.

But it isn't cheap data. Arbitron charges a steep price for their reporting.

If you are bothered by sales people, a quick way to determine the viability of what their airtime is worth is to ask to see an arbitron report. Small timers with no real audience won't spend for one.

We don't even watch t.v. in my house.

My kids play PS3 on theirs, we download movies. . . Other than that I prefer my family reads.

Exploit!!!

Wrap it around a heating pad (probably gets too hot) or get creative and find something that mimics your body temp.

Otherwise, DON'T do it. Marketing is the devils tool!

The devices are a cellphone network with the one plugged into the wall being a hub that sends the info out. It would cost a hell of alot to make a unique device for this kind of thing in comparison to using existing tecnology (cellphones). I would bet they listen and watch, otherwise, how would they know the TV is on? The TV/radio do not emit signals like that, the radio/TV are just recivers and don't transmit anything, if they did, you wouldn't need the plug in device that "can tell when you are in the room".

So the main question to ask is "how can they tell if I am watching and WHAT I am watching"......video+microphone!

If I had to guess, the wearable box is detecting if you're awake or asleep. I can see where there would be a problem with arbitron ratings caused by people who fall asleep while watching TV. Basically, if your watching a show, fall asleep, and the TV stays on that channel the rest of the night all the shows that came on after the show you watched get ratings boosts that they don't deserve.

a reply to: eisegesis

Free enterprise is what this country was built on. Marketing? I was in sales. Marketing was my backbone. No one lives off the land anymore. Get real. The devils tool. Yeah right...

I thought so too but you have to recharge it and when it's on the charger is when it transmitted the data so in order to be paid you have to remove it. My tv is on all night I can't fall asleep without it. reply to: defcon5

The device picks up a signal that is part of the broadcast. There is no listening or seeing. That would be illegal. You're correct the tv doesn't transmit it receives. So does the device. It picks up the same transmission that the tv does. If they were listening and looking they'd have to say so.


A reply to: XL5

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
I thought so too but you have to recharge it and when it's on the charger is when it transmitted the data so in order to be paid you have to remove it. My tv is on all night I can't fall asleep without it.

All that means is that it stores that data and sends it later, then they correlate the time with the data they get from the box. It can still do what I said it does. So for example they look at the TV box, and it says you watched channel 9 from midnight until 5am, then they look at the downloaded data from the worn box, and it says there is a 75% chance you were asleep from 12 until 5. So they disregard the ratings from 12 till 5. It most likely also tells them that you were in the room and facing the TV at the time show was on, so you can't just set your recorder to turn on the TV at certain times and falsely inflate a certain shows ratings. It will probably also tell them how much you get up from the TV set during the shows, so they can look at things that cause people to lose interest, or even which commercials that people don't watch.

Just thinking about it from a engineering/software programming aspect there is a lot of valuable information they can glean from that data.

It goes in my pocket according to the lady I spoke with. Now how can it look at the tv?a reply to: defcon5

It doesn't do any of those things. It doesn't have a motion detector it doesn't have a camera or any listening device. It has a heat sensor so you can't just plop it down by the tv. It just picks up tv and radio signals and then transmits the data at night. reply to: defcon5

How could it detect if I'm awake or asleep? a reply to: defcon5

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

LOL you should put your tv on MSNBC half the time and FOX News the other half the time!

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

Most often if left on one channel with no input change, for too long, it will switch off, or change itself to a "default" channel... at least that has been my experience.

Based on a prior post...it seems that technology has advanced beyond my experience in this...disregard my above remark lol

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
a reply to: eisegesis

Free enterprise is what this country was built on. Marketing? I was in sales. Marketing was my backbone. No one lives off the land anymore. Get real. The devils tool. Yeah right...

Guess I struck a nerve. Point taken.

It's just that people don't need half the crap they watch or buy and marketing is what convinces them they do. Free enterprise was building this country while people were living off the land and I feel it is the very same economic system that is the reason they do not today. WE have been exploited, why not throw some mud back in their face when we get a chance.

And how could I have predicted you worked in sales? Don't be so uptight.

Lets start with radio first. These devices can not pick up radio signals coming from your radio. The radio stations trasmit on a given frequency which covers an area all the time, there are multiple radio stations all doing this. You tune your radio to pick up one of these frequencies and that is all, your radio does not put out any frequeny! Thus, when you tune to a station, the device can not know which one or even if the radio is on! The radio only listens. If this device were to use radio signals, it would pick up ALL of them even if your radio was off.

The same happens with TV except with cable, you could have a device plugged into the cable that comes after your cable box and it could tell which channel it is. It can not tell what channel your TV is on unless its connected to the cable in some way after the cable box ( unless your TV can stream wifi signals). So unless your TV has wifi, those devices wouldn't be able to tell if the TV is on or off. If this device used TV signals broadcasted through air, it would pick up all of them at the same time unless you can tune this device into the same exact channel you have on at the moment.

If the device can be kept in your pocket the whole time, they can still hear somewhat. Also, whats to stop you from unplugging the stationary unit and taking it into other rooms...or to other peoples homes.

a reply to: AutumnWitch657
Themoregulation

a reply to: XL5
1)yes it can and does pick up radio signals. It's part of what Arbitron rates.
I'm so glad you think you know so much about it. You must have created this device you've never seen or apparently heard about until today.
Thanks for your uneducated contribution.
NEXT....

What's your point? That people's tempretures drops during sleep. I'd ask a silly question about the price of tea in China but you seem to think you have all the answers. Apparently no one on this site know doodly squat about this device so let's bring on the double O Seven mentality. I'm kind of getting sorry I even asked. So many experts... LOL so many flipping experts...

a reply to: defcon5

originally posted by: hillbilly4rent


Actually is safe my parents did it a few years ago. Just dont watch porn

I say do watch porn.