Arbitron has selected our house for TV ratings

A 3 year electronics eng. program and more importantly my electronics hobby is enough education on this I would imagine. You can't chage the fact that radios/TV's do not transmit any signal no matter how much the person at Arbitron says so.

It picks up the signal that's being transmitted to the tv. God you're thick. a reply to: XL5

I suppose they're lying to me huh? Can you agree that I could get a lawyer? a reply to: XL5

If your TV uses a cable to get the signal, it will be in the cable, not in the air. you could be watching ch. 28 on TV through the cable but channels 2-100 are floating through the air. So if none of the Arbitron devices are hooked into the cable that comes from the cable box, it will not know which channel you are watching. If the device is listening to radio/TV signals in the air its getting all of them, sort of like trying to pick out one voice in a room full of 100 people.

You could get a lawyer if you already have gotten this device, but he would have to know how radios/TVs and the signals all work or be able to call in a highschool tech teacher.

a reply to: XL5

Just stop...You obviously don't know what this device is. Stop trying to convince me that the arbitron people are lying to me. To what end? I'm a member of al-Qaida? ISIS? A Russian spy? Communist? We're just an American family. No interest to the dreaded cabal AKA the powers that be. You're just pissing me off with your know it all attitude. Especially since you know nothing. Tell me what you ahem...think this device is doing. If not picking up the signals as the Arbitron folks have told me? While your at it tell me how tv shows get their ratings? If you can't answer those two questions then please step out of the conversation you're not really contributing anything.

I think its listening to the TV shows plus anything that the watchers of the shows are saying, using GPS to track if you get up during the commercials. The reason I believe this is because they would not pay people to just watch TV, they would want info about it too. If the AD's are not effective, they want to know as the AD's pay the station and thus Arbitron.

Arbitron may also collect written show reviews as well or it could be that they listen and find out what people are saying.


I would think a company would buy $200 phones with GPS to monitor before $5000 specifically engineered and produced devices that do the same thing. As to what end, to see if any commerial spots are watched because people like it! No company like this can get a valid result if the people who are wathing TV think they are being watched. Its just like you would never tell some one you don't really know that the meal that was made for you was horrible. People behave the way they expect others want them to behave only when they are being watched. Arbitron wants honesty!

Wrong. I specifically asked if it listens. I was told no. I asked if it had GPS to know my location again I was told no. Your idea would assume that a person does not watch tv alone if they need to hear what people say about a show. So what about a person alone. It only works in your idea if the person talks to themselves about the show out loud. I can just see it. Hey Karen what did you think about that show? Oh Karen I thought it was funny. Yeah me too. What did you think of that character with the top hat. ? Oh he was hilarious. Yeah he was. Does this sound as stupid to you as it does me? Even when we watch tv together there's is no guarantee the me and my husband are going to discuss it. We could be watching a rerun of criminal minds that we've seen four times already. We're not going to be critiquing the show at that point.
Arbitronn has nothing to do with advertising except to offer a network a framework of what they can charge advertisers during a given show. Arbitron MAY get written reviews of shows. In other words you don't specifically know. As far as the cost of the devices yeah let's just throw out a figure of $5000. It's as good as any other figure but again you're speculating not giving any kind of fact. You have no idea at all what the devices cost. None what so ever. I'm so sorry I even started this thread. It's a magnet for ________ . Fill in the blank. You know everything right? a reply to: XL5

PS: Guess what? They do pay people to watch tv. Laughs on you buddy. a reply to: XL5

One more thing GPS even if there was one would not be able to tell if I got off my bed and walked ten feet to the bathroom or twenty five feet to the kitchen. OH wait that would be the job of the black ops helicopter circulating my house with heat seeking radar. . a reply to: XL5

I can see you don't know how to prove a point the propper way. I hope you don't act like this in real life where you just go off on people untill they back down through just the use of anger. That said I think I see the problem here, you just wanted comfirmation that everything was going to be alright.

If a camera is watching, people will behave even though they are alone. Thats the reason some stores sell fake security cameras.

Can't answer the questions so attack my personality. Yeah cuz that is the way to make a point. Good job.

reply to: XL5

www.tristate-engineering.com... 10foot GPS resolution

www.youtube.com... TV show called Gogglebox where they film people talking to each other about what they see on TV....ugh I hope its not real.

Also, no, I don't know what the devices cost, but I know engineering a new device will cost alot more than using a current ready made device. The numbers are estimates.

I gave some facts, some opinions, you attcked me and not what I had to say.