Anyone have a Nielsen box?

[I Saw OJ]

Parents had one in the house about 15 or so years ago. The thing was a total pain in the ass because every time you switched channels you had to let the box know what you were doing with a series of button presses on the remote and even when you were watching one channel for a prolonged amount of time you still had to input these button presses every little while or the box would flash and go haywire.

 

[Wreckem]

Seriously, why do the neilsen boxes even exist anymore? Can't the cable providers already tell who is watching what? Although the demographic info wouldn't be as reliable because they don't have record of who is in your house.

Even if it was possible to get the same information, advertisers would still want demographics/viewership stats from an independent company, not data from companies that have vested interests.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i have never seen watching preferences or the like listed in the tables for cable converters, although it's entirely possible. the data i've seen was mostly ppv orders and acknowledgement of commands. i did sometimes tell customers the IR eye was actually a camera

i've been in close to 10,000 living rooms and i've never seen a neilson system.

 

[who?]

Lots of people still use analog cable that doesn't report to the cable co..

 

[only1oo7]

you wont always see them, they hide them nicely, ours is in the back of our entertainment center, its about the size of an older VCR with a bunch of wires in/out of it, and a modem zip tied to it. Each box has a modem then the main box has a cellular uplink that calls out every night + uploads each days viewing data.

when my ps3 or 360 is on, they cant see whether im playing a game, or watching movies, all they know is it is on. So far its pretty cool, even though im sure my house doesnt control whether sons of anarchy will continue for my lifetime, it was just something that sounded different so i gave it a shot. Its funny though, while talking to the tech installing it, i asked him if he liked Walking dead, and it wasnt easy to get an answer out of him. They have very strict rules about not influencing what Nielsen families watch.

As for the install, they were in and out in about 3 hours, and come every 6 months to check signals. We get the occasional call if a tv is left off for a few days to be sure nothing is wrong, but its not a bother. We dont have to do anything, dont have to type in a unique personal code regularly (i heard they used to do that).

They begged us to do it, because our house was "selected" based on a bunch of different things, and they even said if/when i dont want it anymore, and i change my mind, they will pull it back out of the neighbors house and put it back in here....they use some kind of system to determine which houses are best for something.....

i jokingly asked the tech what the going rate was for the boxes on eBay, i thought he was going to start unplugging it LMAO....but i googled around, and i dont think they have much value to anyone other than Nielsen.

They dont monitor phones or wifi though, to whoever posted that...they only can see what show your watching and when....

any ?'s, feel free to ask, i actually just had a storm short out my Turtle beach headset and the HDMI 1 port on my 47'' flat screen...so gonna get em fixed this week hopefully on their tab, that was one of the perks i considered when i agreed to them coming in.

 

[only1oo7]

i only signed up because i thought if i could have even an ounce of help to get SoA pushed another season, it was worth it, and thought the experience would be cool. But u really dont even know its there, its a vcr size box that sits behind your tv, and is hardwired into your tv for audio. each box has a modem, that talks the main box and calls out nightly to update your daily viewing lineup. when using ps3/xbox, all they know is that its on, they dont know if its game or netflix etc, just that its being used. also you do have to sign a contract saying you dont tell everyone about it, that way they dont influence what you watch. I even tried to get the installer to tell me if he watched TWD, and he wouldnt confim or deny it, for company rules prohibited it. they send a $30 check every few months to cover any power expenses, and they bring goodie baskets regularly. The best part is, your appliances connected are all protected if something breaks, i think they pay 100 or 50% of repairs on any device, becuase they want to continue monitoring obviously. They are real picky on houses they choose, they said they use some kind of computer and math to determine the best house to give ratings that represent an entire community. The install was 3 hours tops, and they arent really a hassle. They broke all the warranty seals on everything though, so they are on the hook if something goes wrong, but their worth $$ plenty, and will not leave you hanging if your tv dies, they want it back up + recording faster than we do....

 

[only1oo7]

also, you dont have to type in your personal code so they know what your watching, you really dont even know its there unless you looked in the entertainment center and saw a box with a bunch of wires sticking out. they use audio only to determine what is being watched. every channel has some kind of coding in the audio that tells them whats playing, and they can see that you DVR something but dont care when you watch it. They are interested in live viewing, that is what their advertisers want to know, WHO is watching and WHEN.

 

[JoetheLion]

Why would anyone wanted a box with the remains of Leslie Nielsen?

 

[only1oo7]

Lmao, they actually are pretty high tech (supposedly), and expensiiiiiiiive.

 

[Puppies04]

Not much at all. I think that I got paid $30 every six months for my four TV's.

Why would anyone do this? I would expect a decent payment or a new tv or something. Screw that.

 

[DrPizza]

i have never seen watching preferences or the like listed in the tables for cable converters, although it's entirely possible. the data i've seen was mostly ppv orders and acknowledgement of commands. i did sometimes tell customers the IR eye was actually a camera

i've been in close to 10,000 living rooms and i've never seen a neilson system.

Given the types of shows on televisions, I'm going to guess that those living rooms were in houses, not trailers? I can't figure out who watches that Honey Boo Boo shit, and other "reality" crap.

 

[Legios]

Got $70 bucks for doing a journal for a week. Was pretty simple at the time.

 

[alkemyst]

I participated in 2000 or so. The came in and had to hotwire into my receiver so their box would know what I was watching. They also had to bring a wireless phone device to that point.

I ended up having them remove it because they'd keep calling thinking I unhooked their box. They could never troubleshoot it right and after a half dozen house-calls, I just had them pull it. Other than that issue though, it was transparent to me it was even there.

 

[dr150]

Not much at all. I think that I got paid $30 every six months for my four TV's.

$30 is a fucking joke for all the hoops they make you do.

It must be a pain to switch cable providers....

 

[only1oo7]

we switched from cable to satellite and the DTV tech simply plugged the audio feeds into the audio out of the boxes, done. All it does is monitor audio coming off, and it figures by the audio what your watching. There is no messing with it, it just sits there.

The best part is the insurance, knowing when/if i spill soda on my ps3 or my TV dies, they are going to repair/replace it, its part of the contract you sign when going on with them. They are the largest in the business, and when they pick a house, they want that house at all costs. The guy even told me at first if i didnt want it and they had to put it in another place, and if i called 3 months later, they would pull it all out and bring it back to my house, cuz ours is "chosen" in their system lmao.....

i didnt do it for the money, it only covers the power costs of the box running, they use their own GSM unit, so they dont use any of our bandwidth either. i just thought it would be cool to participate in the system and maybe have even a .0001 part of cool tv seasons getting renewed

 

[only1oo7]

the original setup takes the longest, a few hours, cuz they hard wire into your tv, and in turn, pick up the warranty after they void it by breaking the seals

I remember when Oprah got in big trouble by telling people "with a Nielsen box" to be sure to tune in to that new show she had coming out....i dont know what came of it, but they suspended her ratings for the evenings or something like that, so none of them counted since they were influenced by her comments.

 

[darkxshade]

How do they determine who they want and how do they know that family watches tv often? Do you need to be a heavy watcher? I don't watch tv often so it would be weird if they came to me... not that I'd expect a knock on the door ever.