Info and forum posts by 'crispy'

Which DVD recorder?

Hi all,

Just looking to buy a DVD recorder for backing-up from my Humax and been considering a Sony GX350 or a Panny EZ27/28, which are going for around £100.

Any suggestions which I should go for, or whether I should be looking at something else?

My only other experience of a DVD recorder was an Acoustic Solutions one with built-in HDD and I wasn`t too impressed, which is why I ended up with the Humax...but I still need a DVD recorder...

...any advice welcomed..

Cheers

RE: Digital cameras - Recommendations please

Hi John,

Take a look at Fuji`s S7000 (around £335), and Minolta`s A1 (a touch over £400 but worth it). Have a look at www.dcviews.com/cameras.htm for links to reviews on just about about camera out there.

Chris

RE: Recommend me a cheap player with optical out...

I run a Mac and Sony portable minidiscs don`t support Mac OSX (and the headphone socket as an output to the minidisc hasn`t proven to be a viable option); I already have a CD player but it has a co-ax output not optical. What I don`t have is a DVD player so it seemed an ideal opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

Chris

RE: Recommend me a cheap player with optical out...

Anyone? :-/


Chris

Recommend me a cheap player with optical out...

I need a dvd player with optical output so I can record CD`s to my minidisc player. Richer Sounds have graded Toshiba 220`s for £30 and eBuyer have Ronin P819`s for £37. I know the Toshiba`s a good player but I`m a bit wary of buying graded kit; I know nothing at all about Ronin although they seem to get good reviews on eBuyer...when they work!

Anyone know/recommend any players at this kind of price?

Cheers

Chris

DVD player with SPDIF connection

Hi, can anyone recommend a DVD player that I can connect my Sony portable minidisc to - my CD player has an optical connector but it`s not compatible with the Sony? :-/

I know the Toshiba SD220 had the correct connector - does this follow for the SD330 as well?

I realise that it`s probably possible to convert the connector between the CD player and minidisc but as I don`t have a DVD player, it seemed like a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone!

Cheers

Chris

RE: Canon PowerShot A80 £199

Canon A80 @ 7Dayshop - £189 inc delivery

Chris

RE: Recommend me a Digital Camera...

What type of photographer is your girlfriend, snapper or dedicated? If she just wants a camera to keep with her at all times for snapshots and mementos the I`d take a look at the Casio Z4 in red that 7dayshop have for £199 plus p&p. Tiny jewel (credit card size), of a camera with 4MP, 3x optical zoom and large 2" LCD. Amazon have the Pentax S4 for £195 inc, which is pretty much the same camera but with a smaller LCD. If you want something cheaper still then you can drop down to the Casio Z3 or Z30 with 3MP.

If she likes to have a little more control (ooer!), then you need to consider if size is a priority (!), or if she prefers a big zoom (!!). Take a look at the Minolta Z1 (Z2`s still too expensive-£219 at 7dayshop), or something like the Olympus C725 for large zoom cameras or the Canon A80 for 3x zoom with 4MP (£189 plus p&p, 7dayshop again), and the Canon A75, 3.2MP and 3x zoom.

Good luck

Chris

"In This World" on BBC

Does anyone know what the music is that`s being used to advertise "In This World"?

I can find the composer for the film but I think this is separate.

Cheers

Chris

RE: I-Pods - cheaper in the U.S or not?

Import taxes don`t seem to follow any particular pattern and it depends how the item is described; for example, an iPod could be considered AV equipment or computer equipment. Each has there own level of tax (within subcategories). See http://www.directly2u.co.uk/customs.html for more info.

Of course, it also depends if Customs bother with your package at all!

RE: Best guitar solo?

Just can`t get it down to one :-/

So...

Steve Vai-Ladies Nite In Buffalo
Stevie Ray Vaughn-Little Wing (Live)
Eagles-Hotel California
Black Crowes-Sometimes Salvation
Jeff Healey-While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Angus Young-Live Wire
Mark Knopfler-Brothers In Arms

Once saw Rory Gallagher at Nottingham Rock City; absolutely amazing, particularly one song but damned if I know what it was called! I`ve seen Metallica, Yngwie Malmsteen, Extreme and all the rest but whilst they are unbelievable technically, they just don`t have the feeling that some others do; I`d put James Hetfield above Kirk Hammett for that reason, maybe I`m just showing my age ;-)

No doubt I`ll think of loads more while I`m lay in bed!

This item was edited on Thursday, 12th February 2004, 02:29

RE: Timberland........

I`ve just had a flyer from M&M Sports where they`re selling them for £60; don`t always have a good selection of sizes though.

RE: Pool......anyone mad keen on this game of the Gods?

The main thing is to find a cue that is comfortable for you and your game. Everyone has different preferences; I tend to prefer shorter, heavier cues, a lot of my friends prefer longer, lighter cues. Some people prefer small, slightly domed tips; I prefer larger, quite heavily rounded tips. Each to their own.

Stephen Hendry won god knows how many championships with an old battered and bent cue. You don`t necessarily have to pay huge amounts for a cue; one of my favourites was a bog standard pub cue and I beat no end of people using expensive cues with it.

A good player can usually work around a poor(ish) cue, but no amount of money spent on a cue is ever going to make a good player of a bad one!

RE: Help! Powergen killed my VCR =o( ...and just before Christmas! =o((

Cheers for that!

Also been advised by trading standards that Powergen ARE responsible, regardless of what they try and tell you. will keep you posted.

Chris B

Help! Powergen killed my VCR =o( ...and just before Christmas! =o((

Went to bed last night having just watched the latest installment of Buffy that I`d taped earlier (was Angel cheesy or what?!), anywho, got up this morning and all was dark, well, very dim any way; we were just getting a faint glow from the lights and nothing would work.

Several hours later and we go the power back. Everything was OK, except the VCR.

Dead.

As a dodo.

So, changed the fuse, switched sockets.

Still dead.

Less than two years old but out of warranty (why is it always so?)

Anyone any suggestions? Should I be knocking on Powergen`s door and will it do me any good?

We are getting the VCR checked over but it may take a while and the earlier we can report it to Powergen the better. Odd (fortunate), thing is, it`s only the VCR that`s gone down; the DVD and TV are fine!

ChrisB

RE: Most unlikely (but actual) musical duet?

Bjork and Thom Yorke - Dancer In The Dark soundtrack, or do you think that we`ll get an Ozzy and Cliff Richard duet on the Christmas Top Of The Pops?!

RE: BEST DIGITAL CAMERA UNDER £250?

What do you want it to do?

I`m getting a digital camera for Christmas too and have plumped for the Minolta F200, as it offers Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Full Manual exposure modes as well as Auto Exposure and Program Modes. 4MP and a very good lens - £216 from Empire Direct; leaves enough from £250 for a set of rechargeables and a decent memory card.

Personally I`ve never been a big fan of Kodak cameras. I also considered the Canon A series cameras but could only get the A70 with 3.2MP for the money I had but there are loads of other cameras around if you don`t /need manual exposure modes; cameras like Minolta`s XT, Casio`s Exilims and a couple of others are seriously tempting for their portability and jewel-like qualities!

RE: Digital Cameras - Help, Pixels or Optical zoom.

You might want to consider the Fuji F700-tonally a step above just about anything, with a very good lens and colour rendition, if otherwise limited. Unbeatable have it for £380.

RE: Digital Cameras - Help, Pixels or Optical zoom.

Looks like a pretty good resource. The Z1 actually has a better maximum aperture than the 555 and does very well for a 10x zoom. It also has a through the lens viewfinder image (like an SLR), that covers 98% of the total frame-somewhat better than the 555`s offering. But, that lens will be more prone to camera shake at the long end, it only has a 3.2 MP resolution and it`s somewhat bulkier than the Pentax. Try them out! (that`s gonna be my catchphrase in these fora if I`m not careful ;-) )

Just having a quick look, the Z1 can be had for about £260, compared to about £400 for the 555! Creates a bit of a different ballgame.

This item was edited on Thursday, 13th November 2003, 15:23

RE: Digital Cameras - Help, Pixels or Optical zoom.

Other things to consider:-

Are you going to use a tripod or hand-hold all your shots? At 10x zoom, any slight movements are going to be exaggerated, leading to fuzzy photos. Similarly, if the maximum aperture is limited at the far end of the zoom, it will lead to longer shutter speeds and fuzzy shots. Are you prepared to carry a tripod everywhere? If not, then the Pentax may allow you to take more usable shots inmore situations than the Minolta, at a higher resolution.

The Pentax also allows extra flexibility if and when you are cropping. How often are you going to use the full extent of the 10x zoom? It`s likely that most shots will be taken at the lower end of the zoom, where the Pentax is likely to win out, unless you are using the camera for a specific purpose that is likely to require the full extent of the zoom on a regular basis.

A 10x zoom asks a hell of a lot of a lens. Although advances have been made in lens design, it is likely that the lens will exhibit some distortion through its range. A 3x zoom asks a lot less and may offer better image quality.

How do the cameras compare on general image quality; colour rendition, sharpness, rendition of out-of-focus areas, etc.? How easy and intuitive are they to use? Zoom/resolution is only one part of the overall picture.

RE: Digital Cameras

Also have a look at this thread - http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=113&Thread=229423&Type=1

RE: Digital Camera recommendations

Not sure you can use AA Ni-MH batteries in the Mju 400 :-/

Yes, absolutely agree about the optical zoom but if you`re spending about £300 on a camera, it`s likely to have one.

Be careful when viewing photos on websites, it`s unlikely that they will be presented at their native resolution. To keep load times reasonable they will probably be compressed jpegs with limited resolutions and you won`t get a true feeling for how much a difference resolution makes, although it may show poor colour reproduction, artefacts and colour fringing (take a look at http://www.slaidburn.org.uk/chris_bestwick`s_photo_gallery.htm - all shots taken with a 2MP camera, no optical zoom, just using cropping and a bit of messing with Photoshop. The shots were then saved as JPEGs and limited to a maximum of 640x480 pixels, full native resolution being 1600x1200. OK, not brilliant, but it gives you an idea. PS, the camera was a Fuji A201). Would still say get down to Jessops or somewhere and try them out!

This item was edited on Tuesday, 4th November 2003, 00:03

RE: Digital Camera recommendations

If you can afford it, go for more megapixels. The higher the resolution, the more flexibility you have for cropping and printing at larger sizes-many mediocre shots can be vastly improved by some judicious cropping and they are likely to have better lenses than their lower resolution cousins! The Olympus is a very good point and shoot camera, whereas the Minolta offers a fully auto mode and various manual control modes, should you feel a litle adventurous or end up in a situation that a fully automatic camera could not cope with. Additionally, the Olympus uses XD cards-£80 for 256Mb and a Li rechargeable. The Minolta uses SD cards-£55 for 256Mb and has the flexibility of using a Li rechargeable or AA Ni-MH rechargeables (cheap charger and battery sets from 7DayShop).

At the end of the day, regarding the resolution question, you can`t put information back that wasn`t there in the first place, it`s always better to have more than you think you need. Regarding which camera, if none of the factors above matter to you, go into a shop, try the cameras out and go with the one you feel most comfortable with-if you don`t feel comfortable with the camera or it doesn`t feel intuitive to use, you won`t use it and it won`t matter how many megapixels it has. Certainly, between the Olympus and Minolta, they`re both very good cameras that won`t disappoint and this can probably be extended to include cameras of similar spec from Canon and Nikon. Go and try them!

This item was edited on Monday, 3rd November 2003, 02:02

RE: Digital Camera recommendations

Have a look at The Kyocera Finecam S5. A 5 megapixel camera for £256 delivered with a 16Mb SD card (http://www.buyacamera.co.uk/xsearch.asp?RecId=KYOCA400). Gets good reviews although Nomatica have the Minolta F300 for £275 delivered with a 64Mb SD card and it`s more flexible with batteries (http://www.nomatica.com/index.asp?devise=GBP&langue=EN&pays=UK). I`d be happy with either :-)

Or indeed The Minolta F200 for £224! (Nomatica again).

This item was edited on Sunday, 2nd November 2003, 01:30

RE: Spooky Britain?

Glad you liked the stories Axel. Looking back, I always wish that I`d had the guts to go and have a look in the bedroom after hearing my name called out. Similarly the kitchen in the gite, but I have to confess that it scared the life out of me at the time and nothing would have got me too move-bit of a bind when the toilet was next to the kitchen though... :-/

RE: Spooky Britain?

Hello...hello, anyone there?

Hell, everyone`s disappeared...spooky!

RE: Spooky Britain?

OK, how many instances do you want?

A few years ago I was living with a girl in Nottingham. The flat we were in was the downstairs of an old victorian house, nothing special there. Time and time again I would be lay in bed, my girlfriend somewhere else in the flat, when the bed would sink behind me as if someone had sat on the bed. I`d turn round to speak to my girlfriend, presuming it to be her, to see no-one there.


Going out with another girl, I was staying over one night sleeping in the spare room-it was her parents` house and they were somewhat conservative. My girlfriend had told me stories about `their ghost` but I hadn`t given much credence to them. I was woken early the next morning by the sound of crying. Now, at the time, my girlfriend`s grandmother was very ill and I feared the worst. I lay there wondering how best to deal with the situation when I heard, above the crying, my girlfriend`s parents laughing and joking downstairs. I thought this a bit strange considering the presumed circumstances but thought that it must be my girlfriend crying...yet I could hear her moving around in her bedroom which was across the hall, the crying was coming from directly behind my head, which would have been the bathroom. I lay there listening to the crying as the realisation that that didn`t leave anyone else to be crying crept in, as it slowly faded away.

That night I went upstairs to collect my stuff from my girlfriend`s bedroom-I was on my motorbike so I spent a few minutes putting on my leather and helmet. As I was walking out of the bedroom, from the bedroom across the hall where I had been sleeping, someone said, as plain as day, `Chris`. I headed downstairs to where everyone was sat watching TV.

I mentioned all this to my girlfriend when I next saw her. Apparently they had spent some time finding out who their `ghost` was. I turned out that it was a woman who lived in the house in the 1920`s and had died of TB. Her name was Christine and she had died at the time of year when all this had happened. It also turned out that the bedroom I had stopped in had originally been one long room that ran right along the back of the house, there hadn`t originally been a bathroom in the house. Oh, by the way, my name`s Chris...


In 1994 I quit work to go travelling. I`d arranged to meet some friends who were staying in a gite in Brittany and duly met up with them. Now, I`d already relayed the stories that you see above to them and when they said that there was a ghost in the gite I thought it was a wind-up. The day was spent at the gite and on one occasion I was walking through the kitchen when I glanced in the mirror and saw two kids running through. I thought nothing of it at the time as there were two teenage lads in the party. It was only afterwards that I realised that the two lads I saw in the mirror were much younger than the two in the party and that they had different hair colours.

That night I slept downstairs on the sofa. Everything was fine until everyone else had gone to bed and the lights went out. From then on all I heard from the kitchen was a relentless opening and closing of kitchen doors and drawers until it came light...


I met a girl at university in Wales (now my fiancee), and duly moved into a house with her. It was a big house on the edge of town that was shared with a couple of other students; the owner, an old woman who had had one of the students as a lodger, had died and the house had been passed on to her sons who lived away, presenting us with the room that we were now renting.

Unlike the other students who went home for the summer, we stayed. It was great having the house to ourselves, although some parts of it sometimes felt a little strange, particularly the upstairs bathroom where you always felt that someone was creeping up behind you. In fact it occasionally felt very intimidating, not helped by the fact that bloodspots would appear in the sink when no-one else was in the house.

When the girl who`d shared the house with the old owner returned after the summer, she told us that shortly before her death, the women had been raped in the upstairs bathroom...


There you go people, not a word of a lie! Sweet dreams

RE: 3 to go video mobile - £50

Just to note, Carphone Warehouse have now suspended all sales on `3 to go` via their website. Any links take you to anything other than the e808 on this tariff. They now ask that you phone them if you want to purchase this phone on `3 to go`. They also say (when you phone them), that new stock will be in at the end of the week and that there will be plenty available should I wish to place it on backorder.

I`ve emailed them reminding them that I asked that they retain my order and saying that I`m looking forward to receiving the phone, after all, no mention was made regarding the validity of the order, only that it was out of stock.

Oh well, here`s hoping!;-)

RE: 3 to go video mobile - £50

Carphone Warehouse currently have a link offering the phone for free with free delivery, although their front page advertises it for £49. If you select the phone via any link, it comes up as free. Ordered a couple via the `3 to go` tariff but got an email later saying that they are out of stock and that they`ve cancelled the order.

I`ve asked them very nicely if they will retain the order and supply the phone at the ordered price. Anyone else had any luck?

Car insurance

Can anyone recommend anyone for car insurance. My premium has been consistently
rising over the years despite my advancing years, rising no claims bonus and falling value
of my car!
Any suggestions welcome, otherwise it`s yet another trawl through the Yellow Pages.