Info and forum posts by 'Mick Golby'

RE: Techtronics problems

Well I hope it bloody works when it arrives, because if not, boy will you have problems.

My Panasonuc DVD Recorder didn`t, after two weeks waiting for it. They took a week to decide it was faulty (30 secs to plug it in and confirm the DVD drawer would not open !!!) and two weeks after it went back to them I still have not got the replacement. They have not answered my latest email asking when they propose to despatch it. They have them in stock according to their website.

In my view, they are the worst company it has ever been my displeasure to deal with. Total crap. Avoid like the plague is my advice to anyone thinking of dealing with them. >:( >:(

RE: Back by popular demand - what players have you all got then ?

Lecson DVD900 as main machine. LG2330P in the dining room so wifey can watch films while I watch the footie. Schneider 810 spare if either of the others go wrong.

I need to get out more.

Amray Cases - 20p each

If anyone wants to replace their s***e Warner cardboard boxes with plastic Amrays, Poundland are doing sets of 5 for a quid, two white, three black.

RE: Is it my speakers fault? HELP PLEASE!

It certainly sounds as though it is the speakers, particularly if they are not magnetically shielded, though it is odd the problem has only just begun to appear.

Apart from moving them further away, the only other option I can think of would be to have the set de-gaussed by a service engineer, but that could be expensive.

RE: Widescreen, 2.35:1, 4:3 TVs, Widescreen TVS, anamorphic, etc.etc.

Most of this is too techie for my poor old head on a Friday night, but, as far as i am aware, the answer to your bottom line is that a 40 inch screen is just larger to look at than a 20 inch. The scan lines are the same whatever the size.

RE: HOW PURE ARE YOU? (Take the DVD Reviewer Purity Test)

43%.

Same as Clayts and more than Dukey, so don`t feel quite so bad now. Would I have scored more if I`d spread Jam over my DVDs?

RE: What CD Player is Best??

I`d have thought that all CD players will play CD-Rs. Even my 8 year old Sony 797 plays CD-Rs. Its CD-RWs that most can`t play. Richers do a Philips that will play CD-RWs for £80, but I wouldn`t expect much in the way of sound quality at that price.

Under £200 I`d look at Sony, Denon or Marantz, though its worth looking out end-of-line, ex-dem and seconhand (sorry, previously cherished) stuff. I picked up a Marantx CD63KI Signature for £200 a couple of years ago when it was still £500, simply by buying secondhand from a local Hi-Fi dealer.

RE: Sky digital set top boxes/ any good for digital radio.

None of the Sky boxes have digital outputs. The Sony`s have been disconnected on Sky`s orders.

You don`t need a Sky box to listen to the Radio stations on Astra 2. Most of the stations are free-to-air, so any DVB satellite receiver can receive them and will give you better sound than the Sky boxes. Many have at least one, if not two digital outputs as well. Maynot be free, but they are miles better.

A friend of mine is in the process of comparing a Videologic DAB Tuner with the Sky radio output and seems to feel the DAB tuner sounds better, probably because the DAB broadcasts are at a higher bit rate than the Astra 2 broadcasts.

If you are seriously interested in radio and thinking of satellite, forget Sky and Astra 2. Astra 1 and Hotbird are the satellites to go for. You can choose from about 300 radio stations catering for all tastes and broadcasting in equal or better quality than anything on Astra 2 and pretty much on a par with quality analogue. In fact, most of BBC Radio has been on Astra 1 in analogue for some time in better quality than their FM broadcasts.

RE: Lecson dvd-900

1) Presumably (and I say that without too much expectation) updates would be available from Debenhams.
2) There are a lot of other players that can`t cope with the Toy Story extras disk, not just the Lecson. There`s no problems with the Region 1 version.
3) Well, that`s your choice :)

At least one of the magazine reviews mentioned the problems with MP3 filenames. If that`s one of the main factors you are looking for in buying a DVD player, then, obviously, the Lecson is the wrong player for you. Can`t any reason why anyone should get upset about that.

RE: What are you guys actually thinking?

I bought mine based on the factors of ease of access to scenes, longevity compared to tape (i.e. they don`t wear out), improved picture quality, improved sound and less storage space. Its nice to know that your favourite films will still look as good the next time you watch them. Oddly enough, I never bought that many commercial tapes unless I could get them cheap. Consequently, I now have more DVDs than I ever had tapes.

Extras don`t often influence what I buy. I`m more concerned that its a film I want, that the transfer is good and that I don`t pay 20 quid for it. However, I have to say that some of the extras you get are very good, and I did buy the Fantasia set in preference to the individual films, solely for the extras disk.

RE: Encore 450 website goes live at last

Culloden!!!!???

That was before you were born, young Arthur :)))))

RE: 32

Cinemanomore,

Sound quality, etc. of a TV is not an issue for me as all my sound goes via an external Dolby Digital/DTS amp, so I don`t need it built in to the set. Plain nicam is sufficient. Therefore I was looking solely on picture quality, not features. The Panny has also had rave reviews and has great build quality.

I saw the Philips 329616 next to the PK20. Also the latest Toshiba and was able to play around with all three. I already have a Toshiba W/S and was expecting great things of the latest model, but was really disappointed with it. The picture looked processed however you altered it. (Not as bad as a JVC model also on display, though).

I`m not usually a fan of 100 Hz sets, but I personally found the Panny to be the best example I`ve seen and preferable to either of the others, but that`s just my view. We all see differently.

If I was Barton, I`d make sure I had a good look at all the sets I was interested in, using the various reviews, and opinions offered, as a guide, and would then choose the one that suited me best, be it for picture quality, or features, or both. I certainly wouldn`t buy a TV based solely on reviews and/or opinions alone.

RE: AIWA 370- does not officially rock !!! - lecson 900 does

Without getting into one of those pointless, mine is better than yours, arguements, and taking my cue from Jimbo`s objective and restrained response :) I`ll stick my two-pennorth in.

The Aiwa is a good machine and its good to see a Japanese brand at the budget end of the market that does what it does. I also have an LG player that I rate highly, and as the Aiwa seems to be an LG clone (or is it the other way round) then I`d expect it to be good in the picture department, so I`m surprised that dilbert preferred the Lecson, but really rather chuffed. I reckon the Lecson is excellent, though I have no doubt of the quality of the Aiwa, but having got the Lecson, and being easily pleased :)) there`s no point in me changing.

It is a Wharfie in another skin, which is hardly surprising as Stan Curtis is the man behind Lecson and was the Head of Wharfedale when the 750 was introduced, but I`d argue that it is not 100% identical (leaving aside the decoder issue) as it seems to handle some disks that the Wharfie doesn`t. I had no probs with Gladiator Disk 2, for instance.

Yes, the disk drive is noiser than other players, but doesn`t bother me as mine is some 10 feet away from me. I also wouldn`t dream of playing CDs on any DVD player if I wanted any kind of quality, so thats not a problem either as far as I`m concerned. I`ll also agree the setup graphics are basic, but does that matter? It is at least easy to use and I don`t buy a DVD player to watch the setup menus. If I want loads of glitzy graphics to do a simple job, then I can just use this computer and Mr. Gates` software :))

I will also admit that the remote is pretty grot, especially the colour (Urghh!!!!). In fact, its bloody awful to look at, but the most used buttons sit pretty well under the fingers and that`s what counts. As Jimbo says, how we perceive picture quality is a very personal thing and at the end of the day, if you are happy with what you have got, then stay with it.

RE: Anyone heard of Helios?

Only Helios brand I know off is a French company who produce a range of CD players which are pretty good.

Fantasia Three Disk Set

Having returned the Region Two version of the above because Disk Three wouldn`t play on any of my players, I`ve just got the Region One set and thought the following info would be of interest.

No problem playing Disk Three.

The Region One set has a DTS soundtrack as well as Dolby Digital.

The layout of the Region One set is totally different to the Region Two set. Whereas, on the Region Two set, the extras disk is shoved in a case with Fantasia 2000, all three disks in the Region One set come in individual cases. You also get a booklet and a "route" map through the extras disk.

One the Region Two set, the Clair de Lune piece is an extra on the Fantasia disk, but it is solely on the extras disk in the Region One set. This is because both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 have commentaries on the Region One set that are not on the Region Two.

More importantly, the Region One version of Fantasia is different to the one on Region Two!!!!

Region One has the complete, original film as shown on first release, including the intermission half-way through which finally makes sense of the "jam" session that takes place in the orchestra part way through the film. It always puzzled me as to why they were tuning their instruments at that point. In the original, it is because they are tuning-up after the intermission.

The Region One version also includes all of James Deems` introductions which are longer than I had previously seen. The Region Two version is identical to the VHS release with much of Deems` intros cut. I can only presume that this is the version of the film as issued for European cinema goers.

The question is, why are the Region Two and Region One releases so different? Yet another example of Region Two being short-changed?

This item was edited on Sunday, 14th January 2001, 22:36

RE: Lecson 900 + The Matrix

I haven`t got the Matrix, but layer change on my Lecson is usually pretty quick, not as quick as Aiwa and LG players, which are very quick, but not normally as long as yours seemed to take.

RE: 32

I go with trainerandy. The PK20 is a great set and has the best remote ever. I checked one out the other day and the geometry is spot on too. Got one on order. Can`t wait for it to arrive.

RE: 32

Haven`t seen anything about the Panasonic model you mention, but have seen, and read the reviews, of the PK20, and its the best 100 Hz set I`ve seen so far. Bit limited on features, but the picture is superb.

RE: Help Me Connect My DVD Please!!

Ratboy,

you`ll need to connect the Digibox to AV1 on the Toshiba as it really needs to use the RGB socket.
Connect the VCR socket of the Digibox to the AV2 socket of the VCR. Connect the AV1 socket of the VCR to AV2 on the Toshiba for playback.
If the DVD player`s scart ouput can be configured for s-video, connect it to AV3 on the TV. If the scart cannot be configured for s-video, check and see it there is an s-video output on the DVD player. If there is, connect that to the s-video input of AV3 on the TV.
Connect the coax digital output from the DVD player to the digital input on the TV.

Hope this helps.

RE: WHAT IS THAT I SMELL ITs**************** ANOTHER FRYED ENCORE

Smiffy,

As a non-encore owner I reckon you are well out of order.

Are you, by any chance, an exiled ex-DVD Debate forum member?

If you had been on these forums for any length of time you would know that Clayts rarely mentions the Encore, compared to the way other players get touted on this forum, other than to pass on info useful to other Encore owners, He is also tends to take a pretty realistic view as to its weaknesses as well as its strengths. Nor is he afraid to recognise the value of other players, e.g. the Aiwa 370.

And, to paraphrase your own rather strident words, some others of us on this forum would like to see a lot less of people slagging off other forum users, be it personally or through a mouthpiece. We`d also like to see and end to people SHOUTING in the mistaken belief that it makes what they say more important.

The forums are for all users. If you don`t like what Clayts has to say, them simply don`t read his posts. That way you and your mute m8 won`t get so upset and throw your toys about.

This item was edited on Friday, 12nd January 2001, 00:03

RE: Lecson Pin 8 & Anamorphic w/s DVD`s

My Lecson seems to work correctly with anamorphic DVDs on my Toshiba widescreen.

The Lecson is set to either 16:9 or 4:3 in the setup menu for whatever type of TV you use. As far as I am aware, changing the settings there won`t affect how anamorphic DVDs are displayed. If it didn`t display them correctly, you`d have to change the picture settings on the TV itself. I`ve never had to do that, though I did have to with my Schneider 810 DVD player I had before.

Hope this helps.

RE: Robert Shephards SIte News Article!

I agree with Jimbo and Dukey.

Save the Bear!

Just tone it down a bit and stay on the forum.

This item was edited on Thursday, 11th January 2001, 23:02

RE: Go out and see the eclipse!

Crap in Sussex. Nothing but cloud. Wasn`t bothered though as there were no extras. Bet the Region One version had a directors commentary :)

RE: hmmmm

My order for the Region One Fantasia Three Disk set has been "processing" since the 29th December. E-mailed them last night to complain at the delay. Looked tonight and, lo and behold, it has now been posted.

Looks like they need reminders!!!

RE: OK, SERIOUS

Go for it Jimbo, and keep posting. Wouldn`t be the same without you.

RE: Question on dolby digital and Yamaha DSP-E800

Clayts!!!! Don`t do it!!! Not with a saggy wallet problem. It`ll make you want to go and buy one :)))))

RE: Can anyone help...?

"What I want to know is whether or not I can get a decent player from a reputable company like Sony, Yamaha, Pioneer, Toshiba etc that decodes DTS and is multi-region in the UK for 200 pounds?"

The answer is no, and especially not if you want a decoder built in. You`d need to go up at least another £100 and get one ready-modified or have it modified afterwards.

As to buying a Region 1 player, there are a number of problems.
1. You`d need a step-down transformer as the US power supply is 110 Volts, not 230-250 as it is here.
2. It won`t have Scart sockets as they are a European connection. The Yanks use component video, so you`d have to get a lead made-up.
3. If your Sony TV is old, then the chances are it is PAL only, so you`d need a DVD player that internally converts NTSC to PAL60. There are a number that do, but not American ones. So, if you buy your US player, you`d probably have to buy a new TV. Most of the ones sold today will work with PAL or NTSC signals.

RE: Lecson Region One jitter problem. Help!

Even better, set it to Auto and the Lecson will detect whether or not the disc is PAL or NTSC and switch to the appropriate format.

RE: A thought on the opinions on DVD players in this forum

Shame Microstar has gone, but then working the hours he does I`m surprised he had time to be here in the first place. Why is it the people likje him think that they are the only people who work their b******s off? Seems the attitude is that if you own, you work, if you`re paid you`re just a bloody untrustworthy skiver!

To get back to the original point on this thread. Yes, I could buy a Sony or a Pioneer and I`d expect to get a better picture, quality of build, etc. But, just as with Hi-Fi, the higher you go, the more you pay for smaller improvements. If any of us on these forums won the lottery, then sure, we`d probably go buy top-of-the-range DVD players. Might even buy a genuine Region 1 player as well to make life even easier. But, people on these forums are not rich. Apart from, apparently, Microstar, we are not all rich enough to be paying huge taxes, let alone buy the top players. So we go for the best we can get within our budgets, and we go for features as well. That is why I own a Lecson and not a Panasonic RV20.

And, no, we are not all blinded by our love of the machines we own. The reason I bought the Lecson is because I knew the Schneider 810 I had wasn`t good enough, but it does make a useful second player where the critical senses are less demanding. The Lecson is good enough for me (I am easily pleased), and suits my requirements. And, for the price of one Sony, or Pioneer, mid-range machine, I have two, which while not as good as the top brands, are still a darn sight better than VHS.

RE: FANTASIA 3 DISCS

The mouse-eared fools at Disney do not care less if their disks don`t play on our cheapie players for two reasons.

1. They`ve already sold you the disk and by blaming the manufacturers of the players they are still getting their money.
2. Region 2, or any other region for that matter other than Region 1, means nothing to them. The good ole US of A is where the market and the money is. Europe, and the UK in particular, are just side shows that make them some money, but are also often more trouble than they are worth.

Hollywood was not very keen to support the Region 2 market in the beginning and still only regards it as secondary to the US market. That`s why we have regional coding in the first place, to protect the US market. Its purely a matter of commerce.

Excuse me if I sound somewhat cynical :))))