Info and forum posts by 'SheepDip'

RE: Stuck for ideas for a "witty" message on a "Sorry your leaving card"

Well I once signed a leaving card with the phrase
"Just p*** off"

RE: "Stealth taxes" - How many more in the pipeline ?

Excellant idea.
In some areas, people are unable to buy their first home due to the activities of the buy to let brigade. They cause the prices to rise above the affordability of first time buyers, and these same first time buyers are then forced to rent - more often than not from the buy to letters, thus they are lining the pockets of the people who are in effect denying them from getting their first home.
I suggest selling a buy to let property is made subject to a high capital gains tax. On top of this, these properties should be subject to business taxes, not normal council tax.
Lastly, the Tories once won an election by promising the "Right to buy" off the council. Labour could do the same by granting the right to buy to the tenants of private landlords.

That should be enough to curb this selfish behaviour. The "me me" attitude of the buy to letters is disgraceful.

RE: Disney To End Traditional Animation

Zenza, you can`t compare Miyazaki`s work (And a huge proportion of Japanese animation) to Di$ney.
Studio Ghibli et al pee on Di$ney from a great height in quality and "storytelling".

RE: Hero R3

I think an extended version of this film would not be a good idea. It`s quite a "slow burner" as it is, and IMO is just about right. Lets not forget that often things are cut for a reason.

Incredible film by the way. I think you could almost frame every shot and put it on your wall it`s that beautifully filmed.

RE: Frankin Mint to sue the Diana fund

Quite right - as already said, if this charity was well run then it wouldn`t have been stupid enough to sue Franklin Mint (Isn`t that the company thats always trying to sell tasteless rc[at]p on the back of the TVTimes?).
Seems they have brought it on themselves through stupidity and their incapability to handle charity funds correctly.

RE: That Rick Stein has got a lot to answer to...

Cornwall used to be one of the poorest parts of England. It may not look it - ie few areas of industrial dereliction like in say Widnes in Lancs - but with an economy reliant on tourism it was hardly booming.
Now with such as Stein pushing up prices in the local economy of Padstow (A place I avoid when I`m down there partly for that reason), house prices in general rocketing, it looks more prosperous - but how much of that I wonder is benefitting the locals?
One of the furthest outposts of England.

RE: Lurkers

Suppose I`m one really. I just hardly ever log on any more.

RE: Argh, first wasp of the year in the house, buzzzzzzzzzzzz

If you get a large wasp in your house at this time of year (Or earlier), then almost certainly it is a queen. This will have been hibernating over winter, she will have been fertilised last year and will now be building a nest from where she will lay 1000`s of eggs and produce 1000`s of the evil things.

Swat one of these and you stop one nest being built. You stop dozens of people being stung, save many people being hassled when sitting out in the garden. One small gesture with a rolled up newspaper touches so many people. Think about that.

RE: biggest shock death?

Actually, as a kid I was quite shocked when Kenobi got killed in the original Star Wars (Hey I was a kid - ok!)

RE: biggest shock death?

Quote - Leon in the end of Leon (The professional)

Oh thanks, I was about to watch that for the first time this weekend ;)

RE: region 0 discs from usa

Pleased to hear it. RGB is usually the best picture all round, doubly good that it solved your NTSC prob.

Happy viewing as they say.

This item was edited on Thursday, 29th May 2003, 18:28

RE: 24 DVD release date

Sounds good - will be looking forward to that one. Just hope Fox do better packaging than series 1 - that was flimsy and pretty bad.

RE: Who here thinks Labour - and Tony - will remain in power for a third term?

Unfortunately, the Tories are still a shambles, and are not an effective opposition.
This country at the moment might as well be a one party state. If we had a decent opposition, then Blair would be in deep deep trouble the number of cock-ups his government have made.
For sleeze Labour make the Tories look like the Puritans, but with no decent opposition - what can he do wrong.

RE: Whats your stance on Europe/The EU?

We were conned into Europe by Heath and his like who withheld information about what Europe would eventually really mean. We would have been much better off staying out and continuing our world trade with our real friends, but we didn`t - and now we have to live with that. Coming out of Europe now would be very difficult, and the only party who have recently been for that - the Labour party - got a well deserved beating when under Michael Foot they put this into their manifesto.

Blair is about to sign away more power to Europe, and unlike many European states, he refuses to let us the people decide on this in a referendum (He knows full well his point of view would lose).

We have a choice - if we like it - all well and good, if we don`t - then vote him out the next chance we get. When all`s said and done - we get the government we deserve, if we don`t vote for what we believe in, then we have no right to complain.

RE: region 0 discs from usa

PAL auto - hmmmm

It sounds like your DVD player uses this setting as "auto" - ie it will play PAL as PAL and NTSC as pure NTSC.

There are two alternatives - both should work -

1 - Set your DVD to output PAL60, also called pseudo-PAL. This is basically PAL colour with NTSC line structure. I`m not sure what the setting will be in your DVD players menu for this - have a look in the manual - it should be there somewhere. It MIGHT be in - setup - picture - PAL/AUTO - set this to PAL. If this isn`t right - it will come up with an error message when you try to play an NTSC disc - in which case simply change it back to AUTO. (You might have to turn it off and on again for the setting to work)

2 - Actually the better option - output your signal as RGB. You need to make sure that your scart is plugged in to your TV`s RGB compatible scart socket (Usually it`s scart number 1 if there is more than one scart socket), then in the menu - select RGB. (setup - picture - you have the options of PAL/s-video/RGB - select RGB, if your TV accepts RGB you will notice an immediate picture improvement)

RGB is accepted as one of the best ways to view DVD`s.

Hope this works and your problem is solved. I don`t think there is anything else I can suggest - but this really should solve your problem. To be honest, if this doesn`t work - it could be an excuse to get a new TV. Let us know how you get along anyway.

RE: What`s the best home cinema for £200?

Don`t Richer Sounds let you take their goods back if they`re not suitable? If so you can exchange this.

Sorry if you already know this - just a thought.

RE: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea R1 Should I buy it?

For the R1 vs R2 picture quality arguement thing - it`s the old NTSC vs PAL debate which every so often raises it`s ugly head on here and other forums -and always provokes furious debate, but never leads to a conclusion.

Basically America uses NTSC for their television, Europe uses PAL. PAL in theory has a little bit more resolution (Picture detail you could say) than NTSC - but you`d be hard pushed to notice to be honest.
NTSC has as part of the spec more noticable line structure (Horizontal lines that make up the television image) This bothers some people (Me included)
The important thing is not so much resolution between the two formats, but the mastering. There are many examples of a disgusting master on R2 and a brilliant one on R1 - thus the R1 picture is much better than the R2. It`s said that R1 masters tend to be better on average due to America being a huge market and they take the care on their releases - but this is a very argueable point and people will disagree on here about this no doubt. Also don`t forget - one region can be anamorphic whilst the release in the other region can be non-anamorphic, the anamorphic should be the one to go for every time.
NTSC also plays the soundtrack at the correct speed. PAL is speeded up - some people can tell this (I can) most can`t. Sound therefore will always sound better with NTSC - but as I said - most people can`t tell the difference.

Can I also say that your opinion of PAL vs NTSC will be formed according to how your TV handles NTSC. Our televisions are designed to handle PAL as standard - NTSC is an extra and some TV`s handle it stunningly, others are a bit ropey with VERY visible line structure and distorted images.
Don`t forget - the way to go with all DVD`s is to view them with the best output - this in most cases is RGB through a good quality scart. Using RGB should make R1 and R2 look identical for colour.

Best thing I would say, if you haven`t seen any R1 discs in action is to get one, see how your TV gets on, and if you like it - there you go. If you don`t -don`t get any more.

Hope this is of help

RE: region 0 discs from usa

You say the picture is "unstable" but give no further details. From that I`m guessing that the picture is scrolling - this sounds like your TV won`t handle 60hz signals very well.
Most new TV`s will handle NTSC (60hz) as standard, because let`s face it - the use of NTSC in DVD`s and games is becoming pretty widespread (Even some DVD`s released in this country are NTSC).

I`m guessing your TV is either quite old or is say a Matsui? If it`s a Matsui you may have a horizontal hold button on the back - you could try adjusting this to stop the scrolling. Matsui`s are one of the few TV`s I`ve heard of that don`t handle NTSC.

If this isn`t the case (If it`s black and white or something - that is a common but very easily corrected problem with NTSC), then post the details on here and myself or someone else may be able to give further assistance and get this sorted for you :)

RE: So are Sheff UTD already promoted?

It`s great to see Wolves back in the top flight. A sleeping giant has awoken as so to say (Now how about Preston North End and Blackpool making a comeback)

And Jason - it`s not right to say Sheffield United are the only good team in Sheffield - Hallam under 11`s are pretty good! ;)

RE: DO the BBFC listen to commentaries before certifying?

Regarding Bridget Jones Diary, I wonder if the BBFC do listen to commentaries. In that film, they cut out the c-word, but forgot to check the commentary sound track, where it could still be heard in all it`s uncut glory.

RE: Falkirk denied entry to the SPL

That`s disgusting - and a slap to the face of the real soccer fans who support clubs like Falkirk (As opposed to the glory hunters supporting clubs I hardly need to name)

We have a similar kind of favouritism down here in England - it`s where a referee will keep the match going until Man Utd score;)

RE: friendsreunited.co.uk rose tinted spectacles...

Quite agree. So many teachers treated us as kids like crap. They whinge about not being respected - well respect IMO should be earned not demanded.
It seems that on FR there was a chance for us all to have a moan about the bad teachers there were - and have a bit of payback in that way for the mental abuse some of them were all too willing to dish out. Oh but the teachers can`t take that can they. Yes I agree that libellous comments about alcoholism or worse should be removed - but other harmless stuff about what a barsteward Mr Morrison was should stand. They gave it out willingly enough - they should take the rough with the smooth - failing that they should realise that if they treated kids with respect then those kids wouldnt hate them. There`s so many teachers who were liked on FR - doesn`t it occur to the others why this is.

RE: The reason CD-WOW are being sued

So I`m a pirate - Arrrrr Jim Lad!

CDWow are one of the best companies around for prices and customer service. If the rip-off merchants manage to shut them down, well I`ll still import CD`s from other companies - Canadian ones - still cheaper than here. They won`t win.

Right - I think I`ll just log on to CDWow and rob the rip-off companies of some more revenue which they haven`t been able to milk off me.

RE: CURRENT ACCOUNTS- which are the best 1`s?

Halifax Plc seems to be the best around. Pays decent (For a current account) interest, free overdraft for the first £100, free internet banking from where you can pay bills and transfer money amongst other things. They seem to be going all out to get customers from the likes of Barclays, Lloyds - who seem poor in comparison - and this can only be good for the consumer. That`s who I`m with anyway for my banking. Choice is yours really.

RE: William Hague

Let`s not confuse the Mirror with a newspaper. That rag is only fit to line the cat litter tray.

RE: Empire`s 100 DVDs you must own

I have ID4 and have owned a copy since it came out in R1. Yes it`s a total no-brainer, but sometimes that`s a good thing. Who wants to think all the time.
Now why ET is in that list I don`t know. I can only thing the compilers haven`t watched it since they were kids. It has not aged well at all IMO. It`s full of terrible acting (Yes they`re only kids but they could be better) Under adult scrutiny the storyline makes no sense it just staggers from one washed-out misty scene to another. Adults used to cry in the cinema at this - adults would now be justified in crying if they spent good beer money on this DVD.
Ok - I`m sure loads of ET fans will now flame me for daring to criticise one of the great movie holies. I wonder though if this is one of the "emperors clothes" in that no-one dares point out how bad it is because we`ve all been told it`s great for so long.

RE: Howard Bloody Wilkinson

Could have been worse - could have been Alan (Mr Relegation) Ball!
Whatever happened to him?

RE: Gareth Gates

Anyone with few exceptions (IMO) can be trained to sing, few have the talent to write songs. Gareth Gates, Will Young, the likes of Steps, Atomic Kitten, how about writing your own songs instead of ripping off the talents of others.

RE: Sky Digital

Everyone I know who has ITV digital, has it - not because its better than Sky (I`t`s no where near as good), they have it because dodgy cards are freely available - ie they`re getting it for basically nothing!
I don`t have ITV digital because I`d rather pay for decent digital not get rc[at]p for nothing - but that`s me.

On a different note - I had an engineer out today to re-align my dish (Not official Sky engineer - cheaper!!) and he agreed that Grundig boxes were prone to failure, also that in his opinion Pace were the best.

RE: Just got my sky+ installed!

Hi Dolby Freak - I`m told you only HAVE to have the phone line connected for a year after getting the subsidised box (This is so you have the option of buying stuff from Open - they subsidise the boxes in the hope that you will use Open) After that the phone can be disconnected.
Someone at work says the phone line is only used by Sky to download billing details of Boxoffice events - (she says she connects the line, orders the film, disconnects the phone and never gets charged ! I don`t know if this is true because I don`t use or care about Boxoffice)
I`m also told from a previous posting on this forum that it doesn`t harm the box by not being connected to the phone.