Info and forum posts by 'Rich Lansdowne'
This user hasn't used our main site yet, so has no main account at present.
Joined on: Friday, 24th November 2000, 15:35, Last used: Friday, 24th November 2000, 15:35
Access Level: Harmless
About this user: Senior Integrated Circuit designer.
This user has posted a total of 7 messages. On average, since joining, this user has posted 0 messages a day, or 0.01 messages a week. In the last 30 days, this user has posted 0 messages, which is on average 0 messages a day.
Recent Messages Posted:
Can`t play Stuart Little
I have just bought a new Philips Q50. I am pretty happy with it in general. The problem is my kinds like to play the `game` on thier Stuart Little (UK, R2) disk. My old DVD player used to play it fine. The Q50 bombs out to the disk menu every time you answer a question.
I clean the disk- no difference. I borrowed a band new copy of the disk and no difference.
Anyone offer any help?
Thanks, Rich.
RE: Why is component video better than RGB?
So.... in my setup I have a Philips DVDQ50 driving a Philips 32PW9616 (builtin 5.1). The same bunch of boys designed the chips in both boxes so it will probably make not an ounce of difference either way!
I guess that I will just make sure I put a decent quality scart cable between them and leave it at that. Which sounds a whole lot easier than wasting hours groping around behind the TV buying loads of cables & driving my wife crazy whilst she wants to watch East Enders, Holby City, or Casualty anyway!.... in fact why did I just buy a new DVD player?
Why is component video better than RGB?
I read that component video is better than RGB.
Where am I going wrong here?......
In the back of the tube we need to generate 3 signals, Red, Green & Blue. If we supply those exact signals, then the TV or other display has to do almost no work at all right?
If, however, we supply those signals in a different format, then surely they have to be processed back again into R, G & B.
Soooooo..... what exactly is component video and why is it better?
I know this is a bit geeky, but I am interested to know what I am mis-understanding.
RE: Here it is again ;-) Which DVD player!
The only reason to have Macrovision is for copy protection.
Stop reading here if you don`t want ot get bored..... else......
Macrovision is the name of a company who developed and patented a way of screwing up a video signal such that it plays on a TV but knackers a VCR trying to record it. I won`t go into boring details on how it does it, but in very basic terms, the TV works using a kind-of averaging method of locking onto several parts of the signal including things like brightness, colour and line syncs. The VCR samples many or these things much more instantaneously. The Macrovision system temporarily alters some of the details of the signal so that if you look at the average it is not changed (much) but if you look at some particular points in time then they may appear different. There are a number of changes (or processes as Macrovison call them) & each one designed to attack a different bit of the signal processing.
The net effect is that most VCRs on the market will be caught by at least one of the applied processes. With a Macrovision protected video tape then the signal is embedded into the tape and has to be `removed` by some processing system in order to recover the original signal.
With DVD players, the Macrovision signal is not present on the DVD picture but is actually generated by a chip inside the DVD player (like it is in TV digi-boxes). Each one of the Macrovison processes has some parameters and the DVD disk just contains these parameters. In order for the DVD player to become `VCR friendly` then the Macrovision generator needs to be disabled or bypassed. This is achieved, if possible, in either hardware or software depending on the machine.
If it can be disabled in software then this is probably pretty simple (like a remote hack), if it is not, then it will depend entirely on how the chipset is put together as the generator may well be embedded deep inside another chip.
How`s that for boring nitty gritty?
RE: Any recommended budget players to play VCD`s?
OK, this is a bit off-topic, but I have a Sharp VL-PD3. It has now been superseded by the VL-PD6. The VL-PD3 is great, cheap, good picture, small but a major gripe I have is no external mike option. The VL-PD 6 has this fantastic `zooming` mike which is worth a great deal. The other thing is the mine will work in low light but not no light- not really up to too much `spying`.
So..... are you planning to make VCD`s?
Rich.
Any recommended budget players to play VCD`s?
I own a mini-DV camcorder with i-link. I have just got a new Sony PC with an i-link port and DV-gate software etc & a CD-writer.
I have been told that with this PC set-up I should eb able to create VCD`s and play them on a DVD player. I don`t have any experience with VCDs so would be interested in any opinions on whether this is worth the effort.
Do most DVD players handle VCDs or are there very few?
Thanks,
Rich.
Schneider 810/Nokia TV wont play NTSC
I have an approx 6 year old Nokia TV and a new Schnieder 810 DVD. I have applied the region hack to the DVD. I have tried a couple of disks form Asia and the DVD will play them fine, but the TV has problems gaining vertical sync on the video signal.
I have tried the output on an older Philips TV and I know that the DVD is playing it correctly. In one of the menus on the Nokia TV is a selection of the colour system which is set to PAL. This menu setting is `skipped` by the firmware apearing to indicate that the TV is capable of syncing to other systems but it is deliberately not alowing it for some reason.
It is strange bacause I might have expected it to look OK but have trouble with the colour. However, the colour looks OK, but it can not gain vertical sync and just keeps rolling.
Does anyone know if ther is anything I can do about this?
Cheers,
Rich.