Info and forum posts by 'John Atkins'

RE: MICO Espejo R311. DVD Recorder. I have one. First thoughts.

Rassilon, thanks for the info about DivX and the Mico. I`m not after one myself but was asking because somebody else is definite that the boxes at Sainsbury`s have a DivX playback sticker on them.

John.

RE: MICO Espejo R311. DVD Recorder. I have one. First thoughts.

Can anyone confirm if the Mico DVD recorder (as currently sold by Sainsbury`s for only 99 pounds) can play back DivX?

I`ve been told the box definitely has a sticker on it saying it can play back DivX but none of the feature lists I`ve seen mention DivX. Perhaps it`s a recent addition to the firmware or perhaps this is a completely different version.

John.

RE: Sky+ Program Sizes

Quote:
However they are being broadcast originally, they aren`t taking up any more disc space on the DVD hard drive.

If you`re recording via scart (analgue, as I assume you are) then that`s not surprisng. The DVD recorder will be using its own compression to compress to the same size as usual. For example if you record a 2 hour program, it will always be compressed to fit a 2 hour disk regardless on the quality/size of the source material.

John.

This item was edited on Monday, 24th January 2005, 09:57

RE: Sky+ Program Sizes

Quote:
If you delete the programme then the disk space DOES come back, so it`s not the bug another poster mentioned.

I was talking about a specific way of deleting a recording that definitely does lose disk space unless this has been fixed in an update - I`m fairly sure it hasn`t.

John.

RE: Sky+ Program Sizes

I don`t know how the software works out the percentage used but this problem might be caused by a known bug in the software.

Are you aware that if you are recording a program and then press Record again in the planner followed by Delete to delete the partial recording, the space is lost forever until you do a full reset to format the disk? This lost space might lead to the calculation you refer to, using the reduced available disk size. I don`t know if a Planner rebuild sorts out the problem or if a full reset is required.

This problem does not occur if you do not press Record before Delete but simply Delete the recording from the planner while it is being recorded.

Whether this is the cause of your problem I don`t know, but it is still worth knowing about.

John.

RE: No sound - Except through DVD Recorder

These things can be difficult to solve remotely so you may have to get the guy back - especially as you`ve paid him. It would be good to solve it so you are up and running ASAP. It might be worth calling him in case nobody can solve it remotely. You can always cancel if we get lucky!

When you watch Sky and/or the VCR, what do you select on the TV? I can only assume you are watching them via the RF (aerial cable) which is looped through the Sky and VCR (and presumably now through the 420). This must be the way you are watching them on the TV in the kitchen. If your main TV is connected in this way, it could be that the TV is not properly tuned but it is unlikely it would affect all the channels in the same way.

Incidentally, if you are watching Sky and the VCR via aerial lead, you will not be getting stereo or the best picture. The ideal is to watch all of them via scart lead but TV`s normally do not have enough scart sockets on them. Clearly your 420 is conected via scart to the TV. When you press zero on the TV remote, it is cycling through all the External inputs (normally scarts). It would be good if the 420 is connected to one scart (say E1) and the Sky to the second scart (E2). Ideally you`d have a third scart to conenct the VCR to the TV but there is rarely a third scart. This is sometimes why the aerial loop though is used to view the VCR output.

If Sky is connected to the TV via a scart, a possible temporary fix to allow you to watch the tapes is to disconnect the satellite scart lead and connect the VCR to the TV via scart. When you play a tape the TV will show it on the same external input that Sky was on.

Sorry if none of this is any use. Perhaps somebody else has better ideas or more logicalk questions than me.

Feel free to come back with more details or findings.

John.

RE: No sound - Except through DVD Recorder

As WRabbit says it sounds like a scart lead (big 21 pin thing) is not properly plugged in. If you`re lucky, programs will have been recorded ok and the only problem is the scart from the dvd recorder to the TV. If you`re unlucky, it could be the scart from the source device (Freevew, satellite?) to the dvd recorder so it will have been recorded without sound.

Make sure all scart leads are plugged in properly and check the recordings. If they are silent, do a new test recording and check if that now has sound.

If that doesn`t help, give us a bit more info of what is connected to what and what you are recording from etc.

John.

This item was edited on Saturday, 22nd January 2005, 10:49

RE: TiVo, is it worth buying..........

Emily, I used to have a Tivo but gave it to some friends when I got Sky+. I wanted Sky+ for various reasons unrelated to Tivo and still think Tivo is a wonderful device. A Tivo has to be plugged into a phone line so that it can dial up overnight to get the latest epg. The epg is MUCH better than Sky`s. It is 2 or 3 weeks in advance and gives more detail.

You are correct that it is analogue input (via scart) so it can take Sky, Freeview.

> Does it have an EPG for all of the formats? That must be a nightmare to navigate around

There is one integrated EPG. I only had Sky at the time so cannot comment on how it integrates both Sky and Freeview. Normal analague channels appeared below 101 and Sky channels started at 101.

If the one you`ve seen is cheap and includes the lifetime sub, I`d say you cannot go wrong getting it for your parents. I`d say it is not quite as easy to use as Sky+ but is still very easy. As far as I know, there is no problem getting spares direct from Tivo but it is well supported on the web so I`m sure it is easily fixed if it ever goes wrong.

John.

RE: dvd writers / software ?

There`s plenty of software on the web to do this, such as DVD Shrink.

Most recent DVD writers should be ok but some DVD writers are better than others so I`d check out Plextor drives such as

http://www.plextor.com/english/products/716A.htm

I have an NEC ND-3500A which seems to work well.

This might be some help

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdbackup

John.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 19th January 2005, 10:47

RE: Liteon LVW 5005 is it worth getting?

boden01, thank you very much for the confirmation which I`ll pass on.

When I updated mine with the old ascii hex version, I just copied it to a disk and the 5005 read it correctly. I assume either the latest 5005`s can read either that format or pure binary or perhaps the latest ones only read pure binary.

If anyone knows, which manufacture date this version works with, that would be very useful. I have a web site containing the firmware for 5005`s manufactured before April 2004 and could add this version but if I do that I`d like to give details of which 5005`s it works with.

John.

RE: playing sky in 5.1

You`re correct. For some reason I read the original question as referring to Sky+

The original Sky+ box definitely has digital optical out and I`m 99% sure the later Sky+ boxes have the same.

John.

RE: Liteon LVW 5005 is it worth getting?

I don`t need this myself as I already have hacked firmware for my old machine. However a friend of mine has a recent UK 5005 for which he would particularly like the 3 hour mode. Could you please confirm that this version is ok in recent UK 5005`s?

The version I used was LNFB2063.D00 and I see this is a very different file name and is 1MB smaller than the version I used. Perhaps this version is pure binary and mine was perhaps "ascii hex".

John.

RE: playing sky in 5.1

You have to use the optical out to get the DD 5.1 and hence you also need an amplifer with optical in.

In my opinion this is well worth doing. DD 5.1 sounds much better than normal surround on my system.

John.

RE: Liteon LVW 5005 is it worth getting?

Elvis, thanks very much for the response regarding the defeat of MV. I`m sure I`ve seen people in another forum say it doesn`t work for them so perhaps it`s version specific. I`ll pass on the info to my friend but it`s a shame this does not provide the much sort after 3 hour mode! :) I`m glad my machine is old enough that I was able to hack it for 3 hour. A shame Liteon still don`t provide that but I suppose they need to differentiate the 5006 as much as possible.
John.

RE: Liteon LVW 5005 is it worth getting?

I have an early 5005 (Pre April 2004) so was able to obtain hacked firmware to provide the 3 hour mode and defeat of Macrovision. I`ve seen lots of people wanting these features on more recent machines and in particular a friend of mine would like the same. Could you tell me if you have found hacked firmware for 5005`s manufactured recently and if so where? Or did you buy a box to defeat macrovision?

John.