Info and forum posts by 'Chris Muriel'

RE: Thomson Dp900t Portable DVD Player 9" av out problem

I can`t find a manual online but it seems that it only has an audio output - not video at all.
 Connectivity seems to be limited to audio out and USB only.

RE: what is Full HD?

The only normal Full HD content (i.e. 1080P) is Blueray disks and perhaps some games.
Digital TV (whether via satellite, terrestrial or cable) requires extra bandwidth to transmit 1080p making it currently rather expensive to implement both in terms of bandwidth and cost of transmission infrastructure to support it.

RE: Samsung HT-QX100

All I could find was this :
http://www.dvdreviewer.co.uk/Forums/Hack_Help/t575540/Samsung_HTXQ100_/page1

RE: Anyone know what the C.I. port does?

The CI (Common Interface) port is electrically/mechanically similar to a PC PCMCIA port and will accept CAMs (Conditional Access Modules) that are CI compatible.
There have also been some cases (pretty rare though) where a particular manufacturer has supplied a TV software upgrade via a specially loaded CAM.
For most people the CI slot is of no use whatsoever.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: Problem with old Bush CRT/freeview TV

Since it`s from the OnDigital era, the tuner will almost certainly not cope with the 8K carrier transmissions that Freeview is using post DSO.
It will be junk; the origianl DVB-T tuner chipsets were only 2K DVB mode compatible (in order to get them onto the market in time).

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: changing freq on bose personal music center II

Look for a Country option that you can change in one of the menus - perhaps "installation" , "setup" or "preferences".

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: HELP.... HOW TO RECEIVE FREEVIEW

That`s rubbish about the aerials.
"Digital aerials" do not exist, except in the minds of the uninformed or in marketing BS.
The propagation and reception methods are identical through the airwaves.
The frequencies used are in the same bands for both digital and analogue TV - UHF bands IV and V, approximately from 480-860 MHz.
For at least a third of UK users their old/existing aerial used for analogue TV will also work for Freeview. Because a location`s Freeview transmissions may be in a different part of those UHF bands, some folks need a new aerial optimised for the higher or lower frequencies used for their local Freeview service. In areas where digital switchover has happened, the Freeview transmissions are about 10 times (10dB) higher in power than in areas where both services exist simultaneously; if they went to full power whilst analogue TV was still active, the digital transmission would be likely to cause interference.
Depending on where you live, you may need a normal yagi (straightforward horizontal elements), a log periodic aerial (wideband) or a crossed yagi (X-shaped elements and consequently more gain). In some cases you might also need a masthead preamplifier.
Google "Wolfblane" and insert your postcode on the site, after which it will give you a better idea of what you need.
Here`s the URL : http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?

Chris Muriel, Manchester

This item was edited on Friday, 21st August 2009, 00:59

RE: can`t play region 2 dvd

I know Magnavox as a North American brand (part of Philips at one time).
So it`s probably set for Region 1

Chris Muriel, Manchester, UK

RE: Transatlantic Flight Bargains of the Year!!!!!!!!!

I would guess that this is because it`s not adding UK type taxes and surcharges.
Not sure what the score is legally though.

Chris Muriel, Manchester (UK)

RE: Freesat/Sky satellite dish

Same orbital position as for Sky; if it works fine on Sky it should be OK for Freesat.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: Infocus Projector £149.99 is this a bargain? Is it good for TV/DVD?

Not very bright but certainly a low price point.
Hopeless for presentations etc. from a PC as it seems to only 640 x 480 in PC graphics mode.
Suggest you have a good web search for reviews about it.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: Stone LM7W laptop, seems cheap enough....

Looks like a scam to me.
You can see registrant info at:
http://samspade.org/whois/www.oegcomputersales.com

Even the web-design link at the bottom isn`t a hyperlink!
Cyberzia (the claimed web designers) are based in the same area as the OEG site owner; their site looks ok (www.cyberzia.net).

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: Matsui DVDR100 DVD Recorder

How have you connected it to your TV or display ?
(SCART, RF, Component + separate audio, via separate surround sound amplifier or what ?)

What is the TV (or other interconnected equipment) make and model number ?

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: Help - Virgin media to dvd recorder - sound but no picture

It would be useful if you could post the make and model numbers of the equipments concerned and the type of connection you are using (e.g. SCART and RGB).

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: finalising **** up!!

Put the DVDs in a recordable DVD drive in a PC and you may well be able to read and finalise them.
If you can read them with a PC, you can at least recover the files and burn them onto another DVD at your leisure.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: freeview problems

Don`t change your washing powder ;) but I do suggest a new aerial (or antenna) and coaxial downlead.

Chris Muriel, Penang (normally Manchester)

RE: TV that recognizes both PAL & NTSC?

The vast majority of north American TVs do not support PAL.
Line voltage there is 110/120 volts, 60 Hz (versus Europe`s 220/230 volts, 50 Hz)

Chris Muriel, Manchester (but in Boston, Massachusetts next week & again in November)

RE: Acoustic Solution 19in Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV £149.99 at Argos

Pity that it seems to have only an analogue tuner - so would need external Freeview box
when local analogue transmissions cease.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: DVD Player that upgrades quality to HDTV

I don`t see how a DVD player can really "upgrade the quality"; I assume you`re referring to an upscaling DVD player (with HDMI output). It can`t produce extra picture information that wasn`t there in the first place though.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: OK you Clever People - RF Path Please

Correct, most Freeview boxes do NOT incorporate an RF modulator.
(What do you expect for 30 quid or less ?)
One common solution to that is to connect a Freeview box to a VCR SCART as most VCRs do contain an RF modulator.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

This item was edited on Monday, 12th February 2007, 00:09

RE: Sky or Freeview Abroad???? Help Needed?

The short answer is no :
Skycards will only work in a Sky digibox because Sky use an embedded encryption system (VideoGuard) for which a CAM (Conditional Access Module) is not available.

Chris Muriel, Boston , USA (normally Manchester)

RE: Sky Digibox Pace 2500S3 is good for what??....

It will only work on (DVB-S) satellite signals - which requires a dish and LNB.
With a dish and LNB (no card needed) it will receive FTA (Free To Air) channels on multiplexes that use symbol rates of 27,500 and 22,000.

If the dish is pointed at 28 degrees east, all the channels shaded in yellow here will be accessible : http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html

Chris Muriel (currently in Tel Aviv)

RE: How Do U Know If Your TV is HD Ready?

HDMI does not guarantee HD ready per EICTA compliance requirements.
DVI but with HDCP support is also acceptable.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: Why the differing volumes on different MP3 walkman headphones....??

Volume will vary depending on the output impedance of the player and the input impedance of the headphones. Maximum pwoer is transferred when the source impedance (player) is the same as the load impedance (headphones),
Also some headphones will have a higher efficiency in terms of electrical power in vs sound power out - not all transducers are identical.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: HDMI to DVI

Your question is impossible to answer based on the scant details supplied.
What make and/or part number were both cables ?
Do you have a link to them ?
Are they 1 metre long, 10 metres long or what ?
For distances above 10 feet or 5 metres (depending on who you talk to) it is worth going for reasonable quality because the frequency response of the cables can start to distort the signal due to "frequency tilt" (possibly fixable using equalisation) and result in bit errors.
Above 20 or 25 metres equualisation becomes essential.

RE: humax

They are actually a pretty well known Korean manufacturer (with a "screwdriver" assembly plant in Ireland).
Corporate website is probably www.humax.com.kr or something similar.
The appropriate (PVR) section at AVforums.com has lots of posts about them - only beaten by a model from Topfield.
They also make one of the 2 currently available MPEG4/DVB-S compatible satellite receivers (Pace are the other maker of these).

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: USB TV?

I have had 2, both of which worked well with a Dell D600 laptop.
One was a Nebula DigTV, the other was a Terratec Cinergy.

In either case you do normally need a decent antenna unless you are living in a very strong signal area (close to the lcoal Freeview transmitter..

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: Anyone getting poor picture on some sky channels.?

$ky use dedicated transponders for their high defintion channels (with DVB-S2 channel coding and MPEG4 encoding).
Therefore they would not be able to make any bandwidth gains by reducing bitrates on their non HiDef channels.
Yes they could be trying to make SD look shabby, I suppose.
If you have a PCI satellite tuner (no good for $ky) and steerable dish, you can check the bit rates with TSReader Lite (www.coolstf.com/tsreader, free download for Lite version) or other MPEG transport stream reader.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: Ronseal "No Rust" paint 75% off at B&Q

Thanks to the OP.
I just got 5 cans (for different jobs in different colours) at B & Q in Stretford (Manchester) marked as reduced from £3.06 to £2.
Not sure what the original shelf price was.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

RE: Hooked up Mac to HDTV... Advice needed please!!!!!!

In most cases hooking up a PC via VGA gives as good or better results in practice as using HDMI/DVI - even though one extra stage of digital to analogue conversion takes place in the VGA case.
HDMI tends to be harder to set up and also most display panels (incuding TVs) only have a limited or restricted range of resolutions in HDMI/DVI mode.
So, in a nutshell, I don`t think it would be worth the effort.
You should be seeing true HD as long as you set the video from the MAC to one of its higher resolutions.

Chris Muriel, Manchester