Info and forum posts by 'readmenow'

RE: How many rows can you get in a single excel spread sheet?

Depends on version of excel I think.... It`s a magic number though and in the case of Excel2000 it`s 65,536 (Excel5 and 7 were limited to 16,384)

Anyone bought a BENQ 17" LCD Monitor from Asda???

My local Asda has a tonne of 17" TFT`s (BENQ FP737s) for £149.99 and the spec seems appealing:

LCD Size = 17"
Resolution (max.) = 1280 x 1024
Pixel pitch = 0.264 mm
Colours = 16,2 million (with dithering)
Display Area = 337,9 x 270 mm
Contrast = 450:1
Max contrast = 500:1
Brightness = 250 cd/m2
Response time (tr/tf) = 16 ms
Input connector = DVI / D-sub

The DVI is the thing that really appeals but the display model only had one D-Sub connection. I asked the staff on duty but they had no idea what I was talking about. The BenQ site refers to a BENQ FP737s-D and the manual for that shows a DVI connection under a flap at the back of the monitor. The display version I saw did not have this flap and the staff wouldn`t open one of the product boxes..

Has anyone bought one of these from ASDA? Does it have a DVI connection. Is it any good.

RE: Best free wysiwyg web editor

:/ I`m a little confused...

If you can write good html why do you need a wysisyg editor? I don`t want to be argumentative but to refer to your analogy that`s like asking someone to tell you the time when you already have a working watch with the correct time :B

If the web page you are creating has lots of text, so what? Can`t you read it well enough in notepad? If there`s very little formatting then there`s even less need for wysiwyg as far as I can see. (can you tell I don`t like wysiwyg for creating web pages?)

If you must have wysiwyg then why not pick up an old copy of MS Frontpage 2000 from ebay for around 10 quid.... True it messes with imported code a little at times, produces some messy code itself and it`s not Dreamweaver but it might help if you`re too don`t want to continue coding by hand. It will handle the core components of IE 5 / 6 without being fully compliant and will handle style sheets and will let you edit any way you like... A decent option and better than any free products I bet as it has a familiar Microsoft feel...

I`m still confused though. What are the other wysiwyg editors doing to the html that you don`t like? How are you going about designing the page? If you want to avoid the html why do you care what the wysiwyg editor does to it as long as it looks ok? If you only want to use wysiwyg for text editing and already have your html for the rest of the page then you could:

[list=a]
[*] Just write it in notepad or whatever, tag the start and end of the paragraphs with whatever formatting you need (try a style sheet to handle the font, colour, size etc) and insert it all into your html which you have for the main page.
[*] Write it in word, save as html and just pick out the html relating to the text to put into your html for the main page.
[*] Use any old wysiwyg editor to type the text (who cares if it`s rubbish, you only want it for the text right?) and just pick out the html relating to the text to put into your html for the main page.
[*] Use a html editor to open your html, add the text using html and help preview the page realtime, preserve your exisiting `clean` code and allow you to use all the styles you want.
[/list=a]

I`ve not produced any web sites in html for a few years but I used to use a html editor called 1st page 2000 which has a handy split panel display (like Frontpage) so you can edit html and preview the page in real time. I remember it improved my html no end with it`s excellent html tag help guides and syntax checking. It`s available for free from Evrsoft

K.

This item was edited on Thursday, 23rd June 2005, 00:31

RE: Great lyrics.

Give me another drink Mister Bartender
If you don`t I`m gonna stick your dick in a blender
Cause I, woah I
I`m gonna drink til I die

All I wanna do is drink as much as I can
That`s why I`m a member of a heavy metal band
Cause I, woah I
I`m gonna drink til I die
I`m gonna drink til I die

Lager makes me happy, Vodka makes me mean
I`m a heavy metal drinkin` drivin` alcohol machine
Listen to me drinking, drink-n-drink-n-drink
Listen to me while I wail and scream AAAUUGGGHHH!!!

But I, woah I
I wanna drink til I die
I wanna drink til I die

I get up in the morning drink a bottle of gin
40 pounds of Lager and a Baby`s sham
Cause I, woah I
I`m gonna drink til I die
I`m gonna drink til I die

DRINK TIL I DIE by Bad News

RE: Best Rock band in the world ever......?

There`s some good tribute bands in the north east. I can recommend Powerage for all AC/DC fans. The best I`ve seen were called something like UTour. The whole band sounded exactly like U2 and dressed like the band circa Joshua Tree / Rattle and Hum but sadly the singer looked like Zed from Police Academy!!!!

RE: Comet - What a joke!

I had a sweet and sour experience with Comet online a while ago where my online order was cancelled via email 5 hours after I got my order confirmation. Without a phone call the next day I rang them to complain about not only the cancellation but about the lack of customer service. Just because I ordered something online to get a discount it doesn`t mean that I will put up with shoddy customer service. It`s clever cost cutting really, send an email for a fraction of a penny rather than make a call at significantly more and wait for the response! The email gave me no option but to call, had my card been debited? I didn`t have a clue.

Anyhow it turns out that they are more clueless than I thought. They gave me the option of delivering a product to store for me to pick up. When I pressed them to tell me why I could get it delivered to store but not to my home they admitted that they had no stock but my local store did. When I asked for an order number they told me my original web order was valid and just to take a print out to store.

So off to store and after an argument at the checkout over 1. the price (web offer not accepted in store) 2. the reserved nature of stock (no details of my order) I was told that as a sign of `good faith` they would complete my order as agreed with the web site (nice). So after a further 30 mins waiting for the warehouse guy to find the product I was given the item without a receipt and without signing anything.

Imagine my surprise when I got home and found that the product I received was a version which cost 3 times the value of the £100 item I ordered. I never received a receipt although my account was debited with £100 and the product has a manufacturers warranty so I didn`t care.

In my opinion Comet are OK in store generally but their phone / internet service leaves a lot to be desired.

RE: Sky remote transmitter type senders

I`ve just bought a cheapie from tesco for £39.97 and it`s fine, dodgy brand name but the boxes are neat enough and the units seem sturdy enough. Picture and sound are both fine and all the cables are included (the units have composite video and stereo left and right inputs which terminate at the TV as a scart plug). You can use a different cable to run from a composite output if you`re running short of scart sockets!

RE: JOHN LEWIS SPEND OVER £20 GET £10 OFF VALID TILL 31/12/03

Great link...Got Splinter cell for the Gamecube for £13. Cheers....

Gamecube top 10 less than £29.00 each

Mosy on over to Blockbusters and check out the gamecube top 10. MarioKart for £28.99 Tony Hawks Underground is £22.99. There is P&P to pay (1 item = £1.75 / 2 or more items = £2.99). The cheapest I`ve seen either of these online is £29.99 from Amazon although I`m not sure what they charge for delivery....

I guess the prices may be honoured in some stores. Can`t hurt to check. I`m off to my local today to see if I can pick up a copy of double dash.

Anyone played the new Tony Hawk game? Any good?

RE: Free PC but there is a catch!!!

The free pc in exchange for online questionaire scam was suberbly executed. My brother in law applied when the machines were free. Looking around the net there were loads of fourms with success stories and as bogus as it seemed there were people like droogy`s brother in law getting free machines and many of them were shouting about it. My brother in law received a reply to his application saying that there was a shortage of the motherboards and processors suitable for the `free` machines but for £149 he could secure a better model with the questionaire still a requirement of purchase. Shortly after the cheque was cashed the company sunk without trace......

There is indeed no such thing as a free lunch!

RE: Richer Sounds extended warranty...........

I managed to take my Sherwood amp (£200) and Eclipse DVD player (£170) and got £185 to spend. Having taken out the extended warranty on my new purchases I notice that the guaranteed buy back is now `stepped` ie Half the value in the first year, a third in the second year and a quarter in the final year. Makes sense from their point of view as my eclipse is probably worth £15 second hand and they had to fork out £85. I still think that it provides a good deal for the customer. No complaints here!

RE: Sky radio station question!

aljar, I think you have Metro radio confused with Tyne Tees TV. Thanks anyway. I now understand how to add channels. The question is finding Metro FM. It`s not on the Astra Satellite page. I`ll keep looking.

Sky radio station question!

Hey there,

my friend has recently moved from Newcastle to Somerset and has left his NUFC season ticket behind. He`s moved to a none broadband area and webcasts on the Metro Radio site (Newcastle`s commercial station) are so busy that it`s difficult to get in on the action. nufc.co.uk are offering a season of webcast commentary for £20 but on dial up it hardly seems worth it.

Now I seem to remember that when Sky managed to broadcast ITV for the first time there were posts on this forum that described how accessing a system menu allowed you to select which ITV region you received.

Sky currently broadcast a number of radio stations in my mates area. Is it possible then to tweak the system to receive a radio station from another area or is the content delivered to the dish `local` in some way?

Any Sky engineers still browsing these forums? If it is possible would Sky object? Is there a breach of contract in any way? I don`t have Sky (fully paid up cable user) so I don`t have the foggiest.

By the way it`s a Panasonic Digi-Box whether that helps or not.

Cheers, readme :)

RE: So what movies HAVE you seen, that no-one else seems to have done

Somebody mentioned Restless Natives which was one of the first Lloyds Bank / Film Four script writers competition winners. It is a fantastic film but my poor old VHS copy is getting worn out. If anyone ever sees this on DVD please bear me in mind and post a message :)

More recently I have seen a pre-release of a film called Confidence with Edward Burns / Dustin Hoffman / Andy Garcia... It was very good, in the style of Things to do in Denver and Usual Suspects. Not as good as either but I think it will turn out to be a cult hit if only because it has an extraordinary number of swear words.

RE: Crazy for ditching seperates for DAVS550? Westy? Anyone?

Guys, thanks for the feedback. I have to agree with the comments about the DAVS550. It`s very poor indeed, mainly let down by the passive sub-woofer. After handing in my Sherwood Amp and an Eclipse DVD595 (both on the master care 50% buy back guarantee) I got a Panasonic SC-HT500 for £160. I demo`d the DAVS550, SC-HT500 and a JVC package along with a slimline Pioneer dvd,amp&speaker package and finally plumped for the panny. I accept the comments about the Aego`s but they were just a little out of my price range and RicherSounds don`t stock them (negating my trade in).

Anyway the guys in the Newcastle store were very helpful and also very wary of me dropping down from the dedicated AV amp to a `style` system. I chose the SC-HT500 in the end for a number of reasons, primarily because it sounds good. It`s subwoofer is a side firing unit which keeps things slimline and discreet and the speakers, whilst not little sexy cubes are tidy enough (remeniscent of the tall B&W speakers in this months What Hi-Fi) and please my wife no end in terms of space / clutter.

The SC-HT500 has a scart socket which meant no money was spent on new cables and I was delighted with the picture quality which in my opinion is more than a match for the Toshiba SD220e. Strangely for a relatively new product the unit does not have DPL2 instead plain old DPL is suplemented by a host of DSP modes (all of which I thought sounded better than DPL2 on the DAVS550). The SC-HT500 also has DVD Audio support as well as the ability to play DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD+R.

In day to day use I`ve been very happy with it (for today at least). For watching TV at relatively low levels I`ve not missed my old system a bit. I`ve tried a few films and been happy overall. Compared to my old system dialogue and action sequences are pretty close though soundtracks aren`t quite as convincing (such as the drums on the 20th century fox intro). However the sub reaches much lower than my Liberty 5`s, papering over the cracks in the midrange and scaring the missus sh*tless.

After a day`s use I`m sure that I can live with the compromise. It might have been more difficult if I`d had traded in a superb seperates system but as it is my old system was fairly modest and if anything was disappointing in stereo. Now I have acceptable surround performance from a system whcih suits my wife and the new lounge and I also have a healthy listening room dedicated to stereo.

Overall not as scary a transition as I thought.

This item was edited on Sunday, 27th July 2003, 01:11

Crazy for ditching seperates for DAVS550? Westy? Anyone?

I`ve currently got a Tosh SD220e, Sherwood RD6106 (Pro-Logic, DD5.1 & DTS) Eltax Liberty 5 Fronts, Symphony Centre and HT2 Bi-polar rears in a lovely 4m x 4m room. Trouble is I`m moving to a house with a 5m x 4m room which has a bloody fireplace and radiators which dictate that the TV is going to be in the corner of the room!

Here`s my dilema. The Eltax Liberty 5`s are pretty big and I`m having trouble in positioning them due to relatively tight space in the corner of the room either side of the 32" TV. This is causing problems when listening in stereo but I`m also having trouble convincing the missus that the big speakers should stay as the corner of the room looks `cluttered`.

So I`ve thought of trading in the Sherwood and taking advantage of RicherSounds offer on the DAVS550 thus making the speaker positioning a) easier and b) more discrete. Saving the rack space of the Tosh and the Sherwood would allow me to buy a smaller rack and improve the asthetics much to the pleasure of the wife.

I enjoy listening to CD`s and probably don`t listen as much as I`d like to as the TV`s often on so I`d re-use the Liberty`s in another room with an old amp and CD player and forget about stereo in the main room altogether.

I`ve heard the DAVS400 and was very impressed. How much better is the DAVS550? I can`t get a decent demo anywhere! I`m just not sure that it will be as good as my seperates, even though they are hardly top of the range. Has anyone taken this type of `backward` step? Any negative feedback on the DAVS550? My TV is pretty old and I`d probably run S-Video to Scart as my TV doesn`t have Component video inputs. Is it likely to be much worse than the Tosh picture wise? Any trouble with NTSC conversion?

Any comments greatly appreciated. If I take the plunge and find I don`t like it then I suppose I`ll use the 14 day return policy and get Marantz SR4300 and perhaps save some money for smaller speakers in the future.

Cheers,

readmenow

This item was edited on Saturday, 26th July 2003, 00:09

RE: Anyone work on an IT helpdesk ?

I`m an IT manager in a medium size business (500 or so employees). We developed a helpdesk in house using SQL server and .asp pages as many software packages were overpriced, overly feature rich and involved poor support agreements. If you aren`t lucky enough to have decent IT development resource try Network Associates Magic Total Service Desk. I`ve used it previously in a larger organisation and it works well though don`t expect it to come cheap as it is an enterprise sized tool.

One thing about helpdesks are that there are loads around. Get in touch with all the major players and some smaller ones and you`ll find them tripping over themselves to give you trial versions and little stress busting toys. If you are in a larger organisation you`ll probably get invited to loads of jollies such as track days and race meetings....

Go to google and search for help desk software, plenty to keep you busy :-)

RE: Whats your favourite movie quote?

Just had my weekly watch of fletch and had to add....

"why don`t you two guys go down to the gym and pump each other?"

RE: Whats your favourite movie quote?

For me it has to be...

"do you have a towel? My car just ran into a water buffalo!"

Fletch.

Chevy is god.

RE: best films ever

1. Fletch
2. Star Wars (A New Hope)
3. Restless Natives (wish it was on DVD)
4. Memento
5. Shawshank Redemption

RE: Whats the name of that scart lead that everyone use to recommend???

I checked out the site and the cable. £16 seems a bargain but look on the home page carefully and what do you see? There is a link to the self same cable for only £7 (£8.23 incl postage). It`s the exact same model
B-tech XV21R-1M5. See for yourself....

£7
http://www.beyondhifi.net/shopping/moreinfo.asp?ProductID=541
£12
http://www.beyondhifi.net/shopping/MoreInfo.asp?ProductID=407&CatID=100

Note: Using these links breaks the frames and loses the navigation bar usually on the site.

Does anyone have a case for a refund? I guess they can`t offer the same product at 2 different prices.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 14th May 2003, 00:03

RE: Lidl - £99 Surround Sound kit

I recently posted the following
http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=211&Thread=172680&Type=1
In the hardware section.

DD5.1 decoder built into sub, small surrounds. Reasonable sound for the price. Not a bad way into surround sound I reckon.

RE: Is Acoustic Solutions Surround package worth £99?????

I went to another currys store and they happily demo`d the system for me. It`s not perfect (no DTS) but it is pretty good looking and was surprisingly loud. It sucked a little with all but classical music but for a movie only solution I think its pretty good. When I consider that Richersounds has a Sony DAVS300 for £199 it doesn`t look such a bargain but for someone with a DVD player already and a medium sized room you could do a lot worse. I`m going to hook it up to my bedroom system tomorrow night. I`ll post the results then.

Is Acoustic Solutions Surround package worth £99?????

It`s in the title really

I`m going from Newcastle to Somerset to visit some friends in a couple of weeks to celebrate my best mates birthday. I was looking for a cool gift with no more than £100 to spend when I spotted an Acoustic Solutions DX333 decoder/sub/sat package at currys for £99.
http://www.currys.co.uk/store/martprd.dll/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1574655770.1050841922@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccadchlmelmkgcefecfgmdffgdfgj.0&page=Product&sku=677677&category_oid=-11142

I`ve been trying to get my mate into surround sound for ages but moneys tight as he starts up a new business. It also means that when I go to visit and we watch a movie I won`t feel frustrated at only hearing a stereo track.

It looks good but it only decodes DD 5.1 and the pains at currys can`t be bothered to set it up so I can hear it. I``ve checked the manual out at
http://www.acousticsolutions.net/product.asp?ID=97

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of the kit and whether anyone felt that not having DTS was a real disadvantage at the price. Other suggestions would be greatfully received.

Cheers

RE: Gamcube Racing Games. which is best?

I`ve borrowed Need for Speed 2 from a mate and was initially disappointed.

After giving it a second chance I cannot put it down. It`s an arcade racer rather than an F1 sim or a WRC game. What put me off at first was that coppers try and ram you off the road, detracting from the racing side of it.

Once you unlock further tracks and races this becomes less of a distraction as the coppers can`t keep up. You even get the chance to reverse roles on certain tracks where you are the copper trying to push the racers off the road. Think ChaseHQ crossed with Grand Turismo.

Massive fun but have unlocked all the tracks and nearly won all the races after only 3 or 4 hefty sessions.

RE: Page reloads like treacle

very slow for me too on telewest 1meg pipe! I have to agree that this is a very recent thing.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 26th March 2003, 21:30

RE: Gamecube with a free game and a memory card £78.99 from Argos!!!

Great spot! Bought one at the Washington Store yesterday. Stupidly Argos are selling the components separately and had none of the games in stock. I complained to the store manager and was told I could have any game from the catalogue to the equivalent value of the `free` game. Pity they only had Mario Sunshine in stock but I`m enjoying it. Seemed like good customer service to me!

RE: All for one Mosaic remote control £60

Pro`s: It`s very flexible, you can assign buttons, make macros, control all useful functions for multiple machines from one screen.

Con`s: It`s massive, the missus will never understand all the functions, stupid stylus is only accurate way of pressing buttons, screen is dull.

I`d spend an extra tenner on a Kameleon which is much more user friendly (eats batteries however) or get the e-pilot from Maplins for £60 (mentioned in the bargain forum and is the same as the Cambridge audio version from Richersounds). It`s less flexible but easier to use and a sensible size.

RE: Choice: Cheap Marantz 5200 or Pricey 4300????

Clayts, if they are ED or GR (or even PX - Part exchange) then they should be in trouble with advertising standards because they are not advertised as such.

Have a look at the ad......

http://www.hyperfi.co.uk/7856Page6.pdf

It clearly defines the PX/ED/GR nature of some of the product but many do not have this against the model name. If it does not have one of these against it then it should be sold as new. There is nothing to describe it as otherwise. I`d argue the toss if I were to try and order one for sure.

Having said that if you get a years guarantee does it matter?

This item was edited on Thursday, 20th February 2003, 20:49

RE: Choice: Cheap Marantz 5200 or Pricey 4300????

Clayts, I started writing an email but then felt tight for not going public. Hyperfi have the 5200 for £200 at the moment (and the 4200 for £150). It`s listed on the last page of the most recent hyperfi ad in what hi-fi.

Note - Hyperfi ususally sell graded returns or ex-displays but many of the products in the list have no indication that they are anything other than new so good luck.Hope they have some left!

I`m going to hold off buying until I can audition them both.