Info and forum posts by 'Rob E Taylor'

RE: XBox Live

I got my Live! kit on Friday, my broardband goes via an ADSL-Router box which provides the connection to all systems on my home network. This box provides DNS, DHCP, NAT and firewall in one box and I would highly recommend it. Anyway, the XBOX did not pick up an IP address from the ADSL-Router DHCP service, so I had to allocate it one and set the DNS too. After this, the connection has been fast and smooth. My kids LOVE Moto GP, and now I`ve got to go buy a full copy to practice on if I`m going to have any chance of catching the race leaders!
Really looking fwd to MechWarrior.

Robbyt

RE: 20:05 Channel 5

Of course they landed on the moon. Simple evidence proves they did....

1. The early missions took laser rangefinders units with them. These units have mirrors in them that have to be aligned to the earth. Since then we can now measure accurately (to about an inch) the distance to the moon by bouncing a laser off them.
2. Look at footage of the moon buggy used in the later missions, see the fine particles of dust kicked up by the wheels....If there was air then the particles would cloud, they don`t, they follow a parabola = no air resistance. Check the time taken to follow the parabola, gravity is 1/6th G = moon gravity. If an earth movie was slowed up to make the particles take their time, then the motion of the buggy would be too slow.

RE: where do I get DVD-R discs at a good price

Try www.bigpockets.co.uk they seem to do good deals on media.
Rob

RE: X box or PS2?

Would suggest you get all three if you can afford it! Why limit yourself!
Gamecube - cute and Nintendo do make some lovely games, however already some games being developed are going to come on multiple discs as the 1.5Gb GC disc is too small. I find the controller too small for my big old hands!
PS/2 - loads of games out there, I expect the price will drop too soon. It`s looking very expensive against the others for what it gives. Can be chipped for playing other region game discs (though it takes a VERY stedy hand!)
XBOX - lovely DVD playback! - smooth and detailed graphics, 5.1 digital surround sound, Hard disk!! that doesn`t get cluttered with huge game level files (unlike PC) - loads of room for saves. Games that range from crap (Fusion Frenzy) to outstanding (Halo). I know I`m going to get shafted for this - but I find the controller just the right size for me, I found that even my dreamcast controllewr was giving me cramp in the hands after a while - never get it with the XBOX controller.
Rob

This item was edited on Monday, 24th June 2002, 14:55

RE: How serious are you about your AV kit etc

I re-built my garage to a dedicated home cinema!
I had to do it as cheaply as possible as I had to be able to sell it to `she who must be obeyed`.
Made a little website of the whole process, so if your interested:
http://www.btinternet.com/~taylorre/cinema

Things to do next:
* Upgrade AVAMP with one that has s-vhs switching
*Replace rear speakers with dipolar ones
*Upgrade Projector and screen to a proper widescreen setup - prob. a re-built barcode tube projector with line doubler

Let me know what you think!

Robbyt

RE: Who has just bought the X Box??????????????????

Got Halo, DOA3, Project Gotham & Munch`s Oddysee and spent a fair few hour last night `evaluating` them.

DOA3 - What a blast, even faster and sweeter than DOA2 on my Dreamcast. The snow scenes are beautiful and when you jump down after an opponent, you feel almost giddy from the rush!

Project Gotham - Another update of a top class Dreamcast game (MSR). Graphics are a couple of notches up on the Dreamcast and the new Kudos rating method is fairer. Overall a top driving sim with the balance between arcade and simulation just about right. (and it`s great fun to blast around the London streets without having to worry about lights, cops, other traffic and speed cameras)

Munch`s Oddysee - cute, a farting alien! I thought that loading screens were going to be all but removed with the XBOX`s ability to stream to the hard disk in background, but there`s quite a few in this game. The graphics are beautiful, looking better than the pre-rendered scenes on the PX1 Abe`s Oddysee, but there`s evidence of `fogging` in the more open scenes which hides distant objects - not pop-up more fade-up.

Halo - Best till last, this is what will sell the XBOX, huge draw distances, good enemy AI, and a solid frame rate even when there is loads going on.
Walking about, I look down and noticed they had even rendered clumps of grass. In the night scenes, with your torch on, you can see the bump mapping on rocks and surfaces giving everything a another level of reality. You end up talking to yourself as you play this one, saying things like `want some more?` as you charge headlong towards an 8` gun toting, shield protected alien! Apart from really major scene changes, you don`t even see a dull `loading` screen, just a short message in the top left accompanied by a very quick `stutter` in the picture update. Blink and you`ve missed it.
Robby

RE: playstation 2 all green to me

That`s because it`s designed to do that! Part of Sony`s grand plan.

RE: Cheap portable DVD player at Tiny Computers

Tiny do have a few left at the price of £399.99, on Friday 4th Jan 12:30 they had 64 left of stock.

http://www.tiny.com/uk/product_accessory.asp?prod_id=730&cat_id=7&parent_id=4

Robbyt

RE: HELP Needed My VHS won`t record NTSC

I don`t know the M511 model, but it sounds like your VCR is hating the PAL60 signal your DVD is putting out.
I have a Samsung 709 and to get it to put out a PAL50 signal that the VCR does like I first have to use the handset hack to change the region coding, then use the hack to turn of Macrovision. Lastly I go to the menu option which says what TV I have - at the bottom I change the Pseudo PAL to PAL, this makes the DVD do a basic video-standards conversion and output a PAL50 signal !
Hope this helps
Robby

RE: Positioning of surround speakers

The DigiTheatre manual has loads of good advice about speaker positioning and setting delays etc. Even goes into detail about best speaker positions for odd shaped rooms.
It`s available to view/download at:

http://www.videologic.co.uk/Support/DigiTheatre/DigiTheatre_User_Guide_EF.pdf

You will need Adobe Acrobat viewer to be able to read the .pdf file.

Robby

RE: Help for Ferguson 400FE?

I found that it plays both DVD`s and VCD`s fine, automatically switching between modes, though sometimes it takes a long time to recognise a DVD.
I compared the player against my Pioneer 505 that`s in my cinema room, and apart from the static menu screens, which seem to be at a lower resolution, the picture was near identical. Much better than the Samsung 709.
It also manages to put out a pure NTSC signal when switched to AUTO in the picture menu which suits my Davis 450 projector just fine.
Robby

RE: Help for Ferguson 400FE?

I have the same player, the laser is not the right wavelength to play CR-R`s I`m afraid, so not hadset hack will help.
You`re lucky to have found a brand of CD-R`s thay plays at all.
However, it does play CD-RW`s fine.

Robby

RE: Cheap portable DVD player at Tiny Computers

Yes, looks like it`s been discontinued :-(
RobbyT

RE: Connecting DVD to an OLD TV

Keene Electronics sell video convertors that do this. They accept a video and audio feed and modulate it to feed into a normal arial socket. You will need a scart to phono lead to connect the DVD player to the converter. Prob. the best to go for is item KRFT, which has arial in/out connectors, so will still allow normal TV viewing.

www.keene.co.uk

Note:
if your dad has a video with twin scarts attached as well, then you may be able to use the video to do the conversion for you.

RE: What are the film moments for surround sound ?

Mission to Mars - bit of a crap film, but has one of the best sound `steering` sequences I`ve ever seen.
Cannot remember the chapter number, but it`s called something like "Go for landing" in the chapter selection screens.
You hear the Earth Space station commander giving the Go for landing order to the Mar rescue crew whilst the camera does a 270 degree pan. His voice travels right round the room - spooky!
Robby

RE: TRUTH ABOUT SEPT 11 2001

This is yet another example of an exaggerated, one-sided, bigoted dis-information.
Robby

RE: A Question for Rob E Taylor!!!!!

You`re welcome mate.
Robby

RE: A Question for Rob E Taylor!!!!!

Yes - any good electrical connection will sound perfect.
I`ve used £30 digital cables and half of a 99p audio phono lead I had knocking around - they sound the same as the signal is digital.
Robby

RE: Playing vcd cdrs

I`ve just tried CD-R`s and CD-RW`s in my 709, but it recognises neither :-(
Though both my Pioneer 505 and Ferguson DV400FE will play CD-RW`s fine though they both hate CD-R`s - go figure!
Robby

Cheap portable DVD player at Tiny Computers

Tiny have just reduced thier portable DVD player by £100. It`s now £399.99 - which can`t be bad!
web page with details:

https://www.tiny.com/uk/product.asp?prod_id=730

Multi-region details link on this page too.
Robby

This item was edited on Monday, 17th December 2001, 15:38

RE: Plasma screens - any drawbacks?

Most plasma screens also don`t have great black levels - due to a limited contrast range. The best I`ve seen seem to be the latest Pioneer ones.
They look cool though :-)

Robby

RE: CO-AXIAL OR OPTICAL??

You usually need to supply the lead. Many places will charge loads of money for low oxygen copper leads - but as I said earlier - ANY good connection will work.
I read an article in a HI-FI mag earlier this year where they did a test of sound quality passed by various digital leads. They ranged in price from about £15 to more than £100 pounds. There wasn`t any difference recordable! Just to prove a point, they also used a wire coat hanger as a lead, connected up to suitable connectors - and that measured exactly the same too.
So as long as the lead is a good conductor with decent connectors on the ends, then it will be fine. Don`t always believe the hype!
Robby

RE: CO-AXIAL OR OPTICAL??

Since the signal being passed from the DVD to the AV Amp is a pure digital one, it makes no difference as long as the signal is clean enough to be read by the AV Amp without errors.
All the fuss around as to which is better is a load of rubbish. Digital data either get through or it doesn`t, there`s no gradual degradation you get with analogue signals.
Robby

This item was edited on Monday, 17th December 2001, 11:54

RE: What player do you have, so I can work out the which players have sold the most.

Have Pioneer 505, Samsung 709, Ferguson DV400FE and the Tiny Portable DVD

RE: Rob E Taylor, where did you buy your DVD400?

Was the Safeway in Lake, Isle of Wight. I was taking a weekend break in Sandown and noticed their offer. Seemed too go a bargin to miss out on :-)

RE: DVD Racks?

Ikea do a wall mounted cabinet, looks very nice. Holds 150+ DVD`s and is called something like BERTBY (where do they get these names?).
Cost is £79, and like nearly all IKEA stuff, comes flat packed, but is simple to construct.
The only hard bit I found was getting the fixings on the wall to a) take the weight and b) straight so the cabinet didn`t lean.
Robby

RE: Ferguson DVD400 Got the hack - but plays disc in black/white?!? help!

I`ve got the Ferguson DV400FE, and I got the B/White on NTSC DVD`s.
Fix is to go into the menu option for the screen and choose PAL/G (i think) rather than the AUTO option.
It will then output in PAL60 format, PAL colour but at 60Hz. Since you got a stable B/White picture, before your TV will now show full colour!
Robby

RE: £100 dvd player - any suggestions?

I`m well impressed with the Ferguson DV400FE I got from Safeway. They had it going for £99.99 on special offer. Picture seems very clean and free from blockyness, and with the hacks (listed on this site) is multiregion (switchable to exact region required or 0 for most dics) and plays VCDs.
Won`t play CD-R`s or CD-RW`s though.
Currys have the player for £150 on their website at the moment, even at that price it seems a good buy.

RE: Dolby digital surrond sound bargain at Currys.

Remote control now claimed. If anyone needs to get spares etc in the UK, JBL distributers are:

Gamepath Ltd.
Milton Keynes
phone 01908 317707
fax 01908 322704

Ask for the spares department, they were very helpful to me.

Robby

RE: Dolby digital surrond sound bargain at Currys.

Speaker brackets gone.
Robby