Info and forum posts by 'Simon Bovey.'

RE: please help....................im going mad

have you thought of it possibly being something vibrating because of the sound waves as oppossed to distortion - things like picture frames can vibrate against a wall if the frequency is right - hence why it only happens sometimes - i had this with a coat hanger on a door !

i would suggest playing the THX WoW signal (the bit with the THX logo and then it says "the audience is listening" with a black backround) as this sweeps through a lot of the frequencies and might help you to track it down.

RE: Play.com is better than you lot say!

i`ve lost count of how many i`ve ordered from them and i`ve got nothing but good things to say about them - i once had a faulty DVD and they refunded my postage cost too which i didn`t even ask them to do ! - sounds like the Royal Mail cause them problems but that`s hardly Play`s fault.

RE: The Italian Job

same here - have got the excellent playstation game to keep me going !
there was a rumour that it was comming out a while ago but it was aparently untrue (do a search on this site in the news section)

RE: Macrovision Bypass Kit?

I`ve had the one from www.keene.co.uk for years now - has been very good - of course I only use it because my projector doesn`t like the macrovision signal - of course I don`t copy things to video ! ;)

RE: Macro Free Video Recorders

Mike - "What`s "green screen" Macrovision?"

This is where the recorded picture flashes mainly green at random times - I found it was maybe about once every few seconds - I think it was easier to by pass than the newer versions - it used to fact that a PAL signal doesn`t include green (it works out hte difference from the blue and red via different phases of the colour signals - hence Phase Adjust Linearity (PAL) - I think thats right - if so my old college lecturer must be proud !! :) )

RE: Macro Free Video Recorders

"Macrovision only affects VHS VCRs with auto-gain control," - thats for the brightness changing - for the `green screen` it`s not from what I know.

Macrovision is an injected signal which is a harmonic frequency to that of the sync signal - because VCR`s arn`t accurate to just accept the correct frquency it causes interferance. I had heard that because RGB video signals work in a different way in these terms it is imune - but of couse VCR`s don`t record RGB signals.

RE: Digital camera @ Lidl

on a vaugly related note I bought the Creative labs camera simualr to this sounds (except minehas more memory I think) - I was disapointed by mine - it`s very awkward to get the focus right because it`s manual and there`s no preview screen but the worst tihng I found was that it was very hard to find a light level it actualy liked (either too bright or dark)
I would reccomend trying it first if you can because it probably uses the same CMOS CCD sensor.

RE: Macro Free Video Recorders

i think you have found the exception - the way that macrovision works is means that it should effect every VCR - maybe it works differently like converts to RGB inside or something without a sync signal

RE: Anyone know when Monsters Inc. (by....... Pixar) is showing at the cinema?

It does look like it`s going to be an excellent film doesn`t it - not sure how long it`s been there for but the offical website (http://www.monstersinc.com) has got a load of good `stuff` there

RE: Who here has Fawlty Towers Series 1 (R2)

I`m waiting for the box of both as well - maybe IF there is a disc recall they will sort it out before then.

RE: NTSC Probblem

just to throw an idea in here (and if it works Ok with region 2 than just ignore me) but if you put an Svideo signal to a normal Scart socket or the other way around then that will only give you black & white.

if this is a though then try connecting it via composite

RE: Just out of interest...

Well said - there are so many people saying that they were shown things which they wish they had never seen or ever want to ever think about happening - I believe in the power of the viewer to not watch a program if they so wish - but in my opinion every news channel were doign whatever they could for ratings.

we`ve all seen films which involve violence - but it`s so different with showing event which were real - we know when we watch a film that none was injured so we`re not shocked - because it`s a film and therefore NOT REAL.

RE: Am I a pillock or what?

"Am I a pillock or what?" - never one to leave questions unanswered I`ve taken a short vote in my office and I`m afraid it went in the favour of the `yes` vote :) - but brightened up a boring workshop I can tell you !

Had a few ideas on the title but I`m afraid of the moderators !! ;)

RE: CDR causing Laser Damage?

I think your `friend` is talking cobblers as well personaly - if this were to be true how would they explain how CD-RW drive lasers aren`t damaged by it !!

RE: Suspicious CD player......

depends on the player really - in my experience if you take the lid off (4 screws or so) then you can normaly see the lens without taking anything else apart - if not then you can guess where the laser is because you can tell where the disk would normaly go - after you`ve done it it`s best to put the lid back on again before you power it up and try it - CD / DVD players use infrared lasers which you can`t see and if you stare at them it doesn`t do your eyes and good at all - so don`t ! (obviously they are safe when turned off before anyone says anything !)

RE: Suspicious CD player......

yopu could try cleaning the lens - carefuly !! - and don`t use one of those CD`s with little brushes on them that are suppose to clean CD players - can can cause more harm than good.

if you are happy to then take it apart and use a cotton but and clean the lens in a circular motion with on the pressure of it`s built in spring pushing it against the bud - i`ve repaired CDrom drives / cd-rw drives / audio players etc with this way and they work perfectly.

you got nothing to loose by trying this if it was free - remmeber to unplug it from the mains though (voice of experience from years past)

RE: laser disc v dvd

I`m not sure the comments about picture quality being worse on LD than DVD - lets not forget that DVD`s are compressed video where as LD`s are not - so that means no compression artifacts ever ! (and no black level problems - LD`s black is black - DVD`s black can be several shades of black / grey-ish depending on the encoding)
It`s not as much of a difference now because DVD`s are made a LOT better than they used to be but I have to stand up in defence for the LD!

RE: lost dvd rom (while trying to crack the region code) pls. someone help me?

When you boot up and the screen tells you what hard disks / memory / CPU etc you have (the DOS style looking bit) - does it list your DVD drive as a device ? - if not they is sounds like you`ve killed the drive to me and I rekcon only sending it back to Pioneer would solve it - not sure they`d fall for the `it`s under warranty` thing though !
if it is found try reflashing it - or as previosuly said use a boot disk to check the drive - it may jus tbe that windows has `forgotten` about it

I could be wrong though !

RE: Any bargains in Cornwall ?

You could try the several Trago Mills stores - I have no idea if they do DVD`s or not - and they arn`t the most `classy` of places (with the greatest repect to them)
They have places in Falmouth and in Between Dobwals and Bodmin on the main road. - the `main` branch is on the newton abbott turning in devon which you would probably go past to get down here.

RE: Play247 usually ship within 24 hours????

I normaly find it takes a few days but I do normaly order them in the evening so they don`t get processed until the next day.
I`ve had a DVD not arrive so I emailed them and they send another one out without question !
If you want delayed orders try going to Streetsonline ! - won`t rant about them though !

RE: I`m famous - well sort of...

I once appeared on national TV because I helped clean a double decker bus using only tooth brushes (and soap / water etc obviously!) - it was for charity - possibly Children in Need - thankfully it was so long ago I can`t remember !

RE: Multi-Region PC???

I use DVD genie too and it is very good as long as your DVD-rom drive is not region specific - I had to flash the BIOS on my Pioneer drive - it was all downloadable though (for free)

This item was edited on Tuesday, 14th August 2001, 16:18

RE: General PAL/NTSC/SECAM question...

I don`t know about DVD players and SECAM directly but I do know that SECAM using the reverse volage for colour sync than PAL - in a modulated signal the audio is also done differently but that apply to DVD players obviously because it uses different audio out and the universal AC-3 signal - from my experience of TV`s all the even slightly new TV`s can all do SECAM - I would imagine all european TV`s can do PAL - as most of ours can do SECAM and NTSC because of the small changes needed to make it work internaly.

if that doens`t answer the question (quite likely!) - whats the question!?

This item was edited on Monday, 13th August 2001, 10:38

RE: dvd.reviewer.co.uk

I used to post things on the forums very often but I got to the point where they were full of the same questions repeatidly - and I notice people are still asking how to hack thier pioneer players !!!
(not the fault of DVDreviewer by any means)

it`s only recently that I`ve come back to reading / checking the forums but have always kept up with the news !

This item was edited on Thursday, 9th August 2001, 09:48

RE: Sevenoaks? ignorant staff

Not that I know of ! - don`t think I`ve ever been to leicester either !

RE: Sevenoaks? ignorant staff

Andrew -

It was from the Plymouth branch and I tihnk the list is something like :-

Pioneer CLD-925 laserdisc player + RF box
Yamaha DSP A592 amp
Yamaha DDP2 processor
Pioneer MJ-D707 minidisk
Pioneer DV-515 DVD player
Yamaha YST-SW40
Sharp 702 portable mindisk
Optimum 2000 (6 layer) glass stand system
KEF 60r ? rear speakers
KEP 95c centre
+ various interconnects / cables etc
(think that was about it - not not all at once before anyone asks !)

Sound familular ?

RE: Dolby Digital Sequences / Openers

Dolby did release a DVD with things like that on it - go to thier website and check - I tihnk it`s only available from them though.
i seem to rememebr there are both dolby.com and dolby.co.uk sites - obviously the UK one would be better if they do it still !
(I havn`t checked the THX website for ages actually - not sure if they are doing anythign yet - they never told me how much thier international postage costs were though when I wanted to order stuff before !)

update :- goto http://www.dolby.co.uk/dstore/euro_items.html

"We`ve Got the Whole World Listening": The Dolby Digital Demo (version 1.5)
£12.34
This new Dolby DVD, designed for home theater use, contains a history of Dolby, the Dolby Digital story, seven Dolby trailers (Aurora, Rain, City, Train, Canyon, Egypt, and Game), and sample music in multiple formats for comparison. This DVD is non-region-specific and will play on any DVD machine worldwide.

This item was edited on Thursday, 2nd August 2001, 23:26

RE: Orbital `Altogether` DVD release date confirmed

Have been waiting for this since Underworld - Everything , Everything came out and we heard of this one !

RE: Sevenoaks? ignorant staff

Personaly I`ve always sound Sevenoaks staff to be excellent where as richer sounds the exact opposite - I did try them a few times just incase I caught someone on a bad day.

Thats why I think all of my equiment came from Sevenoaks ! - I admit that I haven`t been in there for a while because my system is as I want it at the moment but when I need something I`m going there and not Richer sounds.

This item was edited on Thursday, 2nd August 2001, 13:14

RE: Crazy Guiness Book of Records-type fund-raising idea

As a suggestion maybe each film / disk should only be watched once to stop it going on for literally years - this would be a lot harder to arrange though I admit.