Info and forum posts by 'julianf'

RE: Annual Devon Reviewer gathering 2008 (between 10th August-31st August)

God I can`t leave you guys alone for 5 minutes can I...it all becomes clear - thought Rass had sent me some obscure coded text message in error! Thanks for the email Mark, I haven`t been on here for a while as have been spending all my spare time (and I mean ALL) getting both mine and my wife`s separate make-a-million-and-retire-business-ventures up and running (and I can safely say there`s still a way to go!) :D

Guess where I`m going this Thursday-Saturday.....London!! Going to The Oval on Friday for England v South Africa ODI...absolutely typical...

julianf

RE: Bluetooth printer question

And does it take an age to send a jpg before printing it? Similar to the amount of time it takes to Bluetooth someone an mp3 from phone to phone?

julianf

Bluetooth printer question

Just picked up by chance a Canon Pixma MP460 all-in-one printer from Argos in their clearance for £24.99.

It`s got Bluetooth. Is this a viable way of permanently connecting the printer to my PC or is it not solid/fast enough?

julianf

RE: iPod Video, mp4s, AVIs, your PC and Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition revelation...

Well I thought it was a revelation! :D

julianf

iPod Video, mp4s, AVIs, your PC and Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition revelation...

This may well be old news but I was always under the impression you couldn`t rip stuff off of an ipod back to a PC without utilising "iPodRIP" or some such software...

Anyway, I`ve had Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition on my PC for an age but have always had it switched off until recently when I`ve started using it as my camera-to-PC downloading tool of choice for photos.

So... Tonight I plugged my iPod into my PC and the Photoshop Album Download thingy pops up. Instead of cancelling it I let it list a few items from the iPod first. It picked up some films I`ve previously converted to "iPod" format using "WinAVI MP4 Converter" and put onto my iPod.

I selected one such film (that had an MP4 extension) and set it to copy to my desktop, fully expecting a copy-protection error or similar. It copied. No error. And on the desktop it`s a fully-functioning file with an AVI extension...

Is it just me or is that impressive? Do I need to get out more?

julianf

RE: Van hire company trying it on?

Quote:
Cheers Nick. Sorted!

No, no, no!!! Hehehehe, I didn`t mean I`d been down there and sorted it as per the suggestion - I meant "Thanks for the suggestion"!!!

julianf

RE: Van hire company trying it on?

Cheers Nick. Sorted! :D

julianf

This item was edited on Monday, 7th January 2008, 10:43

Van hire company trying it on?

I`ve just received an invoice from an online vehicle hire firm regarding a van I hired in November 2006 trying to charge me the £75 excess for damage caused during its use. The online firm is just an agent I used to book on t`internet and the vehicle-owners are a local firm.

I`ve argued that surely 13 months is simply too long to be able to charge me...(reasonable time etc). The agent is questioning the invoice with the local firm and getting back to me (she seems onside and said they may just have to swallow it). I don`t recall any damage being caused at the time and wasn`t informed at the time I would be charged either.

I`ve a good mind to tell them it`s tough and I`m not paying it.

julianf

RE: Thinnest TV

That`s not the thinnest....you are SO last year...

3mm here :D

julianf

RE: V+ box on Virgin Media

I`ve had my V+ box about a month now...I`m really pleased with it (got it for free as incentive not to cancel Virgin when I had a good Sky+ offer the offer week).

Can`t compare with Sky+ as never had it but like previous post said, you can record 2 programmes while watching a 3rd...a small point but can come in quite handy.

Oh yes, and it`s a HD box, which the standard Sky+ box isn`t :-)

julianf

RE: Best value laptop

Sounds pretty good to me - I`ve been looking at the cheaper options for the wife`s xmas present...

I don`t know if the following is a good or bad point against Acer - perhaps one of each...

HERE

julianf

5 year old laptop performance...

I`ve been offered a Toshiba Satellite 3000 laptop for sale...It may just suit the wife`s blogging, email, photography and surfing needs but I have a couple of questions... Can anyone help with the answers?

The spec is:

933Mhz Celeron processor
128Mb RAM (!!!)
15Gb hard-drive

The laptop is in pristine condition and, as they did then, cost over £1000 new. I would need to buy a new battery, extra memory and a PCMIA wifi card totalling approx £100 so the important question is how much they want for it first (I don`t know yet).

It`s running XP Home at the moment and seems fine with that...after upping the memory to 512Mb (it takes 1GB max), adding MS Office, Firefox and some low-level photo-editing software do you think this will still be a viable, usable laptop or is the processor just too old-hat and slow?

Failing that it`s going to have to be £350-400 for a new one for her at Christmas.

Thanks in advance.

julianf

RE: Setting up a V+ box for HD...

I`ve sorted it...I had to pull the power on the V+ and boot it from scratch with the HDMI plugged in - it`s now giving me the option to choose HDMI and then 1080wide for the picture.

There`s no sound because my TV has a DVI input, not HDMI so until I get an optical cable I`ve got the normal Audio Out L & R going to my AV amp and am listening through that.

Thanks all

julianf

RE: Virgin media HD

I`ve sorted it...I had to pull the power on the V+ and boot it from scratch withthe HDMI plugged in - it`s now giving me the option to choose HDMI and then 1080wide for the picture.

There`s no sound because my TV has a DVI input, not HDMI so until I get an optical cable I`ve got the normal Audio Out L & R going to my AV amp and am listening through that.

Thanks all

julianf

RE: LiteOn DVD+-R/RW/RAM 20x IDE Black - Drive plus Nero £16.79 inc vat

Is this the LiteOn DVD+-R/RW/RAM 20x IDE rewriter in black? The one you get Nero with for £16.79 at the BT shop? Bargain! And I think it`s the half-height one too...and includes VAT!

:p

julianf

RE: Setting up a V+ box for HD...

That`s what I`m using but I`m not getting a picture....

I`m guessing I also need an optical audio cable out from the V+ box and into the 3.5mm DVI audio in on the TV though for the whole thing to work as DVI doesn`t support sound does it?

Then do I set the V+ Settings to override HDMI audio?

julianf

RE: Setting up a V+ box for HD...

Sorry to be an idiot but I think that`s the only "HD" connectivity my TV has...is that not "HD" then?

Should my TV have an HDMI socket then?

julianf

RE: Setting up a V+ box for HD...

Hmm. Thought I`d tried that with no luck. Initially I simply had the HDMI-to-DVI lead running from the V+ box to the DVI input on my TV. The TV then says there`s no HD input signal...

julianf

Setting up a V+ box for HD...

Can someone advise me how to connect the HD part properly on the V+ box...

Here`s a picture of the back of the box...

I`ve got a scart to my TV for the normal channels and sound.
I`ve got the Audio Out L & R going to my AV amp.
I`ve got the HDMI going to the DVI on my TV.

I know I`m lacking an optical audio out cable...I presume this would pop in the 3.5mm Audio In on my TV next to the DVI input? Is there a way around the optical audio out?

I`ve set my V+ settings to auto-override when there`s a HD signal but on BBC HD I get a window pop-up on the screen saying I`m not set up properly...

Many thanks in advance.

julianf

RE: CarPhone s***house

I am lucky as we a Mac Mini Repair centre in our town, so I take it them. They can do most repairs within 1/2 hr.
They only repair Mac Minis & nothing else. Repairs are done on site.

julianf

RE: CarPhone s***house

There you go Ogster, that must make you feel much better !?!?!?!?

:/

julianf

RE: Virgin media HD

While we`re on the subject, can someone advise me how to connect the HD part properly on the V+ box...

Here`s a picture of the back of the box...

I`ve got a scart to my TV for the normal channels and sound.
I`ve got the Audio Out L & R going to my AV amp.
I`ve got the HDMI going to the DVI on my TV.

I know I`m lacking an optical audio out cable...I presume this would pop in the 3.5mm Audio In on my TV next to the DVI input? Is there a way around the optical audio out? I`ve set my V+ settings to auto-override when there`s a HD signal but on BBC HD I get a window pop-up on the screen saying I`m not set up properly...

julianf

RE: Moving up to a digital SLR camera...

Thanks for that. A friend has the D40, I must go and have a close look at it and have a go on it. I`m also looking at the Pentax K100D Super which looks fantastic. Both 6Mp cameras and hard to split on the reviews I`ve read and I think it will basically come down to one of those..

A couple of 10Mp cameras that would also fall in budget although they`re a bit more expensive are the Sony Alpha A100 and the Olympus E410 (with 2 lenses!).

julianf

This item was edited on Friday, 16th November 2007, 16:12

RE: Virgin media HD

I believe Virgin retain ownership of the box and are liable for all repairs etc. The £150 or whatever is for the "install".

julianf

RE: Virgin media HD

How long have you been with them? Tell them you`re not prepared to pay that amount and would rather leave and get a Sky+ box for £50-£99 on a deal...

julianf

Moving up to a digital SLR camera...

I`ve had this Nikon "prosumer" camera for almost 3 years now. It takes amazing photos (see here and here). I`m currently reading this great book and learning how to take pictures in Manual mode.

My question is: Once I know what I`m doing, and given the features my 5400 already has, is there any real need to move on to a DSLR like the Nikon D40, for example?

julianf

RE: I cant afford Virgin anymore but im confused , what can i do?

The Sky+ deal was a £50 box, then half-price TV package for a year (£10.50), free Evening and Weekend calls (£11 a month BT line rental) then £5 broadband...available until 16th November as far as I`m aware.

To keep me after I`d actually cancelled, Virgin offered me XL tv package, free anytime calls and usual 2mb broadband for £35 a month plus a free V+ box (there`s no monthly subscription if you`re on XL tv package)...I`ve been with Telewest forever so that had something to do with it but you`ve also been with them years so worth a go...

julianf

RE: I cant afford Virgin anymore but im confused , what can i do?

How long have you been with Telewest/Virgin?? It seems everyone is on different tariffs... I cancelled last month to take up a great Sky+ offer I thought they couldn`t beat... 4 days later they rang and DID beat it... I`ve now got a V+ box which didn`t cost me anything :D

julianf

RE: N81

N82 launched officially today...candybar design, 3G, AGPS, wi-fi, 5Mp camera, Xenon flash.

Nice

julianf

RE: Who will buy the iphone

Quote:
its. very. f***ing. nice.

And there we have it ladies and gentlemen, the definitive UK iPhone review. Stuff? T3? Pocket-Lint? Who needs those guys with their long words, opinions and recommendations!

Our minds should now be made up :D

julianf