Info and forum posts by 'alterego'

RE: Toolstation / Screwfix - Both cheaper than high street!!

Thanks for that. Don`t want to give B&Q any more money than I have to...

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Uniross Hybrio AA / AAA Charger With 2 x AA 2100mAh Hybrio Batteries £2.99

I assume the charger is only for two batteries? Couldn`t see confirmation on Amazon, and would be more useful (to me) if it took four. Can`t argue with the price, though...

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Sherlock Holmes - The Complete Collection (Seven Discs) £17.99

Combined set still £45, though. Makes more sense, now!

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Too Good to be True

I`m not excusing their responses (lack of) - just indicating that others are often worse!

FWIW, BT are on the point of buying Plusnet. Not sure how good that is...

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Sherlock Holmes - The Complete Collection (Seven Discs) £17.99

" and Brett (two volumes at £17.99 each)"

Is that just in the shops? The website only appears to sell the entire set for £45 (still a bargain, I admit, but £36 sounds even better).

Update: Sorry, I`ve found it now. Strange pricing, though!

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

This item was edited on Thursday, 16th November 2006, 21:55

Nice guitar

Well, it looks it...

www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/109651/rb/23077283317

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

This item was edited on Wednesday, 15th November 2006, 15:43

RE: Too Good to be True

Don`t be too hard on Plusnet - BT own (and control) the wires. Most ISP`s are reluctant to send BT engineers out, and they may be able to help - mine did.
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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: ebuyer £50 Complete Electric Guitar Package is back

If funds will stretch, then an effects box like this can turn your guitar into almost anything! It includes a tuner, too...

www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=EG00334

BTW, is KCC anything to do with the Sunshine Band? :)

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

This item was edited on Thursday, 20th April 2006, 13:20

RE: Half Price Panasonic 6MP DMC FX9BS Camera - £149.99

I would agree with that. Very small cameras can be difficult to hold steady, but Lumix cameras nearly all have image stabilisation, which is well worth having. A good price for a nice piece of kit. Good movie mode, too.

Review here: www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/fx9.html

Also worth considering is the Fuji F10, currently available from Amazon for £150. This has excellent low-light capability (rare in a compact camera) so will take pictures where you couldn`t sensibly use a flash.

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

This item was edited on Wednesday, 19th April 2006, 23:08

RE: ebuyer £50 Complete Electric Guitar Package is back

"Is that the Behringer AC108 Vintager Combo? "

Yes. I hear what you say about the amp modelling, though. Appreciate the link, which included the following remark:

"I cut the speaker wires and hooked it up to one of my sons friend`s Marshall 4 X 12 cabinets in 4 ohm setting and it was quite a bit louder and fuller"

It takes all sorts...

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: ebuyer £50 Complete Electric Guitar Package is back

"it might be worth considering the Behringer V-Tone package at about £80"

Or for another £6, they substitute a valve amp!

Still, the ebuyer deal is pretty impressive, and the feedback seems surprisingly complimentary. I`m still resisting, but only just...

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Cheap Ink Refills

Canon printers are easier to refill than most, as their cartridges contain no electronics (which is a very good reason for having them). I doubt that the Lidl refill are actually HP ink, as HP don`t encourage refilling (ink cartridges are where all their profit comes from), but as most inkjets use the same principle, ink formulations tend to be similar. Epson use pigment ink in some printers, and their ink propulsion method is different, so Epson-specific inks may not work in other printers.


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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Viking 1Gb SD card £20.49

Impressed!
Especially when I think that my first 8Mb smart memory card cost £40...


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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: SAVE £250.00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It looks like it`s a discontinued model, so presumably no new stock.

Still, I like the `if you don`t pedal, it won`t work` feature - a good way of getting the children fit...


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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Cheap UPS

I don`t suppose it`s all that heavy (how big can the battery be for that money?) but that`s still good news. I do recommend having a UPS - you might not need it very often, but if it saves a couple of hours work, it will have paid for itself, as well as reducing your blood pressure. Battery life is of secondary importance, as long as it holds up while you save your work!


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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: The Butcher (Le Boucher) free in Saturday`s Independent

Thanks Dazza. Always nice to get advance notice of these things.


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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Laithwaites wines

I used to buy wine from Tony Laithwaite many years ago, and they were excellent. No idea if the standard has been maintained, though - TL`s nose is certainly a lot redder these days...


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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

Cheap UPS

Keep your computer alive for £15! (+postage, of course)

Link

(This is Ebuyer, item code 105850, in case link expires)

As this is a Masterplug device, it might turn up in B&Q, too. Be interesting to see for how much!

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

This item was edited on Thursday, 30th March 2006, 10:20

RE: Nice TV for the bedroom - Asda

It`a amazing how little come conventional (CRT) TV`s are going for now. The same applies to computer monitors - the 19" one that I am using cost around £100 and is better for photo editing than any LCD I`ve seen. Similarly, I`ve yet to see any flat display that matches our old Grunding TV. Admittedly, there is an interpolation problem with TV`s that doesn`t occur with computers (assuming you match the output resolution with the screen`s own pixel count), but I`m not buying into flat screen TV until HD is properly sorted!

I assume that CRT`s are on the way out, so expect prices to rise again once they`ve disappeared from the shops in a year or two.

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Cheap camera

Correct. I adjusted the colour of the second to make the third, to make the comparison with the first one easier.

All are 1:1 crops of their respective originals, the first being from the Kodak, which creates rather bright, contrasty pictures anyway. The third is the only one with any additional processing.

I`m not trying to diss the Kodak. It`s a nice, responsive camera that takes good pictures in a wide range of conditions, but I was keen to show that the Lumicron can produce decent pics in the right circumstances.

I did write some notes against each picture, but was forgetting that these weren`t immediately visible. If you go to Flickr.com and search on `lumicron` you should find them. Click on `FJP` to see the rest.

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

This item was edited on Thursday, 23rd March 2006, 14:54

RE: Cheap camera

Here you are, then. Not wildly exciting, but not a bad effort for a £50 (or in our case, £30) camera!

static.flickr.com/56/116717405_6bbdf9f2ba_o.jpg
static.flickr.com/53/116710617_f2d1bbd161_o.jpg
static.flickr.com/34/116710618_465b19d008_o.jpg


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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

This item was edited on Thursday, 23rd March 2006, 11:16

RE: Cheap camera

Will do, RG - just waiting for the sun to come out!

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: 1Gb SD Card £17.99

Interesting. Anyone care to comment on their statement: "VAT is not payable on this item as it is sent to you in a consignment of less that £18 in value"?

What do they charge for postage?


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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Cheap camera

"I can`t view those pics above by the way?"

Links now edited so non-members can access. Sorry!

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Cheap camera

I`m not saying yet, but there`s a clue in the dates, if you go back to the Flickr page (you need to be a member, though).

I will try a similar test later with the cameras side by side, as there was a seasonal difference that affects the light, but I should point out that the Lumicron was on its second-best quality setting (at full resolution), so the file was about half the size! There are a few Jpeg artefacts round the edges as a result (another clue) but the level of detail is just as good and the gradation of colour is better, with less bleaching of highlights.

I freely admit that the Kodak is more responsive and produces better results in low light, but the Lumicron is surely the most bang for your buck!


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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

This item was edited on Tuesday, 21st March 2006, 11:59

RE: Cheap camera

Sorry to hear about the hassle. You`d think they`d all be the same!

Don`t know about the drivers, as I also use a card reader (£4 from Ebuyer) because it`s so much easier! XP should be able to recognise the camera, but there should be no harm in using the supplied CD - `plug and play` doesn`t always. The camera may have to be on...

I tried comparing results today (as I have other cameras) and have posted a couple on Flickr. See if you can identify the "rubbish" camera... :-)

static.flickr.com/37/114773119_9f9af97b31_o.jpg
static.flickr.com/44/114773117_d6ea730ae3_o.jpg

[Links now edited so you can actually see them!]
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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

This item was edited on Tuesday, 21st March 2006, 11:57

RE: I`ve let myself down....free dvd in newspaper confession....

Console yourself with the motoring section. Honest John`s column is full of good advice and he`s a thoroughly decent bloke. (Oi, HJ, will this do?)

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: energy saving bulbs 99p BOGOF

" it takes a while to warm up to full strength."

That`s an advantage when you have to switch them on to find your way in the middle of the night...


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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Cheap camera

Here are a couple of samples:

static.flickr.com/40/114189847_1b8ea8f38a_o.jpg
static.flickr.com/47/114189848_7d2d7e2384_o.jpg

and one someone else took:

www.fotothing.com/dizzy/photo/6f6bfd818d04167f562ecb3f435bde1c/

Interesting that the Exif data includes the name of the distributor (Aventi) and the shop (Somerfield). They must have bought a lot of them!

As with most cheap cameras, the battery life is not wonderful (although I have a Minolta that`s not much better) and there is a bit more grain than the equivalent Nikon/Canon etc. To its credit, there is almost no lens distortion, which is both rare and useful if you need to take pictures of straight-sided objects (buildings, doorways, cabinets etc.).

Still happy!
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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."

RE: Cheap camera

"I actually bought it for my wife"

Hello Peter - thanks for the feedback. I bought mine for me, but I can see that I might have to hand it over, as I`ve got too many already, really. Still, I shall give it a good workout first - I was worried that it might have unacceptable (to me) shutter lag, but it speeds up noticeably in good light. I like it.

James

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"Either this guy`s dead, or my watch has stopped."