Info and forum posts by 'Nexstar'

This user hasn't used our main site yet, so has no main account at present.

Joined on: Sunday, 8th October 2000, 15:49, Last used: Sunday, 8th October 2000, 15:49

Access Level: Competent

About this user:

This user has posted a total of 62 messages. On average, since joining, this user has posted 0.01 messages a day, or 0.05 messages a week. In the last 30 days, this user has posted 0 messages, which is on average 0 messages a day.

Recent Messages Posted:

RE: region 4 films

>I bought the region 4 matrix from www.chaosmusic.com (Australia) total cost to credit card £11.28p
Royd

I woz robbed!! ;o)

RE: region 4 films

> Is your copy of the matrix from EzyDVD the `Deluxe Widescreen Edition`?

OK, I`ve checked and it is the "Deluxe Widescreen Edition" and, no, it doesn`t have the book. Still, it works ok;o)

RE: region 4 films

> Is your copy of the matrix from EzyDVD the `Deluxe Widescreen Edition`?

I`m not sure, to be honest. The kids snaffled the dvd yesterday when it came and I haven`t had a chance to look at it yet:o(

I`ll check tonight.

RE: region 4 films

Not UK based, but thanks to the recommendations here, I ordered the R4 version of The Matrix from www.ezydvd.com.au in Australia.

I placed the order on Thursday morning last week and it was delivered on Monday morning this week. The total cost charged to my card was £12.60.

I could have ordered the R2 version via Woolies over here and it would have cost me £22.94.

RE: Were Techtronics telling me porky pies?

Maybe they just prefer the user to do the hack so that they`re not actually selling multi-region enabled DVD`s. It`s a bit of a moot point though.

Do you know the difference(s) between the R2 and R4 Ronin? I`ve got the R2 version and I just wondered what I was missing:o(

RE: Nice little function...

My Philips TV has this feature and it works well.

Failing that, I will listen using headphones with the sound muted on the tv. The only problem is that I sometimes try to adjust the headphone volume using the normal volume control rather than the on-screen headphone control. This then automatically toggles the mute function causing the tv volume to come back on again. As I`m still wearing headphones, I`m not always aware of this for a while. Oops.

RE: Lets get Bear out of here.

>WRONG !!!

Bear, well I apologise unreservedly if I was incorrect in this assumption. It was just that I have asked you previously about your SC-2000 experiences and you have never actually responded.

As you are such an advocate of going the branded route it also seemed unlikely that you had been tempted into buying a Scan. But there you go. I guess we all have the right to make mistakes:-)

Was it a pre-October 2000 machine which you had? I`ve never seen one of those and so can`t comment but it does seem that the later ones are much improved and I`m still very pleased with mine (boring, I know:-)

It doesn`t take much reading of these forums to know that Scan`s customer service is very hit and miss (probably more miss) but then I`ve recently had to deal with Philips` customer service department and that was not a rewarding experience either.

Anyway, apologies again.

RE: Lets get Bear out of here.

posted by vern on Wednesday, 14th March 2001, 10:32
>.....of warning people about HIS OWN EXPERIENCES

Vern, I agree totally with the sentiment of your message and things should be cooled down around here. However, I don`t think you`ll find that bear has had ANY actual experience of the SC-2000. Hard to believe, I know but it may explain why some people get a little irate about his postings at times.

RE: SCAN SC2000 FIRMWARE FOULUP?

>I also have a DVD player downstairs and it`s the dogs b*llocks.

Doesn`t the dog mind? ;-)

RE: HARDWARE FORUM IS IT FOR scan OWNERS ONLY!!!!!

Sadly, that just about sums it up.

RE: HARDWARE FORUM IS IT FOR scan OWNERS ONLY!!!!!

For once, I tend to agree with bear. Having got what I consider to be a good Scan player, I am resisting the temptation to upgrade from my 2.08 until long filenames come about as I really do believe that there`s not enough testing of thse releases going on prior to making them available.

Whilst I would, selfishly, welcome a separate forum for Scan users and/or Scan firmware updates/problems etc., I think that this should probably be part of the Scan site rather than the DVD Reviewer site as there could just as easily be a Pioneer forum etc etc.

Maybe a generic Firmware forum might be a compromise as that would seem to narrow it down pretty much to Scan users at the moment anyhow;-)

The real concern though, in the event that this came about, is what is going to happen to bear? The Scan threads are obviously giving him some sense of purpose. Without any reason to be bothered by Scan posts anymore, there may be some serious consequences which need to be taken into account.

Perhaps it could be generally agreed that some limited periodic access could be tolerated, or even encouraged, each month so that bear could release any pent up anguish and go on a Scan forum posting splurge, rather like a supermarket trolley dash.

It might even be something to look forward to for Scan users as well, as they come to terms with the loss of those timely and yet almost unexpected gems of humerous wisdom which are playfully peppered around the threads.

In any event, it would be sort of nice if people`s right to go out and buy a cr*p piece of equipment (cheap or otherwise) was respected a little more as I am sure that we all have carried out our own research into price, performance, features etc that are most appropriate to ourselves and gone out and bought, for better or for worse, a dvd player. It is then most likely useful to newcomers to these forums if the actual experience of owning that paticular player is passed on in some meaningful way.

Or then again.......

RE: Who is Arch Stanton?

He`s the name on the grave next to the one where the gold is buried in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.........and he`s also a singer/songwriter I think;-)

RE: Poster of the Year!

Apologies for this, but it seemed the most appropriate heading. My Poster of the Year is the free "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" one which I got via the Tesco cheapo Spaghetti Western boxed set:-) Did anyone else get this?

All I have to do now is to convince my wife that it really does fit in with the colour scheme in the dining room.

RE: Scan Sc-2000 - One For All remote control code and firmware

It doesn`t help in finding the main setup codes, but I did find some useful (for me) information about the One for All Topline 5, which I have, and the Topline 8 (only the Topline 8 does DVD`s).

These two remotes have the OfA `Magic` key to program the other keys with your own choice. I was short of a code for the Tape Manager on my Philips video and also a couple of others on my TV which OfA didn`t have (but said they would get eventually).

It turned out that you can press the Magic key and then a 3 digit number to try out the code without programming it into the device. The information also said that the codes were repeated after 250. So, as the Tape Manager function was essential for the video, I sat down one night prepared to go through all of the possible codes from 000 to 250.

Sometimes you get lucky. The code I wanted was 004 :) Using this method, I managed to find all the codes I needed.

One word of warning, though. OfA told me that they don`t make this info available as they are concerned that users might `fall over` engineer`s codes which could mess up the TV etc.

I went through all 250 in the end without a problem but you have been warned.

The Topline`s are not learning remotes, otherwise none of this would have been necessary of course, but they do have a very cool backlight:)

RE: Do you own a Scan Player and are happy with it?

Very happy with mine. I don`t even feel the need to upgrade the firmware until the long filenames for MP3`s comes along.

RE: HOW MANY SCAN OWNERS HAVE SEEN BLUE SHADOWING??????

OK, I`ve looked at The Matrix now (I don`t have Jaws, so I can`t help on that one), and I can see the occasional evidence of some blue `shadow`.

It really is very minimal though on my setup and I had to look at the scene several times to be sure I`d actually seen it. Maybe it`s just my poor eyesight:(

I made sure that my settings were the same as yours, montydeno and the only differences in my `blue` menu were:

ADV7172: 00000003
CUSTOM ID: SCN TDVD-000.ROM
MAIN VER: 00000208 VFD1 ¦ 00000204
NAV VER: 000009E5
SUB VER: 000000C5
PWD: 00000000
CLOCK: 00000438
RUN TIME: 00000079 ¦ 00000088
N-SETUP: 00000007 ¦ 00000004
S-SETUP: 00000001
RESULT: 00000002

My TV is a Philips 28PW9616 and connection was via the scart.

RE: HOW MANY SCAN OWNERS HAVE SEEN BLUE SHADOWING??????

Hmmm...a case of near-simultaneous posting methinks;-) I`ll take a look.

RE: HOW MANY SCAN OWNERS HAVE SEEN BLUE SHADOWING??????

I haven`t seen/noticed this effect and I watched The Matrix (R2) over the weekend. As per Gary W`s post, if you give a time during Matrix when you see this I will have a closer look.

RE: Scan Firmware (Take 2)

Steve, I have been trying to send you the firmware but my mail server from home is being difficult. If I can`t get it to you tonight then I`ll send it in the morning.

RE: Any Happy `Scan` Users

Yep, a happy Scan user here. I can only speak from experience, which is more than can be said for some it seems, but it has played everything I`ve tried so far and I am very pleased with the display quality.

Oh, and the party was very good too;-)

RE: Which player will play X-Men R1 without problems.

Just watched it this evening on my Scan SC-2000 without a problem:)

RE: Remotes

I`m pretty sure that the One4All Topline 8 does all of this. I have the Topline 5 and this does everything except the DVD.

RE: FREE CHRISTMAS DVD/VIDEO HITS FOR ALL SCAN OWNERS.

If I could be permitted to sneak in here before The Ironduke.....

You are such a funny guy, bear.

In the spirit of Christmas, I feel that you should be a good sport and at least let all of us poor Scan owners know which top quality make/model of DVD player you currently own. It`s hardly fair to pour scorn on us without letting us know just what we should aspire to in the future.

Oh, and by the way, when you had your Scan player (you did have a Scan player, didn`t you?), was it one of the more recent batches? I assume it was, as you wouldn`t want to be accused of talking out of your most vertically challenged orifice regarding accurate information about its picture quality etc, now would you? That would be misleading and make you no better than those dispicable people who reviewed these machines.

You`d hardly be demanding answers from nelley unless you were a disgruntled customer, I guess.

However, I was rather surprised at you putting information on this site regarding the Apex. Such a cheap, no-brand player, and you were asking if it could be bought in the UK!

Now, obviously, you wouldn`t even consider the machine but don`t you think it a bit unfair to even inform lesser DVD-philes of its existence. There could be a whole new group of Scan-like plebs out there who could buy it thinking it might actually play DVD`s.

In any event, we Scan users can still take a joke. We must be able to, as we have Scan players AND the bear to put up with;-)

Q. What do you call a Scan player with the tray open?
A. A bear trap.

Q. What`s the difference between a Scan user and the bear?
A. Thankfully, quite a lot!

Merry Christmas!
(yes, even to you, bear;-)

RE: Scan Firmware. Some Points.....

> And is the screensaver a fixed item or can it be changed in any way?
> It is becoming a bit of a bore when I`m playing MP3`s ;-(

I think it would be better to simply blank the screen. I do find the floating logo a bit off-putting when all you want to do is to listen to music.

RE: manhattan dvd 2000

That`s a pity. Come January, it sounds like it will have to be a question of either long filenames for MP3 or no Macrovision:(

Though, I guess that the Macro(less) version could be installed when needed.

RE: scan 204 -> 204s upgrade

I`m pretty sure the same thing happened to me on the 204s upgrade. I just put it into standby and it sorted itself out when I turned it back on again.

RE: Scan Macrovision - what am I doing wrong? *s*

I had the same when I updated. It was the result code which changed at the bottom of the screen. It was 00000000 before the hack and then 00000001 afterwards.

RE: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SCAN OWNERS THIS CHRISTMAS.

"Could you make it a large collection has I buy quality products."

Harry H Corbett couldn`t have said it better himself;-)

bear, don`t worry. The Scan owners will have saved so much money that they might be able to give you enough to even buy a Sony! Shame about the lack of MP3 and Macrovision disable though. Was that important to you?;-)

Seriously though, I do agree with others that it is pity that Scan`s customer support has to take place via this forum sometimes. However, I do admire Nilesh for participating here, for fending off the brickbats but without attempting to overtly sell his products. The fact that he was prepared to hassle for and to provide firmware upgrades was a big plus in my decision to finally go with the Scan.

In the last few months I have `upgraded` (ok, a disputed term, I know:-) my home system with a Philips VR-860 VCR and a Philips 28PW9616 TV. Neither item was particularly cheap and I could have saved a lot of money with cheaper alternatives. However, they both had the features I was looking for and so I was prepared to pay for them.

Perversely, when it came to the DVD player, the features I wanted (multiregion/MP3/Macro off) tended to come with the cheaper players. So, I did a lot of research and it came down to the Scan or the Mico. It was obvious that the Scan had a horrendous reputation but it seemed that, with the new MPEG card and fixes for the earlier problems that it might still be worth a go as it suited my requirements exactly (and it was black which would please the wife...a bit).

I went for it and have been very pleased with it to date. The only fault I thought I`d found was not a fault with the player at all.

It seems that the machine is being judged on how it used to be and not on how it performs now. Look at how the Wharfedale 750s became flavour of the month over the 750. Had Scan adopted the same policy and re-launched it, then it may have been easier to differentiate old from new. After all, the MPEG card is fairly fundamental to a DVD`s performance.

My only experience of DVD`s has been via a PC prior to the Scan and so I am not qualified to say whether the picture is better or worse than any other player. All I know is that it is perfectly good enough for me and, in any event, I wouldn`t want to put down any other player without having had some experience of it.

Apologies for rambling on. I`m in the process of converting my vinyl into mp3`s (guess what I`m playing them on!!!!;-) and I`ve been waiting for an LP to finish so I can go to bed!

RE: New Scan Sc-2000 firmware 2.04 (Return of the dreaded Macrovision)

lydart, thanks for the info. I tried it using your settings and it was upgraded ok.

RE: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SCAN OWNERS THIS CHRISTMAS.

awindi, I`m sure that we Scan users are, if nothing else, blessed with a good sense of humour and it`s just as well we are not more intelligent or we might even know when to use `there` and `their` in our postings;-)

Perhaps at the `Scan Horrendous but Interesting Technical Experience` (you work out the acronym, I`m too stupid) conference next year, we could have a small collection for bear to enable him to get out more:-)

From a happy, but too stupid to know otherwise, Scan user.