Info and forum posts by 'Vic Shears'

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

Joined on: Saturday, 18th November 2000, 01:05, Last used: Thursday, 15th February 2007, 15:12

Access Level: Mostly Harmless

About this user: Broadcast TV engineer/editor.
new to the world of DVD

This user has posted a total of 43 messages. On average, since joining, this user has posted 0 messages a day, or 0.03 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: Cheap Sat Nav??

What features is the Garmin Streetpilot i3 lacking compared to the TomTom?. I had got the impression that the maps etc that Garmin use are at lest as good as the Tom Tom ones.

Vic

RE: Asda Duraband Home Cinema Speakers

Yes we bought a set of these in early January having already been impressed by a £14 Duraband CD Radio from Asda. Whilst certainly not HiFi they are very good value for money for a bedroom or similar.

Obviously they are not Dolby Digital, but they have 3 sets of stereo inputs and do the job as well as can be expected for the price.

Cautiously recommended.

RE: Camcorder dilemma!

Why is Digital 8 preferable for tranfering old 8mm stuff?.

RE: CASIO DIGITAL 4.0M

Looks good. However I notice this is classed as refurbished stock. Does anyone know what this usually means with Dixons?.

Vic

RE: Viking direct - freeview + free phone

Checked again and there is no problem at all watching analogue through the Sagam digibox I own.

Also for what it is worth the Sagam box has generally had very good write ups on the DigitalSpy Forums.

RE: Viking direct - freeview + free phone

Yes this box is good I have one on the 2nd TV and it is hard to fault it.

They are available for £59.99 and some Safeways and Woolworths so if you have no use for the phone thay may be other options.

RE: Asda beer offers

nickthegun said "Has Urban had Stella direct from the source?" I cannot speak for Urban but I have had a few glasses of Stella in the city of Leuven not far from the Interbrew plant where it is produced. This if anything hardened my opinion of it. I did have some exellent beers in the city the Trappist and Duval (sp?) particually stick in my memory as being very nice the Stella does not.

RE: Asda beer offers

I am with Urban here, Belgium probuce some of the worlds finest beers. Stella is not one of them.

Good spot for the many Stella drinker out there.

RE: A good, cheap NICAM, Hi-Fi VCR required..

Woolworths where selling a LG NICAM, Hi-Fi VCR for £59.99 (reduced from £89.99) last week if you want a good cheepie it might be worth having a look.

Vic

RE: Godfather trilogy on DVD - Less than £25!!

I thought I saw the Godfather Box Set in my local HMV for £19.99.
Might be worth a look there before buying online?.

RE: Free Fox DVD`S - Did You Receive Yours?

Well it took a while to arrive but I recived the Full Monty, My Fiance eventually go what lies beneath and my neice recived Doctor Dolittle so no complints hear.

Vic

RE: Psion Wavefinder digital radio under £40

I installed my wavefinder yesterday evening and once it was positioned using the signal strenght meter it seems to work fine with the supplied antenna.

Vic

RE: Psion Wavefinder digital radio under £40

I did get a wavefinder from Dixons in Maidstone in the end. I believe it was the last one they had in stock.

Cheers Vic

RE: Eltax Silverstone 110 Speakers for £25 (RRP £120) at Currys.

From a look at the figures it looks like Sinus Power is somthing similar to RMS (Root Mean Square) a far more accurate and useful measurment of the maximum power handling capabilities of a loudspeaker.

RE: Psion Wavefinder digital radio under £40

Just Tried to order one of these today (Sunday) the discout code does not seem to be operating now :-(. Looks like I will have to try my local Dixons on thursday the assistant said they where selling them for £45.

RE: Recommendations: Sony Amp and Floor Standing Speakers.

Thank you Westy, yes that helps a great deal.

Cheers Vic

RE: Recommendations: Sony Amp and Floor Standing Speakers.

Westy Said
>Anyways, if its got to be a Sony, then the 875 reciever will be fine, >but don`t expect the last word in sonic excellence.

Hi Westy (or anyone else)

Do you have any personal experiance of the STRDE875 or was the above just based on your general opinion of SONY AV Reciever`s?.

I ask because I was considering oredering a reciever for about 200 GBP and from the specifications this one would fit the bill.

How does the Sony compare to say the Sherwood`s or Kenwood that Richer are selling at that price point?.

Cheers Vic

RE: Anyone remember THE ANIMAL OLYMPICS?

IIRC the cartoon was called Animalympics?.

Vic

RE: What`s 4:3 pan and scan?

Thank`s for puttimg me stright on that point Mike.

Cheers Vic

RE: What`s 4:3 pan and scan?

Yes I think you should see a difference if the DVD disc has Pan and Scan information included.

On your "normal" ie 4:3 TV with letterbox selected you should see always see black bars at the top and bottom of picture.

If there is no pan and scan information on the disc I would expect you see the same as With Widescreen selecred ie a full screen image with the sides chopped off but TBH I am not certain?.

Cheers Vic

RE: What`s 4:3 pan and scan?

The above is not quite accutate.

Pan and Scan actually allows as the name suggests for the visable area of the picture to be chaged so that the part of the image percived as most important to the story is seen on a 4:3 TV.

This is not necisarily the middle section of the picture.

Wether or not this moving of the image is an improvement is of course debatable.

Cheers Vic

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

I Have had my SCAN DVD player for over 2 months and have been very pleased with it`s overall performance.

Cheers Vic

RE: Scan Firmware version 2.04s....

Simply email yllen[at]ku.oc.nacs ask nicely and he wil email the latest Firmware upgrade to you.

Cheers Vic

RE: Scart Cable

If that was a QED sqart cable (round translucent cabe, plugs with a gun metal body, gold connectors and shroud) you got an absolute bargin!.

If it was a different modle of QED lead it was still a pretty good buy.

Cheers Vic

RE: Nelley where is the update

Sounds like the ideal solution.

Cheers Vic

RE: Buying Scan Player

Microstar seems to have summed things up pretty well.
The Scan SC-2000 seems a pretty good budget player and therfore a good first DVD machine.

The 100 pounds or so you save over the cost of a name player of similar spec will buy you a good few DVD`s to start you collecton. Also you get a player which will play MP3`s and that can be made multi-region and macrovision free for no extra cost.

Cheers Vic

RE: Are you satisfied with your Scan SC-2000 player ?

I have had my Scan SC-2000 for 3 and a half weeks so far it has more than lived up to my expectations.

Cheers Vic

RE: Scart Cable

Last Saturday I replaced the standard supplied cables between my Digi Box and my DVD and between my DVD and my TV with QED sqart cables.

The improvment in picture quality and colour saturation was quite impressive.

It may be possible to get similar improvments with cheaper "high grade" cables but I am satisfied it was money well spent.

Cheers Vic

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

I have never burned a CD in my life! but I posted the archive of the Scan Firmware (version 1.91) to a friend of mine and he burned using EZCD and it worked first time no problem.

Cheers

RE: SCARTS and JACKS and too many boxes

Sorry but what do you mean by the SONY DVD has only having JACK output? (I am not sure what you mean by Jack? is it Phono, BNC svideo?).

Surly if it has 2 scart sockets one of those can be used as an output to the TV then the switching should work?.

Cheers Vic