Info and forum posts by 'John Howells'

RE: Back to the Future Region 2 - progressive coding or interlaced?

"Don`t be confused, the bottom line is that Prog Scan is only achieved in the hardware domain and not with the DVD itself, it is just not possible."

That`s not quite true. For progressive scan to work properly the disk does have a part to play, in that the frames must be flagged appropriately. If this is incorrect, as with the recent R1 version of "Meaning of Life" a progressive player will produce a faulty picture, as noted here and here.

Of course, the Meaning of Life is an isolated example where it has gone wrong, and your basic argument that Saqib has got confused is correct.

This item was edited on Sunday, 28th September 2003, 20:53

RE: PAL>NTSC NTSC>PAL

The vast majority of US TV`s are not multi-standard, and won`t take any kind of 625 line signal, PAL or not. It the multi-region X-Box won`t do PAL -> NTSC conversion she`ll probably see nothing, B&W or colour. Those in the US who want multi-region players usually look for those that do PAL -> NTSC conversion to avoid this problem.

RE: Samsung DVD-S224 Problem

I didn`t think the S224 came out till July 2002, a little over 14 months ago.

I referred to a concert CD, not a concert DVD. See here for another description, though the player does not pause, it cuts the sound for a few seconds.

Only a minority of DVD`s cause the "chapter blip" problem (and those DVD`s that do play fine on others players, including Samsung`s own 709 and 511), but all three S224 players I tried earlier this year, one bought in August 2002, one in November 2002, and one in February 2003, behaved badly with DVD`s that did. I can only assume you have been lucky with the DVD`s you have played so far, or that Samsung broke the firmware after the one you bought. The problem occurs repeatably at:

Chapters 2, 24, 32, and 34 of the UK release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher`s Stone
Chapter 49 of the UK release of My Fair Lady
Chapter 3 of episode 4 of the UK release of Thunderbirds Vol.1

with the three players I tried.

I also noted that about one third of DVD`s start with subtitles on in cases where they should not, again on all three players.

RE: Samsung DVD-S224 Problem

The S224 has three problems:

1) If you play a "concert" CD, i.e. one that does not have breaks between the tracks, you will lose about 3 seconds at each track change. Note, that it not a pause, it chops about 3 seconds from the sound.

2) On some DVD`s at some chapter stops there will be a momentary glitch on picture and sound. How obvious the glitch is depends on the picture and sound. For a bad example try chapter 49 of My Fair Lady. This case is repeatable, so that replaying that chapter stop always shows the problem.

3) The same glitch on picture and sound at a chapter stop occurs on other DVD`s, but is not repeated when that chapter stop is repeated. This is the case you note.

When I raised these with Samsung back in March the reply I got was:

>>
We are sorry to learn of the problems you have encountered with your Samsung product.

Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention. Unfortunately our engineers have looked into these issues, which you have brought to our attention, but have no possible upgrades to resolve them at this time.
<<

So they admit the S224 is intrinsically flawed, but are going to do nothing about it.

Mine went back for a refund, which is a pity, as if it were not for these flaws it would be a very good player.

RE: Eye problems...

"Unfortunately astigmatism can`t be sorted by contact lenses"

www.contactlenses.co.uk/education/public/softtoric.htm

"it basically occurs because your retina isn`t a perfect sphere. Instead it tends towards a `rugby ball` shape, meaning the point of focus differs for different parts of the retina."

www.contactlenses.co.uk/education/public/astigmatism2.htm

RE: Samsung DVD-E234 - Can it be hacked

According to the Currys web site the E235 can (yes, Currys now include Multi-Region hack information on their web site for those models that can be hacked), using the "standard" hack for the 511 and E224 (see elsewhere on this web site in the "Multi-Region Hacks" section of the "Info"). SInce the E235 (from Currys) and E234 (from Comet) appear to be the same under the skin (as were the E224 from Comet and E225 from Currys), there appears no reason why the E235 should not be similarly hackable.

As for being any good - I was very happy with my 709 and 511, and the only problem with the 224 was that on some disks it had problems with a few chapter boundaries. The most obvious place was on CD`s, where a "concert" CD (i.e. with no break between tracks) would have a three second break inserted, so that some of the CD was actually lost. On DVD`s a few chapter boundaries would have a slight break on the sound, and a brief repeat of the picture, though the latter was sometimes invisible if the picture was relatively static. The first Thunderbirds disk, My Fair Lady, and the first Harry Potter film all come to mind as having this problem, all being the R2 UK releases. A pity really, as otherwise it was a fine player. I have a letter from Samsung where they more or less admit that this problem exists on all E224/E225 players, and was not particular to mine,, and that no update was likely to fix it. It went back.

RE: Or September 6th?

Yes, but 6th September is a Saturday, which would be a very unusual (unique?) release day, while October 6th is a Monday, the usual day in the UK, so I go with Amazon`s date.

RE: has anyone got "the thing"?

Letterbox, just like all the other versions.

The "original" 1951 version is out on 5th August in the US.

RE: Custom charges?

You take the cost of the goods plus the P&P charges and convert to pounds according to the rates at http://www.hmce.gov.uk/business/rates/rates.htm then take 17.5% of that for VAT and add the P.O. charge of £3.85 (assuming you did not use one of the more expensive options). See also http://www.hmce.gov.uk/forms/notices/143.htm

You will note that I have *NOT* included the 3.5% customs duty, as I have never been charged for that - don`t ask me why - but working it out as outlined above, excluding customs duty, gives the result exact to the penny.

RE: The Great War box set

"Don`t think your correct in saying that goods from Jersey are dutyable."

Yes, I am!!

Why do you think I qualified the reference to duty by writing "duty (really only VAT on DVD Video`s)"? I wrote that because (a) even for DVD`s from the US and Canada and Australia you only pay VAT, not any import duty, and (b) because the word "duty" is often used, albeit incorrectly if you wish to be pedantic, as shorthand for any charges liable on imported goods, and was clearly being used that way in the original request that started this thread. As you note "Goods such as DVDs, are only liable (sic) VAT", which is precisely what I said!!

"This does apply to the DVD regions in the case of Play.com. It is my understanding that play send R2 disks from Jersey."

After which you went on to confirm that R1 disks from Play are liable to "duty", as I had previously noted, but did not clearly state what you thought happened to R2 disks from Play.

R2 disks from Play are indeed sent from Jersey and most certainly *ARE* liable to VAT on import to the UK, though as I keep saying, for such disks Play use a "paid at source" mechanism for disks over the £18 limit, so that, unlike R1 disks, the price you see is always the price you pay, whether that be under or over the £18 limit.

This item was edited on Friday, 7th March 2003, 13:04

RE: Carry On - Special Editions?

"I thought the SEs now being released were to be widescreen, or at least not cropped - now reviews and suppliers are listing 4:3"

All the five released so far are WS, but while three are anamorphic two are not. The three that were previously 4:3 (Abroad, Again Doctor, and Don`t Lose Your Head) are now WS 16:9, while the two previously released as 4:3 LBX (Doctor and Follow That Camel) are unfortunately the same as before. Presumably Carlton will do the same with the remainder, though that`s only a guess, but it`s unfortunate (!) they have not all been done as anamorphic.

RE: The Great War box set

"Thought there no Duty on any R2 disks no matter what the price of it was"

The region of the disk is irrelevant, duty (really only VAT on DVD Video`s) is due on any disk imported to the UK from a non-EU source. Jersey (and Guernesy, and the Isle Of Man) are outside the EU, so a disk imported from there is as liable to duty as one from the US or Canada or Australia.

However, there is an allowance (currently £18 for the cost of the goods alone) below which duty is waived. For disks more than £18 duty is due on the cost of the goods plus the postage and packing. But in the case of Play they use a "duty paid at source" mechanism for R2 disks, as previously noted, so there will be no further duty due on R2 disks from them.

For an import from an EU country there should be no liability for further duty, as VAT will already have been paid, either at the rate of the supplier country (for smaller companies), or at the rate of the recipient country (for larger companies, with a turnover of more than about 100K euro, such as Amazon in France).

RE: The Great War box set

"... the best price I can find is £79.99 at Play. Since this is over £18.00 it is likely that I will cop for duty ..."

Happily this is not the case. For more expensive R2 disks Play use a "duty paid at source" method, so that what you see is what you pay.

But note that this does *NOT* apply to R1 disks, and Play will warn you at the time of ordering that duty might have to be paid.

RE: Do all DVD disks contain Macrovision

FWIW, in my collection about 50% of R1 (US) disks are MV protected, while about 70% of R2 (UK and France) disks are. I have separately e-mailed a list of about 200 R2 disks that I know to be MV protected.

RE: COAXIAL VERSUS OPTICAL

For CD audio in principle they can, because the signal carries timing information, and slight differences can cause jitter, which can introduce subtle distortion, though how much depends on the quality of the cables and the circuitry at each end. I have never been able to hear any difference, but I did not really expect to.

For DD and DTS the signal is compressed, and has to be decoded and the audio samples retimed at the reciving end, making such subtle cable effects impossible. But it only requires a vivid imagincation to be able to hear what you expect to hear in the absence of a true A-B test. Those who claim to be able to hear clear audible differences should try for the $1 million prize from www.randi.org for supernatural faculties.

And if you don`t believe me, check out the start of the third paragraph of section 4.5 of http://www.dolby.com/ht/Guide.HomeTheater.0110.html which states that "If your system components allow you to choose between two types of digital connector, note that both have identical audio performance."

This item was edited on Friday, 4th October 2002, 12:26

RE: Region 2 & 4 are they the same.?

http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/ is pretty good at noting which R4 disks are also coded for R2

RE: philips 28pw9617 dolby digital 5.1 decoding

But in this case what use would a player with a DTS decoder be? The TV only accepts analogue stereo or digital input that is Dolby encoded (or PCM or MPEG), and there is no mention of any other sound package, so the decoded DTS would have nowhere to go!

RE: philips 28pw9617 dolby digital 5.1 decoding

Yes, they will work fine together. No, in this configuration the decoder in the player is redundant, and you could buy a player without it if you only want to play DVD video disks. You connect the DVD player`s digital co-ax output to the digital audio input on the TV, associated with AV1, using a single phono to phono cable. The TV then does the decoding. If you later get an AV amplifier or receiver you connect the same output (or the optical one) to a digital input on that.

RE: Open all hours, series 1 & 2 - 9.99 at play

For some reason Universal/Playback have released both VHS & DVD versions of Allo Allo and Hi De Hi, and soon for Last Of The Summer Wine. However, for Open All Hours they are only doing the VHS version, which will be Series 1 and 2, while the BBC are doing the DVD themselves, which will be Series 1 only. It looks like somebody at Play got confused by the different versions when they were putting up the details.

RE: BLAKES7 IS COMING ON DVD!!!!

Sheesh!! Weapon is Episode 16, which is from Series 2! And only two of the episodes listed (Way Back and Seek-Locate-Destroy) are from Series 1!!

If you check against somewhere such as http://shipofdreams.net/b7/episodes.htm the episode titles, in the order listed on the web site, cover:

Bounty - Episode 11
Games - Episode 47
Hostage - Episode 21
Power - Episode 41
Seek-Locate-Destroy - Episode 6
Star One - Episode 26
The Harvest Of Karos - Episode 31
Ultraworld - Episode 36
Way Back - Episode 1
Weapon - Episode 16

In other words, they are listed in alphabetical order by the title of the first episode on each disk, covering 5 episodes on each of the first eight disks and 6 episodes on the last two, to give the 52 episodes from all four series.

They could be either (a) single DVD-9, in which case the quality will be truly awful if they have sqaushed 5 or 6 episodes on one disk, or (b) two DVD-9 or one DVD-18, in which case the quality could be reasonable, allowing for NTSC conversion. But given that it`s BFS don`t expect too much emphasis on picture quality. And expect the date to slip by a month or three or four.

RE: BLAKES7 IS COMING ON DVD!!!!

And the whole set will be available on R1 on 7th January according to http://www.bfsent.com, but since it`s BFS and it`ll be converted to NTSC the quality will be no better than mediocre!

This item was edited on Sunday, 25th August 2002, 19:06

RE: Multi Region Hack For Sony DVP-NS300

What was it about "Sonys, Panasonics, most JVCs, Toshibas cannot be hacked via the remote. A chipping company (and therefore payment of a fee) is necessary." on the forum opening page you did not understand?

RE: Macrovision Hack LG 5083 wanted

You see. I said you`d find the answer if you looked!

RE: Macrovision Hack LG 5083 wanted

As might be the answer if you searched for "5083" in this very forum!

RE: Philips 28PW 9616 & 9617

No, because the PS2 ouputs optical only, and the Philips accept co-ax only. You`d need something like http://www.lektropacks.co.uk/product/technical.asp?dept%5Fid=109&sku=166
at £60 a pop.

RE: Hack -LG 5083 or The 5095

RMTM0000/Scarlet is the path for the files. They should be created wherever you ask for the file to be unzipped.

RE: Hack -LG 5083 or The 5095

"All i get when I try and download is a file about 5k in size, I have tried about 50 times and I keep getting the same. This is starting to get annoying now. Could someone e-mail me the file?"

The site says it`s 5783 bytes, and that`s presumably what you`ve got. Perhaps you`ve got too used to dealing in Mbytes. Have you tried unzipping it?

===============================================

"You have to burn the folder RMTM0000 with the Scalet folder inside it or the CD wont work."

So the RMTM0000 directory has to be visible on the CD - thanks.

RE: Hack -LG 5083 or The 5095

When the instruction says "Burn the folder `RMTM0000` to a CD-R" does it mean you should see that directory on the resulting CD, or only the "Scarlet" directory within it? I assume the former, but this is for my sister`s player, and I don`t want to burn the wrong content. Perhaps I`ve been reading technical specifications for too many years, where such ambiguities can cause problems! Thanks.

RE: UNLOCK DEALER LOCK THOMSON DTH5000

"There is no such thing as a dealer lock" - yeah, right! There is, and it is there to lock the disk in the player to stop people ripping off the DVD used for display in a shop.

Hold down the stop button on the player and press the power button on the remote to toggle the dealer lock on/off.

RE: Anyone else have problems with watches/video clocks over the weekend?

Yes, in the spring 1:00 -> 2:00 (and in the rest of Europe 2:00 -> 3:00 so the clocks change in sync) on the last Sunday in March. In the autumn 2:00 -> 1:00 (and similarly in the rest of Europe 3:00 -> 2:00) on the last Sunday in October. It used to be that 2:00 -> 3:00 and 3:00 -> 2:00 here, and not on the last Sundays, but that changed to (more or less!) the present times in 1981.