Posts by Sam York

So it's got a HDMI port, but can't play full HD video?

Marvellous. Another one to steer clear of then, although the screen resolution is a welcome improvement.

@ Tony Smith, David Paul Morgan

Yep, entirely correct, it's done on a 'red button' basis where HD content is available.

I think, but am not certain, that the Freesat EPG includes an icon to indicate that this is the case for a particular program, but I can't currently check as I am at work!

Rubbish

I really wanted a Pre, but there's absolutely no chance I'm going back to O2.

@ Rob Haswell - much as I personally dislike the decision, it's certainly not a case for the EU to be interfering in.

@ Chronos

Obviously your geek fu is not strong...

When I started this job 7 months ago, I spent pretty much my first solid week refusing to do anything but coil cables, cable tie them and file them in stack & store boxes depending on category.

It does mean that IEC M-F would be in the same box as 13A plug IEC, but they are the only two sorts of cables in that box. Similarly the mini USB are in the same box as maxi USB (although I'm considering revising that).

A cable _pile_, though? Nah, I'm too much of a nerd (read: my OCD is too bad) for anything that messy :D

So

When are we getting a GSM version?

Title required

"Sony Ericsson's standard two-pin Fast Port power connection and a 3.5mm jack plug, which is nice, but somewhat superfluous since an adaptor for the power plug also features a 3.5mm headphone socket and is included with the supplied earbuds."

So after EVERY review you've ever written of a SE phone criticising them for using an adapter for the 3.5mm socket, and saying they should put a standard socket on the phone, you now write this?

I admit they could have made the charger socket smaller, but kudos for remaining compatible with their existing chargers.

"However, it’s a shame that the 42LF7700 doesn’t have an upscaling option"

Er, what?

So how exactly is it filling the screen with a standard def picture then?

@ Chris

If you think EX71s are decent, you need to try a few alternatives...

I'm using Etymotic Research ER4s in custom moulds for in ears, Sennheiser HD-25 for small portable closed cup cans, and Sony MDR-7509HD for the big daddy over the ear jobs (I alternate between them all on my portable player depending on a variety of factors)

Granted, both those examples are probably slightly OTT, but as noted above I am fanatical about sound quality!

@ those (like me) who can't abide the ribbon

Check this out: http://blogs.howtogeek.com/mysticgeek/2009/03/08/get-office-2003-menus-in-the-office-2007-ribbon/

Means you can enjoy the (admittedly quite good) new features of 2k7 without tearing your hair out over the 'My First Computer' interface.

I can't imagine HOW anyone thought that was a good idea; in Excel 2003 I have four rows of buttons that between them can access just about every single feature in Excel - in 2007 the ribbon takes up the same amount of space but can fit about 8 buttons per tab. Can't understand how that's more efficient or better in any way, it takes more clicks to get everywhere!

Anyway, enjoy the above link...

@ Mark Daniels

You're quite correct, it's a principality that these days is more an administrative region of the UK than anything else. I describe myself as British to anyone that asks.

'Cardiff, England' however is inaccurate. Cardiff, UK would be fine, but it is clearly not in England.

Agree with Joe K

Those pics certainly look genuine.

Not surprised, they did it with the PS2 as already mentioned, and also with the PSX (remember the PSOne? Didn't sell amazingly well I don't think).

I might even get one, I'm moving ever closer towards buying a PS3 and a slimline one would be more attractive than the current behemoth.

@ Buck Futter

I'll take the one that has the feature set I want, is well made, reliable and has good support available. I couldn't give a flying fuck what it looks like; it's a tool, not a fashion accessory.

Toshiba would be my choice brand of laptop for almost any situation I can think of.

But then I'm one of these engineer types that prizes substance over style every time, some of us are funny like that.

What a waste of R&D and effort in general

What's wrong with IEC 60309 (aka Cee form)?

Support for single and three phase, will easily handle the voltage, and IP rated. Oh, and someone's already gone to the trouble of designing them.

But

why not use an SSD?!

@ Al

Aaaaah. Makes sense now!

Passive radiators =/= passive speakers. A passive radiator is a driver assembly with no voice coil or magnet (so basically just a cone of paper) that will vibrate in sympathy with the other one due to air pressure fluctuations inside the speaker cabinet. It's not doing a great deal towards the sound (the cynical part of my brain suggests it's a cheap way of improving the looks/desirability of the product without forking out for another pair of drivers or the uprated amps to power them), I thought this sort of thing had fallen out of favour a long time ago so it didn't enter my head at all!

@ 'erm....'

It will have a HD output, so the advantage of HD storage/playback will mainly be relating to plugging it into a big telly - imo quite a nice feature of a personal media player.

Also, the people who tell you you can't see the benefit unless you buy a massive TV are usually trying to sell you TVs so have something of a vested interest in upselling. I have a 32" 1080p Panasonic Viera, and I can assure you that you can tell the difference between SD and HD.

@ Paul Delaney

Expecting it to actually run on that spec is probably a bit optimistic though! Remember that at the time the P3 was released, we were all using Windows 98 (shudders at the thought of those days); there's been a fair few Windows releases since then...*

I agree the minimum (MS quoted) spec is not good enough as always, but from my tests on quite a variety of machines it will definitely run happily on a lower spec than Vista. I probably won't chuck it on anything earlier than a P4, but I don't really have any front line machines older/slower than that anyway.

It will take a lot to tear me away from XP as it's rock solid when I set it up as I like it, but it is getting old and unable to use the latest hardware to its full capabilities, so I'm going to have to upgrade sometime. Vista was too much of a resource hog for me but I think I will be purchasing quite a few copies of 7 quite soon after it comes out (and it's rare for me to be an early adopter). My main reservation is still the abject lack of classic view for those of us who view our computers as a tool rather than a pretty multimedia experience that wants to make friends with us!

*I believe it's somewhat frowned upon to mention the name of Windows 98's successor in polite conversation, so I've omitted it to save everyone having horrible flashbacks and panic attacks.

@ Steve Evans

The article clearly states that water cooling is used...

@ AC 14.22

I disagree with Phorm as much as the next man (it's very much the thin end of the proverbial insidious wedge), but learn to read!

Below the bit that you quote:

"Alternatively, you may request specifically that your website is not scanned by Webwise. To request that your website not be scanned by Webwise, please email:

website-exclusion@webwise.com. "

This I believe is the 'opt-out' clause referred to in the letter/article.

So, given his name

was he looking for all spycars great and small then?

/coat

@ AC

(not related to this discussion, but to answer your question)

The reason VGA ports etc on TVs are limited in resolution, even though VGA can comfortably manage the resolution, is to force you to use the HDMI port for full, which obviuosly has HDCP built in...

@ Liam Thom

How is SD better through a HDMI cable than through another cable if it's exactly the same signal and the same scaling algorithm on the TV? I haven't A/B'd between the two but might try it out. I can't see how there'd be any difference though, unless your TV has a really crappy scaler and using the one in the Foxsat is better.

@ Adrian

USB2 is theoretically 480Mb/s but in every real world situation I've tried it in, FW400 is much faster (and particularly on Macs, they don't seem to cope very well with USB hard drives for some reason).

It's because Firewire devices contain their own controller chips where USB relies on the CPU.

Oh

And if we're being really anal (and as technical people it's our duty) the time over which the reading was taken should also be given. 110dB(A)SPL Leq over 5 hours is a hell of a lot louder than a peak reading of the same number.

@ Steve Lubman - $10.00 doesn't buy you 'good' musicians earplugs. Whilst the cheap ones will attenuate the overall level acceptably, you have to spend a significant amount more than that to get anything that will attenuate all frequencies equally, which is what a musician would want. I agree the cheap ones are fine for the general public wanting to protect their hearing though (personally when I'm listening to music loud enough to require plugs, I want to hear the music as it was originally intended, not a muffled mess. Although I am a nerd when it comes to these matters)

Modify how Autoplay works?

Hopefully they will just turn it off altogether. I always have, on any Windows system that's supported it.

Is it really much hardship to put a CD/USB stick in, then navigate to it in My Computer to explore or open it? I think not.

I'm not a fan of Belkin

Everything of theirs I've had has been exceptionally cheap and nasty. Or overpriced and nasty if you buy it from PC World.

At the budget end of the router/network hardware market I struggle to understand why anyone would buy anything other than Netgear.

@ AC 16.51

USB 2 is 480Mbit/s....

@ AC

Getting round BIOS passwords is easy...! There's several methods that your average 14 year old would probably know. I'll leave out the details, it's not hard to find them out if you fancy doing a bit of research.

Lexmark has a solid technological base?!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Like I suspect many other people, I have had one Lexmark printer, realised my mistake and will never again buy anything bearing the name, however cheap it is or how good it looks.

Perfectly happy with Canon, HP, Epson or Samsung (for cheap lasers) but the Lexmark badge will never cross my threshold again.

@ Colin Millar

Really?! My Humax cost me >£300. Show me how I can BMO with twin tuners and 320GB HDD for that price....

And that's even accepting the fact it won't be half as easy to use and well integrated.

A real shame

That there's no Ethernet/WiFi connectivity....

Otherwise I'd have ordered one already! WD missed a trick there I feel.

You got a free Scrabble CD, yes

(I have the same one in fact)

But this will be fully licensed, paid for and agreed with Mattel! Not the same thing at all...

That's exactly what I mean, Rowan Huggard

Typical Apple fanboy response: 'The looks, the interface and the general user experience are so far ahead of anything else on the market, its going to take years for anyone else to even draw level.'

So these features are of more importance to you than sound quality, amount of different file formats played, whether the headphones that come with it are worth 99p, etc etc...

If I was buying an mp3 player I would prioritise mp3 playing functions over being stylish and cool. Guess that's why I don't own many Apple products then!