All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Eddie: We need a postcode to tell what sort of signal you should be getting, etc. But if the signal strength keeps dropping, its not the transmitter. Almost certainly, its your system which is failing, perhaps frayed wires, loose connecvtion, water getting in, etc.
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David Hobbs: Look at your Imanual - its the headphone jack I'm talking about
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David Hobbs: Looking at this photo of the W656 - http://img1.lesnumeriques….jpg , the jack port is on the right hand side of the screen, just below the USB port and above the power supply - it would make sense if the 685 also had the jack in a similar place. Remember that you have inputs/outputs on the side, not just the back these days.
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MikeP: Yours is the Currys version of the 580, which I really like. Great motion processing for a 100hz screen, and good value for money. Yes, its a 32in screen, so no great shakes in the audio dept, but like you say, a decent soundbar could sort that out. Its got ARC, so an HDMI soundbar would be great, but I think that LG's 320w and wified sub N3540 is great value, and not too long to fit with a 32in.
Its an interesting point about Sky - I'd heard that you still got the BBC HD channels,etc, no matter what - can anyone confirm that?
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David Locke: Since you havn't given a postcode, but I'm betting that the Humax has picked up a 'main transmitter, whilst the TV has picked up a 'light' one. If you can find out which transmitter the Humax has picked up (and DigitakUK's website should tell you what bearing, etc each transmitter should be on for you), you can retune the TV to the same one, which will give you the full range.
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David Hobbs: I think your right - take the leads that fit into the loop box with you to Maplin (take a photo on your ohone of the input as well on the loop), and see if they have a lead with 3.5mm at one end, or at least an adapter to make it 3.5mm or RCA phono.
When I looked into the input on your loop box, it became a bit of nightmare, since its talked about using a PDA 101cable, etc. However, by blowing up this photo http://www.hearingloop.co…jpeg , it looks like the scart adapter simply has left/right phono's at the other end. However, since you already have a lead with phono's at the other end, I assume they didn't fit. On the other hand, if its a XLR 3 pin input, then they do adapter's as well.
Neil Bell: Its no bad thing to at least know where the inputs are. Modern TV manuals seem to be more skimpy these days, and if you look through the 'Connecting it up' page, many questions have come from people who simply havn't realised that the input/outputs have changed, or dont really know how to put them together. I would normally say 'look at the manual', but if the manual is just a couple of sheets of paper with no wiring digram, then thats more difficult.
The other thing as well is that if you dont know whats on the back, its a pain when its mounted on the wall and you need 'that socket', but you can't get to it, or when you've a TV with very few HDMI sockets - there are ways around it, but its a mare. Its one reason I like to point out to customers that buying a TV with more HDMI's does cost more, but its can make your life so much easier.
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rob: Firstly, you read it in the Sun...which is A) The Sun, and B) owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is hardly a disinterested party.
Secondly, what wage would you want highly experienced people who made decisions involving millions of pounds to actually be paid? Minimum wage plus luncheon vouchers? The same as an MP? And how much do you want the PM to be paid? In reality, a relatively large number of professionals are paid more than the PM, but then again, the PM is possibly underpaid.
MP's were so scared of appearing to line their own pockets by having a bigger wage, that instead, they grabbed whatever expenses they could, on the grounds that no one would really notice. How did that work out? The PM also gets a free house in London (No.10), and presumably keeps his allowance towards another home, and has access to his country home, Chequers.
I notice that the article didn't bother asking what similar managers at ITV, C5, C4 and Sky earn. In the case of Sky, they didn't even need to go very far. The BBC did point this out in their rebutting of the article Contact right! BBC's rapid rebuttal unit goes into action against the Sun | Media | The Guardian - the head of Sky and ITV get twice what the head of the BBC gets, and bonus/share options on top.
So just how many Sky employee's are paid more than the PM? Waiting for answers...
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Briantist: There are one or two cuts they could make that would impact relatively few people, but I suspect that the small minorities that are hit would complain very loudly.
It wasn't until there was a discussion last year on the merits of analogue radio that I found out just how much LW cost per listener. Yet I'm sure there will be waves of outraged articles in much of the press when the BBC wants to close it down. Much the same goes for Radio 3. In fact I like Radio 3, and the fact that its does do things that are non commercial. Yet the costs per listener are relatively high, and Radio 6, for instance, now gets more listeners http://www.theguardian.co…ital (which vindicates those who fought to save it). Radio 3, though, is 'special' - and the press will accuse the BBC of being Philistines in wanting to cut it, whilst demanding the BBC makes savings.
And don't even start on the 'FM is in stereo, DAB is mono' types...they are going to have a field day.
BBC3 had a similar problem - its demographic is highly complex and simply does not have the 'pull' of the those who love BBC4. BBC4 has fewer viewers, but its seen as 'quality', and pretty much every TV reviewer is going to champion it. I love BBC4 (there is a fan club on Britmovies), but its not really fair to favour one over the other, simply because one audience is more likely to organise a letter writing campaign.
Cuts to CBBC, etc? Since the BBC got most of the Bafta awards this year for kids programming, thats not going to help anyone - the commercial sector certainly isn't going to up its budget. Again, the sort of people who think it should be cut, are the people who dont have kids. And its below the radar of the average TV reviewer.
Regional programming? Yes, although I'm always confused by South Today's area anyway. I grew up in Dorset, and could never quite work out why we had reports about people in Kent. Now there are apparently reports about people in Northamptonshire!
There is the chance to fold in (or just ditch) programmses made for Wales, Scotland, etc. The S4C being paid for by the licence fee, in opposition to the BBC's service is a bit crazy, and even more so when you discover that the BBC supplies S4C with some of its programmes anyway!
Some things do make sense - Radio 1 Xtra being folded into Radio 1 might bring a edge thats been missing from the older channel, and start to recapture some of the demographic it so needed to keep.
The problem about cuts is that when you ask people what can go, they will say the stuff that they do not use or do not like - and since everyone is different, pretty much every service is precious to someone, even if almost nobody uses it.
And in the case of the BBC, its expected, since it is non commercial, to do those things which nobody else does. So its between a rock and a hard place. People want something 'different', but thats costs money, which is something they are adverse to paying for.
Personally, perhaps we should be asking people to stump up extra if they do want to listen to LW, etc - they cost a lot more than the average service, so pay for it. And all those expats who love LW but dont pay for it...show us the money!
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MikeP: & JB38: Thanks guys, you answered my question! I'd read some time back of former Sky customers with HD boxes complaining that Sky blocked the HD channels, even the PSB ones, and Sky changing their policy (after the media got involved), so the PSB ones could be viewed. I just wondered if that had actually happened. Seems it had.
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Thursday 4 December 2014 10:37PM
MikeP: Sounds interesting, and I know what you mean about BT's Indian Call Centre's (which is why I'm with Virgin, I never managed to actually get BT to connect up Infinity).
I like LG's (the 5 series is great for the money), and the sat tuner is something they should make more of (or actually just mention). Certainly try the Sky box on HDMI, your'll get far more HD channels, and it should just go to the first live HDMI feed if you press source.
Its interesting that BT is giving away something for free, previously they basically rented out their Humax box - different business model?