All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Mark Wood: Frankly, looking at both the picture quality of the films on Movies4Men, and the quality of the product in general, I'd assumed they were showing the remains of a video shops stock that closed down around 1995...
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Mark Wood: Even the stuff in English seems to have shocking picture quality. It all seems to be in 4:3, and looks like someone just chucked in a video. Much of it seems to those cheapy WW2 videos that generally used to find in garden centres.
I did try to watch the film, 'Chasing the Barley', with Brian Blessed. It looked it had been made cheaply in about 1972, someone had taped it off the telly, and then shown the video.
I didn't know about Movie Mix's tieup with Sony, but it makes a lot of sense. It also means some decent movies!
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will: Its because your so close to the transmitter, and your signal is too powerful - see here: Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you
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Guy: its good your thinking about the future, and nobody wants to plaster more than once!
You dont say how old your TV is, but some things are now standard, such as wifi. However, cables just work, and its easier to put something in now, so you always have a fallback.
The first thing is power. One for the TV (and think where the socket will be on both your current, and any future TV - certain brands have power and inputs on one side, some the other), and one for a possible soundbar (my gut feeling is thats what you'll end up with, especially since the TV is wall mounted).
Even if you have Virgin/Sky, I'd still put in an aerial lead. A - you might as well, since you've paid for it and it gives you more choice, B) - you might not always have Virgin, etc, Your TV might also have a Freesat or generic sat. tuner (or any new TV might have one or two). You might as well have a coax to serve that.
4 HDMI's are great (pretty much the max your'll get on any modern TV), and probably best to make them 1.4, so they will handle 3D, ARC, etc. You'll need them for any extra boxes, streamers, soundbars or blu-rays.
Have a look here for some discussion of soundbars, etc Having problems with TV background music? - some just have digital optical, many use HDMI, and some soundshare (depending on your TV). Even Sonos and Bose sound systems use digital optical (reflecting their background as audio manufacturers, rather than TV manufacturers), so it might be worth bunging that in as well, especially if your already using that with your current system.
Since all TV's are now smart and have wifi, you could do without ethernet, but its a more reliable connection, etc, so pop in one of those as well.
Thats fine for the cables, but I'd advise you to go and ask some questions about what you want for audio in the long term. Although they still make the classic 'home cinema' system (2.1, 5.1 or 7.1 plus a bluray in one big box with lots of speakers), I havn't seen one in a couple of years. So if you do buy one, you probably wont have heard it first. Blu Ray players are now so cheap that people are buying bits, and fitting them together as they want.
Soundbars are the main thing now, and they are increasingly becoming part of larger systems, like Sonos, Pure, etc. Buy a speaker, put it where you like. The Sonos Playbar connects via digital optical, but connects to the rest of the system via wifi. Add extra speakers at the back for surround sound, and a sub, etc. Not cheap, but very flexible and popular. Lots of other brands are doing something similar. Samsung are doing exactly the same thing, but are coming from the other direction, starting with the soundbar, but able to add extra speakers.
I'd want the sound to come via the TV (HDMI, bluetooth or digital optical). You can use the Virgin box, etc, buy you might cause sync problems.
BTW - if the wall mount moves (so you can swivel the TV, etc), think of the extra length of cable your going to need - remember its going to be a good six inces of extra cable to reach.
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Peter Thornton: A nice system, and its sound like it does what you need. I like Richer - their rivals, but they are good, and in fact I bought my current (12 year old) DVD from them. I probably would have guessed the IR connection to be a 3.5mm jack as well - I know I dont always get it right.
Two things I'd suggest. Its sounds like your getting no sync problems using the digital optical from the 'digibox' (PVR?). But if you have digital optical on the TV, try that instead - everything goes in, and and everything goes out together is always good practice. Although your Ipod (Classic?) doesn't have bluetooth, and the bar doesn't have 3.5mm/RCA, you could get a cheap bluetooth transmitter, and use your Ipod that way 7dayshop Bluetooth Wireless Audio Transmitter - Universal 3.5mm jack - Black
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Ann: Not this again. Firstly, the proposed switch off date has been changed many times, and almost certainly it will be pushed into the future again.
Secondly, DAB radio's are not 'new Reception Devices' - they've been around for years. And since you can get a DAB radio in Currys for £16.99, you can be pretty 'ordinary' and buy one.
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Nick Astley Cooper & James Lamb: You can both check on the transmitters yourselves - Oxfords fine. jambes lamb - you postcode is wrong, so we cant check out where you actually are.
Why does everyone blame 4G? Its like witchcraft - its exists (but invsible), so we'll blame that.
Logically, you have problems in your own systems. You've both got amps, so check that they (or their power supply) are not failing, and then check back from there to make sure there are no breaks, fraying wires, loose connections, corrsion or moisture, etc.
Nick Astley Cooper - Your just 26km from the transmitter, with perhaps just one mux being dodgy. You probably dont even need the amp - try it. If nothing else, you can see if the amp is duff.
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Mark J: To be fair to Movies4Men, just after I slagged them off, I noticed they were showing the classic noir Out of the Past/Build My Gallows High. Great - a classic film , made in the 1940's in B & W in 4:3 - how can they stuff that up?
I just had a quick look - ropey. Its watchable, but I flicked over to BBC2 showing 'Thats Entertainment III' - a vast improvement. Even on my CRT the film does not look that great. Looks like someone just bunged in a cheap VHS. Its not like there isn't a blu-ray version available - wait, yes there this - http://www.blu-ray.com/mo…view - and apparently its wonderful.
Film4 is fine, but they do show the same films over and over again. Movie Mix has its issues, but there is some decent stuff, like Sunset and California Suite.
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John: Its great that you've got a signal through to your TV, etc, and that your sound is better, as is the Panasonic working fine.
The fact that your Philips PVR is not recognised by the TV is odd, though.
Ok - If its attached via HDMI into AV4, you need to check the following:
Make sure the PVR is switched on (not just in standby) - otherwise the TV wont see it.
Check the HDMI cable is firmly attached into the sockets on both the PVR and the TV
Check the the HDMI cable is working properly by perhaps switching it over to another machine that you know works properly. Since the PVR worked fine before, you can alwasy use the cable you previously used - you know it works. You can alwasy buy another cable for another box, or even use scart for the DVD, but you need to use HDMI for the PVR.
If the cable is fine, check the socket. Again, put it into the socket you were using before - it worked then! If its a different one, make sure its not a duff HDMI socket.
Basically, its a process of elimination. But it should work, because it did before.
There is no good reason for the TV thinking the PVR is on AV1 (scart) - you've removed all scarts (?), in which case it shouldn't pick up anything. The only thing I can think of is that you have left it attached to a scart, and therefore it has two imputs, with the HDMI being duff. Remove all scarts - you have no need of the them.
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Friday 7 November 2014 9:05PM
Ian: If your going for a soundbar (and its by far the most popular option for customers right now), then go to a proper shop and ask some questions.
Firstly, I wouldn't use a 3.5mm jack to a RCA's if I could possibly avoid them - they are the most basic connection, and you can do far better. In theory you can control the volume via the remote, but its a bit of a rubbish option. Your not going to get 5.1 sound from a soundbar, thats not their strength, but it will be pretty good, and very neat and tidy.
Soundbars have different price levels, and that reflects the output, useablity and the connections. Firstly, dont buy a really cheap soundbar. If your getting something for fifty quid from Sainsburys, your wasting your money. For a start, they wont have a sub, and you need that base, otherwise it will sound light.
A decentish soundbar starts from about £120 - something like the Samsung 355 Buy Samsung HW-H355 2.1 Bluetooth Sound Bar with Subwoofer | John Lewis
Although nobody was very keen on the 2013 model, the 2014 is a lot better. 120w, bluetooth as standard (so you can use it as a sound system from your phone, etc), with a wired sunwoofer. You can bluetooth the bar to the TV (depends on what TV you have), so you can change the volume on the bar when you change it on the TV, although bluetooth can drop out, and I know my audio collegues like a proper cable - its just more reliable. A digital optical connection is standard. Panasonic do something very similar, although its a slightly different shape, and Sony's CT60 is similar, although only 60w and an odd shape.
In the old days, soundbars were quite high and tended to only go on the wall, but they are now much slimmer, and are much easier to put just under the screen on a stand, but remember you can only hide the sub if you've got the space.
This is a decent level, but if you spend more, then you'll get a better sound and more features. The LG 3540 is the next step Buy LG NB3540 2.1 Bluetooth Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer | John Lewis . 320w, so a much bigger richer sound, and a wified sub, which means you can hide it (very popular with lady customers!). Still a digital optical, and a 3.5mm jack, which is what you get for 199. I really liked LG soundbars last year - award winning, good design, and well priced.
At about £249 and above, you'll get HDMI as well. Very useful for controlling via HDMI-CEC, and of course you should be able to use ARC if you have it on the TV. Panasonic have one which is 250w http://www.johnlewis.com/…549, but 320w seems to be more common.
The Samsung 550 or the LG 4540 are around the 300 mark, and will have all of the above, and are good bits of kit. Thats the mid level, and its a popular place for customers. After that, the prices can really go up. Sonos is worth thinking about - all wifi, very flexible, and if you stream all the time, then will work very well. In often ask customers to think larger than just the one room - there is no point spending money on a system which doesn't work with whats in the rest of the house. However, everyone is now in this game - Samsung have multi-room wifi speakers, which intergrate with their soundbars, and Sonos of course have the playbar - although it is 599!
There are also soundbases, soundplates or whatever else people have named them. Very compact, and not bad, but it wont be as good a sound as a proper soundbar, which in turn wont be as good as a 5.1, etc. But also very popular.
Of course you can use pretty much anything to give better sound to a TV, but you might as well have something which gives a decent sound, doesn't take up huge amounts of space, and is vaguely attractive.