Posts by Scott Mckenzie 706 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Mar 2007
I'd love to hear why "in theory" you'll not need a new PS3 for 10 years..... i'm sure it's got a good graphics chip and CPU, but 10 years ago i had a state of the art Voodoo 2 in SLI configuration, with a whopping 8Mb of video RAM, that was able to play any game in full resolution, frame rate etc..... so i'm guessing technological advances in the next 10 years may well render the current PS3 worth nothing more than a doorstop (which incidentally it does resemble rather well!)
Demonstrating a complete lack of understanding there... well done.
Maybe if you read up on SOX and used your brain a little you'd understand why your above post is utter garbage, but evidently that is a little beyond you....
Never let that get in the way of having a pop though, eh?
Due in about 6 months...
I do agree that HD FOotball is a complete waste of bandwidth, though the F1 would be nice!
I saw a Grundig HD Receiver, also for £119, in Currys the other day... so there are other options now.
As for no ITV HD on Sky, i utterly applaud that, the rumoured figure that Sky wanted ITV to pay in order to appear on the EPG was madness, so fantastic that they're going elsewhere... i hope the others (Channel 4, BBC etc) turn round and tell Sky to f**k off too, just as soon as they can....
Just a shame that i can't get a dual LNB on the dish where i live so the PVR is a waste, i'll have to stick with SD for recorded stuff :(
All the HD ones are 720p with DD5.1.... i personally think that is perfectly acceptable.
Though no doubt there will be all the people who *HAVE* to have 1080p on their 32" screen that they sit 20ft from because (they can see the difference"
720p h264 encoded is a perfectly acceptable compromise in my opinion, it's a significant step up from DVD quality!
I also don't think the price is bad at all.... have a fast broadband connection and the convenience factor is massive!
Comparing any format to Divx suggests that HD is not high on the list for many people.... VHS is comparable to Divx!!!!
For many they simply can't tell the difference, so why invest... as stated a 720p HD rip in MKV is pretty damn impressive for the file size, but HD-DVD/BR quality it is not, plus you do miss out on the other significant side of HD, the audio.... True HD and DTS MA are stunning, but as with all things and as said above, it all depends on the transfer, i've seen HD movies that you simply couldn't tell apart from DVD in terms of video and audio, but then there are films like Transformers which take your breath away in the quality of the transfer.
You don't have to have the best of everything to get good results, but in my opinion if you have less than a 40" screen or sit a fair distance from it, i really wouldn't bother!
...you can put any SIM you like in. But from the various tests i've done Vodafone has far and away the best and most stable 3G coverage in the UK at the moment so i'd stick with it if you can... add in to the fact that you can configure it to access Cisco VPN etc (something no other carrier has managed to allow in my tests!!!)
As an all in one device that looks impressive, the heart rate monitor etc is very good.... i wonder what it does if you get a call whilst running though :D
I agree it's not going to be up there with the Garmin products (though i think the 305 must add 30lbs to your wrist, it's a brick!!!), but by the looks of it it moves the game on a little from the Nike+ system.... it won't be quite as accurate without GPS (neither is the Nike+) but it's all one place.
Shame neither of them have bloody Mac software though. Grrrrrrrr
As all seem to agree above, it's very subjective..... i've recommended the Lumix TZ5, Fuji F40fd and Ricoh Caplio C7 to people recently... all for different reasons.
In low light the Fuji rocks (i have the smaller F31fd as a pocket aid to my DSLR) however in bright light others offer sharper images.
The Ricoh is a stunning all rounder but last time i checked was a little pricey.... for value for money and capable at everything (and with a great wide angle) the Lumix is probably the best bet IMHO but the Fuji is a cracker (sadly on the newer models Fuji got rid of their stunning sensor :()
People slate the cost of the iPhone tariff etc and then you read all the above.... you buy the contract direct from the reliable retailer such as direct from Manufacturer and things tend to be a touch better....
Pay £15 for 6 million minutes, unlimited texts etc and you have to assume there is a catch, they're supplying the same hardware on the same network yet for half the price, clearly something isn't quite right... sure it could be the fact that the network has larger overheards and desires more profit, but they're not going to price them out of the market.
£35 a month for an iPhone tariff with come back and a touch of honesty is actually very good value... if you ask me.
Too true, it made me read it as i like to see things go wrong for the over-hyped not as good as everyone makes out driver.....
Shame he wasn't involved in any Nazi orgies or something and there were pictures on it as that would have given the press a dilemma and a half... golden boy in doing something wrong shocker!!
You really are...
If you find a Mac difficult to set up then you're more stoopid than your name says... as for securing it, well, errr.... again pretty straightforward if you ask me.
There is no denial of the Macbook Air hacking either.... just because a Mac got hacked does that undo all of the past insecurities of Windows, Linux etc?
I am somewhat concerned about Webster though....
I have the latest Vodafone one, the one that resembles a Flash drive and it's fantastic.... incredibly fast, £15 a month for 5Gb transfer and i've yet to find an area where coverage is anything but 3G
I've not tried the "3" ones but if the modem service is anything like their phones i'd personally steer clear.
O2 i'd avoid like nobody's business, they may be improving their 3G network in view of the new iPhone, but as it is at the moment is way behind the others.
Mine lasted 2 years without problem (was bought the week they came out)... then habing come back repaired it failed again a month ago.
So either i had a dodgy repair or the problem does still exist in some cases.
They're taking the power supply back aswell this time... personally i don't have an issue, the product broke they're very efficient at fixing it and gave me a free 12 months subscription to Xbox Live Gold last time.... electronics break, end of... it's how a company deals with it that is of more interest to me.
I'm unsure what functionality a Netgear offers that the TC doesn't? The Wireless is speedy, the fixed line is a little slow for a true Gigabit but still much faster than Wireless.
You have top notch security - even USB added HDD's can be password protected..... iCgat, Back to my Mac etc all work seamlessly if required.
I personally prefer it in its simplicity to any other home router i've used, it's never crashed, is silent, the hard disc read and write speeds are excellent and Time Machine backups for the Macs will be useful for you.
For what you're after there may well be cheaper options but i doubt they'll do it all so straightforwardly and easily... i say buy one.
Errr, you are taking the piss right? The iPhone and iPod Touch have had WiFi built in since launch - on current models....
As for cancelling holidays, as far as i am aware, the company are totally within their rights to do so - but it depends on the policy in place. Good news as to how soon the 3G one is coming though!!
I'd happily pay extra for HD channels if they banned football from it. Forever.
Sky Sports HD exists for Football, keep it there.... you can then continue to pay silly prices for it to fund the silly wages for the nonces to dive around on a pitch a couple of times a week.
Then we can have Rugby and Motor Racing on the free HD channels.
Coming "soon" estimated to be around July/August time and will be a Humax product as they have a 6 month exclusive on it.
As per Sky you will need a minimum of a twin LNB on your dish if you want to "record one whilst simultaneously watching another" channel.... which is a pain for me as the flat i live in had Sky cabled for a single run ages ago... grrrr, irritating that Freeview can manage it with just one aerial feed!!!!
As many have pointed out, the 90 days is free software support, you may have noticed that you don't get that at all with any of the other manufacturers for free.... the hardware warranty is 1 year and AppleCare is pretty darn competitively priced compared to other extended warranties i've bought in our office over the years.
That said of all the dealings i've had with warranty companies Apple certainly do come out trumps, Toshiba were also excellent.... Dell, IBM and HP were all rubbish (HP for servers are a world apart but hell do you pay for that!!)
Then again i have experience so what do i matter.... that should never get in the way of a flame war now should it.
Marmite - i'm willing to bet he'll say he has, but hasn't actually used an iPhone.
I like HTC too, i've had an M600, M700 and TyTn II (all on Orange) and they've steadily got better... the only thing i'll miss moving to an iPhone is the Sat Nav, but if the rumours of the GPS are true then i'm in heaven and will buy one on launch day (to be honest i probably will anyway!!)... hell even if it's just support for external Bluetooth GPS devices i'll be happy.
But to call an iPhone rubbish is plain ridiculous, it may be more expensive than other phones but the spec is excellent, sure it's restricted but for good reasons in my view....
As for the actual point (i think) you were trying to make, they couldn't subsidise the phone as Apple wouldn't let them... also they are expected to give a percentage of network earnings for iPhones back to Apple so they probably wanted to maximise their earning potential... now they've maybe decided it's doing well enough to now allow some subsidy.
As said above at least compare Apples with Apples:
The monitor is not the same resolution, 1280 x 800 is quite different to 1680 x 1050, sure you can increase to the 22" with that res but we're talking a pretty naff monitor here, in my experience the Dell UltraSharp probably do just pip the Apple monitors for colour depth, but they're not an option. Assuming we're happy with the 22" to get the same res, add £30
Multimedia keyboard, add £5
No built in speakers on the Dell, not important to me, but are to someone. £10
Optical Audio output on the Dell? £10 as it's maybe included in the Audigy?
Webcam - £13
Wireless Network - £10
Bluetooth - £20
Firewire - £10
You currently get £60 against a printer from Apple too, so we can add a reasonable printer to the Dell (seen as you can have an HP C4180 for £60, effectively making it free) £40
That little lot comes in at £749.08, which yep it's still cheaper than the iMac.. but then we can talk about built in iLife amongst others, the fact that we don't have to install our webcam, plug everything in and let's be honest it's gonna look a whole lot better in the iMac form.... if you want to remove promo offers too, forego the printer which takes the Mac to the same £799 but the Dell now comes in £789.
I'd rather have a newer, slightly slower processor (seen as the OS will do far better with anyway) and the smaller HDD for the rest of the spec to be nigh on identical.... i get OS X you get an entry level Dell.
But as i said before, take your choice, i'll take mine... but if you're going to draw comparisons, at least make them fair.
I've just tried on Dell and including the high res monitor etc i can't price up a unit with the same power processors to the same price as you.... but still for a lot of people a machine that "just works" is more important and also the elegance of a design of the iMac is worth so much more... not too many folks want acres of wire trailing all over the palce in the lounge - not an issue with an iMac, i know of several people who've bought one just for that.
But hey, arguing with someone anonymous on the web is a little pointless, you clearly have your viewpoint which is fine... when you've actually tried one it'd be interesting to see your real opinion, but until then.... enjoy your amazing machine. I'll enjoy my 3 Macs and the entire network of PC's i run at the office. Guess which break more? Clue your sarcastic first answer won't be the right one.
Congratulations to the person who priced up a cheaper machine, it being cheaper and having no OS on is always a good start for comparison... you're then kinda missing one of the reasons people like the Mac, the style and convenience, what it comes with etc.
For many people the fact that you have to plug in the power cord, the keyboard and the mouse (or maybe not if you went wireless) and that is it... rather than connecting everything up, installing the drivers, or in the case of your fantastic machine, physically building the thing - something your average user is well up to speed with doing.
Get over the comparison... the same would apply with Dell, Alienware and any manufacturer of pre built systems - it's convenient FFS.
But then again, so long as you're happy go ahead... the sales figures say otherwise but why would we question your unfaltered knowledge of all things computing.
Webster - sad to see your still with us.
If cybersquatting you also have to be careful if a company does offer you money... if you then go back to them asking more then people have been picked up on trying to exploit the name and cash in on it by asking for daft sums... which is again ridiculous as maybe you just got lucky and should be entitled to expect the company to offer reasonable recompense for the benefit they'd make from having the name.
Congratulations, thank you very much for updating the rest of the population on the correct choice, we can now all go and purchase the Viewty phone safe in the knowledge that it's "right" "right" for all of us as you've carefully interviewed everyone and assessed their needs and then implemented this study in a controlled fashion to come up with your conclusion.
Thank you so much.
I love the way everyone on here knows so much about every other persons mobile phone usage habits.... to be able to boldly claim that no-one would need/use a £35 a month contract shows amazing insight, congratulations!
For instance, i don't have a landline, thus saving me £11 a month from BT but means that a slightly larger number of bundled minutes on my mobile is necessary..... and for the record, i do not believe that the deal offered by O2 for the iPhone is expensive in the slightest. I'm on Orange though so can't take advantage of their tariff.
Get the best of both worlds and get the XE1 HD DVD with a Reon upscaler :D
I too bought a player when they went silly cheap, i've got around 40 discs now and i've never paid more than £9 for a single disc.... the quality is stunning, noticeably better than SD even on my tiny 40" screen.... the audio is better, the firmware keeps coming, the discs are region free so you can save a packet buying from abroad - a recent fire sale in Australia meant many top titles were £4.50 delivered, yes delivered from Australia to the UK!!!
For me the biggest current issue with BR is the players... there are so many and with the exception of a Denon and a Marantz unit none of them can do what i need, or for that matter what the £120 EP35 does.... i need analogue audio is the key one so that rules out the best Blu Ray player currently on the market... the PS3, plus the fact i think it's hideously ugly and really don't want one under my TV! Sure there are cheap Sony, Sharp, Samsung models, but no PiP, no streaming of DTS-MA etc... i hate it when the wrong format wins, but hey i'm loving the bargain prices!!!!!
Wow, you're paranoid.... just out of interest, what is the danger in your opinion of IMAP over SSL? I've yet to find any significant danger having opened up IMAP in the company i work for....
Or are you just scared to admit that then other people may like the idea of an Apple product (since i got one, our company has added 5 more and it's growing) and you would lose face in your office.... and then be in danger of having to support something you don't know or understand and look even worse.
Tragic.
As for a 10% increase in your market share in an incredibly competitive market, i'd be happy.... and then comparing the sales of one brand against the combined sales of all the PC manufacturers... hmm.
...clearly all of you have spent time inside as you're all professing how easy it is. Even a minimum security prison isn't like high school, but why listen to someone who worked in the Probation Service and visited a few when you have no knowledge and base fact upon it!
/you may all continue with the Daily Mail
Quidco is very good... another advocate here!
As for the cost of the tariff... i'd love to know where so many many people are getting such a great mobile tariff from a reputable place (by reputable i don't mean dial a phone advertising in the back of the Sun as i struggle to believe them...) i really don't think £35 a month is all that bad for what you get on the basic tariff... 600 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited data. I admit i'm somewhat out of the loop as i have a company phone, but based on what my other half pays £35 a month *really* doesn't seem all that bad to me.
Hey ho.... anyway, i'll watch this keenly, so long as v2.0 of the software gets hacked soon i'll have one in a flash, i'm not even that fussed about 3G if i'm honest.
...will it enable the R500 to handle more than 2 apps at once yet though, we have one here and it's great as an ultraportable for Outlook or viewing the odd spreadsheet etc, but once you have a few things open you may aswell make a cup of coffee each time you move the mouse.
Slate the Air as many do, at least it has a proper processor in it... oh and i shan't mention the screen rigidity too much as it's clear an SSD won't have fixed that either :(
Shame cos it looks great and is very well specced other than the processor :(
I've always found the Linkstations to be very quick actually... certainly a significant improvement over the Western Digital MyBook World Edition II i recently bought, that too has RAID built in, but running it in mirrored config it registered <10Mbps data transfer rate over a wired connection!!!
The Time Capsule i now have, whilst losing out on RAID is supremely quick....
As is so common people spouting what their mate Dave told them in the pub as fact...
LCD not good technology, TV's from Lidl being poor, non region free BR players, poor upscaling from the PS3, never buying discs until they're under $10...
Do none of you read other sites, or do any research? You've been able to get region free Sony BR players for around 6 months if you look in the right places, they may not be as cheap as the normal ones and are presently only Profile 1.0 (sufficient for me in all honesty) but gets round the region coding issues.... Plasma TV's do offer great pictures and probably do just pip LCD in some areas, but they're not for everyone... a decent LCD can give a performance on a par with a decent Plasma, usually for significantly less cash too.... try using your Plasma TV in a room with loads of natural light, being able to see the picture is the first advantage of a good quality picture. Sony, Samsung and Panasonic are making LCD's now that only really lose out to the real high end Plasma panels from the likes of Pioneer, even the black levels and motion handling are nearly as good.
Discs for less than $10, guess you'll be waiting a while, there is a cost involved with production, the hugely complex menu system for BD Java, high pressing costs (no longer subsidised by Sony) etc.... you're clearly not a "huge film fan" if you're not prepared to spend more than the average joe on something you love... i bet you're the kind of guy who whinged like a baby when HD went under as you were robbed, screwed over etc?
Presently if you want a decent BR player for sensible money buy a PS3 or a Panasonic BD30... if you've got more cash to burn look at Marantz or Denon... if you're patient wait for the Panasonic BD50 or the Sony S550. All depends on if you want/need HD audio (you're mad not to but a £500 surround sound system from Currys isn't going to portray the subtle nuances of lossless audio) and how you can get it to your system... downmixed from a PS3 via optical is enough for most, but if you can use HDMI to a proper amp then great, you may even need 5.1 analogue outputs.... do some research before whinging on here for christs sake!!!
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