Dick Smith Set Top Box $148

[thegoons]

And works fine with rabbits ears here, though almost line of sight to
GoreHill /Artarmon in Sydney.

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/G7659

Has Teletext, captioning, digital radio - the usual stuff

 

[Phil Allison]

"thegoons" <thegoons@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:2uci40F28i1hqU1@uni-berlin.de...

And works fine with rabbits ears here, though almost line of sight to
GoreHill /Artarmon in Sydney.

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/G7659

Has Teletext, captioning, digital radio - the usual stuff

** Picked meself up one this arvo from the Burwod DSE store. Installation
is a piece of cake - completely self tuning. All previous traces of
ghosting and background noise on SBS have vanished. On a good program the
image quality is very close to DVD - using an S-Video connection. The
sound is noticeably superior to the usual FM stereo signal too.

IMO, the ABC digital radio program ( available even when the TV is off )
plus a remote control of volume, previously lacking from the line outs on my
NEC TV, are worth the modest price alone.




.............. Phil

 

[Lord-Data]

Whats it like in low signal areas? Any comparisons to other brands?

Thanks


"thegoons" <thegoons@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:2uci40F28i1hqU1@uni-berlin.de...

And works fine with rabbits ears here, though almost line of sight to
GoreHill /Artarmon in Sydney.

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/G7659

Has Teletext, captioning, digital radio - the usual stuff

 

[Jim Vatunz]

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 17:18:15 +1000, "Phil Allison"
<philallison@tpg.com.au> wrote:

"thegoons" <thegoons@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:2uci40F28i1hqU1@uni-berlin.de...
And works fine with rabbits ears here, though almost line of sight to
GoreHill /Artarmon in Sydney.

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/G7659

Has Teletext, captioning, digital radio - the usual stuff



** Picked meself up one this arvo from the Burwod DSE store. Installation
is a piece of cake - completely self tuning. All previous traces of
ghosting and background noise on SBS have vanished. On a good program the
image quality is very close to DVD - using an S-Video connection. The
sound is noticeably superior to the usual FM stereo signal too.

IMO, the ABC digital radio program ( available even when the TV is off )
plus a remote control of volume, previously lacking from the line outs on my
NEC TV, are worth the modest price alone.




............. Phil

So are you kicking yourself for waiting so long?

I have a webcam in the tropics
http://ii.net/~farmerjim/

 

[David L. Jones]

Jim Vatunz wrote:

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 17:18:15 +1000, "Phil Allison"
philallison@tpg.com.au> wrote:


"thegoons" <thegoons@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:2uci40F28i1hqU1@uni-berlin.de...
And works fine with rabbits ears here, though almost line of sight
to
GoreHill /Artarmon in Sydney.

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/G7659

Has Teletext, captioning, digital radio - the usual stuff



** Picked meself up one this arvo from the Burwod DSE store.
Installation
is a piece of cake - completely self tuning. All previous traces of

ghosting and background noise on SBS have vanished. On a good
program the
image quality is very close to DVD - using an S-Video connection.
The
sound is noticeably superior to the usual FM stereo signal too.

IMO, the ABC digital radio program ( available even when the TV is
off )
plus a remote control of volume, previously lacking from the line
outs on my
NEC TV, are worth the modest price alone.

............. Phil

So are you kicking yourself for waiting so long?

I am!
I just got a Thomson STB from eBay for $150. I couldn't stand the
"available in widescreen" logo on every show any more!
I was skeptical about what sort of signal I would get considering that
I get almost zero SBS, and CH2 has a fair bit of snow. But I now get a
perfect picture on every channel, including ABC and SBS. Increbible. I
can also pick up several other coastal channels.
In fact, I get perfect picture on 7, 9 and 10 with no antenna at all. I
only found this out after CH2 dissapeared and I thought it was a
problem with marginal signal. Got on the roof to tweak the antenna and
only then did I realised the antenna connection had fallen out of the
loose wall socket :->
I'm only getting 30% to 60% signal strength, yet the picture is still
perfect.

Very occasionally (once every couple of hours maybe) I might get a load
"pop" in the audio. I have only seen the image go "pixelated" for a
split second twice in the last week. Very minor things really. The
storm on the weekend played real havoc with it though!

I got the Thomson box to match my Thomson TV, and it's great. I can use
the same remote control (got a better and smaller remote with the STB),
and the one power button switches both STB and TV on and off.

Picture quality is incredible (DVD quality as others have said), online
TV guides, and the widescreen is fantastic. All for $150. I'm
completely sold on digital TV and will never look back.

Dave

 

[David L. Jones]

Jim Vatunz wrote:

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 17:18:15 +1000, "Phil Allison"
philallison@tpg.com.au> wrote:


"thegoons" <thegoons@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:2uci40F28i1hqU1@uni-berlin.de...
And works fine with rabbits ears here, though almost line of sight
to
GoreHill /Artarmon in Sydney.

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/G7659

Has Teletext, captioning, digital radio - the usual stuff



** Picked meself up one this arvo from the Burwod DSE store.
Installation
is a piece of cake - completely self tuning. All previous traces of

ghosting and background noise on SBS have vanished. On a good
program the
image quality is very close to DVD - using an S-Video connection.
The
sound is noticeably superior to the usual FM stereo signal too.

IMO, the ABC digital radio program ( available even when the TV is
off )
plus a remote control of volume, previously lacking from the line
outs on my
NEC TV, are worth the modest price alone.

............. Phil

So are you kicking yourself for waiting so long?

I have a webcam in the tropics
http://ii.net/~farmerjim/

I am!
Got myself a Thomson STB on eBay for $150 last week.

I was skeptical about what sort of picture I would get considering I
get practically zero SBS, and ABC is fairly snowy. But now I get a
perfect picture on every channel, including ABC, SBS, and some costal
channels. Incredible!

In fact, I get perfect picture on 7, 9 and 10 with no antenna at all. I
only found this out after CH2 dissapeared and I thought it was a
problem with marginal signal. Got on the roof to tweak the antenna and
only then did I realised the antenna connection had fallen out of the
loose wall socket :->
I'm only getting 30% to 60% signal strength, yet the picture is still
perfect.

Very occasionally (once every couple of hours maybe) I might get a load
"pop" in the audio. I have only seen the image go "pixelated" for a
split second twice in the last week. Very minor things really. The
storm on the weekend played real havoc with it though!

I got the Thomson box to match my Thomson TV, and it's great. I can use
the same remote control (got a better and smaller remote with the STB),
and the one power button switches both STB and TV on and off.

Picture quality is incredible (DVD quality as others have said), online
TV guides, and the widescreen is fantastic. All for $150. I'm
completely sold on digital TV and will never look back.

Dave

 

[Nick Adams]

David L. Jones wrote:

I just got a Thomson STB from eBay for $150. I couldn't stand the
"available in widescreen" logo on every show any more!
snip

Do you have a WS TV? If not, how do you find watching WS content on a
4:3 TV? I have played around with a PCI Digital TV Tuner card and I'm
not 100% convinced I like bars. Decent WS TV's aren't in my price range
just yet.

 

[Johnny]

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 19:26:03 +1000, Nick Adams <usenet@narkov.com>
wrote:

David L. Jones wrote:

I just got a Thomson STB from eBay for $150. I couldn't stand the
"available in widescreen" logo on every show any more!
snip

Do you have a WS TV? If not, how do you find watching WS content on a
4:3 TV? I have played around with a PCI Digital TV Tuner card and I'm
not 100% convinced I like bars. Decent WS TV's aren't in my price range
just yet.

My DGTEC set-top box will also do the 4:3 mode if you prefer to use a
4:3 TV monitor. It supports 3 modes in total:
1) 16x9
2) 4x3 letterbox
3) 4x3 fullscreen (Just like analogue broadcast, only much clearer)

regards,
Johnny.

 

[David L. Jones]

Nick Adams wrote:

David L. Jones wrote:

I just got a Thomson STB from eBay for $150. I couldn't stand the
"available in widescreen" logo on every show any more!
snip

Do you have a WS TV? If not, how do you find watching WS content on a

4:3 TV? I have played around with a PCI Digital TV Tuner card and I'm

not 100% convinced I like bars. Decent WS TV's aren't in my price
range
just yet.

Yes I have WS TV, it was the main reason I wanted the STB. All of my
favourite shows were available in WS, so for a lousy $150 I couldn't
resist.
I had no idea it would also give me perfect picture on channels I
couldn't even pick up before, that was a big bonus.
My Thomson STB has several screen modes for 4:3 TVs, both letterbox and
croped where it just chops the extra WS content out on either side.
You really notice the extra content when you suddenly see the
"watermark" logo further towards the middle of the screen!

Define "decent". You can pick up a 100Hz 76cm widescreen TV for under
$1000.

I would never buy a 4:3 TV again. WS is the only way to go, and prices
are very resonable now.
High definition is a waste of money IMHO. DVD ain't high definition,
and who wants to spend double or triple the price just to see a few
programs on TV in HD? No thanks.

My only choice now is whether to get another STB for the kitchen, or
just run A/V cable from the STB in the loungeroom...

Dave

 

[Anthony Horan]

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 20:00:33 +1000, Johnny wrote:

3) 4x3 fullscreen (Just like analogue broadcast, only much clearer)

And with the sides of the picture missing on 16:9 material.

You're better off getting used to the "black bars" - otherwise, on shows
like Six Feet Under, West Wing, ER etc, you'll spend a lot of time
wondering what's happening off-screen...

 

[David L. Jones]

Nick Adams wrote:

David L. Jones wrote:

You really notice the extra content when you suddenly see the
"watermark" logo further towards the middle of the screen!

Yeah thats a big bonus I think. I like sport and watching the WS
cricket
on Nine today looked good.

Define "decent". You can pick up a 100Hz 76cm widescreen TV for
under
$1000.

Very interesting. Any suggestions for "decent"? I could probably see
myself spending $1k or there abouts.

I haven't checked the market lately, so I don't know what's out there.
But you won't get a big name brand around the $1K mark. Not that it
really matters anyway, the no-namers are almost as good. Just make sure
it has 100Hz and enough of the right kind of AV inputs (SCART, S-VIDEO
etc).
Spending $1K now will get you widescreen that'll last you quite a few
years until you might want to updrage to larger Plasma or whatever.
Of course if you can live with (or need) a smaller screen, 66cm
widescreens are really cheap.

I would never buy a 4:3 TV again. WS is the only way to go, and
prices
are very resonable now.
High definition is a waste of money IMHO. DVD ain't high
definition,
and who wants to spend double or triple the price just to see a few
programs on TV in HD? No thanks.

True. How does watching 4:3 content on a WS set go? Too small? We
have
Optus vision at home and I think that would mean an upgrade to Foxtel

digital would be in order.

4:3 content programs on a WS set are fine, you just get the black bars
down either side of the screen, you hardly even notice it. Preferable I
think to having the image scretched. In my limited viewing in the last
week I'd say that about 3/4 of program content is WS, and most of the
remaining 4:3 content is either ads or old cartoons. Altough the
majority of ads seem to be WS too.
Expect the trend to go almost completely WS in the next year or two.
Dave

 

[Nick Adams]

David L. Jones wrote:

You really notice the extra content when you suddenly see the
"watermark" logo further towards the middle of the screen!

Yeah thats a big bonus I think. I like sport and watching the WS cricket
on Nine today looked good.

Define "decent". You can pick up a 100Hz 76cm widescreen TV for under
$1000.

Very interesting. Any suggestions for "decent"? I could probably see
myself spending $1k or there abouts.

I would never buy a 4:3 TV again. WS is the only way to go, and prices
are very resonable now.
High definition is a waste of money IMHO. DVD ain't high definition,
and who wants to spend double or triple the price just to see a few
programs on TV in HD? No thanks.

True. How does watching 4:3 content on a WS set go? Too small? We have
Optus vision at home and I think that would mean an upgrade to Foxtel
digital would be in order.

Hrmm..

 

[Nick Adams]

Anthony Horan wrote:

You're better off getting used to the "black bars" - otherwise, on shows
like Six Feet Under, West Wing, ER etc, you'll spend a lot of time
wondering what's happening off-screen...

Is that really true? What do 4:3/analog viewers see out of a 16:9
program? Isn't it exactly that?

 

[Rod Speed]

"Nick Adams" <usenet@narkov.com> wrote in message
news:418494a6$0$32599$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...

David L. Jones wrote:

You really notice the extra content when you suddenly see the
"watermark" logo further towards the middle of the screen!

Yeah thats a big bonus I think. I like sport and watching the WS cricket on
Nine today looked good.

Define "decent". You can pick up a 100Hz 76cm widescreen TV for under
$1000.

Very interesting. Any suggestions for "decent"? I could probably see myself
spending $1k or there abouts.

I would never buy a 4:3 TV again. WS is the only way to go, and prices
are very resonable now.
High definition is a waste of money IMHO. DVD ain't high definition,
and who wants to spend double or triple the price just to see a few
programs on TV in HD? No thanks.

True. How does watching 4:3 content on a WS set go?

Depends on the WS. The best of them fill the
screen using an approach you wouldnt even notice.

Too small?

Not with the best of them.

We have Optus vision at home and I think that would mean an upgrade to Foxtel
digital would be in order.

Hrmm..

 

[Johnny]

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 17:27:32 +1000, Nick Adams <usenet@narkov.com>
wrote:

Anthony Horan wrote:

You're better off getting used to the "black bars" - otherwise, on shows
like Six Feet Under, West Wing, ER etc, you'll spend a lot of time
wondering what's happening off-screen...

Is that really true? What do 4:3/analog viewers see out of a 16:9
program? Isn't it exactly that?

Basically it is true. All new programme material is recorded in 16:9
format, and it is only the centre portion that is broadcast on
analogue TV, so you are missing some of the action. One example that
appeals to me is watching rugby. On WS format you get a wider view of
the players on the field, rather than only seeing the players
immediately involved in the play as you do on 4:3 format.

regards,
Johnny.

 

[Russ]

Nick Adams wrote:

Anthony Horan wrote:

You're better off getting used to the "black bars" - otherwise, on
shows like Six Feet Under, West Wing, ER etc, you'll spend a lot of
time wondering what's happening off-screen...

Is that really true? What do 4:3/analog viewers see out of a 16:9
program? Isn't it exactly that?

Most drama/doco stuff for the last couple of years has been shot 16:9 but
framed "4:3 protect", which means you make sure essential action and supers
are all within the central 4:3 area - the slight variation used in Britain
is 16:9 with 14:9 protect which is how The Bill has been shown here on
analogue for quite a long time - a lot of other shows and stations broadcast
their 16:9 material at 14:9 (ie, very think black bars top and bottom -
often largely masked by the TV's bezel).

The only real exception is widescreen motion picture where the framing is
primarily for the cinema's 2.35:1 ratio. If you just take a 4:3 cut from the
middle for TV, you can get scenes where all you can see of 2 people facing
each other is their noses and the odd hand. That's where the idea of "pan
and scan" came from - scanning is the action of taking a 4:3 section out of
the frame, and 4:3 section would also be panned accross the frame as needed
to make sense of the shot, or to keep titles in frame.

With the rising popularity of 16:9, proper pan & scan versions of films are
fairly rare.

 

[Rod Speed]

"Johnny" <john_wr@NOSPAM.hotmail.com.> wrote in message
news:d589o0h3c9bogril7fcoafgg6c40av6m5e@4ax.com...

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 17:27:32 +1000, Nick Adams <usenet@narkov.com
wrote:

Anthony Horan wrote:

You're better off getting used to the "black bars" - otherwise, on shows
like Six Feet Under, West Wing, ER etc, you'll spend a lot of time
wondering what's happening off-screen...

Is that really true? What do 4:3/analog viewers see out of a 16:9
program? Isn't it exactly that?

Basically it is true. All new programme material is recorded in 16:9 format,

Wrong.

and it is only the centre portion that is broadcast on analogue TV,

Wrong.

so you are missing some of the action.

Wrong.

One example that appeals to me is watching rugby.
On WS format you get a wider view of the players
on the field, rather than only seeing the players
immediately involved in the play as you do on 4:3 format.

Separate issue entirely to that stupid pig ignorant claim you made.

 

[Mike Harding]

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 19:30:08 +1100, Johnny
<john_wr@NOSPAM.hotmail.com.> wrote:

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 17:27:32 +1000, Nick Adams <usenet@narkov.com
wrote:

Anthony Horan wrote:

You're better off getting used to the "black bars" - otherwise, on shows
like Six Feet Under, West Wing, ER etc, you'll spend a lot of time
wondering what's happening off-screen...

Is that really true? What do 4:3/analog viewers see out of a 16:9
program? Isn't it exactly that?

Basically it is true. All new programme material is recorded in 16:9
format, and it is only the centre portion that is broadcast on
analogue TV, so you are missing some of the action.

Given the content of most Australian TV; isn't that an advantage?

Mike Harding

 

[Anthony Horan]

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 17:27:32 +1000, Nick Adams wrote:

Anthony Horan wrote:

You're better off getting used to the "black bars" - otherwise, on shows
like Six Feet Under, West Wing, ER etc, you'll spend a lot of time
wondering what's happening off-screen...

Is that really true? What do 4:3/analog viewers see out of a 16:9
program? Isn't it exactly that?

Those shows are all broadcast in a 16:9 ratio - black bars and all - on
analogue. They have to be, as the entire width of the wide frame is used.

Those viewing on digital with their STB set to centre-cut a 4:3 image will
miss vital picture information.


- Anthony

 

[Moores family]

thegoons wrote:

And works fine with rabbits ears here, though almost line of sight to
GoreHill /Artarmon in Sydney.

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/en/product/G7659

Has Teletext, captioning, digital radio - the usual stuff

Thanks for the tip, I grabbed one this morning and now for the first
time ever in the tiger country behind the Gold Coast have watchable
reception on shirtloads of channels . Thouroughly recommend digital
tele to anyone who's hesitating.

Anyone have any idea of the codes for a Total Control URC-4160 universal
remote?
JM