Samsung LE530 32" 1080p LCD - sex on a stand. We got an awesome deal with John Lewis for this telly - £399 including a 5 year warranty. We searched and searched, and couldn't find a deal as good as this.
Next up, Sky+HD... but only once they drop their £9.75/month HD subscription!!
In the process of getting everything wired up - knowing that the telly only has one SCART socket, having already bought a SCART switcher to accommodate this, and seeing that the signal loss through the switcher was quite harsh - we realised that our PS2 also serves as a fairly decent DVD player. With the PS2 going into the telly through phono sockets, the Wii through component, and the Sky+ box through SCART, it kinda occurred to us that we don't actually need a separate DVD player any more - so there's one less SCART socket needed. Our final device is a VCR, which we're keeping for historical reasons, and the ceiling high pile of VHS cassettes that we haven't replaced with DVD yet! So ultimately, we have a Sony DVD Player and a Sony VCR which are now effectively redundant.
I've been podcasting for nearly 18 months now, and I've been using the same kit since I started. A laptop and a headset. I always thought that the quality from that headset was excellent, and I never had any complaint about the audio quality. That is until last week. I contributed some audio towards a promo for the Association of Music Podcasting. You can listen to it here. You can tell which part is me from a mile off, because my audio is so much brighter and... well... tinnier than everyone else's. With one exception, but his audio is pretty lo-fi anyway.
Anyhoo, it made me very much aware that if I'm going to take this podcasting lark seriously (and I am trying to) then I need to make a bit of effort in my production quality. I've had recommendations from a number of people on the mixer, and I've chosen the mics based on research and the reputation of Behringer. The reason for buying 2 mics? It would appear as though Caroline has attracted a following on The Bugcast, and she seems quite keen on co-hosting with me! :o)
I haven't bought these yet: I'm waiting on a quotation from one of my suppliers, to compare against a quotation I've had from an online dealer, before I make my decision who I'm going to buy from.
With the arrival of our new telly, I started looking for samples of HD video clips to playback on my laptop through it.
One of the search results brought back “Resonant Chamber” from the Animusic‘s second DVD, entitled Animusic 2: A New Computer Animation Video Album.
To say that I was impressed is an amazingly understated understatement, and I just had to share it.
To enjoy the full 720p HD version of this video, visit the Animusic Download page - which I would highly recommend you do.
However, if you are less bothered about the image quality and just want to know what the fuss is about, or you have the patience of a peanut and don’t want to wait for the 200+MB download, here’s the YouTube video below.
Please note that the YouTube video does not even come close to the quality of the 720p download... not even in HQ mode!! Please consider this before pressing play!!
The Bugcast, episode 067, will be broadcast live tonight at 21:00 UK time in the Dumbed Down Life chatroom.
History has proven that some of the greatest ideas of some of the greatest minds don’t always work as expected. In this episode, I hold my hand up to this.
I was very aggravated when I sent this, but I thought it came across rather mild.
To: travelcentre@nctx.co.uk From: dave.lee@xxxxxxxx.com Subject: Complaint...
Good morning,
I wish to make a complaint about one of your drivers. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a name however it was the driver of the 08:52 Citylink 1 departure from the Queen’s Drive Park & Ride site.
As I boarded the bus at the P&R, I was carrying an open soft drink can and wearing headphones. Apparently, the driver tried to attract my attention shortly after I showed him my security pass, however because I was wearing my headphones, I couldn’t hear him. Fair enough, that was my fault. Once everyone had boarded the bus, he then came down the bus towards me and said, “Can you finish that?” in a fairly curt manner. I clearly wasn’t going to be able to drain a half-can in one go, so I asked him if there was a bin. He pointed out the bin by the stop, so I dropped the can in the bin and boarded the bus again. Now, I feel he could have dealt with that situation with a little more subtlety, rather than drawing me to the attention of half a bus load of passengers. But I certainly wasn’t in the mind to raise a complaint about that specifically.
On the journey to the xxxxxxxx stop, I scanned around the bus looking for signage to indicate that I couldn’t bring a can onto the bus, but I couldn’t see one. So as I got off the bus, I suggested to the driver that NCT might want to consider putting signs up regarding open cans on the bus. You see, I didn’t see any harm in carrying a drink. It was a soft drink, and I was dressed in full work attire, so I hardly think I would have been considered a “risk” case.
After leaning towards me and asking me to repeat myself, which in itself I found quite intimidating, he then proceeded to tell me about how in his 30 years of driving there has always been a ban on eating and drinking on the buses. I said that was a fair point, but still it would be a good idea to put up signs about it. I also said to him that there was no need to be “that way” about it – “that way” meaning aggressive and sarcastic – I don’t remember his response to that, but I do remember that I didn’t appreciate it. I left that bus feeling absolutely livid.
Whilst I appreciate that I’m getting the service to use the Park & Ride to and from my place of work free of charge, I certainly don’t expect to be spoken to like that by one of your drivers. Not only did he belittle me in front of half a bus full of other passengers, he was rude towards me and that is not acceptable in any environment.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
thelovebug's journal
good
