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Electronics Repair (sci.electronics.repair) Discussion of repairing electronic equipment. Topics include requests for assistance, where to obtain servicing information and parts, techniques for diagnosis and repair, and annecdotes about success, failures and problems. |
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#41
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![]() myfathersson wrote: I note that no one has answered the question about what on earth those USB ports on (eg) Motorola cable boxes in the States can be used for? Are they really disabled? No, they are not disabled. They are a slow, USB 1.0 port for computers without Ethernet. You had to install the driver software on the computer, and it could only be used by a single PC. It was a royal pain in the ass. I still have the CD-ROMs for the eary Toshiba and the current Webstar cable modems. They tell you right up front that the USB inteface is nearly useless. -- You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense. |
#42
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On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:58:06 -0800, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote: America is almost certainly the most stupid, parochial, unsophisticated, and just-plain-brainless Western society. What else is new? No way, both the (run by plumbers mates) UK and France outdoes the US in all arenas of idiocy except corruption. Even the nutters in Bressles have a hard time keepin' up with the US is corruption. ?-) |
#43
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On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:21:40 -0800, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote: "JW" wrote in message .. . On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:24:53 -0600 "Mark Zacharias" wrote in Message id: : "JW" wrote in message .. . On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:58:06 -0800 "William Sommerwerck" wrote in Message id: : America is almost certainly the most stupid, parochial, unsophisticated, and just-plain-brainless Western society. What else is new? Hey Will, Go **** Yourself with a splintered fence post. Wow. That was even worse. Yup, it sure was. But deserving. I'm tired of idiots Like Will dumping on my country. It's my country, too. I have a right to complain. I'm not an idiot, just a semi-detached observer. Find an "average" American who reads non-fiction books, * who knows anything Hot damn, you found non-fiction books published in 'merica? What is the titles? Who are the authors? What are the publishing houses? The last i found was an old ARRL handbook. about anything that hasn't been presented to him or her via mass communication or mass "culture". Find one who'd willing to consider points of view other than his or her own. You won't find many. Unfortunately you may not be on that list, not that i consistently qualify. By the way, I don't believe in "one-world government". By the time human beings progress to the point where it would workable without Fascist coercion, there would be no need for it. The problem with the world is people. And I'm not the first to say it. Tarzan even said it in a movie. * I think this is what Howard Beale means when he says "Only 3% of you read books". A gross overestimate. |
#44
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On Dec 11 2011, 2:47*pm, klem kedidelhopper
wrote: I used to run my cable and antenna through my VCR and record my programs and then watch them on my old TV. Well now since the recent digital transition I can no longer do that, so I was wondering if anyone knows if it's possible or has ever managed to get a composite video signal out of a flat screen TV? It seems as though I recall that this was available on some of the older tube sets but I've never seen it on a flat screen. Obviously I really don't give a damn about HD. I would just like to record my programs on my VCR. I realize that building ground, and live chassis issues would have to be dealt with but aside from that can it be done? I just fixed up a Visio VP322 that a customer left here and I plan on using this set in our living room. I still record on videotape (a proven medium after all) - picture quality can be perfectly satisfactory for recording off tv. I don't want everything on a hard drive that is likely to fail and I lose everything. I've seen so many portable HDDs fail it's not even funny, so I'd avoid that route if you want to capture important things. You will need any cheap set top digital box, just plug the antenna into it and use the box's AV out to connect to the line in of the video (often called A1, A2, EXT, E1, E2, etc). Then connect the video to the telly in the normal way. Your antenna might need upgrading as the digital signal is far more demanding than good ol' analogue. see here for some info: http://www.aerialsandtv.com/digitaltv.html#digitalmyths And if your vcr has a choice of speeds, always try to use SP (unless, say, you want a few films on the one cassette). The other speeds tend to be incompatible when exchanging tapes between decks and any misalignment of the tape path or dropouts in the tape are magnified. With used VHS tapes freeely available, it makes no sense to skimp by using some stupid low speed . HTH. - B |
#45
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On Jan 5, 7:00*am, b wrote:
On Dec 11 2011, 2:47*pm, klem kedidelhopper wrote: I used to run my cable and antenna through my VCR and record my programs and then watch them on my old TV. Well now since the recent digital transition I can no longer do that, so I was wondering if anyone knows if it's possible or has ever managed to get a composite video signal out of a flat screen TV? It seems as though I recall that this was available on some of the older tube sets but I've never seen it on a flat screen. Obviously I really don't give a damn about HD. I would just like to record my programs on my VCR. I realize that building ground, and live chassis issues would have to be dealt with but aside from that can it be done? I just fixed up a Visio VP322 that a customer left here and I plan on using this set in our living room. I still record on videotape (a proven medium after all) - picture quality can be perfectly satisfactory for recording off tv. I don't want everything on a hard drive that is likely to fail and I lose everything. I've seen so many portable HDDs fail it's not even funny, so I'd avoid that route if you want to capture important things. You will need any cheap set top digital box, just plug the antenna into it and use the box's AV out to connect to the line in of the video (often called A1, A2, EXT, E1, E2, etc). Then connect the video to the telly in the normal way. Your antenna might need upgrading as the digital signal is far more demanding than good ol' analogue. see here for some info:http://www.aerialsandtv.com/digitaltv.html#digitalmyths And if your vcr has a choice of speeds, always try to use SP (unless, say, you want a few films on the one cassette). The other speeds tend to be incompatible when exchanging tapes between decks and any misalignment of the tape path or dropouts in the tape are magnified. With used VHS tapes freeely available, it makes no sense to skimp by using some stupid low speed . HTH. - B You may be right but I started this thread because I have a smallish apartment and cant stand all those huge cassettes cluttering up the place. We have piles and piles of them and the whole apartment is overrun with VHS tapes either in layers or separately but all looking the same! Especially the kids ones which are PAL and which the kids seem to prefer watching on an Archos 5, especially in a car. not only that, but if you want to skip to a bit of the tape where your primary film is or some 30 minute TV show is, it takes an age to do this. Not to mention find the right tape to do it!! (Back in the good old days when VCRs were sophisticated, you used to be able to mark a bit of the tape and go straight to it in a mere five minutes). In the 21st Century it seems to be impossible to get a child to put a tape in a VCR and wind to the relevant bit rather than open a screen and see a few dozen films on it and touch-flo to the one they want. This was why I was musing why no one except the cable companies had brought out lines of sophisticated HDD VCRs |
#46
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On Jan 6, 6:58*pm, myfathersson wrote:
.. *not only that, but if you want to skip to a bit of the tape where your primary film is or some 30 minute TV show is, it takes an age to do this. *Not to mention find the right tape to do it!! (Back in the good old days when VCRs were sophisticated, you used to be able to mark a bit of the tape and go straight to it in a mere five minutes). the trick is to use a vcr with real time counter (nearly all made since about 1990 have this). write a note on the tape box of the start point time of key sections. Then all you have to do is insert the tape, rewind if need be, then use the 'goto' or 'time search' function, or just keep an eye on the counter in ff. sounds complicated compared to dvd, but if you've done it a few times it gets to be second nature. Another wise move might be to dub a compilation tape (or a few) of the most common programme material, to save hunting thru countless casettes. -B |
#47
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On Jan 6, 3:39*pm, b wrote:
On Jan 6, 6:58*pm, myfathersson wrote: . *not only that, but if you want to skip to a bit of the tape where your primary film is or some 30 minute TV show is, it takes an age to do this. *Not to mention find the right tape to do it!! (Back in the good old days when VCRs were sophisticated, you used to be able to mark a bit of the tape and go straight to it in a mere five minutes). the trick is to use a vcr with real time counter (nearly all made since about 1990 have this). write a note on the tape box of the start point time of key sections. Then all you have to do is insert the tape, rewind if need be, then use the 'goto' or 'time search' function, or just keep an eye on the counter in ff. sounds complicated compared to dvd, but if you've done it a few times it gets to be second nature. Another wise move might be to dub a compilation tape (or a few) of the most common programme material, to save hunting thru countless casettes. -B Aint dat da truth!! I still remember my first tape remaining indicator back in the mid 1990s and wondering why anyone would want to use a tape counter after using it for more than 5 minutes! And in truth, another reason for keeoing on using my Iomega Ditto drives is that no one is likely ever to be able to steal anything off them |
#48
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On Jan 5, 4:00*am, b wrote:
On Dec 11 2011, 2:47*pm, klem kedidelhopper wrote: I used to run my cable and antenna through my VCR and record my programs and then watch them on my old TV. Well now since the recent digital transition I can no longer do that, so I was wondering if anyone knows if it's possible or has ever managed to get a composite video signal out of a flat screen TV? It seems as though I recall that this was available on some of the older tube sets but I've never seen it on a flat screen. Obviously I really don't give a damn about HD. I would just like to record my programs on my VCR. I realize that building ground, and live chassis issues would have to be dealt with but aside from that can it be done? I just fixed up a Visio VP322 that a customer left here and I plan on using this set in our living room. I still record on videotape (a proven medium after all) - picture quality can be perfectly satisfactory for recording off tv. I don't want everything on a hard drive that is likely to fail and I lose everything. I've seen so many portable HDDs fail it's not even funny, so I'd avoid that route if you want to capture important things. You will need any cheap set top digital box, just plug the antenna into it and use the box's AV out to connect to the line in of the video (often called A1, A2, EXT, E1, E2, etc). Then connect the video to the telly in the normal way. Your antenna might need upgrading as the digital signal is far more demanding than good ol' analogue. see here for some info:http://www.aerialsandtv.com/digitaltv.html#digitalmyths And if your vcr has a choice of speeds, always try to use SP (unless, say, you want a few films on the one cassette). The other speeds tend to be incompatible when exchanging tapes between decks and any misalignment of the tape path or dropouts in the tape are magnified. With used VHS tapes freeely available, it makes no sense to skimp by using some stupid low speed . HTH. - B On January 1 KTLA TV reran the 1982 Rose Parade. I recorded it and took it to work so we could 'appreciate' the cameras which were indeed as good as possible in the day. KTLA has a well deserved reputation of doing the best engineering on the parade. The 2012 parade the next day was so massively better it's hard to believe. If you think a VCR is satisfactory it's obviously your choice but the DVR kicks its butt on ANY parameter you care to measure. I've had more lost video from tape / machine failures than loss from bad disk drives - zero lost on drives in 7 years. As for disk drive failures, DON"T BANG THEM when they're running. I 'share' HD OTA recordings with some guys at work. They like the shows with no commercials. Oh yeah, impossible to do with tape and no generation loss. Tape is a proven medium? So is a typewriter - and an 8 track - who cares? G² |
#49
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On Jan 6, 9:58*am, myfathersson wrote:
On Jan 5, 7:00*am, b wrote: On Dec 11 2011, 2:47*pm, klem kedidelhopper wrote: I used to run my cable and antenna through my VCR and record my programs and then watch them on my old TV. Well now since the recent digital transition I can no longer do that, so I was wondering if anyone knows if it's possible or has ever managed to get a composite video signal out of a flat screen TV? It seems as though I recall that this was available on some of the older tube sets but I've never seen it on a flat screen. Obviously I really don't give a damn about HD. I would just like to record my programs on my VCR. I realize that building ground, and live chassis issues would have to be dealt with but aside from that can it be done? I just fixed up a Visio VP322 that a customer left here and I plan on using this set in our living room. I still record on videotape (a proven medium after all) - picture quality can be perfectly satisfactory for recording off tv. I don't want everything on a hard drive that is likely to fail and I lose everything. I've seen so many portable HDDs fail it's not even funny, so I'd avoid that route if you want to capture important things. You will need any cheap set top digital box, just plug the antenna into it and use the box's AV out to connect to the line in of the video (often called A1, A2, EXT, E1, E2, etc). Then connect the video to the telly in the normal way. Your antenna might need upgrading as the digital signal is far more demanding than good ol' analogue. see here for some info:http://www.aerialsandtv.com/digitaltv.html#digitalmyths And if your vcr has a choice of speeds, always try to use SP (unless, say, you want a few films on the one cassette). The other speeds tend to be incompatible when exchanging tapes between decks and any misalignment of the tape path or dropouts in the tape are magnified. With used VHS tapes freeely available, it makes no sense to skimp by using some stupid low speed . HTH. - B You may be right but I started this thread because I have a smallish apartment and cant stand all those huge cassettes cluttering up the place. *We have piles and piles of them and the whole apartment is overrun with VHS tapes either in layers or separately but all looking the same! Especially the kids ones which are PAL and which the kids seem to prefer watching on an Archos 5, especially in a car. *not only that, but if you want to skip to a bit of the tape where your primary film is or some 30 minute TV show is, it takes an age to do this. *Not to mention find the right tape to do it!! (Back in the good old days when VCRs were sophisticated, you used to be able to mark a bit of the tape and go straight to it in a mere five minutes). In the 21st Century it seems to be impossible to get a child to put a tape in a VCR and wind to the relevant bit rather than open a screen and see a few dozen films on it and touch-flo to the one they want. This was why I was musing why no one except the cable companies had brought out lines of sophisticated HDD VCRs Just as an FYI, one 3 TB USB drive can hold 700+ 1 hour HD TV shows OR 2000+ HOURS of std def. That is a LOT of cassette storage. And the picture is DVD quality (if you captured good material) in SD and BluRay for the HD. If you keep your file names orderly you can find things much more easily than with tapes. G² |
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