Scans SC-440sl [spiro]

I have just bought Scans new Slim line DVD player the SC-440SL. So heres a quick rundown on my first days use.

Specifications

Multi-region

Audio: Dolby/DTS/PCM ready, 5.1 Channel True Sound, DTS output, Digital Audio outputs coaxial and optical.

Video: S-Video, Composite, RGB.

Supported Formats: DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, VCD, MP3, CD, CD-R, CD-RW and Kodak Picture CD.

Now including the feet its only 50mm High which is one of its best features. Its finish is silver so works perfectly with my Panasonic VHS and Beej's Amplifier.

First thing I noticed was the remote control, this unfortunatley is no where near as sleak as the player, but I have to admit it feels well built and sturdy. Supplied with the player you have the remote, batteries, twin RCA cable, S-video cable and a Scart lead, so you have the basics to get up and running instantly. Well you would of though so, the scart lead was far to short so I had to place the player closer to my TV. For most people this isn't a problem, but I have no where close to put it.

After moving the TV a little on its stand I'm able to connect it up and move on to the audio. Beejs amp has optical so this is the obvious route to take and finally the power cable.

You are greated by a nice screen saver advertising Scan on your TV. The front panel display on the player is very clear and easy to read, offering information on everything from operating status to the angle indicator. The tray has a nice quiet sliding action and once closed blends in perfectly.

To test the players audio and picture quality I wanted to play Saving Private Ryan's opening sequence, but Beej has left it at work so next best choice is Golden Eye.

LOADING.........

Its very quiet, in fact I can't hear a thing. I check the connections between the player and the amp, I've made sure the volume is turned up and still nothing. I've checked the settings on the amp and everything is fine, but still no leet audio. For one of the first times in my life with this sort of equipment I resort to the manual. Sigh, the audio outputs ont he player have to be set in the DVD's internal menu, basically you have to tell it to output digital audio not analogue. Although this is very easy to do its also very lame, so whilst in there I check the other settings I.E. Language, Aspect ratio (gah bloody pan and scan shit), Type of TV (PAL/NTSC), captions and bloody parental control.

LOADING.........

YAY Sound, Dolby Kicks in shortly followed by the sub. OOOh now we're talking. This has taken me all of about 20mins (including the relocation of the TV), a bit disapointing to be honest, this should of been a 5min job no more. I have yet to find how to change region, how to set up the repeat or fine tuned the surround settings.

So far this DVD rocks. The problem with the audio would only effect people using digital outputs and to be fair it did work perfectly first time via the scart. As I play with it i'll add more to this blog.

palladium good or bad ? [spiro]

Some of the researchers here are thinking of making a documentary on Microsofts Palladium. What do you lot think about it and anyone got any good info/stories about it etc. The show hasn't been commissioned yet, just testing the water.

Great New Toy [skeeve]

Recently I went out to buy a new hardrive, I did sort of buy a harddrive. The harddrive I actually bought is a 20gb one in an mp3 player from archos called the jukebox multimedia.

The player comes with a rechargeable Li-on battery that delivers at least 8 hours on a single charge when playing mp3s. As an mp3 player this does its job well, it copes the usual range of cbr and vbr bitrates without any problems and the sound quality is very good. As an added bonus this player can also encode directly to mp3 from either the line in or the builtin microphone, but basically the mp3 part of this player is just like many others, so what does it do to merit the multimedia part of its name?

The first thing that leads to the multimedia part of the title is the ability to display jpgs, either on the small lcd screen or onto a tv via the av-out that doubles as the earphone socket. You can use this feature in combination with playing mp3s to create what archos call a multimedia slideshow, but I can't say it would be something I'd use when running on batteries.

So far, we have an mp3 player with a nice little gimmick but I haven't mentioned the device's ultimate gimmick, the main feature that helps this player deserve the multimedia part of its name is that it plays divx movies! You have probably seen those adverts for mobile phones in the future where you can be watching a film on your phone, to those I say no thanks as I can already do that with my mp3 player. :-)

The player cannot play all divx movies, it requires them to be something called the standard MPEG4 SImple Profile AVI and that means they have a max resolution of about 400x300. If you have taken lurker's advice in his excellent divx guide then you will have divx movies of a higher resolution than that. To make it easier to convert your existing files archos have provided a frontend for virtualdub that has been setup to convert to this lower resolution. If you don't want to mess around with any of the settings then its simply a case of selecting the input file, the name of the output file and clicking start, after waiting a while for virtual dub you now have a movie that will play on the jukebox's little screen or via the tv-out.

In addition to all these features archos have more for this device in the form of the addon modules they have released or plan to release. Included with the device are the first two addon modules, they are adaptors for compact flash and smartmedia. These addons allow you to download images from a digital camera onto the harddrive, ideal for anyone who uses their camera a lot and doesn't want to buy a lot of extra memory cards. I can't really say how well this works as I don't own a digital camera, which brings me nicely onto the next addon module. Archos are about to release a camera addon for the player that will act as either a still camera or as a video camera where it will record direct to mpeg4 onto the harddrive with the lcd becoming a monitor. Another addon that is coming from archos is the video module that adds s-video and composite inputs to allow you to record directly from other external sources.

In addition to these addons archos also sell firewire and usb 2.0 cables to supplement the supplied usb 1.1 cable, personally I haven't bought either of these yet as I tend to copy stuff to the device while I am letting it charge up but either of them would be advisable if you intended to change the whole 20gb on a regular basis.

To sum things up, for your money you get a portable 20gb harddrive, an mp3 player and recorder, a portable movie player that has the potential to also become a digital camera, camcorder and video recorder. It doesn't look quite as nice as an ipod and is a bit bigger, however it is a fair bit cheaper before you take into account just how cool it is to watch a movie on the tube to work. There are bound to be more advanced devices in time, but at the moment this is my favourite gadget ever, and thats coming from somebody who works for a company that makes a wireless email device.

A small request [amnesia]

I don't usually do this but I have to say the following got me off my fat behind. There's a lot of fat behinds in EED - perhaps you might join me on this one;

Dear All,

As many of you may have heard, a Nigerian woman was recently sentenced to death- for having a child out of wedlock. Amina Lawal has been sentenced to death by STONING- she is to buried up to her neck in the ground, after which her punishers will surround her and throw rocks at her head until her skull is crushed and she dies a painful and horrible death.

I'm sure you all feel equal shock and disgust at this sentence, and I want you to know that she has only thirty days to appeal her trial. Please go to the Amnesty International site, letter page and sign the letter addressed to the President of Nigeria. It literally takes only a minute, and could help to save her life, as well as help put an end to this kind of cruel and disgraceful judgment in a country that calls itself a democracy.

Please copy and forward this letter to others in your address book as well.

Please help her! Thanks

Turkey [lurks]

Another country has fallen to the hard-line Islamics. 15-years of relatively moderate coalition government in Turkey was swept aside by the landslide win of the Justice and Development Party (AK). This despite the fact that the leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan (apparently a name and not just a random jumble of letters) is banned from politics due to being found guilty of Islamic sedition.

He was one of those militant types that stood up and made lots of speeches about taking up arms against the infidel etc. He appears to have moderated his tone a little in public, insisting Islam will not be foisted on the people of Turkey but I wonder what the reality will be like. The eyes will be on the puppet leader which must be chosen to head the party in his place.

Let's hope the brains behind the operation has genuinely transformed into a more moderate individual or the threat of Islamic militants will grow yet greater with more institutionalized government support.

Sexy Sci-fi [spiro]

On lighter note, Bravo have commissioned a series of 13 x 30 minute shows entitled 3001: A Sex Oddity.

The show will be exploring sex in the future, covering topics like Sex in zero gravity, Robot Lovers and Sex with Clones.

The show will be broadcast from 18th November. The VR presenter 'Elektra' is bound to have one or more clan members drooling at the box.

Not so Towering Inferno [spiro]

The broadcasting union BECTU has called on broadcaster and studio staff to implement additional fire risk assessments in preparation of the proposed fire service strikes to avoid studio shows being cancelled.

Studios will have to rely on their own fire safety staff in the event of strike action.

Now a few of the larger studios like BBC and Granada have fire safety staff (who generally are ex-firemen) who can deal with small fire or at least organise the evacuation of the building. But i'm sure that there are several studios like my workplace that don't have members of staff who can organise this sort of operation.

Management here have always in the past organised some sort of fire drill, about once every 6 months and we've had signs and maps up directing you to your nearest fire exit. Fire extinguishers could be located in all technical areas, and you were generally only a few paces from the nearest one.

About 6 months ago we started renovating the building to create a nice working atmosphere and to make the place generally more desirable to come to. All good as far as i'm concerned, not only do I get a nice new work place, but hopefully it will attract more external clients.

Having read the statement from BECTU I started to look around for the extinguishers, exit signs and route maps. I could find none, now I can't remember how long we've been working without these health and safety basics, but its been a while. The building has changed, not massively but it is different and one or two of my exits are blocked at the moment.

I'm absolutely furious, not only with my management, but also with staff members who deal with health and safety. I'm sure that should a fire occure then I would be able to find my way out within a few minutes, but this isn't the point. Just because things are changing doesn't mean they can lay off till its finished and then provide all the essentials. If anything, they should be more aware and provide us with up to date details of exit routes and extinguisher locations.

I mentioned this to the staff health and safety officer and he said he was going to deal with it. I've now been provided with extinguishers and exit signs and given a promise that it'll be updated as the work goes on. But should it of come down to a member of staff have to request the information and equipment ? I don't think so, especially in light of the possible fire service strikes in the next few weeks.

I'm glad to see things are being done, but we shall have to wait and see if they continue to be delt with as things progress. Anyway, whinge over, no roast dragon in the near future .......hopefully :-)