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HP iPaq won’t use power on w/ battery

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:00:03 +0000

Hello,
I recently got a HP iPaq 2200. It’s from about 2004. It works when it’s plugged into the dock. But as soon as you remove it from the dock, it looses power, and must restart windows from a power lost state.

Basically, it acts like it has no battery power, but the battery meter saids 100%. When it was found in an old drawer, it didn’t have any juice left, but I plugged it in and watched the battery meter climb little by little, and was 100% after about 2 hours.

The thing seems to run ok except for the battery thing. I’ve tried looking at settings, resetting it, taking the battery out and putting it back in…

Any tricks to this?

Thanks!

Battery may be dead even if it says it’s okay.

Samsung PN42A400

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:00:05 +0000

Is the Samsung 42" 780p Plasma a good tv? We watch mainly sports, tv series’, and will eventually be playing PS3. I found one online for $699 and Wal-Mart will have them on Black Friday for 698. I figured online … Continue reading →

Has anyone tried this MP4/MP3/JPG/DIVX Media Player

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:00:04 +0000

What’s your experience on this gadget?

This is the one everyone loves.

thanks for the input guys…but what is XBMC?

Unless you want HD without streaming.

Thoughts on the Z series Sony’s

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:00:05 +0000

46”

Reading up on them and heard very good things.

Can get for a good price. Should i up to the 52”’ W series?? Or is the 46” the top of the line as far as clarity?

Which TV should I buy??? Help me Choose!

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:00:05 +0000

1. Toshiba REGZA 42" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV** (42RV530U)

2. Sony Bravia 46" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV** (KDL46S4100)

3. Samsung 1080p 46" LCD HDTV** (LN46A550) – Future Shop Exclusive

4.Sony 40" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV** (KDL40S4100)

Well, I would say the biggest cheapest one. A friend got a 46" samsung for 1200 I think. 1080p even. He found it on amazon.

i don’t think you can go wrong with a samsung.
I love em.

sony or toshiba
You can get the REGZA 42" for around $1000 if you shop around

I’ve heard nothing but good things about the panasonics out right now.

Sony out of the batch. Personally I would only buy Pioneer/Panasonic plasmas right now. Unless I had a light problem then it’s a sony LCD all the way.

Panasonic TH-42PX80U, TH-46PZ80U or TH-50PZ80U depending on how much you want to spend.

I’ve got a Panny 50" plasma and love it

Panasonic then Toshiba and always stick with 10080p don’t waste money on less

Lately the newer Samsungs have been just as nice as the Sony lcds. I would also look into models with 120 mhz.

I got the Toshiba a couple weeks ago, I’m pretty happy with it. Was going to go Sony but the Tosh was quite a bit cheaper and PQ looked just as good.

Samsung.

I’ve been looking to get the 40" Samsung (1080p but no 120Hz) but all the places in Canada to buy TVs (Big Box Chains, 2001 A/V) have the older model

I like Sony, i’d rather get the Sony 46"

ordered the 50" off newegg for $1398.99 free shipping and handling

The only good thing in your response was Panasonic. Toshiba lcds are garbage…aweful blacks and shadow detail even for an lcd. 1080p? If it’s over 50" inches it’s something to get…but under, don’t worry about it.

this isn’t one of your choices but i would recommend the samsung ln40a630

i have the Samsung 550, the 46" they’re super cheap right now, and it’s a hell of a TV

I’m looking at buying this one as soon as it’s on sale

best camcorder?

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:00:05 +0000

I’m supposed to be getting a new camcorder for christmas from the in-laws, and they want to know what kind to get. I like to do things right the first time, so what should i ask for?This would be used for family and recreational stuff by various tech savvy and non tech savvy individuals. Ease of use is a definite plus. I donakt know if this is the standard or not, but i’d like to be able to upload to the computer and edit/add music, but also be able to play stuff on the tv (be able to burn to dvd i guess).

I have a Canon HV20 and like it quite a bit. I bought it a while ago now so they should be fairly affordable if you look around.

Thanks, I’ll check it out!

Anyone else have any suggestions?

i was looking at the hv30, and my main concern is, how long are minidv’s going to last as a form of media? should i go away from tapes and go to hard drive/flash memory style camcorders?

..doesn’t the hv series have both? I’m almost positive mine does.

From what I’ve read about the HV20 and HV30, the video is recorded on the minidv tape, and still shots are recorded on the SD card.

There’s a REALLY great review about the HV20, which gives lots of info about making a camcorder purchase in general, .

Here’s in excerpt regarding storage types for camcorders (from December 2007, I believe):

1. Storage media: Currently, High Def camcorders are available that record to one or more of these four media: MiniDV tape, built-in Hard disk drive, MiniDVD-R/RW discs, and SD or MemoryStick (Sony) flash cards. The primary differences here are cost, time capacity and compression algorithm used. MiniDV tapes cost about $3.00 each and hold one hour of HD video at 25 megabits per second, and use HDV (MPEG-2) compression. Hard drive, DVD, and Flash card cameras all use AVCHD (MPEG-4) compression at 15 megabits per second; AVCHD is a much more aggressive type of compression than HDV, and most cameras using it have somewhat poorer image quality in low-light situations. AVCHD is also more difficult and processor intensive to edit, requiring a computer with more power than is needed to edit HDV video. Following are some specific’s (keep in mind that the Canon HV-20 uses MiniDV tape):

ADVANTAGES OF MINI-DV TAPE: It’s cheap and widely available, costing about $3.00 per one hour of video storage capacity. It’s easier to edit HDV video than AVCHD video, and HDV offers better image quality in low light. The tape itself is your archival media, and should last at least 10~15 years if you store it in a suitable container that protects it from moisture, dust, and temperature extremes. NOTE: It takes 3 single-sided DVD’s to hold the video from one Mini-DV tape if you want to use DVD’s as your back-up archival media.

DISADVANTAGES OF MINI-DV TAPE: Real-time video transfer via Firewire; if you have a full 60 minute tape, it takes 60 minutes of real time to download your video to your computer. Also, the 25 megabit per second bandwidth may be too much for many older computers: even if you already have a Firewire card installed, if your computer’s CPU, data bus, or hard drive can’t accept the data stream at the rate it’s being transmitted by the camera, you will at least lose frames and at worst, the whole captured video file could be trashed and unplayable. Tape drive cameras are more sensitive to humidity than the other types; condensation inside the camera’s tape compartment will shut it down, requiring you to bring it indoors to an air-conditioned space to dry out. Motor noise from the tape drive can be picked up by the camera’s built in microphones (same problem really with HDD and DVD cameras). The HV-20 is no exception, it’s motor noise is clearly audible on the recorded video. Use an external mic (600 ohm for best results) to alleviate this problem. Keep in mind that you can remove unwanted noise from the audio track in post production with relatively inexpensive software

2. ADVANTAGES OF HARD DRIVE CAMERAS (Canon HG-10 especially): Stores the full 1920 x 1080i high def video; MiniDV tape cameras using HDV compression actually record only 1440 x 1080i (non-square pixels), requiring a resampling of the video in post-production to get 1920 x 1080i. Lots of storage capacity: Up to 5 hours on the 40 megabyte drive in the Canon HG-10. Fast and easy video transfer to your computer via USB; you don’t need to install a firewire port if your PC doesn’t have one already. Transferring an hour’s worth of video from an HG-10 to a computer takes a lot less time than the same transfer on an HV-20. Less motor "whine" in the audio track than you have with tape drive cameras. Less sensitivity to environmental problems like dust and moisture.

DIDADVANTAGES OF HARD DRIVE CAMERAS: A little more expensive purchase price, about $100 more for the Canon HG-10 compared to the HV-20. The big disadvantage currently is the AVCHD compression: compared to HDV compression used in MiniDV tape cameras, it’s harder to edit in post-processing software, and requires a more powerful computer. AVCHD video shows a LOT more noise and compression artifacts in low-light shots than you get with HDV video.

ADVANTAGES OF DVD CAMCORDERS: Only one really, and that’s the ability to put the disc into a DVD player and view it, or transfer it to computer. Transfer of video to computer same as HDD (via USB) so faster than Tape drive. Hitachi recently came out with a high def camcorder that stores to Mini-BlueRay discs. I don’t know for sure what the blank discs would cost, but you can bet they’re way more expensive than regular 8cm DVD-RW’s (Standard size blank BlueRay discs at Fry’s cost $20 PER UNIT (December 2007))!

DISADVANTAGES OF DVD CAMCORDERS: Expensive media in terms of cost-per-minute of shooting time. The small, 8cm DVD’s used in these camcorders have very limited capacity, only about 15~20 minutes at the highest image quality. DVD cameras tend to be bulkier, since the 80mm diameter disc takes up a lot of space compared to a 64mm wide x 45mm tall MiniDV tape. AVCHD Compression; same issues as for HDD cams in terms of loss of image quality and difficulty to edit in post-processing.

ADVANTAGES OF FLASH CARD CAMCORDERS: No moving parts in the storage media. This should mean longer service life and greater reliability. If flash memory continues to grow in capacity while dropping in cost, this type of camcorder could eventually bury Tape, HDD, and DVD. Easy transfer of video to PC over USB bus.

DISADVANTAGES OF FLASH CARD CAMCORDERS: Currently (2007) Most Expensive storage media: $140.00 for a 16 gigabyte SD card, compared to $3.00 for a 13 gigabyte MiniDV tape. Uses AVCHD compression; same issues as for HDD and DVD cams in terms of loss of image quality and difficulty to edit in post-processing.

That could be. Admittedly I have hardly ever used it. Matter of fact I think I’ve shot two half hour videos with it and that’s about it. I’ve been thinking of selling it because of how little I use it. I need to research how much they’re going for in like new quality. I have a few small add-on’s as well.

Also after reading the quote you put up, my computer must fall under the "old shitty" kind because I can’t transfer anything over to my computer. Had I known that before I would have gone with the HG-10 or something else.

Time to do some homework.

Yeah, I’m trying to pay attention to the computer side, I’d hate to buy a camcorder then not be able to do any editing or anything (and I’m not in a position to upgrade my computer).

I’m starting to lean more towards flash storage, I like the idea of a lot less moving parts, and flash memory is still dropping in price on a regular basis.

oakback – if you do purchase a flash hd camcorder, please post a review

Sure thing. Though whatever I choose will be my first in-depth camcorder experience, so I don’t know how much my review will be worth.

Are you looking to do HD stuff? Personally, I’m not ready for it. Not only is my computer not equipped to do HD editing (it’s very computationally expensive) but I have no software that can comfortably do it nor do I have any Blu-ray authoring software or burning equipment. I’ll be entrenched in SD video for a while, I think.

Whichever camcorder you get, I’d recommend one with hard drive storage, at least. Tapes are obsolete. I don’t know how much you know about DV (industry term meaning Digital Video) but when you capture video on tape you have to recapture it to your computer which is an annoyingly long process, not to mention that you have to have tape cassettes. With hard drive storage, you just copy the video from your camera to your computer just as you would any other disk file. It’s even in DVD compliant MPEG2 format so you don’t even have to re-encode it for DVD if you avoid editing…

Solid state is even better if you know you’ll never film long contiguous scenes. I don’t know what you plan to use your camera for but solid state storage wasn’t good enough for me…

N/m, we’re getting the Canon FS10. The wife was shopping with her mom at CostCo, and saw it on sale, so she got that. I’ll check it out when I get home.

Bought a Blackjack II

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:00:03 +0000

Any tips / tricks / things to know? I already have myblackjack2.com bookmarked.

So far the only thing I dislike about it is the battery life. This thing eats the juice. Well that and the multi-step lock-unlock procedure. Is there a way to get it to automatically lock the keypad if unused?
Make sure to turn the bluetooth off when not using it, there’s a hotkey for that. It eats a lot of power.
hold the end call button and it will lock the keys.
to unlock it, press the power button, then unlock, then *

Upgrade it to Windows Mobile 6.1 if it’s still on 6.
Check out the smart phone apps/games on ppcwarez
Buy a 4GB SD and install Garmin Mobile XT

Start > Settings > Security > Device Lock

LCD HDTV question

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:00:05 +0000

Playing a basketball game on my new LCD HDTV I noticed that when I run there’s a noticeable amount of motion blur. I even notice it a bit on the ESPN ticker. Main thing is on cable I have standard coaxial cable, no digital. But is this something I’ll just get used to with an LCD?

Emerson 32" LCD HDTV with Digital Tuner, LC320EM8
Just tried the girlfriends wii and when running with one of her characters there’s quite a bit of motion blur. Any way to reduce this?
did you check reviews for that particular tv to make sure that motion blur wasn’t a known issue?

From what I’ve googled, I found one very indepth review and it didn’t mention the motion blur, can’t find too much more about it.

Think it’s worth it to exchange it and try a different set or should I just get a refund and go with a different brand?

From what I’ve googled, I found one very indepth review and it didn’t mention the motion blur, can’t find too much more about it.

Think it’s worth it to exchange it and try a different set or should I just get a refund and go with a different brand?

Cheap brands are usually more trouble then they’re worth. Newegg has 32" 1080p toshiba for around $570 w/ free shipping
Get an LCD with a faster response time and refresh rate. The new hotness is 120hz. Standard is 60hz.
Got it figured out, just had to mess with the settings. Slight blur but it’s hardly noticable now

Sony W760i

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:00:07 +0000

Does anyone know if there is or what is the size limit for mp3s to be used as ringtones on this phone? I had an 810i and any music on it could be used. Now I am unable to do … Continue reading →

Anybody have a Nokia N95?

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:06 +0000

Just picked one up unlocked. Been playing around with it and am thinking about changing my AT&T data connect plan over. Before I pull the trigger, I want to make sure it can do what I want it to. I don’t talk a whole lot (maybe 250 minutes a month), but I am usually over 1000 txt messages and frequently browse the web on it. I would also like to be able to tether it to my computer. Can I do all these things with it? What all would I need to get on the plan and about how much am I looking to pay?

I have one and, I don’t talk much as well.
You can do what you mentioned above with the N95.

my recommendation:
cheapest voice plan (required): ATT Nation 450 ~ $40/mo
unlimited internet: MEdia Net Unlimited for $15/mo
TXTing package: 1500 for $15/mo (FYI… Unlimited TXT = $20)

I pay under $90 for voice, unlimited TXTing & unlimited internet… including fees, etc.

The N95 can tether in a few ways: wifi, bluetooth and USB.
Which will you use?
xivera I’d check your local AT&T store for their latest plans. I was in one the other day asking someone about plans for the N95 I was talking to you about, and he handed me some papers he had on the counter there and for $90 you get 900 minutes, unlimited texting and unlimited (5GB) internet. I think the 450 minute package was like $70 or maybe $75.
Oh, Unity Plans… useful but, I first signed up for the 450 min package 5 months ago.
USB will be the primary connection. I could go Bluetooth in a pinch.

The lowest plan I saw on the site was a 400 (or so) minutes with 5000 night and weekend (thats plenty too). Was going to go with the other choices mentioned above too and maybe upgrade the TXT messages later.

USB will be the primary connection. I could go Bluetooth in a pinch.

The one I mentioned would include texting.

I’m still unsure of what I’m going to do with my phone situation Honestly every day for about two weeks I’ve been online looking at phones/service providers, etc. My biggest issue is I can’t justify the extra expense of the internet/email stuff because I have no need for it, I just want it to have it for when I could use it. I’d use it, but at work I have a computer and I’m there 5 – 6 days a week on average about 55 hours. I have a computer at home obviously…so why would I need the phone? Other than wanting it…

Yeah I keep going round and round with that.

USB will be the primary connection. I could go Bluetooth in a pinch.

Ok! USB cable and Nokia PC Suite (can be downloaded freely from Nokia) are in the box.

The one I mentioned would include texting.

Yeah I keep going round and round with that.

Think portable internet radio… or just internet on-the-go. (read: full web experience unlike iPhone)
I’m looking forward to Opera mobile 9.x and Skyfire to come out of beta… even though the S60 web browser holds its own.
I wish Pandora would work but, Last.FM (through mobbler app) works great.
And, there is the Internet Radio app.
im thinking about getting this phone. i was comparing it to the n96 and it was about 300$ cheaper. it looks like the only stuff the n96 has that the n95 doesnt it mobile tv which isnt available stateside anyway. since it has wifi it would also be cool for listening to radio around school and also using it as a voip phone. anyone have any experiance with that?
just got this phone for 230$. awesome, love the wifi and the gps for geotagging and downloading podcasts anywhere.

I wish Pandora would work but, Last.FM (through mobbler app) works great.
And, there is the Internet Radio app.

I just signed up on last.fm. I didn’t realize exactly what it was. Do you have to pay to get it to work, or should it just go?
free like… speech
Once you have signed up with last.fm, you can login from mobbler on your S60 device.
I see it now. The "on demand play" thing only works 3 times then it’s 30 second clips. The ‘radio’ style play with random songs you preselect is what you get for free which makes sense.

If you technically have 5GB allowance on your phone plan, how quickly will that be used up with streaming radio and regular internet browsing?
Finally got an answer… pretty quickly!
My Log shows I just did 5.31GB in the last 30 days… holy crap!

I think I have an addiction…
Got my N95 hooked up and running. Been great so far even though I have shitty coverage where I am at.

For the guy comparing the N95 with the N96; I have seen reviews favoring the N95. I have an 8GB SDHC card in it. I watch movies on it and show off pictures. More than plenty of space.

I passed through a 3G area a little while back and the speed was amazing. I downloaded a zip file and browsed Myspace with ease. I was even getting some 3.5G coverage too.
I just checked my account out of curiosity. With moderate web browsing, nightly Last.fm (at a minimum) and Gmail Mobile always running (which seems to refresh itself once in a while..?) I’m only at 94.5MB I need to get my moneys worth!
Id reccomend the n95 dont know if this thread is dead but just picked one up last week, Free with a 3 year plan managed to get it w/o a data plan(friend works at rogers)
So far so good great pictures and great videos if your into uploaded to youtube etc.
I use the internet on wifi
I really like my E51. The only complaint I have is the camera. 2MP is decent. But a) there is no light of any kind for pictures and b) it is VERY laggy. I haven’t tried taking a video, but pictures are almost impossible if people aren’t perfectly still. I tried taking a few pictures when I was at the bar the other night with some friends and they didn’t turn out well at all. I know it’s a difficult place to photograph, but my old generic Verizon phone did 10x better.
no… why would you want a nokia man… there are a lot… a lot better brands