Archive | Technology

An archive of blog entries about media gadgets and technology.


July 1, 2009

Wednesday's Micro Live news

Posted on July 1, 2009 | Post a comment |

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Film

  • Jason Lee and Michelle Trachtenberg join A Couple of Dicks
  • Trailer for Soderbergh's The Informant, starring Matt Damon and Scott Bakula
  • Bill Nighy to appear in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
  • Trailer for Inglourious Basterds

Web TV

British TV

US TV

Subscribe to the daily news by RSS or email

April 16, 2009

Playing catch up: iPlayer on the Wii

Posted on April 16, 2009 | 6 comments |

Wii iPlayer home page

I've only had a Wii for five months* and the option's been there for a year, apparently, but it's news to me that you can watch the BBC's iPlayer on the Wii, so I thought I'd belatedly pass the word.

I haven't tested it yet, and it's not as good quality as you can get on a PC, since the Wii has an old version of Flash, but all the same, much better to be able to watch it on your TV than huddled round a computer.

* Bought at my wife's insistence, I would point out, since games consoles and working from home don't mix unless you're a games journalist/professional games player

April 8, 2009

C4 apologises to Mac users over 4oD

Posted on April 8, 2009 | 1 comment |

Got a Mac? Been cursing Channel 4's name for ages since you couldn't use its 4oD video-on-demand service because it was Windows-only?

Channel 4 would like to apologise to you then, and point out it's made 4oD available to us as well now.

No really.

It's even made an advert about it.

March 31, 2009

Bastard the PVR continues to live up to his name

Posted on March 31, 2009 | 2 comments |

The hardware may have changed, but Bastard, my PVR, continues to be a bastard.

And it all looked so different a couple of weeks, when I discovered he could now record two things at once. Cracking! No more worrying about scheduling conflicts, no more worrying that the end of episode one is going to get recorded on the beginning of episode two if there's an over-run.

Marvellous.

Except I updated him to version 3.1.1 of his EyeTV software, which worked fine in most regards, except with exports. Suddenly, little Bastard didn't like to export programs with their soundtracks intact. I didn't realise this until about a week later, by which time I'd deleted the originals.

Curses.

So I downgraded back to 3.1, using Elgato's preferred method. Except I didn't restart my computer since they didn't ask me to. Now Bastard won't start recording unless EyeTV is already running. The problem went away after a restart, but not before it had failed to record one programme: American Outlaws, starring Ali Larter.

Bastard.

February 26, 2009

Trailing cable saves the day

Posted on February 26, 2009 | Post a comment |

My trailing cable has arrived to save the day. The aerials on my EyeTV Diversity turned out to be complete pants, so a 15m trailing cable was needed to restore little known networks such as ITV1 and Channel 4 to my channel roster.

Fortunately, someone had already had a cable running round the place once, and had left all the tacks behind, so with just a couple of cable ties, I've managed to make said trailing cable almost entirely invisible.

And look, I have my line-up back:


My new channels

And with decent signal: this means I get picture-in-picture, too: record one channel and watch another at the same time. Incidentally, note how, even though they're been fed by the same aerial, the two tuners have substantially different signal qualities.

New signal strengths

Woo hoo. So now I have a decent, non breaking-up version of this week's Being Human, too. One thing to note: if you buy a signal splitter so that you can have two aerials coming out of one TV socket, check to see if you're getting male or female connections or else you'll find your cables won't work. Doh.

PS If by chance you also happen to buy a Heroes mousemat off eBay, be prepared: it might smell a bit.

February 24, 2009

Review: Sky+HD

Posted on February 24, 2009 | 7 comments |

A Sky+ HD box

Well, finally, after all that fun with the Sky+ competition last year, I have Sky+HD. As you may recall, I was this close to getting it when at the last moment, I found out you need two feeds from the satellite dish to be able to record a programme while watching another, so we never got it. Fortunately, at our new flat, there are two wall feeds from the communal satellite dish (even if one, for some strange reason that even the Sky engineers couldn't fathom, is on the other side of the room from the other feed).

As it happens, I made a slight cost saving from delaying, since the cost installation and the box has gone down from £75 (reduced from £150) to £49. Bargain.

So, after a few days, what am I reckoning, apart from it's all worth it just to see Ali Larter in high def on Heroes?

Continue reading "Review: Sky+HD"

Read other posts about:

February 23, 2009

Review: Elgato EyeTV Diversity

Posted on February 23, 2009 | 2 comments |

EyeTV Diversity

As you may know, I have a PVR for my Mac called Bastard. It was originally called Bastard because of its occasional refusal to record programmes for no adequately explored reason. After a few software updates, it got better and started to behave, even if it still warranted the name Bastard for refusing to export anything over an hour long to my AppleTV without giving an error (allegedly the fault lies with my Turbo H.264, made by the same company. They're the ones doing the alleging. Twats).

Anyway, I've moved flat and my Mac is no longer sitting comfortably near a TV socket. So I had two options: either stick a great big trailing cable around the room to where there is a TV socket or invest in an EyeTV Diversity, which employs two mini antennae and some fancy signal processing skills to supposedly produce great pictures and reception even indoors.

I bought the Diversity. Suffice it to say, the trailing cable's now arriving this week some time.

Continue reading "Review: Elgato EyeTV Diversity"

February 12, 2009

Thursday's Lost in Hollywood news

Posted on February 12, 2009 | 2 comments |

Doctor Who

Film

Comic

Theatre

Technology

British TV

Canadian TV

  • Broadcasters' profits plummet  

US TV

Subscribe to the daily news by RSS or email

Read other posts about: ,

February 10, 2009

Tuesday's gods behaving very badly news

Posted on February 10, 2009 | 2 comments |

Doctor Who

Awards

Film

  • Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to star in a comedy directed by Nancy Meyers
  • Universal acquires rights to Spencer Quinn's Dog On It
  • James Mangold to direct a legal thriller about an oil rig disaster
  • Mickey Rourke to star in Walter Hill-directed hitman movie St Vincent
  • New Watchmen TV spots
  • Moneypenny and Q back for next Bond movie?
  • McG trying to get Arnie into Terminator: Salvation
Comics
  • The Shield's Michael Chiklis to launch comic book about Greek gods returning to the present-day Earth

Theatre

British TV

  • Beeb adding HD programmes to iTunes

US TV

Subscribe to the daily news by RSS or email

Read other posts about: ,

January 30, 2009

Friday's "I have the power!" news

Posted on January 30, 2009 | Post a comment |

Doctor Who

Film

Art

Theatre

British TV

US TV

  • Lauren Graham pilot gets a green light
  • CBS greenlights three new drama pilots
  • Promo for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles promises fresh start
  • Life on Mars' ratings not good

Subscribe to the daily news by RSS or email

Read other posts about: , ,

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Featured Articles

Rupert Penry-Jones tells all

Gone but not Forgotten