Articles by Rob Buckley

About Rob Buckley
I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.
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UK TV

Review: Sky+HD

24 February 2009 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

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”

UK TV

Review: Sky+HD

24 February 2009 Rob Buckley Post a comment

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”

Tuesday’s hot tub time machine news

24 February 2009 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

Film

Theatre

US TV

  • The CW greenlights Melrose Place pilot
  • Starz renews but retools Crash
Technology reviews

Review: Elgato EyeTV Diversity

23 February 2009 Rob Buckley 3 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”

Today's Joanna Page

Today’s Joanna Page: Comic Relief

23 February 2009 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Joanna Page and Ruth Jones at the Comic Relief launch

Today’s Joanna Page should have been This Year’s Love. But since she’s not in the cast list at the end, I’m guessing it’s something of a cameo appearance by Ms Page in said movie, so I’m actually going to have to sit through the whole film – Dougie Henshall’s kilt and all – to find out which five frames she’s in or whether she’s simply sitting on a cutting room floor somewhere. Apparently Richard Armitage plays “Smug man at party” in it, so there’s a double whammy for you.

So in the meantime, here’s a picture of her with Ruth Jones from the Comic Relief launch earlier this month. She’s going to be one of the Celebrity Apprentices, you know. And here’s a chat with her courtesy of Holy Moly. It’s quiet brief, but it is revealed that Tom Jones doesn’t know what a chocolate orange is.