Technology Thread.

[IggyTheDawgster]

Had a good mixture of plasma and LED tv's over the last few years and LED wins hands down for me picture wise. The Panasinic Viera plasma I had was very good but you can't beat LED with a HD picture IMO.

Oh you can, Very much so. Colour accuracy/Depth, Response times, Black levels, Motion handling. Plasma wins hands down. The gap isn't as large these days as it once was. There are some very good LED backlit LCD's on the market, But proper Plasma panels are still way ahead.

I suppose LCD's may look better "out of the box" and many consumers don't care to spend time calibrating displays before using them.
But if you do take the time to calibrate the two side by side there is only one winner.

That's a fair point Iggy but 90% of people looking for a new TV won't ever touch the settings and mess with the picture so want something that does the trick out of the box without any messing.

Forgetting all the bollocks about black levels that all the tech guys like to talk about the LED wins for ME and many others for a top vibrant picture.. all this talk about black levels makes me laugh.. like people are going to sit there watching Corrie and say to one another..

"ay up fred, that night sky isn't the right black at all!"

Add in the fact that plasma's are heavy on electric, are rubbish in well lit rooms because of the glass screen and the fact they have to run fans to keep them cool which can then feck up in time if they get blocked.. not for me anymore.

Lol, When was your last Plasma experience? 1982? They now run NeoPDP panels so there is negligible power draw difference, And I've never seen a Plasma panel with a fan???

If you're spending the sort of money nowadays for a decent set and watching Corrie on it then you're wasting your money. You might as well buy a CRT.

I think you misunderstand Black Levels. Black levels increase picture quality a hell of a lot when watching high definition media, They not only increase the perception of detail in dark scenes but help in the richness and depth of colour that LED sets tend to over do. Hence your "Vibrancy" comment. The better range of black level the better overall image reproduction is achieved without washing out or crushing darker areas or lower detailed areas of scenes. Illuminous green grass when watching footy is a dead giveaway of poor colour reproduction, Yes it may look loud and vibrant but it's not very accurate is it? I want to look at a panel and be tricked into thinking I'm looking through a window, Not at a cartoon.



You can download a THX Certified calibration tool from any good website and spend 30 minutes setting up gamma/contrast/brightness/sharpness levels with ease. Many Pixar Blu-Ray movies come with a set up tool in the options. Failing that, If you have any SONY Blu-Ray movies lying around there is a little secret on the disk.

Wait for the disk to boot up to the menu screen and type "7669" (SONY on the number pad) and hit enter. This should take you to a series of calibration screens.

Fcuk me, you're as anal as some Apple nob jockey

FWIW, I've got a 46"LCD (Toshiba) and I've never seen owt with a better picture

I enjoy movies. The best way possible.

[IggyTheDawgster]

On a "Lighter" note: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/c ... uting.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Very cool.

[TANGODANCER]

Warning: The Gremlins are on patrol again. A new pc and superhub, good speed and signals, all going great.... and then:

Windows XP Anti spyware 2013 arrives from nowhere posing as Windows Security Centre. Overrides this site and tells me about the 25 worms, trojans etc etc. This was last night and of course tried to get me to download a solution to remove them, buy the full version etc, add your bank details, blah blah. Problem was I couldn't get shut of it or access the internet. I did run a McAffe scan which showed all clear. Read up about this on the wifes laptop and it's a right vicious bxstard. This morning I switched on and got the same again, then up popped a McAfee banner to say it had blocked a file and it disappeared. Whether it's gone for good, I know not, but the read-ups reckon its a real bad news thing. Just posting the warning.

[Prufrock]

I had it on an old laptop, was an absolute bitch to get rid of. Try 'Malwarebytes' TD, pretty sure that shifted it in the end for me.

[malcd1]

I had it on an old laptop, was an absolute bitch to get rid of. Try 'Malwarebytes' TD, pretty sure that shifted it in the end for me.

The problem is trying to download and install Malwarebytes in the first place. My mate got the same virus and I think I had to reinstall Windows for him.

Try opening it in Safe mode and seeing if you can do something then. I don't envy you though.

[TANGODANCER]

I had it on an old laptop, was an absolute bitch to get rid of. Try 'Malwarebytes' TD, pretty sure that shifted it in the end for me.

The problem is trying to download and install Malwarebytes in the first place. My mate got the same virus and I think I had to reinstall Windows for him.

Try opening it in Safe mode and seeing if you can do something then. I don't envy you though.

"Think" I've nailed it. I had Malwarebytes but the bxstard wouldn't let me open it. More or less jinxed all the Windows stuff, Internet Explorer etc. I got to it finally, although it fought all the way ( taking instruction from a program on the wife's laptop) via system files, Firefox and Chameleon. Just followed the steps and Malware detected six "Hijack" files and gave em the boot. Did a full scan then a quick scan and it looks like theyre gone. Still wary though. It actually replaces the Windows Security Centre on your pc showing your firewall off. One real xxxx.

[Prufrock]

I had it on an old laptop, was an absolute bitch to get rid of. Try 'Malwarebytes' TD, pretty sure that shifted it in the end for me.

The problem is trying to download and install Malwarebytes in the first place. My mate got the same virus and I think I had to reinstall Windows for him.

Try opening it in Safe mode and seeing if you can do something then. I don't envy you though.

Yeah, it took me ages to do, just keep restarting. For some reason one time it let me onto the internet and managed to download it.

[BWFC_Insane]

TD, just stop looking at the porn sites......

[a1]

if the internet explorer is on yr computer check its version number. if its six. upgrade it to ie7 or 8 then never ever open it again.

no one in the world should be using ie6, def not now. its somehow hooked into the OS in a way ie7 and later are not. but tbf you shouldnt even be using 7 or 8 neither.

use a chrome or firefox for browsing/internet stuff and maybe install a few ad blocker/scriptingblocking plugins.

i know firefox also has some kinda whitelist built in. think chrome does too.

[CAPSLOCK]

Must just be me, but I use nowt more than free products - avg or avast and ccleaner

I browse all corners of the interweb

And never had owt that has caused me more than a couple of minutes grief

[ChrisC]

Must just be me, but I use nowt more than free products - avg or avast and ccleaner

I browse all corners of the interweb

And never had owt that has caused me more than a couple of minutes grief

Same for me.. never had a paid software I was happy with.

I also use Microsoft Security Essentials which is free and does a job.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security ... y/mse.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HMX]

if the internet explorer is on yr computer check its version number. if its six. upgrade it to ie7 or 8 then never ever open it again.

no one in the world should be using ie6, def not now. its somehow hooked into the OS in a way ie7 and later are not. but tbf you shouldnt even be using 7 or 8 neither.

use a chrome or firefox for browsing/internet stuff and maybe install a few ad blocker/scriptingblocking plugins.

i know firefox also has some kinda whitelist built in. think chrome does too.

Amen. Helps with the sanity of web designers like myself too...

[a1]

Must just be me, but I use nowt more than free products - avg or avast and ccleaner

I browse all corners of the interweb

And never had owt that has caused me more than a couple of minutes grief

its that the advert sites get hijacked and they spread from there..

its coz he's using xp with ie6 on. if he blocked ie6 in the firewall, or upgraded it to 7, then blocked it, he'd have less trouble.

sounds like this one-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XP_Antivirus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

he also might need to go here- http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-se ... moval.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

this kinda thing pops up on mine- http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/its-an-attack.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -if its owt bad.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Must just be me, but I use nowt more than free products - avg or avast and ccleaner

I browse all corners of the interweb

And never had owt that has caused me more than a couple of minutes grief

its that the advert sites get hijacked and they spread from there..

its coz he's using xp with ie6 on. if he blocked ie6 in the firewall, or upgraded it to 7, then blocked it, he'd have less trouble.

sounds like this one-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XP_Antivirus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

he also might need to go here- http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-se ... moval.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

this kinda thing pops up on mine- http://www.mozilla.org/firefox/its-an-attack.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -if its owt bad.

I'm a firefox user but I've never seen that attack thingee. I use Trend as anti-virus as this is the University's program of choice. Never had the kind of problems as described.

[a1]

yeah, it got famous coz it were apparantly earning the writers 160,000 dollars a week like the wiki refers too.

dunno what yr university's running, but i'd bet its windows 7 server or later or a linux flavor from around the same time and not 12 years old like on 'dancerman's laptop. that kinda stuff is why TeamBalmer eventually put user account control into force.

mr. dancer has already fallen for the anonymous phonecall from 'microsoft windows' virus scam. suppose this is similar, just automating the process.

theres worse ones , the ones related to them iranian nuclear power station uranium warhead refinement place viruses that the cia wrote and got out in to the wider world are worse to clear.

hope to jesus christ he/you/whoever dont catch them ones.

and this one pissed a few off 15 years ago - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIH_%28computer_virus%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , remember reading a story where one guy with it tried swapping out the infected bios rom chip for another , with the computer on. god knows how that worked.

[Montreal Wanderer]

dunno what yr university's running, but i'd bet its windows 7 server or later or a linux flavor from around the same time and not 12 years old like on 'dancerman's laptop. that kinda stuff is why TeamBalmer eventually put user account control into force.

Well, on the client end they have to support everything from XP, 7, 8, various Macs, linux, etc. because the clients are free to use what they want (at home I'm on 7 while my old laptop is XP (an IBM X60). The servers are probably Unix and run a lot of stuff under Oracle (I think) but tbh I'm not that sure. The Trend antivirus supports all operating systems (though it may be a different version). They've given me Trend Micro Titanium 2012, which seems to have stopped above five web threats in the last month (no viruses or spyware got through the firewall).

[a1]

yeah, recent stuff works, theyre not clinging to old 486-es.

theres only so far these things can go to stop folk messing things up. the antivirus might stop things, but if its continually getting in thru the same weakness in unpatched/old Program Whatever, then you have to look for workarounds, ie, swapping the browser , use a different media player, turn off adobe flash when on websites until its needed, etc.

if the end it might be easier, if more costly, to get a new(er) one. as its less time consuming (and posibly more cost effective) than fixing the old stuff giving trouble.

those sayings about time equalling money, and throwing good money after bad, might be true in this case.

if i'm not technically minded i'd not look at one with at least windows 7. its not worth pissing about fixing crap microsoft dont even want you using.

he could put a recent linux on it for free, but might find it so bizarre, that its not worth learning the GUI or whatever. even though the firefox or whatever are broadly similar.

the xp/7/vista to> windows 8 pro upgrade is £42 or so, currently , but again the gui/desktop is kinda different. and needs at least a gig or 2 of ram to work good. and once its registered , i think its stuck to that motherboard (if you need to repair/swap the board, i think youve got to buy the extact same mboard else windows moans about fake licenses, he'll also have to keep his old windows disc/license handy for various reasons).

[Bruce Rioja]

I could put this in the angry thread but I'm looking for a little level-headed guidance. My i-phone has copied across all my facebook contacts into my address book from my laptop and won't let me delete them. For many people I now have two entries in my address book, the one that I mange and this facebook one that's pitched up uninvited.

Please tell me, how do I erase facebook contacts from my phone? Any help, much appreciated.

[thebish]

I could put this in the angry thread but I'm looking for a little level-headed guidance. My i-phone has copied across all my facebook contacts into my address book from my laptop and won't let me delete them. For many people I now have two entries in my address book, the one that I mange and this facebook one that's pitched up uninvited.

Please tell me, how do I erase facebook contacts from my phone? Any help, much appreciated.

you've certainly come to the right place for level headed guidance!

errr... OK - how about this..

Go to "settings", "Facebook". Turn "Contacts" to "OFF", Select "Update All Contacts". FB contacts should be removed.

or...

To turn off Facebook contacts:

1) Go to Contacts

2) Click Group on the top

3) Uncheck All Facebook


Then you shoulld just see your regular contacts.


Good luck.

[Bruce Rioja]

Brilliant. Thanks, Bish.

Yours is a pint and everything in it.