Tonnes of questions today from listeners, and it seems that people all over the show are having a problem with digital television. Have received quite a few queries over the past few months, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is just the tip of the iceberg. A digital picture may be better, but the drop out rate seems to be a lot higher than that of analogue.
Keith has had his digital set-top box for only six months and WIN and Channel 8 are dropping out, whereas before they weren't. Now, I'm no expert on signals – that's something that I'll leave to the experts – but I do know you need a clean signal and it doesn't take much to interrupt it – a tall building, aeroplane flying overhead, or if it is raining. There also might be something wrong with the set-top box, too.
Gary has had a similar problem with signals, but has lost all digital channels. He has a Sony Bravia with a built-in tuner, so that could be the problem. As he is under warranty, he should go back to the retailer with the problem. It is unusual for all channels to drop out.
Geoff has a DVD recorder that won't record the television. Without having a look at it myself, I don't know the exact problem. It could be that there is something wrong with the cabling, because a new DVD player should work with a new LCD television.
Chris was wondering how to transfer old VHS tapes to DVD. Sony and a couple of other vendors did have VHS-to-DVD converters for sale a while back, and as far as I'm aware are still on the market. They're very easy to use. Put your tape in one slot, your blank DVD in another, and hit record. They should cost between $200-$300 a pop.
Ron is looking at buying a name brand computer after having a generic one for the past six years. It's a good time to buy as all the vendors are rolling out their new products over the next couple of weeks. He wondered about operating systems, and from what I've seen, Windows 7 puts XP to shame. I also discussed the new Apple product coming out next week. Apple are keeping mum, but I'm pretty sure it is a multimedia device known as the iSlate. It fills that gap between an iTablet and iPhone and I'm guessing it have an e-book reader, video player and a few other features covering the multimedia medium.
Finally, talked about the mobile Protector from Taser, more of which, can be read about
here.
