Ray Shaw's  Questions  &  Answers  ---  Page 33 21-4-09: Question: I am confused about digital TV. I have a perfectly good 28" 'tube' TV and a combo DVD and VCR player - both with considerable life left in them. What do I need to do? Answer: The digital switch over date for Brisbane is early 2013 i.e. there will be no more analogue TV signals being broadcast. In regional areas it will commence from early 2011. You can buy a standard definition (SD) set top box (STB) for under $50 or a high definition (HD) for under $100 and connect it to your existing aerial and your combo's AV and sound input jacks. To view digital TV you use the combo's AV input and select TV programs with the STB remote control (yes another remote to clutter the coffee table). You will also be able to record TV shows but you will need to select the TV station first on STB and set the VCR to record - a two part process that is messy as you have to remember to check that the STB is on the right channel at the recording time. For the majority of people with existing TV's (be they Plasma, LCD or CRT), VCR's or hard disk recorders SD is fine as this is the only resolution they will display and the picture will be clearer and better than the old analogue signal. Most recent TVs support HD i.e. 768 or 1080 resolution. These generally use HDMI connecting cables instead of the older RCA type. If you are buying a recorder look for the new dual HD digital tuner hard disk models (from about $400) that allow you to record two programs at once or watch one and record another. This replaces the need to buy an STB and gets over the issue of having to set both the STB and the VCR to record a show. My advice is to wait until your existing gear is no longer usable and then look at the offerings available in late 2012. By then issues with Freeview, electronic programming guides, TV transmission standards etc will have been sorted out. Question: What is Freeview? Answer: Freeview is a marketing name for free to air digital TV (channels 2, 7, 9, 10 and SBS) and Phase 1 revolves around being able to use an electronic program guide (EPG) to watch and record TV programs. From 1 May a number of TV and recorder manufacturers will be able to label their products with the Freeview logo which ensures that they are compatible (they must support the EPG, HD and MPEG-4 formats). But early adopters will pay the price as Phase 2 (support for MHEG-5, not to be confused with MPEG-4 - a future broadcasting format that Australia will use) will start appearing in early 2010. We should also see the newer energy efficient TVs that use a fraction of the power - yet another good reason to wait for a year of so. Question: How do I add surround sound to my HD STB? Answer: The HD STB will usually have a coaxial, HDMI or Optical sound output that is plugged into a compatible 5.1 or 7.1 sound system. These systems decode the audio stream (Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, DTS-HD MA etc) and play via 5 or 7 speakers and a sub-woofer. If you have a hard disk recorder as well you will need to run a sound cable from the sound system to the recorder. Look for a system that has 1080p up-scaling or conversion as well (this takes SD signals and converts them into faux 1080 signals). Prices start around $500. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9-5-09: Question: How do I use a Vista Home Premium PC as a Windows Media Centre (WMC) to watch and record TV shows? Answer: All you need to do is buy a HD tuner (either internal card or external USB) and WMC will recognise it and use it. WMC is very easy to use - it is quite intuitive and using a keyboard to type in the programs you want to record (it can record once or weekly) is easy. It is reliable (well as reliable as your PC is). Hauppauge have just released a dual HD USB tuner called Nova TD which also has a WMC remote controller. The cost is $179 but the controller normally sells for about $60 so it's a good buy. The problem with WMC is that your TV needs to have a VGA PC connector in order to display the image (unless you have a later model PC with HDMI or AV out). At present WMC does not have a Microsoft supported EPG but we expect to see one with Freeview. You can subscribe to ICETV's EPG for $99 per annum or try the free www.epgstream.net. Question: I read in the press that Microsoft are to replace Vista with Microsoft Windows 7. I currently have Windows XP and am looking to buy a new computer soon. Should I wait for Windows 7? Answer: Vista was a major change in the way Windows XP worked and it attracted more than a fair share of criticism because it was so different, big, more secure and more complex than Windows XP. Personally I think it is a great operating system that has so much more to offer than XP and it runs very nicely on new Core 2 Duo CPU systems with about 2GB of ram. It has the advantage now of having been around since early 2007 and Service Pack 1 has been released making it a far safer alternative to the proposed Windows 7 (never buy the first version of a new Windows release). Windows 7 is heavily based on Vista but has "de-tuned" some of its features to allow it to run on lower powered netbooks. It is expected to be released before Christmas 2009 but I would not be surprised if it was mid 2010. To answer the question - if you need the PC sooner rather than later Vista is a good solid option. Question: I loaded MS Office 2003 onto a new Vista notebook.  Whenever I opened Word or Excel etc., it would go through an install and configuration process and eventually open the Word document. I then purchased Office 2007 thinking that 2003 may not be compatible with Vista but it is still doing the same thing. Answer: The Office 2003 install (which is perfectly compatible with Vista) had an initial problem that has remained now with Office 2007. You need to uninstall Office 2007 then run the Offcln.exe file on your Office 2003 CD (it is in the CD:\Pfiles\Msoffice\Office11 folder). Next run the free CCleaner from www.ccleaner.com and clean the Vista registry. Reboot and then install either Office 2003 or Office 2007 (but not both). Please note that there is no Office 2007 removal tool. If this does not work a fresh install of Vista will fix the issue. Question: I use dial-up and it has been suggested that I purchase Nitro Internet Accelerator for an annual fee to speed the connection up by 7x. Answer: Do not under any circumstances use the Nitro Internet Accelerator - it does not work, it just makes you think its working as it does downloads using a proxy server and then shows you how "quick" it was. It is reputed to save bandwidth by compressing web pages etc., on the fly but the reality is that jpg images, Zip and most files are compressed to begin with. If you need more speed the only way is to buy more bandwidth. You can get ADSL from $10 per month now - see www.whirlpool.net.au and look under Broadband Choice. Question: I noticed that there is a free Australian produced firewall called Online Armour from www.tallemu.com. What do you think? Answer: I am aware of Online Armour and it seems to be a credible product in a very crowded market - I really don't think we need yet another free firewall but that is not meant to be disparaging of an Aussie endeavour. However I have completely gone off stand alone products i.e. separate antivirus, anti-malware, firewalls etc., because things can and do slip between the cracks between each product. Standalone products cannot be more than 90% effective whereas suites such as AVG 8.5 IS and Norton 360 pretty well stop 99.9% of the nasties. Question: I use BigPond and am a very senior citizen who is new to emailing. I quickly get the message "You have reached 100% of your allocation". What does this mean and what am I paying for with email i.e. downloading them to read, writing emails and/or uploading to send. Answer: BigPond (unlike most other ISP's) charges for both downloads (bringing email down to your PC) and uploads (sending them). You chew up data by surfing the web, installing updates etc. The message seems to be in relation to your broadband data limit and probably means that they will throttle back your speed until your next billing period. I use BigPond and it is a premium provider but if you are getting the message you might want to look at other providers who give you bigger limits. Check out www.whirlpool.net.au and look under broadband choice. ADSL packages start from $10 per month. Question: What are the advantages, if any, in using Gmail over Windows Mail (or Outlook Express)? Answer: Gmail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmail is a web based email system provided by Google. Being web based your material is stored on their web servers and you can access it (just as you can access any web based email like Hotmail etc) from any PC or even over your data enabled mobile phone. Windows Mail (and its forerunner Outlook Express) are free mail clients that reside on your PC and store your mail locally. They will access Gmail as well. Gmail is interesting for its built in spam control, use of Google to search and managing e-mail in a "conversation view" that is similar to an Internet forum. But it still has a long way to go before I would trust my email with it. Read the Wiki entry above to see some of its flaws and problems. Question: I purchased two new Vista Home basic computers. How can I get my HP Officejet 6210 printer and a Cannon MV850i video recorder to work? Answer: www.hp.com.au has Vista printer drivers. Please uninstall the older drivers first. Similarly you will find drivers at www.canon.com.au for the Zoom Browser software (don't uninstall the old version as the software at Canon is an updater only). Readers should note that most reputable manufacturers have now released Vista 32 and 64 bit drivers for most items made since 2003. Question: I have used Microsoft Outlook for many years. Recently a new window has appeared saying my copy is not valid (but I think it is). How do I stop this persistent message? Answer: For what ever reason MS thinks your copy is invalid. You can make a free call to them but in order to get the phone number you need to follow the article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950929. Before you call them make sure that you have your original disks, certificate of authenticity etc. Unless you have theses you cannot prove the products are genuine. You cannot stop the "nag" screen either unless you remove the products and install new ones. May I suggest that you look at the Office 2007 Student edition that can be installed on three computers- cost about $150. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to: HOME      Back to: Computers     Back to: Ray Shaw (32 )     Forward to: Ray Shaw (34)