OT : 23 channels and nothing to watch!

The Tour de France is coming up and I thought I'd get one of those el
cheapo $50 HD digital set top boxes which allows recording to an
external USB HDD for later viewing as I am not always around when each
stage of le Tour starts.

I plugged it all in, did the scan and was kinda excited to discover that
I can get 23 digital channels in Sydney. Man, I've got it made - NO MORE
5 channels of crappy free-to-air **** - or so I thought.

After two days of channel surfing 23 digital channels at different times
of the day and night, I have come to the conclusion that, I now have 23
channels of crappy digital ****.

Oh well, never mind, I hope the recording function works but I'll not
know that until I can get an external USB HDD.

Geoff Lock wrote:
I have come to the conclusion that, I now have 23
channels of crappy digital ****.

ditto. Aren't you just excited about the digital swap over.

Oh well, never mind, I hope the recording function works but I'll not
know that until I can get an external USB HDD.

Those cheap USB sticks work okay, say 4Gb plus.

On 20/06/2011 5:02 PM, terryc wrote:
Geoff Lock wrote:
I have come to the conclusion that, I now have 23 channels of crappy
digital ****.

ditto. Aren't you just excited about the digital swap over.

Over the moon, I am.


Oh well, never mind, I hope the recording function works but I'll not
know that until I can get an external USB HDD.

Those cheap USB sticks work okay, say 4Gb plus.

Ah, I have a bunch of 8GB flash drives lying around somewhere - I had
thought it'd take several 100GBs to do a recording but then I never did
sit down and calculate what I really needed and I was looking for an
excuse to buy a 500GB external USB HDD.

Geoff Lock wrote:

Ah, I have a bunch of 8GB flash drives lying around somewhere - I had
thought it'd take several 100GBs to do a recording but then I never did
sit down and calculate what I really needed and I was looking for an
excuse to buy a 500GB external USB HDD.

Same boat, had the 4Gb on hand and just tried it and it worked enough
for what I wanted to record.

Geoff Lock wrote:
On 20/06/2011 5:02 PM, terryc wrote:
Geoff Lock wrote:
I have come to the conclusion that, I now have 23 channels of crappy
digital ****.

ditto. Aren't you just excited about the digital swap over.

Over the moon, I am.


Oh well, never mind, I hope the recording function works but I'll not
know that until I can get an external USB HDD.

Those cheap USB sticks work okay, say 4Gb plus.

Ah, I have a bunch of 8GB flash drives lying around somewhere - I had
thought it'd take several 100GBs to do a recording but then I never did
sit down and calculate what I really needed and I was looking for an
excuse to buy a 500GB external USB HDD.


You can get two terabytes for about $100 now.

On 21/06/2011 1:36 PM, F Murtz wrote:
Geoff Lock wrote:
On 20/06/2011 5:02 PM, terryc wrote:
Geoff Lock wrote:

Ah, I have a bunch of 8GB flash drives lying around somewhere - I had
thought it'd take several 100GBs to do a recording but then I never did
sit down and calculate what I really needed and I was looking for an
excuse to buy a 500GB external USB HDD.


You can get two terabytes for about $100 now.

Some of them need external power from what I have heard.

On 21/06/2011 2:00 PM, Geoff Lock wrote:
On 21/06/2011 1:36 PM, F Murtz wrote:
Geoff Lock wrote:
On 20/06/2011 5:02 PM, terryc wrote:
Geoff Lock wrote:

Ah, I have a bunch of 8GB flash drives lying around somewhere - I had
thought it'd take several 100GBs to do a recording but then I never did
sit down and calculate what I really needed and I was looking for an
excuse to buy a 500GB external USB HDD.


You can get two terabytes for about $100 now.

Some of them need external power from what I have heard.

All of them (3.5" HDD equipped) need external power. Only the mini ones,
ie. 2.5 inch laptop HDDs, get away with USB port power. Even then, some
laptop drives take a heap of current and can easily pop your USB port.
Done that myself on occasion.

Krypsis

On Jun 21, 4:37*am, Geoff Lock glock@home wrote:
On 20/06/2011 5:02 PM, terryc wrote:

Geoff Lock wrote:
I have come to the conclusion that, I now have 23 channels of crappy
digital ****.

ditto. Aren't you just excited about the digital swap over.

Over the moon, I am.



Oh well, never mind, I hope the recording function works but I'll not
know that until I can get an external USB HDD.

Those cheap USB sticks work okay, say 4Gb plus.

Ah, I have a bunch of 8GB flash drives lying around somewhere - I had
thought it'd take several 100GBs to do a recording but then I never did
sit down and calculate what I really needed and I was looking for an
excuse to buy a 500GB external USB HDD.

HD uses much more than SD. I *think* HD is about 4GB per hour. SBS and
ABC broadcast in lower definition HD, so you probably get longer
recording per GB. Don't forget that most channels are still SD, even
though they're digital. Each broadcaster only gets one HD channel,
IIRC.

Tony F

"terryc" wrote
Geoff Lock wrote:

I have come to the conclusion that, I now have 23 channels of
crappy digital ****.

ditto. Aren't you just excited about the digital swap over.

Did you think the content was going to change. You now have four
iterations of channel 7, all showing the same thing. three channels of
ABC1, all showing...etc. You really still only have five channels.

Same crap, different transmission.

OTOH, I have 130 channels of Foxtel, so I have more crap to choose
from.

Theo

Theo Bekkers wrote:

OTOH, I have 130 channels of Foxtel, so I have more crap to choose
from.

I'm waiting for the rest of the country to find the Killer Kangaroos
(furry hopping kind) that National Geographic on Foxtel said are a major
danger to life in this country. So yep, I already know how crap it is.