The General PC Questions Thread

Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

If I wanted to take a one-minute segment out of a longer video clip, what program could I use? I've tried VirtualDub but I'm told that it doesn't have the VFW codec required (despite the fact that the video plays fine on my PC)...
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

Jack Bauer said:
Say you live in a house with two floors and a loft. Say you have a wireless router in the loft, which the PC on the second floor can see (just about - with a variable signal of 40-60%), but a laptop used on the first floor can't see (well, it can, but the signal is 10% and a waste of space).

You can't plug two routers into one house, so what else can be done to boost the wireless signal on the first floor (and possibly the second)?
Click to expand...

You can buy Wireless access points which regenerate the signal from the router and pass it on. We use them at one for our sites and they do the job quite well.

Something like this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/112497/rb/24879124399

Let me know how you get on.
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

Cheers for that, exactly what I needed. I'd heard that such things existed but I hadn't been able to find much info. Thanks. :)

New question for Vista users - has anybody found that, in any media player, that the rear speakers refuse to work? I'm using a built-in sound device with four speakers plugged into it, but in WMP (and Winamp) only the front two speakers will work - that is, unless I enable "speaker fill" in the drivers, which sends an absolutely piss-poor signal, echoing and distorted, to the back speakers.

At first I thought this was because I was playing stereo files, and Windows no longer upmixed to 4+ speakers... But I have the same problem with Battlefield 2142 (no sound through the back speakers except when using "speaker fill"), and in Counter-Strike Source, when doing a speaker test, the front speaker sounds come out of the front speakers, and the back speaker sounds come out of the front speakers too!!

If I invest in a sound card, e.g. Sound Blaster X-Fi, will this fix the problem or is it a Vista issue?
 
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Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

Guess ill post my pc related question in here:

Im looking to make my old pc (800mhz/512mb/32mbGF) a sort of MCE extender. It will mainly be used to play avi's over the network on the tv. This means im looking for a prog/system that has a mediacentre style desktop (i.e. easy browsing with remote). I can either just install mediacentre (it has xp pro, so it shouldnt be a prob for mce with the minimum of work it needs to do) and get the remote or use a software package with a remote (maybe you get one with a pc remote?).

Anybody have experience with this?
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

Probably not what you want, but I use TVersity, which is free. It will output to XBOXs, PSPs etc. and it does a fantastic job. No remote though (and I've no idea if it would output to a TV - I've never heard of a PC broadcasting AVI files to a TV before to be honest!).
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

and I've no idea if it would output to a TV - I've never heard of a PC broadcasting AVI files to a TV before to be honest
Click to expand...

Already do it with my regular pc, have added a dual desktop @ 800x600 and connected the videocard with s-video to the tv. Now when i play avi files (prisonbreak, lost, etc) i can drag my winamp window off my pc desktop onto my tv desktop, do full screen and i have a perfect picture to watch it on tv. Works really well. Want to use the old pc in a similar way for the parents so they can just browse to the video files over the network and play. However the browser needs to be simple so i dont have to explain it everytime. Thats why i think using MCE would work the best and just buy the remote to go with it (40e). Ill probably do that when theyve got their new laptop, just need to test it out.
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

Ah I see, it's not actually broadcasting to the TV, it's going down a cable. Yeah, if it needs to be simple (and my parents are the same - it needs to be very simple), I would think MCE would be the way to go.
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

I dont suppose anybody could post a mini guide how to get TVersity to work for the 360

I tried and tried for hours on end last time i tried to install it, but the 360 just wasnt recognizing it. I searched all differnt forums and just couldnt find an answer!
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

Select all the files you want sharing, make sure that whatever port you've set TVersity to use is open in Windows Firewall and in your router's firewall, set the type of connection from automatic to XBOX 360 in the settings, switch your XBOX 360 on and go to music/video/whatever you want - if it says "can't be found", there's two options, "test connection" and something else (I think it's "browse" or similar). If you click the option that ISN'T "test connection", you should see TVersity in the list.

If not, try running the Windows network setup wizard from Control Panel, give your computer a name and description (if you have already then make sure they're the same as before or other computers on your network will lose connectivity) and try again.

Nobody's running Vista then...? :(
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

Update:

Found a media centre alternative:

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

Works the same as media centre, and can be set to start up with windows aswell so you get the menu straight away. Installed MCE 2005 but it wouldnt except the outdated videocard. Mediaportal however does so i can play the tv episodes over the network and use the mce remote (it has templates for a number of remotes, hauppage/logitech/mce/etc). Handy and free :D
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

I'm looking at laptops/notebooks and I'm not sure which to go for - in terms of PC or Mac, and specs as well (I can't seem to find too many affordable ones).

All I'll want it for is wireless networking (I have a PC network consisting of one XP system, one Vista system and a HP printer attached to the Vista system), Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and the odd game of Football Manager 2007. I'm tempted to say "Command and Conquer 3" as well, because I'm a greedy bastard, but I'm betting the graphics adapter that would need would force the price up by £200 - which is no good. Screen has to be 14-inches or bigger - preferably bigger, obviously!

I've rarely used Macs, but I don't mind having one, as long as I wouldn't find that I can't use the above programs and I can't connect to my PC network.

Which would be best for the above, a PC or a Mac? What are the main differences?

Any advice? I'd even consider eBay if it kept the price down.
 
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Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

Well mac's will be more expensive straight off the bat, however for graphic designers the general consensus is mac's are better then pc's. Although, tbh, im regulary using photoshop with heavy graphic content and pc is fine. Also the difference in price between a mac and pc laptop means you can get a high end pc for the same price. And as for working progs, whereas im sure there are still some issues with mac if you want to use more "indie" programs, the main ones will work on both. Used a mac for about a year at different firms and will never go to a mac tbh. But thats just me, they do look nice though!
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

Just in-case he reads this - although he's probably partying as I speak - happy birthday Babs! :)
 
Re: BABS! Other PC experts too... HELP!!!

Right, it appears Babs has left us, so anybody else with PC knowledge... Pleeease help.

We've had a few power problems here over the last few days. Firstly, my dad was kind enough to pull the plug on the power that supplies my PC, monitor and about eight other things. Whilst the PC was on. Since then I've done a scandisk and a defragment, and things seemed okay. But 12 hours later, he purchased a set of remote-control plugs (so he can switch his PC, TV and console off fully at night), and upon switching his PC on with the plug remote in the morning, there was a loud whizz, bang and pop. His power supply for his PC seems to have exploded. Now that's not what I have the problem with... The problem is, my mouse.

I spent £80 on a wireless mouse from the US, the Logitech G7. I've had it a while now, and it's never gone wrong before - the best mouse I've ever had and worth every penny. But suddenly, the mouse is cutting out every five minutes, for 5/10 seconds, and then coming back on. Now I'm not sure when the problem started, it seemed to be working okay after the power was accidentally unplugged, and seems to have started after he blew his power supply in his PC. I could be wrong, though.

You can see on the mouse when the connection is lost - the sensitivity lights change from my setting to the default, and a few seconds later they go back to my personal setting and the mouse works again.

At first I thought it was the USBs at fault, but everything else seems to work fine. The keyboard I'm typing this on is a USB keyboard, with an LCD display on that tells you the time etc., and it's not gone off so far. I've checked the USB hubs etc. in Control Panel > System and everything seems to check out. I notice in the list of what's plugged in the mouse adapter is the "odd one out" though; everything (and there's a lot) takes 100mAh, apart from the mouse (wherever you plug it in) that apparently takes 98mAh. Bit weird.

I've disabled all the USB ports bar one, I've unplugged everything from the USB ports bar the mouse adapter, and still it cuts out every now and then. It seems to range from cutting out every five minutes to cutting out every twenty minutes, and from coming back on within five seconds to coming back on after thirty seconds; so obviously I can't put up with it.

So what's at fault here, the power supply, the USB ports or the adapter? I don't want to ring Logitech and find out it's nothing to do with the mouse.

Cheers to anyone who replies...
 
Re: The HELP, MY PC HAS GONE FUNNY Thread

hi jack , i believe it might be an issue with the usb hub ... i've had this problem before first make sure in bios that usb keyboard/mouse is enabled. After that if the mouse came with cd, goto my computer> properties > device manager and unnistall all usb hubs from there and then reboot, its going to install necessary usb hubs after the reboot and then plug the mouse back and don't make windows install the drivers cancel it and pop the cd in and install everything from there, it should be able to work after the installation ( might need a reboot ) ... another thing to check to see if batteries are working.
 
Re: The HELP, MY PC HAS GONE FUNNY Thread

I had to buy a new mouse in the end. :(

New question: Does anybody have a Sandisk U3 USB memory stick? Any good?

I've read 5 reviews that say it's great and 5 reviews that say the U3 software is a bastard...
 
Re: The HELP, MY PC HAS GONE FUNNY Thread

Jack Bauer said:
I had to buy a new mouse in the end. :(

New question: Does anybody have a Sandisk U3 USB memory stick? Any good?

I've read 5 reviews that say it's great and 5 reviews that say the U3 software is a bastard...
Click to expand...

dont use the software... just use windows explorer to cut and past files to it.. unless you want to do some kind of automatic backup, then i suggest you learn windows scripting and write your own backup jobs...
 
I posted this as a thread but didnt get much luck so let me try here...

Hey all its time my PC had a upgrade...currently i have

AMD athlon 3200+
1GB ram
7800GS

I want to upgrade my Motherboard and my processor to probably a dual core , il leave the graphics card for now but these two need upgrading, so if you have any idea's of which motherboard to get or which processor to get it would help me out alot

thanx
 
What's the cheapest easiest way to get a (legal) copy of Windows Vista 64-bit?
 
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