Anything positive to say about BBC HD quality.

On 07/01/2010 08:49, Rob wrote:
On 06/01/2010 20:56, Keith Garratt wrote:
On 06/01/2010 20:32, Rob wrote:
On 06/01/2010 16:39, Keith Garratt wrote:



OK, this'll do for my first attempt at a post as 'McSwitcher'!!


Looking good :-)


Rob, I'm knocked out by this little puppy - just two minutes ago I was
importing photos into iPhoto which is as slick as you like and which, I
am delighted to discover, has *all* the editing facilities I need
already built-in!

That and one or two other features I have already encountered have
convinced me I've finally *come home* and that I have always been right
to avoid learning anything on PCs that wasn't absolutely essential!! :-)

Early days! Some things are just strange - I found Finder (the Explorer
equivalent) infuriating, but I keen see where they're going now. But on
the whole it's allquite slick.

No foray into the audio side yet (GarageBand?), but I'm not optimistic
about playing movies out to the PJ on it. No worries, no matter, no
blame.


Audacity is what most cheapskates use for music editing/recording. Video
is superb on my telly, but I don't do all the HD shenanigans. A front
end called Plex drags all manner of video/audio out.

How about this for a bit of good fortune - it looks like I'll be selling
my dear little Suzuki motorbike (a bit 'spare' since the arrival of the
Harrleee) to a 40 year old famil) guy from Boston, US who is...

...an IT consultant and a Mac expert!!

Lifetime *freebie* Mac support has already been agreed!


Actually that's a bit of a mess - the guy was born in the UK, grew up
and lived in Boston US and now lives in Bushey, Herts. Where the
Zeppelin was shot down!



Nicely :-)



For instance: I had downloaded and installed Open Office and Thunderbird
with no problem (in a heartbeat) but couldn't see for the life of me how
I would uninstall them if I needed to. He 'showed' me over the phone in
a couple of seconds, it's so easy - just drag two folders (if not only
one ) to the Trash!!

:-)

On 07/01/2010 11:21, Keith Garratt wrote:



For instance: I had downloaded and installed Open Office and Thunderbird


Actually, I'm prompted to add that Thunderbird is a complete mess for
reading this newsgroup (unless I just haven't got it all figured out
yet) - to the point that I wouldn't/won't bother with it.

Another thing is those subscribers who were in my ****ter for the
'greater peace' are now on the loose again, so I get to see their posts
- and they had the ****ing *gall* to accuse me of OT posting and
'wanting to win debates'....??

On 07/01/2010 11:35, Keith Garratt wrote:
On 07/01/2010 11:21, Keith Garratt wrote:



For instance: I had downloaded and installed Open Office and Thunderbird


It's great how they install/uninstall

Actually, I'm prompted to add that Thunderbird is a complete mess for
reading this newsgroup (unless I just haven't got it all figured out
yet) - to the point that I wouldn't/won't bother with it.


I use it for NGs - default 'unthreaded' view is strange ISTR. it's one
of the most contested topics on the Mac NG - Macsoup I think they like,
never got on with it me.


Another thing is those subscribers who were in my ****ter for the
'greater peace' are now on the loose again, so I get to see their posts
- and they had the ****ing *gall* to accuse me of OT posting and
'wanting to win debates'....??


:-)

On Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:46:06 GMT, Rob
wrote:

Sigh! You clearly failed to notice the word "offers". Although the CD
"offers" better sound quality that offer is not always taken up. Clearly in
audio the 'garbage-in, garbage out' rule applies, if a recording is crap, it
will sound crap whatever medium it is recorded on. What I am saying is that
if exactly the *same recording* (with no additional processing applied
during mastering) is recorded on an LP and on a CD, the CD will sound
better. Since we seem to live in a world where some recordings are
deliberately distorted during CD mastering then, I concede, the LP version
may on occasions sound better. This is an issue of recording industry
practice not CD technology.


There we are - agreed to a point, except we'll just have to differ on
the 'CD *will* sound better given the same source'. By what I understand
to be conventional measurement it may well measure better. It's just
that I'm not convinced it *will sound* better.


I've got a friend who is a vinyl buff and have arguments with him over
this. I used to be a director of a small recording studio back in the
80s. We were always disappointed with the vinyl recordings compared
to the masters.

Vinyl may be different, some people may even prefer the difference but
it ain't 'better'.
--
Geoff Berrow (Put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker

On 07/01/2010 12:05, Rob wrote:
On 07/01/2010 11:35, Keith Garratt wrote:
On 07/01/2010 11:21, Keith Garratt wrote:



For instance: I had downloaded and installed Open Office and Thunderbird


It's great how they install/uninstall

Actually, I'm prompted to add that Thunderbird is a complete mess for
reading this newsgroup (unless I just haven't got it all figured out
yet) - to the point that I wouldn't/won't bother with it.


I use it for NGs - default 'unthreaded' view is strange ISTR. it's one
of the most contested topics on the Mac NG - Macsoup I think they like,
never got on with it me.


It's how you have to faff about in the 'unexpanded' threads to 'Find
Next' (unread post) as it said in Windows - which was a breeze compared!

Now I have a little (not as small as a Mini but not much bigger) Acer
L100 I don't know what to do with. It's been a good little thing but it
had got very prone to freezing lately - mainly due to me running
pre-Vista software a lot of the time and doing too much stuff all at the
same time. (Like importing over 2,300 'digital albums' on this machine,
even as I type!)

Anyway, I don't know a lot about this sort of thing - could I use it
with another OS? What's 'Ubuntu' all about then?

(I only know from a couple of YouTube vids!!)

In article , Rob wrote:
What I am saying is that
if exactly the *same recording* (with no additional processing applied
during mastering) is recorded on an LP and on a CD, the CD will sound
better. Since we seem to live in a world where some recordings are
deliberately distorted during CD mastering then, I concede, the LP version
may on occasions sound better. This is an issue of recording industry
practice not CD technology.


There we are - agreed to a point, except we'll just have to differ on
the 'CD *will* sound better given the same source'. By what I understand
to be conventional measurement it may well measure better. It's just
that I'm not convinced it *will sound* better.

If you think a recording with some deliberate processing/distortion plus the
inevitable distortions of recording it on a gramophone disk sounds "better"
than exactly the same original recording without these things, then logically
that must mean you like the sound of the distortions, and that therefore your
personal preference is nothing to do with realism.

Rod.
--
Virtual Access V6.3 free usenet/email software from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-access/

In article , Keith Garratt wrote:
Anyway, I don't know a lot about this sort of thing - could I use it
with another OS? What's 'Ubuntu' all about then?

It's the best attempt yet to produce a version of Linux that's
reasonably simple to be installed and used by ordinary people who are
not computer geeks and simply want to get things done. It can be
configured to look and behave very much like Windows so there's no need
to be scared of it if Windows is all you know. Some things have
different names or have to be done in slightly different ways, but all
the essential things are there, and getting used to the differences is
no more difficult than getting used to driving a new car. There are
programs available to do all the things you can do with Windows or a
Mac, and in some cases they're versions of the same actual programs and
work in exactly the same way.

And it's all free.

Rod.
--
Virtual Access V6.3 free usenet/email software from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtual-access/

On 07/01/2010 13:31, Roderick Stewart wrote:
In a.com, Rob wrote:
What I am saying is that
if exactly the *same recording* (with no additional processing applied
during mastering) is recorded on an LP and on a CD, the CD will sound
better. Since we seem to live in a world where some recordings are
deliberately distorted during CD mastering then, I concede, the LP version
may on occasions sound better. This is an issue of recording industry
practice not CD technology.


There we are - agreed to a point, except we'll just have to differ on
the 'CD *will* sound better given the same source'. By what I understand
to be conventional measurement it may well measure better. It's just
that I'm not convinced it *will sound* better.

If you think a recording with some deliberate processing/distortion plus the
inevitable distortions of recording it on a gramophone disk sounds "better"
than exactly the same original recording without these things, then logically
that must mean you like the sound of the distortions, and that therefore your
personal preference is nothing to do with realism.

Rod.

Well, it means nothing of the sort, of course, in much the same way as
an abstract representation can be more 'real' than 'reality'. But I take
your point :-)

On 07/01/2010 13:31, Roderick Stewart wrote:
In a.com, Rob wrote:
What I am saying is that
if exactly the *same recording* (with no additional processing applied
during mastering) is recorded on an LP and on a CD, the CD will sound
better. Since we seem to live in a world where some recordings are
deliberately distorted during CD mastering then, I concede, the LP version
may on occasions sound better. This is an issue of recording industry
practice not CD technology.


There we are - agreed to a point, except we'll just have to differ on
the 'CD *will* sound better given the same source'. By what I understand
to be conventional measurement it may well measure better. It's just
that I'm not convinced it *will sound* better.

If you think a recording with some deliberate processing/distortion plus the
inevitable distortions of recording it on a gramophone disk sounds "better"
than exactly the same original recording without these things, then logically
that must mean you like the sound of the distortions, and that therefore your
personal preference is nothing to do with realism.

Rod.


Unless of course you perceive the sound from vinyl on any given setup to
sound more *realistic* than from other media....

This claimed 'non distorted, bit for bit' transfer of data and
subsequent D2A conversion on any amount of differing kit has got very
little to do with the realities of a real-world 'listening' situation
where the equipment, the room, your frame of mind, the time of day and
even the weather has got a direct influence on what may or may not sound
(more) realistic at various times....

On 07/01/2010 13:31, Roderick Stewart wrote:
In , Keith Garratt wrote:
Anyway, I don't know a lot about this sort of thing - could I use it
with another OS? What's 'Ubuntu' all about then?

It's the best attempt yet to produce a version of Linux that's
reasonably simple to be installed and used by ordinary people who are
not computer geeks and simply want to get things done. It can be
configured to look and behave very much like Windows so there's no need
to be scared of it if Windows is all you know. Some things have
different names or have to be done in slightly different ways, but all
the essential things are there, and getting used to the differences is
no more difficult than getting used to driving a new car. There are
programs available to do all the things you can do with Windows or a
Mac, and in some cases they're versions of the same actual programs and
work in exactly the same way.

And it's all free.

Rod.


OK Rod, thanks for that - it's all very interesting.

(I like *free*...!! :-))