@blacklion1725
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Cheers all
The cable run is very conventional and short and I believe the 10mm cable will take up to 65A – it will be going in to a 50A breaker on the consumer unit, and I think rating wise all my ducks are in a row (cable rated higher than shower and breaker)
Main concern is whether power (and so money) is worth it if the water pressure aint great
Many thanks Ed – 10kW is a reasonably typical power rating for the electric shower only (not a pump, heater or anything else).
The shower I too out (1kW rated) “worked” but by the time you got wet you could have had a bath!
As it is the least used (for bath/shower – most used for night time tinkling) bathroom, I don’t want to spend a fortune on the shower….and don’t want to start adding pumps or the like.
I was just staggered that the one in there (pre-dates me) was 1kW and all the current ones are 8 – 10 that power rating. Downstairs (main) shower is gravity fed (non electric) and works a treat. I think I’ll take a punt on a modest electric shower from somewhere I can return it and see how it goes.
thanks again
Most of the sites that let you do it without a SIM (Web to SMS) are riddled with ads and make you jump through verification hoops – probably not worth the effort.
Facebook Messenger, Skpye, Viber and many others will let you message to those who have the corresponding app installed (if you are both online). Facebook Messenger (stand-alone app without all the FB b*ll*cks) is very good – you can call and video conf on it too.
As Duke says if you have a smartphone, then apps like Pushbullet and MightyText will let you send from a tablet/laptop via that phone.
YEah back on topic – youtube-dl is a good alternative, very powerful but also incredibly simple with nothing to install for basic use.
- download the Windows executable here
- Save it in a folder of your choosing e.g. “C:\VIDEO” or whatever
- Find the url of the iplayer show you want to download
- shift-rightclick in the folder where you put the executable and then “open command window” or “open powershell window here”
- For command window type: youtube-dl.exe “http://address-of-the-iplayer program”
- For powershell type: .\youtube-dl.exe “http://address-of-the-iplayer program”
- you need the quotation marks for both of the above
- program will be downloaded in the same folder as the .exe
This is all very configurable but for occasional use without the learning curve the above works a treat, and there is nothing to install.
Ed – I’m finding it very tiring is all
Bob – thanks for that tip – I see it s available for under £3 on Amazon so may have a punt. Have a huge reading backlog at the moment but will put it on my list. I’ve also been recommended to watch a film called “The Lives of Others” – set in post-WW2 East Germany. I’ve acquired it but wonder if you’ve seen it in if so what you thought.
Duke – it is surprising what can be achieved in totalitarian economies – usually at great human cost. The industrialisation of Russia also happened at break-neck speed under the 5 Year Plan. A lot of the other stuff I think is conspiracy theory, revisionism etc. The West went to great lengths to try and NOT go to war with Hitler. What is true is that the carving up of countries and shifting of borders after WW1 made the whole place ripe for a war. Hitler always planned to expand East – documented it years before the war and I don’t think persecution of Germans and ethnic Germans was a motivation, an excuse maybe but not more than that.
Germany between the wars was a real mess. No doubt that the punitive terms of Versailles were a recipe for disaster, throw in the Russian Revolution, Adolf and the legacy of individual pre-Reich states and bingo…..
Ian Kershaw’s biography of Hitler (two big but very readable volumes) gives a great insight, and all of the ingredients that allowed the Nazi state to thrive. Churchill’s volumes are also fascinating (especially “The Gathering Storm”) – his abridged single-volume WW2 piece is also very readable.
Ed – there wasn’t an “average German” at that period in history. There was a combustible mix of WW1 veterans, Nazis, Communists and traditional federalists. This was further complicated by the individual nationalistic traits of the Bavarians, Prussians etc.
I know that you know all this – point is – it t really, really wasn’t anything like the Brexit referendum. At all.
I don’t try and second guess remain voters (including 50% of my family) – I don’t think you should presume to pigeon-hole those who voted leave (the other 50% of my family).
Duke I’ve read that book twice – a masterpiece imho – it is a real shame that towards the end of the war a lot of the papers that he used as reference for the earlier war years were destroyed (by ze Nazis) but none the less it is a really good read. Some of the more recent works (e.g Beevor’s WW2 book) have some more detail which is not a criticism of Shirer, just a fact that a lot of Soviet archives were unavailable when he (Shirer) wrote and updated his work.
It is scary and useful – they have also added “share your location” now which can be really useful – e.g. turn it on for the person at your destination as you set off using google navigation – they can track your progress…..or maybe use to follow your younger kids when on holiday or out and about.
I sort of think I’ve sold my soul to Google now so “in for a penny”.
I also found out yesterday you can add home screen (or folder) navigation shortcuts for specific destinations (e.g. home/work/mum/brother/sister) via the “directions” widget under maps.
It is all so good I am prepared to take the associated risks – plus I am now too old an boring to do anything bad.
As an aside, been testing another program last couple of days called youtube-dl. Downloads from iplayer, youtube, ITV and a load of other sites. Still playing so no as up-to-speed as I am with get_iplayer but early signs are very good (linux and windows).
It might be available on iPlayer in which case easiest option would be to grab it after the event with get_iplayer (linux and windows). A lot of stuff is 1080p and you can get just about everything else in 720p or SD.
Looking at the iplayer webpage S4C is listed as a channel so I reckon your chances of getting it the next day are pretty good. Record it anyway – there are ways to get it off the Sky Q box, all a bit clunky though.
If you need help with get_iplayer post back.
BTW – get_iplayer will download it and save as an MP4 file (H264 video with AAC audio) – there are a number of free programs such as DVDFlick which will allow you to burn it as Video DVD)
Just being nosey – but what did you pay – guessing you went a bit over budget!
Set up is a personal thing, I’d leave plenty of slack in the speaker cable (get decent but not silly-expensive cable) until you are happy where the speakers will end up – especially the subwoofer.
Worth reading the blurb with the speakers on positioning (distance from wall behind etc), and you might need to shell out on stands as well if you are not wall-mounting. As I mentioned I have dropped the subwoofer from my setup, but I used one on my old system and found even after the auto-calibration the level was still too high, so my advice would be to run the calibration with the mic, and then tweak the speaker levels manually until you are happy. Definitely have the subwoofer on spikes, it will sound better and also annoy the rest of the house and your neighbours less!
Regards cabling in general, worth giving this some real thought and buying the right length HDMI cables and interconnects, makes it much easier to keep it all tidy looking. Worth getting an ethernet cable to it if you can instead of wifi. Maybe just me but always feel more comfortable streaming over cables if it is an option.
Lastly this things are heavy, and they need decent ventilation, so avoid tight fitting spaces and give it plenty of breathing space above and to the sides.
Otherwise, as said – enjoy it, looks like a top set up, and let us know once you have had a play.
July 3, 2017 at 1:53 pm in reply to: Windows 10 pc not recognising some USB and portable drives #9854Hello Bill and welcome to the forum!
First thought with portable drives is the power supplied from the USB port is insufficient…or even that the ports may be on the way out.. It varies a lot. I think the original spec was something like 500mA, but a lot of newer devices including laptop s will output a lot more. Some devices output less (example Amazon Fire TV box where USB power appear to be almost zero). If you can get hold of a USB “Y” cable (the second USB “A” connector is for power only) you may have some luck (assuming you have 2 USB ports available)….or maybe a USB PCI card.
I could of course be completely off track, in which case someone on here will set the record straight soon enough!
8.1 was better than 8.0 for sure, and the One Drive in 8.1 was superb (so of course MS killed it!). Really though, support for 8.1 will end (2023?) and really you are just delaying the inevitable at which point the change would be harder. MS are pushing towards a one-size-fits-all approach, and if we don’t like it tough. The recent Creators’ update is another good example where they killed the one feature that I used Edge for, while introducing loads more features I don’t need. Not great and the choice going forward will be Windows or not-Windows, there won’t be a choice of Windows versions soon enough.
It there is then it is likely to be on ebay, so you are always taking a chance as to whether it will work and if so for how long.
As much as I pull my hair out with MS as they manage to remove useful features and introduce pointless ones each update cycle, but I really do think it is best to just lump W10 and get on with it, it is the only one that will be supported so assuming you will stay with Windows long term then it is W10 or nothing in a few years.
Out of interest, are there specific things about W10 that you don’t like (I have loads!) because there may be work-arounds. Really though, unless there is a real pressing reason i would try and suffer 10.
I’d lean towards the phone too – and as Jason says mix and match should prove it. My phone (Samsung s5) ran cyanogen for a good while, and bluetooth in the car (pioneer head unit) was very flakey under KitKat, better but not perfect under Lollipop and perfect under Marshmallow. It is now running stock (Marshmallow) and still perfect,
It may be worth deleting your device from the JVC settings (and any other paired devices if there are any) and “forgetting” the head-unit on your phone. Then try re-pairing from scratch – not holding out too much hope but worth a try.
Also worth poking about on the phone to see if there are any settings (bluetooth, power etc) or optimisation apps that might be trying to be (too) clever with (e.g.) power saving on bluetooth. Lastly try the phone in a different position in the car (e.g. move from back seat to passenger seat or it it is dash/vent mounted try moving in relation to the head-unit).
When mine was on cyanogen and was flakey, I gave up and just ran a 3.5mm cable from the headphone socket to the aux-in on the head unit.
I still use a mail client, but use the web page as well – no problem to use both. Gmail is not my primary email (GMX is), and while the Gmail page is OK, the GMX webmail page is awful, so when at home I prefer using outlook or even Windows Mail. The client is also handy if you click on an “email us” link (e.g. mailto:name@company.com) – I don’t think you can associate a web service with links like that. Gmail is also a bit inconsistent with how frequently it checks for other accounts (if you set it up that way), so if you want non-gmail stuff sharpish a client can help.
We all use mail clients (including Gmail) on our phones and tablets, don’t see the issue using one on a PC – it doesn’t disable the webmail access, so it’s not a case of “either/or”.
Same as that Dave, but I think they could still stop it running if they chose to
My only reservation withe the Fire is if they (Amazon) nobble Kodi….they took the Kodi app out of their App Store a couple of years back, and have also blocked some stuff from time to time like Alternative launchers.
Not read anything to suggest they will, and the boxes sticks are not overly cheap compared to Android equivalents….so maybe not the incentive for them to block Kodi like NowTV (many bought just to get a cheap Plex box) did with side loading Plex.
In any case at the moment – happy days.
Yeah the minimalist remotes (also Roku) have their drawbacks – as Dave says you can get round it with a phone or tablet – and mostly you only need the keyboard at the setting up or signing in (once stage). If using Kodi, then for example in Exodus there is an option in settings to exclude results that need a text code or captcha.
I can confirm Netflix works AOK on the Fire and syncs (what you are watching) perfectly with other devices with the same Netflix account. I hated the Fire when I first got it, but use it a lot now, I think it supports just about everything, and although the UI is still Amazon-focused it is much less so, and easier to get to non-Amazon stuff especially as you use it more…..and kicks an Android box right in to touch.
I was more on about things like switching between programs or browser apps like Netflix, iPlayer etc from an armchair – my NUC has an IR remote built in which works with an MCE remote, but that and a woreless keyboard with trackball are still clunky. Moving around within an app or browser is not great either, particularly for someone who is used to a point and click remote.
I finished up using Synergy to control if via the laptop next to my chair. Since I got the FireTV back in action, it is more or retired since I was using it mainly for Kodi.
The Windows interface, even the Metro one is not suited for a Media system as far as remote control goes (in my opinion). OpenElec (instead of Windows) with an HDMI-CEC adapter solves the issues but you are restricted to Kodi addons, so sort of defeats the point
I can confirm on mine (Intel 4th Gen i5) I had update issues and found the Intel Update Utility the safest way to go. My Mum has my old Celeron 2820 version and Windows 10 (and 7 before) always have always beenfine with that (hers is a “normal” PC).
The FireTV is much easier to use, and everyone else in the house has no issues using it. I don’t use Alexa on it but have tested it and it works fine. Kodi, Netflix, iPlayer, NowTV etc all available…..and you can cast content to it. Mine is the 2nd gen box as opposed to the stick – I think the new stick will do all the same stuff (but no usb port and slightly slower). If I could only keep one box the Fire would be it.
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