HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kenm@compctr.ccs.csus.edu (Ken Montgomery)
Subject: Re: Sony Batteries
Organization: California State University, Sacramento
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 00:05:03 GMT

In article <5200072@hplsla.hp.com> artb@hplsla.hp.com (Art Bori) writes:

>I just thought I'd post something about the Sony NP-77HD batteries.  To use
>a well-worn cliche, "They're the greatest thing since sliced bread."
>If you're not familiar with this battery here's a brief description:  
>the 77HD is basically the same as the 77H battery except that it has a 
>"fuel guage".  By pressing a button on the back of the battery, 1 to 5 LEDs
>will light up.  Each LED represents 20% of the total charge, ie. 4 LEDs
>lit means about 80% of the charge is remaining.  When the battery gets below 
>20%, the last LED will start blinking.

>If it isn't obvious, knowing how much charge you have remaining takes all the
>guess work out.  For example, I used a battery one Saturday and left it 
>on the camera.  A few days later, I needed to video something.  By checking
>the "fuel gauge" I knew I had more than enough to get the job done.  With the
>older style batteries I probably would have charged another battery just
>in case.

>I suppose this feature could be considered trivial, but I wouldn't give
>it up for the world.  The type of video I shoot involves short sequences
>of 2-4 minutes so the battery check feature works well for me.


>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Art Bori                           e-mail: artb@lsid.hp.com
>Lake Stevens Instrument Division   Phone:  (206) 335-2441
>Hewlett-Packard Co.
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

But the display doesn't help any when the battery is exausted too quickly!
I had my 77HD drop dead on me in only 19 minutes this weekend. The battery
that came with the recorder lasted for an hour. I only bought the recorder
and the extra 77HD 2 months ago. The battery that came with the recorder
(Sony 701) is only 1000ma, the 77HD is 2400ma. I can't believe the
battery took a 'memory' that quickly! It's only been used 5-6 times and I
always charged it right after each use. I treated the little battery the
same way and it's fine...  Should I get a reconditioner or just crab to
CWO where I bought it? I'm going to need the recorder a lot this next week
(going to Universal tour) so I'm going to buy another 77HD and a battery
pack that can take AA batteries in case I get stuck.
	How many batteries do most people out there own? I would imagine
leaving expensive batteries sitting on the shelf to die is not something
people like to do.
From: ss@wpi.WPI.EDU (Scott Streeter)
Newsgroups: rec.video
Subject: Re: LD quality disappointing
Date: 14 Sep 92 07:56:29
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609-2280
Distribution: rec
NNTP-Posting-Host: wpi.wpi.edu
In-reply-to: steinarb@idt.unit.no's message of 14 Sep 92 17:13:21 GMT

>>>>> On 14 Sep 92 17:13:21 GMT, steinarb@idt.unit.no (Steinar Bang) said:

steinarb> Yesterday I finally got the chance to take a look at LD
steinarb> quality, and frankly the results were disappointing. Sitting
steinarb> some 3-4m from the telly (a 24" or 25" Finlux), I could
steinarb> actually see the lines on the screen. It looked worse than
steinarb> VHS (at home, I don't see the individual lines on a good VHS
steinarb> recording,... at least not as clearly).

steinarb> The LD player was that old Pioneer <something>-1450
steinarb> multisystem player. I don't know if the laser-disc itself
steinarb> was NTSC, The film was "Freejack" (letterboxed), which I
steinarb> didn't bother to see when it was showing in the theatres, so
steinarb> I don't know anything about the original's quality.

steinarb> The setup was for demonstrating surround sound, and the
steinarb> people at the stand didn't know anything about the LD-player
steinarb> itself (or the LD for that matter).

steinarb> Is this a common experience? If so, then I'm going to remove
steinarb> an LD-player from my "must have" list.

Well I have read from many sources the Freejack pressing is a low
quality disc, and the combination of an old player might be enough to
make it look bad. Look at the CAV T2 on a new player, and see how
clean it is. Or any of the LBX Star Trek films, which are all nice
pressings.

--
                        Scott Streeter
                        ss@wpi.wpi.edu
From: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Newsgroups: rec.video
Subject: Re: LD quality disappointing
Date: 14 Sep 92 13:21:05 GMT
Reply-To: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Distribution: rec
Organization: Columbia U., New York City
X-Posted-From: cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <STEINARB.92Sep14131321@turkis.idt.unit.no> steinarb@idt.unit.no (Steinar Bang) writes:
>
>Is this a common experience? If so, then I'm going to remove an
>LD-player from my "must have" list.
>
	The main reasons for a laser disc player, IMNSHO, do not
include the improved video quality. It is better, but not THAT
much better. (I've never seen PAL VHS or LD formats, so I can't
comment on them)

	My reasons are letterboxing, durability and longer
lifetime, and better audio. I've noticed that, although the front
channels are clear with VHS, the surround channel is fuzzy. Not
so with laserdiscs.

	Everything, of course, IMNSHO.
	-- Ethan


purgamentum init, exit purgamentum
Newsgroups: rec.video
From: jab3@cec2.wustl.edu (John Alonzo Breen)
Subject: Sony SLV-393 - clock gains ~10 s/day
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 18:40:58 GMT

Hi!  I just bought a Sony SLV-393 over the weekend.  It seems to work
pretty well, but I noticed that the clock gains about 10 seconds a
day.  I assumed that virtually all digital clocks these days running off
60Hz AC use the line frequency as the time base.  Does any one know if
the Sony 393 uses the line frequency (indicating that mine is busted),
or if it uses an internal oscillator (indicating a bad design IMHO)?
I tried the 800 number as well as a local Sony service center, and
they couldn't really tell me (although they thought 10 s/day was
unusual).  I'm going to exchange it for another one anyway, but I'd
still like to know.

While I'm at it, I have another question about this model: while a
tape is loaded and the power is on, but the tape is not being played,
are the heads spinning (more importantly, are the heads spinning with
the tape against them)?  I hear a distinct whirring noise, which goes
off if I eject the tape or turn it off.  If so, I assume it is a "bad
thing" to leave a tape in with the power on (unfortunately, I also
have young children who forget to turn things off :-(.

I'd also appreciate any comments from others about this model (good /
bad / return it immediately for a refund :-).  My old vcr broke just
in time for the Labor Day sales, so I didn't have much time to
research.

--
-- 
John A. Breen                   |
jab3@cec1.wustl.edu             | This space unintentionally left blank
From: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Newsgroups: rec.video
Subject: Re: Cable tv question
Date: 6 Sep 92 03:51:28 GMT
Reply-To: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Organization: Vidiot's Hangout

In article <Bu36xu.1v9@news.cso.uiuc.edu> egp41980@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (M) writes:
<We recently got cable tv installed in our apartment and I noticed that some
<of the premium channels that we didn't order almost come in; on one there's
<pretty much full sound and an image as if we were on the edge of a reception
<area, with color and once every 5 or 6 seconds a normal image. I was wondering
<if someone could explain to me how this happens-is this signal bleed or some-
<thing? If I were to purchase one of those signal boosters at Radio Shack,
<would I be able to get a stable picture on these channel? (<- The bottom line)

Depending on the scrambling system, the picture will be just as bright as any
other channel, just a loss of sync.

No signal booster is going to help.
-- 
      harvard\                          spool.cs.wisc.edu!astroatc!vidiot!brown
Vidiot  ucbvax!uwvax..........!astroatc!vidiot!brown
      rutgers/            INTERNET:vidiot!brown%astroatc.UUCP@spool.cs.wisc.edu
                                   brown@wi.extrel.com
Newsgroups: rec.video
From: tls@solbourne.com (Tom Schreur)
Subject: Re: Sony Vdeck, Vbox, and your PC - a match made in heaven?
Organization: Solbourne Computer, Inc.
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 13:39:20 GMT

>My $.02
>
>Unless the Vbox has video-insert, I'm not interested.
>
>And I still feel extremely uneasy about using fragile Hi8 tapes 
>for anything but acquisition.		       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>			-- Chan

Exactly what is it that you find so fragile about Hi8 tapes?

tls
tls@solbourne.com


P.S. I agree completely with the video insert ability.
From: rjn@FC.HP.COM (Bob Niland)
Newsgroups: rec.video
Subject: Re: LD-players with genlock and TBC?
Date: 8 Sep 92 18:38:03 GMT
Reply-To: rjn@FC.HP.COM
Organization: Hewlett-Packard/WSY Ft.Collins,CO,USA
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1scd1 PL4

> brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot) writes:
> Great!  What the Hell does a LD player need with a Gen Sync Out?

Take for example the way HP uses LD players at trade shows...

We have two players (LD-V4200s as I recall) and two copies of the same disc
(usually custom produced for each event).  While one player is seeking,
the other can be playing, and sometimes both are playing different sections
simultaneously.

When it comes time to switch the video displays between players, it no doubt
helps to have them synchronized to eliminate picture roll and other glitches.

Regards,                                              Hewlett-Packard
Bob Niland      Internet: rjn@FC.HP.COM               3404 East Harmony Road
                CompuServe:  71044,2124               Ft Collins CO 80525-9599

This article represents only the opinion[s] of its author, and is not an
official or unofficial position of, or statement by, the Hewlett-Packard
Company.  The text is provided for informational purposes only.  It is
supplied without warranty of any kind.
From: singg@alf.uib.no (Kurt George Gjerde)
Newsgroups: rec.video
Subject: LD vs. VCR - Thanks!
Date: 15 Sep 92 17:59:49 GMT
Organization: University of Bergen, Norway

Thanks for ALL the answers I've received to my posting
about LDs "Laserdisc vs. VCR"!!

Kurt.
Newsgroups: rec.video
From: davest@sequent.com (David C. Stewart)
Subject: Re: Sped up SW and ESB on CLV?
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems, Inc.
Distribution: rec
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 92 17:04:48 GMT

kachun@astro.as.arizona.edu (Ka Chun Yu) writes:

>I read in an old issue of _Video Watchdog_ that CBS Fox had sped up their CLV
>issues of Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back to make them fit onto one disc, by
>upping the frame speed from 24 to 25 or 26 fps.

	The CLV LBX releases I have of these titles run to three sides (two
disks).  I did note (as did others) that the network broadcast version
of TESB ran faster than the CLV LBX release.  Not sure if it was a full
frame per second faster, but it was certainly noticible.

-- 
David C. Stewart                       	uunet!sequent!davest
Sequent Computer Systems, Inc.		davest@sequent.com
From: sss@castle.ed.ac.uk (S S Sturrock)
Newsgroups: rec.video
Subject: Re: I've got it!!  (Philips 16:9 TV)
Date: 15 Sep 92 10:24:15 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <56108@olivea.atc.olivetti.com> davepat@flash.ATC.Olivetti.Com (Dave Patterson) writes:
>In article <25811@castle.ed.ac.uk>, sss@castle.ed.ac.uk (S S Sturrock) writes:
>> Well, I have been waiting for over a month for my new 28" 16:9 Philips
>> matchline TV to arrive and on Saturday it did!  I wasn't expecting it, my
>
>Wow!  I've just got some small questions:
>
>How much did it cost?

Going rate at the moment is 1300 Pounds Stirling.

>Do you know how much the multiformat version costs? 

Sorry, don't know, not even sure it is in the UK at all but the manual
states that such a beast does exist.
>
>Does anyone know if it will be available in the USofA?

Should be otherwise they would not be making the version which can receive
any TV station, the various options available are built in satellite
decoder, cable TV etc, there is a list in the back of the manual which
states the frequency ranges used in various countries and the manual states
that given the multi standard option it is necessary to choose the country
of use so the TV can figure things out.



-- 
Shane Sturrock, Biocomputing Research Unit, Darwin Building, Mayfield Road,
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Commonwealth of Independant Kingdoms.  :-)

Civilisation is a Haggis Supper with salt and sauce and a bottle of Irn Bru.
From: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Newsgroups: rec.video
Subject: Re: Letterbox versus P&S
Date: 15 Sep 92 16:16:52 GMT
Reply-To: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Columbia U., New York City
X-Posted-From: cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <1992Sep14.191708.4057@amgen.com> chriss@sam.amgen.com (Chris Silvester) writes:

>In the meantime, people like you and me who want to rent/buy LD movies in P&S
>will continue to have a difficult time of it, unless we start making more noise
>than the other crew.  I have made some comments to this effect to my local LD
>retailer/renters...
>
>Just coming out in support...
>
	BTW, I think there may be another significant reason why
P&S LD's are hard to find. The movie studios are worried about
dubbing onto tapes from laserdiscs cutting into their sales, but
because there is no market for LBX videotapes, they have no
fears.
	-- Ethan


purgamentum init, exit purgamentum
Newsgroups: rec.video
From: klui@corp.hp.com (Kenneth K.F. Lui)
Subject: Re: Re: VCR Maintenance Advice Wanted. Head Cleaners Any Good?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 07:40:20 GMT

In article <4300146@hpcc01.corp.hp.com> steed@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Gary Steed) writes:
>gkwan@balboa.eng.uci.edu (Greg Kwan) writes;
>>Finally, do you have a separate rewinder? Rewinding/fast-forwarding 
>>takes a lot out of the VCR and should be minimized.
[...]
>                                                   In most VCR's that I've
>seen there is no contact with the heads during REWIND/FAST-FORWARD, so there's
>no head wear. From this it seems that the REWIND/FAST-FORWARD function would
>be alot easier on the VCR that PLAYing tapes.

If a VCR has a realtime counter, then the video tape will be in
constant contact with the heads.  E.g. the counter reads in
hours, minutes, and seconds instead of some arbitrary number.
Sonys have a feature called high speed rewind that withdraws the
tape from the tape transport; but once activated, the realtime
counter stops functioning.  Unfortunately, there's no high speed
forward function.  So there's more incentive to use quality tape
that doesn't flake off in time and clog up the video heads.  I
suppose one can be overly paranoid about this subject, but then
why not throw away forward/reverse/index searching, slow motion,
and non-digital freeze frame to be absolutely sure?


Ken
From: ahom@yingjow.tnds.bellcore.com (Allen Hom)
Newsgroups: rec.video
Subject: Re: T@ CAV?
Date: 15 Sep 92 19:07:59 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Network Data Collection Presentation and Processing Development

In article <1992Sep14.222456.9108@sco.COM>, davidv@davidv.sco.COM (David Vangerov) writes:
|> In article <MJKOBB.92Sep12214422@media-lab.media.mit.edu>, mjkobb@media.mit.edu (Michael J Kobb) writes:
|> |> Greetings!
|> |> 
|> |>   I was going to purchase the letterboxed edition of T2 today, but I
|> |> thought that this would be a good movie to have in CAV for the fx.
|> |> Has anybody heard when/if a CAV version (preferably with "making of"
|> |> materials) will be released?
|> 
|> yer about 9 months too late with this question. when T2 was released
|> on LD last Decemeber, they did such an edition. it comes on 3 discs for
|> the movie, and 1 disc for the "making of" feature. only probem is that
|> it was a special limited edition, only about 20,000 pressed (or so i 
|> heard). my local rental/sales place has a couple of copies left, going
|> for about $200 a pop (original price was $90).
|> 
|> --  
|> David Vangerov, Systems Analyst - Advanced Technologies, Information 
I still see quite a number of copies around me.  One in fact (Compact
Disc World) had it (as well as all other LDs) 10% sale.

If you're a T2 fan, get it!  I'm new to LDs, but it is one of the best
transfers I've seen yet (IMHO).
-- 
allen hom
Bellcore
ahom@tnds.bellcore.com
(908)699-5728
Newsgroups: rec.video
From: jerry@truevision.com (Jerry Thompson)
Subject: Re: Sony Batteries
Organization: Truevision Inc., Indianapolis, IN
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 21:55:03 GMT


How much do the new NP-77HD batteries cost?
-- 
Jerry Thompson                      |     // checks  _________  |"I'm into S&M,
What I want to know is, have you    | \\ //   and    |   |   |  | Sarcasm and
ever seen Claude Rains?   !CCR      |  \X/ balances /_\  |  /_\ | mass sarcasm."
Newsgroups: rec.video
From: damon@osf.org (Damon Poole)
Subject: Re: I've got it!!  (Philips 16:9 TV)
Reply-To: damon@nomad.osf.org
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 18:41:19 GMT

|> In article <25811@castle.ed.ac.uk>, sss@castle.ed.ac.uk (S S Sturrock) writes:
|> Well, I have been waiting for over a month for my new 28" 16:9 Philips
|> matchline TV to arrive and on Saturday it did!  I wasn't expecting it, my
|> flatmate told me later that he had known since Tuesday and had forgotten to
|> tell me (GRRRR).
|> 
|> Anyway, what's it like you ask?
|>
|> [ ... ]
|>

What are the 'fill screen' options like? Are there just a few standard
settings, or can you fool around with the placement of the letterboxing?
For instance, some movies have black bars of the same size on top and
bottom, some are larger at the bottow to accomodate subtitles ( RotJ),
etc.

Do you know if you can upgrade to HDTV with an outboard processor at a
future date?

============================================================================
Damon B. Poole                  ___   ___   ___       Voice: (617) 621-8810
Open Software Foundation       /  /  /__   /__          Fax: (617) 225-2782
11 Cambridge Center           /__/  ___/  /        Internet: damon@osf.org
Cambridge, MA  02142                                   UUCP: uunet!osf!damon
From: dave_moore@next.com (Dave Moore)
Newsgroups: rec.video
Subject: Re: T@ CAV?
Date: 15 Sep 92 19:11:24 GMT
Distribution: rec

In article <1992Sep14.222456.9108@sco.COM> davidv@davidv.sco.COM (David  
Vangerov) writes:
> it was a special limited edition, only about 20,000 pressed (or so i 
> heard). my local rental/sales place has a couple of copies left, going
> for about $200 a pop (original price was $90).

That's interesting, since up until a couple of weeks ago, the Blockbuster  
in S.F. had a bunch of copies of this edition for about $50.

Dave Moore
NeXT Computer, Inc.
Software Development Tools
From: wlrc@uhura.neoucom.edu (William R. Cruce)
Newsgroups: rec.video
Subject: Silence of Lambs LBX? was Re: Image lowers prices on 400-500 titles to $19.98!
Date: 9 Sep 92 18:16:25 GMT
Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine

In article <1992Sep9.120735.19812@tc.cornell.edu> chrisp@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Chris Pelkie) writes:
>
>Can someone verify that Silence was soft-matted, accounting for the non=LBX
>pressing, or did I misunderstand this?
 
In the credits at the end of the film it says "FILMED IN [PANAVISION]"
with "Panavision" in the logo-box.  A sure sign that an anamorphic process
was used.  Perhaps the director kept the action within the safe area
for video.  I have been puzzled about this one myself.

-- 
                 "So many windows, So little time"

Bill Cruce, N.E. Ohio Univ. Coll. of Medicine, Box 95, Rootstown, OH 44272
VOICE: 216-325-2511,  FAX: 216-325-0522,  INTERNET: wlrc@uhura.neoucom.edu
Newsgroups: rec.video
From: rjn@FC.HP.COM (Bob Niland)
Subject: Re: T2 and Cameron
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 16:48:36 GMT
Reply-To: rjn@FC.HP.COM
Organization: Hewlett-Packard/WSY Ft.Collins,CO,USA
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1scd1 PL4

0004861036@MCIMAIL.COM (James Millick) writes:

>> Cameron has said that the box set (and the video version of T2) were
>> an accurate representation of what was seen in the theatre, but weren't
>> quite the way he wanted it done.  Expect another edition in 1993.

> ...why do say Jim's unhappy with T2?
> He seemed happy with it when I spoke to him.

I didn't say he wasn't "happy" with it.  The letter from him in the CAV box
set makes that pretty clear.  What I said was my month-old recollection of
several comments on the subject from the recent TPV (without having it
handy, naturally :-).

Of course, one might ask:  if he's "happy" with it, why is he planning a
different one?

Regards,                                              Hewlett-Packard
Bob Niland      Internet: rjn@FC.HP.COM               3404 East Harmony Road
                CompuServe:  71044,2124               Ft Collins CO 80525-9599
Newsgroups: rec.video
From: jab3@cec2.wustl.edu (John Alonzo Breen)
Subject: Re: How accurate is your VCR's clock?
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 15:26:04 GMT

In article <1761@shaman.wv.tek.com> andrew@frip.wv.tek.com writes:
>[]
>
>	"I was under the assumption that they would use the 60Hz line
>	frequency (at least in the US), which I've been told is quite
>	accurate (at least over a 24-hour period)."
>
>It's dead-on accurate over a period of years.

Sorry, I should've said "a 24-hour period or longer"; what I meant was
that a given cycle may not have exactly 1/60 s period, but the average
over a large number of cycles is very accurate.

>But VCRs clocks are expected to keep time even when not connected to
>the mains, so the clock uses an internal crystal.  Some of these
>crystals are notoriously bad -- errors of 2% are not unheard of.

Boy, and I thought I was doing bad with 10 s/day (about 0.01% if my
math is right).  Still, that seems like the worst clock I've ever had,
even counting the battery-driven ones like my watch and car clocks.
**** Soapbox Warning ****
If I was going to design something like this, I would simply mux the
internal clock and an AC-derived clock, using the internal one only
when there is no AC power (after all, they must have a power-fail
detector).  Of course, I haven't tried to design anything quite like
it, so maybe there's more to it than I realize.
-- 
John A. Breen                   |
jab3@cec1.wustl.edu             | This space unintentionally left blank