Tag: satelite

Direct Tv Experience 1 week after Comcast

Posted onAuthorTruXter

If you haven’t been following the site, I left Comcast a week ago and moved my Television to Direct Tv.

Seeing that I now get 720p resolution on Direct Tv for two televisions at $33 a month, as apposed to 480i resolution I was getting with Comcast for some very basic 70 channels or so for $88 a month one cable box and a modem. I am very happy with my Direct Tv Satellite receiver. Rain has not been an issue. And there has been a bad storm. BAD storm.

I am so far, very happy with Direct Tv’s  picture on one tv, but not very happy on the other. The smaller Tv in my bedroom has the crummiest picture ever. Of course the smaller television has a higher resolution and an all together better built flat screen that the television in the living room. So there is something wrong with that box. I assumed it was because that Tv Tuner doesn’t have an HDMI connection on the back, and the rca wires supplied are very thin and cheap. Probably should give a shot with some of the rca jacks I have in the electronics closet.

The tv tuner in the living room, just got a software patch and slowed it way down. In fact, the box gets super hot now. So switching to and from the guide or menu. Takes a few seconds to load. Same with changing channels. So if you just got your tuner box and get a notification about a software update, and your Tv tuner is already kind of warm, you might want to reconsider accepting that software update. It just turns the blue section into black gloss. I haven’t noticed any new features. I may search for a way to role back to the old software.

direct tv bill

Direct tv bill

Loving the remote options. Favorites custom and favorites custom 2 menus. Lets me split content type channels, and lets me filter out channels that I am not paying for with a “Channels I Get” option in the menu when you hit the “info” button and look in favorites area. These are options that Comcast never gave. Here’s what I got with Comcast cable box. Not a whole lot going on there.

No WGN Chicago, but I do get two BBC America channels.

I have never really used anything but cable and local broadcast. This is my first Satellite receiver. Loving it. Except the big bolts they put through my roof to fasten the dish to my roof.

I score the Direct Tv service:
Ease of use: 9/10
Resolution : 8/10
Look : 10/10
Cost : 10/10
Channels : 9/10
Signal : 9/10

Total score: 9/10

Toshiba A75 S2112 Review

Posted onAuthorTruXter

Just received a laptop computer as payment for replacing a motherboard on another laptop. The laptop I received as payment is a Toshiba A75 S2112 Satellite.

Specs:

CPU Arch : 1 CPU – 1 Cores – 2 Threads
CPU PSN : Mobile Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.06GHz
CPU EXT : MMX, SSE (1, 2, 3)
CPUID : F.4.1 / Extended : F.4
CPU Cache : L1 : 12 / 16 KB – L2 : 1024 KB
Core : Prescott (90 nm) / Stepping : E0

Freq : 3066.8 MHz (133.34 * 23)
MB Brand : TOSHIBA
MB Model : EDW10
NB : ATI RS300/RS300M rev 02
SB : ATI SB200 rev 00
GPU Type : ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000 IGP
DirectX Version : 9.0c

RAM : 448 MB
RAM Speed : Unknown (Unknown) @ N/A

Rundown

Goods

Very nice looking. Keys move fast. Screen is very shiny. Images look clear and crisp. The on board memory and yes I do mean “on board”, the memory is actually part of the motherboard. There is one slot for an upgrade stick. Hard drive is quite though you feel it spin up for sure. There are two fans under the motherboard and a large copper heat sink. Volume knob on the right side. A media button on the left (can assign it to any .exe). Two speakers in the front, they function well with no cracking noises. Latch lock works flawlessly. At times the computer is super fast. DVD burner. good solid housing. Battery works and charges up within just minutes. Built in WIFI is strong and has not failed once. 3 usb 2.0 ports 1 lan port and one modem connection. All lights function. Plenty of bundled software, came with Microsoft Office, tons of editing software like video and image (I’m still going to download and use GIMP it’s what I am used to)

Bads

When I got the laptop, the power button was inside the housing rattling around. Line going up the screen on the left. Some times the computer slows way down. Over heating despite the dual fan and large heatsink.If laptop is set on a table while running it will shut off in a blink in less than 20 minutes.  Battery about 4 hours as long as I keep airflow unobstructed. There are many old posts on this 5 year old computer talking about solder failure due to overheating.

Fixes

Got the power button to stay on by use of a Soldering iron and a pen cap.

Worked to repair the overheating issue cleaned fan and heatsink pulled out half a wig of hair, dust and funk. (fail) Still crashes when sitting on a table.

Screen having a line up the left if I push on the screen, sometimes the line goes away. Someone showed me how but i kind of didn’t start listening until I saw it work. So I have to go back and re-ask.  If I can get it to fix by Doing so, then I will locate the issue better and solve it.

For the work I did on the other computer and the fact this thing actually runs ( This post is being done on the Toshiba), is a great factor in this review. It’s like a free computer . I spent seven hours on that other computer. She spent $100 on this computer. Who got the better deal ?

Score

I give this laptop – notebook a

7/10