The Tech Thread

[hallicks]

I have one for work, VMWare fusion is pretty easy to use but I think the licence is a bit dear. Plus you need to buy a windows licence. I think VirtualBox is free but requires a bit of faffing about with SIP and the like: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Mac OS X build instructions

If you can contemplate a dual boot solution, I think boot camp is still a thing? Or maybe they sacked it off. Was still possible as of 10.12.6. 

[Rossman]

We use Parallels desktop at work. Basically another tab open running Windows in it. Home license is £70 + Windows 10 license is about £30 depending which version you want.

[DavidB6937]

So I had to replace my TV and ended up with a 4k one.

I don't really have anything 4k though. My Fire Stick isn't 4k. My Xbox isn't. My Sky Q isn't. My Netflix subscription isn't.

Is it worth upgrading any of them? I see Disney Plus is offering a lot of 4k content. Just wondered what the quality jump was like.

[King of Hamptons]

18 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

So I had to replace my TV and ended up with a 4k one.

I don't really have anything 4k though. My Fire Stick isn't 4k. My Xbox isn't. My Sky Q isn't. My Netflix subscription isn't.

Is it worth upgrading any of them? I see Disney Plus is offering a lot of 4k content. Just wondered what the quality jump was like.

I've just bought a 4k hdr TV and would like to know about the above too! Also I've seen 4k hdmi cables about, is it worth buying some? Or is it bullshit? As its a digital signal. 

[quote the raven]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

So I had to replace my TV and ended up with a 4k one.

I don't really have anything 4k though. My Fire Stick isn't 4k. My Xbox isn't. My Sky Q isn't. My Netflix subscription isn't.

Is it worth upgrading any of them? I see Disney Plus is offering a lot of 4k content. Just wondered what the quality jump was like.

Just my opinion but HDR is more of a jump in terms of picture than 4k.

[DavidB6937]

Thank you!

I've just stuck on some Attenborough 4K stuff on iPlayer just to test it and yeah it's looking pretty damn good tbh.

[Kaz Hayashi]

So my boss has just given me a budget of £800 max to spend on a new laptop. Nice.
I’ve been making a couple of short videos showing the projects I’ve devised and managed at the homeless charity, and now they want to keep the momentum going, lovely stuff.
It’ll be used to teach a bit of music production, with some video editing, possibly some beginners level graphic creation, all round media creation really, but more focus on the audio side of things, and processing power.
I don’t need anything super professional, but obviously fast, powerful with good for Media creation (mainly music) for £800 absolute maximum.
Must be from a company (no eBay random punters) It’s a work purchase.

Just wondered if any of you are aware of anything at all? I thought folks like @John Matrix @Monkee and others on here might have some suggestions heading in to Black Friday? but not @Nostalgia Nonce because he still looks at pyramids to tell the time.

Cheers all 

[Monkee]

@Kaz Hayashi I bought mine a few years ago now but I did a bit of research into what was good for design at the time. I went for an Acer with these specs and never had any problems: 

I’m not really techy but this was recommended online for design and it was a reasonable price at Curry’s PC World. Not sure what today’s equivalent would be.

 

[Kaz Hayashi]

38 minutes ago, Monkee said:

@Kaz Hayashi I bought mine a few years ago now but I did a bit of research into what was good for design at the time. I went for an Acer with these specs and never had any problems: 

I’m not really techy but this was recommended online for design and it was a reasonable price at Curry’s PC World. Not sure what today’s equivalent would be.

 

Cheers monkey, I’ll have a look in to this. 

[dopper]

Can anybody recommend where to go for something that will download and convert Youtube videos to mp3?

 

I just googled it and there were loads of options, but I was wondering if one was more reliable than the rest.

A mate recommended 'Airy' but that appears to be for Mac's whereas I am using a PC. 

[Astro Hollywood]

8 minutes ago, dopper said:

Can anybody recommend where to go for something that will download and convert Youtube videos to mp3?

 

I just googled it and there were loads of options, but I was wondering if one was more reliable than the rest.

A mate recommended 'Airy' but that appears to be for Mac's whereas I am using a PC. 

For video to mp3, I just run them through https://www.y2mate.com/en64

[SuperBacon]

Any recommendations for a very basic video editing software that will run on (and not overpower) a Chromebook? Cheers

[Onyx2]

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

Any recommendations for a very basic video editing software that will run on (and not overpower) a Chromebook? Cheers

A Chromebook is a tall order. If all you want to do is top and tail you might be better using PowerPoint and exporting as MP4. 

There is a mega basic editor built into YouTube as well, but for anything like splicing clips together you'll need at least a regular laptop. 

[SuperBacon]

54 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

A Chromebook is a tall order. If all you want to do is top and tail you might be better using PowerPoint and exporting as MP4. 

There is a mega basic editor built into YouTube as well, but for anything like splicing clips together you'll need at least a regular laptop. 

It's just for the kids pissing about whilst they're stuck at home, so I'll give that or PowerDirector a go. Cheers dude.

[SuperBacon]

On 3/21/2020 at 9:34 AM, SuperBacon said:

Feels a bit '1st world problems' at the moment, but my TV's (Samsung) picture all of a sudden faded last night, and now when I turn it on, the picture is faint/flickering.

Any one know what it could be before I buy a new one? I think it's only about 3 years old, but could be wrong (a friend gave it to me, but he's in South America at the moment so can't ask him). Not massively arsed for a few days myself, but i've got the kids all week, and although they won't be sat in front of it all day, it'd be nice to have the option.

I've tried turning it off and on again, and leaving a lengthy gap between putting back on, and it seems to just do the same.

Cheers.

This has happened again, but the pictures almost completely gone, and happened all of a sudden. There is sound, but a very, very dim picture. I've tried all the googled things like resetting, leaving it off power for an hour, and its still not having it.

It seems like a common backlight problem, but hoping someone might be able to suggest a fix as I really can't be shelling out for a new TV right now.