New Aldi Medion PC... wow.
x
Available in stores on the 17th March , more tech info here:
http://www.medion.co.uk/
Think I'm going to stick one in my living room as the centre of all things
media! it has a scart socket for heavens sake!
Si.
John Russell
"x" <x@x.x> wrote in message news:YqGdneXsrpQ...@pipex.net...
forum. Would you be so positive over say, a Tiny PC, if it has the same
interfaces?
The bottom line is there is nothing clever about a PC which connects to a
TV. Your better off focussing on the quality of components used than
interfaces. I'd drather have a decent graphics card connected to a TV via
normal means than a crap one connected via scart!
David
"x" <x@x.x> wrote in message news:YqGdneXsrpQ...@pipex.net...
I'm not that into different types of computers but at £750 and not a full
set up. eg a printer and monitor to buy extra does not seem to be the door
busting customer grabbing line we are used to.
Supermarkets useually go for an all in one box deal and have the price under
£500. EG Tesco.
Incidently if I'm wrong about the value for money do you work at Aldi and
getting your name on one befor the shop opens. You seem so sure you can get
one. I went for an item once and was first in queue and only 2 were for
sale, the person behind me got thier hands on BOTH a second before me.
Fotunately they did not have a good grip and I pulled one off them. But
very nearly did not get one. All the other people went home dissapionted.
--
Regards,
David
<><
Please reply to News Group.
x
news:4232f...@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com...
> Although this is a TV NG I bet a lot of computer savvy people use this
> forum. Would you be so positive over say, a Tiny PC, if it has the same
> interfaces?
Tiny don't have anything matching this spec for the cost?? this pc could be
used in every instance but it appears to be focused on being a media
consolidation device, built in wireless, bluetooth, 300 odd gig hdd, blah
blah - its pretty amazing for the cost.
> The bottom line is there is nothing clever about a PC which connects to a
> TV. Your better off focussing on the quality of components used than
> interfaces. I'd drather have a decent graphics card connected to a TV via
> normal means than a crap one connected via scart!
I agree, and there is nothing bad about a radeon x700 series card in this
PC, I have an x850 in my main box.
What are normal means John? this is a serious question actually, say I don't
buy this thing and want to connect up my x850 card which has an svideo port,
DVI and normal analogue, does one use some kind of svideo - scart (RGB??)
converter? My Sony TV has 2 RGB scarts on the back (which I would want to
use) and 1 svideo and phono's on the front - and ideally I don't want plugs
hanging out of the front of the TV.. ?
Ta, Si!
x
"David" <d.remo...@tesco.net> wrote in message
news:L0DYd.20618$l65....@newsfe5-gui.ntli.net...
>
> I'm not that into different types of computers but at £750 and not a full
> set up. eg a printer and monitor to buy extra does not seem to be the door
> busting customer grabbing line we are used to.
> Supermarkets useually go for an all in one box deal and have the price
under
> £500. EG Tesco.
For what you are getting for the cost, and the market it is aimed at I don't
think a 500 quid TIME box with cheapo scanner and printer or some such would
cut the mustard really!
> Incidently if I'm wrong about the value for money do you work at Aldi and
> getting your name on one befor the shop opens. You seem so sure you can
get
> one. I went for an item once and was first in queue and only 2 were for
> sale, the person behind me got thier hands on BOTH a second before me.
> Fotunately they did not have a good grip and I pulled one off them. But
> very nearly did not get one. All the other people went home dissapionted.
Wish I did work for Aldi (did I just say that?! heh), I'd bag one in
advance, yes I know you've got to queue early and hope for the best, seems
stupid really they should be knocking these out as fast as they can sell
them like Dell etc.
Si.
AJM
This model has a 320GB hard disk and 1024MB of memory in contrast to the
Model MD 8383 with 250GB hard disk and 512MB of memory, which I bought for
£699-99 in November last year from Aldi in Perth. I got to the store at
about 3pm and got the last one of thirty five, which had been sold that day.
I still feel it was good value taking into consideration the hardware and
the bundled software.
The only problem I have encountered is that it will not tune in the full
range of available digital TV channels with the CTX 918 TV tuner card.After
contacting the Medion Hotline by e-mail and waiting an age for a response, I
downloaded a patch they recommended, for what is obviously a known problem.
However this has not improved the situation and I am in the process of
getting back to them for a solution. While Medion enter a caveat regarding
the aerial used, I could not get it to tune in more than eight channels
including Sky News and UKTV History ,all I believe in the same Mux from the
Black Hill transmitter, when using the aerial lead, which normally goes into
my Sony IDTV and produces all available Freeview channels with good signal
strength.
AJM
Daknbleka
"AJM" <snip.>
>
> The only problem I have encountered is that it will not tune in the full
> range of available digital TV channels with the CTX 918 TV tuner
> card.After contacting the Medion Hotline by e-mail and waiting an age for
> a response, I downloaded a patch they recommended, for what is obviously a
> known problem. However this has not improved the situation and I am in the
> process of getting back to them for a solution. While Medion enter a
> caveat regarding the aerial used, I could not get it to tune in more than
> eight channels including Sky News and UKTV History ,all I believe in the
> same Mux from the Black Hill transmitter, when using the aerial lead,
> which normally goes into my Sony IDTV and produces all available Freeview
> channels with good signal strength.
>
>
> AJM
>
the same problem in the Lincoln area (Belmont transmitter).
also downloaded the patch which gave me a few more stations but still not
the same amount I receive on my Sony IDTV with the same aerial.
Still a good computer for the price though.
Let us know how you get on with any future Medion help.
Gary MacKenzie
s-video to scart will only work if the tv scart allows s-video over
scart.
not all scart sockets recognise that pinout arrangement and you
therefore end up with a b&w image
John
"x" <x@x.x> wrote in message news:YqGdneXsrpQ...@pipex.net...
>
> Available in stores on the 17th March , more tech info here:
> http://www.medion.co.uk/
>
Price/performance wise they're not much different to Dell, or Acer or
Siemens-Fujitsu from Comet, but at Lidl the extended warranty is free which
is worth quite a bit. I got a Lidl Targa in 2001 and the only thing that
has failed since is the Western Digital HD.
john
Dave
wrote:
I have bought lots of items from Aldi and Lidl and find they are
excellent value.
The one caveat however is on products where German and UK standards
differ, in this case terrestrial digital TV. I too have the MD 8383,
with the patch it now picks up all available TV channels, but it does
not find the radio channels on the same Muxs and the digital teletext
does not work. I suspect that the system is not fully compatable with
UK standards. This is not of great importance for my purposes, however
it is annoying that I don't know why they don't work. I have contacted
Medion, no progress so far.
Dave
John
> has failed since is the Western Digital HD.
Interestingly the Targa came with a DVD codec preinstalled on the HD so it
would play commercial DVD's from Blockbuster on Windows media player. But
when the HD failed outside the waranty it was lost and Targa didn't want to
know about replacing it. They suggested I buy a codec at $20 US, so had to
move to PowerDVD instead. http://www.targa.co.uk/
Angus Rae
> I have bought lots of items from Aldi and Lidl and find they are
> excellent value.
They do have some strange policies though, and are completely inflexible
on them - or at least Lidl are. I just tried to buy one of the current
special offer DVD players and they tried to make me fill in the TV
Licensing notification form. I of course said "I don't need to fill that
in; it's a DVD player, not a recorder, it's incapable of receiving TV
transmissions". They insisted it was company policy. I asked them to
call their area office, they did and I spoke (at length) to someone who
said they were the local area manager, and despite my making several
good points ("there isn't a box on the form to tick for DVD players,
only DVD recorders - what box do you want me to tick?", "a DVD player
couldn't receive TV transmissions if you connected it to the largest
dish at Goonhilly") they just parroted that head office had said that we
were to do it. In the end they lost the sale.
(In case anyone wonders; yes, I do already have a TV license and if it
had been a DVD recorder, TV card, TV, etc I would have willingly filled
in the form. I just didn't want to when I was not legally, morally or in
any other way obliged to do so).
Now, I suspect this actually puts Lidl in breach of the Data Protection
Act, because they're gathering information under false pretenses ("it's
a legal requirement" - only for equipment capable of receiving TV
transmissions, chummy). If they had an email address rather than just a
phone number I would say as much to them.
In fact, anyone got a contact email for Lidl UK head office?
--
Angus G Rae Science & Engineering Support Team
University of Edinburgh
The above opinions are mine, and Edinburgh University can't have them
David
Angus Rae
> ASDA take your name and address for a DVD player sale.
Interesting. I'd love to know how they justify that one (probably "it's
company policy")... especially as I note that they have some nice little
£20 DVD players right now, about the right price for a decent argument!
I can probably stretch it to the full half hour. ("That's not an
argument, that's just contradiction!")
The daftest argument that I got from the Lidl people was "well, someone
buying a DVD player probably has a TV at home" - yes, they probably do,
but what's that got to do with the price of cheese? Someone buying a
SCART cable probably has a TV at home too, but I don't see many people
filling in forms when they buy SCART cables, and they're just as capable
of picking up TV signals as a DVD player is - or not.
I'm tempted to write to the TV Licensing people, actually, and get a
firm statement plus TV Licensing contacts that dealers that do this can
be told to talk to...
Roderick Stewart
> > I have bought lots of items from Aldi and Lidl and find they are
> > excellent value.
>
> They do have some strange policies though, and are completely inflexible
> on them - or at least Lidl are. I just tried to buy one of the current
> special offer DVD players and they tried to make me fill in the TV
> Licensing notification form.
> Now, I suspect this actually puts Lidl in breach of the Data Protection
> Act, because they're gathering information under false pretenses ("it's
> a legal requirement" - only for equipment capable of receiving TV
> transmissions, chummy). If they had an email address rather than just a
> phone number I would say as much to them.
You're probably right, but haven't you got better things to do with your
time? Unless you get satisfaction out of scoring points, you won't achieve
anything of any value to you. From your posting it appears you didn't even
get the bargain DVD player. Maybe the Office of Fair trading would be
interested in following this up on your behalf, or simply adding your
experience to a list, eventually to form part of a statistic, but whatever
they do, they'll be paid to do it. You're not, so I'd suggest you don't
waste your time. If you are annoyed with some company knowing your address,
there is much cheaper and less time-consuming satisfaction to be had by
putting their junk mail through a shredder.
Rod.
Angus Rae
> In article <d16ea5$37g$1...@scotsman.ed.ac.uk>, Angus Rae wrote:
>>Now, I suspect this actually puts Lidl in breach of the Data Protection
>>Act, because they're gathering information under false pretenses ("it's
>>a legal requirement" - only for equipment capable of receiving TV
>>transmissions, chummy). If they had an email address rather than just a
>>phone number I would say as much to them.
>
> You're probably right, but haven't you got better things to do with your
> time? Unless you get satisfaction out of scoring points, you won't achieve
> anything of any value to you. From your posting it appears you didn't even
> get the bargain DVD player.
Indeed, but I wasn't really _that_ interested in it, frankly. It was a
bit of a impulse purchase.
And in this case I think it was fair use of my time. The chances are
fairly high that most people who've bought a DVD player from Lidl or any
other shop with this incorrect requirement have just filled in the form
without realising that they do not need to. That's an awful lot of data
that's been collected improperly. Also, because the forms don't actually
have a box for "DVD Player" I presume that Lidl or the customers have
been ticking the "DVD Recorder" box. That means that a) the forms have
actually been falsified (although I believe that section is optional, so
there's no actual illegal act), b) the statistical data that the TV
Licensing people are working from is patently false and c) TV Licensing
are processing a lot more of these forms than they need to, and the
costs of doing so probably appear as part of the license fee.
> You're not, so I'd suggest you don't
> waste your time. If you are annoyed with some company knowing your address,
> there is much cheaper and less time-consuming satisfaction to be had by
> putting their junk mail through a shredder.
That's not the reasoning; the forms are not kept or processed by Lidl
(or they shouldn't be), they are just passed to TV Licensing within 28
days. The problem is that the data does _not_ need to be collected at
all, and is being done so under false pretenses. It's not a marketing thing.
Besides, some days I'm just in the mood for an argument. I've enquired
to TV Licensing exactly what the position is, and I'll see what they say...
Matti Lamprhey
> David wrote:
> > ASDA take your name and address for a DVD player sale.
>
> I'm tempted to write to the TV Licensing people, actually, and get a
> firm statement plus TV Licensing contacts that dealers that do this
> can be told to talk to...
You just need to point retailers at:
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/tvdealers.jsp#link1
...which clarifies the position regarding DVD recorders (reportable) and
DVD players (not reportable).
Matti
GameBashers | Carpy
assistants worst nightmare.
I do think its good what you're doing......but its not like they dont have
our addresses anyway.........
"Angus Rae" <Angu...@ed.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:d16mj5$45d$1...@scotsman.ed.ac.uk...
Owain
> That's not the reasoning; the forms are not kept or processed by Lidl
> (or they shouldn't be), they are just passed to TV Licensing within 28
> days.
When I worked in a shop that occasionally sold second-hand TVs, we had a
duplicate pad for TV registration. The top copy went to TVL, but the
shop *had* to retain the pad copy (or equivalent data if on computer)
for a number of years.
Owain
Angus Rae
Okay, that's even worse; if that's still the case then there is
_definitely_ a Data Protection Act issue.
Owain
>> When I worked in a shop that occasionally sold second-hand TVs, we had
>> a duplicate pad for TV registration. The top copy went to TVL, but the
>> shop *had* to retain the pad copy (or equivalent data if on computer)
>> for a number of years.
> Okay, that's even worse; if that's still the case then there is
> _definitely_ a Data Protection Act issue.
Just wait until you have to swipe your identity card at the till before
buying a telly, tobacco, alcohol, knife, spray paint, gas lighter
refill. The shop will want to store that data so they can prove they did
not sell to under-age.
Owain
Andrew
<owain...@stirlingcity.coo.uk> wrote:
>Just wait until you have to swipe your identity card at the till before
>buying a telly, tobacco, alcohol, knife, spray paint, gas lighter
>refill. The shop will want to store that data so they can prove they did
>not sell to under-age.
You say that like it would be a bad thing.
--
Andrew, contact via interpleb.blogspot.com
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question.
Roderick Stewart
> >Just wait until you have to swipe your identity card at the till before
> >buying a telly, tobacco, alcohol, knife, spray paint, gas lighter
> >refill. The shop will want to store that data so they can prove they did
> >not sell to under-age.
>
> You say that like it would be a bad thing.
>
Rod.
Andrew
<rj...@escapetime.nospam.plus.com> wrote:
>> >Just wait until you have to swipe your identity card at the till before
>> >buying a telly, tobacco, alcohol, knife, spray paint, gas lighter
>> >refill. The shop will want to store that data so they can prove they did
>> >not sell to under-age.
>>
>> You say that like it would be a bad thing.
>>
>You say that like you don't realise why it would be.
There are various points against having an identity card and its usage
in everyday life, but helping to stop kids getting hold of fags,
booze, spray paint and lighter fluid is definitely in the list of pros
in my view of the world. What am I missing?
Roderick Stewart
> >> >Just wait until you have to swipe your identity card at the till before
> >> >buying a telly, tobacco, alcohol, knife, spray paint, gas lighter
> >> >refill. The shop will want to store that data so they can prove they did
> >> >not sell to under-age.
> >>
> >> You say that like it would be a bad thing.
> >>
> >You say that like you don't realise why it would be.
>
> There are various points against having an identity card and its usage
> in everyday life, but helping to stop kids getting hold of fags,
> booze, spray paint and lighter fluid is definitely in the list of pros
> in my view of the world. What am I missing?
You're missing the fact that it puts a lot of personal information in one
place, which makes it very vulnerable to abuse. Don't be misled by any
assurances you might be given by the protagonists of systems like this, or the
people who would administer it - they're not the ones you need to be worried
about. The official administrators might be governed by strict rules and
guidelines, no doubt open to public scrutiny and answerable to the electorate,
but nobody else will. Information only needs to fall into the wrong hands once,
and you probably won't even know they've got it, or who they are, or what they
might want to do with it. Identity cards might have made some sort of sense in
the age of paper, but modern electronics makes new, swift, invisible and
untraceable forms of crime just too easy, and most people haven't really woken
up to this yet.
Rod.
Andrew
<rj...@escapetime.nospam.plus.com> wrote:
>You're missing the fact that it puts a lot of personal information in one
>place, which makes it very vulnerable to abuse.
<snip>
Which all fits into the list of (arguably) cons that I acknowledge. I
was specifically talking about the measures that help control the
antisocial behavior of kids which must surely be one of the pros.
Roderick Stewart
> >You're missing the fact that it puts a lot of personal information in one
> >place, which makes it very vulnerable to abuse.
> <snip>
>
> Which all fits into the list of (arguably) cons that I acknowledge. I
> was specifically talking about the measures that help control the
> antisocial behavior of kids which must surely be one of the pros.
There's no guarantee it would even do that after some kid learns to hack the
system, which would be only a matter of time.
Or they could simply bypass the system. A swipe card used at store tills will
only perform any kind of selection process on those who choose to use it.
Anyone sufficiently amoral to want to obtain something that the rest of
society doesn't want them to have will probably have no scruples about how
they obtain it, and there are plenty of well established ways of obtaining
things without bothering with tills at all.
Any possible slight deterrent to honest people (and why would honest people
need a detererent anyway?) would be outweighed a millionfold by the threat to
*everyone's* freedom. The sociopathic toerags that would be the first to hack
their own cards would probably be the same ones that would hack yours. Think
about it.
Rod.
Owain
> There are various points against having an identity card and its usage
> in everyday life, but helping to stop kids getting hold of fags,
> booze, spray paint and lighter fluid is definitely in the list of pros
> in my view of the world. What am I missing?
It won't help stop kids getting hold of f/b/sp/lf - they will do what
they do already which is get someone who is over 18 to buy the stuff for
them. Or they'll steal it.
Owain
Angus Rae
> Besides, some days I'm just in the mood for an argument. I've enquired
> to TV Licensing exactly what the position is, and I'll see what they say...
Okay, I've finally got an answer back from TV Licensing that makes sense
(and I'll explain that statement later).
To bring any late arrivals up to speed; the issue here was my attempt to
buy a DVD player from Lidl, and their insistence that they would not
sell it to me unless I filled in the TV Licensing notification form. My
argument was that it was not capable of TV reception and was not
notifiable. They didn't budge.
I contacted TV Licensing via email (tvl...@capita.co.uk) to get this
clarified. The first response I received was surprising; it took the
same position as Lidl, that the buying of a DVD player indicates that a
TV is in use and hence it isn't the actual _item_ that is being
notified, but the sale of something that indicates a TV is in use.
Which is, of course, incorrect and flatly contradicts their own advice
to dealers (http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/tvdealers.jsp#link1)
It also means that - by that argument - SCART leads, Ikea TV stands,
coaxial cable, aerial plugs, signal boosters, and quite probably DVDs
themselves are notifiable items.
So, as this reply didn't make sense I wrote back stating that (in my
opinon) it was flatly wrong and made the arguments above, also asking
that the mail message be passed to someone who could state the relevant
parts of the Wireless Act 1967 (as amended) which state that this is the
case. I also mentioned that there was likely a breach of the Data
Protection Act involved.
I've now received a reply from customer relations at TV Licensing. I
can't quote from it (they have one of those annoying boilerplates that
are probably unenforcable, but I only do one argument at a time) but the
basic position is that
* the first reply was wrong
* yes, DVD players are not capable of recption and not notifiable by TV
dealers
* They don't believe they have breached the DPA because they accept the
information in good faith, and if made aware of it being wrong they
delete it
* if the supplier is giving TV Licensing information they are not
entitled to give (and, I suspect, breaching the DPA) then the problem is
with the supplier, and I should deal with them
I'm going to reply thanking them for that information and gently
reminding them that the first response from them was incorrect - surely
whoever is responding to enquiries on their official contact line should
actually know what the law is? Plus, is it possible that Lidl have also
received the same advice as in the first email, which might move the
blame back to TV Licensing?
So, if I want to take this further I suppose I have to go to Lidl.
Anyone got an enquiries email for them?
Alex Bird
Angus Rae wrote:
> So, if I want to take this further I suppose I have to go to Lidl.
I bought two (separately) from Lidl in Edinburgh, first one no problem,
second one the guy thought I'd need the form, but I convinced him
otherwise. I think you've just been unlucky, but by all means set them
right.
Alex
Angus Rae
Or rather you've been lucky... certainly the area manager I spoke to on
the 'phone stated it was company policy, and wouldn't take any amount of
convincing. It did seem to vary by store; I did actually buy one some
time later from another Lidl in Edinburgh and the checkout person didn't
even glance at the notification booklet tucked down the side of the till.
jerryy...@yahoo.com
Jez