Digital TV for £29.95

[Mel E]

On offer from Maplins: If you have a reasonably modern laptop, then you can now receive terrestrial digital TV for just £29.95. Known as Freeview in the UK, there are similar services now in most major European countries and it works with all of them. The kit consists of a USB 2.0 stick (looks just like a USB flash drive) into which a (supplied) aerial plugs, a remote control and a CD-ROM containing software. You can plug any aerial into the socket. It does NOT receive analogue TV though a stick that does both digital and analogue multi-standard (PAL/SECAM/NTSC) is available for £69.95 - a lot cheaper than a dedicated TV set. The laptop needs to be powerful enough (at least Pentium 3 800 MHz) with 1Giagabyte of free disk space. Full details follow: DVB-T USB Digital TV Stick Information: Maplins Product Code is A93FN Watch free digital TV and radio on your pc or laptop anytime anywhere Compact stylish design Comes with remote and DVB-T antenna High speed USB 2.0 Full Screen user interface, watch TV instantly Supports Time-shifting and schedule recording Enhanced 16:9 wide screen display Supports EPG, HDTV & Teletext (where available) Compatible with Windows MCE Listen to digital radio (not DAB) Channels Auto Scan Multi-Channel Preview Easy plug and play Computer Requirement6s: Windows XP(SP1) / 2000(SP4) PIII 800MHz CPU or above 128M RAM or above Graphic Card (Support Microsoft DirectX 9.0 or above) Sound Card Microsoft Direct X 9.0b or above Work UHF/VHF Terrestrial TV Antenna Available Terrestrial Signal in your region CD-ROM Drive (For software installation) 1GB Free HD Space The new Maplins cattalogue is a cornucopia of other 'add-ons' that will blow your mind!! And I don't have shares (maybe I ought to buy some?).

[Don Madge]

Mel, How do I check to see if I have 1GB HD Space please. Thanks Don

[carolh]

I always double click on the My Computer icon on the desk top, right click on (C) drive and select properties (bottom of the list) and there will be a box with several tabs across the top the general tab will show you a pie chart with used and free space. I think this might be what you are after - but if not someone will put us right. my pc is set up with 20gb allocated to the system and 165gb allocated for data. If you right click on any drive and go to properties it shows all sorts of things, my pc is running on windows xp. I remember my first 'proper computer' was an apple mac -se 2/40 with a colour screen, I bought it secondhand about 12 years ago. How things have changed. I didn't do DOS (and still don't) 8-) carol

[Mel E]

Don, They're out of stock for the next week or so. You'' be on your way to Turkey by then. The offer is good to 01.10.06. You can order from the web site www.maplin.co.uk and they'll post it to a nominated address for £2.99 extra when in stock. Will it work with your computer? 1. You must be using Windows XP (or 2000/ME). 2. What Carol says is correct, but it may be easier to click on the 'START' button (bottom left corner of screen) and then click on the 'My Computer' bar. This will load a window showing total size and free space for each disk.

[Don Madge]

Mel/Carol, I've got 61.9 of free space so I should be OK. It's too late to do anything as we leave on Monday but will look into it further when we get back on the 3rd October. Thanks Don

[howie]

Mel. There,s a article in september,s Motor Caravan mag. (page 112) that states all accommodation suppliers in the u.k. including camp sites must provide Wi-Fi connections within the next four years. Is this the answer to travelling with laptops or to good to be true. Howard.

[Don Madge]

[QUOTE]howardtcz - 2006-09-15 5:45 PM Mel. There,s a article in september,s Motor Caravan mag. (page 112) that states all accommodation suppliers in the u.k. including camp sites must provide Wi-Fi connections within the next four years. Is this the answer to travelling with laptops or to good to be true. Howard.[/QUOTE] Howard, I also read that in another publication, I don't think for one minute it will happen but many places are providing it already. We are off to Istanbul on Monday and I've plotted the hot spots with this site. http://www.totalhotspots.com/ Don

[howie]

Enjoy the trip Don, and keep us posted. Howard

[Mel E]

Howard, Haven't read the article but the rapid spread of Broadband and WiFi means that most will have it anyway. My guess is that any legislation will have to specify that it applies only to establishments that accommodate more than some minimum number. Even then, WiFi could only be available in nominated places - most CC sites are far too large for it to work across the site, for example. Can't think why anyone needs to legislate on this - why not let market forces decide whether accommodation providers need to provide it? Virtually all hotels for business people already do so oir they no longer get business people staying. We use a laptop because it combines everything in one package: computer, emailer, web searcher (for that next camp site), television, dvd player, downloader from camera (still or video), backup CD/DVD writer, route planner, etc., etc. And it does so without using much battery power.

[Pat P]

A few weeks ago we had a leaflet in work offering to instal WiFi free of charge. I think that all they wanted was to get some free advertising through to the user. How many people they thought would want to use WiFi in a vet's surgery I don't know? :-S Pat

[howie]

Thanks for the reply Mel. I.ll just show you the relevant bits from the article............The government has recently announced that all suppliers in the U.K., including camp sites , must provide Wi-Fi connection within the next four years This is supposedly a EU wide initiative............ We live in hope I suppose. Howard.