Pics from another trip to the Gower Peninsula.

This time I parked at Langland Bay and walked the cliffside path to Caswell Bay and back.

Pics from an afternoon trip to Haugh Woods.

Haugh (pronounced Hoff) Woods, at nearly 850 acres, is owned by the Forestry Commission & is nationally important for butterflies and moths, with over 600 species recorded within it. This makes the wood one of the top 10 woods in the country and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Location: SO 593365 Nr. Mordiford, Herefordshire.

A few pics I took today on a visit to Mumbles near Swansea.

Over the last couple of days a number of people who own a Thomson DTi6300 Freeview set top box have been experiencing problems with their box failing to switch on/come out of standby mode and typically showing an amber light on the front panel display.

This problem is the result of a corrupt file having been broadcast and loaded onto the hard disk of the box as part of the auto-update service and it is not down to faulty equipment.

If you have been affected with this problem, the advice is to initially switch off the box at the mains for a period of approx 20 seconds and then switch back on again.

If switching off and back on doesn’t cure the problem, then you’ll need to reformat the hard disk in the box and then perform a retune. Instructions on how to carry out the procedure are on the Top Up TV website in the Help centre section HERE.

Reformatting will cause any recordings in your programme library to be lost and you may have to try the procedure a few times in order to resolve the issue as it requires complete attention and precise timing.

I replaced the 15″ monitor on my desktop PC today, with a new 22″ Samsung SyncMaster T220 model.

The T220 monitor has two connection interfaces, a DVI interface (HDCP supported) and standard analogue SVGA .  My last monitor was only analogue but my Hercules Radeon 9000 Series graphics card does have a DVI output so I’ve switched over to using that.

The monitor stands on an oval base and is adjustable to approx 30 degrees of backwards tilt.  The black frame has slightly curved edges along the top and bottom and the bezel has a translucent rose red finish which is most noticeable along the bottom edge.  The bezel is covered with a clear plastic coating which extends past the display’s frame to create a narrow border around all four sides.  This design mirrors that of Samsung’s current LCD TV range.

The on/off button is located on the panel’s front righthand corner and is touch sensitive.  A set of more conventional buttons are located on the right edge of the screen and can be used to adjust the brightness, switch between analog and digital inputs, and select among seven image presets - Custom, Text, Internet, Game, Sport, Movie, and Dynamic Contrast.  Choosing further settings can be achieved with these buttons once you’ve entered the On Screen Display. 

The screen boasts a 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (meaning the backlight is automatically manipulated to improve black levels in dark images).  The static contrast ratio is rated at 1,000:1.  Brightness is 300cd/m² and maximum resolution is 1680 x 1050 pixels.  To reduce blurring of fast moving images, the response time is only 2ms.  Samsung claims the T220 consumes only 65-70W in operation mode, and a mere 0.3W when on standby.

I really like this monitor, and the extra screen size is great for working with photos in Paint Shop Pro.