I am moving into my own place very soon and I would like to know which would be the best option for me as far as getting my television hooked up. I have cable right now at my parents house which includes about 85 channels and that would run me about $54 a month plus a little extra for a DVR. I want a contract that will last for about 12 months because next fall (2011) I’m transferring to another college and will be living in the dorms. Money is a big concern and so is local channels which I noticed some won’t offer.

Is there any packages or tips that you can refer to me?

I have a VIZIO HDTV.
Do I have to get a HD DVR & RECIEVER?
or can I just get a regular DVR & no reciever.

Thanks in advance!

Hello to you!

As far as Local Channels, I get all of the local Channels on my Dish Network setup. DirecTV states they also carry local channels. So it looks like we’re all set on local channels via satellite. Now let’s look at the different satellite networks that you spoke of.

With Dish Network
You’ll need a HD Satellite Receiver however it’s certainly your choice to go with a model (that Dish Network offers) like the Solo VIP 211K which includes a remote. With this model you can view both SD and HD programming through one HD TV.

Then there’s the DVR version which is the SoloDVR Vip 612. With this unit, because it is a DVR you can record your favorite shows and watch them whenever you want to. Additionally, you can watch one program and record something else. You get 30 hours of HD recording and up to 200 hours of SD Recording.
Here are the Dish HD Receivers Options

12-Month Contract
For $24.99 per month you’re locked in with 120 channels. If you add 65 HD Channels, that will be an extra $10 per month. So that’s a total of $34.99 per month and 185 channels. If you choose the DVR, it’s $6 extra per month.
Here’s the Dish Network Channel Lineup

With DirecTV
You’ll need an HD Satellite Receiver. Still, it’s your choice to go with a model like the DirecTV HD Receiver. The DVR Version of this is the DirecTV Plus HD DVR.

You can read about both of the DirecTV HD Receivers here.

12 Month Contract
For $29.99 per month you’re locked in with 150 digital channels. If you add 35 Channels, that will be an extra $10 per month. So that is a total of $39.99 and that totals 185 channels. It’s pretty sketchy but looks as if there is a $5 leased receiver fee for the DVR flavor. That’s monthly.
Here’s the DirecTV Channel Lineup

Cable
The option of Cable would be different with each local carrier. In order to be more thorough, the city and state you live in would be needed. Cable is typically more money than satellite but I’m sure this isn’t true in all cases (or is it?)

I hope this breakdown helps you!

Lots of Love,
SophIe

I have a PS3. I’m saving up for a Xbox 360 Elite. Before I buy it, I have some important questions I need answers to.

1. Does the XBox 360 Elite come with a built in wireless interface card like the PS3?

2. Do you have to pay to take the XBox 360 Elite online or is it free?

3. How do you prevent the PROD issue? I did some research online about PROD but from what I can see you use an X Clamp Mod thing to stop the issue. I actually have no idea what that is and any help would be greatly appreciated.

4. Are there any add-ons that should be purchased to take full advantage of the Xbox 360? For example, the PS3 controllers come with a built in ion battery. I’ve read that the Xbox 360 comes with AA batteries. So, should I buy a recharge kit?

There’s nothing worse than getting all the way home to find you need a charging cable or something like that.

Thank you!

Hi there!

Hopefully some day Xbox will be as advanced as Playstation? It’s still number one though for hard-core gamers. Let’s move on to your answers.

1. Does it have a built in wireless like PS3? Apparently not and that’s one of the downsides CNet talks about in their Video review of the XBox 360. CNet States:

Whereas the Nintendo and Sony game consoles have built-in Wi-Fi support, the older Xbox 360 was limited to a wired network connection. Sadly, that hasn’t changed on the Xbox 360 Elite–Ethernet remains the only built-in option. Yes, you can get the optional wireless networking adapter, which conveniently clips on to the back of 360–but it monopolizes the solitary USB port on the console’s backside.

The CNet Video Review is below.

2. Do you have to pay to take it online? If you are talking about online gaming, you will have to pay to use it. XBox Live is a paid subscription. By subscription, this tells me it is more than likely a monthly service. You can also download puchased content from XBox Live Marketplace or videos from XBox Video Marketplace.

3. The XBox Prod issue. I think you may mean the RROD issue which is fondly called the Red Ring of Death? If this is not what you mean, please let me know. The Red Ring of Death is a general failure issue with the XBox and is recognized by three quadrants of the ring around the power button flashing red. Over heating is thought to be the cause. Although the issue has not been totally corrected, many issues have been corrected since the RROD was first discovered and fewer users experience the problem. Microsoft does have a 3-year warranty which covers it. There are many people offering advice on this. It seems the best advice ever is to keep your XBox well ventillated and don’t play it more than a couple (2-3) hours at a time. Give it a chance to cool down. You might also consider the XBox cooling station. It’s under $20

4. As far as add-ons are concerned, there are 2 types of chargers. The XBox Play and Charge kit and theXBox 360 Quick Charge.

The XBox Play and Charge Kit
This Charge Kit allows the player to recharge the batteries as they continue playing or in standby mode. It shows the battery level on the XBox 360 dashboard and offers 25-hours of gameplay per charge. The battery pack needs to be continually plugged into the unit and left alone for 5-6 hours of “no play” time the first time it is used and will build up the lifespan the more the pack is charged. Its a great deal and under $15 users. It’s popular too with good reviews.

XBox 360 Quick Charge Kit
Seems to be a little more popular. Maybe it is older than the Play and Charge although I don’t know. The Quick Charge Kit allows the player to recharge the batteries quickly and also allows for 2 battery packs charging at the same time. This means while you’re playing with one battery pack, the other can be on the charger and ready to be switched out if you need it. The Quick Charge Kit comes with one battery pack and is wildly popular with excellent reviews.

All in all it looks like a really nice unit although I’m going to agree with CNet on this one… I’m not sure the small upgrades warrant $80 extra from the non-elite version. We DO LOVE our XBox 360 though!

Lots of Love

SophIe

What’s worse than having malware carrying a potentially dangerous trojan or virus on your computer like the BankerFox.A? Ah, I know the answer to that one. Trying to find an easy to understand solution to how to eliminate the BankerFox.A malware. Here’s a good resource for malware, viruses and trojans

Is it so difficult to find an answer with a flesch score of between 80-90? Well maybe it is. This would mean that the answer is not filled with:
1. Nonsensical acronyms
2. Forum “helpers” replying, “me too LOL”
3. “Assistants” who are more impressed with the amount of syllables they can stuff in a word rather with actually helping someone

Malware Offering Up Fakey Trojan Virus Alerts

So I am happily setting up my new computer last night (Acer Story coming up after I cool off) and up pops a screen. The minute I see it, I know it’s one of those malware alerts screaming to the computer user that their system has been deeply affected by a trojan that is in the process, as they read it, of stealing all their information. This lovely little pop-up says (at least in one of the messages) that it is the BankerFox.A, a trojan, that’s infiltrating your system.

The first time I saw one of these, on my kid’s computer, I was scared to death. It wasn’t a , this was a different flavor malware. I can understand why people would click this pesky pop up to fix their problem. It’s believable, especially to the novice or someone whose had something like AVG on their systems (Free Version of AVG Here). Do I panic this time? No, no. Instead…

I stay calm. Take a deep breath. Brew up a really strong cup of coffee and begin the search for my “fix.”

The first 3-4 sites talk about how dangerous the BankerFox.A malware pop up and how I need to call the bank and every financial institution I have direct or even indirect ties to and have them freeze all of my accounts. They tell me I need to change all my passcodes and turn off my internet connection but not before I download (translates to “buy” if you want to actually remove the BankerFox.A pop-up malware from your computer). Thanks for the help. Not that you’re obligated to help in any way. I guess I should just say, “Thanks for wasting my time”

Fortunately I already have Spybot, Malwarebytes, and McAffee. AVG would have probably stopped this menace, these programs didn’t but I know they can help to get rid of it.

Why Some “Help” Forums Are Bad For Your Health

Then I head off to some “help” forums. What a treat. I’m amazed at the number of forums that have people guessing (although very authoritative-like) at what to do. By their answers, I know immediately that they haven’t got a clue as to what this fakey trojany BankerFox.A thing is.

As an aside. I’m not knocking all help forums. There are some excellent forums and forum members. I know that these members are probably not getting paid to do what they do. So to the ones that genuinely love helping people, thank you. To anyone who doesn’t hold this as their main reason as being in the forum, I’d thank you to not answer... me at least.

I read:  “Download “this” and continue on with the prompts. Duh, you can’t download anything when you have this BankerFox.A Trojan Pop-up Alert

I read helpful little snippets like: “go to your task manager”. Uh, if I could go to my task manager, chances are I wouldn’t be here.

If they had this irritating fake BankerFox.A malware pop-up thing they’d know that every 2-3 minutes a new pop up comes up onto your screen and you could just scream. If they knew about this “thing” they’d know that you’re silently wishing the creater of this file would get chronic shingles and you’d rather them answer that they “don’t know” rather than give you a maze of links to click and downloads to documents and then request a hijack, whatever that is.

Every Coin Has 2 Sides

As much as I despise being given a “guess” answer, I will say this in defense of all people, even the ones that aren’t so helpful, who moderate tech forums… many people will ask questions in terms that almost assume the forum assistants have a crystal ball to “all things problematic.” I’ve not only seen, but also gotten myself, questions like the following. (this isn’t anyones question really… just similar)

“Hi, I can’t get my Dish receiver to work. I turn it on and nothing happens.” (sigh)
In computer forums I’ve seen questions such as: “I turn my computer on and my monitor works for a little while and then it doesn’t. Help.”

Or this (I mean, come on… how bad do you want help?)

In these cases, I can certainly understand if the answers may not be the correct answers. The questions are far too vague and assume the persons helping have psychic powers. They don’t. Ok, some might.

Did I Fix The BankerFox.A Trojan Pop-Up That Wasn’t A Trojan? Yes I did. Did I find the answer online? No I didn’t. Here’s what I did.

1. I turned my computer off. I didn’t reboot the right way, I hit the switch.
2. As the computer was booting up and the little Windows Vista globe appeared I hit the shift key. Yep, the shift key. And I just held it down until my desktop started loading up
3. Before the taskbar finished loading everything, I decided I’d beat this trojan pop-up thing to the race and I did CTRL + ALT + Delete. (held down the Control Key with my left hand then with my right hand, the ALT Key and then the Delete Key.) So I was holding all 3 keys down at the same time and in that order.
4. This brought up the Task Manager
5. In task manager I went to Processes and I right clicked every process with my right mouse key and left mouse clicked “end process” to every one of the processes that would let me.
6. Then I made sure my Spybot Search and Destroy was up to date. It was
7. Then I made sure my McAffee AntiVirus Software was up to date. It was
8. Then I made sure my Malewarebytes Software was up to date. It was
9. Then I locked down my Firewall with McAffee
10. Then I scanned and repaired with Spybot Search and Destroy
11. Then I scanned for viruses with McAffee. There were none
12. Then I scanned for Malware with Malwarebytes
13. Then I rebooted and the BankerFox.A Trojan Pop-Up warning was gone!
14. Then I did the obligatory search for all the files some of the forum “helpers” said to remove and there were none on my system. Of course, once the window popped up, I just kept clicking “no”. I never clicked to install anything.

Again, I’m not knocking people who have a genuine interest in helping people online. But, I find very little value in people who promote themselves as experts and when given a problem or issue, they “take a stab” at it instead of researching what the problem really is.

At least here, you all know I’m as far from “expert status” as you can get

Please don’t take trojans or viruses lightly! You should always have up to date virus and anti-malware software. Once you get these fakey trojan pop ups, you’ll know the next time, if there is a next time, that it is nothing to get alarmed about but it is a royal pain to get rid of.

Hello:

I have a Samsung DVD Home Theater System HT-TX72. I also have the Dish DVR Network VIP622 Satellite Receiver remote  control. The remote control model number is 5.3 IR. I need to input the remote code into my Dish DVR Network remote but none of the Samsung DVD codes listed with the VIP622 manual work.

Keeping Up With Technology Is A Full Time Job. No Wonder I’m A Technophobe!

Hello there,

Wow, imagine being the technical writer for anything having to do with television, satellite, computers and the sort? The minute you stick a “fork” in it, it’s time for version 1.1. After searching for the answer, one of the following codes should work out for you. One of these Samsung DVD Home Theater codes should work: 0240, 0045, 0432, 0060, 0030,0178, 0019, 0056, 0490, 0573.

Hopefully that is what you needed. If these don’t work, and one of them should with the Dish DVR Network remote, try giving Dish a call 888-825-2557.  They should be able to help you right over the phone. Or tweet them, they seem to be pretty active on Twitter and looks like they track tweets about Dish Network. Follow Dish On Twitter. After all, you’re paying for the service, you should be able to use it right?

Sophie’s Rant (because I can)… We used to be able to look at instructions and put things together and make them work. Well I didn’t, my husband did… does. But you can’t do that anymore.  Just putting together simple things takes an entire manual, plenty of free time and patience. I really think this isn’t necessarily because we’re so technologically advanced. I think this is because most things are thrown together so cheaply now, especially imported items, that lack of planning on whatever the gadget is leaves for difficult assembly. Just because a gadget or gizmo isn’t thought out well doesn’t mean it’s high tech. It just means it’s high touch.

Some day I’ll tell you my story about the Acer Computer I owned for 2 weeks.

OMG I need to meditate, my rant sounds like something my parents would say.

Hope this has helped you!

XOXO – SophIe

I recently bought a new Samsung TV and a new Toshiba DVD VCR, everything is running smoothly except when I put a movie in (VHS and DVD) there is no color, audio works fine but its black and white.

I cant find anything in the menus for the TV or VCR that fix this and I’ve had a few people redo the connections and nothing has changed. I’ve also had problems in the past with this, i had the same VCR but a different TV and when I played a VHS the picture was on and off, black and white and very scratchy and blurry, so i bought a new TV (I tried the VCR on another TV and it worked fine) I’ve ran out of ideas and would appreciate any ideas you have, thanks!

EEK! Black & White TV Is Like Meatloaf… Boring

Ok, I’ll admit meatloaf has it’s place in my kitchen but I can certainly see why you’re frustrated. Both, by having paid good money for your Toshiba and then having to find an answer as to why your unit isn’t working.

I’m Going Out On A Limb Here…

You said the unit is new. I hope by new you mean it is still under warranty. I’m going to go out on a limb here… do you own the Toshiba SDV 280 as in this picture?

Or, do you by chance own the Toshiba V394?

Or maybe the Toshiba SD V296KU

There are more, many more Toshiba’s that have frequent complaints about the movie picture being or ending up black and white. Some of the places I visited spoke about the cable type, others about the cable placement. None of the answers were solid answers. Even Toshiba’s own website didn’t make mention of it. I can imagine.

However, before you decide if you want to replace the Toshiba, please read the part about the cables in the owners manual. That part seems to be very important and complicated to understand in the manual. Also you can try the Toshiba Help Website here. You’ll need the model number of your DVD/VCR Player.  And if that fails, call them 1-800-631-3811.

The one thing I did deduct from searching for an answer is, it’s more than likely the Toshiba and not your TV. Even though you said your DVD/VCR Combo played movies in color on another TV set, many Toshiba DVD/VCR Complaints were of users who could watch nearly an entire movie in color and towards the end the picture would change to black and white.

If your Toshiba is still under warranty, and I really, really hope it is, please take it back. You spent good money on faulty merchandise. And don’t get me wrong. I love Toshiba… love their laptops. But I wouldn’t mess around spending so much time on a new system. You should instead be enjoying it right now!

Hope this helps you and I really hope you get better results with another DVD/VCR Combo.

Love

Sophie

I have a Dish DVR 625. My sister locked it and forgot the code. How do I unlock it for my parents?

Hello

Well now, this is a problem. In order to unlock any of the Dish Network receivers, the account holder will have to call Dish Network and, after account verification, the representative at DISH will have to unlock the system for “your parents”.

Think about the reasons “why” this would be the answer. If the holder of the Dish Account locks others out of certain chanels “on purpose”, he or she has decided to do so. It’s their right to do this. After all, they pay the bill. For Dish Network to userp the account holders decision and have a way for anyone other than the account holder to unlock the receiver just doesn’t make sense. Why put the feature of a lock code on there at all?

However, Dish Network and others know that people forget things. They also realize that sometimes the receiver gets locked by accident. Maybe by the account holder and maybe by someone else. It’s for this reason that, if the account holder phones in and verifies that they are the account holder, it can get unlocked

Dish Network Control Devices
Dish Network guarantees you that your kids will never be able to watch adult content in your absence. The greatest advantage of the user is that he or she can lock a number of channels at the same time. If you think that you need to pay for availing these services then you are absolutely wrong. The control lock does not involve any cost other than what you have paid for your dish receiver. Dish Network offers it at absolutely no cost. The dish receiver is equipped with the control device. As you press the command keys of your remote control, the device starts functioning automatically. So it is very easy as you can see.

Best of luck to you and your sister

Love,

Sophie

I’m thinking about ordering the ENCORE movie channel (sister to starz) off of Dish Network. What’s it like? What movies are usually playing? Are there any inappropriate films on late at night, like some movie channels? Where can i find an online guide to see whats on everyday before i order it?

Thanks and stuff!!

Hello to you. I have Encore. In fact, I have ALL the Encore channels. As with most movie channels, you’re going to get a mix of ratings. Having subscribed to all the normal movie channels (HBO, Cinemax, Starz…) Encore is the only one I’ve kept. Ok, I’ve only kept it because I forget to have it removed. But, I don’t mind. Not so much.

They mix up a lot of the older but really good movies and have several types of channels. Western, Romance, Mystery, etc.

Here’s the encore lineup http://www.starz.com/channels/encore

Encore has a new series-type show called Spartacus Blood and Sand which I haven’t seen yet but it looks like it could be good if you’re into the whole Roman, Slavery, Battle type shows.

As for your concerns about inappropriate films, while that’s for sure opinion based, I’m pretty strict with what my kids watch and that’s the reason we don’t have the other paid channels. In the Encore Channel lineup, you may see a few movies that aren’t suited for kids but really, most movies (at least the ones I’ve paid attention to) are older movies like Pelican Brief. Of course not having commercials is a big deal to us.

One of the channels we get with Encore is WAM. It’s a channel mostly for teens but I watch it. Although I’ve never been accused of being grown up, I think most of the movies are really good.

In a nutshell, Encore is older movies. Mostly clean. Mostly all of them were very popular.

Hope this helps you!
Love,
Sophie

I’m trying to burn a movie but all I got is DVD+r I’ve looked at other answers saying use -r but would it be ok and is there a difference between the two types of DVD’s

About Dot Com outlines the major differences between the -r and +r flavors of the DVD.
You can read them here >> DVD-R vs DVD+R

Here’s a pretty decent video with the instructions for a -R. Depending on how long your AVI is, the “burn time” could be significant. On the video, when the narration reads “be patient”… seriously patient!

Love,

If you can’t listen to a company’s conference call at its schedule time, is there a way to listen to it later?

Hi there!

The short answer is, yes.

Better answer. If the company conference call has been recorded either by the conference calling companies at the request of the people holding the teleconference or by someone else who recorded the call themselves, you can certainly listen to it later as long as it is made available publicly or throughout the workplace.

Many corporate conference calls are recorded as requested by the company to be placed on a website, in their archives, or simply in an audio file that the company keeps for their records.

Now… if you were “supposed” to be on a conference call and missed it, uh-oh!

Here’s a way to eliminate the problem of a conference time not being convenient. If you simply can’t make a conference call but the information on the call is important for you to hear, try this.

WARNING: You’ll Need 3-Way Calling on your Phone

1. Get a free conference call number. Some of the free conference call companies have their system set up where you can record a conference call. In fact, plenty of them have this setup. It really is free!

2. Right before the scheduled meeting, call into your conference line.

3. Start recording the call from the web interface the conference calling company supplies.

4. Call into the conference line where the actual meeting call is being held.

5. Mute your phone.

6. Keep your phone connected to both the meeting line and the free conference call line.

Walk away

The call should be recorded and available through the web interface from your conference calling company. Don’t forget to hang up the phone.

Hope this helps you!

Love,

Sophie

P.S. Here’s a nice short list of tips from the ConferenceCall.com folks. It covers my main irk when listening to conference calls.

From Their Blog ::  Nix the speaker – When it’s your turn to speak on a conference call, make sure you pick up the handset or use a headset. Speaker phones can be responsible for feedback and static. Background noise disrupts the meeting for everyone and may prevent other participants from hearing the information they need. It also makes it hard for you to hear with other people are speaking and you end up talking over them. [it's a good article! you should read it if you're on or give conference calls. Here's the link]

I use the Internet quite a lot. Should I get a 50ft Ethernet cable to go from my computer to my modem or should I just use a wireless network adapter.

Recently I got U-verse, so my modem is now downstairs with my TV. I used to use an Ethernet cable, but now I’m wondering if i should continue to use Ethernet and buy a 50ft cord, or just use a wireless network adapter.

Do they both deliver relatively the same speed?

Hello there!

I had the same question myself a year or so ago. It really depends on what you use your computer for. If you’re into online gaming or lots of music downloads, the Ethernet cable may be better for you. Although this isn’t necessarily true.

For regular applications, you shouldn’t notice much difference at all between Ethernet or a wireless network adapter in terms of speed or reliability.

What I did was “not decide” until I used the wireless for a while. I got everything set up knowing in my mind that it may not stay that way. Good thing I did that too, as I had to move around a bit to find the better connection spot. But once I did, I was really happy with the set up.

My wireless network adapter worked no different than a direct connection as far as speed.

I’m on Clear now and they’re all about wireless however most people haven’t even heard of them yet. I hadn’t heard of Uverse from AT& T before. It looks like a great service to have!

Tom Keating at TMC Net Wrote This In His Cool Post About Uverse

Put to you this way. If I could get U-verse in my area, I’d do it. Yes, I knocked AT&T for not meeting their target goals, as did many media outlets. While I think AT&T & Microsoft were perhaps 1-2 years too early with their proprietary technology, it is still a good solution.I’m just not a fan of proprietary solutions. AT&T and Microsoft have had a bumpy road, but I think AT&T & Microsoft have worked out most of the kinks. (read his article here, it’s really good)

Bottom line, unless you’re a heavy duty gamer (and still test it for yourself), you should be absolutely fine with a wireless network adapter.

Hope this helped!

Love,

Sophie