TP

So RAID 5 is an external bit of kit unlike the suggested pair of 500 gig internals.

In my case yes. I have a headless Win2K machine in the loft that is my main storeage device. The same type of system would run on the motherboard that you mentioned in P6991 but you would need 4 hard disks and I would not recommend it. You really need a good RAID card. Adaptec are the best Promise are not bad but avoid Silicon Image.

The machine does boot from the RAID disk. It has no other disks.

Opt,

RAID is clearly overkill for me.

And yesterday evening some pretty 'iffy' views about Mesh reliability emerged so I am now looking at Dell. I'vd pm'd scussy so we don't start killing this thread with specs!

But I'm sure I'll be back for some more general advice.

SCUSSY - you have a pm.

TP

Oh dear. I am becoming a real bore with my quest for a PC.

But I felt that I really ought to post this industry link.

It's one think to hear the punters grumbling, but when the trade finds out they are being conned......

But then I see this.

So what is one to believe?

Heck !!

TP

It makes me glad that I build my own PC's

maybe mesh have gone down a bit over the last couple years then,the 3 pc's i got from them for family have been going ok,3 - 4 years now,
if you can get one built with the best parts then great,but the cost comes into it,
people dont want to pay over the top when they see cheaper PC's at pc world,mesh and even dell alot cheaper,
but they do use cheaper components,

example for parts FOR a self build,then add for windows,you can see how the costs rise for the best components,my personal pc's are built this way,HERE

Well, I deal with and can thoroughly recommend

Computer Doctors
Unit 12 Blackthorn Ind. Est.
Blackthorn Road
Northampton
NN3 8PT
01604 411 444

Tell them what you want and ask them for a price for it.

My take on these Mesh problems?

At first glance, it looks like Mesh got rid of all their repair problems completely by dumping all Warranties and any other repair problems onto Repair Line Ltd.

It then looks a bit likely that Mesh might have stitched both their customers and Repair Line up with poor spec' and/or badly made machines, thus creating an unduly high number of repairing requirements. Repair Line then stopped doing what they had previously contracted to do for Mesh as it must have become completely unprofitable. For one thing, fuel and travelling costs must have increased dramatically for them.

Whatever....Anyhow, definitely not 'Win/Win', eh?

Anyhow it was the customer who suffered in the end.

However, it is really going to cost Repair Line and Mesh and both may well end up as business failures.

i thinking of getting a NAS box for storage and back up,
storage of my music, films and photos,

looking at

d-link 323

and

HERE
QNap Turbo Station TS-209 Gigabit Ethernet NAS Enclosure 218 and a 2 Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache to use with it,
anyone use a nas box,any recomendations would help me choose the right one,
TP maybe this is the sort of backup you might want too,

good reviews on both boxes HERE

Opt,

Your video editing query. Three more responses in overnight. I'll cut and paste for speed.

1. Sony Vegas is a very good Audio/Video recording, mixing and editing programm. I use it as one of my professional Multitrack Audio Recording/Mixing programms. But because of the same techniques implied for Video editing I started to use it for amateur Video editing. The best thing is that it has a very fast learning curve because it's very intuitive and logically layed out.


2. check avs4you.com

You get one software and you are allowed to use all the software available with the same key registration


3. If you are using Windows, have you checked out Windows Movie Maker? Its free as part of the 0/S.

Quicktime Pro can process .mov files, but I don't know (doubt it since its a MS proprietary format) if it can output wmv format. The QT pro upgrade from the free reader is $30, pretty inexpensive for what it can do. It can output to DVD format.


OK?

TP

TP

Thanks for that, the Sony and the avs4you packages both look interesting.

I like Windows Movie Maker, but it does not support .mov files. Quicktime pro makes a reasonable job of converting the files but will not batch process and takes an age to convert - over 10 times video length on my Core2 Duo.

I've also tried Ulead which works but is very prone to crashing.

Why can't camera manufactures make their stuff MS compatible?

Here's a player that will play virtually any type of video file - It's called MIRO and it's Free too:

http://www.getmiro.com/

Here's the documentation on it:

http://www.getmiro.com/documentation/index.php/The_FAQ

Thanks Doc

From what I can see from the link it will only play a video, not save it to another format.

Miro as a player, gives users the benefit that file extensions of videos are now much less important.

I suppose as a user, you now have to look at things a bit differently with it. An awareness of file format types is important for a user. For instance an MP3 file doesn't have any video in it.

Miro also asks how you want to manage particular types of files. File associations can always be chamnged and there is a link to explain how this can be done on Windows XP

iam looking at Thecus N3200 Diskless Three Disk [RAID 5] NAS Solutionfor storing my music, films and pics aswell as backup,
Opty said about RAID 5 just got read up on it a bit,
its a great name shame its not anything to do with me,

Anyone else looking In having trouble getting Stockwatch to appear or Is It at my end?

I am. Could not get in this am and pm.

Oh Good glad It's not only me then Fred, I've tried all I know clearing cookies, logging In and out, refreshing, closing browser and restarting so suppose It's a problem at MAMs end. No good checking Java on a Mac as I think It's pre-installed and updated via Apple Software Update.

I am also, been messing about for 5hrs, thought it was related to downloding the Java 7 update.
Will be glad to hear of the root of the prblem.

Me too. I think it's stuffed at MoneyAM's end.

Bought one of my daughters a Sony Walkman because her iPod's stuffed. I think it's a discontinued model (NW-A806) but was nice and cheap, and thought I could simply transfer the music through iTunes to the Walkman. Wrong there!

So, I then installed Sony's Sonic Stage software on the kids PC, and still couldn't get the tunes transferred. I now realise I'll have to convert the iTunes songs, some of which have been downloaded so have drm protection, in some way. Can anyone recommend a program to this?

Next problem is that I then thought I'd at least give her some of my music so connected the Walkman with my PC using media player. transferred the files OK, but can't get the Walkman to recognise the music - I assume that's because the Sony software has taken over control of what's displayed. How to get myself out of this pickle? I am tempted to un-install Sony Sonic stage but suspect this won't affect the Walkman. Any help appreciated.

SC,

http://www.soundtaxi.info/

Works a treat.

Maybe when your tracks are all MP3 your second problem might go away.

TP