Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Help
Panic stations on Friday when it was realised that due to a prior engagement we were not going to be at home to see the grande finale of 'Strictly cum Brucie'.
But then, as panic subsided and brain clicked in I thought that maybe if I plugged some headphones into the appropriate looking hole on the front of the PC there would be enough sound capability to produce noise in the ears. The problem being that the PC did not come with loudspeakers - unlike laptops where it is all packaged in - with the result that I have been unable to hear any of the many, possibly spiffing, video clips that I get sent. Consult with FIL who tells me that he does indeed have a pair of suitable headphones. Plug them in, connect to one of said video clips and lo & behold I have noise in the ears.
Thus comforted, off to Maplins to buy my own headphones, to be confronted by a bewildering choice, ranging in price from around £10 to around £50. This last being for what was described as studio quality hifi. I settle for something reasonably clunky looking for around £15. They are certainly heavy on the head. I have also learned that my ears must be an important part of my personal heat management system as my head gets quite hot if I have the things on for any length of time. But I jump ahead.
Next step is to get plugged into BBC iplayer and for some reason I decide that the download option is best. That way one is not dependent on the vagaries of one's broadband connection. Click the appropriate buttons and in short order I have the BBC iplayer desktop installed on the PC. Must be quite a tricky beast as it, for example, expires things 7 days after download and allows you to subscribe to a series. Download an episode of 'Brucie', a process which takes about 10 mins for the 300Mb. Fire it up and all is well except that there is no sound. Check the video clip again and sound alive and well there.
Maybe there is something wrong with the download so the next step is to download the episode again - and then I start to get into deep water. Doesn't seem to care for downloading the same thing more than once. So I decide that the thing to do is to uninstall the iplayer desktop and start again. Took a little while to find the download place again but we do, and it downloads. Icon reappears on the desktop. The only catch is that nothing happens when you double click on it. Or try and open the thing from the program menu. Nor is the folder in which one's valuable downloads are stored for posterity present. Back at panic stations.
Take a calming draught and decide to wait until the morning before taking any further action. At which point I phone up the BT help people - whom I pay a monthly retainer to be helpful. And helpful they were, taking about 10 minutes to plug into my PC and announce that BBC had withdrawn the iplayer desktop and that you were now supposed to do everything online. I decided not to engage in discussion about how it was that I seem to have stumbled on the thing just as they were in the process of withdrawing it; instead I just uninstalled it again and settled for online 'Brucie'. One black mark for BBC and one gold star for BT.
I note in passing that the (portrait) shape of the iplayer display and the (poor) quality of the television picture suggest that the system was designed for people to use on their telephones while in transit. Possibly more fun than playing patience.
And I note in closing that BH has yet to view the grand finale. I rather suspect that she is not going to.
Which is perhaps just as well because the sound is still a touch idiosyncratic. You have to poke the PC about a bit to get it going; a process which BH would find tiresome, to say the least. Perhaps another call to BT is indicated. First thing Christmas morning?
But then, as panic subsided and brain clicked in I thought that maybe if I plugged some headphones into the appropriate looking hole on the front of the PC there would be enough sound capability to produce noise in the ears. The problem being that the PC did not come with loudspeakers - unlike laptops where it is all packaged in - with the result that I have been unable to hear any of the many, possibly spiffing, video clips that I get sent. Consult with FIL who tells me that he does indeed have a pair of suitable headphones. Plug them in, connect to one of said video clips and lo & behold I have noise in the ears.
Thus comforted, off to Maplins to buy my own headphones, to be confronted by a bewildering choice, ranging in price from around £10 to around £50. This last being for what was described as studio quality hifi. I settle for something reasonably clunky looking for around £15. They are certainly heavy on the head. I have also learned that my ears must be an important part of my personal heat management system as my head gets quite hot if I have the things on for any length of time. But I jump ahead.
Next step is to get plugged into BBC iplayer and for some reason I decide that the download option is best. That way one is not dependent on the vagaries of one's broadband connection. Click the appropriate buttons and in short order I have the BBC iplayer desktop installed on the PC. Must be quite a tricky beast as it, for example, expires things 7 days after download and allows you to subscribe to a series. Download an episode of 'Brucie', a process which takes about 10 mins for the 300Mb. Fire it up and all is well except that there is no sound. Check the video clip again and sound alive and well there.
Maybe there is something wrong with the download so the next step is to download the episode again - and then I start to get into deep water. Doesn't seem to care for downloading the same thing more than once. So I decide that the thing to do is to uninstall the iplayer desktop and start again. Took a little while to find the download place again but we do, and it downloads. Icon reappears on the desktop. The only catch is that nothing happens when you double click on it. Or try and open the thing from the program menu. Nor is the folder in which one's valuable downloads are stored for posterity present. Back at panic stations.
Take a calming draught and decide to wait until the morning before taking any further action. At which point I phone up the BT help people - whom I pay a monthly retainer to be helpful. And helpful they were, taking about 10 minutes to plug into my PC and announce that BBC had withdrawn the iplayer desktop and that you were now supposed to do everything online. I decided not to engage in discussion about how it was that I seem to have stumbled on the thing just as they were in the process of withdrawing it; instead I just uninstalled it again and settled for online 'Brucie'. One black mark for BBC and one gold star for BT.
I note in passing that the (portrait) shape of the iplayer display and the (poor) quality of the television picture suggest that the system was designed for people to use on their telephones while in transit. Possibly more fun than playing patience.
And I note in closing that BH has yet to view the grand finale. I rather suspect that she is not going to.
Which is perhaps just as well because the sound is still a touch idiosyncratic. You have to poke the PC about a bit to get it going; a process which BH would find tiresome, to say the least. Perhaps another call to BT is indicated. First thing Christmas morning?
# posted by Jim @ 5:59 AM 
