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In the world of PC-based satellite reception typically you need different tuner cards that specifically cater for satellite and terrestrial reception, and only a few recent PC satellite products support the DVB-S2 modulation used by FTA hi-def channels. Hurrah, then, for the HVR4000 from PCTV pioneer Hauppauge, which will cope with pretty much anything.
It will tune into both DVB-S and DVB-S2 flavours of digital satellite, plus DVB-T (digital terrestrial). And as if that impressive achievement wasn't enough, it's also compatible with analogue TV and stereo VHF/FM radio and has AV inputs, so you can watch external sources like Sky , camcorders and VCRs on your PC monitor and capture them in MPEG-2.
But there's a caveat. The HVR4000 may have all of these tuners on board, but you can only use one at any one time. So you cannot record a digital satellite channel while watching a terrestrial one. This isn't possible with two channels carried by the same multiplex, either.
If such functionality is needed, you'll need a second tuner; we successfully used a Hauppauge PVR1300 (an analogue/digital terrestrial TV product) for this purpose, although a second HVR4000 would provide greater flexibility.
The HVR4000's digital flexibility means that there are more 'outside-world' connections than is usual with this type of product. The backplate, which is accessible from the rear of the PC after fitting, sports an 'F' connector for your dish, a female UHF co-ax socket for analogue/digital terrestrial TV and a male socket for FM radio.
There are also a 3.5mm audio input socket, an S-video input (an adapter cable is supplied for composite sources) and a 2.5mm connector that's intended for use with a 'trailing' infrared receiver. The HVR4000 can be remote-controlled and the handset you need is included.
Busy socketry
Quite busy, then, and presumably why there are no UHF or IF outputs for feeding a second tuner card. As a result, UHF splitters and multi-output LNBs will be required for dual-tuner rigs. Hauppauge plans to introduce a common interface reader which will connect to your PC via USB. This is now being de-bugged.
Installation proved to be simple and BDA-compliant drivers allow the HVR4000 to work with third-party digital TV applications like DVBViewer and DVB Dream.
The tuner (together with the PVR1300) also proved compatible with Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005 for much the same reason, although in its infinite wisdom Microsoft has failed to support DVB-S despite its European prominence, so the best you can hope for is DVB-T or analogue.
MCE may cater for FM radio, but didn't work with the HVR4000's tuner. TSReader, an excellent tool that will record an entire multiplex if you've the hard disc space, also only recognises the DVB-T section but results are lacklustre (lots of signal dropouts) because its drivers weren't written with this hardware specifically in mind.
No such problems with the supplied software - Cyberlink's Power Cinema, which is as close to the overall look and feel of MCE as you can get without upsetting Microsoft's lawyers.
This provides media playback (DVDs, photos and audio/video) and FM radio listening/recording, as well as the viewing and recording of analogue and/or digital TV. As it covers a lot of ground, Power Cinema is basic in digital TV terms.
It won't, for example, cater for two tuners simultaneously, but at least that means it's easy to set up initially. Just as well, because no context-sensitive help is available. Among other things, a wizard configures aspect ratio, speaker type and a two-week Cyberlink EPG.
Then it's a case of scanning for channels. The desired tuner or AV input, whether it's on the HVR4000 or other hardware lurking within your PC, is selected from the 'video' menu.
If you've chosen a tuner, the 'settings' menu gives you the opportunity to specify locality and whether timeshifting (and the attendant hard disc space involved) will be required. A 'satellite settings' submenu caters for up to four satellites if you have a DiSEqC setup.
If you're using analogue tuners or the AV inputs there's the opportunity to define recording quality; this isn't available with digital channels, which are simply written 'as is' to the hard disc (with no loss of quality relative to the original broadcast because you are recording the original broadcast).
Then there's the scan, which replaces all existing channels in its database with the ones that it finds rather than simply updating them. Make any DiSEqC changes and all channels are wiped, necessitating a full re-scan.
You can't scan an individual satellite; the best you can hope for is to add channels manually via the 'channel settings' menu. Using another wizard, the parameters of the desired service - satellite, transponder frequency, polarisation and FEC - can be entered.
The version of Power Cinema supplied did not support DVB-S2, a fact acknowledged by Hauppauge. Luckily, a beta version of DVBViewer Professional did, so we were able to tune into the occasional hi-def delights of Sat 1 HD and ProSieben HD on Astra 1H, after all.
And to be honest, the use of different software for digital TV is recommended. Although separate digital TV and radio lists are provided, channel selection is a joke.
The program presents you with a haphazardly organised list that can't be sorted. Even with a thumbwheel mouse, working your way through this list in search of a specific service is exhausting.
Power Cinema doesn't even allow you to define 'short-cuts' to favourite TV channels although, bizarrely, you can for FM radio stations! All you can do is 'turn off' channels that aren't required so that they don't appear in the list. Mercifully, encrypted channels found during a scan are turned off.
Even single-satellite scans are very slow, the Astra 1x cluster absorbing nearly 20 minutes of your time. DVBViewer, in contrast, took around five.
Poor performer
Power Cinema also fares poorly in the DVB-T stakes, the HVR4000's digital tuner yielding 'pops and squeaks' and an absence of video - a 'low-signal' sign. Hauppauge says this is down to a bug associated with the supplied version of Power Cinema.
With MCE and DVBViewer, DTT reception (as well as a more flexible digital satellite experience, certainly in the case of DVBViewer) was restored. These latter programs demonstrate that the HVR4000 is just as good in sensitivity and AV terms as other tuner cards.
And given that you have all of that multi-tuner flexibility - plus line-in AV of a high standard - in one card, that's no bad thing. A high-end PC equipped with two HVR4000s would be a televisual dream ticket in our view. So the HVR4000 impressed us. If only we can say the same of the supplied software.


text:
"If you live every day, with the capacity to stretch yourself past limitation…you will find boundless opportunity is all the places that once scared you."
― Nikki Rowe
virtually travel with us
Dr. Andrea Dinardo, Psychology Professor
Adulting with a working millennial
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Supporting and Promoting Indie Authors
Adventures in Writing
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Every flower begins with a seed
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Changing the world, one word at a time.
Featuring books written by authors of color.
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Leaving it all on the page because we are all shattered mirrors looking to mend our images.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Membership of the Library is free and available to all residents of WRL Local Government Areas (Griffith City, Carrathool, Hay, Murrumbidgee and Narrandera). Temporary membership is also available for non-residents, more details available on our website.
Completing the steps below will give you provisional library membership only; you will need to visit the library in person to complete full signup.
A parent / guardian must act as a guarantor for those members under 18 years of age. This guarantor must provide their valid ID to library staff and will be reasonable for costs incurred by the library member.
If member is under 16 select Junior or Young Adult when completing the online form.
- Read and Accept the Conditions of membership below.
- Fill in the online registration form.
- Visit your local WRL Branch Library within 30 days to validate your application.
- Show library staff proof of current address (e.g. Drivers Licence, Bank statements, Utility Bills) and identification (e.g. Drivers Licence, Medicare card, Bank card, Passport).
- You will be issued with a membership card and have access to all of our resources!
- WRL membership covers the branches of Griffith, Hillston, Jerilderie, Narrandera, Hay & Mobile Libraries
- A parent or guardian must act as guarantor if applicant is under 16
- Parents/guardians are responsible for monitoring young people's selection and use of library resources, including print, audiovisual, and the Internet
- Library staff do not provide supervision for children left unattended in the Library
- Charges apply if library material is lost, returned late or returned damaged
- By agreeing to these conditions you are aware that the library is a public space and photographs of yourself or children in your care may be taken. Library staff will attempt to ask your permission if photos are to be used in library promotional events
- You permit the library to send reminder, overdue and reservation notices to you via post, email and SMS
- Library membership will be considered inactive if not used for 3 years and may expire
- You understand access to the Library and resources is conditional and you agree to abide by all WRL policies requiring you to respect the rights of other patrons and comply with staff directions. You agree to abide by the Library Act (1939) and Library Regulation 2010
- You agree to abide by Copyright Laws when accessing Library materials and equipment
- You agree the information you have provided is correct and that you will inform the Library if your details change
By clicking Accept you agree to and accept the Conditions of membership as shown above.


text:
Why Riverbed Shares Got Crushed
Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of network gear maker Riverbed Technology plummeted 18% today after its current-quarter outlook missed Wall Street expectations.
So what: Riverbed's fourth-quarter results managed to meet estimates -- EPS of $0.29 on revenue of $237 million -- but downbeat guidance for the first quarter reinforces recent concerns over its long-term prospects. Specifically, the company's WAN Optimization business just isn't growing as fast as the company's seemingly lofty P/E requires, forcing analysts to recalibrate their expectations yet again.
Now what: Management now sees first-quarter EPS of $0.23-$0.24 on revenue of $257 million-$266 million, below the consensus of $0.26 and $265.3 million, respectively.
"Looking ahead, we will benefit from continued growth in our WAN optimization business and performance management product suite," Chairman and CEO Jerry Kennelly reassured investors. "I am very optimistic as we enter our first year as a billion-dollar-plus revenue company."
With the stock now trading at a forward P/E of just 11, today's pullback might be a good opportunity to buy into that bullishness.
Interested in more info on Riverbed?Add it to your watchlist.
The article Why Riverbed Shares Got Crushed originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Brian Pacampara has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Riverbed Technology. The Motley Fool owns shares of Riverbed Technology. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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The spring is in full bloom in the sea even though there is still ice and snow covering rocks and boulders up on land. Light is returning and the algae begin to grow.
It is frightfully cold to stick the hands into the water and fetch some rocks, all covered with algae by the jetty at the Askö Laboratory. Overwintering tufts of the brown alga Pylaiella littoralis are only 4-5 cm long but have started to grow even though the water temperature is little more than + 2 or 3 °C. The name littoralis is well suited, since it is often found in the shallow zone near the shore, as littoral means shore.
The Pylaiella is about to reproduce for the first time this year, so that in 2-3 months when many of you go out to your summer-houses by the sea, large areas of the shallow hard or rocky bottoms will be covered with the next generation of Pylaiella. The reproduction consists of lots and lots of spores being released from single-roomed sporangia, which look like beads on string in the single-cell branches.
Many of the branches have transformed into sporangia and will be completely emptied of their content. Under a microscope, we can tell that this is Pylaiella littoralis and not the very similar species Ectocarpus siliculosus, since the branches on Pylaiella are situated opposite each other. The brances on Ectocarpus siliculosus are strewn. Also, this species does not occur until later in the year, so I will get back to you with some pictures of that. Ectocarpus siliculosus was actually the first brown algae to get its whole genome sequenced.
On the branches of the Pylaiella can also be seen clusters of pointy, narrow diatoms. Later in spring, there will be enormous amounts of diatoms. They are also species that thrive in colder water. On many rocks by the shore, we can also see the pretty green alga Monostroma grevillei, which is only one layer of cells thick. The species name monostroma means "one cellular layer".
Monostroma grevillei is a common green alga, with a narrow base and broadening leaf, which splits in the top, forming long bands. It is of a marine origin and grows on any substrate that it can attach itself to, such as rocks, shells and other large algae. It is also an early spring species, reaching about 5-10 cm in size. It reproduces during March-May. After reproduction, the new offspring lives as a microscopic stage until late winter-early spring the following year.
The family Monostroma is one of the most farmed green algae in Asia and is marketed as "hirohano-hitoegusa nori". Perhaps something for you to try as a salad, if you find some fresh green Monostroma during your walk along the shore, far away from pollution sources.


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Muslim family pays price for son's conversion; father shunned, ordered confined to home.
DHAKA, Bangladesh, October 16 (Compass Direct News) – Muslim clerics and neighbors have ordered the father of a man who converted to Catholicism to remain confined to his house until retaliatory punishment can be exacted from the convert.
"Are you not ashamed that your son became Christian?" the founder of a mosque here asked Ruhul Amin Khandaker, father of a 32-year-old businessman who went to Australia earlier this year to court a Philippine Catholic woman, converting to her faith in April. "Why did you not sacrifice your son like cattle before telling the news to us?"
Khandaker has become a social outcast whose family lives under threat from fellow Muslims, in violation of Bangladesh's constitution and international human rights safeguards. His son, Rashidul Amin Khandaker, has applied for protection from Australian immigration officials as he believes police in 88 percent-Muslim Bangladesh would do nothing to protect him from Islamists threatening to kill him.
"They will try to kill me anywhere, any time in Bangladesh, and the police and the authority will not protect me," Rashidul Khandaker wrote in his plea to Australian authorities. "There are records that show a converted person is not protected by the police, authority and society."
Khandaker's life would be in danger if he returned to Bangladesh, said his brother-in-law, identified only as Siddik, adding that "we are also surviving in the society at our own peril."
Rashidul Khandaker's brother wrote him in May to cease all contact with the family. Rakibul Amin Khandaker stated in the letter that Muslim authorities had threatened to ostracize the family because of his brother's conversion, and that his life would be in danger if he returned to Bangladesh as Muslim extremists believe they would get to heaven by punishing him.
Muslim leaders in Dhaka have ordered Khandaker's 65-year-old father to disown his son and exclude him from his wealth and property.
"If he comes to Bangladesh, you must hand him over to us and we will punish him," the founder of the mosque told the elder Khandaker.
Khandaker, who operates an oil lubricant refining business in the Kutubkhali area under Jatrabari police jurisdiction in central Dhaka, told Compass of the grief he experienced when his son informed the family from Sydney that he had become a Christian.
"My other sons and relatives informed it to the nearby cleric of the mosque so that the cleric could console me," he said. "Unfortunately the cleric was so furious . . . [He] told me that, 'You cannot keep any relationship with your son. A man of a noble Muslim family cannot be a Christian, and the society cannot accept it."
Home Ransacked
When Rashidul Khandaker, who worked as director of marketing in his father's business before going to Australia to pursue a relationship with a woman he met over the Internet, telephoned friends in Dhaka about his conversion, seven or eight of them broke into his house to loot his computer, scanner, printer, documents, sofa and other valuables, his father said.
"They told me, 'We will return everything when your son comes back. Whenever he will come back, you must hand him over to us – we will take revenge for his activities. Until he comes, don't mix with the people in the society and stay in your house.'"
The elder Khandaker said his son's former friends also threatened to harm the family if they informed police about the looting.
"We did not file any case against them. If we file a case, they will do more harm and we can not stay in the society," Khandaker said.
After receiving the threats from the local residents and Muslim leaders to remain confined to his house in front of his three sons and other relatives, Khandaker's blood pressure spiked and he suffered a stroke, he said.
"Local doctors did not come to my house to treat me – they are afraid of the society and they also hate us," he said. "I was taken to the hospital. The doctors did a brain scan and they said there was a hemorrhage on the left side of brain."
The ostracizing of the elder Khandaker was especially painful during Ramadan, culminating with the festival of Eid al-Fitre on Oct. 2 after a month of day-long fasting and nightly feasting.
"Nobody, including neighbors and relatives, did come to my house, and I could not go to anybody's house," Khandaker said. "My relatives did not come lest they be in trouble. I was alone during the festival, and nothing has happened like this in my 65 years of life."
Yet Khandaker said he does not want to deprive his son of his property and wealth. "If all of my property and wealth is destroyed, I can tolerate that, but one thing I cannot tolerate is to carry the coffin of my son on my shoulders," Khandaker said.
Any unwillingness of authorities to defend the rights of Rashidul Khandaker or his Muslim family members against the threats against them would violate the freedom of religion asserted in the Constitution of Bangladesh, which states in Article 41.1 in Part 3 that every citizen has the right to profess, practice or propagate any religion.
"My son changed his faith according to his will, and our constitution supports this kind of activity," the elder Khandaker said. "Why the constitutional rights should not be realized in the society?"
The social pressures also defy international human rights safeguards guaranteeing freedom of religion. Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Bangladesh is a party, says that everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.
"My son converted to Christianity according to his own will – we did not support it, and we are not converted. Why should we bear the brunt of his faith?" said the elder Khandaker. "I want to get rid of such a claustrophobic, social-outcast life for my son's conversion to Christianity."
Report from Compass Direct News


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Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that we do not have our previous Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to tell the good news about what we did in the last Parliament, which was to fund skills training for those who have been laid off in the forestry sector and to fund retooling for factories that have been shut down.
It is interesting that no province in this country took more advantage of the moneys and programs put forward by the government than did Quebec. It was great to see people who had been in the forest industry being retrained, having the opportunity to go into, for instance, the aerospace industry, and actually finding better-paying jobs after they were retrained with those new skills.
I see this also in my own constituency, where a glass factory shut down on November 1. All those people have the opportunity to be retrained for other jobs in the sectors that are growing in British Columbia.
It is the same in Quebec, where we see so many good things happening in the aerospace industry. Those developments are a credit to Quebec and to that industry. They are innovative and aggressive. They are world leaders in that sector, which will make more opportunities for people who are looking for jobs.