New iPlayer volume control on Samsung TV

Updated BBC iPlayer on our Samsung TV this week and although overall it looks like an improvement they have removed the volume control. The previous volume control was not very good, but removing it means you need to exit iPlayer to adjust the control then go back in. It also means you cannot mute the volume. Think they need to fix this major bug.

ITV Player for Samsung SMART TV

I have just downloaded the new ITV Player for my Samsung SMART TV, the menu system works well and I can see the programmes available, but when I select a programme to watch a progress clock appears in the top right hand side of the screen and then the TV switches itself off! I've tried a few times and it keeps happening, I think I will have to wait for ITV to fix an obvious issue with their app.

PS3 Getting 3D working with TV

I recently got a Sony PlayStation 3 and was impressed with the picture on my Samsung TV while playing some games, I also received Tron 3D on Blu-Ray, when I tried to view this it said it was not connected to a 3D TV, but it was. The solution after looking on the net was that the cable that ships with the PS3 is not the correct one for 3D TVs, you will need to purchase a special HDMI cable designed for 3D TVs, I would recommend this as it also improves the picture quality of normal viewing. Expect to pay around £40 ($60) for a good cable. I have seen the Sony HDMI cable for sale at £20 from Sainsbury supermarkets.

Security Shield - How I managed to remove this nasty fake program

Security shield is a fake anti-virus program that tries to get your credit card details by displaying a well designed and professional looking screen that tries to sell you it's fake software by listing viruses that it finds on your PC which do not actually exist. This is a very nasty virus, which after looking at solutions the way that worked for me to remove it from a Samsung NC10 was to do a CTRL+ALT+DEL while the screen was displayed and locate the .exe that was running, this will be some random letters followed by .exe. Once I located the name of the file I search the registry ('regedit' command from the run menu) for this file, and deleted any reference to it. After restarting the PC everything seemed to work fine and was back to normal.

Samsung Smart TV - The Good and The Bad

I have now owned a Samsung D6530 LED Smart TV for over 3 months now. I really like the Smart TV option which connects to the internet via my wireless router, here are my views so far with the applications available on the Smart TV option:
1) BBC iPlayer is great, it is the app I use most and works exactly how I want it too, this is so far the best app.
2) You Tube, this is one of the worst apps I have used and it is better to access You Tube from the internet option rather than using the app.
3) Love Film would be good but I decided to cancel the subscription because the choice of films was very limited.

So far the biggest issue I have come across using the Smart TV option is that I need a keyboard for using the internet.

I would like more TV companies like ITV and Channel 4 to bring out apps like iPlayer for the Samsung TVs.

Samsung NC10 Battery Problem Fixed

I have owned a Samsung NC10 netbook for the past 2 years, a couple of weeks ago I tried to use it and it was dead, I plug it into the power supply and left it to charge for a couple of hours. I then disconnected it from the mains and tried to switch it on, it tried to start up but after a couple of seconds went dead. I then connected it to the mains power supply again and it worked fine. The battery manager reported 0% charge, and on the front the green light was displayed, so I figured there was a problem with the battery.

The netbook was out of warranty, but I still tried calling Samsung customer support, they were very helpful and we tried a couple of things to fix the problem, but the conclusion was that I needed a new battery. From the link Samsung support gave me to a retail site a new battery would cost about £70 ($100).

I heard somewhere that putting the battery in the freezer might help, I was not sure whether I was getting this confused with rumours that this fixes damaged hard drives, but I thought I would give it a go. I put the battery in newspaper and in a plastic bag and left it in the freezer over night. The next day I took it out of the freezer let it stand for an hour, then tried it. Nothing happened and it did not work, so I thought that's it I need a new battery.

I left the battery on the side for a week, until the following weekend. I was about to look at purchasing a new battery when I thought I would just give it a go again. I started the netbook up without the battery plugged in and with it connected to the mains power supply, I then plugged in the battery and was surprised to see the red light on the front instead of the green, which indicated it was charging. I left it for a couple of hours and when I came back I could unplug the mains power supply and it worked!!!

I still think there is a problem because it seems to report 99% power now, but I can use my netbook without having to plug it into the mains power supply and this also saves me £70 for a new battery.

I cannot say whether putting it into the freezer was part of fixing this problem, or whether just unplugging the battery and leaving it for a week helped, but something weird happened that has fixed the problem.

Samsung D6530 LED TV Review

I recently bought a Samsung D6530 40 inch TV for roughly £750. The TV was delivered in a slim large box which was packaged well. The TV was quick to setup which took about 20 minutes, and required just a phillips screw driver.

The TV is very slim and the edge of the picture to the edge of the TV is very small both approx width of a thumb. The TV is supplier with a good quality brushed steel stand, I was glad not to get the black glass one.

Once I had connected the correct cables I switched the TV on and it soon tried to connect to my wireless router, I entered the password and it downloaded the latest software updates. After the TV had updated the software and restarted I started to play around with it. The TV picture is very impressive and could easily see it was better than other TVs I had seen recently, because it is LED I thought the black colour in  the picture was very black. The HD channels looked great and there is a clear difference between HD and the normal channels. The sound is good but nothing special, I think I might look into connecting an additional sound system to it.

The TV is 3D so I bought some glasses,  I believe this is a technology that needs improving, but compared to the cinema is OK. There is an option to convert standard 2D pictures to 3D, this option varies depending on the programme you are watching, but generally I think I will not be using this.

What I was most impressed with apart from the great picture is how it connects to the internet and my PC. Samsung have something they call Smart Hub, this opens a screen with loads of options. There is a panel that displays your apps similar to Apple products. There are various Apps like You Tube, BBC iPlayer, LoveFilm, Skype and Twitter that come pre-installed, out of these I think the most impressive is the BBC iPlayer app. The Smart Hub also gives you the option for something they call AllShare, which allows you to connect other devices to the TV wirelessly. I installed Samsung's PC Share Manager and selected the directories I wanted to see and started the server. I then went downstairs and there was a message on the TV saying that it could see the server, I could then play videos, music and pictures that where located on my PC on my TV wirelessly, which I think is very clever.


In conclusion I think my new TV is great, here is a list of pros and cons:
Pros - Fantastic picture, very slim, easy to use, internet connectivity.
Cons - 3D is OK but not great, remote control feels a little cheap.

Specifications

• 400 Hz
• Resolution 1920 x 1080
• Built in Wi-Fi
• 4 HDMI
• USB 2.0 x 3
• Freeview HD
• 3D with 2D to 3D conversion
• Dimensions - width = 1248mm, height = 805mm, depth = 30mm max