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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:27 pm

Saw..

I agree with what you've noted. It just looks to me that the future is kind of murky as to how the tv/internet video experience will work out with blu-ray around. blu-ray is great but you know it hasn't taken off as VHS did back when. I believe that in the coming years (maybe 8 or 9) download just may be the way to go to get movies by everybody. Technologically, we can do it now, i.e. Netflix. No standard yet in linking but I'm sure tech co's are working on it. Some pundits say because of that blu-ray could go bye-bye if there's a price point and resolution scenario that can be met. see. Things are changing! And we'll probably be seeing movies and tv shows going to smart phones!

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:41 am

We can only wait and see. I suspect that my Samsung Blu-ray disc player has a LAN jack on it for more than just firmware upgrades and it's probably only a matter of time before before you're proven right about Internet transmission of television (I'm curious as to when we stop calling it "television"), but I suspect it going to be quite a while yet, more than 9 years. My parents live only slightly out in the hinterlands and yet they can't get anything other than dial-up because their telephone transmission lines aren't capable of carrying DSL (basic copper) and there's no cable in their area.

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:55 am

This is all Dubble-Dutch to me !!
I would like to buy a Blue Ray player but, as I don't have a clue, can anyone advise which one I should go for?

Robert

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:53 pm

Robert..I'm not a technical maven so Saw could be better there but in my opinion I think any top brand you pick would be good. I'm biased so I think Sony and Samsung are pretty good brands in that area. I have a Sony player and so far so good. I bought it as part of a package with a Sony digital tv and a home theater system. With me, I just wanted to keep the components consistent.

Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:58 pm

And oh I got the "Battle of Britain" on blu-ray. Well all I've got to say is that I enjoyed watching the film in its new format! It was such a pleasure to watch compared to the piddling setup and viewing experience I had before. If you love movies, blu-ray doesn't let you down. I tell you those Spits flying and attacking in the scenes were fabulous!

Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:38 pm

Talking of spits flying about..... Last September, I was in down in Kent, pottering around the house when I heard a recognisable rumble. A Spitfire spent the next ten minutes doing figure 8's around the village - I don't know if it was for anyone's benefit in particular but I enjoyed it. More odd was that we had stopped by the RAF memorial at Capel-le-Ferne the day before.

It had the marking FX-M which I looked up on the web.

The Kent Spitfire, a MK IX Serial TA805, today flies from the ex-RAF station at Biggin Hill. After the war it was used by the South African Air Force, recovered from a scrap yard, and returned to England in the early 1990s. It wears 234 Squadron markings with coding FX-M.

Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:08 pm

Simon..
You know the Spitfire was such a beautiful aircraft but I've read it wasn't exactly easy to fly. You were up at 25,000 fett, 30 below zero and in battle you had to really pull on that control stick and jam your feet on the rudder pedals with full weight to maneuver and survive split second attacks.
And on that Spit you saw did you see any red markings on the leading front edge of the wings? If they were really trying to be authentic, the red markings would signify the red tape Dowding had his crews put over the gun ports so they wouldn't freeze up as the Spits climbed. Intact red patches would mean that the aircraft was ready for action. The first 2 sec burst would, of course, then rip the tape.

Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:21 pm

No red markings, it's a Mark IX so it's got 20mm Hispano cannon. There is an inboard port which could have been a machine gun but I don't know which wing variant TA805 carries. Some models had an outboard stub which were removed in later production.

http://www.abpic.co.uk/search.php?q=Supermarine%20Spitfire%20HF.IX&u=type

Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:30 pm

Thanks for the link with the pretty pics of Spits, Simon. That was/is such a fine lookin' hunk of airframe. Sad that the best we had to offer on our entry to WWII was the P-40, but I guess we made up for it with the P-51 later (with thanks also to Messr's Rolls and Royce for their contribution of an engine)

"Don't give me a Peter Four O,
It's a hell of an airplane, you know.
It will gag and wheeze and head straight for the trees.
Oh, don't give me a Peter Four O."

Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:44 pm

The Mustang, as we prefer to call, it was to a British specification too..... another fine aircraft. I like the P38 - odd looking thing. For looks, you can't beat the Spitfire and Mosquito.

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:49 am

Yes, you boys do like your names for aircraft-- not very big on numbers though. To be sure, my previous post has to be one of the few times I haven't called it a Mustang and the P-40 a Warhawk. The Lightning is odd, but it's configuration allowed it to get shot to pieces and still get home. Are you familiar with the short lived Cavalier Twin Mustang that surfaced in the Korean conflict? Now there's an odd looking plane. And I always thought the Vampire/Vixen was rather nice looking. I saw one here in the States at an airshow. There surely can't be that many of them still flying.

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:35 pm

Saw/Simon...

I noticed that there's a British film "First of the Few" with Leslie Howard playing the subject of the pix which was RJ Mitchell the designer of the Spitfire. Wonder if it's available? Those fellows Mitchell, Camm (hurricane designer) and Rolls and Royce get accolades for how their creations helped defeat the brash Luftwaffe.

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:09 pm

Sure we prefer names and even named yours too. I'm a little puzzled that with all the numbers available, you tend to recycle them. The M1 can be both a carbine and a tank, the M3 can be both a tank and a ... er... tank. Then the swith from P to F for fighters. Very confusing.

I much prefer names but surely will we must run out of weather systems soon. Hurricane, Tempest, Tornado, Lightning, Typhoon (x 2). I'd drawn the line at a BAe Cold Front or the Hawker Siddelly Low Pressure region.

Cities gave more scope - Lancaster, Lincoln, Halifax, Manchester, York etc.

Tanks are easier still - Churchill, Comet, Cruiser, Challenger, Chieftain, Conqueror, Crusader.

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:26 pm

Note of possible interest.

The RAF is working in unison with Haynes, to produce highly-detailed and well-illustrated books, in the same mould as their Ownership Workshop Manuals for cars.

I have a copy of the Supermarine Spitfire, lovely book, and apparently the Lancaster is available now in the series.

Coll

Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:38 pm

Simon,
We do of course use the names as well as numbers just to keep it interesting (and confusing), but the numbering seems to take precedence. That ugly yet effective ground-pounder, the A-10, didn't have a name for a long time and it was affectionately referred to as "Droopsnout" or more commonly "Warthog" before it officially became the "Thunderbolt II"-- a name which no one ever seems to use.

I kind of miss the passing of the "P" classification ("Pursuit"), but it was somewhat archaic even by the time of the Mustang. There were of course "F" planes at the same time as "P"'s, but why the Mustang was classed a pursuit plane rather than a fighter, I'll never know. It's made worse by the fact that the Navy and the Air Force can have different numbers for the same plane.

Yeah, it's confusing. To me and my circle of acquaintances, an "M1" refers typically to a Garand rifle, an "M1 Carbine" is called an "M1 Carbine" and when we reference an M1 Tank out of context it's either an M1A1 MBT (Main Battle Tank), an M1A2 MBT or simply an "Abrams".

A certain European country used numbers/letters exclusively for their planes in the last major conflict and it didn't come out of that war in such good shape. Perhaps we're just hedging our bets by using names as well as the numbers.