BangkokImages

LED monitors run in different price ranges and are fast becoming the new low end darling.. you'll find them on Imac's and on many of the lower end models. They're use little energy, generate less heat, they won't dim nearly as much with age as old CCFL LCD's, and they're lighter in weight as well. However, they're still in their infancy and except on the high end haven't been as refined for overall performance. I found this one to be both a good value and decent performer and its become popular in Thailand.

I had a bit of an experience with flaky modems and ended up reviewing two models,one I very much recommend. The story starts here, and hasa happy ending here. My high-end Linksys router currently sits in the closet (through no fault of it's own) and I couldn't be happier.

As others have said, Photoshop is incredibly difficult to use.

This is a bit of a misnomer. Photoshop IS incredibly difficult to know and master all it's capable of doing. Especially since you can approach almost any task from 5-6 different directions and then some.

Yet, it should be understood Photoshop serves more than Photographers. It has functions for video, still photography, graphic artists, and much much more. Very few people have the need to learn all of Photoshop.

The way Photoshop is normally taught, is first to learn the placement of the tools and features on the user interface.. something which can be learned in a few hours. Next, you learn the functions necessary to process your image/work with specific tasks. Levels, cropping, image sizing, etc, etc.. If you learn one task at a time, or as needed, then you can easily learn Photoshop in blocks of 1-2 hours. And learn it well. There are many book and video tutorials out there.

The mistake many make is sitting down with an image in front of them.. and then thinking they need to learn everything possible Photoshop can do to an image. In real life this isn't necessary. Maybe the image in front of you only need the levels adjusted, sharpening applied, tagged with a color space, resized, cropped.. Or maybe it needs 2-3 of these things. With proper instruction this is only a few hours to learn.

Now.. if you want to learn layers, masking, toning, or some more complex tasks.. sure, you'll spend some time mastering these tasks.

Look at Photoshop as a building block type program. You learn the basics (UI and feature placement), then a few more basics (levels, sharpening, color saturation, etc), then maybe a few intermediate functions (gradients, transform, using plug-ins), and as you get so far into your ability to manipulate images.. you learn more.. Block by block.

The advantage to Photoshop is that it's the most supported program out there in every way, from tutorials, reference books, software plug-ins, help on the internet, forum groups.. the list is long. And because it's the industry standard the time you spend learning will never be left behind as you need to move up from one level of program to the other.. because there is no moving up from Photoshop.

And as you recommended, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (which IS geared only towards photographers) is also a great place to start. And most of what you learn in LR can be transfered to Photoshop. A great way to get started.

I used a Linksys RV042 load balancing router for the same reasons for several years.

Routers are PC/Mac agnostic.

3-phase supply, provides more technical options to stablise the voltage, but not the surge and the brownout, and it is d expensive here.

Single phase power is can be likened to a telephone party line. Everyone is on the same line, and the more people who use it, the less fast/power/communication is available over it.

In single phase areas, as people come home and use more electricity, the voltage drops.. often to the point where certain devices won't work and it causes damage to those that do. This is a brownout.

Brownout can and does occur with 3 phase.. but it's relatively rare and a function of the local sub station not being properly regulated more than a consumer use issue like single phase.

So, with 3 phase you get a much more stable trouble free supply of AC. This should be the first thing you aim for. Yes its expensive, but its the single most effective thing you can do to protect your electronics.

3 phase isn't perfect.. it surges, it can brownout, it can go on/off.. but its the right starting point.

Other options would include moving your entire house onto it's own grid. People who use alternative power do this. They run their entire house off batteries and the solar panels and the local elec if needed, keeps the batteries charged. Of course this depends on how they're set up, but you can definitely set up and entire house to run from batteries.. which then acts like a UPS.

If you already have 3 phase.. there are whole house surge protectors the electric companies often rent out in troubled areas. You can also buy these separately. Installation is usually simple, they plug in-line with your meter. Pull the meter, plug in the protector, plug the meter into it.. done.

Here's what I have in my house, that seems to work just fine:

Leonics QA

Cyber Power

APC ES-500 - I use this on my backup drives

Powermatic - got a couple of larger ones of this brand, nice digital display

Syndome - a couple of their better line ones and one cheap version that I use on a couple of my routers

"Blackboom" Zircons- 3 of these from Office Depot

Never have had a problem yet, my drives are error free and no computers lost yet

But I agree, if you don't want to risk it go with the more expensive type. For me, I'm not so worried if I loose a motherboard or whatever I'll just

slap another one in. Data however I don't take a chance on and backup often, and off site.

as I wrote this my UPS chirrped.. hmmmmm

Man.. you really do have a lot of UPS devices.. I have 4-5 in use at any one time, but all for computer equipment.

I think matching your UPS 'quality' to your backup needs helps prevent issues. For instance, I'm sure your electric door opener has a much lower threshold for transient spike damage than a computer would.. so it would be appropriate to use a lower end UPS for that need. But when we're mostly talking about protecting computers and related equipment.. I'd study carefully how fast each device reacts before settling on either. I wouldn't assume APC is the best (it probably is), I'd study their ratings and google a few independent reviews where reaction time was tested/measured. They vary in quality quite a bit, but our needs vary quite a bit.. so targeted selection and placement with an eye towards value is a good thing..

Good luck keeping everything from chirping..

UPS's are a must for living in Thailand. I use them on my valuable electronics, except TV's. Bose Iphone Player, Water Filter, Electric Garage Door Opener. On the few things I don't have plugged into them in my house, they have fried. I lost a printer a few years back from plugging directly into the wall, that sucked.

Anything you value electronically I suggest plugging it into a UPS if you can stand it. You might want to get one with a mute button. My house gets very annoying with all the UPS's and beeeeeeps when there are black outs.

As far as the brand goes, personally I'm not that partial. I've had good luck with the Chinese ones as long as they are physically made well. All the batteries die after about 1.5-2 years of use. I don't bother with the software installations or serial hook ups for auto shutdown. I was a retailer of APC's in the past, it's a great brand but a battery is a battery when it comes inside from what I have seen. You can get 2 cheap UPS's for the price of one APC in some cases.

Any chance your power is single phase? You get a lot more damage that way. One housing complex I'm familiar with in Hua Hin where the cheapest home is 25m, only has single phase. Friends who live there ended up losing their fancy double door fridge (had a CPU), microwave, tv, etc.. and ended up moving because they couldn't keep their appliance and electronics alive. The builder never advertised it was single phase.. three phase was still several years out. Its this way in most rural areas.

But I don't agree all batteries are the same or all UPS's are the same. Everyone here knows the difference between an original battery for their mobile phone and how long it lasts, and a cheap replacement from Pantip.. Batteries are made to different standards and you normally get what you pay for. UPS's are the same. The supporting circuitry is key. It's not only that they'll switch you over to the battery, but how fast it will switch you over before damage is done. And if they're providing a full sine wave (critical for quality power) or not.. I'd agree, in most cases, a cheap UPS is better than nothing.. but a cheap UPS is a far cry from a quality UPS.

You shoulda got a Kindle..

I order Kindle books via Amazon all the time using my local address. Including their free or 99 cent books.

And then there's the Gutenburg Project (google it) with over 200,000 free books you can download..

Your local library back home probably loans ebooks as well.

Lots and lots of possibilities.

Thank you Bangkok Images for your detailed analysis...and hope you enjoy the camera Marquess.

There was a lot of talk about it on DPReview...as there is about every new model..

Thank you for the feedback. I think many are disappointed with their new compact cameras, especially after reading the great marketing technology blurbs and making the purchase thinking technology will help solve their image quality issues. Technology is great, but more limited in effect than the manufacturers would have us believe.

I like Fuji cameras and have owned several. I thought the F300 EXR would be good. But, Fuji and several other camera manufacturers have started to cut costs by installing a ND filter instead of a good range of apertures.

This resulted in the frequent case of the camera on Auto exposure selecting a slow shutter speed in bright sunlight which caused camera shake and blurred images....very annoying.

I do not know if they have improved this fault, but there are several good features on the new EXRF550 which are desirable.

GPS and the new sensor similar to the H-10 but using the EXR technology for great dynamic range and low-light.

Lens design is the first thing compromised with wide focal ranges, even on the consumer grade DSLR lenses. On DSLR lenses we call them "variable aperture" and you'll see them advertised something like: 18-55mm F4.5-5.6. At 18 to roughly 30mm the widest (min) aperture would be F4.5, and from 30-55mm F5.6. You'll see this on any lens that "telescopes" as it zooms. It's a design limitation when trying to pack so much focal range in a small package. And why a 300mm F2.8L IS lens is going for about $6000, while a 28-300mm F4.5-6.5 lens only costs $500 and is in a much smaller package.

This new genre of "superzoom" compacts takes this design limitation to new levels. There are going to be often severe compromises when you try to cram 24-650mm focal ranges in small light lenses.. So they use ND Filters to achieve what's necessary for the lens to work, not to keep cost down so much, but to keep them lightweight and compact. The F300exr is a 35mm equiv 24-360mm 15x zoom lens on a small compact camera, so design limitations are a given. It lists 3 apertures 3.5/7.1/10.0 for it's "wide end", and 3 apertures 5.3/11.0/16.0 for it's tele end. All manufacturers in this genre do something which is effectively the same, though they might call it different. They have to.

So.. when you attenuate the available light via smaller apertures for the tradeoff of a longer focal length.. you will of course have less light to work with which will result in longer shutter speeds. You can then compensate for longer shutter speeds with their actual real (not always the case in this genre) optical stabilization (which helps with static subjects) or upping the ISO which of course will show more apparent noise and less detail, which we know is much worse on a small sensor camera like a point and shoot compact.

What you describe, slower shutter speeds and blurred images, sounds like your auto programming is either intentionally limited to certain ISO's (check your menus) or maybe the firmware is limiting how far up it will set the ISO for a given focal length and amount of ambient light.. if this is the case I'd check Fuji's site for a firmware upgrade. If it was a design issue this is the sort of thing they'd fix in a firmware upgrade. Probably the only real thing you can do about it is understand why it's happening, know you need a great deal of ambient light to use the long end of the tele (something they never tell you in their fancy advertising), and perhaps leave the auto modes in such situations and manipulate the ISO's manually.

In any case, the F550exr will have the same limitation since it's the same small/light compact superzoom genre.. using the exact same lens with the exact same apertures for wide/tele using the same ND filter technique. It does have a slightly improved sensor, but nothing that will help the issue you brought up. And it does have some new features which might or might not be useful to the OP. Certainly if he's into Geotagging the F550exr would be better suited, but if not he can get essentially the same camera at discontinued discounted prices vs. the higher new model prices..

Digital compacts have been around in popular form since 1998-1999.. and I have a bunch of the most significant models sitting on my shelves. It's been interesting to note, that in decent light a 1998 first generation digital camera produces 'just about' as good an image as the newest 2011 model. Image quality wise, the gains have been very small. We now have different batteries, smaller sizes, more focal range, and lots and lots of market driven features and 'technologies', but not as much as you'd think to help someone capture a higher quality image.

The issue really boils down to how much sensor we can cram into the smallest package. This has led to an exciting new genre of large sensor cameras like the Panasonic GF1/GF2 using the micro-4/3's system in a pocktable design.. it's sensor is much bigger than a compact point and shoot, so image quality goes up and the ability to shoot in less light goes way up. Sony's new NEX-5 I reviewed here is an interesting compromise using the exact same size sensor as we see in consumer grade DSLR's which can result in much higher image quality. They have several lenses, the longest being an new 18-200mm (36-300mm 35mm equiv), but it's also "variable aperture" despite its increased size.. but better apertures than in a compact superzoon model.

There is no magic bullet.. light is photography, the more light captured (through wider apertures, bigger sensors, longer shutter speeds) results in higher quality images, and everything we need to do this is BIG. When we reduce the size through "new technologies" we must expect compromised image quality and camera performance.. no matter what super high-tech label they hang on the newest model. I wish they'd be more honest and open about it, but marketing is rarely honest and open..

Mine is working fine. No issues.

thanks guys, I think I need to do some homework before I go to the shop :-)

and, I think I need more budget than what is in my mind :-( my financial controller won't like this idea . . .

Yes, it's one of those areas where we almost always end up spending more than we anticipated.

Some more information:

UPS's just don't protect from major damage. They also protect from transient type issues which rear their ugly heads as 'glitches' or occasional blue screens, or hard to identify problems. We've all probably had a system like this, it would fail, blue screen, or whatever.. not all the time, but sometimes, some days worse than others.. and we'd try reinstalling Windows, new drivers, maybe a new component or two.. but the issues persisted. This type of system is often the result of transient power damage issues, not powerful enough to actually take the machine down, but just powerful enough to cause these kinds of issues.

Since using UPS's I have never had that kind of machine again. Suddenly they're all very reliable and give me no problems.

Also.. the quality of components can have a significant effect if damage is causes or not. Quality components most often have built in higher tolerances for voltage fluctuations, filters, and other protections. This goes for all components, but where it really shows is with the power supplies. If you read the specs on power supplies you'll find most operate great at exactly 220vac. (or whatever they're designed to operate at) But when you get to 210vac only half are still working great, the other half are putting out dirty power. By 200vac you've lost all but a few. And so on up/down the voltage scale..

An IT manager who knows his equipment runs on a good solid UPS supply.. knows he can often save money (short term) by buying lower spec power supplies.

Knowing what I know about electronics.. which is an accumulation of almost 30 months, 10 hours per day, 5-6 days a week, of electronics instruction, a bunch of years working on the stuff, and a few years teaching the same.. I will not plug any computer I want to count on in the future.. into anything but a quality UPS. Being in Thailand makes it worse because the power fluctuates wildly, we often have single phase power, and the power goes on/off quite often. As bad as it is, some areas in the states are worse. These areas have a lot of lightening. You guys would laugh if I told you the extremes we'd go to protecting our amateur radios from lightening strikes. Everything from acre size ground arrays, 16-32 foot grounding rods, thick copper bars, arrestors, and much more.. A power hit can take out an entire room of gear, but at least we know it should be replaced. The small problems like I described above are much worse, because it's hard to know what it is, and since it still kinda works we're reluctant to spend money to replace it..

And do keep in mind.. a UPS is only as good as the electric grid its plugged into. Read the instructions to check for ground faults and the such. A good ground is needed for the UPS to do its job.

I hope some of this stuff is useful..

If you have a good enough internet access & credit card, then you can buy directly online i believe.

The 30 day full trial version is freely downloadable from the web...so all you would need is the serial number later to make it licensed.

True.. if you have credit cards from different countries see which one offers you the best deal. There is a $199 US introductory offer floating around there somewhere..

But for sure, download the free trial and try it before buying. It's exactly the same as you'd download if you buy it, you just enter a serial to activate it to go beyond 30 days.

Quality scans come at different levels.

The highest quality scan is a drum scan, commonly used for making large prints for presentation. The people who operate these can make a heck of a difference in the scan, and usually (at least in the states) the community knows who is who.

Then you have the dedicated film scanners like the Nikon LS system.. these are expensive and take a decent amount of knowledge to operate properly. Even at this intermediate level you'll easily spend more than the cost of the average new DSLR. Photo clubs often maintain a few of these to check out to their members.

Then you have flatbed scanners like the other posted talked about. These used to be terrible, but these days they're actually quite good and with care you can achieve professional results with them. The advantage of a flatbed, other than a low price ($75-$800 depending on scanner and included software), is that it can take any size film. So, from 110 to 8x10, it can do it all. And the ones more geared towards photos will also come with strip/slide holders for popular film sizes allowing you to scan 4-24 images in one pass (it then breaks them out automatically into separate files).. The software that comes with the better ones will probably do most of your scratch/dust/exposure corrections automatically if you set it up this way.

I've owned and used both the dedicated and flatbed scanners in my business.. Back when I had A LOT of scan work to do, the dedicated models were worth the cost and hassle of learning. These days, I use an Epson photo flat bed.. It's fast, easy, and cheap..

I got this and wasn't impressed... gave it to my wife.

Wait for the new F550 which will be much better

I'm curious. Why do you say you weren't impressed, and what about the new F550 do you think will be much better?

My question is - as long as the UPS is just feeding a 12 volt battery why can't it handle brown outs with a voltage leveling function instead of a "shutdown-alarm-temp power" response. Even 110 volt should be plenty to keep the current flowing into a 12 volt battery. Save the shutdowns for true power failures.

A 3rd, and more expensive, is the online or double-conversion UPS for critical systems. Essentially it is running off battery full time.

Several consumer level double conversion UPS's are being offered now for as low as $250.. this one would be a good example that would drive even the most powerful workstation, monitors, and printer.. and it's $535.. Expensive, but much cheaper than even a year ago. Just type "double conversion UPS" in the Amazon search bar and you'll see there's a much better choice than there was even recently.

3. Power surges can definitely hurt your gear, but there are other issues you'll want to be concerned with. Brownouts (common here in Bangkok) where the power drops below a certain safe level but doesn't go out all the way out, power spikes from lightening, surges (kinda like the opposite of brownouts), and more.. All equally destructive. They sell "surge protector" outlets, we've all seen them.. but they're mostly worthless. Take one apart and you'll find one variation or the other of a MOV (metal oxide varistor) which costs about 15 baht and has a reaction time in the milliseconds.. plenty long enough to wreck your gear. A good UPS like APC will 'condition' your power and protect you from all these conditions. The battery back up is mostly a byproduct left over from what's there to make what you really need. (conditioned power), so they market it as a feature.. a feature everyone can easily understand and relate to.

And you're right, you'll want to protect your router/NAS/modem, etc.. with a small one upstairs.

thanks for the info.

a while ago I tried to fix a 'surge protection' power bar, eeek ... completely not reliable in terms of basic electrical setup, not to mention about 'power surge' !! anyone thinks about power surge protection, this is NOT a solution !

for protecting the computer equipment everywhere ( bad planning ), and the home automation and lighting control system, I thought about a power regulator for the house, but the contractor not able to come up a reliable solution - not just behind a battery. now, I patch up with UPS at point of need.

on the other hand, I don't want to see all these techy boxes around, I don't want to live in a server room. my wife and my domestic helper won't like them neither :-(

Many homes, especially in rural areas, are operating off single phase power which fluctuates wildly depending on how many people are using power at the time who are on your line.

You might want to check if this is the case, and if its possible to be upgraded to three phase. UPS devices for home use are generally for the 'occasional' power issue.. not to make up for deficiencies in the power grid itself.

thanks guys

APC is available here, great ! not seen in Fortune or Pantip ? will do more window shopping . . .

yeah, the product selector is very helpful; but what ever my input, it shows me the most impressive smart UPS RT models. I can't afford it :-) I probably need at least 2. my router, storage HDs all upstair, and I work downstair.

be more precise, I more concern the power surge than the power down !! lost couple of minutes even hours of work, not much when at home. blow out these critical pieces, big trouble.

1. They're everywhere in Pantip, check out IT City for sure.

2. The product selector is showing you the most expensive models? Don't you hate it when it does that? That's okay, they're giving you the power levels you need and you can use that to select the more affordable models. In Thailand I'd imagine there are two you'll be interested in. The 650 pro and the 1500 back. The last time I checked (a year ago) there wasn't anything between, but there might be now.

3. Power surges can definitely hurt your gear, but there are other issues you'll want to be concerned with. Brownouts (common here in Bangkok) where the power drops below a certain safe level but doesn't go out all the way out, power spikes from lightening, surges (kinda like the opposite of brownouts), and more.. All equally destructive. They sell "surge protector" outlets, we've all seen them.. but they're mostly worthless. Take one apart and you'll find one variation or the other of a MOV (metal oxide varistor) which costs about 15 baht and has a reaction time in the milliseconds.. plenty long enough to wreck your gear. A good UPS like APC will 'condition' your power and protect you from all these conditions. The battery back up is mostly a byproduct left over from what's there to make what you really need. (conditioned power), so they market it as a feature.. a feature everyone can easily understand and relate to.

And you're right, you'll want to protect your router/NAS/modem, etc.. with a small one upstairs.

4. Something else to look for, is if they sell replacement batteries for the models you're interested in. APC does, but I notice their local competitors don't. The batteries tend to last 3-5 years easily.. beyond that its cheaper to replace a battery rather than the entire unit.

If you're interested in a couple used APC models and can wait a month or so, PM me.

Most 'factory' service centers are privately owned/operated.. and they have an agreement with the manufacturer on what they can service and be paid for under warranty. These are the service centers you want fixing your camera.

Oh interesting to know, but think it may exclude Sony, which has had my camera in to fix under warranty, since the 29th of November.... One excuse after another..... the shop here has been helpful (where I purchased) but.... last I heard it was supposed to be back March 15th..... I am not holding my breathe ..... that added on three weeks from the last promised date.... The last Sony I will ever buy... "we are not amused! "

Just from experience Canon is much better here in Thailand ... back in two weeks....

Sorry to go off topic here.... just needed to get that one off my chest! :jap:

Sure, these are general rules and it pays to know your company. I know for sure Sony as you say 'can' be an exception. They'll usually honor a warranty from other SEA countries, but you sure won't be on top of their priority list. I had to wait 4 weeks for my MP3 player to be fixed once, while a friend with the exact same model and the exact same needed repair, brought his in after mine, and got it back just days later. They won't tell you, but if they use stock parts or order exclusive of stock, which priority, etc.. it's all in their contracts with Sony.

And yes, Canon is really good with service here. I use their service center all the time and have only had minor issues with them. And for sure, they won't take 'under warranty' anything without a Thailand warranty card, but they will do repairs on gear from other countries which is great. Canon USA will not. With Canon, get their free CPS card if you quality, it will save you these types of heartaches.

All I'm trying to say, is there's a reason for the differences in pricing you're experiencing and it usually has to do with warranty coverage as certain importers import gray, others through authorized distributors.. so know what you're buying, ask questions, etc.

Many shops carry both.. and will gladly explain the differences.

1. Modern laptops have lithium-polymer battery which doesn't suffer from memory effects. They do however have a finite number of charges in a typical lifespan, 300-500 would be the average. "Topping one off" can eat into those charge cycles, so while topping it off doesn't hurt it or affect the memory, it does shorten it's lifespan. Going flat with any battery is never good, but a laptop battery in good shape can literally last years without losing its charge.

2. "Triggering a recharge cycle" is the key. This is one of those differences between a $500 laptop and a $3000 laptop, the more expensive laptop will normally have more advanced circuitry for the battery which will "maintain" a charge without triggering a recharge cycle. So leaving your battery in with such a laptop won't hurt anything, and will keep the battery in peak condition. This might not be the case with an inexpensive laptop. Ask the manufacturer.. it's why manuals from one laptop might make a different recommendation than a manual from another laptop.

3. The same applies to the circuitry the laptop runs off of. Is the adapter always charging the battery, which the laptop runs off of.. or when you plug the charger in does it bypass the battery and run only off the adapter? Probably.. more new laptops do this, but again it's impossible to say for sure if yours does.. so check.

4. If you have a battery in the laptop, and the power goes out, the battery will surely power it. But now the question is how fast (latency) the battery will kick in and take over powering the laptop without causing damage. Again, this varies by the quality (expense) of the laptop and you should check your manual for the answer.

5. UPS? While it never hurts and almost always helps to use a quality UPS.. check how fast a UPS battery cuts in after an outage and compare it to how fast your laptop battery cuts in after a power outage. This comparison should tell you if a UPS will be advantageous to your laptop. Of course, a UPS is just one more layer of protection, so it will protect the adapter and battery from spikes and surges.. even if the laptop battery protects the laptop itself.

Lots of variables for sure. There are no one size fits all answers. You just need to examine what you have, sort the numbers, and compare them to the alternatives.

I hope it you get it sorted.

Try "Big Camera", they have stores in MBK, Siam Paragon, and most big malls. They're a big Fuji retailer.

Also realize, price often reflects the difference between a gray market "international warranty" (which won't be honored in Thailand), and a regular model with a "Thailand warranty." If in doubt, ask to see the warranty card. There should be a warranty card from the manufacturer clearly stating "Thailand Warranty" right across the top of it. Or some words to that effect..

Most 'factory' service centers are privately owned/operated.. and they have an agreement with the manufacturer on what they can service and be paid for under warranty. These are the service centers you want fixing your camera.

There are smaller independent repair centers who will honor "international warranties" and have some type of agreement with the manufacturer, but it often takes them forever to get parts, they might not have the required test equipment a certain model requires, and their tech's might not be trained on that specific model.

The F300 is a nice choice. Good luck with that.

I'll only use APC which is available here, and Tripp Lite which isn't.

Don't take anyones word for which UPS will meet your needs. Go to the UPS manufacturers site and use their configurator where you'll need to know specific power requirements on all components of your computer, monitors, and other devices you'll be protecting. It will take you a bit of work to look up these numbers, but it's worth the time.

As examples. I have one workstation with a i7-950 (135 watts), ATI 5970 video card (up to 500 watts), 24gigs of RAM (90 watts), (1) SSD (7 watts), (8) HDD's (160 watts), and a 1000 watt PS. APC's configurator recommends a 1500 watt unit just for the CPU, if I want to protect the two 26.5" NEC monitors (which I do because they're pricey) I use with the workstation, then they recommend a 2000 watt server class unit. Note that APC's policy is to buy a UPS that supplies roughly double the power of your components) Another workstation: i7-920 (135 watts), 12gigs (40 watts), ATI 5770 video card (200 watts), (1) SSD (7 watts), (1) HDD (20 watts), 750 watt PS, and lower end 24" LED monitor.. gets by with a 650 watt unit. So, you can see it 'depends' on the components of each computer.

There are also two classes of UPS devices. Consumer and Server. Consumer class UPS's, with a fresh battery, might give up 12-15 minutes of backup power. A server class is much bigger and heavier, same wattage but with bigger battery and some enhanced control functions, can extend that over 30-40 minutes. If you have power outage issues and you want to use your computers during outages a server class becomes worth its weight in gold.

This is not an area to save money through a lower power unit or lesser brand.. but many buy these as an after thought thinking it will never happen to them..

Sounds expensive.

The bottom line for any streaming from any source is going to be how good your connection is here locally. I have a 16mbps line and it doesn't always deliver enough bandwidth for streaming. Sometimes it works great, other times it's okay, and every now and then it doesn't work for streaming at all.

So.. I'd recommend you ask for a test link to verify your bandwidth will provide the desired quality.

Many people are using the Slingbox which I reviewed here. A family member hooks it up to the local cable/sat/DVR/tivo and their router, and you can watch those devices anywhere in the world bandwidth allows. With my setup I get over 90 channels from the states. The quality is fine for news and sports, but I prefer a higher quality for movies or tv shows and get those elsewhere.

For Slingbox a local cable connection is required in the UK. I don't have that option. The other thing about streaming is that most of the interesting programs are in the evening in the UK. 1am-6am local time here so the option to watch 'live' TV for me anyway is limited. This means i can download and record what i want. to watch later. I believe for this uninterupted streaming is not so much an issue?

Cheers

1. If you Google 'Slingbox services' you'll find some servers set up to 'rent' you a slingbox and your choice of programming.

2. Well sure, if you're not streaming, either through downloading a torrent or video file of some sort, then bandwidth only comes into play for the time it takes to download the file. Streaming implies a non-stop stream of music of video. You can stream recorded shows or live shows.