LivinLOS

What is a police caution for possession of pot? Where I'm from, the tiniest amount of marijuana puts you in jail with a real, permanent police record. If it's on your criminal record, that's serious. You might get by in Thailand for a couple of years without having to provide a criminal background check. The better the school and job are, the more likely you'll need the police check.

In the UK cautions are common practice and not a big deal.. A caution is not a criminal record and will not show as such on a criminal record check.

Nissan 350z also..

I am told that the massive import duties only came in post 97 currency crisis.. Is that true ??

Google.. "firefox change default email handler"

Immediately shows http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_change_the_mai...il_program.html.

Google's amazing.. Try it sometime..

Xbox360 Core - Very cheap. Controllers are not wireless.

Xbox360 Premium - The most commonly sold. Wireless controllers, 20gb hdd, headset.

Xbox360 Elite - Latest model, 120gb hdd, HDMI output, and black colour.

The Elite may or may not have the new heatsinks, MS aren't admitting any liability.

Xbox360 Falcon - Production Q3 this year, so now I guess. Uses a new mainboard and CPU. Won't be available for some time.

Wolfie - Check the fine print, some of the warranties specifically do not cover the 3 red rings.

Sorry but thats misleading, of course MS are admitting liability they even have a GLOBAL warranty on all xbox 360's, as I have posted before elsewhere on this forum.

Furthermore, the Falcon chipset is definitely available today. Check the barcode of the box it will either say 'Zephyr' or 'Falcon' and if you want to be sure buy the Halo 3 special edition console.

Wolfie, some games are region locked but the vast majority aren't. Check out places like Play-asia.com who describe the ins and outs of this matter for every game.

Its my understanding that 'global' doesnt mean worldwide, it means only where MS have official sales channels and does not include Thailand or Indo the 2 places I would spend 95% of my time..

So 'global' is misleading if you ask me.

If you can drive over to Chalong circle, then head on the Cho Fa west about 200m hes fair and does big bike work..

Also in Karon, I hear OK things about the guy whose just towards the beach from the Temple (opposite Red onion)..

This is I presume for a real bike not a scooter etc.. Otherwise the local bike boys can handle the small stuff, use the same one and show you know what your talking about and usually they are fine, I have a young guy take care of our scooters and he really does charge pennies for work done..

Option 2 is not possible.. You cant buy a registration plate for an unknown car.

Your over thinking it.. You get your name put in the book either in BKK or here. If done in BKK its yours (but BKK regged) and you simply drive here and change regions easily.. Ideal.

Or you get it from the dealer in the dealers name.. Drive it from BKK to here and then have it registered and region changed at the same time on Phuket.. Risks being you pay for a car and drive away without technically owning it.

There is a motoring forum for exactly these kind of questions.

If your really not selling visas then why is that a major focus of all of your advertising (that I have seen)..

From my position as a totally unaffected bystander your adverts seem to push the visa almost more than the language.

Get the dealer to do the name change.. When its in your name and you hold the book, drive it here then move the plate to a phuket plate.

It is possible to do it in reverse (buy it drive it here then do the ownership transfer and changwat change) but then your in a position of paying for a vehicle that you dont have in your name 100%.. Possibly OK with a dealer but not ideal if private sale.

Get the dealer to do it, its easy for them, harder for you..

Should report that despite a few problems in the past.. I had emergency treatment last week in International by big C..

Had a collar bone pinned back together, every single part of the process could not have gone better.. From initial check in and immediate consult and exam, to literally minutes later a super professional and capable doc giving me options, decision to pin / operate.. Minutes later a set of forms.. almost immediate admittance to surgery.. private clean room to recover in.. Professional docs and very caring and friendly / cheerful nurses. Lastly at a very reasonable price (yes I am an idiot and didnt have insurance AGAIN !!)..

I had to go back for a check up and on arrival, desk nurse took my info, made a call and the orthopaedic surgeon was called down and there before I had found my chair.

I am not easily impressed and am certainly not going to make my hospital choices based on if its decor is pleasant. For simple stuff like bones / accidents I would not look elsewhere..

Ohh I once again spent 10 mins in Patong hospital prior to going over there and once again wonder why I bother..

If you buy a 360 be sure to get one that was manufactured since June this year and you should not have any problems.

In fact since then they changed the manufacturing process again (since the 120gb hdd Elites were made) and the new models have changes in the design that should eliminate the rrod problems that have been highly popularised.

To be sure, pick up the Halo 3 special edition box that uses this cooler running chipset with 65 nm technology, codenamed: 'Falcon'. Also both the Elite and this version have an HDMI lead as standard.

The link below provides more details.

Good news for folks craving working 360's

A friend of mine had this to say about streaming media to the 360 which I felt might be of interest to you too:

WMV formats stream natively to the 360. For all other file types you will need to use Tversity which doesn't use media extender and is like the WMP streaming option but supports all formats via transcoding through the dashboard.

Windows Media Center is the option to use the Extender portion of the 360, using transcode360 to transcode the formats that are not WMV.

Personally I like the extender route as transcode360 supports DD 5.1 and tversity does not.

Codec Packs youll need to install are FFDSHOW and Haali Mediasplitter.

Oh and I will probably buy a Wii too.

Problem with transcoding is my machines cant on the fly transcode Hidef files..

I am having more success playing HiDef WMV files over the 360 than my media PC (needs an upgrade to keep up with h264 hidef files).. Big draw for me having a hidef player and I can get most 720p WMV's on a single layer DVD for archival.

Just wish I could get a really fool proof encoding option working.. A lot of my converts dont work and eat major processing time.

One thing in favor and for me the reason to buy a 360 is that it works very smooth as a media extender to my windows vista box.

So i have my games and my movies/music all coming from the xbox.

Very easy to navigate with the remote.

I like racing games. The microsofts racing wheel is in my opinion the best ever.

Not to be forgotten.. Also tho its not for everyone, the ability for distributed media throughout a home via a few 360's as nodes is very appealing and cost effective compared to similar solutions. I am considering a 2nd bedroom console that would probably never play games but just was a music / DVD / Media extender.. Only thing I am delaying about is running more CAT 5 trough roof spaces and walls.

Still hanging back on a wheel.. Really should tho.

To all the fanboys that say it hasn't happened to me so it can't be a problem, well I've had unprotected sex and so have some of my friends and we haven't caught HIV+, so HIV must be a myth, I don't care about the many reports saying it's true cos me and my 5 friends haven't caught it, think about your mentality.

I dont think anyone is saying it cant be a problem.. But I do feel the 360 failure rate is no where near what some present as 'facts'..

And comparing your 360 dieing to catching HIV.. lol.. Your not taking your console selection a little seriously ?? Its about speedning <12k to replace should it happen, not a life ending event ??

I have a 360 and enjoy it.. My thinking is that 10 legit games would be the value of a replacement box so that does weigh in heavily.. I also like the media features on a home net as mentioned.

I hope anyone enjoys the console they own, I consider myself totally platform agnostic, I will happy play on whatever is available or the best deal. For me thats the 360, for others it may not be.

Says it all really.. Anyone seen the K850i for sale yet ?? If so how much in baht ??

Been jonesing on this phone since its announcement.. Eager for a 5MP cybershot in the phone..

Prices seem all over the map.. US pricing for in stock seems a hair over 600 USD, Seen one online retailer with it listed for 440 USD but not yet in stock so pre-order only. The initial 'ebay week' has passed and the 700+ USD prices have been worked through for those that absolutely must have on launch week.

UK prices like always seem higher..

I thought I saw the new HALO XBOX 360's with HDMI in MBK the other day. Black colour box right? Are they not the new XBOX360's?

You're probably thinking about the Xbox 360 Elite.

Yeah I suspect those are elites.. The Halo version is army green and orange..

There are aftermarket black cases too..

solosiam or benq or whatever you are - your reply in this thread is typical of your attitude whenever someone reports a broken 360. You really ought to stop doing this, I mean, do you realise how infantile this behaviour is? Of course you don't as that would require an ounce of intellect, and you only have 16ths!

basjke - I have green LED on start up. The red rings are gone. Sadly, the console isn't yet 100% fixed as there is no AV output. I need to check with another AV cable to eliminate suspects! Just waiting for A. The time to go to a shop and try with their AV cable as a test, or B. Hook up with a 360 owner and test using their cable.

If there is AV, its fixed, but if not, I will call it a day and wait for the new 360's. I will also cut a huge hole in my new 360 and attach a 220v fan which will ensure minimal temperatures when in use.

Insults are unnecessary... Ben just reported his experience and thats counter to the above quoted 'fact'..

I too am into my second year of 360 use.. As is a mate.. None of us have suffered the 3RLOD.

So based on the above 'fact' where only 9% make a year I would say thats way out..

I am not saying there are no failures but the 'fact' that only 1% of 360's make 2 years is BS IMO.

Night vision is so cool.

I thought that Mercedes has good enough head lights that one can see where to go, unless you practicing similar driving than Thais WITH OUT LIGHTS DURING NIGHT TIME...

The night vision in the s class is a big improvement over lights alone (in a road without street lights) it seems to penetrate the darkness further..

The flip side is your distracted from looking at the primary information zone (windscreen) and I can see a possible risk in looking up and down / driving to the display.

I tend to think this is a feature that will trickle down into other cars and brands and in a few years be considered a must have.. It wouldnt surprise me to see that in a decade or so we may even have this as the primary vision or projected onto the windscreen as an overlay to whats there.. If your car imagination runs long term its not hard to imagine a system that merges vision and screen display and identifies moving objects and or objects in the path of the vehicle in warning color codes like some head up display. Of course thats not something for the coming couple of years but highly probable in the not so distant future.

A max of 500 baht over high season.. Not exactly giving us much to work with.

At those rates you will need to beat the street and look at the Thai style rooms and small places on Nanai.

Why do you suspect more to it ??

Thats exactly how Patong tuktuks behave.. And outside JC is 'thier patch'..

Its got ridiculous now.. My GF came running in the house in tears after one demanded double fare and when she protested he went to fully beat her up, basically a mugging over 80 baht. The red menace has to go !!

I seem to remember a recent post from someone how they are all nice guys deep down.. You just have to get to know them !!

Wolfie:

Wii hands down! My choice for a console was easy. And stay away from the chipped consoles and buy an untampered product. Why some of these people complain when there modded Xbox, PS3, or Wii breaks down is beyond me. What do they expect!

360 failures Has absolutely nothing to do with any machine tampering and everything to do with manufacturing.. Failure rates are the same with unmodded consoles..

In fact if anything those that do open thier machines can actually apply fixes to make up for the failures..

Add in the grey market and lack of warranty is the worry for many.. Me I am happy and would buy another immediately if it failed.

As for the wii.. I just havent seen a single game I would play for more than a casual interest 1/2 hour.. Theres an instant pick up and burst of fun but no depth and I have to say I am a sucker for hidef games on a 120 inch HT screen in full surround..

Itching for assassins creed..

Ps3 has a bad set of games and I just read capcom are pulling PS3 support after being previous exclusives.. Very bad sign !!

Wii.. Interesting controller.. But I just dont see the games I like..

360.. HUGE lineup of titles.. Plus pirate games available.. x-clamp mods seeming to work for those effected.. Basically I am very happy with my 360..

They cant afford to put the electric cables underground or purchase the last land plots to complete the main Rd that will pass Baanzaan, yet they spend time considering pie in the sky stuff like this..

Why ??

Look at the expiry date and it should be your birthday, you get five years from the next birthday after you renew it

cheers

Wish I had spotted that first.. I went and renewed a few weeks before my birthday !!

(Last year it involved having to stand in a long queue upstairs waiting to hand in all complete docs and copies to a guy who was sitting in the hallway on a chair with a small table and then going downstairs to several counters until being told to come back in the afternoon after their lunch break to collect the licence, all with long long waits, making it a full day project in 2006 to get a Thai licence, after going to the doctor, to a stall outside to take photos, to immigration for the residence cert to a copy shop to take copies and to a shop to laminate the paper licences afterwards.)

Hardly apples to apples tho is it.. One is getting a new license (the guy upstairs is part of the test system, even if you skip the tests) to getting one simply renewed.

Nigh on impossible...

For kit cars it needed to be certified by some Thai society of engineers.. They never responded to any phone faxes or emails I tried to send..

Unless your a Thai of influence its not going to be easy.

Its pointless going any larger than 36" with UBC..

i have a 67" Samsung (DLP technology) and my UBC picture is excellent even though UBC's programming is sh*t².

<a href="http://www.dlp.com/tech/what.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.dlp.com/tech/what.aspx</a>

I find DLP tends to smooth an image without suffering detail loss.. I suspect its due to the millions of on off mirror flips inherent in the DLP technology.. LCD (in projectors too) look more harsh and digital looking..

I too use a DLP system and am very happy.. Time for a new bulb tho.

what's the average lifetime of a bulb in a DLP TV LivinLos? my TV is about 1½ years and my wife's 1 year old. each running ~4-5 hours a day.

I am using a 720p projector thats good for 2000 - 3000 hours per bulb..

I actually have the current bulb at well over rated spec but it is now dimmer and as I am over driving the screen size (it looked a lot better at 90 inch approx than the 120 I am using but 120 looks better for the room) so the lowered 'punch' is less than perfect if you have room lights on.. Also I project on a cream wall rather than a pure white reflective screen, again not ideal but compromises in a rental villa. One day I will build the whole room around the system.

I will pick a new bulb up next time I am in Singapore.. They have a dealer there and its easier than mail order and customs..