SparksCW

Just another thought about house gadgets.... I've recently done a job for a client sending Sky TV signal and digital TV to 8 different TV's in his house on a (relative) budget. You can do it yourself for a reasonable cost, again if you're rewiring it's worth doing as all you need to do is run 1 x WF100 quality sheilded coax cable from each TV position back to the central box (best to install a data cabinet in this central location!) then install one of these; http://www.globalinvacom.com/products/loftbox.php Connect each of the TV coax's to the outputs on that... then take your Sky feed to the sky input, your digital TV feed into the TV input and an FM input into the FM (don't forget that the second sky feed needs to go to the living room or main viewing position so that you still have your twin tuners) or run both sky to the main TV then a coax uplink from the TV to the central position. then at each TV install a TV outlet plate and connect a TV Link magic eye http://www.globalinvacom.com/products/tvlinkeye.php then set up your sky box and for a couple hundred quid you have digital TV, FM radio signals to every TV position and a clone of the sky box (in very good quality but not HD) with full remote control.. (changing channel will change everywhere but for a couple hundred £££ you can't have everything!) It's budget, but it works really well and if you do all the work yourself it can be done really cheap.

Oh sadly i am on a very tight budget, i was more thinking of some cool cheapish "pimping". Although i like the sound of a unit that can not only control lights but everything else. Also when you say buzz, how bad are we talking, as i dont remember hearing buzzing when i went through the houses that had them (small sounds like buzzing and rattling really annoy me!) Some dimmers are better than others, if the dimmer is near its capacity (watts) then it'll buzz more than one thats only half it's capacity.. also depends on the make and model of the dimmer switch, if it's compatible with low voltage lighting transformers etc..... almost all dimmers buzz. They will usually buzz mostly when the lights are on their lowest dim settings and often won't buzz at all when not dimmed. Try a dimmable floor lamp, dim it down to it's lowest and you'll hear it buzz away! If there's not too many lights on your circuit and you use low energy lamps (make sure they lamps are dimmable though!) then the buzzing may not be too bad.... The Harmony remote and a few IR gadgets is a good cheap budget way of making a house "automated". Coupled with nicely wall mounted TV's etc you should be onto a "high tech" uncluttered feel for a relatively small amount of money. Cheap TV brackets on ebay too

+1 back at ya. Keysers right if you're rewiring throw some cat 6 around (not cat 5..) make sure it's a decent brand, it's pretty damn cheap for what it can do so it's worth doing. I'd say at least three to each TV point as if you use Cat6 for HDMI distribution you'll need 2 x cat 6 and best to have 1 x cat 6 as a data point for internet TV services/ps3/xbox/music box etc. Even if you don't use it for a few years after installing it, it's worth doing if you're re-wiring or having all the floors up for any reason. IMO don't bother throwing HDMI cables around, it gets expensive... use cat 6 and then hdmi baluns... they're not cheap (well, amazon do a range for a very reasonable price but I've not tested how good they are, they're reviewed well though!) but usually cheaper than long HDMI cables and a lot more flexible. Not only that but the wiring is cheap and you can add the baluns one by one as you can afford them rather than having to spend out on hdmi cables Also +1 on keysers point against wireless.. almost everything is wireless now but it'll never be as good as wires run wires or you'll regret it later!

Multi Zone audio (and video if you're feeling flush) All nicely integrated with wall key pads and in-ceiling speakers etc... if you got a few grand to spare and live in Hampshire (ish) area give me a shout But on a more budget note then at least wall mount all your TV's and chase the cables into the wall so there's nothing on show, houses look so much better when they are sleek and clutter free! There's so much you can do housewise depends on budgets really! Intelligent lighting Home automation Fibre-optic star ceilings Home Cinemas You name it, it can be done.... dependant on budgets! What sort of thing do you have in mind? p.s those dimmers are alright, but can be a pain in the arse and they'll buzz. But short of spending out on intelligent lighting there's not many other alternatives. One good point though is they can be controlled by IR remotes so I'd suggest spending out on a Logitech Harmony 1 remote... £150 but it'll control pretty much anything you can throw at it, including those light switches and all your AV gear. it also has macros so one button press can turn on tv, blu ray player and tune the tv to the right source and even turn the lights down if theres a light IR receiver in range of the AV kit...

Saw "coldel" on the A35 heading towards Plymouth... I was on my way home, noticed your registration before realising it was a zed so didn't get to wave in time! And also had a wave from a very very nice white 370z but I was too slow to wave back! again on the A35. Also saw a fricken gorgeous gunmetal gray 59 plate skyline GTR in sennen cove car park on Saturday mmmmmmmmmmm my next car!

Haha I saw you on the A35 when I was heading home today! Recognised the number plate (after looking at your cleaning thread in general) before I noticed it was attached to a zed else I would have waved enjoy your trip

Hi yeah I'm sure we can meet up sometime, give me a shout by PM p.s I've been away in the car all weekend and a major downside to the nurrish system is 95% of the time I couldn't see the screen for glare! Need to look into anti-glare coverings I guess

About 30 seconds before I typed and posted the thread

Damn that's expensive! Guess I'll try the underlay first then, ouch.

Mmmmmmmm very true I guess. I'll do it when I get back from Cornwall next week and post up if it makes any worthwhile difference.

Just a random thought (I have a lot of these ) but to reduce road noise in the car people always suggest extra mats in the boot, and after fitting my reverse camera last week there's pretty much NO insulation in there.. has anyone used some decent carpet underlay cut to the shape of the boot mat then put it under the mat? does it actually make any difference? I have some expensive 11mm underlay left over from my bedroom carpet but was wondering if it was worth the effort?!

I don't know if it's my tyres or I've suddenly got more confidence and am driving the car harder, but I'm finding the zed quite tail happy now even in the dry! I think when I get back I'm going to save for some Falken 452's, my rears are getting quite low anyway so it's only a matter of time before they need replacing! Oh and Grand Tourer or not, the nissan's boot is no match for my girlfriends stuff I can't believe we were originally planning to go away on the bike I'll be sure to post some pictures of everything squeezed in really looking forward to setting off now!

Nurrish pros - Sat nav is best I've used - beats garmin and tom tom - Screen quality/image quality is good, doesn't handle sun glare but not sure what screen really would - Reverse camera plugs straight in, auto switches when in reverse - bluetooth phone works well (but see cons) - pretty quick and easy to fit, looks factory (once you move the central switch anyway) - loads up from off quickly Nurrish cons - maybe just mine, but the 3.5mm audio out is such bad quality it's not useable which means I can't use it for MP3's etc and the sat nav voice doesn't come over radio so I can't actually hear directions until I rig up an inline amplifer and seperate speaker - due to the above it makes the bluetooth useless for me as you can't hear anyone over the inbuilt speaker - doesn't auto off, just a minor niggle but you gotta turn it off/sleep mode it manually each time.. and if it turns off then you have to turn it on manually when you get in (altho if battery does hold it in sleep then it comes straight on, maybe i dont drive mine enough but its always flat) - had to "improve" the wiring a fair bit, maybe I'm just a bit of a perfectionist but I wanted it to be all neat and tidy even if it is hidden in the dash. - on the above note, mine had a massive black switch in the middle of the screen section, didn't like this at all so I extended it and mounted it under the steering wheel out of sight, I then used some of the old cubby hole liner to line the plastic bit in front of the screen, now it looks completely standard So in all, it's bloody good for sat nav, reverse camera and cool points. If the audio out on mine worked properly id be a lot happier, but to be very honest I think I prefer using the ipod hack for an ipod... I'll just fit a seperate speaker and inline amplifier to sort the phone and sat nav voice problem. Hope that helps a bit. I'd definetly reccomend one. It's hassle free and works well for most people, few niggly bits but the pros outweigh the cons I think!

Don't know about you lot but it's been a long crappy year at work so far with all this recession bollocks, so I'm off to Cornwall in the zed with my girlfriend for a long weekend! Leave in the morning waving goodbye to work and Portsmouth even if it's only for 5 days it's the only time away from here I've had this year Anyone else got any sunny car related weekend plans?

That looks really good, on my list of things to do! Where did you get the wrap from? is it the expensive real carbon vinyl stuff or the slightly cheaper stuff like this which I assume isn't real carbon. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CARBON-FIBRE-BLAC ... 3a652a5cf5

As said, loss leader.. same way they sell 3 crates of beer for £16 or new release games for £20 every now and then.... they lose money but they get people in the stores who then inevitably do the weekly shop or buy more stuff whilst they are there. Dropping 6p a litre off fuel is a big incentive to do the weekly shop at a morrisons store, I don't think it's a case of they can afford to drop 6p (although I'm sure they still make money on that) it's just another way of playing on the "fuel crisis" to filll the stores.

I can't wait till that opens, will be worth a trip just to go through the tunnel, turn around then go home

Silver JDM 03 plate saw it by the golf course/hungry horse turning right onto the eastern road, probably off to the beach I *think* it's the same one I saw parked up in the buckland area (not going to specify where but it was in that large area!) I was in the van both times anyone on here?

Ipod hack, this is the only mod under £50 (well, reverse camera was only £20 but I'd already paid out for a nurrish sat nav) but having all my iphone music in the car = best mod for under £50

I use a van for work and diesel goes through the company hehe can't complain too much about the zed, I love it, just feel its about to get expensive as I need a P1, new tyres and possibly belts. Not to mention all the un-neccessary bits I want for it

The recessions hitting and I'm struggling a bit (hopefully temporarily, who knows) but unfortunately I can /always/ justify keeping my toys shame really because everything would be so much more comfortable without the cost of the car !

Damn it,you beat me to it! lol Thanks for bearing me in mind though. I've just sent you a PM about it though... just curious of the price and pics at the minute. Thanks.

You could do the ipod bose hack though where you solder a 3.5mm audio jack cable to the contacts on the tape deck.. it's relatively easy to do if you have a bit of confidence and some soldering experience. I recently done it to mine and it works perfectly. I am going to change the lead to a powered ipod plug one soon so that I can play and charge at the same time. Have a search on here as there are loads of threads about the ipod hack. Here's a pic, you can see the lead plugged into iphone and tucks out of sight when not in use.

Any idea where I can get one? I had a look on ebay and this isn't /quite/ what I had in mind http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KOOLART-Nissan-35 ... 80100f7138 I am friendly with a spray shop as I invest in their camper van projects so may ask him to spray it along with my door handles orange and wheels black.. but if an "apron" is reasonably priced I may just go for that instead, or vinyl.. This is the outcome I'm looking for (photoshop) so it's gotta go to a spray shop at some point anyway.

Just a random thought I had yesterday, I'm sure it's been done before but anyone on here done it? Was considering getting some vinyl as it looks quite wrappable for an amateur I think it makes the car look a bit "meaner".. here's a quick photoshop... Very tempting, I like it! Especially as I plan on having my wheels sprayed black and black Z badges in the future. And possibly some colour matched headlight "brows" to bring the bonnet in line, not convinced on them yet.