欧州自転車レース追っかけ日記

DVB-T2 (H. 265 H. 264) Digital TV

So the preparation continues. I just ordered a DVB-T2 standard portable TV for the occasion. This problem has been troubling me for some time. The problem is that in France has been upgrading its (her if you choose to select a more elegant possessive form) DVB-T standard to T2.

I did not know this on-going upgrading until it was too late. I was at the Avenue of Champs Elysee and tried to watch the broadcasting and found that my DVB-T TVs could not catch any of the stations. They (French) started upgrading the equipment around Paris first. I knew him as I could use my old DVB-T in local places in France even after two years since they started upgrading.

In Belgium or Luxembourg this DVB-T2 upgrading has not been done yet. I don't even know if they (Belgium or Luxembourg) are considering.

In Germany this transition has been made rather rapidly and not gradually. DVB-T2 standard seems to have two standards (H. 264 and H. 265). The latter is more efficient in compressing the data in the signals (so I heard).

In Germany they aimed high and took the latter and implemented all over the country. They set a date and shut down the analog and DVB-T broadcasting and switched the T2 on. This date was much later than the date when France did the T2 switch in Paris. I read also somewhere that in France they were starting with H. 264 and gradually phasing out H. 264 and implementing H. 265 in the future.

This is the difference between France and Germany. They think differently and act accordingly.

I don't know exactly where they (French) have changed the equipment. I can only say it is safer if I carried the latest DVB-T2 with H. 265 around when in France this coming Summer.

The portable TV I bought is August (www.augustint.com) DA100D. It has a 10 inch LCD screen with H. 265 capability.

The reason I chose this particular model is that its battery is not "built-in" but rather 'built-out'. Yes, it does not come with any batteries at all. I have to buy them. 1.2 V NiCd or similar standard AAA cells. 6 of them to be exact for the TV to function.

It does come with a wall (AC 220 V UK and EU plugs) adapter for feeding the TV and charging the cells inside.

What is the advantage of a built-out battery system over a built-in system? Let me answer the question by presenting a trouble I have in hand. The battery (built-in) inside this small device (elgato Mobile TV hotspot) is dead. It has been working well for some years but it is dead. Can I repair it? Maybe. I have to rip it up and see if I can identify the battery and see if I can source it somewhere. Would I do it? No!

There were other similar and cheaper H. 265 TVs on the market (Amazon to be exact). Alas, they did not have that built-out battery system.

The one I found was a second hand one. It was cheaper. I bought it from Amazon France because Amazon Germany refused to deliver one to me (to Luxembourg).

Anyway, I bought a remote control for SJ7 Star. This item also I could not buy from Amazon Germany as I was denied of delivery to Luxembourg.

It was first time I used Amazon France.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [August DA100D and SJ7 Star Remote]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2018/05/31(木) 16:34:09|
2. Tour de France
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It has not been announced yet officially on this site (http://fscl.lu) but its calendar section does list the event hosted by "CT Atertdaul".

I looked it up on the Internet and the mighty Google kindly told me that it is "Cycling Team Atertdaul Absl" located in Redange-sur-Attert.

So this year the events (a lot of categories but in Luxembourg most of them are done together, or concurrently, meaning that the lower category riders have less lapses than those belonging to higher ones) are held in the area surrounding Redange (Redange-sur-Attert).

Let me point it out that the name of the river is spelled as Attert but its name seems to reflect on other names as Atert with only one "T".

The venue is not far from the Capital area. Around 40 km I figure.

All of the time trial events take place on Thursday, 28 June.

Elite men's events along with others take place on Sunday, 1 July.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [National Championship Luxembourg 2018]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2018/05/22(火) 19:25:31|
2. Bike Races in Luxembourg
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I had another car accident.

I parked my car not far from my humble residence in a parking lot (not on the side of the road) on Tuesday morning after visiting my car dealer (to make an appointment for that "hail" incident).

I did not use my car until now (Wednesday evening) so I had no idea what had happened to my car.

As I was going to start to move, I noticed a paper wrapped in a plastic sheet under the wiper blade. I pulled it off and inspected the content.

A note hand written in German telling me that this person hit my car on the passenger's side door and left a dent. There was a mobile phone number for me to contact her if needed.

I phoned and found out that this was a German lady who did not speak English. The voice on the phone gave me an impression that she was kind of an old lady but I could be wrong.

Anyway, I am very lucky that the person who hit my car was an honest person, honest enough to leave a note on my car. You know a lot of people don't do that.

My German was just enough to tell her that I would contact my insurance agent and then make a further contact with her.


My Mazda MX-5 does not have much luck, does it?

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Another car accident?]の続きを読む

テーマ:愛車と日常 - ジャンル:車・バイク

1. 2018/05/09(水) 20:44:27|
2. Mazda MX-5
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So this morning, I went to the dealership for the second time for the same business, namely, to make an appointment for the repair (assessment first, though) and successfully met with the service manager who had been missing (vacation or whatever) the last time I was there.

On this desk, I could see many keys and sheets of paper underneath. I think he had been overwhelmed by the amount of work he had to deal with upon return from whatever he had been absent for.

My appointment was Wednesday, June 13th because, he said, the "expert (French word meaning assessor)" from my insurance company was set to come to the dealer on that day.

For the next one month, I don't have anything to do but wait. I will probably write an email informing my insurance agent of what had been set that he would not hear anything before that date and that the assessor commissioned by his company would make a report soon after (if the repair estimate was reasonable or not).

To repeat what I had already written somewhere, my poor Mazda MX-5 has around 11 dents (major and minor) on the rear trunk lid, probably one on the passenger's side door (kinda major), around 15 (major and minor) dents on the bonnet and 3 (ditto) dents on the right (passenger's side) rear fender panel.

I am happy now that the appointment date is set. I just have to wait.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Hailing and the aftermath]の続きを読む

テーマ:愛車と日常 - ジャンル:車・バイク

1. 2018/05/08(火) 14:10:59|
2. Mazda MX-5
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I talked to my insurance agent and he had assured me that everything would be taken care of by the insurance policy that I had. He told me to go talk with the garage (the car dealership).

I went and talked. The man I talked to told me that the head of the body work devision was off and would be back next Monday (May 7). This person has to be there to take the appointment for the damages caused by the natural disaster. I had to call or just go there and make an appointment. He also said that they had already more than 50 customers queuing up for exactly the same problem.

I talked with the receptionist first at the dealership and told her about the dents (I found more than 20 dents all over my car) and also that the car belonging to one of my colleagues had been at the same parking not far from my car but it had not damages at all. She told me that one of her colleagues had the same story. A couple had one car (husbands') which got only one dent but his wife's car had suffered from more than twenty dents (even though they had those cars at the same place).

So my car won't be repaired until June or August?

How do they repair them? What method?

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ
[It hailed in Luxembourg Part II: The aftermath]の続きを読む

テーマ:愛車と日常 - ジャンル:車・バイク

1. 2018/05/04(金) 11:57:31|
2. Mazda MX-5
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It hailed in Luxembourg!
It was Sunday (April 29) evening around 21:20 (?) when the cloudy sky started to flash. We did not hear any roaring but the sky was continuously kept flashing until finally it started to hail. Yeah, it HAILED!

Balls of ice like a size of olives fell on the ground from the sky. If you are not familiar with this meteorological phenomenon, you should read its description somewhere. It lasted about 15 minutes or so.

The pre-hail constant flashing behind those clouds was the result of electric discharges (also known as static) between dusts and ice particles in the clouds caused by the rising airstream. This rapid rise of air made the air above colder below freezing point and the swurling ice particles and dusts grew fatter and heavier before they started to fall.

Hailing is nothing to me but I am very very upset now because my beloved Mazda MX-5 got damaged by the falling ice balls. I have talked to my insurance agent about it and he assured me that my insurance policy (basically, it is a full cover policy) covered the damages made by this kind of natural disaster.

Now I have to ask for a service appointment with my car dealer for the damage estimate. I think I have around a dozen of small dents on the bonnet, around half a dozen on the trunk lid and at least one on the door.

My car has run a bit more than 10,000 km so I have also asked for an oil change service.


TdF 2018

Oh my God! It is coming!

Here is the To Do list before the Tour!

1. Bike maintenance (rear deraileur swap/modification to accommodate a big 36 cog)
2. Some shopping (camping equipment, action cam accessories and etc.)
3. Train myself (shedding off some fat)
4. Save up some money!

The list goes on more.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [The Tour de France 2018 Preparation ]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2018/05/02(水) 12:32:23|
2. Tour de France
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