After my disappointment last week with the way the new series of Doctor Who is going, I feel I should post again tonight.

Tonight saw the return of the Weeping Angels. We were introduced to them in the 2007 episode “Blink” where the creatures turn to harmless stone statues when being looked at. If you turn away or blink, you are in trouble!

If you haven’t seen it yet, here is the Radio Times synopsis:

Hallucinogenic lipstick, ruby stilettos, laser pistol and “Hello, sweetie”… Who else could it be but River Song, the Doctor’s future love who first turned up two years ago in the library of flesh-eating shadows. “We keep meeting in the wrong order,” says her Time Lord toyboy. Alex Kingston reprises the role of the intergalactic archaeologist with gusto and looks magnificent – be it glammed up like Rita Hayworth or roughing it in fatigues a la Orla Guerin. River joins the Doctor on his first trip with Amy to an alien planet. A crashed spaceship leads them to a cavern of the dead, where terrifying forces lurk in the darkness.

I have to say, in a huge contrast to last weeks terrible episode, I enjoyed watching Doctor Who once again.

The episode is also “hide behind a cushion” scary for younger viewers which added to the excitement.

I’m looking forward to the conclusion of the story next week. I hope they don’t mess it up.

Oh, just one last thing… Please BBC, can we have the old theme tune back? :)

With the advent of more and more HD ready tv’s, there a new scam in town – the premium HDMI cable.

Until recently, the audo and video signals between your AV equipment (TV, Video recorder, DVD player, Hifi etc) was an analogue signal carried over your cables such as SCART and RCA (phono). When carrying an analogue signal, the quality of the connection and cable was rather important. Gold plated connectors would genuinely give better sound quality than cheaper alternatives.

Digitial

These days, new TV’s, DVD players and so on have largely ditched the SCART connector for a more up to date Digital connector – HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface). At a fraction of the size of it’s older counterpart, the HDMI connector carries high speed picture and sound digital data about your kit.

So, you have your shiny new 200″ plasma tv and the sales person says “You need a HDMI cable to get the most out of it”. This is correct, but stop one minute and think.

Upselling

The consumer electronics business is cut throat. Everyone is operating on tiny margins to appear the cheapest. Your new TV muight have gost you £500, but the comany that sold it to you may have only made around £10. “How do they survive?” you may ask – by upselling optional extras – cables, extended warranties etc.

I have searched two well known UK outlets for a 5 metre HDMI cable that would suit all of today’s requirements (TV, SKY HD, BluRay etc).

This one from Currys (click image for full size):

This one from Amazon (click image for full size):

So, one for £94.99, the other for £4.09. Thats a whopping £90.90 difference.

So what’s the difference? Well, as far as you are concerned, none. They will both produce the same results. The main difference if just mark up by the shop and the manufacturer. 

Digital signals are not affected in the same way older analogue ones were. This is because they are only sending data (loads of 1′s and 0′s) instead of the actual audio or video. As long as there’s no major interference there is no degradation of the 1′s and o’s. Your picture and sound quality will be identical.

To be fair to both retailers, Currys had a cheaper option 5 metre cable at “only” £64.99 and Amazon had one for a huge £197.10. Once again, you will not notice any difference between these and the £4.09 one. Don’t get ripped off.

Search Amazon for HDMI Cables

I’ve just seen the debut of the new Jon Lewis TV ad campaign on ITV1 – And what a cracker.

It depicts the life of a woman from birth to old age to highlight “a lifelong commitment” to their slogan “never knowingly undersold”

Here is the video, enjoy.

Here is the official press release:

John Lewis is launching its biggest ever TV advertising campaign to drive awareness of its ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ proposition.

The six week campaign, costing £6m, is the first time the retailer has dedicated a TV and press campaign to its commitment to quality, price and service.

Created by Adam & Eve, the TV ad features a female character and the way in which she interacts with the brand throughout her life, starting as a young child through to becoming a grandparent. The campaign reinforces the idea that John Lewis has made a lifelong commitment to give great quality, fair prices and excellent service to its customers.

‘The key message the campaign conveys is that John Lewis is always there for you, whether you are setting up your first home, having a baby or just love shopping with us. We are there for all the important times, big or small’ said Craig Inglis, Director, Marketing at John Lewis.

‘For a long time Never Knowingly Undersold has been perceived as just a price promise, but it’s more than that: it’s about the total value we offer our customers, about the quality of the products we sell and the added value customers receive with the service our Partners offer. This is unique to John Lewis and our customers have told us time and time again how important this is to them – now seems the perfect moment to reinforce this message.’

The campaign, which consists of one 90-second, one 60-second and four 10-second TV ads, also features two John Lewis Partners (staff) – delivery drivers Brian Rees and Noel Breen – who appear in the TV ad delivering a sofa to the main female character when she moves into her first apartment.

With executions in national press supporting the TV, the campaign aims to build on previous print advertising for Never Knowingly Undersold which launched last Autumn.

The music for the ad is a track by Fyfe Dangerfield of The Guillemots – titled ‘She’s Always a Woman’, it was originally recorded by Billy Joel.

The 90 second commercial will air for the first time on Friday 23 April at 7.45pm during Coronation Street on ITV1.

A big thumbs up from me to john Lewis - nice work. It could become a classic like the Hovis ads or the Cadbury “Gorilla” ads.

Sponsored links

• Fly Yellow Moon (New Version including “Always a woman”)
• Essential Billy Joel at Amazon

Did you see it? Did you like it? Let me know below.