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Blu-Ray Audio Troubleshooting

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Blu-Ray Audio Troubleshooting

by Steve
May 20th, 2013

Dave W. from Kaysville asked:

I have a blu ray player in my basement hooked up to a plasma tv with a surround sound system. For some bizarre reason the audio works on some blu ray discs and not on others although it has worked just fine on these same discs before. What do you suggest?

Answer:

Hello Dave and thank you for your question.

Troubleshooting from afar is sometimes difficult, but I think we can talk you through it.  First off, there are a couple of things I would investigate.  Do the problem blu-ray discs play in other machines now?  Perhaps a friendly neighbor could oblige and determine.  The real culprit probably has to do with which audio track is being played.  Per Wikipedia (said better there than if I tried):  Players are required to support Dolby Digital (AC-3), DTS, and linear PCM. Players may optionally support Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio as well as lossless formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.   Now back to me.   Some of the formats can play using an optical digital cable, whereas the newer formats require an HDMI cable.  Additionally, some of the formats aren’t recognized by older players.  The good news is that the good ‘ole Dolby Digital 5.1 format is available to play, the trick is getting your player to play it.  When you look at the menu for a disc you will probably see Audio choices.  Try selecting the Dolby 5.1 instead of the 7.2 or Master Audio.  One other item to consider is to update the player’s software.  Most blu ray players “like” to be hooked up to the Internet.  That way when new formats and functionality emerges they can update the software to accommodate.  I would recommend doing this also, just on the off chance you are playing a new disc with an older software.   My money is on the audio format issue though.  Give it a try and let us know.  If those quick items don’t work, give us the model numbers of both the blu ray player and the surround sound system along with the blu ray disks in question and we’ll do some digging GTK.

Thanks again for asking the Guys That Know!

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LinkedIn Tips for Beginners

by Steve
December 10th, 2012

LinkedIn is the world’s largest networking site for business – by far! As of March 2012 LinkedIn passed the 100 Million mark.

I’ve been a LinkedIn member since, well, since forever. I started using this great networking tool just 10 months after they launched. I was the 347,536th registered user of LinkedIn. That’s pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. There are now over 100 million LinkedIn members, and I joined well before they reached their first million. I’m now patting myself on the back for being such a savvy early adopter.

OK, enough about me.

Before I give you the first tip, I’ll tell you how you find the date you joined LinkedIn. It’s easy.

  1. Login to LinkedIn and hover over your name in the top right corner.
  2. Select “Settings.”
  3. You’ll see your avatar (profile picture) in the top left corner. Just under your name you will see the date you joined LinkedIn.

And finding your LinkedIn “number” is just as easy. Here’s how:

  1. Hover your mouse over the “Profile” menu.
  2. When that menu opens, hover over “View Profile.”
  3. Now look down in the bottom left corner of your browser window. It shows a link (URL) to your profile. LinkedIn has a unique identifier for each of their members, and they are ordered sequentially. The link has a bunch of text then says “id=” followed by a number. That’s your LinkedIn “number.”
Now for a couple of tips for beginners:
Tip #1 – Make sure your profile is complete:
Your LinkedIn Profile is your public resume. Just like you wouldn’t send an incomplete resume to a prospective employer, you shouldn’t have an incomplete LinkedIn profile – because your prospective employer is probably going to look at your profile!
I have to be honest and say I don’t have the stats for this, but I feel very confident saying that for professional-level positions, almost every employer will view your LinkedIn profile if they’re at all interested in hiring you. And FYI, they will also view your Facebook and Twitter accounts, so be careful – but that’s another story.
Put these 8 things on your To-do list for completing your LinkedIn profile:
  1. Your industry – you will want to tell people what industry you work in. For example, I put Computer Software. I thought about putting Insurance because the software company I own serves the insurance industry, but MY industry is Computer Software.
  2. Your location – people need to know where you are. I live about 20 minutes north of Salt Lake City, so I put “Greater Salt Lake City area”.
  3. Enter your current position – This is usually your job title, the time period, the company, etc.
  4. Enter at least your two previous positions – People want to know where you have worked prior to the job you currently have. You should enter all the positions you would normally list on a paper resume.
  5. Enter your education – If you haven’t graduated from college yet, don’t sweat it. If you are going to school (post high school), list where you are going, what you are studying, and when you anticipate graduating. Most people don’t list their high school, but actually more and more people are starting to do that to make it easier to connect with people.
  6. Enter at least 3 skills – These are things you are genuinely good at. Don’t list things you’ve heard about, or taken one class on.
  7. Add at least 50 connections – For your profile to really be complete, you have to be connected. It’s kind of the purpose of the whole thing. If you only have 4 connections, potential employers will probably not take you very seriously. It’s easy to find connections – I’ll cover that in a future article.
  8. Add your profile picture – This is NOT optional! A LinkedIn profile picture is an absolute must. AND!!!! Don’t put in a picture of you and your spouse, or you and your pet, or you sitting on a beach somewhere. This is NOT Facebook! Your LinkedIn profile picture should be a nice looking picture of you – head-shot style (mug shot), so people can see what you look like.
One final tip about your profile – be honest! Future employers, business partners, and customers need to know the truth about who you are. You may deceive them in the beginning, but once they learn they truth they will never do business with you again, and they will tell their business associates. A little lie can hurt you for a long time. Don’t do it.
Okay, that will get you started.
I’ll post the next tip in a day or two. That will give you some time to get your profile completed.

 

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