The race against time....

2 hours until Demo deadline, Laptop rebuilt, Demo system halfway up...
it's going to be a close call...

Just what I felt like doing tonight!

Today was just a nasty day! After working on some development to replicate functionality (that works perfectly well now) that has been seriously underscoped and completely undocumented, I went to do a very significant demo today only to have my laptop die!

There is really nothing like "Windows could not start" message to really brighten up your day. After spending about 20mins on the customers site trying to fix it we decided that it just wasn't going to work. The customer kindly gave us until 12pm to do the demo which means rebuilding my laptop tonight. (personally this close to Christmas I doubt seeing the product for the 5th time was really going to make that much difference, but apparenlty it is)

With most of the windows system32 directory corrupt and the harddrive running slower than any 3 1/4 I remember, I'm putting my money on it being the HDD. I've currently reinstalled windows onto a spare HDD and got the system up and running. Now it's the joy of trying to get the data back off my old drive.

So far I'm about 5 hours into the reinstall - restore process with no clear light at the end of the tunnel... I just hope I can stay awake for the demo!

It's almost christmas

It's a little hard to believe that go a few days it will be christmas already! It has really snuck up on me this year. I've hardly got any of the presents that i need! Fortunately the shops are open until 9pm for the next three nights. One of the reasons I haven't got around to the shopping is the huge amount of work that is on at the moment! Normally i'd be expecting everything to be easing off, but there is just as much work on now (if not more) than every other month of the year! However once friday rolls around i'll be go cruise mode! It y'll be nice to get some quality time with the consoles. On a less festive note i tried to remove the little toe of my left foot last night. Ended up only taking the toe-nail off on the vacuum. Still, it will make the trip to the coast next week interesting

Feeling just a little silly

After being frustrated by the Blue light on the new Toshiba SD-350E, I ended up posting on the aus.audio-visual.home-cinema forums. After a few options on electrical tape and colouring in the light, someone finally pointed out that it's in the manual :)

In my defense it's in a really stupid spot, both in the manual and the menu system. So to save other people the confusion here is How to dim the blue light on a Toshiba SD-350E.

1. Turn on the player with no Disc
2. Press the Setup button on the remote
3. Press the > button until you have selected the Rating option
4. Press the Enter button
5. In the Rating Menu select FL. Dimmer and press Enter
6. Select either Dim or Off

This will switch off the light on the front panel.

The only downside is that it doesn't seem to remember the setting once you turn the player off. Oh well back to the drawing board (and feeling silly)

Yay!!!! More Early Christmas Presents

I got a wonderful little package on my desk this morning from Lik Sang! I'd ordered a couple of copies of Puzzle Bobble for the DS back at the start of November with a few other bits and bobs. But as the game has now been delayed until March (at least at Lik Sang) I pulled the game out of the order so everything else would ship. I got the notification yesterday that the items had shipped, but considering it's christmas I hardly expected to get the package today! The best bit is it included a couple of PowerStick Arcade controllers for the GameCube also with a few other free trinkets that they threw in for Christmas! (aw, ain't that nice)

Now I'm set for arcade games on both my Xbox and GameCube! Bring on the Christmas holiday arcade action I say! (Unfortunately I have about a weeks worth of work to finish by the end of the weekend so I don't think I'll be getting much gaming action in then)

Think sharks are cool?

Well they get owned by octipi! The things you find while waiting for an ITSM change to commit. This is a video of a Shark being taken by an octopus! Looks like fins are the only thing to get worried about in the surf!

Upgrade Two for the week - Toshiba SD-350E

Last night the lack of a DVD player was rectified at one of the big pre-Christmas sales. The decision basically came down to where I wanted Picture quality or Sound Quality in Multichannel audio. As I don't listen to any Multichannel music the clear choice was the Toshiba. With the minimal amount of bargaining I secured a unit for $235.

This is a run down of the player:-
The setup when I got home was fairly easy, I simply removed all the cables from the Onkyo and plugged in the Toshiba, the first thing I noticed was the lack of an S-Video socket on the back of the unit. I guess with the inclusion of the HDMI it's assumed that no one will be using this player less than Component Quality.

The other connector that is missing is an optical audio connector, not too much of an issue for me as I already had IXOS XHD-608-100 co-axial interconnect carrying the audio for the Onkyo, bit of a pain if your amp only had a few (or no) co-axial inputs.

This brings me to the second point, included as an addendum to the manual is a sheet of paper indicating that the system is configured for composite video only and will need to be setup in the menu to accept Component video. A strange point considering the lack of connectors. The setup process for that was also straight forward.

After the configuration for the video output there were some extra steps which basically setup the player for region free. The box is clearly mark "This Player is Region 4 only" yet the manual states (and is correct) that this player is setup for Region 2. The instructions included on the sheet however do make it region free. Again a bit of an annoyance as this could have been easily changed at the factory before they shipped.

Once the player was setup though the images were just gorgeous, I spun up The Incredibles and the images were just crystal clear with vibrant colours. Every scene just jumped off the screen with a realism that I hadn't previously seen with this movie. The level of detail of the chase through the island was just astonoshing.

We also had a run of an old favourite Sleepy Hollow which showed exactly how much detail this player could produce even from an old disc. Some of the close up shots on Christina Ricci showed just how much white makeup had been plastered on.

The sound was also surprisingly good with a noticeable amount of bass weight that I hadn't heard from the discs before. There wasn't too much judging to be done on the surround steering as I still don't have a full surround setup mounted.

My only real gripe with the player is the blue light that illuminates the drive slot when the disk is inserted. There is no way I can find (as yet) to turn it off which makes it a bit annoying in the front of my cabinet.

I couldn't be happier with the picture, it is definitely a step above the Onkyo and that's before using the HDMI or upscaling. If you're looking for a DVD player upgrade and you have a display with HDMI it's definitely worth looking into.

Post worthy...

After a long absence Tom has made a triumphant return with two posts on the one day! Nice to have you back!

DVD Player Shootout

It's coming to the end of the DVD title fight for the replacement of my Onkyo DV555s. The current contenders are :-

Yamaha DVD-S657B
Toshiba SD-350E

The main differences are the Yamaha does SACD and DVD-A where the Toshiba has HDMI output.

The review of the Toshiba on HomeCinemaChoice.com has this to say :-

The 350E’s pictures both dazzle and disappoint,depending on what you’re expecting..... The picture is impressively detailed,even without upscaling help,achieved without the forced look and noise seen on most budget decks...... Moving to digital HDMI feeds, a simple 576p signal benefits from extra clarity,precision and colour lustre.However, stepping up to 720p and 1080i is not quite the success we’d hoped for.......It seems the 350E’s scaling processor just isn’t up to the mark – the artefacts it generates during its scaling actually counteract some of the benefits it’s striving to achieve.

So it would seem the addition of HDMI is not all it's cracked up to be. Where as the review of the Yamaha :-

The DVD-S657’s picture quality is, not surprisingly, just as good as the DVD-557 – which is to say excellent...... the deck resolves oodles of fine detail from the DVD and presents a sharp, stable and realistic image.

The obvious advantage of the Yamaha is the High resolution Audio, but it does have a 108MHz/12-Bit video DAC which removes some of problems of not having an HDMI connection. With them both being the same price and getting 5 star ratings it's a tough call. I think it's going to be a matter of test and see.

And begin excitement...... now

So I'm starting to get just a little bit excited about the fact I'm going to have new speakers in the house! Especially after reading some of the reviews that are around.

These are all reviews taken from the Jamo website for the D6 PTX THX Ultra Speaker System

	D 6PTX Home Cinema Ultimate Guides, UK Nov 2004 “The basic package comprises three identical D 6LCR (left, centre, right) speakers for front effects, two D 6SUR dipole rears and one monster of a sub, the D6 SUB. Toting a 38cm driver and providing 400W of output, it’s not exactly shy: the sheer force it imparts is jaw-dropping. Dial up a potent action movie and you’ll be thrilled by the sheer weight of the biggest explosions. The balance across the front is blisteringly powerful, too, when required, but the sound doesn’t harden up with volume or dynamics – the Jamo retains the richness of tone and fullness of balance that commonly characterizes the very best THX kit, while dialogue is both wonderfully clear and tonally `full´.” Verdict: “If you want a system to deliver fabulous movie sound for a sensible price, this is a must-hear”. 5 of 5 star rating.
	D 6PTX Home Cinema, UK Jun 2004 ”... – it just sounds great, whatever the movie, and more importantly, whatever your particular sonic preferences. Naturally, the bottom end is fabulous: if you like your movies served up deep and scary, the D 6SUB will readily oblige, muscling its way through the fullest low frequencies in big-bass movies such as Pearl Harbor and Apollo 13.” “The balance is terrifically weighty and engaging, yet marries that power and scale to refinement and composure, even under severe sonic duress. Just when smaller speaker systems sound as if they’re about to give away under the strain of the moment, the Jamo drops a gear and kicks on to new dynamic heights. Small details are precisely highlighted, yet the presentation never lapses into brittle, hard excess. Equally, voices have excellent character and realism, even when playing at a level that most of us would consider decidedly `neighbour-unfriendly´.” “As I hope I make clear already, I like this package a lot. Combine it with a decent receiver (no matter whether it’s THX Select, THX Ultra, THX Ultra 2 or just plain old `ordinary´) and you’ll have a fine-founding, cinematic set-up for what is, in context, a very affordable sum.” Verdict: 91%
	D 6PEX Essential Hi-Fi & Home Cinema, UK Jun 2004 ”There is a consistency across the whole soundstage that only a decent THX system can generate, with no appreciable tonal shifts as Tom Cruise’s motorbike whirrs around the channels in Mission Impossible 2, while detail and precision of the centre makes sense of even the most garbled speech. The sound is big and bold and goes extremely deep with impressive results.” Verdict: 5 of 5 star rating and Best Buy.
	D 6 PEX Essential Home Cinema, UK Oct 2002 ”The front soundstage is superb. Perfectly balanced, it’s impossible on sweeping cinematics to identify the point at which the sound moves from one speaker to the next. Impressive stuff, and once you’ve heard this you’ll immediately begin to spot flaws in you existing, until-now-adequate system. The dialogue speaker leaves little to the imagination; listening to it you’d almost expect to find a pair of lips under the cover mouthing each word.” “The sub is big for a reason: It houses a 15” woofer come that emits a deep, rich bass. It’s not just about delivering the impacts, though, as it also adds a subtle texture to the atmosphere created by those bipolar rears. Watch a movie with a dark, brooding soundtrack and you’ll find yourself worried like never before by the portentous, creeping rumbles coming from... where exactly? We felt like opening the case up just to make sure Jamo isn’t just selling a portal directly to the bowels of hell. Everything comes together beautifully, creating a truly convincing cinema effect.” Verdict: Best for sound

As my current Yamaha supports 6.1 I was looking into getting another D6 LCR as a centre rear... the only problem is they are $1500 each (which is the price I paid for the whole system!)

DVD Blow out.

With all the Christmas sales on DVDs at the moment we had a bit of a DVD blowout yesterday. We haven't bought any DVDs in ages so it wasn't too much of a surprise to get so many in one go.

Ness picked up the John Hughes 80's Collection. I'd never seen the Breakfast club (one of her favourite movies), I just couldn't get into it. Maybe not seeing as a kid in the 80's makes it harder to relate to now? Who knows, it was a good movie I just couldn't get into the same way.

With the DVD Player still out of action it was up to the iMac to fill in the DVD duties for the night. It was at this point I discovered on of the problems with LCDs as a display. The backlighting has all sorts of Light leaks if you watch it in complete darkness. With a bit of ambient lighting you don't notice the backlight but if the only the panel is on you start seeing the backlight pattern in the display...

First Sun Burn of Summer.

Saturday we decided to do some more car shopping. We've made the decision that we're going to get a convertible, but it not only has to be convertible but it has to be a fun car to drive. With this in mind we set out to do some test driving. First off the rank for a test was the Smart Roadster, which I have to say is LOADS of fun to drive. It's not the fastest off the line, which is a mainly due to a combination of the electronically controlled gearbox, the braking assistance and the turbo lag, but once it's rolling and you need to pull away from something it definitely has the legs. The best part about it is taking it around corners. The thing just doesn't seem to step off the line no matter how hard you try and push it through a corner. I tried my hardest to get the tail to let go, dropping some serious right foot in the middle of a corner but the moment it looked like stepping out the traction control grabs you and off you go. So in the fun stakes it's well and truly up there. On the downside though it's not a lot of car for the money and the interior reminds me of the finish that you'd expect from a Ford Fiesta rather than a $40k+ convertible.

Next of the test drive list was an Astra Convertible, (the silver with red leather was a nice touch). We hired one of these when we drove the Great Ocean Road earlier in the year, which was a lot of fun, but driving one now is a little on the boring side. It's just not an exciting car, very safe, very stable on the road. It's like driving a Statesman with the top down, so we quickly scratched it off the list.

The other's we went to look at (but didn't test drive because we were burn from wandering all the yards) were the Mini Cabrio and the New MX-5. The Mini was off the radar until the weekend when ness saw the interior. They have a very fun/funky interior that really appeals (my favourite bit is the centrally mounted tacho!).
The New MX-5 however is just generally gorgeous. We haven't been for a drive yet but it just looks stunning. We saw a red on the weekend and I was hooked.

The current running list is :-

1. New MX-5
2. Mini Cabrio
3. Smart Roadster

I think it will be decision time after a test drive on the weekend!

It's my birthday (xmas) present to me... I'm so happy!

I bit the bullet on the weekend and ordered the Jamo THX speaker pack. I just intended do a bit of looking into how much they were willing to deal on the speakers. The trouble was they have such a ridiculas discount it was hard to pass them up. I even tried to get out of it by putting them on layby, thinking they'd decline laybying the last pair, but that only resulted in an invoice being drawn up. So I now have a new speaker package just waiting to be picked up. I'm keeping the Wharfedales for music and just use the new ones for movies. Anyone looking for some cheap rear speakers?

Microsoft Dupe us... Again.

Gizmodo have published this article on the brilliant design of the Xbox 360. I does explain a little as to why so many original xbox games won't play on the new 360... brilliant design work guys.

Nancy Drew and the Case of the Missing Xbox 360 Hard Drive Space: "Actually we don't even need Nancy Drew, she is a floozy anyway. This case is solved. Microsoft's cheapness is being dumped on the consumer. The 20GB hard drive that comes with the premium edition Xbox 360s is only showing up 13GB of available space. Those missing 7GB are being used for the backwards compatibility of the 360. This is because Microsoft used the Nvidia GPU for the original Xbox, and now that they have switched over to ATI for the 360, that Nvidia GPU has to be software simulated to properly play original Xbox games. Nice one Microsoft, real classy.

Xbox 360, only 13GB Available Diskspace [Datafuse]
"

Win Gaming Stuff

Palgn run a competion every year for christmas, they basically give away games that they've reviewed over the year. All you need to do is drop them your email address and details. Sounds like a good deal for very little effort. You can enter here

Does your AV system need some harmony?

After watching my dad struggle with his AV system one too many times I convinced him that he needed to get a Harmony remote. By 'convinced' I mean I went out and bought it for him. My dad has a pretty nice home AV setup, this comes about through all the hand me downs and casts off from my old equipment. As a result he has about 6 different components and the same number of remotes. His amp has a universal remote built in but it's just too confusing for him to use, I'm hoping the Harmony will change all that.
I setup the system this morning in about 10 mins. It was simply a matter of putting in the CD, selecting the makes of the equipment he has and typing in the model numbers (It even suggests model numbers for things like his Foxtel box which I didn't know and it was spot on). Once you've added all your devices it asks what activities you want to have (things like Watch a DVD, Watch TV etc.) From there you just select what devices you want on etc and it downloads the file to your remote and your done. They even publish a test drive so you can check out the setup process before you have one!

From the front screen now Dad can click a button for "Watch a DVD" and the remote will switch on the Amp, Tv and DVD player, Switch off everything else change all the things to the right inputs and play the DVD that's in the player... pretty cool. (I just wish I had one) Hopefully it will even get my mum in a position where she can turn the TV on :)

New MKDS mission

I was playing Mario Kart DS online the other day and got beaten buy this guy with 2 gold Stars next to his name. I was obviously cusious how he had managed to get this added to his online name. After a little bit of research I discovered that your ability in the single player game can be reflected in your online naming.

Basically it works like this :- Each time you finish a cup (ie 4 races) you are given a trophy based on where you finish (obviously gold for first etc etc) and also a rating. The rating system goes from E (being the slowest) to A and then to 1,2 or 3 stars. If you can finish all the cups at all the speeds with at least a 1 star rating you get 1 star next to your name when you play online.

So my mission is to get at least one star on my online name... I'm well on my way to the one star... only the mirror cup to go!