Media Server NAS

I haven't posted anything in a while - it's not that I haven't had anything to post, just been too busy.

So the first thing I've been messing around with is my little NAS - a D-Link DNS-323, with a single 1TB (for now). It's an awesome little box, nice and quiet (except at bootup when the fan swings into action) with great features. Power consumption is nice and low, and the HDD spins down when not in use so I get some pretty nice 'always-on' features without upsetting Al Gore ;-) There's really good community support as well with loads of other users out there. I really like the funplug stuff - where you can run pretty much a full *nix OS on it and all sorts of add-on applications without much effort at all.

I'm using the Fonz Funplug (FFP), which is as easy to install as dropping the script and a .tgz file and rebooting. Then change the root password, enable the sshd daemon and your away. Check out this list of pre-compiled add-on packages!

One of the primary goals of running the NAS was as a Media Server for my XBox360 in my bedroom. Something to stream TV/movies and Video Podcasts without requiring another PC running all the time. I started out with Twonky - the 30 day trial version and it worked like a charm, with only a few hiccups. One issue I had with it - and many others have experienced the same thing - is while streaming Music it just cuts out. The song time keeps counting but there's no sound. You can skip to the next song and it starts and plays fine for a while, then cuts out again.

So I thought I'd have a look at alternatives before parting with my 30 euros :-} The main app that people have been discussing is uShare. I started by upgrading to FFP 0.5 (delete the old one, reboot, put the new files on, reboot) then I downloaded the pre-built archive mentioned here, extracted it and ran the install script. A quick edit of the /ffp/etc/ushare.conf file to point at my media directories and its up and running.

So far it works great for Videos, Music is still a bit random with it listing all files instead of sorting by Album etc. But I'm looking into a fix. I'm sure someone else has come across the same thing and hopefully knows the resolution.

The other thing I'd like to be able to do is Wake-On-LAN from the DNS-323. So I can VPN in, SSH to the NAS and startup a PC if needed. I'm sure there's other cool things that can be done too, the combination of price and features makes this a really nice little box. Highly recommended.

Rockstar!

Well I'm slowly working my way through GTA4. I've completed 67.81% of the game after 49 1/2 hours playing time, and I've only gone one more story mission left to complete. I haven't played much on multiplayer, but that's only down to limited time available (my global rank: 394,495!).

I got the first game update today, which was interesting. Doesn't sound like it'll affect me that much yet. I had a couple of multiplayer rounds last night with my mate Pete, and got an achievement (Let Sleeping Rockstars Lie). Looking into it today, it's: "Kill a Rockstar developer in a ranked multiplayer match." Pretty cool really :-)

Motherboard Issues and a Media-Streaming NAS

A couple of months back I upgraded the CPU in my home PC, from an Intel Dual Core 2.4GHz to a Core2 Quad 2.4 GHz (E6600). I didn't really need the upgrade, I rarely play PC games, but I thought it would make my Video Editing life a little quicker. An d it was cheap - only $300. My thinking was that I could pull the Dual Core CPU out and throw it into my brother's PC - giving us both an upgrade.

1st disappointment: The Dual Core CPU wouldn't work in my brother's motherboard (although it says supports dual core on the box, the fine-print on the website list that CPU as not supported). So I've been thinking about getting a cheap replacement MB for his PC, so I can make use of the CPU (currently sitting on my desk).

2nd disappointment: Ever since I installed the Quad Core CPU in my PC I get full hardware lockups intermittently. Sometimes repeatedly, straight after turning the PC on. Pain in the backside. So although my MB fully supports the CPU, there's got to be some compatibility issue (MB=Asus Striker Extreme).

I have upgraded my BIOS a few times to try and resolve the issue, with no great luck - when I spotted the 3rd problem: My RAID-1 config has been broken - probably as the result of a BIOS upgrade & loading setup defaults :-( I have 2x 500GB HDDs in a mirror, to protect my data - and now I have two separate HDs showing in Windows with different amounts of data on them. Grrr.

So I need to recreate the mirror - but the last time I did that I lost data, so I need a backup before proceeding. I don't have enough spare HDDs to backup the 450GB I have on these drives, so I've been shopping for a 1TB HDD, and a little NAS to put it in. There are some really cool NASs around these days, for very little money. I've been looking at:
* Linksys NAS200
* WD My Book World Edition (Dicky's got one)
* D-Link DNS-323

I was looking seriously at getting the NAS200 - due to it's cheap price, I like the Linksys brand, and the Media Streaming capability intrigued me. I like the idea of streaming movies etc straight to my Xbox 360 without having my PC switched on (using TVersity). But then after more reading website reviews etc. the D-Link box looks superior to the Linksys. Both in terms of performance and features. The D-Link has a 10/100/1000 interface and the Linksys only has a 10/100, but the internal CPU speed of the D-Link is better too. These results show how well the D-Link performs. There's a good Wiki about the DNS-323 here.

The best price I've found for the D-Link is at Ascent ($370) although no-one seems to have any in stock. And I've ordered a WD Caviar 1TB HDD, (for $318) which looks to have some good power saving features (might be helpful if I leave the NAS on 24x7).

So that'll solve my HDD issue. And hopefully provide a nice new media streaming system.

Now back to the motherboard issue. I've decided to buy a new MB for my PC - an Asus P5Q Pro, and move my Striker Extreme into my brother's computer. The main benefit of doing this for me will be the ability to run my Corsair Dominator 8500C5D RAM at 1066Mhz - where I can only run it at 800MHz in my current MB (has annoyed me all this time). Hopefully that'll give me a slight performance gain.

I gave up on the Striker Extreme following this weekend's hair-pulling antics after a BIOS upgrade gone wrong (Problem #4). In further troubleshooting my CPU hang issue I noticed that there was a (yet even) newer BIOS available from Asus - version 1504. I completed the upgrade using the EZflash function in the BIOS (from USB memory stick). It verified the BIOS upgrade OK, said it was restarting in 5seconds, then never came back.

The LCD Poster code was CODEINIT. Not a good sign. I tried all sorts of things to get past it, CMOS clear button, HW clock reset jumper everything. I was fully ready to remove it from the case and return to the supplier for an EEPROM replacement. And then I found a forum post mentioning something else I hadn't tried. Physically removing the CMOS battery from the MB - powering on for 10s - CMOS clear - powering off for 10s - replacing the battery - and powering back on.

It was back, working fine - but I still have the occasional lockup issue :-(

So it's new motherboard time. When the board and the HD arrive I'll backup my data and rebuild my machine. This time I'm going to install Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit SP1 - having finally obtained an SP1 slipstreamed install disk. I've waited almost 18 months to install Vista, following the hardware issues I had straight off I've run XP on it ever since, but with SP1 I figure it's about time to try again. And running 64bit should enable me to see the whole 4GB of RAM. Yay!

Slipstreaming XP SP3 - Issues with Windows Vista

Don't slipstream XP sp3 on Windows Vista! - Bink.nu
Doh! Just found this out the hard way: If you try and create a slipstreamed Windows XP Service Pack 3 image (i386 directory for an ISO) on Vista it all looks like it works great until the machine you want to install boots into Windows - it won't accept a valid product ID. What a waste of time :-(

Back to the start, extracting Sp3 from the .exe (-x), extracting an i386 directory from my bootable ISO, and doing a update.exe /slipstream:c:\temp - this time from another XP machine...

Silly really to think that two Microsoft products would work well together.

SP1 has landed - Finally!

I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I was finally offered Windows Vista SP1. The surprise was really down to the fact that I still hadn't met the prerequisites for drivers that SP1 was previously looking for. I got one of the two drivers I was missing a couple of weeks back - a new version of the Sigmatel Audio driver (from Microsoft).

But as I wrote a while back, Microsoft Support (KB948343) said I needed a new UPEK Fingerprint Reader driver - which wasn't available from my manufacturer (Toshiba). It had been suggested to me that I just install the latest driver from the UPEK website - they have v2.10 build 118 available, whereas I have v1.9.2.74 - the latest available through Toshiba.

But I wasn't really THAT keen. BSODing my primary laptop wasn't really a good option for me - so I was waiting for updated drivers to be available through the OEM (as MS said there were issues with drivers pre-v1.9.2.99).

So when Windows Update offered me SP1 I went looking. Had I Windows-Updated the UPEK driver without knowing? Nope. Nothing had changed. Going back to KB948343 to double check - and that entry has gone. It's no longer a troublesome driver apparently. What? How is that possible? Either SP1 + bad driver = BSOD or it doesn't, surely.

So I tried searching around for a while to see if anyone else had experienced any issues, but couldn't find anything (Theory: If it's not Googleable then it doesnt exist). I then decided to proceed with the Service Pack update - but only following a couple of hours of extra backups to both another PC and an external HDD.

I guess the only stand out thing with this Service Pack, from all the (seems like 1000s of) other ones I've done in the past is that it took AGES. It said allow 1 hour or something, but I'm sure it took 2. A really long time anyway. But when everything came back without a problem I was happy. And from the relatively short time I've been using it, I'm sure its working faster than before. My niggly Outlook 2007 freezing on startup problem has gone away too, which is great.

I'll continue to keep my eye on it for a while before officially declaring it a success, but I'm happy for the time being. Yay!

Checkpoint SPLAT and hardware limitations

I'm just struggling through planning an implementation of Checkpoint VPN-1 on SecurePlatform & HP hardware. Unfortunately the quad-port NICs the customer used to use (PCIx NC340T) are no longer available for purchase. The only quad-ports that are available for purchase are the NC364T (a PCI express card) - but they are only supported in SecurePlatform 2.6 NGX R65 (as opposed to just SecurePlatform NGX R65). What's the difference? The newer one is a fork based on the Linux 2.6 kernel.
I found this useful summary from a Checkpoint forum post:

"The main point of moving to the 2.6 linux kernel is increased hardware compatibility. Check Point recommends that you stay on the standard R65 SecurePlatform unless you have hardware that is not supported by the standard R65 release. If you have hardware that is not supported by R65 standard, but is supported by the 2.6 kernel release, then use it.
See the Hardware Compatability List
Please note that there are a few systems not supported by the 2.6 release...
The initial SecurePlatform 2.6 release includes all standard release HFA 01 and HFA 02 fixes. Moving forward, the HFAs will be released separately - e.g., HFA 03 for R65 may be released in a month, and HFA 01 for SecurePlatform 2.6 may be released 3 months later. With different code trees, its recommended to stay with the "main branch" if you can. Same goes for the R65 management "plug-ins"... they're not available for SecurePlatform 2.6.
You cannot upgrade "in-place" from standard R65 to the 2.6 release, but you can upgrade in-place from prior versions. For standard R65 you can perform and export/import to move the SecurePlatform 2.6 release."

What a can of worms that is eh!

I also spotted this forum post which mentions he has the NC364Ts working with SPLAT 2.6 R65, so that's kind of reassuring. Funny though - the Release Notes for R65 mention nothing about all this - but I did find additional Release Notes for SPLAT 2.6 for R65 (which I found by searching - not listed in the documentation links).

Unfortunately that has caused me another problem:
"VPN-1 Accelerator Cards II, III, and IV are not supported in this release. They will be
supported with new drivers in the future."

Grand Theft Auto IV Easter Eggs

This could be an interesting set of links:
Grand Theft Auto IV Easter Egg Finds | Game | Life from Wired.com

Love the cheat URL www.whattheydonotwantyoutoknow.com :-)

I haven't come across anything that cool yet - how do these people find these things? More time on their hands than I've got, obviously. I'm only 17% through so far - been spending a bit of time playing Multiplayer tonight, which obviously doesnt get me anywhere further ahead (good to work on my aim, though).

My favourite things so far in GTA4:

• The Cybercafe (web interface is cool, SPAM email is funny)
• Ricky Gervais standup comedy on TV in the apartment
• The Police Car computer
• Flying through the window after a headon collision (ended up in a tree once!)
• The Mobile phone (dial 911 for a police car, SMS text message to restart mission)

I've signed up at the 'Social Club' but it hasn't really opened up anything interesting yet - the multiplayer stats tracking isn't online. So far I have:

• Walked 17,296 miles
• Driven 124,050 miles

So I've got my first couple of 'certificates' in the Liberty City Marathon :-)


Its definitely the only exercise I've done this week!

Xbox 360 Elite and TVersity

In preparation for the arrival of Grand Theft Auto 4 tomorrow night (GPStore is open for pickups at midnight) I bought myself another Xbox 360 - this time an Xbox 360 Elite. I dont really need the 120GB HDD, or particularly prefer black over white - I just want the HDMI connection. I'm installing the Elite in my bedroom, and so the HDMI connection means a single cable going across the wall rather than a much bulkier (and shorter) Xbox HDTV cable. I wish I had an Elite in the lounge instead of my original - the HDMI would mean I could get 1080p on the big TV, as opposed to the 1080i I have to put up with through Component connection.

So I got the new console all up and running, using the USB WiFi connection I already had (went wired on the other Xbox a while back). Got connected to my main PC (via TVersity) and was browsing around the music & videos and then tried the 'Internet Videos' link. Low and behold I found YouTube - sweet!, I thought. Stupidly I never realised that TVersity streams and recodes YouTube content too :-) And it works a charm.
So I had a play around with adding more Internet URLs -Video RSS feeds, and got Tekzilla, Mahalo Daily working, and also added the TWiT audio podcast.

Totally stoked. Even though I knew I'd be able to use the new 360 for DVDs and Streamed Videos I never clocked that I'd be able to use it for Podcasts and YouTube too, so thats definitely a big bonus. Now I only need one more thing to make me truly happy - Region 2 (+4) DVD playback!

I've also got to try and find a Black Xbox 360 controller battery pack somehow - it doesn't look like anyone sells the Black ones in NZ!

Wahoo - Stable Internet Again

OK, so I've got one less thing to whinge about now. Thanks to those lovely chaps at Orcon sorting out my repeated connect/disconnect issue my Broadband's humming again as normal with no interruptions.

It was quite funny actually - after I got Duncan's comment on my Blog on Thursday I dropped him an email, then went home from work. Pretty much as soon as I got home (about 7PM-ish ) the Internet died. Wasn't impressed. No Internet at all now! I thought: one of two things might be happening here, either Duncan's not happy with my Blog so Orcon's cut me off :-), or they're trying to resolve the issues that me and presumably other users were facing.

So I waited for an hour or so for it to come back on (but it didn't), then called the helpdesk (I _hate_ calling helpdesks!). I sat on hold for 15 minutes (listening to some rather amping techno music) and got through to a very well-meaning young lady. She said she tried to do a reset on my DSL port, but was unable to as there were people working in the Browns Bay exchange, but when they had finished she would get one of the L2 techs to check again to see if I still had a problem. I thought that was kind of funny, as there probably wouldn't be people in the exchange if there wasn't actually a problem. So she said it I'll probably have to wait until morning before I got reconnected. I turned my router off (first night it's ever been off since I got it I think) and waited till morning.

Come the morning and I switched the router back on, fingers crossed that my link would come back up. It did. Wahoo! I thought. Back online. So I went to work. I logged in from work to the Orcon system, which shows every connect & disconnect, a few times during the day and it looked pretty good. Got home last night & it was all good too. By this afternoon I was quite happy that the problem had gone away, and got a lovely email from Lee@Orcon confirming the fault had been resolved.

Even better though, later on this afternoon I got a call from Orcon explaining that the product/service I had received wasn't up to what they would expect so I'm going to get a full month's credit on my bill. Nice! :-) So thanks to Duncan and the rest of the Orcon crew. Customer happy on that account.

Now all we have to do is sort out this speed issue. Have to get my speed back up to where it should be - can't let my Facebook profile suffer!

Broadband Speed and 'Upgrades' to ADSL2

OK, so I think it's time for another rant. I'm mightily disappointed at the moment with my new 'Local Loop Unbundled' broadband service from Orcon. OK, so it's cheaper than Telecom/Xtra, and the boys are going to get good use out of unlimited national calling, but my Internet access is slower! Having paid for an 'ADSL2+' service (billed as 24Mb/s), and living about 250m up the road from the Telephone Exchange (one of the first to be 'freed') I wasn't that impressed when my link speed only came up at 13Mb/s. But that was just the start.

Not only did my link come up 'slow' but it went down again. And came up again. And went down again... more than a dozen times yesterday (more today)! (My old Xtra connection hardly ever went up/down - definitely nothing noticable like this). I've upgraded my Netgear DG834N DSL Router to version 1.02.08 - the first upgrade available for it in like 18months! Hopefully that will improve things somewhat (there's this in the release notes: "Enabled ITU G.992.5 Annex M which extends the capability of basic ADSL2 by doubling the number of upstream bits").

So I get into some downloading - to test the speed of the International bandwidth - all that I'm really interested in (local access speed is kind of meaningless really). And it's noticably slower than usual. Time for the 'Facebook Broadband Speed Challenge'. Yep definitely slower than my Xtra service.

Lucky I've been compiling some stats over time really. I was interested a while back when I noticed that my Xtra Broadband had increased in local access speed from 7ish Mb to over 10Mb - 'I must be on an ADSL2 access, I thought'.

I ran a few tests and sure enough, even the Facebook Broadband app constantly showed I had a good 10+Mb of Internet access. 'Nice' (I thought).

Then I noticed that my speed would drop down every now and then - back to ADSL speeds. Were Telecom messing with my connection, putting me back on the old gear? Hmmm. But anyway then I 'upgraded' to Orcon. The '10 Day' installation lead actually took 3 weeks. Over which time I never once had an email or a phonecall from them confirming my order (I rang them up and told them what I thought of their rubbish customer care). They said they had sent me a confirmation email (to my new Orcon email address! which of course I had no idea how to access). I logged in, but there was no mail there (rubbish! I thought). So I switched my router settings over anyway to the new username/password. And today I get the 'welcome' email. A bit late, I thought, I've already been using your service for a day!

So today - my second day as a new LLU'd conversion - I run my speed tests. And no matter how fast my access speed is, the Facebook app doesnt lie. I've never had such a low speed result before :-( Disaster. One of my Facebook friends is bound to catch me now! (There can be only one #1)


All I can say is that I hope things better. I hope Orcon's customer service improves. Their self service website is definitely nice (gives me great reporting functionality - like seeing how many times a day my link drops!). I hope their international bandwidth picks up. And I hope the boys enjoy their free calls. Cause I sure don't enjoy life in the slow lane :'-(

Where's my SP1?

OK, so I'm getting kind of anxious now. Windows Vista SP1 has been released. Like a really long time ago! And I still can't get it. Well OK, I can get it (manually), but I've read the reports, the horror stories, the incompatible drivers that will brick my machine (which I use all day every day). So I've patiently waited, installed everything that Windows Update has thrown at me (even Silverlight!) but still no SP1. Do I still have incompatible drivers? I've installed all the new drivers I could find on the Toshiba website (for my Portege M400) but still no SP1.

So check this out: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=948343
And you get this list of reasons why:
Cause 1
You are already running Windows Vista SP1.
- Nope, not me!
Cause 2
Windows Vista SP1 has not been released for the language of the language pack that you have installed.
- Nope, speaka da English
Cause 3
Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool is used to block the delivery of Windows Vista SP1 from Automatic Updates or from Windows Update.
- What? The Service Pack Blocker Tool? Sacrilege! I'm not under the control of some crazy sysadmin who can stop me getting SP1! (quick check of HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate - just in case)
Cause 4
You tried to install Windows Vista SP1, and the installation failed with a known inconsistency in the file or registry structure.
- Nope, haven't even gotten that far.
Cause 5
A hardware device driver or device software was problematic when you updated to Windows Vista SP1.
- But I haven't updated yet, right?
The Windows Update service can detect the small set of device drivers and software that falls into this category. The Windows Update service will not offer Windows Vista SP1 until an update for the hardware device driver or the device software has been installed.
- Now how could I possibly know? How long am I going to have to wait for new drivers?
Cause 6
You have installed a prerelease version of Windows Vista SP1, and you must uninstall the prerelease version, or start with a new installation of Windows Vista.
- Nope. Not me. I'm legit.
Cause 7
You used the third-party program vLite to configure the system, and you may have removed required system components that have to be available for Windows Vista SP1 to be installed.
For more information, visit the following vLite Web site:
http://www.vlite.net (http://www.vlite.net/)
- Nope. Haven't come across that one before.
Cause 8
You see one or more updates for Windows Vista when you run Windows Update. However, you do not see Windows Vista SP1 listed.
- Nope. No updates at all.

So I guess I'm stuck with Cause #5. So what does that mean? A quick scan of the list, and a 'Search' of my system shows two likely candidates:
Method for Cause 5

To help ensure a positive update experience, Windows Update will temporarily not offer Windows Vista SP1 to systems that have the following device drivers. In some cases, these device drivers are problematic on Windows Vista-based computers when you update to Windows Vista SP1. By installing updated device drivers, you will resolve the issue and enable Windows Update to offer Windows Vista SP1.

Audio drivers
SigmaTel
• For x86-based computers: Sthda.sys - version 5.10.5762.0 or earlier
SigmaTel
• For x86-based computers: Stwrt.sys - version 6.10.5511.0 or earlier

Biometric (Fingerprint) Sensors
• UPEK Fingerprint Sensor with the Tcusb.sys driver file – version 1.9.2.99 or earlier

Bugger! The latest version available from Toshiba is:
12-20-2006 Toshiba Fingerprint Utility for Windows Vista/XP (v5.6.0 Build 3284; 12-15-2006; 12.65M)
And I've already installed what seems like a newer version of the audio driver:
01-10-2007 SigmaTel HD Audio Driver for Windows Vista (v6.10.0.5286; 01-05-2007; 8.17M)
But still my .DLL is version 5.10.4866.0 :-(

I think I'm going to be waiting a while yet for my SP1...


For reference:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_sp1_ga.asp

http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/436CBFFE7DCD7B54CC25741000738ADE

Update: I'm glad I'm not the only one!

QIK! Watch my Video

So I finally got Qik going today, which is cool cause now I can stream live video onto the Internet straight from my phone, wherever I am! I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, but it's very cool that it's even possible (and so easy).

After being 'invited' a while back, I couldnt get it going on my Nokia E61i due to a 'Certificate Error'. I tried a few things then gave up on it until today when I emailed Qik support. And whatd'ya know, the support was SUPER quick. I got an email response with the fix in like 1 minute or something (thanks, Jane). Here's the fix for installing an unsigned app onto a Symbian phone:
Go to Main Menu > Tools > App Manager
Select Options and then Settings and make sure the following is set correctly:
Software Installation = All
Online Cert Check = Off

So here's my first Qik 'Live' video stream (Driving home from Auckland City, over the Harbour Bridge, but mostly sitting in traffic - a nice sunny day though!):


The other cool thing with Qik is that while you're streaming the people watching can send you comments which come up on the Mobile's screen - so its fully interactive. You can also get it to update Twitter & Blogger when you stream (although when I selected this as an option it did neither today - for some reason). I had some technical difficulties with my first stream - firstly to mount my E61i on the dashboard. Luckily I had some Scotch tape in the glovebox (leftover from posting & wrapping my Xbox 360 back to MS for the Red Ring of Death - again), so I taped the phone to the side of the Windscreen mount for my TomTom GPS. The last one - which killed my stream before I actually got home - was a basic one: The phone ran out of batteries. It seems that Streaming live video over the Internet SUCKS the battery life out of your phone :-)

I can't get over how good the video & audio quality is though, considering the basic technologies involved. Live broadcasts with expensive equipment are soon becoming a thing of the past!

QIK | My Videos

All-a-Twitter?

I was listening to the latest TWiT podcast today and they spent so much time talking about Twitter (and they've mentioned it quite a bit in the past) so I thought I had to go check it out. They were of course talking about the SXSW Zuckerberg Interview, and how the Twitterers revolted against Sarah Lacy. It intrigued me to say the least.

So I signed up to Twitter today, and duly went looking for friends to follow. But unfortunately none of my friends were there :-( Quite funny really. Hopefully at least a couple of those I've invited will sign up and give it a try.

I just want to see whether it'll be useful or not. I'm hoping it'll be better/more interesting than plain old IM. I've almost given up on Facebook for regular use. Its good to check in every now & then but I can't say I'm that into the Apps and stuff. Maybe the movie app, but the others haven't really grabbed me.

New MediaCenter/HTPC Setup

I've been thinking about a new MediaCenter setup for quite a while now, and have been going through the options. What I'm after (at a minimum):

• Small + quiet form factor
• Instant/Very Fast startup
  
• DVD Playback (Region Free)
• DivX/Xvid Playback (Local or over network)
• WiFi Connection (minimum 802.11G, N=even better)
• HDMI output

What I'd like to have (but not critical):

• You Tube Playback (Web Browser/Flash)
  
• DVR/TV Recording Functionality
• BluRay Playback

The options I've come down to:

• XBox 360 Elite (+ TVersity on main PC) = $790
• - No region free DVD
• + Xbox360 Games
  
• Apple Mac Mini = $1850
• - Maybe no region free DVD
• + MacOS Leopard
  
• Custom HTPC Linux-based PC = $1600
• + TV Tuner & PVR capability
  

I also thought about, but discounted lots of others (including Xbox MediaCenter, Playstation3, AppleTV), for one reason or another.

I think either a Mac Mini, or a LinuxMCE box would suit me the best. Mainly because I'd love to have a Mac, just to play with, and I kind of like the idea of trying to setup a really nice Linux box, just to see how well it would work. The custom box is also a good challenge too, as it requires lots of comparison shopping for cases, components etc. My mate Pete suggested it, to see how much I could build one for, originally thinking about $1000, but I think the budget's probably going to get blown out a bit more than that.

So far, on the custom LinuxMCE front, I've got a list of components like this:

• Case + PSU:
• Silverstone ML02B-MXR - $350.56
• or Silverstone LC11M - $291
  
• Motherboard:
• ASUS P5K-VM - $187
  
• CPU:
• Intel Core-2 Duo E4600 2.4GHz Allendale - $218
  
• RAM:
• Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2-800 RAM - $104
  
• Graphics Card:
• MSI nVidia 8600GTS HDMI - $278
  
• TV Tuner Card:
• Hauppauge HVR4000 HD TV Tuner - $209
  
• IR Receiver + Remote:
• Microsoft Remote + IR Receiver - $56
  
• Hard Disk Drive:
• 500GB SATA2 HDD - $184
  
• DVD Drive:
• SATA DVD Writer - $55
• SATA BluRay Player + DVD Writer - $523
• SATA BluRay + HDDVD Player + DVD Writer - $510
  

Unfortunately that's clocking up to $1641 :-| OK its a better spec than the Mac Mini, but that's still without a keyboard & mouse - not to mention an OS. Could probably save some money on the TV card and/or the case.

Farewell HD DVD, Congrats Blu-Ray

Well this news article says it all really: Toshiba to exit HD DVD, end format war

The war is over! All I can say is: thank goodness I never bought an HD-DVD player, even when Microsoft tried to suck me into buying one for the Xbox 360 for $120. Moral of the story: if it sounds to good to be true...

So the countdown begins for:

1. Blu-Ray for Xbox 360 (how long till MS announce one + ship one) - I'm picking 1 month, and 12 months after that.
2. Really cheap, mass market Blu-Ray players (& Blu-Ray HDD recorders) - I'm picking 12months to 2 years (but of course hoping for less)
3. Massive HD-DVD title sales @The Warehouse and JB Hifi etc. - Maybe 1 month spreading all the way to Xmas?

What I really want (right now) is a Blu-Ray burner for my PC (for the backup data storage capacity). A player for movies is kind of secondary. But at least now, when I look around for toys, I know there's only one flavour to shop for. HD-DVD is so last year...

This wired article does have a good point though - has it taken too long for one of these two to die off, so they've effectively missed the boat and no-one's going to buy Blu-Ray movies either now? I don't know. I'd love to have HD movies on my big TV in the lounge (don't care about the PC/Laptop), but I'm not stumping up to Xtra for the massive amounts of extra cash it would take to allow me to download lots of good HD movies. Maybe when a 100GB/month data plan arrives for $100 then I'll be more inclined.

Phone Stuff

Well I finally decided, and went out an bought my Nokia E61i today. Love the catch-phrase on the box "Enhanced solution; For an easier life" :-) I'll have an easier life for sure, thanks very much Nokia. Waited long enough for it to charge to capacity then got straight into figuring out what had changed, what was better & different than my old one. I have to say, its very nice. It even has a nice feel to it, in your palm. Positives so far then:

• Keyboard - great tactile feel, like the @ and / buttons
  
• Camera - takes OK pictures (in the limited tests I have performed so far - the one above was taken in low light), and sends easily via email.
  
• Speed - seems pretty quick
  
• Case - nice shiny metal :-)
• Email client - so far no crashes reading emails
• Memory card - 256MB in the box with lots of little apps installed
• Contacts Button

Negatives:

• I think the browser is the same :-(

So now I've got a phone with a Camera, I'm looking forward to all the photos & video I can take.

I heard some cool stuff on the TWiT podcast about the live broadcasting from QIK.com, so I've signed up for the alpha - hopefully they'll let me play. It sounds very cool, and quite pleased to see it supports my E61i (as well as the N95 8GB). Could be fun to use while I'm at the Motor Racing this weekend. The invite's going to come to my phone via SMS message, as you use your Mobile phone number to signup and confirm the request. With any luck they'll look kindly on a request from a tester in New Zealand. Could be a nice complement to the Results Blog.

TWiT Books

The guys on my favourite Podcast, TWiT, usually recommend audiobooks for download from Audible.com, and I always forget the names of the recommendations. I've listened (read) a number of books they've recommended and enjoyed them, so thought it was cool to find this guy's site: http://www.willhallmusic.com/audibleTWiT.html

Its an archive/list of all the recommendations from the TWiT Podcast. Something that might come in handy one day...

Phone Shopping

I'm looking into replacing my phone. Currently I have a Nokia E61, which I really like, love the QWERTY keyboard, but don't like the bulk. Don't like the browser. Don't like the email client (HTML email comes up garbled). Miss having a camera. Like the Gmail client and Google Maps app.

Current contenders:

• Nokia E61i - like that it's thinner, nice screen, and has a camera.
  
• Nokia N95 8GB - love that it has almost everything, really nice screen, don't like that its thick and has no QWERTY keyboard.
  
• HTC TyTN II - don't like that its thick, not sure about going back to Windows Mobile (stability, performance etc), like that I could get my old Smartphone Apps running again.

I need to do some investigation, I think before I choose. There's quite a price difference too (e61i=$700, n95=$1000, TYTNII=$1400).

Its just too hard to decide!

iPod Touch Apps Update

Sorry Dicky (http://lifeofstaff.blogspot.com/2008/01/legitimate-apps-on-my-ipod-touch.html) but I think my iPod Touch January Update experience was far more seemless, pain-free and cheaper than yours. Ready to move to NZ yet? ;-)

I simply performed the software update (when prompted in iTunes), followed the upgrade link (after the reboot) paid my NZ$27.99 (GBP10.87) and wahey - all up and running. I must admit I haven't checked the 'manually manage' button - I just sync based on a Playlist and checked Photos/Videos.

I'm very happy with the new software though. Google Maps is very cool. The email client is great - stoked that the gmail IMAP/SSL functionality is already in there. Its nice when a new mail comes in that the music volume is reduced - a cool 'ping' noise plays - then the volume returns to normal. Still don't like the onscreen keyboard though - fat thumbs. Haven't used the stocks application (don't care about that). But the weather app is really nice.

I've already recommended the update to two other iPod touch users today :-)

In car GPS navigation...again

I finally gave in today, and picked up a TomTom One XL in-car satellite navigation system. I used to use the TomTom Navigator software when I lived in the UK, but when I got back to NZ I couldn't get hold of any decent software for my iPaq, so I've gone without. Until today.

I thought I'd done a pretty good job shopping around and finding the cheapest price, but then I walked into J B Hifi and found they had them for $120 lower than RRP ($488). If only I'd have waited a couple of hours longer :-(

I have to say that the new little boxes are very nice. Still have all the features of the old Nav Software, but are quick to startup, use, and easy to update (both the software and the maps can be updated online through PC-USB connection).

Now all I need to find is some decent New Zealand Points of Interest. I wonder whether my old POI creation software will work with the One XL...