Tinkering....

[maxg]

1. Progressive scan.

So my new DVD player does progressive scan. That's nice. But it wont to it over the Euro connector, only via the composite cables. Euro connector will support RBG - but interlaced, not progressive. Bugger.

No composite on the TV. But wait - videophile friend advices that I can use the VGA port on the TV and just get a cable to go from the 3 RCA's of composite to a male VGA adapter.

So I go out yesteray - walk the length and breadth of Athens and find one. Come home - try it - lovely picture - if you like Green! Hmmm.

Well it is either the cable or the unit that is the problem. Go to the guy that supplied me the player and lo and behold he has a cable too. I take his and race home. Guess what? Yup - the TV picture the incredible hulk would dig!

Its the player.

On the other hand - I never watch DVD's anyway - why am I doing this? Only my daughter watches movies - and I dont think the quality is bothering her.

Cables will go back monday. To hell with that!

2. DIY Miscosoft media centre 2005.

As I have mentioned many times I have my computer connected to my TV via the VGA mentioned above (actually via one of the 2 VGA ports on this TV - Sony were not joking when they made this one - it has more ports than Great Britain!!).

Anyway I am slowly adding ever more functionality to the thing. Why? Well my id is on a mission to destroy the computer so my ego can buy a new one. This is a Pentium 3 at 500 MHz for crying out loud. It is 4 years old - and it wont die!

So its got Fireware and USB 2 and SCSI (2 disks) and a DVD dual layer writer and a USB Sound blaster Audigy 2 and lots of other bits - oh wireless mouse and keyboard and other things and next...

Well whilst I can use the TV as a monitor (and as speakers when I am not using the stereo) what I cannot do it watch TV in a window whilst working on the PC, nor can I actually record TV onto the hard disk (which I am rapidly running out of anyway but that is not important right now).

What I do have in a cupboard somewhere in this house of ours is a totaly crappy USB LiveTV receive that lets you do what I want.

I find it - only 2 hours - not bad. I connect it up - the computer sees it but doesnt have drivers - I find the original CD Rom it came with. XP flashes up some warning about unsigned drivers or something and then crashes - actually does an instant reboot (id is delirious).

Machine recovers but it is furious - messages all over the place about a critical error and sending angry notes off to microsoft behind my back. Suddenly the browser opens on its own and I am looking at a MS page telling me off for using a state of the Arc driver not signed by anyone since Noah and I should know better and who knows what else. It says I should get new drivers immediately and never darken their door again. But, it does not know where to get them.

Search on Yahoo - drivers.com or something has them.

Of course you cant actually just download the driver. You have to register first - it is free, but you go through a question and answer session based on Stasi techniques trying to trip you up into registering your email (which they have) to receive 1,000 email a week on products no-one wants.

The good thing is that the default answer to every question is no - the bad thing - they wont let you skip through - you have to answer every question confirming the no.

Eventually you finish - and do they let you download the damn driver - er...no ....a user id and password are in the mail.

It arrives 10 minutes later - I log in - success on the fourth time of asking - but I am in. Wade through a labyrinthine search system with less change of finding my driver than the Minotaur. Suddenly I have a brain wave.

Shut down that site and repeat my search from Yahoo - it works - the driver FINALLY downloads - in next to no-time of course.

Installation, whilst cryptic, eventually works. And a tiny vaguely discernable black and white image appears in the top corner of the screen. Yipee!!

Isnt it amazing the simple things that give you pleasure when you are desperate. At any other time one glance at an image of that quality and I would kick the screen in, now it is like the holy grail.

Anyway I manage to improve things a fair bit. The image is moving properly and in colour - it will even play in full screen (which I really dont need - I have that functionality before I started - remember the screen is a damn TV anyway) - every now and then it stops like it has tachicardia or something, wheezes a bit and then stumbles on.

All in all it is dreadful - the quality, although much better, is terible in comparison to everything else in the house that has picture. But, I got it working!!!

I just cant remember why?

[Joe Shmoe]

Ha, very entertaining.

[ben.]

Max, you continue to crack me up. Rest assured, even if I don't reply I'm laughing (hopefully with...).

Just for kicks, try swapping aroung the 3 video connectors at the TV. We had a run of Zenith DVD players with mis-wired jacks a couple years ago. Made demoing that newfangled HDTV interesting for my boss for a while...