scott

Multi Region DVD Bliss

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Today was busy, but like most days recently I can’t say my time was taken up by X. it was just hectic with “stuff”. I could give you a breakdown of the time by going into my Request Tracker system, but for this blog purposes I just don’t care! 🙂

I had to hit CompUSA today to get an external CD drive case. I needed it to build my semi-region free PC. I wanted a region free DVD player for the PC, but couldn’t find a really simple way to do it. It sucks. I own 2 different region DVD’s. Region 1 USA stuff, and Region 2 European stuff. I have mainly region 1, but do want to play the region 2 stuff. I also wanted use my DVR (now media center) pc and not my DVD player. I have a region free stand alone dvd player that worked fine up until last week (that is another story), but I am trying to do everything via the media center. Here comes the external cd/dvd bay. I found out that the region coding is per drive. so in theory (and practice) I can get a second dvd player and set it to a different region. I can then play dvd’s from 2 regions. A semi hackish approach but I only need 2 regions, so for my needs it worked out fine. I also don’t have ton’s of region 2 dvd’s so I can put the dvd player I set to region 2 in an external case and plug it into the media center via fire wire only when I need it. So I bought the case and put an old DVD drive I had around. Guess what? It worked flawlessly so far. Such a simple fix, and I didn’t find anyone on the internet talking about it. yeah a region free or region 0 player is better, but this works.

After CompUSA I went over to the store I bought my Omega Speedmaster X-33 from. The battery started to go and I needed a replacement. the branch I went to couldn’t do the work so I need to go tomorrow to the main branch and get the work done.

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Home Entertainment System

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I have been using Snapstream’s Beyond TV for over a year now. I am hooked. I like the free aspect of the system (aka no monthly recurring charges). But lets be honest I paid a bunch for all the gear to make the system work. That is not a complaint, just an observation. Part of the cost was getting certain pieces of hardware and then replaceing them over time after I slowly learned I didn’t like them. Now a year later, 2 revisions of beyond tv later, & two comptuer setups later I am finally able to truly use my computer as a DVR. Right now I have it working so well (not trying to jinx myself) that I am about to cancel Tivo. Not because tivo is bad or anything (except for their evil policy of requiring a 1 year contract for new service), but because I can do everything I want to and sometimes more on my computer without a monthly fee.

The latest version of Beyond Media solved my DVD playback issues on my computer. Now I have a fully functioning Media Center PC. My DVR computer is hooked up to my TV. It plugs directly into the TV via a VGA connector. I have my firefly remote, Beyond TV, Beyond Media doing everything that a Windows Media Center PC would do for me. I have Beyond TV for my Tivo like DVR, and Beyond Media is finally working properly as a Media Center replacement. That means I can watch DVD’s on my computer with ease. I can also browse videos, photos and music right from my TV. personally I use my Mac for iTunes so I wont use the music function, but the photo album function is cool. Having the DVD player work is fantastic.

My next project is to get the entire setup to work in HD with my HDTV.

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Busy Documenting Crap

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Today I was busy doing documentation for Bob. he needed to be prepared for a meeting and needed my operations overview updated so he can get a handle on our systems. It took some doing but I got it down. I also had to deal with finding a suitable replacement to our IBM Thinkpad laptops. My team finally said we don’t want to deal with Thinkpads anymore. Too many issues to list here, but we ended up with a similar configured HP unit. The first user gets it tomorrow since his thinkpad is toasted.

Not Quite Black Projects

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I was busy yesterday and today. I just don’t think I can write about it here. All good things, but busy things.

On a topic I can discuss I started reading bits from O’Reilly’s RT Essentials. I already have some big changes I want to make to how we use Request Tracker. I have always been a huge fan of using this system. Reading what little I have of the book has got me thinking of enhancements we can make to our ticketing system. I like the fact that the changes I want to make will allow for better metrics of what we do, and help us isolate recurring issues. Now all I have to do is get everyone else like the tool and not just use it!

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Crackberry

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I finally got my replacement Blackberry yesterday. My old one was fried. It did a ton of quirky things. I finally had enough when it wouldn’t connect to any computer and I lost all my contacts out of it. This new one seems ok. I have all my contacts synced up and I can see caller ID now. I can get back to using it again. I was starting to go through withdrawal from not having it. That was interesting since there where weeks I didn’t use it or didn’t want to use it because I could use my Treo for allot of the same functions. But I always end up back with the crackberry since it really is the best thing for real time mobile email.

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Monday

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Meetings and catching up with tasks took up the bulk of my day today. Dealt with some technical issues that I really shouldn’t have needed to also. That got me a bit ticked, but in the end everything worked out.

Shopping

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I took the bus (yeah I know) to Jayson’s and we headed over to the Queens mall. I do get out to the other boroughs sometimes. I needed shoes and to do some general shopping. I found a nice pair of rockports that should hopefully not hurt as much as my Doc’s have been recently. I got some new docker paints and some other crap. After the mall we dropped our stuff off at our respective apartments and then went to Compusa where we looked for what stuff they had cheap! I ended up with a Lacie 250gig USB drive. I needed extra space and the price was right.

Most of the day was spent running around, but I did get to kick back and relax a bit in the evening. that is how I prepare for the new work week!

Electrical Work

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Today was busy with electrical work upgrades in our Computer room. We needed to add several circuits to support filling up the remaining rack space we have. Now that the holidays are over we were able to get the work done. Next week will have a flurry of activity to clean up the room and mount and power the gear that has been waiting for a home.

Old Work Friends

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Cari and I meet up with some old work friends that were having a mini reunion at a bar around the corner from my current office. it was good seeing some people. Others I didn’t remember. It is weird to look someone right in the face and not know who they are, but have them know you. I admit I am always bad with names and faces, but there was some awkward moments.

Got to see Dave (for a little bit), Jeff, & Nick. Lefty & John where unavailable but I need to go over and meet up with them sometime soon. Jayson and Danny meet up with me at the bar and we headed out for some dinner before I headed home to drink lots of water to prevent a hang over!