I bought a Samsung HL-R4667W HDTV last week. This is my first experience with a DLP ![[Answers]](http://www.mikeyp.com/css/external.gif)
set. The picture quality is nearly perfect - actually, too perfect in some cases. Here are my first impressions:
Like:
, VGA, and FireWire inputsDon't Like:
Don't Care:
If I can cure the dithering and banding with some calibration, this set is a keeper. If not, it's heading back to Best Buy.
If you have a Philips Pronto TS-1000/2000 series programmable remote control, and are looking for codes for the new HLR-series Samsung DLP televsions (such as the HL-R4667W or HL-R5067W), head over to http://www.remotecentral.com. Download the CCF file for the HLP-5685, created by Jeff Hayes. He's done a lot of work getting codes to function for the Samsung HLP-series, and the codes work perfectly with the HLR-series.
If you're like me and have tens of thousands of emails in Microsoft Outlook, you've noticed that the "Find" function in Outlook is extremely slow. This lead me to try out an Outlook add-in called Lookout that was available on Microsoft's Sandbox site. Lookout was so fast and effective that I decided to take a look at a whole-computer search utility.
Freely downloadable Search Toolbars have sprung up all over the place. I decide to try Google Desktop Search, Yahoo Desktop Search, and the new MSN Toolbar.
Google Desktop Search installs in the Windows deskbar and does a very fast job of searching documents and emails, but gives you search results in a web browser. This felt out of place on the desktop - it somehow seems creepy to see your local information presented exactly as if you found it on the internet. The browser-based approach also forced me to click to open each resulting doc to make sure it was what I was looking for.
Yahoo Desktop Search is very versatile with fast search results and full preview capability, but it has a clumsy UI and stability issues that caused it to hang sometimes. This really gets in the way of trying to do a fast and convenient search.
The Windows Desktop Search included with MSN Toolbar is excellent, and is developed by the same team that developed Lookout. It integrates perfectly with the Windows desktop, giving you instant search-as-you-type results in a docked toolbar, and more detailed results with a preview window if you choose. All Microsoft Office document formats can be previewed, as well as emails and images. Note that I disabled the MSN Toolbar for Internet Explorer, as I prefer Google's IE toolbar instead.
I really thought it would be a close competition between the 3 search engines from these internet giants, but no one comes close to the power, speed, and perfect Windows integration of the MSN Toolbar.
We were strolling around Jack London Square in Oakland last weekend, when we stumbled upon a docked ship with an "Open for Tours" sign posted nearby. The ship turned out to be the decommissioned US Coast Guard Lightship RELIEF – WLV 605, and the tour was fascinating.
The Lightship is a floating Lighthouse that was manned 24 hours a day out at sea. There were several of them posted permanently off the west coast for over 70 years, serving as guides for ships approaching major ports, such as those in the San Francisco bay and Puget Sound. With the advent of GPS navigation technology, the Lightships were retired, and with the dedication of the volunteers at the US Lighthouse Society, the WLV 605 was restored and berthed in Oakland.
A retired Navy Pilot named Bob gave us a personal tour of the ship, from the decks to the engine room. It's easy to enjoy exploring the different compartments of a ship, especially when climbing ladders through various hatches. If you have a free hour or so next time you are in Oakland, be sure to check out the Lightship. And say hi to Bob for me!
When I first launched this blog back in November 2004, my goal was to post one new entry per day, for no reason other than to see if I could do it. Sounds simple, right? Well, as you software veterans out there probably know, simple things become a lot less simple when you are in and out of crunch mode.
Fortunately, the out part seems reasonably balanced with the in part for me right now. And when that's the case, crunch mode is actually pretty darned fun...
Buying an HDTV is really tough today. With all of the competing technologies, various resolution "standards", poor quality control, and price points that range from chump change to second mortgages, it's no wonder so many people just buy "the flat one."
One main reasons that buying an HD set is so difficult is the incredible amount of misinformation available. HDTV manufacturers have created plenty of expected marketing speak, and press amateurs have fumbled countless "reviews," but the vast majority of hype, misunderstanding, and just plain wrong-headedness comes from the various user forums on the net. Just spend 30 minutes googling for the difference between the various DLP chipsets or the virtues of EDTV plasma screens, and you find page after page of outrageous claims and garbage usage "tests."
Between the hype, there are some useful sources of technical information. The ExtremeTech site has a fantastic four-part analysis of competing display technologies (though it does occasionally read like an ad for DisplayMate).
When armed with the right technical information, and a resolve to stay within your set budget, the main thing you really need to do when choosing the right HDTV is actually quite simple:
Trust your eyes…
Oh, and make sure your retailer has a generous return policy. 
I decided to buy the nWeb Browser for Zodiac [nwebreview, nweb, nwebcache] from the Tapwave site. I also own Xiino [xiino3.4, xiinodead, xiinooffline], so as a follow-up to my earlier Palm Browser overview, I did some usage comparisons between the two.
First, I compared the speed of both browsers by connecting to the internet via a Bluetooth-enabled Linux box, then loading http://www.mikeyp.com. Here are the results in seconds:
| Browser | Application Load | Page Load with No Images | Page Load with "Low Quality" Images | Page Load with "Best Quality" Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xiino | 1 | 5 | 6 | 19 |
| nWeb | 4 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
Xiino is a faster web browser. This is mostly noticeable during the app startup time, where nWeb feels really lethargic. Xiino also bests nWeb when using "low quality" images, but this isn't whole story. Xiino delivers low-res gray scale images in "low quality" mode, whereas nWeb's "low quality" images look almost as nice as Xiino's "best quality". In fact, with the limited image count on mikeyp.com, I couldn't tell the difference between nWeb's "low quality" and nWeb's "best quality".
Second, I compared basic HTML rendering abilities, again with mikeyp.com. Both browsers rendered pages in a very readable form, however, nWeb tends to preserve more of the page's original layout and formatting better than Xiino. Each has a different approach to displaying large tables on the small screen, both of which are usable, but neither is great. Fortunately, they both display small tables with ease.
| Browser | HTML Colors | CSS Colors | HTML Header Font Sizes | Table Formatting | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nWeb | Yes | Yes | Yes | Allows horizontal scrolling to preserve layout | |
| Xiino | Yes | No | Yes | Preserves layout by wrapping text mid-word where necessary | |
Finally, I compared some subjective daily usage points. In daily usage, both browsers do the job well, with Xiino having the performance advantage, and nWeb having the major advantage of Landscape + Fonts4OS5.
| Browser | Scrolling Speed | Landscape Support | Landscape with Fonts4OS5 | Memory Usage with 1MB Cache | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nWeb | Slow | Yes | Yes | 3141KB | $34.95 |
| Xiino | Fast | Yes | No | 2441KB | $30.00 |
Conclusion: Based on my limited comparisons, it is hard to choose between the two. Both browsers do a great job of bringing the web to the Zodiac. If it weren't for the problems with Fonts4OS5 (an absolute must-have add-on utility for Palm browsing), I would recommend Xiino. For me, performance beats features every time. That said, I'm very happy with nWeb, and by turning images off, you can get a very practical, and speedy, web browsing experience.
The Tiki formatting that this blog/wiki uses dutifully transforms quotes (") in to <q> and </q> HTML tags. This allows me to add nice CSS formatting to quoted text. If you use Firefox, Opera, Dillo, etc., you would see quote marks where the <q> tag appears.
If, like me, you use Internet Explorer 6.0, you wouldn't see a damned thing.
As this poor sap found out, IE doesn't support the <q> tag. Even though it's been around for years.
Ah well, I just edited the Tiki source to use the good old " markup instead, and that works just dandy for everyone. Maybe the IE7 team will fix this…
I have a Toshiba 42H81 rear projection HDTV. I bought it back in 2001 when the only kind of large HDTV you could buy was a rear projection CRT , and there were only two available that were smaller than 50 inches. The Toshiba was the best buy.
Rob, a co-worker of mine and fellow audiophile, and I were bantering about our 'old' Toshiba's earlier today at work. As fate would have it, I got home, turned on my 42H81 to watch the baseball game, and noticed that the blue convergence was completely out of whack. It has the horizontal pin cushion pattern that you see when the convergence is being reset. This makes the picture all but unwatchable. While a replacement convergence IC is probably the fix, Toshiba's are not what you'd call DIY-friendly systems.
This isn't the first problem I've had with this set.
After 6 months, I was watching a hockey game and noticed an annoying, thin white vertical patch along the left 3rd of the screen. Turns out this is a defect present in most all Toshiba's at the time, and there is no fix available. Luckily, it's only visible during bright white scenes, but it still sucks.
After 18 months, the set refused to turn on. Luckily, my MasterCard doubled Toshiba's 12 month warranty, and a repair guy replaced about $350 worth of fried electronics. I have no idea how much his labor would have cost.
On the plus side, there were lots of Toshiba enthusiasts, especially at The Home Theater Spot forums, who pointed out ways to get the best out of the set. And I must say, after removing the glare screen, disconnecting the SVM edge enhancement circuits, calibrating the convergence with a giant mylar convergence grid, and setting correct black levels with the Avia DVD , the set could look stunning.
For a while.
Until the convergence drifted. Or the "white line" appeared. Or the set spontaneously turned off. Or now, having the blue convergence go bad.
I've been looking all over for a simple clip-on light to illuminate sheet music on my music stand. Most everything I've found has been a heavy, hot, incandescent bulb that requires an extension cord.
I saw a clip-on, battery-powered LED light called Maestro in the April issue of Guitar Player and it looks perfect! The Kentucky based company, Q-Lighting, makes a bunch of LED clip-on lights, including a nifty light that clips to the bill of your baseball hat.
House of Flying Daggers is my new reference DVD. I am absolutely blown away by the incredible use of color in this film, and the DVD reproduces each scene flawlessly. Vibrant interiors, dimly lit forests pouring with greens, and blinding snow scenes all serve as fantastic backdrops to colorful traditional Chinese costumes.
The sound quality is a special treat, particularly the 'echo drum' scene, which envelopes the listener with sounds of pebbles ricocheting from marble floors, and bouncing from dozens of drums.
The story itself is basically a romantic tragedy, so if you're looking for a Kung Fu flick, there isn't as much wire-fighting here as you might expect. That said, there are some great combat scenes.
Got a high end home theater? Get this disk.
Domaine Chandon, the Napa Valley descendant of Moet & Chandon, is well known for making delicious sparkling wines (aka Champagne). But when I visited the winery recently, I learned that they also make varietal wines, including a very nice Chardonnay, a true Carneros Pinot Noir, and get this, a Pinot Meunier.
I've never tried a Pinot Meunier before, and the Chandon left me wanting more. I suppose I would describe it as a Pinot Noir with attitude. Think of subtle plum, cherry, and… Havana tobacco… overtones. (I'll probably get dinged by the wine snobs for that one.)
Both the 2002 and 2003 vintages were well worth trying, if you can find them.
Maybe it's time for me to finally buy a Bluetooth Headset. I've been meaning to install an integrated Bluetooth hands free system in my car, but I never seem to find the time to do it. A Bluetooth Headset would save me from the installation hassle, but would add yet another gadget to my bag o'gadgets, and worse, another power charger that I'd need to plug in somewhere.
The headsets I've been eying are the Motorola HS850 and the Sony Ericsson HBH660 , but I've got more research to do.
I just realized that at this time last year, I had zero Bluetooth-capable devices in my home office. As of now, I have six...
I got a chuckle when I saw the bloglines [bloglinesplummer, bloglines, bloglinesfeedfixed] maintenance outage page today, featuring 'The Bloglines Plummer':
Novarra's nWeb Browser is now available from Tapwave for the Zodiac. It looks to be an updated version of the browser Palm brands as Web Browser Pro 3.0, with additional support for landscape mode (yes!) and the ability to switch between proxied and proxyless browsing, which should allow me to access my corporate email web page.
When I looked at WebPro/nWeb in my palmbrowser writeup, it had occasional hangs that made it very cumbersome to use. Compared to Xiino [xiino3.4, xiinodead, xiinooffline], nWeb also seemed fairly sluggish. I hope nWeb for Zodiac has improvements here, but I'd hate to pay $35 to find out. Hey Tapwave and Novarra, where's the downloadable demo version?
The June issue of Popular Mechanics has concept pictures of Lockheed Martin's Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) proposal. The pictures are really fun to check out, but what I find most interesting is the notion that the US just might get it right with this new space ship design.
I can't wait to see the competing concept from Northrop Grumman / Boeing.
…is the high probability that you'll return home with a trunk load of expensive wine you weren't intending to buy.
Now about that cellar I need to buy or build…
I now have a replacement for my dead Comcast DVR, and I've noticed two interesting things:
1. The hard drive doesn't chatter loudly like the previous Comcast DVR [superbowlcomcastdvr, comcastdvrwar, comcastdvrdst, comcastspeedblast, newcomcastdvr, comcastdvrdead, comcastdvrdelete, comcastdvravsforum, comcasthdcompression, comcastdvrcodes, comcastinternationalchannels] . The drive does have a slightly noticeable hum (a bit louder than the drive in my PC), but it is far less annoying than the incessant chatter.
2. The sound quality is better. I can't explain this, especially since I used the coax SPDIF connection on both DVRs. My only guess is that the audio settings on the old DVR were incorrect. For the audio settings on the new DVR's Audio Menu, I use Optimal Stereo, Advanced, No Compression, Stereo Output (not Matrix Surround).
In what shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, Gamasutra is reporting that Tapwave [tapwavegraffiti, tapwavedead] is no longer manufacturing the highly acclaimed Zodiac PDA [zodiacend, zodiacreset]. Instead, they are focusing on developing new hardware to be co-branded with other partners.
While I really like my Zodiac, it is definitely a niche device for hardcore PalmOS fans and especially fans of classic game emulators. Let's hope the next round of PDAs from Tapwave have the same level of capabilities and thoughtful design as the Zodiac.
Update: Much more detailed information can be found at Tapland, including a long statement from Tapwave. Most interesting items of note: The Zodiac is being considered a platform which will have a new API available soon, and an enhanced version of the Novarra nWeb Browser (provider of Palm's WebPro 3.0) is being released for the Zodiac soon.
After having a brand new Comcast DVR [superbowlcomcastdvr, comcastdvrwar, comcastdvrdst, newcomcastdvr, comcastdvrdead, comcastdvrdelete, comcastdvravsforum, comcastdvrcodes] for a whole 4 months, the DVR has stopped functioning. For those of you who are computer veterans, the box is making the familiar squeaky clicking sounds of a dead hard drive. I've of course lost all of the recorded shows.
This kinda sucks worse than it normally would, as I'm in crunch mode at work right now. That means:
1. I can't watch any prime time shows without a DVR
2. I'm not able to be at home for a cable guy to bring out a new box
Bummer, eh?
I sure with there was an HD TiVo with CableCard support!
There are lots of online travel sites to choose from. For example, I've had good experiences with Expedia. Other sites, like Orbitz, leave a lot to be desired. I tried to find a roundtrip ticket to LA, and here's what Orbitz suggested:
If I booked that flight, I just might get to there in time to fly home!
