Jun 25, 2006
After using a Philips Pronto TS-1000 [samsungpronto, pronto1000] touch-screen remote for about 5 years, I decided to look at upgrading to a more modern universal remote. This time, I decided to look at a remote with mostly hard-buttons instead of a touch-screen, and all roads lead to the Logitech Harmony series.
Although there are several Logitech Harmony models, serious home theater geeks need only look at two models: the 550 ![[B000EUGX70]](http://www.mikeyp.com/css/external.gif)
(and it's clone, the Harmony for XBOX360), and the 880 . When you look closely, you'll see that both remotes function identically, with these exceptions:
- The 880 has a color activities screen with 8 buttons, the 550 has a monochrome screen with 4 buttons, but both allow multiple activities pages
- The 880 is rechargeable and docks in an included recharging cradle, the 550 uses 4 AAA batteries (included)
- The remotes are shaped differently
- The 550 is (usually) half the price of the 880
With a sale price and coupon at Best Buy, it was a no-brainer; I bought the 550. Overall, I really like the remote, and I'm glad I bought it. I love that it seems to have a hard-button for just about everything - it feels like the device was custom-made for my equipment. I'm anxious to see how the batteries last. My Pronto would eat 4 batteries every 6-8 weeks.
Some notes:
- The configuration is done on your PC via a wizard-style Java program that downloads configuration data from Logitech in real-time. As everyone but Logitech knows, Java on Windows is pitifully slow, and combined with the constant internet activity in the app, the programming process can be tedious. However, I would call it almost foolproof - it nailed all of my devices and activities without any issues, even rare-ish devices like the Acurus ACT-3 Preamp and Inday Component Selector.
- Tip: after programming your remote, close the software then look in your system tray. For some reason, Logitech leaves a little tray app for the remote software running all the time. Click on it to close it, and also remove it from your Startup menu.
- The remote is somewhat slow. There is a slight but noticeable delay between pressing buttons and getting responses from equipment. Note that you can adjust the command latency for each device in 100ms increments, but I can't seem to make things like cable guide navigation work faster.
- The volume and channel buttons are thin, small, and non-tactile, which means you occasionally need to look at the remote to see if you are pressing the right button. I'll bet the 880 is more intuitive for no-look operations.
- No matter what I try, the volume buttons always force a 3-step increment or decrement in the volume on the ACT-3. I can't notch the volume up or down by "1".
All minor quibbles for a very nice universal remote.
I programmed my Philips Pronto TS-1000 universal remote to be "activities-based" so that I could have one-touch startups customized for each Home Theater activity, like watching a DVD, listening to a CD, playing video games, etc. I designed the layout so that I could access aspect ratio and lighting controls from each activity. The Pronto programming software is a tad clumsy, but quite powerful.
Here is my Pronto configuration file: mike-1.51.ccf
It works with the following devices:
- Samsung HL-Rxx67W
- Acurus ACT-3 Preamp
- Panasonic XP50 DVD Player
- Comcast DCT-6412 HD-DVR
- Inday Component Selector
- X10 IR-543 Lighting Controller
I picked up The Portable Film School by D.B. Gilles at a local bookstore because it looked like an easy-to-read, beginner's overview of lessons taught in film school. I enjoyed reading it, but it turned out to be a lot less about film school than about writing screenplays. While there is a chapter dedicated (at least, at a high level) to the nuts and bolts of shooting and editing a film, the majority of the book is about writing. I suppose the message from the author is that without a solid screenplay, you can't shoot a decent film.
If you are looking for details about the filmmaking process, you should probably look elsewhere, but if you want a quick read that delivers a high-level overview of filmmaking with an in-depth tutorial on writing screenplays, then this is the book for you.
Jun 17, 2006
After a year of using Fonts4OS5 to display custom fonts on my Tapwave Zodiac [zodiacend, zodiacreset], I decided to give it a shot on my Treo 650 [treotoiphone, treoinhawaii, treoweekone, treofirstimpressions]. The default font on the Zod is very nice, so I just used Fonts4OS5 with Xiino [xiino3.4, xiinodead, xiinooffline] to give it more screen real estate. But the default font on the Treo sucks, so a custom font can really do wonders for readability systemwide.
Unfortunately, Fonts4OS5 doesn't seem too stable on the Treo. I was getting resets every 1.5 days or so, all attributed to Fonts4OS5. I've now switched to FontHackV for font management, and haven't had a reset since.
Unlike Fonts4OS5, FontHackV is a hack, so you'll need to install YAHM (which is included). It isn't quite as easy to configure as Fonts4OS5, but it isn't hard either.
With Fonts4OS5, I would notice a slight performance slowdown with general usage (more so on the Zod than the Treo), but I don't notice any performance issues with FontHackV.
The best fonts I've found for the Treo are Sans Serif 22 as default for all apps, and Sans Serif 18 for Xiino. These fonts are included with Fonts4OS5, but FontHackV can convert them if you have them installed.
And I don't know if my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I'd swear the fonts are rendered nicer and cleaner with FontHackV.
Both apps are shareware, with prices around 10 bucks.
Jun 12, 2006
After using the Treo [treotoiphone, treoinhawaii, treoweekone, treofirstimpressions] for a week, I can't imagine not having it. I still miss the elegance and big screen of the Zodiac [zodiacend, zodiacreset], as well as the invisible light weight and no-look usability of the Sony T637, but the Treo is (currently) in a class by itself. Here are some notes after a week's worth of usage:
- I bought some eGrips non-slip stickers. They make a custom set for the Treo, but my local CompUSA had a generic set on sale. I slapped a few shapes on the back and along the sides where I hold the unit. These things work great - I haven't dropped it or slid it off of me desk yet.
- The Palm-brand screen protector for the Treo is excellent. It gives the screen a slight "sparkly" look that you get with some anti-glare coatings, but it has zero bubbles, no fingerprints, and no glare. And it adheres via static cling instead of stick-um. At $15, it's pretty pricey, but well worth it.
- The TCPMP media player works well, but it isn't integrated with the Treo buttons or background playback. For now, I have it installed for videos, and use the RealPlayer for MP3s.
- VersaMail seems a bit clunky. I'm using SnapperMail instead, which is much easier to use and read. Unfortunately, the IMAP-capable version of Snapper is a whopping $59, so I may eval some other mail apps.
- XpressMail from Cingular (actually Seven) is utterly amazing. It basically installs a tray app on your Windows machine which relays corporate email (MS Exchange), calender events, and even desktop documents via a real-time tunnel to a custom app on your Treo. This software deserves a whole blog post to itself, which I'll write later this week.
- It looks like Blazer is actually a custom version of the respectable NetFront browser. I like it quite a bit, but Xiino [xiino3.4, xiinodead, xiinooffline] is still faster, by about 2X when testing the same pages. And speed is all that counts on a mobile web browsing device.
- Obfuscate is a cool little freeware app that hides ROM-based programs from the Launcher. Very handy to hide the Quick Tour, Welcome, and VersaMail apps.
- LEDOff is another freeware app that disables the LED for various states. I only disable the annoying blinking green state.
- NinerPaint looks really damned cool. I wonder if I'll figure out how to use it before the demo expires.
- pssh works very well with the Treo keyboard, though everyone seems to like TuSSH better. Guess I should try it.
- I installed MergicPing before realizing that there is a built-in terminal app in the Network Preferences app. Ah well, Mergic is more convenient and tiny enough.
- FileZ is as useful as ever for figuring out which apps are hogging the most memory.
- PalmRevolt is a sweet app that let's you "skin" the default Palm UI and common controls. I can't believe it works so well and is so stable. I have my Treo skinned to look like Mac OSX. This app alone makes the Treo feel as polished as a Symbian phone. Well worth the $14.95 reg fee.
- My trusty Fonts4OS5 app makes everything on the Treo look great with a Sans Serif 22 point font, and is a nice compliment to PalmRevolt. However, Fonts4OS5 seems a bit more balky on the Treo than on my Zodiac. I've had one reset apparently caused by Fonts4OS5, and it seems that Xiino keeps forgetting that it should use a custom font size. This didn't happen on the Zod, so maybe I need to look at a new font manager app.
- DayNotez supports recorded audio notes on the Treo. Neat!
- I sent my favorite ringtone from my Sony T637 to the Treo via IR and it worked perfectly. I wonder if I can extract the message alert tones from the Sony somehow?
- The LJP game emulator works pretty well. It's not LJZ (the Zodiac version), but NES games are very playable. The menu UI can be unresponsive at times, however.
My current hard button mappings:
| Button |
Function |
| Phone |
Phone |
| Option + Phone |
Xiino |
| Calendar |
Bonzai |
| Option + Calendar |
Calendar |
| Message |
DayNotez |
| Option + Message |
SnapperMail |
Jun 06, 2006
Most every film fan knows that Robert Rodriguez made his first film, El Mariachi , for only $7,000. But how he did it, why he did it, and what it did for him is a very cool story.
His book, Rebel Without A Crew , is mostly a compilation of diary entries Rodriguez kept during his quest to make a full-length feature film targeted toward the Mexican home video market. By literally sacrificing his body, using borrowed ancient equipment, and eventually going broke, he uses his determination and gut instinct to feel his way through Hollywood, where he incredibly sells his film and the rights to a sequel for nearly a million dollars. That's about $980,000 more than he planned for. As a creative guy, I found Rebel Without A Crew to be one of the most inspiring books I've read in a long time. I can't help but want to run out and buy a video camera as soon as possible!
As a bonus, the book includes the full original screenplay for El Mariachi, annotated with Rodriquez's production notes.
Jun 03, 2006
Last night, Timothy Noah posted an article on Slate.com about the Japanese asteroid probe Hayabusa, and the amazing science and pictures it has collected of asteroid Itokawa.
Until now, all I've seen in the press is how much trouble the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has had with the probe, most recently with a balky landing procedure. But no one ever mentioned how successful the Hayabusa mission has actually been. Check out the pictures and descriptions of the asteroid on the official web site. Wow!
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/snews/2006/0602.shtml
It took a year or two, but I finally joined the league of Treo users yesterday (thanks StickyC!). Overall, I'm thrilled to be able to carry a single Phone+PDA instead of two separate units, even if the two separate units have better capabilities than the Treo.
After several hours of usage, here are some first impressions:
- The unlocked GSM model worked instantly out of the box. Just popped in my SIM card and it worked perfectly.
- VersaMail is much nicer than I expected. I wish it was as thumb-friendly as SnapperMail.
- Blazer is very nice, but I'll still use Xiino [xiino3.4, xiinodead, xiinooffline].
- The 312MHz CPU is very snappy. Probably the fastest Palm I've used.
- I miss my Sony T637 already. Symbian is an outstanding cel phone OS, Palm isn't anywhere close, but maybe with some customization.
- The Tapwave Zodiac [zodiacend, zodiacreset] is the best PalmOS PDA ever made. They got almost everything right, from the hard buttons to the launcher and built-in shortcut apps. I miss it already. The Treo is miles from the Zodiac's elegance.
- The keyboard is so much easier to use than Graffiti handwriting. And it beats the pants off of T9 input. Hey, where's the shortcut for clipboard functions?
- Outlook syncing is excellent. Goodbye to PocketMirror and the obnoxious dialog click overrides.
- USB 2.0 HotSyncs are super fast.
- The launcher hasn't changed since the PalmPilot. Come on Palm, this stuff is ancient and clumsy.
- I am able to use my Bluetooth Access Point for internet access. Worked on the first try. Oddly, the manual says that this isn't supported.
- I wish there was an easier way to change network connections. Maybe a 3rd party app will help here.
- Seems that my SanDisk SD WiFi [idlesandiskwifi, sandiskwifisd] card isn't supported. Bummer.
- The default font looks very clunky, with poor kerning and uneven bold characters. After a few hours, I installed Fonts4OS5 and replaced it with a much nicer and more readable font.
- DocumentsToGo 7.0 is included for free. I just bought it 5 months ago. Bah.
- Using Excel spreadsheets in DocumentsToGo makes me really miss landscape mode on the Zodiac.
- Why do I need to create dialing shortcuts to assign individual caller ring tones?
- No voice dialing. Looks like I need to buy another app for this.
- Why is the 5-way control beveled inward and not outward? I keep hitting the center button by accident. When will consumer electronics designers learn from video game hardware designers?
- The rounded slick shape of the Treo seems designed to slip out of your hand. I wish the back was rubberized and non-slip.
- I wish there was a rubber "lip" of some kind just below the keyboard so my thumbs won't slip off the bottom of the unit.
- Those peel-and-stick screen protectors are terrible. They cloud the screen, you can never get rid of all the bubbles, and they really dull the touchscreen accuracy. I need to find a better solution for this. Maybe the excellent Hoodman screen guards will work.
- The shortcuts on the Phone screen menu are ugly but powerful. You can use every key on the keyboard as an app launcher. But why can't I delete or reconfigure the default buttons?
- I wish I could delete RealPlayer. I plan to use TCPMP instead.
- 5 hours in, and the Treo has already reset on me once.
