Gale Force

If you checked my flickr stream recently you probably saw some pictures of a beautiful Home Theater PC. My friends and I got a crazy idea to start a new company that will build, install and support home theater PCs. Rather than building our prototype model we decided to buy a pre-built system just to see what components, hardware and techniques the “pros” used. After extensive research we decided to buy our system from PCAlchemy who seems to be a leader in HTPC systems and hardware. We chose their XTE system because we wanted a fairly impressive high-end system that we could use for demonstrations.

Well the system arrived a few weeks ago and has been nothing but headache, anger and frustration ever since. PCAlchemy used the Intel DP35DP motherboard which sports on-board Hi-def audio powered by the Sigmatel chipset. When we first powered up the system I could not have been more disappointed with the sound quality. Regardless of the audio source or quality the playback was stuttered and crackly (is that a word?). I tried everything I could think of to resolve the issue including BIOS updates, driver updates, system reconfiguration, cable replacements and hammer smashing (OK…so it was my mental hammer mentally smashing the thing into little ice-cubed size chunks). I even disabled the on-board audio and installed a SoundBlaster Audigy card to try and narrow down the problem. The SoundBlaster card produced the exact same results…leaving me even more mystified. At this point I’m hoping PCAlchemy lives up to their customer service reputation and helps me get the issue resolved. Last week they were busy fleeing for their lives from the California wildfires so hopefully this will be the week things get fixed. Until then this thing is not an HTPC…it’s an HTPoC (as in HT Piece o’ Crap).

Audio problems aside, I’m liking the HTPC concept very much and I think Vista Media Center is as good a software package as you’re going to find. If you are considering a Vista Media Center PC let me suggest a few additional tweaks and software packages that will turn your system into the ultimate HTPC.

1. Enable “Gallery” (or DVD Library) view in Vista Media Center. I guess Microsoft (and the MPAA) doesn’t want you storing DVD content on your hard drives so this feature is disabled by default. If you plan on ripping DVDs to your hard disk you’ll want to enable the Gallery view in Media Center. This Microsoft KB article has instructions on how to do it.
2. Because you’re putting DVDs on your hard drive, you’ll need a good movie collection management application. The free Media Center plugin MyMovies will fit the bill nicely. Features include: DVD collection management and playback, indexing of movies using online data (coverart, movie synopsis, actor information etc), multiple client support and DVD ripping from within Media Center. Unfortunately the DVD ripping feature will only work with un-encrypted DVDs which leads me to my next item…
3. SlySoft AnyDVD. AnyDVD will remove DVD copy protection on-the-fly allowing you to use nearly any DVD ripping application to store DVD content on your hard drive (including the aforementioned MyMovies plugin). Buy it, install it, love it.
4. CCCP. No, I’m not talking about the former communist regime. CCCP is the Combined Community Codec Pack which is a solid, reliable codec pack with support for every video and audio format you’ll ever likely need. The most compelling reason to install CCCP is for its excellent H.264 and MPEG Transport Stream (TS) support. HD anyone?
5. WebGuide. WebGuide adds Slingbox-type functionality to your Vista Media Center for free! Just install and configure the application and you’ll have the ability to remotely view live TV, watch and schedule TV programs and manage your audio, pictures and videos from any web-accessible browser (including mobile phones).
6. Ninan. I have a love/hate relationship with Ninan. I love the idea but I hate the oft-buggy implementation. Until I can set up a linux machine running HellaNZB, however, Ninan will have to do. So what is it doing exactly? Well, Ninan is a binary news downloading program that uses the popular NZB format. Ninan will automatically download, repair, extract and categorize binary Usenet posts. Because I don’t own a Tivo *gasp* I regularly use Usenet to timeshift my favorite television shows — Ninan has made this process easy. I have set up Ninan to download my TV shows to a “watched” folder in Media Center so all my shows, regardless of origin, are now available from one convenient location. If you want to use BitTorrent to accomplish the same thing, might I suggest Ted.  UPDATE 11/20/2007: Ninan released version 1.1.4 a few days ago which fixed many of the problems plaguing the 1.1.3 version.  Way to go guys!  I <3 Ninan again.

By itself, Vista Media Center is a good software package…but if you’re looking for the Ultimate Home Theater PC you’ll need a little more. I hope these recommendations help. Happy HTPCing!

Special thanks to Grant Shipley for first introducing me to MyMovies, CCCP and Ninan (although I don’t think I should thank him for Ninan just yet…remember there’s still that whole love/hate thing going on).

Have you ever seen perfection?  Allow me to show you.

I stopped by my local IFA store at lunch today to pick up a bag of Fall Blend fertilizer for my rather anemic-looking lawn.  As if being guided from above, I happened to glance at the candy rack where I beheld this confectionary marvel.  I have long been a fan of the Pearson’s Nut Roll — in fact, I consider myself to be somewhat of a nut roll connoisseur.  I have gone through life thinking that the original Pearson’s Nut Roll was the ultimate combination of sugary, salty goodness — never to be outdone by the likes of PayDay, Mr. Goodbar or any *scoff* pecan log.  Little did I suspect that the company to de-throne the Nut Roll would be the same company who created it.

Pearson’s, I tip my hat to you.  You have truly outdone yourselves…with a simple layer of delicious milk chocolate.  My only plaint is the two taunting words emblazoned within the golden ribbon: Limited Edition.  Obviously this treat is not one to be taken for granted, and with a saddened heart I understand that the Chocolate Nut Roll will not be here forever.  Fortunately for me, my IFA store has a large supply on hand and according to this site:

“The average shelf for a chocolate candy bar is anywhere up to six (6) months “

Food storage anyone?

This month the Atari 2600 celebrated its 30th birthday. In honor of this momentous occasion, RetroThing has just wrapped up Atari Week reminding so many of us where are love of video gaming originated.

It got me thinking about my video gaming roots so I put together a brief genealogy of video gaming at the Gale house.

1. In the beginning was Atari 2600.
2. And Atari 2600 begat TI-99/4A.
3. And TI-99/4A begat Colecovision.
4. And Colecovision begat Intellivsion.
5. And Intellivsion begat NES and the people did rejoice exceedingly.
6. And NES begat Sega Genesis.
7. And Sega Genesis begat SNES.
8. And SNES begat N64 which begat PlayStation.
9. And PlayStation lived many years and was fruitful in the land.
10. And PlayStation begat Dreamcast.
11. And Dreamcast begat Xbox and Xbox became modded and was highly favored of the people.
12. And Xbox still holds a special place amongst the noble and great ones.
13. And Xbox begat Wii.
14. And Wii begat Xbox 360 and thus ended the reign of video games.

Our family was pretty cutting-edge when it came to console gaming. We were usually the first one on the block with the “new” system (due in part to my mother being employed at ToyWorld [later Kay-Bee Toys] for the better part of my childhood) and a large part of our discretionary income was spent on expanding our games library. With the exception of the PS2 and the Sega Saturn I think I pretty much covered all the important console bases growing up. The neighborhood kids flocked to our basement and many a Friday night was spent trying to beat a standing Hi Score (to this day I think my MouseTrap, Asteroids, Tetris and Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins records still stand). Ahh the good old days.

Here’s the funny thing about video games…with very few exceptions (Guitar Hero, Wii Sports and a few driving games) the old classics are far more entertaining and enjoyable to me than any of the games available today. I still have my old Xbox running emulators of all the great systems including Coleco, Atari 2600 and the original NES. Invariably I’ll catch myself playing Excitebike, Tetris or Super Mario Bros. far more often than Halo, Madden or Ghost Recon.

I guess it’s true what they say…you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Maybe we just don’t want to learn.

Happy birthday Atari VCS.

Nerf warlocks! Buff retribution! Prot warriors are worthless in PvP! Karazhan destroys guilds! Daily quests are full of loss! Oh wait…I don’t care anymore!

That’s right folks…after 3 years and more /played time then I’m willing to admit, I have broken up with Blizzard. I was paying for two accounts and I just didn’t feel like I was getting $30 worth of entertainment out of it each month. I had no interest in raiding after BC came out, questing and grinding was a bore and level 70 PvP was tedium at best. The only thing that has held my interest over the past several monthas was twinked PvP.

Meet Jerrenn. There’s something very fulfilling about taking a lower level character and gearing him up to the absolute max and then unleashing him on unsuspecting victims in Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch. My good friend got in on the action and created a 49 warrior, Descartes, who completed the “dynamic duo” of 40-49 PvP. DPS Warrior + Holy Paladin = wtfpwn. Oh the battles we fought….matches single-handedly won for the Alliance, faces melted, HKs galore, nodes captures, flags returned. These were good times.

Like every good thing though…it had to come to an end. Descartes went into retirement feeling like WoW had become Unreal Tournament - only not free. I soon followed and the dynamic duo is no more. Maybe we’ll make a WotLK comeback…I haven’t completely ruled out the possibility. But for now, good luck Alliance 40-49 PvP in the Cyclone battle group…you’ll need it.

So, faithful readers, my first and last WoW post you’ll ever read. Hope you enjoyed.