Peter's Blog

I haven't blogged for weeks but I've now done something so cool I cannot keep quiet about it. I've solved my mobile TV-watching problems. I have been trying for ages to build a reliable PVR system using the Hauppauge Nova-T USB and had given up because of the flaky software that is around.

My solution: Humax PVR-9200T Dual Tuner 160G PVR plus a SlingBox.

Humax PVR-9200T bullet list:

• easy to set up
• sensitive tv tuner, finds all channels where Nova-T struggled to find any.
• channel changing speed none too bad
• can do picture in picture
• can schedule recordings from the EPG
• can download recordings to PC using USB port
• can upload MP3s to play on it a-la juke box.
• can upload jpegs to look at on it
• can upgrade the firmware using an RS232 port, not via USB. Have to borrow cable from work.

Summary: good player

UPDATE: player locks up regularly when left on Channel 4. This seems to be a common gripe, something to do with the digital teletext for Big Brother. Will try updating firmware and using a better aerial booster.

UPDATE2: upgraded firmware over-the-air. Box ran overnight for the first time.

The Slingbox takes the output of the PVR and broadcasts it over a network. I can watch TV on laptops or my pocketpc both at home and anywhere I can get an internet connection. The Slingbox has two notable limitations:

1. the Sling Player software won't record the video stream
2. only one client can watch the output at one time

These seem to be anti-piracy measures: I cannot put up a feed where anyone on the internet can watch channel 4.

SlingBox Bullet List:

• easy to set up
• PC Software only downloadable: no CD in the box?
• software is nice, slick and well designed.
• SlingBox has IR transmitters to control your PVR (or DVD Player, TV tuner or whatever your source is). This makes control sluggish and it doesn't support everything the PVR can do (e.g. turn on picture-in-picture).
• have to pay extra $30 for pocket pc version of the software: what a rip.
• the uk version includes a DVB-T tuner (i.e. freeview) but it's not as sensitive as the Humax (which found all the local channels) and the control of it is pretty basic: no EPG!!

Summary: it is good but over-priced

Hooking two consumer devices together has solved my problems: within two hours it was all working. It is not the cheapest solution but it is cheaper than a dedicated media PC would be. By cancelling my sky+ subscription the PVR will pay for itself.

I found a solution to the problem of the stylus of my HP ipaq rx1950 pocketpc falling out that is better than putting it in the case 'upside down'. If you take the battery cover off, there is a little piece of plastic in there with a dent in that is supposed to click into a groove in the stylus. If you carefully craft a small piece of paper to jam in between the battery cover and this piece of plastic you can place more pressure on the stylus and grip it more tightly.

HP Invent (bodges).

The novelty of the Slingbox hasn't worn off after five days:

• TV anywhere there is wifi
• TV on pocketpc (hp rx1950) around the house: watch in bed without waking wife/baby
• useable on wireless laptop where picture shows in a sidebar while I surf
• Remotely control PVR (albeit painfully sluggishly: there is a lag in the video stream so when you do something you have to wait to see the effect)
• Playback is pretty smooth, not crystal clear but watchable

It's the dog playing a piano thing, you just gasp that it does it at all, you don't really listen to the music.

The DVB tuner in the slingbox isn't as sensitive as the one in the humax PVR 9200T. The PVR receives all channels fine whereas the Slingbox struggles on the BBC channels where the signal is weaker, only 45% or so. I have the same problem with a cheapo Digimax freeview tuner that I bought in Tesco. Still, the Slingbox's tuner is only useful to me when the PVR locks up and it hasn't done that since I upgraded the firmware to 1.0.6 (fingers crossed).

I am not happy with my hp rx1950 pocketpc. Its lack of memory makes it flaky running multiple applications, some suddenly terminate without saving their data. They also randomly terminate when I turn it on from standby. This means that to be safe I have to exit the applications before powering down which makes continuing work tedious as I have to reopen the application in the right document. When memory is running short it can get very sluggish and it will often lock up and I have to press the reset button and wait a minute or so for it to reboot (it runs a version windows remember).

The upshot of all this is that I don't do any notetaking on it, which is the main reason I bought it.

It is fine for slingbox, surfing, rss etc, although slingbox player locks up if I try to use the remote control in landscape mode: could be slingbox but more likely the O/S and it's appetite for memory (needs 20M or so of RAM out of 32M: how much? What is it doing with it? How much of this could/should have been fixed in ROM?).

Options:

• Buy Dell axim X51 or HP hx2490
• Give rx1950 to wife/sell on ebay/use for satnav (it's too gutless for skype which would be the main use the wife could make of it)
• Live with it

Decisions.

Update: Bought a new Dell Axim x51v via ebay for £80 off Dell price, currently in the post. This is one of the fastest WM5 PDA's there is so it should have the horsepower for skype and it has twice as much ram so hopefully apps won't randomly terminate. Incidentally, I tried Minimo, a port of firefox to pocketpc, and it was hopeless, barely managed to show google.com. I think this was down to memory demands, given that firefox is pretty gluttonous in this regard.

x51v features compared to rx1950:

• cpu more than twice as fast
• 256M flash
• 64M RAM
• bluetooth
• 640x480 screen vs 320*240
• 3d graphics accelerator
• compact flash slot as well as SD which rx1950 has.
• an actual button to turn wifi on and off

I think the decider in making me buy this was the prospect that daynotez might be usable on it.

I never mentioned this but I bought a Canon LBP 1120 laser printer a couple of months ago because I had a lot of printing to do and they were going half price.

I had found with an inkjet printer that I used it only rarely and when I did the ink had invariably dried up and I would end up buying more cartridges for $$$. Whenever I tried cheap clone cartridges the results would be poor, with one of the colors not working.

Discussing this at work someone mentioned how much better laser printers were: they work out quite economical to run as a toner cartridge can print 2500 pages and doesn't dry out.

Hence I bought the Canon and it works very well. The print quality is very good albeit only black and white. It works fine with some old paper I have had for over 10 years. For printing photo's I would rather use photobox as the prints work out cheaper and are much better quality and don't start to fade after a year.

The printer was probably cheap because it was an old model and I ought to grab a spare toner cartridge while they are still available.

It is very nice having a printer available. I no longer have to memorise google maps.

Today gmail has changed such that when looking at the list of messages I cannot middle-click and open a message in a new firefox tab, I have to open it in the same window. This means I cannot look at multiple messages in multiple tabs.

If I right click on a message there is no option in the context menu to open in a new tab, the only link on the page I have found where this works is the 'help' link.

Hope there is a good technical reason for this and it's not just a stupid dropoff by someone who carelessly breaks features that they don't use. Who are google to redesign web ui standards? Are they going to lower themselves to childish 'disable the context menu because my html is so full of great ideas I don't want anyone to view the source' javascript tricks?

Damn google and damn the free services that I expect perfection from.

I'm having a bout of insomnia and it doesn't make me cheerful and tolerant.

Bought a Parker Profile 3-in-1 pen which includes:

• blue ballpoint
• 0.7mm pencil
• PDA stylus

As a pda stylus it is very nice: much more comfortable in the hand than the skinny little stylus that comes with the ipaq.

It works by magic: you turn the pen around until you see the label for what you want, then press the top button down and out it pops. At first I thought it was random as there is no obvious way to select what you want. I had to read the instructions There is some kind of gravity mechanism that senses the rotation of the pen, i.e. it won't work if you are standing on your head.

My normal method of ruining pens is to repeatedly dismantle and reassemble them, particularly in meetings. Must try not to do it with this: the bottom screw part undoes very easily and it will be mighty tempting.

New Dell X51v PDA has come. Have to say it again, but I got £80 off a brand new one through ebay: gotta love it.

Impressions of X51v wrt rx1950:

• bigger, fatter and heavier. Not as comfortable to hold in the hand. Slightly more plasticky. If I got a magnesium case for it then volume it takes in my pocket would be about same as rx1950 in it's original case. Walking around with wallet, pocketpc and mobile spread around pockets does tend to spoil the line of my outfits
• much nicer to use, very noticably faster. Apps that were sluggish or painful on rx1950 (pocket mindmap, especially Daynotez) are now quite usable. Internet Explorer is noticably better.
• no memory/random termination problems so far: with five or so apps loaded, still have two blobs out of five free (a blob is a unit of memory measured by vbar) where rx1950 might have one and a half with one or two apps running (and in this state one of the apps is likely to be terminated whenever the O/S feels like it: make sure those files are saved!).
• VGA (640x480) vs QVGA (320x240: I guess the Q stands for quarter) screen much nicer. Internet Explorer can show smaller fonts clearly, giving more on a screenful. The cleartype in Pocket Mindmap makes the characters look blurry, turning it off makes them look pixelated. Other apps are fine.
• Wireless seems to connect faster, less of a thumb twiddling exercise. Useful button on left to toggle wifi on and off.
• Still needs that reset button but then again it is still running Windows.
• Haven't tried the 3d accelerated games yet but rx1950 doesn't have 3d acceleration so that must be better. By an odd coincidence the DS Lite is out today.

Conclusion: rx1950 is better than nothing but more annoying than useful. Go on, buy an X51v, you know you want one.

As I write this I'm sitting in a hotel bar with a latte. I'm using my laptop to surf and watching 'Richard and Judy' via my slingbox

Wifi in the hotel is £6/hour so I won't be doing it for long