If you haven’t come across lol cats before then you are in for a treat. I discovered this phenomenon around 6 months ago thanks to Tilly and if you need cheering up it certainly works. The basic premise of the lol cats is to take have a picture of any cat (but can be another animal) and add an amusing capshun……sorry caption. That is basically it and without further ado here are some of my new pictures for today from icanhascheezburger.
He’s having a stonking summer at the moment in the Euro 2008 competition and appears to be attracting a lot of attention from various clubs around Europe. Along with Fernando Torres he is a player I’ve been consistently saying Liverpool FC need to sign as they both posses excellent all round abilities.
My interest pricked up the other day when I noticed on the Sky Sports website that David Villa had mentioned in an interview that if he came to England he’d want to play for either Chelsea or Liverpool. I’ll say it now we NEED David Villa as a strike partner for Torres and we shouldn’t care how much it costs to get him Rafa has to make it happen.
Personally I really dislike having International games during the season as I think if a team has started to gel and performing well a break is the worse thing that could happen. The team will lose their momentum and when they return it will take them some time to settle back into the rhythm. David Villa for me is the solution to this problem and would hopefully help Rafa see the light regarding his rotation policy. A team cannot consistently play well if they don’t regularly play together and I could talk at length, in fact I’m pretty sure I’ve ranted here before about Rafa’s infuriating persistence with swapping and changing. However my take is that if David Villa was to play for us with Fernando Torres we wouldn’t have to worry about player’s rhythm being disrupted because our strike force would still be playing together even when representing their country. As long as they are both Spain’s preferred strikers it would only benefit Liverpool to have both of them on the payroll.
Personally I’m hopeful we can provide the rumoured £25M price tag for him because I honestly think he is worth every single penny and with David Villa and Fernando Torres as our front men we would have a serious shot at the title next season. The interview I read looked promising as he said “Liverpool have a Spanish coach and I also have a lot of friends there,” so hopefully Torres, Reina and Arbeloa can persuade David to ignore any movement by the other English and European clubs and be seen wearing the number 10 shirt next season.
Since we got our first Plasma TV I’ve been dying to try out some HD movies or TV shows to see how they looked. It’s been an eventful journey with various headaches and issue but the outcome was well worth the effort.
We have a variety of different computers in our household ranging from the G3 iMac, 800Mhz PC to a 1.4Ghz PC and G4 iBook. Unfortunately for us none of these are powerful enough to play 720p let alone 1080p content. I’ve tried all the settings and software packages but cannot get my iBook to display 720p videos without stuttering or stopping completely, the simple fact is it’s never going to work. I can’t afford to buy a new Mac so need a way of getting they to play with what I’ve got. Thankfully though our 360 can happily play 1080p content without missing a beat which considering it is connected to our TV 24/7 provides an elegant solution.
However after acquiring your HD content you’ll hit a large brick wall which is that most HD content is only available in MKV format. This will not play on the Xbox 360 and requires converting or transcoding. At this point you have a variety of options depending on your chosen OS platform. If you are a windows user you have the option of a package called TVersity which can transcode your mkv movies into a format the 360 will recognise and stream it to the console. At the moment I’m not aware of a Mac app which will do the same. I’m confident in saying I’ve tried most of the solutions available to get mkv files to play on the 360 and have finally found a solution which is fast and simple. The only down-side to this is if you have your Xbox connected to a home cinema amplifier and wish to keep the 5.1 audio track then this isn’t for you. We don’t have a surround sound system at the moment so are happy to make the sacrifice. We’ll eventually get one and then I’ll look into a different method but for now I’m more than content.
If you are a Mac user like myself there are no easy ways to get your MKV file into something suitable and it involves a lot of convoluted steps to get the file at the end. I’ll happily admit now I’m lazy I want something where I click one button and it does the rest, it’s one of the reasons I bought a Mac I am tired of having to change and mess around with stuff consistently I just want it to work. Anyway I’m getting distracted now so back to the solution. The application I’m going to suggest unfortunately can only be used in Windows so if you have a spare PC lying around or own an Intel Mac then you’re in luck. If you don’t then you need to blag/borrow/buy one, I’ve got my work’s Windows laptop to do my converting which is a godsend.
I can’t actually remember where or who I first found this link but what you need is XenonMkv which you can get here. It will take your mkv file and convert it to a MP4 file preserving the video track and demuxing the 5.1 down to 2.1. It will also helpfully split the file for you if it is over 4Gb in size as Microsoft kindly put that limit in there for files played locally off your Xbox.
Version 26 of XenonMkv was released in the last few days but I’m yet to test it as I’ve actually run out of mkv files to convert, but the application is extremely simple to use. You can convert either an individual file or an entire directory at a time. Conversion takes around 10 minutes on my laptop for the average movie but I’m sure on newer machines it will be a breeze. I’ve found on the conversion doesn’t decrease the file size by much so on most videos stay around 4.5Gb mark which XenonMkv makes into 2×2.2Gb chunks.
Once your file is ready you can either move it to an external drive or stream it to your Xbox. Mac users I can’t recommend Connect360 enough, my only gripe with it is that it doesn’t preserve the directory structure you share it just lumps everything in one place. Another app I’ve come across recently is called Rivet but I’ll need some more time to evaluate it. In the meantime I’ve managed to stream all of my converted movies over our 54G wireless network with little or no stuttering or buffering. I’ll do a little comparison on them both in the future, but for now get converting!
Our Samsung plasma is no more. After being collected by the repair company it was returned to us unrepaired. It was rather odd the whole repair process with our screen. CostCo use various certified repair centres located throughout the UK to fix or attempt to fix their sets. Our TV was collected on the 29th of May with a suggested week turn-around which didn’t sound too bad. The following Monday I contacted the company to find out how the repair was coming along and was informed they were waiting on a part, a PDP panel. Now to me a PDP Panel is actually the entire screen but the woman at Circuit Tech assured me it wasn’t and the bill for CostCo was £158 which they were happy to pay as their threshold is £200. So it came as a surprise to get a phone call on Tuesday from the company to say the television was being return unrepaired and we’d need to take it back to CostCo for a refund. I asked for an explaination of how one day I can be told we’re waiting for a part and the next be told it’s not being fixed. As expected they didn’t really have an explanation for me other than what sounded like they’d exhausted all options before deciding to replace the screen to which CostCo said no. Thankfully for us Pam was able to stay in on that Friday for them to bring the TV back as I couldn’t get the day off work and still borrow their Berlingo van to take it back to Chester.
Everyone I’ve spoken to regarding returns to CostCo have said “Oh it’s so easy you just take it back, you don’t even have to take your receipt as they’ll have the record on your card. Not the case for us! Turns out that when we bought the TV it was on an old membership number which had then been deleted, added to that that the price of the TV had changed which meant customer services were struggling to work out what to do with us. Queue 30 minutes of waiting and 2 supervisor visits we finally left with the correct refund and lots of apologies.
Since I’d found out about the TV being unrepairable I’d been on the hunt for a new panel and it came down to 2 challengers, the Panasonic TH42PX80B and the LD 42PG6000. Both had favourable reviews but from user experience it seemed the LG had trouble with image retention which for me was a deal-breaker. As I use the 360 a lot and play all sorts of different games I couldn’t afford to have any retention issues so decided the Panasonic was the way forward. Luckily for us I found out that Panasonic were still doing their warranty offer where if you purchase one of their panels you get a free 5 year warranty included in the price. So after a quick look around the AVForums I found a store in Bolton which had the TVs in stock for a very good price and if I collected it from the them I’d be eligible for the 5 year cover.
We’ve had the TV now for just over a week and are loving it we don’t have any problems with red speckles or football judder which plagued us with the Samsung and the Euro 2008 competition looks stunning on BBC HD. So if you are after a decent 42″ plasma screen with good performance I can’t recommend the TH42PX80B highly enough.
As mentioned in my previous post I switched back to a VGA connection for my 360 and things aren’t exactly fantastic. Apart from the red speckles which I notice a lot when playing Devil May Cry 4 I’ve found with some videos I get a black screen with no video but I hear the audio coming through the TV speakers.
This doesn’t happen on all the videos just some which is rather confusing. I checked the same videos via component and had full video and audio so figured it was something to do with resolutions. All available resolutions on our TV tested gave me the same result so it was time to hit Google. After a bit of searching I stumbled upon the solution.
So if you’re trying to play videos through your 360 via a VGA connection and you get sound but no video then you need to do the following.
1) Hook your 360 to your TV via the component cable.
2) Go to the settings blade and change your resolution to a different resolution than the one you are using. As I was using 720p I went for 576p. When asked if you want to test the settings choose yes.
3) You’ll be prompted next if you want to test 50Hz and this point select no.
4) Disconnect your component cable and re-attached your VGA cable.
5) Select a video and enjoy
I can’t remember whether I mentioned, but we got our Plasma screen just before Christmas and have been enjoying HD goodness since. One thing I will tell everyone is you MUST ensure you have the right settings to get the best out of your TV. Thankfully there is an ace user over at avforums.com called Eiren who kindly put up some settings which look amazing. However despite all the good news everything is not well in the world of my 360 and our telly.
When I first setup our TV the 360 was using the VGA connection because the Samsung had a PC Audio-in socket unlike the Panasonic I was considering. Anyway it sat happily using that socket until I decided I’d move to component. If you’d asked me upto around a week ago why I made the change I wouldn’t have been able to remember but recent events have jogged my memory.
Since Sky spat it’s dummy out with Virgin Media we’ve Sky oneless and miss the great shows such as Lost and Bones. So after a fantastic week away in Corfu we decided to get up-to-date. Whilst watching an episode of Bones I noticed what can only be described as red speckles on the screen which only appeared during dark scenes. The screen wasn’t covered in them but there were very distracting to the point where I would actually be looking for them instead of watching the show. When my initial panic had subsided thinking our telly was on the blink I tried replaying the same scenes over again and the red dots kept appearing so I decided to try the VGA connection with the iBook. The same videos played with no red spots at all so I fired up some HD episodes of Battlestar Galactica through the 360 and thankfully they were spot free. In fact through the component cable I got with the 360 I could see no red sparkles so I’m sure that is why I went back to component from the VGA when we first got our television.
The VGA cable I bought was only £7 off eBay so no great loss but I’ve decided I need to try an official cable to see if that produces the same red dots. On Monday I discovered they aren’t just restricted to videos either. My first foray into the world of Devil May Cry 4 resulted in dots on the screen during various cut scenes and gameplay.
I’m sure some would suggest I just stick with component and not bother with VGA but there are various reasons I’m going to persevere one of which is because the 360 looks much sharper through VGA compared to component. I also found out that the 360 doesn’t upscale SD DVDs over component but does with VGA but I’ve yet to test any to see how they look. A final thing that makes my life easier is when I used to play videos I don’t have to keep changing the resolution of the video file from “native” to “fullscreen” as VGA plays it fullscreen from when it’s loaded.
With Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Fullham yesterday and our 3-1 win against Blackburn last week we should have successfully sealed the 4th Premier League place. This means we will definitely be competing in the Champion’s league next season regardless of our upcoming games against Chelsea next week.
I know this will surprise most but I actually agreed with the manager’s changes yesterday as we have such an important game on Tuesday we needed to rest the big “guns” in preparation for Chelsea. We’re 8 points ahead of Everton now on equal games so we need our top scorers rested and ready to stick 2-3 goals past the southerns when they come to Anfield next week. We need a comfortable cushion especially considering the return leg of the quarter finals is away at Stamford Bridge.
Today is an important game for the reds in securing that 4th spot for Champions League action next season.
After Everton’s draw yesterday we need to take maximum (3) points from todays game to keep our hold on the 4th splot. We are currently on 63 points having played 33 games, while the toffees are on 61. Blackburn are similar to their neighbours Bolton in that they play a very physical game and I’m sure if Torres plays today he’ll be kicked and knocked about all over the pitch. Hopefully though we’ll have a referee where if that does happens, Torres won’t recieve a yellow card for asking the referee for protection and he’ll book the offending player(s).
Given our fantastic mid-week win over Arsenal the players should be on cloud 9 and Blackburn should be fearful. I just hope our manager doesn’t tinker too much with our formation as we seemed to have found a rhythym and can’t stop scoring.
A news report on Friday stated that Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are both nominated for PFA Player of the Year and I believe Torres should win this year not just because he’s a Liverpool player but because of his amazing performance throughout the season. Realistically though it’s never going to happen as I’m sure that annoying, arrogant idiot Cristiano Ronaldo will win again, I really dislike him so much. Now don’t get me wrong, if he was at all gracious in the way he acted then I’d have no problem with him but he’s so cocky about it I would quite happily punch him in the face.
Anyway enough about him, there is around 3 hours till kick off and I’m hoping around 3:30 i’m be celebrating a comfortable 2/3-0 result to Liverpool. Though with our manager you never can tell.
It’s 10am on Saturday morning and I’m bored. Soccer AM is on in the background which is a welcome distraction but I am unbelievably bored. There is a ton of housework that needs doing before our visitors arrive but I just can’t seem to decide where to start. Do I start on the kitchen? Do I get the rest of the clothes washed? Perhaps I should just sit here and watch the rest of Soccer AM, though that just means I’ll have to dash round when it’s finished to get all the stuff done in time.
I can happily blame the weather for this general MEH attitude. For the past week the weather has been generally awful in the morning and brightened up nicely by the afternoon, but today I think we’re in for rain, all day. The cars outside have some hail on them and the sky looks menacing. I’ve got to weed our front garden at some point but I don’t want to get soaked in the process.
Do we all have these days where we can’t be bothered to get out of bed and would just rather sit on the sofa doing nothing but watch TV or play games? I for one can’t tend to stay in bed once I’m awake, that is unless I’m really really tired. Today was sadly not one of those days so I got up around 9:30 and have so far successfully avoided doing anything. It’s amazing how much time checking your emails and forums can take out of a day. However I best feed the cats as they look like they are about to attack me if they don’t get some food very soon.
My iBook has now been up and running with the new wireless usb adapter for 3 days now with little or no kernel panics. Back in November 2007 the Software Updater notified me that the 10.4.11 update was available for Tiger. As I like to keep my system up-to-date I dutifully installed it and rebooted.A few days pass by and when browsing IGN I experience my very first mac kernel panic. Discovered the reboot button sequence ctrl+cmd+power and it happens again. Now I’m starting to panic, worrying what has gone wrong with it as I had my HD and optical drive updated 6 months previously.
After a couple of re-installs and digging in the various crash logs I discovered it was the airport was causing the issues and promptly deactivated it. Hurrah! no more kernel panics, but my laptop was now practically useless as I was forced to use an ethernet cable. Within 2 weeks the ethernet port packed up so I’m sad to admit the iBook got packed away and because very neglected.
Around 2 weeks ago I gave Leopard a shot to see if that fixed my airport problems, but sadly not. Since November it seems a large amount of iBook owners have had similar problems with the only solution to replace the logic board which for me was not an option. If i was going to spend around £500 it certainly wouldn’t be fixing the iBook it would be to take delivery of a shiny new MacBook.
Thankfully £13 and some guts I have a fully working iBook again. USB wireless adapters for macs aren’t exactly plentiful as support is rather limited. Belkin or D-link were the suggested brands but after reading this blog post I decided to find an adapter which had a ralink chipset. Ebay came up trumps again with one of these and with the latest drivers I can report it works flawlessly with 10.5.2. If you need any further info or drivers you can find them here.