Category: Technology

Killionaire Video Test

Playing Halo on Friday and I managed to get a Killionaire. Woo hoo. So to celebrate I’d though it was time to take a video and test not only the Panasonic TZ5’s video performance but also to try out the different online video hosts to see which works out best. The video is of me laying waste with the gravity hammer in Halo. The video was shot in 720p mode using the TZ5. Some shady rawk music was added to increase authenticity.

Ideally I’d like to upload and show the video in HD. For that I’ll be trying Vimeo and Viddler. I’ll also throw the video onto Flickr, Youtube and .Mac website. First up is Vimeo.


Killionaire from Ian D on Vimeo.

The first realisation is that upload speeds really have to pick up as uploading 120Mb HD films is very time consuming. 120Mb is probably over the top for what this video is but it’s more of a test than anything else. Vimeo has a nice easy to use interface and once the video is uploaded it converts it into flash. The quality is very good (well I thought so) and you can also view it full screen. There is also a link to the original video so you can download it if you really wanted to. Currently there is a limit of 500MB of uploads per week.

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Crumpler Pretty Boy

Crumpler Pretty BoyI’m still loving the Panasonic TZ5 and as it has a really exposed lens, getting a good camera bag was high on the to-do list. After a bit of research I bought a Crumpler Pretty Boy XXS. The TZ5 fits easily in the main compartment and is well protected. There is space for another battery and also a card holder. What I like is that it isn’t a zip that seals the compartment but a large padded flap that seals with velcro and a clip fastener. The second pocket is also velcro sealed. I’ve used it for the last couple of weeks and it’s certainly stopped the TZ5 from scratches, scuffs and any lens damage. Great bag – crap name! Highly recommended for TZ5 owners.

Panasonic TZ5

My old Sony P200 (only 2 1/2 years old so not much) was a good camera for me but had developed some dead pixel issues that meant every picture needed cleaning up before publishing. Not that I need an excuse to upgrade gadgets but that was good enough for me to try the Panasonic TZ5. I’ve had it for over a week now so thought it was time to publish some thoughts so far.

Panasonic TZ5The camera is a pretty typical point and shoot but has a couple of key features that really appealed to me. It has a 10x optical zoom which for a camera this size is very nice to have. It also shoots 720p video which while I don’t intend doing a lot of is still a plus point compared to other camera’s at this price point. It also allows you to shoot pictures in 16:9 format which is also a useful feature.

Build Quality
The camera feels good in the hand. One handed use is very comfortable and there’s a nice grip strip at the front of the camera. The zoom controls surround the shutter which makes it really quick to zoom, focus and take a picture. However there a couple of things I don’t like. Firstly the main control dial feels a bit cheap compared to the rest of the camera. It’s like a bit of plastic stuck on to the camera and doesn’t give much feedback when used. Worse is the lens cover. While it looks quite substantial if you give it a poke you realise its very flimsy indeed. A camera case or a secondary lens cover is essential which is a shame as the camera doesn’t come with one as standard. The rest of the controls are well positioned and I really like the large screen. Clarity is excellent even in daylight. One other negative – the microphone quality is shocking. I’d go as far to say useless. Thankfully thats the main negatives out of the way.
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War Over?

It’s taken long enough but it finally looks like next gen HD disk format has been chosen – Blu-Ray has won. Ever since Warner went Blu-Ray only the writing has been on the wall. Most people seemed to give HD-DVD until the end of the year. That looks to have been optimistic.

Reuters are now reporting that Toshiba are giving up on the format. RIP HD-DVD. This comes in the same week that many large retailers moved to either Blu-Ray exclusive or to promoting Blu-Ray as the first choice format. I couldn’t give a toss about what format was the best from a technology standpoint. I just wanted one to succeed and for the HD market to grow with a sole format like CD’s and DVD’s. Hopefully thats what will happen now even if the HD-DVD fanboys think that Blu-Ray is a bad choice or that downloads will now take over.

The downloading options are starting to get interesting though. Apple TV Take 2 launched last week offering HD video rentals. I’d dismissed these as although they are HD in terms of resolution there bitrate is usually low to reduce bandwidth, so making them not much better than DVD, especially a good upscaled DVD. However the reviews have so far shown the rentals to be very good, in between Blu-Ray and US cable broadcasts. With start times rumoured to be under a minute it’s starting to look good for HD, especially with Apple TV. However why spend £200 on Apple TV when a PS3 costs £280, can play Blu-Ray disks, is a very capable media playback device (for Mac users try MediaLink) and when Play TV is released will be a Freeview player including HD and also act as a PVR. Even more impressively, the PS3 allows you to browse the internet and again with Play TV can do a slingbox and broadcast TV to the PSP. All very impressive. Almost forgot – it plays games too.

If someone asked me today to recommend one media player it would easily be the PS3. That’s something I didn’t expect to say even a year ago.

Updates

A few program updates…

  • There’s a new 360 dash out. It works a bit quicker than the old one and has been slightly reorganised, for the better in my view. It’s caused a bit of a problem for EA games though which i don’t think are fully resolved yet. DivX & XVid playback now fully supported which is nice as well as a slew of small changes throughout the system. Video Marketplace launches Dec 11th in UK – will be interested in comparing HD quality with Sky & BluRay. With these updates the 360 is finally rivalling XBMC for functionality, while blowing it out of the water for HD. Shame about the noise. And the DVD upscaling – so poor!
  • For Mac users wanting to stream the new video formats to the 360 Nullsoft have updated Connect 360. fast work from the devs to get this out the day after the dash update.
  • Yojimbo has finally been updated with a few new features while hopefully addressing a couple of Leopard bugs. Even though Together has been upgraded I still prefer the features in Yojimbo – and .Mac syncing seems to be working again. Woo!

JBL Creature II’s

Creature IIMy old external speakers failed so I picked up some new speakers for the iMac yesterday. The JBL Creature II’s have picked up a lot of good press over the last year so i was confident of a good sound. However I wasn’t prepared for just how…bad they sounded. I always thought the left/right speakers were too small and my gut feel looks to be right – they were very very poor.

No matter what settings I used I either got a very tinny sound with some or too much bass, or I got no treble at all with the same mix of bass. Very disappointing and they were returned this morning for a full refund. I did luck out though – the old speakers have started to work again (they were throwing out a lot of static with no inputs) so that will do for now. However I’ll keep my eye’s on these Audioengine A2’s (cheers Shakeel for the tip) as they look ideal for my needs.
as they look to be exactly what I’m after and they’ve had good reviews so far. Just not out in the UK yet.

So despite good reviews elsewhere, from what I heard with my own ears I would recommend staying well away from these speakers.

Sky Anytime

Sky’s much lauded new feature Sky Anytime was finally made available to Sky HD customers today with Sky+ boxes to follow soon. Launch the TV Guide and press the red button to access the Sky Anytime content. Downloaded overnight and refreshing daily it will showcase Sky’s ‘best’ content and allow you to access this at anytime. Finally the missing 140GB from my Sky box is being used.

It probably also explains why my HD box fans have been on at 6AM for the last few days. I thought it was a buggy firmware release but this makes more sense. One nice aspect of this content is there are no DOG’s or adverts. While I was initially sceptical it is a nice way of catching some shows that I may have missed, especially some of the one off shows. There’s just too many channels to keep track off. It’s also free which is pretty rare for Sky.

However if I do turn it off I would have loved the option to reclaim the 140GB for my normal recordings. It’s also a bit weird how much SD content is included for Sky HD users. Finally, does it download or record off the channels as the programs are broadcast? I guess that doesn’t really matter. For the moment I’ll keep it enabled and review the content on offer. If it’s offering content outside my normal viewing then it will be worthwhile. If not then at least my box will resume it’s normal quiet life overnight.

Mac Software

In around a weeks time I’ll hopefully taken receipt of my iMac. Really looking forward to it and I’m also thankful that I’ve kept some money aside for a few apps that I really want. Some are mentioned on Grahams list and other can be found on this ultimate Mac software list.

One in particular is Delicious Library. I’ve dabbled with pc based media libraries but none look to be as well crafted as this. Yep – I’m becoming a Mac bore.