Open Media Network

Here's an interesting way to public television broadcasts, podcasts, music, and video blogs. I've just installed it and have found a BOAT load of content already. They're using Kontiki to deliver their content (basically a not-so-illegal BitTorrent clone.

Good: A lot of content, organized well

Bad: Requires client side ActiveX installation. Client is slow to connect when searching. Downloads are slow (I bet this will become faster after more users join the network and start sharing bandwidth).

See for Yourself.

Site of the Week: Virtual Earth

Ok, ok so my Site of the Week feature has been a little lagging (in fact there are only a couple sites in the list). Here's a doosie!

I know a few MSN TV 2ers have been trying to find a mapping tool like Google Maps that works with the box. While I like Google Maps, I LOVE Virtual Earth. Why? Because it works with MSN TV 2!

Here's my original post from :

MSN just launched their MSN Virtual Earth site! Congrats to the Virtual Earth team!

It's basically a Google Maps competitor, but as usual, MSN has a few tricks up its sleeves:

1. LocateMe - this neat feature installs a little widget that figures out where you are by your wifi signal. I absolutely love it.

2. Blog It - Integrated blogging to your MSN Space of your Scratch Pad. I'm still playing with this to see if it's useful...so far nada.

3. It works with MSN TV 2. Google Maps causes the box to crash while Virtual Earth runs very well on MSN TV 2 (a little slow on dialup, but then again, what isn't slow on dialup these days?) About the only thing that doesn't work on MSN TV 2 is the click and drag feature (which may work with a USB mouse attached...I'll have to try).

There's even a fan site setup that's ready to hack VE and make it do cool/fun things (hopefully even more useful than some of the Google Maps remixes that we've seen). Link.

UPDATE: For MSN TV 2 users, the mouse works great with this site. The scroll whell can zoom the map in and out and scroll the results and scratch pad windows. You should search in the scrunched view (the non-resized page), but then resize the page to access features like Aerial photos). The LocateMe can be used (just scroll way down in the panel that appears and click "IP Address"). It doesn't work as well as the PC version where you install an application, but it's nice nonetheless.

Skweeze the Web

Yes, I'm just getting back into the swing of things again and just found this neat little site. It's basically a web proxy for cell phones and PDAs that allows them to surf sites that otherwise would be inaccessible (or difficult to use with limited screen real estate). MSN TV users have the same issue with limited screen area and some have been raving about a website called "Skweeze" that reformats and compresses pages for those with limited screen resolution and bandwidth. It's an interesting idea and I've tried the site. It's not really my cup of tea, but for some users it can help make the dialup experience more bearable. Anyway, check out the press release here: MSN TV Users Skweeze the Web.

PVR Rundown

Are you confused by the current state of affairs in the PVR world? What is a PVR you ask (where have YOU been?)? A PVR is basically a time shifting device for TV content. Wha?? It records stuff so you can watch it later. "But isn't that what a VCR does?" you ask. Oh pishaw! Did you ever really learn how to figure out how to program your VCR? I mean, I could have figured out how to launch the Space Shuttle in the time it took me to figure out the various arcane interfaces to programming the VCR. Well think of the Tivo and other PVRs as devices that let you pick a show with an on screen program guide (like your old school TV Guide, except on the TV) and it will record it. No fuss, no muss.

While there are many free services out there, I pay for my Tivo service because it works extremely well and is unbelievably easy to use. My wife loves both of the Tivos we have because we can sling shows back and forth between them depending on where we are choosing to "relax" (I use the word relax in quotes because she's using doing her artwork while I work on this site or my other site). In the end, I may switch to SageTV or Windows Media Center, but I need to get a 21st century PC at home first. Yes, I still have an ancient Pentium 3 750Mhz at home. Pathetic, but that thing still runs fine (I don't play many PC games so it works just fine with the web and email).

Anyway, if you're interested in finding out more about the world of PVRs, check out PCWorld.com - TV Time Shifters. It's a great high level overview of the state of affairs in the PVR world.

Mini USB TV Tuners

Wow...TV Stick and TV Tiny are two very tiny TV Tuners for your laptop (or desktop for that matter). Now I know what you guys are thinking and no it won't work with MSN TV 2. It'd be cool if we could get it to work, but I doubt that it would (driver footprint, memory, etc.). I'll talk to some developers to see what they think.

On TV recording: I bought myself a dual tuner WinTV PCI 500 for my desktop to record shows. I ended up using SageTV. While the user interface is not so hot (functional but not sexy like Windows Media Center), the product is pretty solid and there is a dedicated following of enthusiasts that have alternate user interfaces that make the product much more usuable (but still not so pretty). Anyway, I think the TV Tiny may have a place in my bag some day (now only if it could pull down cable TV).

Get the dirt here:TrustedReviews - TV Stick and TV Tiny

Akimbo Review

Akimbo review - Engadget - www.engadget.com

We have one of these in our competitor lab. It's a neat device, but suffers from total lack of content (They do have a couple of Cartoon Network shows which is nice). However, if Akimbo fixes the content issue then they'd be rocking (this goes for MSN Video and other similar offerings). They also have to fix the fact that you pay both a monthly fee AND for much of the decent content on the box. I think MSN Video has a leg up here.

Creative Zen Portable Media Center...the saga continues

Part 1 is here

Part 2:
DVD ripping to the Zen: not really. I used a piece of software called DVDDecrypter that ripped the first "The Apprentice: Season One" DVD with no problems. Then I tried another piece of software called Win2AVI or something that compressed the video into a WMV file. Woohoo!

While I'm starting to really like the little Zen PMC, it's still too much of a hassle for me to enjoy the DVDs that I own. I'm not going to go through and rip all of my DVDs manually (who has that much hard drive space?) and then feed each file to the compression tool. Yikes! I know, I know...I can probably script something to do this, but I'm definitely not in the mood these days (with the trip to China coming up in a day or two). Plus one of the developers at MSN TV is a Linux fiend and he has some sort of setup at home that he uses to automate this process. I'm going to have to bug him about this so I can make a little Linux converter box. Maybe I'll hack the AMD Geode thing (assuming I can get my hands on one) and have it spit out the files to a gigantic file server (that has yet to be built).

Not to go off on a tangent, but I've always dreamed of having a gigantic file server filled with all of my media. I mean ALL of it. I would rip the hundred or...

so DVDs that I own, the few thousand songs that I own, all of my photos, and other random videos that I find. I figure I'd need about 2 or 3 terabytes for the first 5 years this thing is in operation. Hmmm...mental note: investigate homegrown disk arrays. Then all of my PCs and MSN TV 2s and whatever else I can stick ethernet or wireless onto would be uber connected to this one content source. Oh yeah, it'd be nice if it were a DVR too...then I can stream this stuff to all of my PCs/devices. Oh yeah (#2), would be great if I could have secure access to it from the Internet, so I can enjoy all of my media files where ever there is Internet connectivity (like Borders at Santana Row). We hang out there so much that I decided to spring for their wireless service...it's great, but now if I could build this thing. What would I call it? Hmm...LifeServer? Hehehe...sounds like "LifeSavers" candy. How about the Burma Superstar (man I love the food there)?

Anyway back to the Zen PMC. I decided what the heck...let's take the plunge. I loaded up Windows Media Player with all of my music and photos as well as the stuff I've collected off the web. I also put the home videos from our trip to Thailand last year on there. The process was pretty lengthy as WMP had to transcode (fancy word for translate) everything to smaller files. Part way through, I started fiddling with the settings and found that I could specify the quality level of the videos and songs. I put both quite high but that didn't change the time. Their copying and transcoding algorithm is pretty good...WMP will transcode what it needs and in the background transfer whatever doesn't need to be transcoded. Neat. Anyway after a couple hours of leaving WMP and the Zen to their tango (while I worked on my Test Specs for the next MSN TV 2 software update), the process completed and there it was...like my iPods except black (not white) and fat (not skinny). It was fully loaded with all of photos from the past year and Thailand trip. If I have time, I'll load all previous year photos tonight. It also had pretty high quality versions of my home videos and funny clips from around the Internet.

I guess the real test is taking it on the road with me (which is what I intend to do). I have a feeling that while this version of the Zen may not be right for me, I think a future, slimmer, larger-screen-endowed future model will be something that I will have to pick up (especially if I build Burma Superstar with Windows Media Center 2005 or 2006).

AMD's Geode review

A Tale of Two Geodes

Interesting info and review of AMD's Geode device. It's basically a Windows CE device that is being deployed in developing nations via communications providers (ie Phone companies).

Creative Zen Portable Media Center Review (Finally!)

HOW-TO: BroadSnatching to a Portable Media Center - Engadget - www.engadget.com

I haven't had much use for the Creative Zen Portable Media Center device that has been hanging around my office as of late. I was quite excited to try it out, but I quickly realized that it was quite useless without a Media Center PC (not even DVD ripping under fair-use laws are supported!). Sigh! So sadly, the neat little video brick took a back seat to all of the other gadgets populating my office.

Until today. After reading Engadget's "Broadsnatching" how-to, I was inspired to try. So try I did...iPodder didn't quite work as advertised (it kept downloading only the first enclosure in the RSS feed so yet another sigh). I searched around and found Nimiq which quite simply works.

I followed the rest of the instructions and pretty soon my harddrive was filling up with all sorts of random content. My favorites (of course) being Channel 9 vids.

I've gotten all sorts of random stuff from blogdigger so far and am hoping someone aggregates categories of good video content like tv show and movie clips among other things.

So far the experience has been pretty neat. it's great to finally use the little Creative Zen, but getting the content to the device takes a LONG time due to a conversion process that Windows Media Player does to "convert" files to something the PMC can understand.

After I waited and waited for a while, the files finally arrived (at which point I discovered I can set the files to convert when my PC is not doing other things so I will leave my laptop on tonight and see what I can grab).

Regardless, this alone is making the Creative Zen Portable Media Center a joy to play with. Now if only I can rip a DVD onto the thing...no matter, I'm already investigating various pieces of software to aid me ripping DVDs that I rightfully own onto this thing so I can watch them.

The catch:

Final exam in Psychology tomorrow...need to finish test specs and other work goodness before Thursday...why?

Because Friday I will be running around doing last minute shopping and packing...why?

Because Saturday at 8:30am, I'll be on my way to China with my wife for a 3 week vacation.

Note: when the vacation begins, I will mostly be out of contact as my ability connect to the Internet in China may not be as regular as the near-Internet-umbilical cord status that I enjoy here. I will do my best to check-in on the FAQs and comments once in a whiile, but no guarantees on a quick (or any) replies. Then again, I don't guarantee replies even if I'm here, but I do generally get back to most of you fairly quickly (most of you that have asked questions in the FAQ and that have emailed me can vouch for me).

Creative Zen Portable Media Center Review (Finally!)

HOW-TO: BroadSnatching to a Portable Media Center - Engadget - www.engadget.com

I haven't had much use for the Creative Zen Portable Media Center device that has been hanging around my office as of late. I was quite excited to try it out, but I quickly realized that it was quite useless without a Media Center PC (not even DVD ripping under fair-use laws are supported!). Sigh! So sadly, the neat little video brick took a back seat to all of the other gadgets populating my office.

Until today. After reading Engadget's "Broadsnatching" how-to, I was inspired to try. So try I did...iPodder didn't quite work as advertised (it kept downloading only the first enclosure in the RSS feed so yet another sigh). I searched around and found Nimiq which quite simply works.

I followed the rest of the instructions and pretty soon my harddrive was filling up with all sorts of random content. My favorites (of course) being Channel 9 vids.

I've gotten all sorts of random stuff from blogdigger so far and am hoping someone aggregates categories of good video content like tv show and movie clips among other things.

So far the experience has been pretty neat. it's great to finally use the little Creative Zen, but getting the content to the device takes a LONG time due to a conversion process that Windows Media Player does to "convert" files to something the PMC can understand.

After I waited and waited for a while, the files finally arrived (at which point I discovered I can set the files to convert when my PC is not doing other things so I will leave my laptop on tonight and see what I can grab).

Regardless, this alone is making the Creative Zen Portable Media Center a joy to play with. Now if only I can rip a DVD onto the thing...no matter, I'm already investigating various pieces of software to aid me ripping DVDs that I rightfully own onto this thing so I can watch them.

The catch:

Final exam in Psychology tomorrow...need to finish test specs and other work goodness before Thursday...why?

Because Friday I will be running around doing last minute shopping and packing...why?

Because Saturday at 8:30am, I'll be on my way to China with my wife for a 3 week vacation.

Note: when the vacation begins, I will mostly be out of contact as my ability connect to the Internet in China may not be as regular as the near-Internet-umbilical cord status that I enjoy here. I will do my best to check-in on the FAQs and comments once in a whiile, but no guarantees on a quick (or any) replies. Then again, I don't guarantee replies even if I'm here, but I do generally get back to most of you fairly quickly (most of you that have asked questions in the FAQ and that have emailed me can vouch for me).

One Hour with the DLink DSM-320

So were testing the netowrking and media player features of MSN TV 2 and decide to see if we can find a device that works with Windows Media Connect and plays video, music, and photos on your TV.

We picked up a DLink DSM-320 at Fry's which is the only device that fits this category. It is UPNP compatible and works with Windows Media Connect.

After I get the desktop software setup (their version of Window Media Connect), I set the box up. Their UI and control could be improved a bit, but nonetheless, it worked for the most part. The wireless network setup never really worked so I switched to a wired setup. After I finally go the device to recognize my Windows Media Connect server, I was able to play a song or two, but no sound came out. I tried to restart it and that's when trouble struck. I got stuck in a funky loop between "Detecting Media Servers" to "New Firmware Found!" to "My Media Homepage"...rinse, repeat. The box kept looping between these things and I was unable to make it stop...save for unplugging it.

I took a deep breath and decided to call tech support (ugh). I have to admit, they were extremely quick to answer the phone. I gave the agent my info and told him everything I tried. He gave me the dreaded "unplug, wait, plug in, power on" routine. Don't you just hate that?

So I gave him the benefit of the doubt and decided to play the game. After plugging it in, it was still stuck in the loop (as expected). He said that they've been having a lot of calls about these things and not very many work. He also said they have a new firmware coming out in December or January to fix this issue, but he was unsure of the date. But then I asked, "If I am stuck in a loop that will not allow me to take the update, how do I get the update?"

"Oh, they are working on a process to do this from your PC over you network, but haven't figured out how to do this yet."

I was thinking, "oh so you mean they released a product without figuring out how to ensure updates would work?"

So I ask, "So what are my options?"

"You can return it or wait for the update"

"But if I return it and get another one, how do I know if it has the same problem...is there a chance that it will have the same problem?"

"Very likely that it will also be broken"

Yikes! No way to update it and it's broken. I promptly thanked him for the device and packed it up to be returned at Fry's. I kind of wish it worked so I can play with it a little...the UI was pretty, but not really easy to use. Nevertheless, it seemed like a neat device to try.

Media Center Extender Review

Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Media Center Extender Review

Creative Zen Portable Media Center

Just got my hands on the Portable Media Center from Creative Labs. It's just a demo unit, but I can keep it for week or so. I'll put it through it's paces and post a review!