Chaucery Blog

I got a slightly digital radio for my birthday. In their marketing manufacturers and sellers of such devices try to obfuscate the fact that the radio is not a "proper" digital radio, but they're easy to spot when you know what to look for. See below for my guide to the complete range, from 100% analogue to 100% digital.

• fully analogue AM/FM ($10): tuning performed by knob rather than buttons. Current frequency indicated by physical movement of bar, dial or similar. Their technology hasn't changed much since the first transistor radios arrived in the 1950s.
  
• slightly digital AM/FM ($20) - again tuning performed by knob rather than buttons, but with frequency indicated by digital display. Stations can't be stored, and frequency can drift with temperature, time and orientation. Mine [see top photo, zoom in for closer look], a Digitech AR1740 from Jaycar, was described as "Radio Receiver AM/FM/SW with LCD and Clock. This multi-band pocket radio has digital scanning and has a large backlit LCD." They've tried to hide its lack of digital functionality by including clock and alarm buttons obtrusively on the front of the radio. What looks like a huge jog dial is actually the hours and minutes setting buttons. The tuning is all done by a dial on the right-hand side.
• fully digital AM/FM ($30) - as digital as analogue radio can be. Tuning is done by the press of a button, and once a signal is found it is maintained through the use of a phase-locked loop. Favourite stations can be stored. Most car radios are of this type now, but pocket radios are still not that common (in Australia at least). Aside from the outrageously expensive ones (ie. anything over $70) TEAC make the PR63 being sold in JB Hi-fi for $30. I haven't tried it, but the specs look promising.
• Finally, we come to true digital radio. No longer AM/FM, this is a digital signal that requires a whole new radio. Listeners in Australian capital cities can expect to hear DAB+ in January 2009, though as of yet there are no consumer DAB+ receivers available to purchase. Other countries have been using an earlier standard, DAB, for a number of years, and users seem happy. However, due to the low bit rates that stations generally transmit in the quality has not been an improvement on FM. DAB+ promises better quality at lower bit rates.

Is a "slightly digital" radio any good?

One question I have is why FM tuners are so common in mobile phones and MP3 players, but none have AM tuners. Most of my listening is of AM, so I am stuck with single-function radios. I don't have an active mobile phone, but I'd certainly consider buying a new one if it came with an AM tuner.

(CC-licenced pictures from Roadsidepictures, johnmuk and me!)

Update 25-Apr-2008: The Sydney Morning Herald describes in detail the exciting new world of digital radio in Australia.

Posted by James at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've had the means to watch high-definition digital terrestrial television for four years (via a tuner card in my PC), but until last month I have not wanted to. This year the TV networks are finally allowed to multi-channel, and show different programs on their HD and SD channels. Channel Ten has started by moving their low-rating science-fiction shows, such as Battlestar Galactica and Journeyman onto their HD channel. Indeed, if anyone has the facilities to view HD, then it's going to be the gadget freaks who inevitably also like sci-fi.

Here I come to my difficulty. I do all of my TV viewing through my beloved three year old Topfield PVR. However, it's an SD model, so it can't be used to watch HD programs. I also don't like watching TV on my comparatively small monitor, and my PC is quite distant from my TV. My first solution was to use an AV transmitter that I already occasionally use to send YouTube from my PC to my TV. It produced a surprisingly acceptable picture, though it was less clear and a bit grimier than the PVR. However, I greatly missed the ad-skipping controls that the PVR provides. It also required the PC to be somewhat tied up in the TV process, especially as decoding the HD stream was quite CPU intensive. These factors made me abandon that procedure after a 2 hour trial.

For the moment, I have abandoned my HD watching. My ultimate solution will certainly be an HD PVR. However, some more interesting intermediate options I am considering are:

• Playstation 3 with the Play TV PVR add-on, or
• Recording the HD program on my SD Topfield 5000 PVR, and reading the HD file via USB on a laptop, and outputting the program on TV. This PVR can't play back HD, but it can record it. The recording can be seen through an attached computer, which can decode the file, and display the picture. This may sound similar to what I've tried, but having the PVR take care of the recording eliminates one major hassle. I'd still miss the ad-skipping, though. I also don't have a laptop, so I can't try this yet.

All of this proves that Channel Ten is succeeding in their attempt to encourage people to move to high definition digital television. However, perhaps the writers' strike may compel them to fill the schedule gaps on their main SD channel with sci-fi product that they have already bought. Let me dream...

Posted by James at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My original car-mp3-playing solution has now completely evolved from a VRFM8 in-car mp3 FM modulator with cheapo flash drive to VRFM8 with cheapo flash MP3 player to my current state of MP3 player with cassette mp3 adapter.

I had earlier avoided the cassette adapter because I wanted a solution that would work in all the cars that I regularly travel in, and because the cassette adapter was, at $30 in reputable shops, the same price as the much more technically advanced (and therefore interesting) wireless modulator. This changed last weekend, when I found a cassette adapter being sold for only $5 at Strathfield (annoyingly, their website does not have prices, but you can peruse their catalogues online for some details).

The flimsy plastic pseudo-cassette fitted nicely into my car's totally unused cassette player, and sound from my mp3 player duly followed. It also created an annoying clicking noise of similar volume and rate as my indicator signal, but this was easily taken care of by opening up the cassette and removing all the winding cogs (which I assume are necessary for some cassette players, but are not needed for mine). I prefer the cassette adapter to the wireless one because

• it doesn't need to transmit electromagnetic radiation into my leg, which rests against the wireless transmitter
• produces higher quality sound
• doesn't need power, and
• doesn't need to be disconnected when the car is started

So, that was $5 well spent.

Posted by James at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was recently given an LG UP3# (pronounced sharp). It's a tiny 2GB MP3 player with a nice OLED screen and popout USB adapter. Although it's functionally competent, it does have a few flaws.

The volume buttons are the wrong way around. As you look at the screen the '+' is on the left and '-' on the right. In menus where you can move horizontally, such as setting the date, the '+' (on the left) is used to move right and vice-versa. I think LG must have noticed this error before printing the manual, because they've subtly reversed the buttons in the manual's diagrams, showing the '+' as being on the right.

This is one of my rare electronic devices with a reset button. I wondered why the power button couldn't be used for this purpose, but after crashing the player within an hour of getting it, with the screen stuck on, but non-responsive, I discovered that the power button also does not respond. The solution is to find a pin (paper-clips are too large) and press reset.

It takes 5 seconds to turn the UP3# on. The manual says 'at least 2 seconds', and I guess that's strictly true, but 5 seconds is patently too long. It's hard enough to find and press the power button as it is that I can't imagine it ever being pressed accidentally. Still, it stops anyone else using the device - out of seven similar tiny metallic buttons, would you randomly hold the third one along for 5 seconds to see if it starts?

Whilst I'm talking about the buttons, I must mention that ergonomics and user-friendliness are very much lacking. Apart from the aforementioned volume keys being reversed, there's the fact that the buttons are all tiny and identical. There should be dimples, or bumps, or varying sizes, to help the poor user. There is plenty of room to make the play/pause button double or even quadruple the size, and that would also help locate the adjacent next/previous track buttons.

The manual goes to great lengths to explain how the device synchronises with Windows Media Player 10. As I installed WMP11 on its release over six months ago, I don't have WMP10. Unfortunately, the syncing does not work with WMP11, so I can't experience the UP3# as LG intended. I've contacted LG support asking about WMP11 compatibility, but have not received a reply. The menus within the player itself are laid out with WMP syncing in mind, so you have to go through extra button presses to navigate through to your sound files directly.

The 2-colour OLED screen is lovely compared to the backlit LCD screens of yore. It's perfectly visibly in all light conditions, and flicker-free. I'd prefer it to show the ever-varying track bit-rate rather than the never-changing equaliser setting of 'normal', but overall the information displayed is adequate.

Highlights from the "Engilish manual" (yes, that's what it's called):

• DRM: This service prevent their rights and duties from digital contents of free of charge.
• In case of injury and damage cause from offence these instructions.
• It can occur error when area has full of static electrics.
• Be sure that earphone line could be stuck by automatic door.
• Makers are free data loss you have created.

In conclusion, it's a nice cheap (AU$99) MP3 player with a great display and so-so ergonomics.

Posted by James at 6:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I've been looking for a way to play music that I've collected on my PC easily in any of the various cars that I normally frequent. These cars have an assortment of CD players, 3.5mm aux inputs and cassette decks in addition to their AM/FM radios. The aux input is usable by any music device, the cassette can be used with a cassette adaptor, but the CD players would need a CD to be burnt. To cover all bases, I had to go for a cigarette-lighter-powered FM modulator, that broadcasts the output of a music player onto the FM band for a few metres, to be picked up by the car radio. As I don't already have an MP3 player, I went one step futher, and purchased an FM modulator that can read music files off a USB flash drive.

A variety of such devices are available in Australia on eBay, but only one has a brand name which leads to an independent review, the VRFM. It also has comprehensive official documentation online. From these two sources it was easy to decide which model I required, the VRFM8. The cheaper and older VRFM7 lacked the essential shuffle feature, and the much more expensive VRFM9 only really added a display that I wouldn't use.

I couldn't find any reputable shops in Australia selling the VRFM8, though Jaycar has the VRFM7, labelled as a "Wireless MP3 Modulator For In-Car Use" for $70. Back on eBay, a US company was selling the VRFM8 for only $40 including postage. One week later, I had it in my hands.

For what it does, it's surprising small and light. I was worried that it would obstruct the gear stick, but as well as not sticking out far from the cigarette lighter, it also has a swivel joint that lets you push it to any convenient vertical angle.

As I don't have a USB flash drive, my first test was to plug the earphone from a portable radio into the VRFM8's side socket (using the included cable), and listen to the result on my car radio. It didn't sound too bad, considering it had been modulated as AM and then as FM in its journey to my ears. I then managed to borrow a smallish flash drive, plonk some mp3 files onto it, and confirm that it works perfectly. I haven't tried any WMA files, with which it also advertises compatibility. As a music player, the audio quality was good enough. If I turned it up louder than I normally would, then I could hear some hiss and crackle, so that's a pass from me.

The songs can be played in either sequential or random order, where sequential means raw flash drive order. You can't see this order with Windows Explorer, which is usually in file name or date order. However, you can use software such as the excellent free ReOrganize!. With a large drive, I expect this will prove invaluable, especially for audio books, where order is vitally important.

Speaking of audio books (and podcasts), the VRFM8 does lack a fast-forward or rewind within a track feature. When you turn if off, it remembers which track you're up to, but not where in the track you are. Thus, you can't resume a track in the middle, making listening on short commutes problematic. If this irritated too much, you should probably get a proper mp3 player, and plug that into the VRFM8.

In conclusion, it was easy and cheap to buy, performed as well as I had hoped, and has let me move my ephemeral sound from the computer to the car.

Updated 25 Oct 2006
Although it's designed to be powered by a 12 volt car cigarette lighter socket, it works perfectly well off a 9 volt battery (noting that the centre connector is positive). Thus, in combination with a portable radio you can create your own weird little portable mp3 player.

I have also had a chance to test mp3 and wma tracks in constant bit rate and variable bit rate modes, from 20 kb/s up to 200 kb/s, and they all played flawlessly.

In less positive news, the shuffle mode is peculiarly bad, and potentially useless. Whenever you activate shuffle mode (a setting which is forgotten when the power is removed) the second and subsequent songs are always in the exact same "random" order (mysteriously, the first "random" song is apparently random). In effect, the shuffling only occurs once for a particular collection of songs, and you're perpetually being put back to the same place in that shuffle. I found that I had to go back to sequential mode to hear something new.

Posted by James at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This blog is venturing into new territory with its first food product review, but the technology of the Sipahh flavouring straw caught my eye. I have a fondness for flavoured milk, so a leapt at the chance to try this new gadget when it appeared on my supermarket shelf (I purchased a packet of 10 straws for AUD$4).

I first became aware of the product when it appeared on the New Inventors, which kindly provides an online video of the Sipahh's appearance. There are further close-ups at the Unistraw web site which provide a good idea of the Sipahh concept.

The Sipahh is a clear plastic straw containing flavour beads, which impart their yumminess as you drink. I tried a choc-mint Sipahh with their recommended amount of plain milk, 250ml. The first taste was surprisingly rich. It takes a while to get used to drinking from a glass of plain milk but tasting flavoured milk. For a while the strength was very good, but over time the beads dissolve, and the flavour becomes weaker. With about a third of the beads left I still had a third of the glass of milk left, but it was too weak to drink. I suspect that voracious children would drink fast enough that this would not be a problem, but people who like to savour their drinks may need to start with less milk.

The Sipahh packaging and advertising emphasises the health aspects of the product, with statements such as:

• only 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• natural colours
• no artifical flavours
• no preservatives

It's easy to see why this would be popular at school canteens. They can stock a wide variety of long-lasting Sipahh straws for sale with their more perishable regular milk. Despite its high cost parents would probably appreciate the portion control that the straw brings over the venerable Nestle Nesquik products. However, as a consumer I can't recommend this product due to its use of artificial sweeteners.

Posted by James at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three of the four things I was waiting for now exist, so it's time for another list of technology that I know is coming, but I want now.

• Lighting LEDs, because they're longer lasting, cooler and less sensitive to shocks than the archaic incandescent light bulb


• Low power high-performance PCs. Some new Pentium 4 CPUs consume over 100 watts of power. My second PC is an AMD K6-II 400, which has less than a tenth of the performance of the Pentium 4, but is entirely sufficient for my needs. It consumes about 15 watts. However, there are not many companies selling lower power, and thus lower performance PCs. Along with the advances in performance, there has been an associated increase in performance per watt, so lower power higher performance computers than in the past are now possible . The AMD Geode processor, for example, uses about 1 watt, but still has one quarter the performance of a Pentium 4. I'd rush out to buy a small silent PC based on a Geode (silent, because no cooling fans are required), but it's only being sold in exorbitantly-priced thin-client applications.


• Wireless USB, which is designed to be completely compatible with existing wired USB. It's due in early 2006. I would use this to connect my PC, in my study, to the PVR in my lounge about 10m away. I currently have to lug my PVR over to the PC when I want to connect them. There are odd expensive WiFi contraptions that currently exist for this, but Wireless USB dongles promise to be much cheaper and much more straightforward to use.


• Slingbox or Sony's LocationFree TV in Australia or the UK, and using DVB-T (terrestrial digital TV) - the Sony one assuming they give me a reason to stop my boycott of all their products. These high-tech solutions to watching TV remotely, even across borders, may be rendered obsolete before they become popular by television networks offering their programmes directly on the internet. The BBC and some US networks are well advanced in their beta and actual product offerings.

Posted by James at 11:58 AM | Permalink

This is a simple TAP for users of the Topfield 5000PVRt, with firmware from March 2005 or later. Under some quite specific circumstances a recording will fail, and this TAP will tell you when that may occur, allowing you to do do further manual investigation.

An ongoing discussion of this bug is occurring on the Topfield Australia forums (reg. req'd).

- set 30 minute timer for channel A starting at x
- set 5 minute timer for channel B starting at x + 2minutes
- set 10 minute timer for channel C starting at x + 9
- leave Toppy on live channel A
- start watching a previously recorded program
- see 'check your reservation' message at time x + 2
- start watching a previously recorded program
- at time x+10 or later stop watching

You can now switch between all live channels, even though you're
apparently still recording A and C. The end of the recording of A turns
into channel C.

(Problems are most prevalent when A = Nine, B= SBS and C=ABC, for reasons that are not apparent)

Requirements
A Topfield 5000PVRt with the March 2005 or later firmware.

Installation
Upload TimerBugChecker.tap to your toppy, to either your "\ProgramFiles" folder for manual
running or your "\ProgramFiles\Auto Start" folder to run automatically.

Usage
When run, the TAP will announce any possible times when this bug may occur. You
may then wish to remember not to be playing back a program at the time noted.

The TAP exits immediately after running.

Revision history
v0.1: 18-Oct-2005. Initial release.

Download
Timer Bug Checker v0.1

Posted by James at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've recompiled Skipper to work with Topfield's December 2004 firmware. Although it should work with any firmware from Dec 2004 onwards, it has received limited testing, so use the original v0.1 if possible.

It can be downloaded from my main Skipper entry.

Posted by James at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have just released my first TAP for the Topfield 5000 PVRt.

Skipper enables the blue key to skip backwards 10 seconds in all viewing modes, not just timeshift mode as in the standard firmware.

It is a simplification and reworking of the ExtraJump TAP by Koops, which does not work in recent firmware versions.

Requirements
A Topfield 5000PVRt with the firmware from December 2004 or later.

Installation
Upload Skipper.tap to your toppy, to either your "\ProgramFiles" folder for manual running or your "\ProgramFiles\Auto Start" folder to run automatically.

Usage
Press the blue button on the remote control to go back 10 seconds while viewing either a recorded program or a program still being recorded.

Press the exit key to bring up the options menu, which will let you quit the TAP.

Revision history

Download
Skipper v0.1d
Skipper v0.1

Posted by James at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the reasons for the popularity of the Topfield range of Personal Video Recorders is their open API, which allows users to write programs to modify the PVR's interface.

Once you've downloaded all of the API software from Topfield's Korean site, you'll notice that the documentation is a little sparse. Don't let that put you off, as there's plenty of help out there.

Note that if you don't install into c:\cygwin then you must ensure that the correct directory name is in the PATH, the C_INCLUDE, the CPLUS_INCLUDE and (this isn't mentioned in the guide) in TAP.LD.

The programming process is:

• edit .c file
• run build.bat to compile
• if successful, use Altair to copy it across to the Toppy
• test it on the Toppy
• repeat from the start until bug free

If you have problems then the place to ask is in the Australian Topfield forums or the new UK Toppy forums. There really needs to be a programming Wiki to hold those commonly-asked questions, but there isn't one yet.

A great way to learn is to look at other programs to see how things are done. Most of the TAPs now available also provide their source.

A great sticking point for beginners is that the API documentation is not as comprehensive as it could be, and trial and error is usually required to complete your understanding of particular functions. The following example shows the problem I had when trying to create a TAP to show a new screen aspect ratio (14:9, half-way between the 4:3 of television, and 16:9 of cinema).

From the API pdf:

TAP_Channel_Scale
int TAP_Channel_Scale( int mainSub, long x, long y, long w, long h, bool anim )
� It changes the size of screen.
mainSub : 1 � main screen, 0 � sub screen
x, y : upper-left coordinate of the screen
w,h : width and height of the screen.
anim : if TRUE, it is scaled smoothly.
Return value : : If 0, there is no errors.

Good, that looks to be just what I need. I just need to zoom in and shifting the 16:9 picture left and up a bit.

After playing with this for a while I found that the width and height were not independent, and could not be increased. At this point I abandoned this TAP project. Proper documentation, in the API docs or a wiki, would have saved me a lot of time.

Regardless of the documentation problems, the fact that there's an API at all is a marvellous thing, and should be applauded.

Posted by James at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What can you do with a dual-tuner digital tv recorder?

A typical evening with the Topfield 5000

- Flick to Channel 9. Press record. That's ER taken care of.
- Flick to Channel 7. Press record. That's Lost.
- Press the list recorded files button. Spot Enterprise, and press the info key to read the tv guide description that was transmitted with the broadcast. Interesting plot, so press OK to watch it.
- Because you skipped all the ads in Enterprise, ER is still on when you finish. No matter, you watch ER from the start while it's still recording.

However, you have to pay for quality. In this case, the RRP is over $1000, but if you search you should be able to find it for less than $900. Although this seems expensive, after having it for only a week I feel that it's great value to money. Compared to a $1000 high-end VCR from 5 or so years ago, it's in a completely different league.

One of the benefits of digital television is the electronic program guide. Program names and descriptions are transmitted with the programs themselves. Most channels only show what's on now and next, but some have guides for 4 days in advance (well done, Nine Perth). This is handy for browsing, to show you what you've flicked on, and also for recording. Apart from making it easy to schedule recordings, it also allows the recordings to be automatically labelled with the program names. This has the great side-effect of making it more enticing to watch recorded programs.

The Toppy is a hard disk recorder. It has no tapes and no discs, just an internal hard disk that can store about 60 hours. You don't have to worry about tapes wearing out, or recording over something you shouldn't, or forgetting where you recorded something. (If you really want to transfer to tape or disc, you can copy from the Toppy to a VCR, or upload to a PC or Mac via USB).

Skipping advertisements is much more pleasant than with a VCR. Pressing the ad skip button instantly moves forward 30 seconds - you don't see the picture that you're skipping at all. Press the button multiple times until you've bypassed all the ads.

An entirely new experience is provided by the Toppy's ability to pause live television. If the phone rings when you're in the middle of a show, just press pause, and the program will be buffered. When you return you can press pause again to continue where you left off. Then you'll see the rest of the show delayed by the time that you were absent.

Having two tuners has proven its worth already. Although you might not think that you'd ever need to record two channels at once, it's useful even just to cope with the regular occurence of channels running over time.

Picture in Picture is a feature which may initially seems gimmicky, but it can be useful. For example, if you want to watch a recording whilst waiting for a live show to start, you can have the live show in a little window as you watch the recording.

Packaging Quibbles

• The main description on the Topfield box is "Digital Terrestrial Receiver with CI and HDD". CI, or common interface, is used for descrambling encrypted signals, and is not a feature of the 5000PVRt, so despite its presence on the box and in the manual, you won't find it.
• A typo on the box doesn't inspire confidence - "MPGE-1 Layer 3 decoding", instead of MPEG-1.
• "Exciting games embedded" - if consumer electronics engineers become bored enough to incorporate some low-quality games into their products, games needing no more than a 15 second play to determine their lack of essential elements such as fun, then they should not be lauded on the packaging. On the 5000PVRt box, the exciting games are listed above such minor elements as "Time-shifting and dual-recording simultaneously", "Powerful trick mode", and "Dual decoding (PIP)". Instead, they should be hidden as an easter egg somewhere in the menus. Otherwise, they unforunately degrade the product as a whole.

One major area that I haven't covered is the Topfield's expandibility. Its screen and remote control interface, and other features, can be customised by downloading programs via its USB port. It has an open API, and a thriving TAP community.

There are a few niggles with the product. If you pause live television to watch a program after a slight delay, then it's easy to miss the end of the program. If you switch channels, or if a scheduled recording starts, then the timeshifting is abruptly stopped, and the remainder of the program discarded.

Secondly, there is no reverse ad skip button. If you do 30 second ad skips past the restart of a program, then there's no easy way to go back a short distance to find the exact restart.

Thirdly, when displaying a widescreen picture on a normal television, in centre-extract mode, the picture is zoomed in too far. A 14:9 option with a small black bar at the top would be ideal.

Some of these problems can be ameliorated with TAPs, but it would be nice to see fixes for them make their way into firmware updates.

In conclusion, despite its apparently high price, it's worth every cent to revolutionise your television viewing experience. You'll end up watching more TV, but fewer ads.

Posted by James at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

With five people living in one house, and a dialup internet connection on most of the time, our second phone line was well used. With the move to ADSL, and a reduced number of residents, we have removed one phone line, and replaced the corded phone on the other with a two-phone digital wireless solution. Generally positive reviews and a low price led us to the Panasonic DECT TCD440 phone and TCD445 answering machine, in a pack with an extra handset, the pack being the TCD447.

DECT is the digital cordless standard in many places. It stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications, and according to the Panasonic manual it "is characterized by high-security protection against interceptions". However, they also state that "this cordless telephone system does not incorporate provision for secrecy of conversations. Appropriately tuned radio equipment and other cordless telephone systems in close proximity may be used by a third party to monitor and possibly interrupt conversations in progress when this system is on radio operation." In consequence, I have no idea it this is secure or not. I guess they're saying the DECT standard is potentially secure, but that they haven't bothered with that aspect of it in this phone.

Each phone uses two rechargable NiMH AAA batteries, so when they eventually wear out (in 5 or 10 years) they won't be difficult or expensive to replace.

There are two base units for recharging the phones. The larger one is also the answering machine and main transmitter and receiver for the handsets. It doesn't have any adornments at all, such as a light indicating that there are answering machine messages waiting. Instead, you have to peer closely at the LCD display of the handsets for one particular blob to be flashing.

The maximum earpiece volume of the handsets is much lower that desirable. You really have to press your ear close to hear. Alternatively, you can use the handy hands-free feature, which makes everything much louder. Also, the hands-free activates a great glowing red button. You can tell this is what Panasonic have been concentrating on for this phone. Perhaps if they made that same button flash for answering machine messages it'd be even more useful.

Having two handsets allows the use of them as walkie-talkies, as long as both are within range of the main base unit. This doesn't constitute a real phone call, so it doesn't cost anything. You can also use this feature to transmit streaming audio off the internet around the house, as long as you're not expecting any calls.

Each recharger base must be permanently connected to a power point, and the main base unit must also be connected to the phone line. Phone lines provide a small amount of power, enough to light their keypads, for example, but not enough to recharge cordless phones.

After using these phones for a fortnight, they have turned out to be more convenient and cheaper to run than having two fixed phones attached to two phone lines. Although they have a couple of flaws, neither are bad enough to dent enthusiasm for the use of the phones.

Posted by James at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After playing with digital television for a month, I now see that DVD (and/or) HDD recorders with analog tuners are rather anachronistic. Why record an analog signal onto a digital medium?

There do not appear to be any fully digital recorders in Australia at the moment, but I eagerly await their arrival. I suspect it may need Blu-Ray discs, with their accompanying storage increase over DVDs.

Posted by James at 7:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Robert Cringely can always be relied upon to find the interesting techie aspect to any oncoming natural disaster, and make us wish we were in his shoes. In A Hurricane Named Sinatra he describes what he's taking during his evacuation from hurricane Frances he includes:

Finally, I have on my wrist a watch with a built-in 256 megabyte USB flash drive holding all my e-mail since 1993, everything I have written since the late 1980s, and a bootable Linux partition.

Posted by James at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I bought a digital television tuner card for my PC a couple of days ago, just to see what all the fuss was about. It's a Dvico Fusion HDTV DVB-T, and it has a forum, and Windows and (unofficial) Linux drivers. There's a full review of its US-oriented sister product, the Fusion III QAM, at AMDPower.

So, what is there to watch on digital television? All of the free-to-air networks (ABC, Seven, Nine, Ten and SBS) have a digital version of their analogue offerings. They also have extra channels, which can be varied by the channels for special events. For example, Seven will have a digital channel exclusively for the Olympics.

There's a program guide showing what's on widescreen and high-definition (HD) for each day. In summary, a lot of the popular stuff, such as news, sport and high-rating UK and USA serials are shown in wide-screen. A few regular programs, and a few films are in HD, but that includes nothing that I normally watch. They don't broadcast in HD in the UK, so programs from there are never HD.

There is very little extra programming content on digital television. The ABC has one digital radio station, SBS has a world news channel (continuous unsubtitled foreign news bulletins) and a weather and news summary channel, consisting of maps and text with classical music. The ABC had two additional televison channels until 2003, when their (overall) funding was cut by the federal government.

I am not in a position to comment on the quality of HD broadcasts, because my monitor has a resolution of 1024x768, which is far below the (interlaced) HD resolution of 1920x1080. However, I am able to comment on the reception. Using my gimcrack antenna I can get all channels clearly (with 70-80% signal strength), whereas with my analogue VCR sitting next to my PC with the same antenna I can only receive 3 of the 5 channels with clarity.

Watching widescreen programming on a normal old (4:3) television (via tv-out from my PC) is not a pleasant experience. I find that I need to use pan and scan to fill up the whole screen, whilst losing the sides of the picture.

So, I can see that digital television is the future, but that there is so little content at the moment that it's not worth expending any money on it yet. I certainly would not consider getting a standard definition set-top box for my main television. If I could pay $50 extra to have a digital decoder built-in to the tv then I'd go for that.

If the government wants to encourage people to go digital so that they can release analogue radio spectrum for other uses, then they'll have to encourage better content for the digital channels.

SUMMARY

If you're buying or already have a wide screen tv, go digital.

Everyone else should ignore it until there's better content.

Posted by James at 1:43 PM | Permalink

The radio started beeping at me. Not just your average beeps, but special beeps. Temperature alert beeps. When the official temperature for Perth hit 41 degrees Celsius I got my warning. Through the radio. I hadn't expected that.

Whilst it was the radio I was listening to, it wasn't your average radio station. This was my own radio station, broadcasting from a box attached to my computer. Created from a kit that I had soldered together. The music I was listening to was being narrowcast over the Internet, and thus coming into the house via the phone line via ADSL.

For the past few months my PC has been monitoring the local temperature using Australian Weather Stats. It pops up an alert at a predefined temperature, in my case 41 degrees Celsius. It beeps simultaneously.

Hence the magical result.

And proof that it's hot.

Posted by James at 2:04 PM | Permalink

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Posted by James at 10:54 AM | Permalink

The technology I am awaiting with impatience are:

• Australian TiVo


• OLED monitors and televisions


• dual-layer DVD burners


• SATA CDROM interfaces for reduced clutter, if nothing else

It shouldn't be too long now...

Posted by James at 2:34 PM | Permalink

An item of technology that has only recently come into existence is the shake-to-charge no-battery torch. Unlike the solar and dynamo torches which are only useful as novelty items, these new devices are somewhat practical.

Dan's Data reviewed the first of these torches, the NightStar, and he liked it.

As a bedside table light, the NightStar II is great. When you're padding from your bedroom to your bathroom/kitchen/dungeon, you don't want a really bright flashlight messing up your night vision, and a good-sized light with a glow in the dark switch is easier to find on the bedside table. A little light you can hold in your mouth while you stealthily assemble a midnight snack would be nice, too, but you can't have everything.

I wouldn't go so far to say that every home should have a NightStar II, but it is one of the neatest gadgets I've laid my hands on. Flashlight, nightlight, fiddle-toy, educational device, geek mantelpiece ornament. And it costs only $US39 plus shipping, which isn't stupidly expensive for what you get.

Well, that was a little expensive for just a plaything, so I was delighted to find a product operating on the same principles advertised at Dick Smith Electronics for only AUS$20. (Search for the Shake 'n' Charge Flashlight.) I duly purchased said product, and found that it was a Forever Flashlight, packaged for Australia by Swann. And the best news for Australians is that the Dick Smith price is lower than any US price (the lowest I could find was US$20).

So, is it useful? If you compare it with a normal torch, or any other light source, then you'll be disappointed with its low light output. However, if you compare it with darkness, then it will satisfy you. You won't be able to read a book for half an hour on one charge, but you will be able to read a map for a few minutes. And if you're walking around, you can shake while you walk to get an extra bright flash every shake, which is quite sufficient for most needs.

The Forever Flashlight is seemingly a lower-quality product than the NightStar. For example, it uses rubber stoppers at each end to stop the magnet, rather than the magnets the NightStar uses. But I think it's great value, as a plaything and something useful.

Posted by James at 10:25 PM | Permalink

Tomorrow it will be one week since I installed broadband at home. This was a move from 56kb/s dialup to a 256kb/s always on connection. But is it really worth it?

From a non-technical standpoint, the other occupiers of this house are happy because the phone line is always free, and there's no waiting for the modem to dial in.

For me, I'm happy because downloads are much faster, and my quota has been increased and rationlised. On dialup I had a 300MB hard quota, based purely on data downloaded through the modem. With my broadband ADSL, I have 1GB of downloads during peak times, and 1GB off peak (midnight to 8am), plus any traffic from local sites is free.

I found my ISP using the amazing facilities provided by Broadband Choice. I went with the cheapest plan from the most popular broadband provider, iiNet's Bliink 256 lite. I chose my modem after looking at the Oz Cable Guy's site, and confirmed my views by looking for forums responses in the DSL hardware forum of Broadband Choice. There they also have a comprehensive list of reviews of every modem/router on the Australian market.

I didn't go with the hardware recommended, supported or supplied by iiNet based on these reviews. Instead, I picked the Billion BIPAC 741GEv2 based on features, price and support. It's a 4-port router/switch/firewall/modem for the price of a plain old ADSL modem. Although I hadn't heard of the Billion name before starting my research, it soon became obvious that they were highly regarded in the broadband arena. The Billion web site provides a list of retailers which I used to find the best Australian online site. I based my choice on price and quality of web site, and ended up at Warren Computers. The price, including postage, was about $200. After ordering on Friday afternoon it covered the 4000 kilometres to arrive at my doorstep first thing on Monday morning, either by magic or Australia Post's Express Post service.

After unpacking the modem it took barely 5 minutes to be up and running on the Internet. I then took the rest of the morning playing with the router's firewall settings, for my peace of mind, as the router was going to be permanently on.

When I connected to my new email account I found I already had 67 emails waiting for me - 1 from iiNet, and 66 spams. I complained to iiNet, and they said that my account name had been in use prior to me taking it on, so I was getting the previous owner's spams. Once I get the filtering down pat the spams should be under control.

All in all, I'm very happy with the change. All that's left is for me to move all of my web sites over from the old ISP to the new one. Should be fun...

Posted by James at 6:20 PM | Permalink

Whilst waiting for recordable DVD machines to come down in price, and until PVRs (personal video recorders) become more widely available, the humble video cassette recorder is still an essential item. But what features should one look for in a modern VCR?

In the past five years, high-end VCRs have virtually disappeared from the market, victims of the increasing presence of DVD players. However, most of the important features have migrated to the very reasonably-priced machines available today.

A major differentiating feature between brands is the availability of Extended Play(EP), otherwise known as Super Long Play (SP). Most VCRs offer Standard Play(SP) and Long Play(LP), the latter allowing a tape to fit double the standard time, for example a 4 hour tape will record for 8 hours, at a slightly reduced quality. EP triples the standard time, extending a 4 hour tape to 12 hours. Its quality is similar to LP. However fast-forwarding and rewinding is much better quality than in LP, where half the screen is distorted and unviewable. [Note that EP is a recent addition to PAL VCRs, as used in the UK, Australia and other countries. NTSC, as used in the United States, may be different.]

The ability to show the remaining time on a tape is a feature that has been slowly improving over the past few years. Sony VCRs from 5 years ago could instantly display a graphic roughly showing the remaining tape. Current Panasonic VCRs can accurately determine the number of remaining minutes.

As VCRs have become cheaper, their front panels have been simplified and become less user friendly. Options such as tape speed, which I would regard as essential, are often left out. The display is often now just an LCD surrounded by a bunch of identical buttons. During the peak of VCR design, exemplified by a five year old Sony VCR, a jog shuttle would be situated on the right of the front. Turning the shuttle would set the mode to fast forward or rewind, and the distance turned would determine the speed of fast forward or rewind. Pressing the top half of the inner part of the shuttle would be Play, and the bottom half would be stop. All of the buttons were similarly well placed, such that their meaning could be determined from their position. In addition, variously coloured LEDs would illuminate the different buttons, so that they could be used, and their status determined, in the dark. All of this utility adds cost, so the paring of costs has reduced the user experience. Still, it's certainly worth checking the ease of use of the remote and the front panel.

All current VCRs create index marks at the start of each recording, and allowing fast searching to these points. In addition, current Panasonic VCRs offer the Jet Navigator feature, whereby information about the time and channel of each recording is stored. Thus, if you insert a tape you can call up a list of all the items recorded on that tape, and move quickly to any of them. If you use 4 hour tapes in EP mode, then you'll know how long skipping through 12 hours of recordings looking for that half hour show from two weeks ago can take. This is a great time saver.

Finally, a note about brand names. As a general rule, brand name products are a good investment. If you need your VCR repaired in 5 years, then it might be useful for your repairer to know about your VCR, and be able to get the parts and service manuals. On the other hand, VCRs are so cheap now that the cost of repairing will often be more than the cost of purchasing a replacement. An alternative reason to stick with brand names is if you plan on using a univeral remote control. These are pre-programmed with a variety of brand-name products.

Finally, I hope you like the silvery look, as black VCRs are quite rare these days.

Posted by James at 10:21 AM | Permalink

Yamaha have cleverly developed a way to burn visible patterns onto CDs.

Yamaha's DiscT@2 technology allows the user to burn text and graphics onto the data side of a CD-R disc. This innovative process eliminates the need for cumbersome stick-on labels, which peel off in heat, become illegible when wet, or cause the CD to spin unevenly, as well as the use of felt-tip markers that could smear and are unprofessional at best.

It'll be interesting to see how visible this is up close. It wouldn't be that impressive if you had to angle the CD at a bright light to see anything.

Posted by James at 10:18 PM | Permalink