I am currently enjoying the final episode of the BBC’s Robin Hood, which I recorded yesterday on my Mac using an EyeTV device. I am viewing it on my TV via an EyeHome media streamer.
Digital Photography Reviews
Digital Photography Review has recently reviewed quite a few digital cameras these are well detailed and thorough reviews and well worth reading if you are interested in getting a new digital camera.
The Sony looks like the one I would buy if I was buying a new digital camera, but then I am very fond of my Sony Cybershot and would be interested to see how their SLRs perform compared to my Canon.
Bluetooth Printing
I have tried to print via Bluetooth from my iMac to my new A618 compact photo printer and have failed, in the main as the driver wasn’t on my iMac.
It can be relatively simple as I found with the PhotoSmart 375 I had previously. This is one of the reasons I create the guides on my website so that when I need to install a new or an existing printer for a second time, I can remember how to do it, likewise by putting them online I can access the guides from anywhere and if required on a separate device (which is useful if you need to reboot or shut other applications down).
Checking my guide it is of course a driver issue, time to find the driver…
In the end I moved the photographs I wanted to print from the iMac to a USB stick and used the printer remotely instead.
Hmm, would the EyeTV 410 make a difference?
On my G4 Mac mini which I am using as a media centre under my television I have an EyeTV USB Freeview device for watching, pausing, rewinding and of course recording live television. I have been having a few issues with the quality of the recordings and viewing live television in terms of interference, but also when watching if a live TV window is open. I suspect that part of the problem is the speed of the G4 which is rather slow for a Mac and it only has 512MB of RAM.
I am wondering if I use the EyeTV 410 which is connected to my iMac whether that would make a difference? Whereas the EyeTV USB device is dependent a lot on the Mac for processing the video, the Firewire 410 device has a hardware encoder which in theory takes a lot of the load of video processing off the Mac.
I might give it a go and see how it works out, but will leave it till later as the iMac is going to record the final episode of Robin Hood tonight on BBC One.
Interference Issues
I have started using a Mac mini under my TV in (another) experiment in using it as a media centre.
Apart from the fact it seems rather noisy (for a Mac, but a lot less noisy then the Windows Media Centers I have tried) the main problem I my having with my Mac mini is with the USB Freeview EyeTV device attached to it, and it isn’t a problem with the EyeTV software nor is it an issue with the USB device, the problem appears to be an interference issue with the aerial which causes interference on some of the digital TV (Freeview) multiplexes.
I have moved the aerial cable which can resolve the issue, but I think I may need to replace the cable with a shielded cable. I have changed cables and not been able to see a difference which makes me think that the EyeTV USB device I have is suspectible to interference, whilst my TV or the EyeTV 410 Firewire device are not affected to the same degree. It’s not too bad if I am recording or watching a programme from the BBC multiplex, but the ITV multiplex is particularly bad.
Hopefully will get it sorted soon with a shielded cable. Next will be some kind of remote, at the moment I am using VNC and Apple Remote Desktop, which works, but is not very portable.
Well that didn’t work did it…
Okay removing and reinstalling the wireless adapter on the Q1 Ultra didn’t work, once more Windows Vista disabled the wireless adapter once more for no apparent reason or with any justification.
There doesn’t seem to be any solution to this problem on the web, others are having problems with the wireless card and video playback, but at least their wireless adapters work.
Trying a different driver to see if that helps.
Certainly couldn’t recommend the Q1 Ultra if this is “normal” behaviour, it should work out of the box without issue. Yes if you install software and hardware, sometimes this can cause issues, but out of the box a device should just work in my opinion.
Vista, stop disabling my wireless…
Windows Vista did it again…
Annoying to say the least. Windows Vista on my Q1 Ultra discovered a (so-called) problem with the wireless adapter on the Q1 and decided (without telling me) to disable the wireless and not allow me to renable it at all (well not easily).
In the end I decided against doing a system restore (like what I did last time) as obviously some kind of Windows update was causing the problem. This time I removed the adapter from Device Manager and rebooted the Q1 and let Windows reinstall the drivers, which it did without finding anything wrong!
I wouldn’t mind so much, but this is a new Q1 and I haven’t done anything except install updates…
It’s annoying.
Upgraded the Mac mini
I have just upgraded my G4 Mac mini to Leopard. I am intending to use it as a media centre under my television.
The upgrade went fine, and EyeTV 2.5.1 seems to work just fine under Leopard.
I am running it (currently) without a keyboard or a mouse and of course being a G4 Mac mini it does not have an Apple remote.
I do have an EyeTV remote, so when watching TV, I can use that.
In the meantime, I am using VNC and screensharing to control the Mac mini and will be using either my PowerBook or an UMPC to do the controlling.
It’s connected to my Airport Extreme (802.11n) by ethernet, so the fact that it has only 802.11g won’t be too much of an issue.
I have an (old) CRT Sony television, so I am using s-video to connect the Mac mini to it, so screen resolution is quite poor, but for video and images it seems to work fine.
If this works out, I will probably replace it with a newer and faster Intel Mac mini. This one only had 512MB of RAM, and I would prefer at least 1GB or more.
I will write more, as we see how it works out.
Final Episode
Next week will see the final episode of BBC’s Robin Hood, in which our hero goes to meet King Richard to warn him of the plot against him by the dastardly sheriff and Prince John.
I have enjoyed this series and I do like the way that the series has been written and the way it does not take itself too seriously.
Hopefully it will be renewed for a third series.
802.11g Airport Extreme Stalled
Interestingly my (older) 802.11g Airport Extreme stalled today. No 802.11g client could pick it up and even though it is plugged into the LAN port of the 802.11n Airport Extreme, the Airport Utility could not “see” it.
So unplugged it, left it for about ten seconds, and switched it back on again, no worries.
This is an occassional problem, which is in the main just annoying, but I wonder what the underlying problem is (if any) and if the base station will one day just stop working for good!