Tag: HDMI

It’s Starting To Look Like A Studio

studio 5E

“Take Doppler to piddle, but stop in the garage before you come upstairs.” Helaine wanted me to see what she’d accomplished while I was gone.

Holy crap. It’s a studio!

It took lots of work on her part preparing and painting the wall. The electrician removed an outlet right in the middle. Helaine patched and sanded before applying two coats of Behr Sparkling Apple.

It looks amazing. She’s amazing.

Two backlights are overhead. The key lights are on stands. They’ll be held in place with sandbags. That’s how it’s done in real studios.

There are mounts and power for monitors and a clock hung from a beam.

Cox came and installed service. I’m told I need 6-8 mbps for high quality, low latency, HD video. I’ve got triple that.

Most of the equipment is still enroute. I’d like to set it up next weekend, if possible. I’m itching to get started.

Little things keep popping up. We’re starting from scratch. I ordered a charger, 8 AA NiMh batteries, a few 25 foot HDMI cables and light meter, tonight.

In a few weeks my garage will be a chroma key driven sound stage. It’s for work. It’s a toy. This is a very cool project.

A Change Google Needs To Make

I scanned the answers and picked the one which seemed closest on point. It was from 2006!

I don’t think the Google-boys read my blog (though Google itself indexes my blog within seconds), but if they do I’ve got a suggestion. It relates to how we use the Internet and wasn’t much of a problem when Google rubbed its first back.

I was wondering if its possible to record the HDMI output of my cable box or Roku. I went to Google and entered: record hdmi. I scanned the answers and picked the one which seemed closest on point. It was from 2006!

In the general scheme of things 2006 isn’t that long ago. In technology it’s forever. The answer described a lack of hardware which might not exist anymore.

There is a solution. I use it when I think of it, but I don’t always think of it.

On the left side of the Google results page is a link to: “Show search tools.” That reveals a menu which allows you to limit searches to certain dates like the last week, month or year.

As the Internet begins to age it’s time for Google to do a better job of aging their results. It won’t be easy because in many subjects older is fine. In technology it decidedly is not.

Comcast, Allow Me To Kvetch About Your DVR

Nearly every operation on this DVR makes you think development stopped as soon as a feature worked. No one ever considered whether it worked well.

An admission before I start. I fully concede I’m about to kvetch because one of life’s little unnecessary luxuries isn’t luxurious enough. Guilty. Get over it.

We have a very nice HD TV in the family room. It is connected to a Comcast supplied Cisco RNG200 DVR. Notice I used nice for the TV, not the DVR.

Nearly every operation on this DVR makes you think development stopped as soon as a feature worked. No one ever considered whether it worked well.

With football season underway I’ve got two games on the TV at once. The Phils/Mets take up most of the screen with the Giants/Panthers in a small window.

If you were designing this system you’d put the smaller window in a corner. It’s much less likely to intrude if tucked away.

Not on the RNG200! The inset window is where the screen’s corner would be if I was watching old school 4:3 standard def not 16:9 high def. This might be understandable if not for the fact the RNG200 knows I’m watching in HD!

I use an HDMI cable between the TV and DVR. That’s a ‘smart’ system which sends data in both directions. The DVR sees where its signal goes and knows the screen resolution.

With this system the out-of-the-way window ends up being near the middle of the action blocking things I want to see.

This is just one in a long series of almost complete and poorly enabled features.

  • On-Demand is clumsy and excruciatingly slow.
  • Scheduling a recording can take dozens of button presses just to find a show.
  • The on screen program summary is often edited as if it isn’t meant to be read.
  • Standard def duplicates of high def channels clutter things up even though as mentioned earlier the box should know I’m not interested in seeing them in 4:3.

When you see what’s available with a TiVo or even my homebuilt MythTV this seems more-and-more unnecessarily irksome. How Comcast does this in light of the competition from U-verse and the satellite providers is beyond me.

Def TV Jam

It makes no sense. You would think the cable company would want me to always see the HDTV signal (when available) so I’d perceive the cable service as better and worth more.

Over the past few months the biggest source of tension between Helaine and me usually begins with, “Can I have the remote, please?”

We’ll be watching something in low def when it’s also available in high def. Helaine couldn’t care less. Stef too.

I change the channel anyway as they both give me dirty looks.

With low def (really standard def) the edges of the screen are black and the picture is OK. With high def the full screen is filled with sharper and clearer video&#185.

As stated, Helaine and Stef are unimpressed.

The real question is why do we get standard definition channels at all? Our TV and cable box are connected by means of an HDMI cable.

HDMI supports, on a single cable, any TV or PC video format, including standard, enhanced, and high-definition video; up to 8 channels of digital audio; and a Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) connection. The CEC allows HDMI devices to control each other when necessary and allows the user to operate multiple devices with one remote control handset. – Wikipedia

Through the CEC the cable box understands my TV is HDTV capable. It knows I have no use for standard definition signals except as a conflict starter.

It makes no sense. You would think the cable company would want me to always see the HDTV signal (when available) so I’d perceive the cable service as better and worth more. What possible reason would I have for this particular TV getting ESPN News and ESPN News HD or any other standard/HD combo?

I don’t have all the specs on my cable box but I’ll bet there’s a lot more it would do if only my cable company would ask it.

&#185 – I often see compression artifacts during HDTV programming. It’s a sign Comcast is compressing the crap out of it to fit more channels in less bandwidth.

Watching The New TV

In the past I’ve heard of people watching HDTV shows just because they’re in HD. I better understand now.

The DVR is set up. The TV is connected. The DVD is connected too. I moved it all onto the new TV table. Wow, it was so easy. I even programmed the universal cable remote for the TV and DVD player.

I need to read more about HDMI to find exactly what it is, but that’s the connection between the cable box and TV set. The picture looks amazing–bright and sharp on HDTV.

In the past I’ve heard of people watching HDTV shows just because they’re in HD. I better understand now. I got caught up in some Discovery Channel undersea adventure because the pictures were pretty. I switched off when I realized I wasn’t paying attention to what was being said.

The HD DVR Pick-up

Sweet. This is a brand new DVR model which has gotten reasonably good reviews from the on-line “gotta have it” community.

My “Secret Location in the Valley” friend from California thinks I’m crazy.

“You’re going to Comcast?” he asked. “Why?”

He’s correct. Comcast will come to me DVR in hand and make the swap moving me to HDTV. It’s what they do. It’s how my friend works. It’s how most people work–waiting for the cable guy.

I’m a hands on geek. I want to screw the N-connector hooked to the coax cable and string the HDMI cable between the DVR and my set. This is my fun. No one’s taking that from me.

I headed to Comcast on the way to work. They have a New Haven office a few minutes from the TV station.

The line was long. Only two of the four windows were open.

Standing in line at the cable company isn’t always pleasant. People are there to pay past due bills and get their service restored. Some are angry. Many are perplexed. Few people are there for routine customer service. The place is not built for privacy. You hear everything.

The long line moved surprisingly quickly. I put my old DVR in a large drawer which delivered it to the agent across the glass from me. She went to a cabinet, looked, stopped, moved farther down the cabinet and came back with a Cisco RNG200 HDTV DVR.

Sweet. This is a brand new DVR model which has gotten reasonably good reviews from the on-line “gotta have it” community.

The back is loaded with plugs and sockets. There’s a USB 2.0 connector. Why? I want to know. Same for the Firewire (aka IEEE 1394) port. What can I do with it? There’s HDMI to provide highest quality video to the HDTV. It looks like there’s a port for an external SATA hard drive.

As far as I can tell, there’s no instruction manual online. None came with the box.

Tonight I start the final phase of the switch-over. The new TV table gets moved into position and the DVR, DVD and possible VCR go underneath. Then the TV gets lifted into position.

Helaine can reclaim the family room.