i spent a few hours today cleaning up the garage which looks like it is just overflowing with all sorts of boxes and baby stuff. all of this clutter is starting to bother me so, i finally started to clean up the mess. our recycling and garbage bins are full, it’s a good thing that garbage day is coming up soon.

i would say that we’ve got another 3 or 4 week’s worth of recycling stuff that needs to go. i’ve been pretty bad about efficiently breaking down cardboard boxes. instead, i’ve been smashing them to flatten them. not the most effective way to do it, but far easier.

while cleaning today, i found a little treasure that i haven’t seen in a long time. i’m not sure why it never got much use, but i found the slingbox that i had purchased years ago. not sure if it still worked, i decided to plug it in and see.

the slingbox worked great out of the box. there is now a mac client of SlingPlayer which installed and setup my slingbox, now known as the slingbox classic. it upgraded the firmware of the slingbox and after some router port forwarding, i was all set to start slinging.

the slingbox actually works pretty well and i was impressed by just how easy it is to use. i already had a solution to stream all of my content on my media server to the iphone, but now i can stream live tv as well. the slingbox has a client for the iphone and though it says that it doesn’t support the slingbox classic, it appears to still be working just fine for people. the iphone app is expensive at a whopping $30, though, and you have to be on wifi to use it. are these crippling restrictions worth the $30 that allows you to stream live tv onto your iphone?

i don’t know if it really is worth it for me, that’s a lot of money to pay just to get my live tv on my phone. i guess if i was stuck somewhere where there wasn’t a tv, but there was wifi, it might be useful…but those times are far and few.

besides, if i had wifi, i could always just bust out my laptop and use the free mac slingplayer, right?

so it’s been a while since i’ve made the move back to the PS3 as my media center. the ps3 is connected to the tv and so far things have been pretty good. if i had to do it all over again, i’m convinced now that i would go one of two ways:

1) PS3 + transcoding/file server (current solution)
2) mac mini + file server

let’s first start with the ways that i just absolutely wouldn’t go with:
1) PS3 + file server (no transcoding server)
2) windows media center

PS3 + file server (no transcoding server)
this solved about 75% of all of my problems. the ps3 natively supports the divx codec (and also xvid), but just supporting the codec doesn’t mean that it will play all divx-encoded files. i don’t know what is going on with how some people encode video, but sometimes it just doesn’t work.

what was great about this solution is that i can run a DNLA server (mediatomb) on a cheap NAS (DNS-323) and have a very cheap, large media store that consumes very little power. it seemed like the ideal solution until i found out that:
1) codec support for the PS3 is not as wide as i had hoped and i often have problems playing AVI files.
2) mkv files are not supported at all.
3) the NAS isn’t powerful enough to transcode on the fly.

windows media center
this seemed like the right way to go. not only do you have full access to your library, but codec support isn’t an issue. if it plays on your computer, it’ll play on the windows media center. additionally, i got a tv tuner for it so that i can record tv whenever i wanted.

my biggest gripes with this solution is that the interface is awful. not only is it awful, it’s SLOW. it’s hard to navigate large libraries of content because the display of the content is done by thumbnails, so it’s hard to see what episode of what show you are on.

sure, there are plugins that people have created to help alleviate UI issues. the best plugin ever is video browser which made media center usable again for me. in fact, i loved this interface. the only problem with it is that it sometimes just doesn’t work. in fact, it would lock up the media center and i’d end up with a blank screen. it was so bad that it made it unusable for me because the only way i could fix it was rebooting the media center.

so it’s true that this option does let you record tv shows, i don’t really record tv anyway, so it’s not a feature i miss. i actually still use the media center to watch OTA HDTV live, like sports.

and now on to what i would do:
PS3 + transcoding file server
this is my current solution for a media center. the transcoding file server is a windows box that handles all of the storage and transcoding needs. i use the fantastic ps3mediaserver for as the streaming server. it supports thumbnails for videos which is a nice touch. currently, there’s 3TB of storage on this machine and it seems like it is plenty of hard drive space for my needs. if i ever need to go with more, it’s pretty easy to upgrade.

what i like about this:
the PS3 interface is pretty slick, it’s clean, and easy to use. once you install the streaming server, codec support isn’t a problem because the streaming server will transcode video on the fly for you. that’s fantastic.

the PS3 is probably the best blu-ray player on the market and looks to be pretty future-proof.

what i don’t like about this:
all this transcoding requires that you have a semi-beefy machine that can handle the transcoding for you. this pretty much means another full-fledged computer and then you have to deal with what OS to run. i’ve been running windows, but linux is definitely a viable option here to cut costs.

the PS3 doesn’t natively support samba which just seems like such a glaring missing feature until you dig a little further and realize that sony is behind the whole DLNA movement. it’s intentionally not being supported and probably never will be.

the PS3 also consumes a lot of power. this solution basically requires 2 computers on all the time to work.

2) mac mini + file server
this is the other option that i really, really struggled with. it is certainly cheaper than the ps3/file server route. there are a couple pieces of software that look really good on the mac for your media center needs. plex is my current favorite. it just looks beautiful. it’s a derivative of XMBC, so codec support isn’t going to be an issue.

you still need a file server because the mac mini just doesn’t have a lot of storage space, but that can easily be handled with a cheap NAS, like the DNS-323.

no blu-ray abilities here, though, so you’ll need a dedicated blu-ray player to deal with this. since i already have the ps3, it seemed like having just one point of entry for all my media serving needs was the easiest way to go. there are very limited tv tuner options for the mac, as well. i haven’t looked too closely into it, i think it’s possible, but it’s not integrated into the media center software.

overall, though, this solution looks pretty promising. there are a couple of other media center apps out there that deserve a look:
boxee – another XBMC derivative, but boxee has a couple of things going for it that makes it unique. the first thing is that they have a social networking component to the app so you can see what your friends have recently seen. that’s kind of cool, kind of invasive. depends on what you watch, i guess.

the other cool thing about boxee is that they have a free iphone app that acts as a remote control. that is just so cool! =P

XBMC w/ aeon skin – i have to admit that i’m not very fond of the interface for the default XBMC compared to other offerings, but a friend had just recommended trying out the aeon skin and it looks very slick.

i just upgraded the ps3 to the new 3.00 firmware. the enhanced XMB is cute and the added media features are nice. it really starts to position the PS3 as a media center.

the upgrade went without issue and the new background with the sparklies is a nice little touch. one thing that i don’t like is that when you are hovering over an item in the XMB, the other options fade out. i prefer to see the context around my selection.

the text in the XMB also appears to have gotten bigger. i don’t think that i mind it, but it does take a little getting used to.

i have a spare laptop that has been collecting dust for a while now and i haven’t been able to figure out how to make it useful. but over the weekend, i have finally found a good cause for it.

the ultimate testing machine has a bunch of VMs on it.
1) Windows XP w/ IE 6
2) Windows XP w/ IE 7
3) Windows XP w/ IE 8
4) Windows Vista w/ IE 7
5) Windows Vista w/ IE 8
6) Fedora Core 11

all windows VMs also have Firefox 2.0, Firefox 3.0, Firefox 3.5, Safari, Chrome, and Opera.

the host OS is Mac OS X, where I have installed Safari, Firefox, and Opera. so if there’s a browser/OS config i want to test, i think i have the popular platforms covered. now, if there was only an easy way to have different versions of flash installed…i guess i can 2x the number of VMs i have…

• Been waking up early – haven't adjusted from camping schedule yet. How to get back toy normal schedule? #
• Found out that vmware fusion doesn't support vista sp2. No wonder my boot camp partition won't start up anymore. Should I stay w/ sp1? #
• I know it doesn't look good but it was delicious. Smores with chocolate chip cookies instead of Graham crackers. http://twitpic.com/fbbex #
• Tea era or verde tea? Always a tough choice. http://twitpic.com/fd3jo #
• Koda wearing his booties. http://twitpic.com/fe9fi #
• Trying out el taco de oro taco truck. Is the restaurant next door any better? http://twitpic.com/fhb4h #
• BEST $5 I have ever spent. EVER! It's only 5 minutes away, I'm going here more often. Are the burritos any good? http://twitpic.com/fhjsi #
• Tacos from lunch were so good yesterday that I made tacos for dinner. Am mow thinking about eating tacos for breakfast. Too much? #
• checked epinions on a whim & found that i had $200+ in eroyalties credit, so i had them mail me a check. what to do with newfound wealth? #
• Yeah these menus aren't overwhelmingly large. http://twitpic.com/fq4xw #
• Me: It is too hot to be walking the dog. Dog: it is too hot to be leashed to you. Set me free so I can find shade. #

is windows 7 really the name that microsoft is going with? and can anyone else remember what all the versions were? does anyone remember windows 1.0-3.0? i don’t think i ever used it. i do remember using a windows run-time and i think then windows 3.1. anyway, i wonder how the windows 7 name came about…

i decided to give windows 7 a whirl. i am using my windows partition primarily as a gaming partition, but there could be a few programs that i might need to run while on the mac side. that being said, i wanted to make sure that if i did set up a boot camp partition for windows that i would be able to boot it as a VM.

there were a couple of hiccups trying to get the VM to work, but it turns out that vmware doesn’t play nice when you try to reinstall windows on your boot camp partition. clear out all of the previously installed stuff and it worked great.

it’s been a while since i wrote an epinion, but on a whim, i decided to login and check out my profile. it turns out that i am a “popular author” and i’m in the top 1000 epinion writers. i found out that i’m actually #737. considering my lack of activity for the last several years, i wonder if that means that the epinion writing population is really, really tiny or if i am really that popular. i sort of suspect that it isn’t the latter. =P

what it probably means is that there are lots of contributors who don’t contribute a lot so they don’t get as many hits as others who tend to write more epinions.

btw, i also wrote a new review on the canon 85mm f/1.2L in case you were looking to drop a few thousand dollars on a lens…

there’s probably something wrong with just how much joy i get from eating a taco from a taco truck, but today i ventured over to the very often recommended el taco de oro taco truck to sample some of their tacos. let me tell you…fantastic.

i’m tempted to go there again tomorrow to try a burrito in their sit down restaurant, but these tacos were tasty. small, but for $1.25 each, they were great little explosions of flavor.

i’ve never found much reason to go to alviso, but now there is a solid reason.

el taco de oro
5210 n 1st st
alviso, ca 95002

if you are anywhere in the area, go check it out!

• Just bumped into brad at pearl tea. He recognized me by my car. Didn't think an accord was that unique. #
• Punctuate this: that that is is that that is not is not #
• listening to green day's _know your enemy_ album. heard 21 guns & loved it. thought it might be GD, but thought it was too mellow 4 them. #
• err listening to green day's latest album _21st century breakdown_ #
• giving plain white t's _big bad world_ a listen. so far so good. i never listened to their first album, maybe i should. #
• I  specialty's cookies http://twitpic.com/eduyx #
• specialty's beef & blue sandwich. 580 calories. i still cannot believe that cheesecake factory slice is over 1500. #
• I really need a haircut. http://twitpic.com/em8j1 #
• I think it has been almost three months since my last haircut. Tried to go thru the whole summer w/o a haircut. http://twitpic.com/emslw #
• Koda and i are breaking for lunch at dos coyotes. New sac location. http://twitpic.com/er0bp #
• Dude that is a lot of salsa at the salsa bar at dos coyotes. http://twitpic.com/er40a #
• Oh crap it's starting to rain and it's 6am and we are camping. #

i need a haircut…bad. since i’ve gotten married, i haven’t had to go out to get my haircut in a long, long time, but now that christi is very pregnant, i don’t think she can reach over to cut my hair anymore. this means that i have to go out to get my hair cut by someone.

the last time i paid someone to cut my hair, it was years ago and i have since moved. i don’t know where to go anymore. i think i will just have to find a barber somewhere and just tell them to go at it. i’ve been trying to put it off for as long as i can, but it is so annoyingly long now that it is really hard for me to deal with it.

it’s definitely a problem when my bangs are long enough that they can touch the tip of my nose. usually, they barely touch my eyebrows!