A new toy, I has it.

HTC p3600i, running Windows Mobile 6 (Pro?). Picked it up yesterday at the local Three store, moving away from prepaid to a cap.

Now to get a Twitter client onto it…

NGage Ad: "Real life" Breakout

Nokia's latest advertising for the N-Gage platform comes in the form of a stop-motion video…and a stop motion video game. The loading screen is BreakOut, watch the video and about half way in, you get to play BreakOut with the main character of the video as the ball!

Whether or not you like Nokia or N-Gage, this ad/site is freaking cool.

via JJProjects

Building my HTPC (Part II)

The proposed HTPC went ahead, and the final list of parts was

Software

• Vista Ultimate 32-bit with Service Pack 1 (didn't have the x64 install iso downloaded yet)
• CoreAVC
• FFDshow

Hardware

• Intel Pentium E2160
• Asus P5K-VM
• 500gb Western Digital HDD
• 2gb DDR-2 Kingston 6400 (800mhz) Kit
• Antec NSK2480
• Logitech Harmony 525

From my list of parts, the dedicated graphics card has been dropped (for now, its a money thing), and the CPU and motherboard were upgraded. The CPU was upgraded from an E2140 (1.6ghz) to a E2160 (1.8ghz) simply because that's all the store had in at the time.

Case

The Antec NSK2480 is not designed as a HTPC case, but as a general desk case. The HTPC version of it is the overpriced Fusion 430 (aka Fusion V2), which comes with a 430w PSU (+50w), a VFD display and a 'stereo' looking volume knob - it really isn't worth the extra AUD$100 for it.

There are really only two problems I have with this case (and I'd imagine would apply to the Fusion 430 as well); it uses very bright blue LED's (which just require you to not plug in the HDD LED and separate power LED) and that there isn't a way to "stealth" the optical drive - granted it isn't a HTPC case so it doesn't "require" it, but given how nice the case looks it certainly wouldn't hurt.

Motherboard & CPU

The CPU is a Conroe core, despite having the Pentium moniker instead of Core2Duo. The E2160 is a 65nm chip, clocked at 1.8ghz, with 1mb L2 cache and a 800mhz front side bus. The beauty is, its the cheapest dual core processor from Intel (that the store had in stock, with the E2140 being cheaper and slower) yet it is more than capable of decoding 1080p content.

The choice of motherboard was to opt for a better featured (specifically, included SPDIF out), more robust motherboard. Asus' top of the line uATX motherboard goes for ~$250, and the P5K-VM is pretty much the next step down, but only costs ~$150.

While the motherboard was more expensive than what I "needed", the cheaper ones available are generally regarded as 'okay' but not 'rock solid' if you attempt overclocking. By just ramping up the front side bus (FSB), still using the stock Heat Sink/Fan (HSF), I was able to get this CPU up to 2.94ghz. That's an overclock of a fairly impressive 1.14ghz! Somewhat unneeded for HTPC duties as it decodes 1080p perfectly well, but for gaming and other duties I may put this computer through later on in its life, certainly an added bonus out of a $83 CPU

Remote.

Only a brief word on the remote, the Logitech Harmony 525. It is your 'run of the mill' universal remote capable of learning IR commands, but it also has USB connectivity to download IR commands from Logitech's database. I won't say the database is flawless, but it had an entry for Media Center, my TV (Bravia KDL40W3100), my speakers (no surprises on that one however, they are Logitech speakers that were hooked up to my computer - we still "need" to get an amp/standalone speakers) and even the air conditioner! On top of that, the 'activities' options are awesome - if I want to watch TV, it switches the TV on, the speakers on, and the speakers to the right input. Likewise, if I want to watch something on Media Center, it'll switch the TV on, Speakers On, Change TV Input, Change Speaker Input, and even go to 'My Videos' (if I had a MCE IR Receiver).

I will give Logitech huge credit for the packaging. It is a standard looking blister pack which would normally require scissors and much bleeding, but this pack had a 'tear away' section, where little perforations in the plastic meant no cutting (or bleeding) was needed. The contents of the packaging also included 4xAAA Duracell batteries as well as 4xAAA Duracell batteries already in the remote!

Performance

Thanks to CoreAVC, it is actually possible to play back HD (1080p that is) material without a dedicated graphics card. This rig is capable of playing back H264 without any sync/stuttering issues. VC-1 plays back fine too, but every now and again it was as if it was dropping frames - I haven't had the time to properly research the subject - VC1 is not decoded by CoreAVC as far as I know - meaning I was using the stock Vista/WMP11 decoder.

Thanks to the power saving features of the CPU, it kept dropping down to about 1.9ghz (despite being overclocked to 2.9ghz) when playing back 1080p material - it simply has way too much oompf!

The other major codec to try out is PowerDVD, which has hardware acceleration through PureVideo/UVD, however that does not apply in this situation of onboard graphics. If I was to purchase the graphics card I intend to, yes, it would make a significant difference, however if I was to use CoreAVC which is a purely software/cpu decoder…well…the numbers in the table above won't change.

Power DVD performance

It's fairly easy to see that CoreAVC uses a lot less of the CPU than PowerDVD does - as much as 22% in some sections! Throw in a ATI HD 2400 Pro for as low as AUD$35, and the tables would certainly be reversed.

One interesting thing to note is that although the only VC1 content in this test had a higher CPU usage under PowerDVD, it was a LOT smoother, and didn't suffer from the occasional stuttering. It was also much faster at flicking through the video.

Final words..

I'm extremely happy with the performance, looks, noise and cost of this computer. All up, just AUD$667 (including remote)!

eSATA rocks

eSATA (External SATA) rocks for file transfer. Oh, sure, it sucks in terms of not providing power over the cable, but the raw speeds of it make you over look that, especially when its a 3.5" drive that requires extra power anyway (if over USB).

I recently purchased the above very very shiny Coolermaster X-Craft eSATA/USB (non-usb hub version). It came with an eSATA bracket, but my laptop has eSATA built into it, which is where I see the most benefit - I get better performance out of the external 7200rpm drive that I do my internal 5400rpm drive.

$49 well spent.

Edit: I should note, this particular design is fanless, which usually leads to a pretty warm enclosure. Well, the good news, after being left on all night (10:30pm -> 9am) its barely above room temperature to touch.

Building my HTPC (Part I)

For Christmas, the wife and I bought ourselves a 40" Bravia W Series LCD, and we've really started to appreciate 1080i TV broadcasts, and other HiDef content. We also happen to own two computers each (1x laptop, 1x desktop), so we decided to put one of them to use as a HTPC, since we lack the extra limbs to make use of two computers each at the same time.

Current Configuration
Software

• Windows Vista Ultimate
• CoreAVC
• ffdshow

Hardware

• AMD Athlon X2 3800+ (S939)
• Gigabyte K8NF-9
• 320gb Seagate SATA HDD
• Pioneer 111D DVD-RW
• 3gb DDR400 (2×1gb + 2x 512mb)
• MSI 256mb 7900GT
• Corsair VX-450 (450w) PSU
• Sony 40" W Bravia LCD (KDL40W3100)

With us both being gamers, this system ('my' desktop), is more appropriate as its fairly capable. There is just one problem for HTPC use - its a little noisy.

The AMD X2 (S939) processes aren't the greatest things on the block, but they're certainly no slouch. Being an older CPU, the amount of heat generated (and power used) is significantly more than AMD's current generation CPU's, and depressingly more than Intel's Core2Duo line up. The X2 3800+ for example, has a Thermal Design Power (the maximum amount of power the CPU will use) is 89w. Compare that to the Intel E2140, which has a TDP of 65w - although some reviews put its 'true' TDP well under 40w.

Back to the issue of noise, I've managed to silence the both the graphics card and CPU by putting on massive, and reasonably expensive, coolers. The 7900GT has a Thermalright HR-03, and the CPU has a Scythe Mini Ninja.

So with that all said, we're going to buy a new system soon that will spend its life as a HTPC. The current computer will move upstairs to be the workhorse, and the other system (X2 3800+, mATX mobo, 7600GT) will be given to in-laws in a custom built case (more on that soon)

Proposed Configuration
Software stays the same (maybe X64?)

Hardware

• Intel Pentium E2140 (Yeah, its under the Pentium name, but is still a Conroe)
• Asus P5GC-MX/1333
• 500gb Western Digital HDD (quieter and cheaper than a Seagate)
• 2gb DDR-2 (maybe 4gb?)
• Sapphire 512mb HD 3850 Ultimate (or 8800GT/HD 3850 with aftermarket cooler)
• Antec NSK2480 (case)

Eventually we'll add a HD-DVD or Blu Ray drive to it, but the current cost isn't particularly worthwhile, given the "war" is still not over.

The crazy thing is it'll cost roughly $720. By comparison, when I built the current HTPC, the ram was $200, the CPU ~$500, and the graphics card ~$550.

• The X2 3800+ was the low end of dual cores, but single core still made up the majority of sales - the E2140 is the slowest Conroe CPU out
• the 7900GT (was actually a 7800GT, it got upgraded under warranty) was a similar sort of card to the HD 3850 - not the fastest, but great value for money.
• 2gb of ram was still considered a massive amount, 4gb today is almost considered normal today, and will only set you back $130.

The case isn't a particularly HTPC-esque case (I plan to use it for my distant-Windows Home Server case), but its a stop-gap solution until I finish building my own case out of Jarrah and Tasmanian Ash - but that's for another post…

Dell Inspiron 1520 vs Asus G1S

Before our honeymoon, Chickz0r and I decided to buy her a laptop. It suits our lifestyle and medical needs, and if we got it before the honeymoon it meant we could play games (since I have an Asus G1S). Did I marry the right girl or what?

We decided on a Dell Inspiron 1520. They're cheap, reasonable quality, and pack a lot of punch

* Both laptops are actually running Vista Ultimate (32bit version for now). I have licenses for this, so we downgraded the 1520 to save a dollar or two

On paper, the Dell laptop looks far superior value, and to some people this is certainly true. To me however, they are of about the same value.

My G1S was available before the 1520's (both on paper, and terms of availability - Dell took awhile to actually ship any); and was imported from America (there are AU models now, but they weren't available until 3->4 months afterwards); and is a "premium" laptop in the Asus lineup, compared to the 'budget/workhorse' line that Inspiron is to Dell, which means better build quality; thus the larger price. The AU model is available for ~$2300->2600 (I believe) today.

There are other niceties to the G1S, such as the OLED display above the keyboard. It is gimmicky, sure, but having a clock while in games is useful, or having WLM messages popup is handy. Another gimmick is a Lightscribe capable dvd-rw, but I've used it once or twice, and the end result is actually pretty nice.

On the less gimmicky front, the onboard sound is pretty good, and the addition of optical out (through the 3.5mm jack). Having eSATA will allow further expansion at decent performance when I fill this hard drive up (although Dell's "counter" to this is to include a massive, relatively speaking, hard drive). Finally, while the Dell screen is pretty good, the G1S screen is the best I've seen on any laptop - colour and brightness wise (and that includes before I had the screen replaced due to a poor backlight!)

While I love my G1S, the 1520 is fantastic value. Huge (for laptop) HDD, a massive 4gb of ram, and very comparable specs to my G1S? It is just hard to say no. Throw in the ability to choose the colour of your laptop (and less "IM A l33t H4X0R" aesthetics of the G1S), and you've got a very 'personal' laptop.

They aren't flawless, they both have varying problems. The 1520, for example, produces a high pitched noise through the headphone jack - however that was resolved when a tech came out and replaced the motherboard. My G1S had dull patches in the LCD panel (presumably inconsistent backlight?) as well an optical drive that sounded like it was preparing to destroy the world - thankfully both problems were solved by dropping my laptop back into Asus' repair centre in Melbourne. They also both share the heat and noise issues associated with having the 8600M GT and 2.2ghz, which is solved (to some degree) by using an iXoft (or equivalent cooling device).

I'd be hard pressed to recommend one over the other. Those willing to pay the premium for a "more rounded" laptop, definitely go for the G1S, or those looking for best bang for buck, go for the Dell XPS 1530; its price has now dropped to about the 1520's price.

Start the new year by not cheating…

The It's Not Cheating promotion is back again, and as I posted last year, Microsoft are offering to students, Office 2007 Ultimate for just $75. This time around, however, it is open to University AND TAFE students.

Just to recap, Office 2007 Ultimate edition contains Access, Accounting Express, Excel, InfoPath, Groove, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher and Word. According to StaticIce, the cheapest you can get it for is AUD$445 (academic license, otherwise it is about $750). Through the Its Not Cheating promotion, you can get it for $25 for one year, or $75 "for life". There is an additional cost if you want the DVD posted out ($17), but there is always the choice of downloading it.

To promote this, Microsoft has created a competition for us MSP's (and a few others), to win a smartphone or/and Xbox360 (with 3 games). I don't particularly need (although I certainly do want) either of those prizes, so I'd rather somebody more deserving gets them…and Long had the fantastic idea of opening the competition up to anybody who reads his blog, rather than entering it himself.

So, instead of competing against him, which would undoubtedly result in a Goliath (Long) vs David (Me) battle, if you want a chance to win the smartphone or Xbox360 I'm encouraging you to make your way over to Long's Its Not Cheating Competition blog post.

EGamesExpo 07

The EGames Expo was on again in Melbourne's Exhibition Centre,  and they've learnt a lot from the first event held last year.

Key differences over last year were

• The booth babes were hotter
• There were more booths
• There were more freebies
• You could bring bags in (and cameras!)

That being said, it still seems to have a long way to go. We (chickz0r and I) went today (Sunday, the final day), and it was packed but lacked excitement. Perhaps a combination of weather and being the closing day, but exhibitors and attendees just seemed to be a bit down on the whole day, compared to last year.

Fury again was one of the main attractions, but after being an alpha tester for the game, I had no interest in it. They had a "super special" on Fury, $30AUD for one, or $50AUD for two, instead of the RRP of $89.95. That isn't limited to EGE, you can also pick it up for about that price (or cheaper, given the exchange rate) from Auran's store. Auran had their own stage, with competitions (to win a Core2Quad system, I think), as well as a dozen or so other computers setup to play Fury. They really sure have spent a bit more on the demo systems they brought down from the Sunshine State…performance was worse than that of last years pre-alpha demo!

Crysis came in second for most coverage on the grounds, with PC's setup in a competitive "NetCafe" environment, as well as more casual ones setup on lounges with large (30"+) HDTV's. They were plagued with problems - many computers had to have the three finger salute (Ctrl + Alt + Del) performed on a regular basis by the staff operating the systems, some were even running in windowed mode!

Sony actually had something to present other than the PSP this year, with their PS3, but the majority of their systems were PSP and PS2's; they did however, have one large booth and competitions for Resistance: Fall of Man. Microsoft had a giant inflatable Master Chief helmet, with many 360's showing of Halo 3, to be expected. Nintendo rounded up the console giants by occupying the exact same spot as last time (right at the front door), but mostly had Wii sports going - rather disappointing!

I'm hoping that the cosplayers today weren't all that turned up for the event, because if they were, my Soundwave costume (if I had of finished it..) had a serious chance to take out best costume. I know I'm being overly critical for somebody who didn't dress up, but the Cosplay Parade had nearly half the audience leave before the second Cosplayer was on stage.

Freebies last time were nonexistent, however this time we managed to score 4 or 5 Seagate pens, and an Intel keychain. Not great, but we weren't there for long. There were other freebies being handed out (or thrown out in the case of the Frisbees), so at least some exhibitors have learnt.

I think over time EGE is going to get better and better, it is still in its infancy and isn't sure how the audience is going to react. This year was packed, so hopefully next year they learn a better layout and to include more consoles/pc's so people don't have to line up for more than half an hour to play one thing. I'd love more freebies, but what can they really give away?

Overall, I had less fun than last year, but it was good to see that the event is going strong and will more than likely continue on next year.

PCCaseGear: Thumbs up from me

Often you hear about all the bad retailers, the way they rip people off or have terrible customer service (or try and breach the Trade Practices Act). I know for those reasons I don't shop at Harvey Norman, CPL, CentreCom, or Nintek anymore. However, those companies who do make a name for themselves because of excellent customer service aren't heard of as much.

Well, PCCaseGear are one of them. No, not a sponsored post (although, could do with it for my HTPC…hint hint), just excited about my order that just arrived.

I ordered it on Monday, it arrived today (Thursday).

Big deal you say? Well, I ordered about 10pm on Monday night, it was processed on Tuesday - a public holiday (Cup Day), and arrived today. I've had about a dozen orders to them, and all but two have been two or three day turn around.

Their prices may not always be the cheapest, but they have a very interesting variety of parts, and very knowledgeable staff when it comes to the products they do sell. So, once again, I say YAY FOR PCCG!

For the record, my order was ("just") a Corsair VX-450 PSU (pictured) to replace my dying Antec SmartPower 2.0 500w PSU (again). The SP2 has developed a high pitched noise which makes it impossible for me to use my desktop without suffering great pain because of my headaches. The VX450 is recommended by many, more efficient, has a quieter overall operation than the SP2 and suited my budget.

My experience with Windows Home Server

Thanks to Nick, I've been able to get my hands on the Windows Home Server (WHS) 120 day Trial, although unlike Nick, I've gone for the "roll your own" approach to it, rather than buying one off the shelf (his experience with that side is certainly encouraging, if not fuzzy).

The test hardware I have at the moment is:

• AMD Athlon XP 2600+ ("Barton" core)
• 512mb (2×256mb) DDR333
• ATI 256mb 9600 Pro
• Abit NF7-S
• 1×80gb, 2×60gb IDE seagate hdds

Initially I only had the 2×60gb HDDs, so WHS wouldn't install as it requires 80gb minimum. If I had an IDE RAID card, that would have fixed the problem, but alas, I didn't and I had to wait till I returned from Chickz0rs place with our spare 80gb HDD.

Installation was smooth after getting over the storage prerequisite, select location, keyboard layout, it goes about its business, reboots a few times, and then asks for server name and password. There was a bit of a hickup in that it didn't have drivers for all the onboard components of the motherboard….including the NIC. Given how well Vista has been at detecting drivers - even on that hardware - I'd just forgotten about installing drivers to get online. No matter, nvidia had all the nForce 2 Unified drivers still available, and after that it updated nicely.

After I installed the client software (WHS Connector), that was it - it was up and running, ready for backups. Being a geek, I didn't leave it at that, but I really appreciate the lack of hours of configuration needed to get the box secure, and ready for its listed operations.

So far I've been really impressed with WHS - setting up remote access (https) was a breeze (two clicks!) and the remote access was responsive; backup and duplication happens very easily, as does adding extra drives to the "pool". The extensibility of WHS looks pretty cool too, with a fair few addins coming out already (I particularly like the remote backup ones - if I was to continue to use WHS, I'd look at one for my Dreamhost account).

The thing to note about WHS is that there isn't much to it. I don't mean that in the sense that "its not worth it", I mean that once you have the Connector software installed, things just work. WHS boxes from the likes of TranquilPC, Hewlett Packard, Intel and Medion (and many more) won't require the installation but some very basic configuration (that's IF you want to configure it). I'd like to say something was wrong with it, but given the functionality/features and its target market, there doesn't seem to be much to complain about. It works, expandable, extensible, and its easy.

The interesting thing is that between the many reboots during install, it goes into 'Text Mode' installer, with the label "Windows 2003 Small Business Server" (W2K3). It's not just during installation that you see that WHS is in many ways "on top of" W2K3.

• The default screen saver is called 'Windows 2003 server'
• There is the 'Windows 2003' background
• When you add certain Windows Components (through Control Panel -> Add/Remove Software), it asks for Service Pack 2 Disc
• You can install/run DHCP/DNS services
• IIS6 is installed, and you can use it to run other websites - great for those like me who want/need a local webserver for development

The upshot of it being based on Windows 2003 is that its pretty damn stable and secure, and that if any vulnerabilities are found with the operating system, they're Win2K3 vulnerabilities and Win2k3 patches (through Windows Update), rather than waiting for the WHS team themselves to fix the insecurity (not that they'd do a bad job, just size of each team effects response times)

As much as I enjoyed my WHS experience, I won't be using this iteration of it on a fulltime basis. Yes it was fast, yes it was stable, yes it was easy, but I want a single "always on" box - something to handle both HPTC duties and centralised storage. While there are many HTPC packages that will run under Win2K3, they don't seem to have the same features, or lack a decent UI (or require waaay too much configuration) when compared against as Media Center (Vista or MCE2005). This problem may be solved in vNext of WHS, but I'm not holding my breath for it - I'd be better off waiting for virtualisation software which works with Direct X 9 :)