IT: Crippled SATA Drives

 Computing  No Responses »
Apr 282007
 

Just in the process of adding a couple of new SATA drives to my system. On unpacking the new drives I was somewhat surprised to see in the jumper settings that an option to lower the speed from 3Gbps to 1.5Gbps was enabled. Now the manufacturer probably enabled it for a good reason … possibly some older SATA controllers have a nervous breakdown when the faster drives are connected up, but I do wonder how many people have fast drives connected to fast modern controllers but have overlooked the switch and are running their equipment at a slower speed than is necessary.

It would be a good idea for disk manufacturers that do something like this to include a bigger warning about it. A little piece of paper with a big headline (“This Drive Is Configured To Be Slow And Safe”) and an explanation would be consumer friendly thing to do.

If you have newer SATA drives it may be worth spending half an hour hunting down their model numbers and googling for the manuals to see if they can be jumpered to a lower speed, and then checking if that has been done. You may get quite a speed increase by changing the drives!

Sony’s PS3 As A Film Player

 Computing, Film  No Responses »
Apr 282007
 

I am one of those weird people who have bought the PS3 primarily as a film player … to play DVDs and BD-ROMs (Blue-Ray). Oh, I will play the occasional game, but I’ve rarely found a game that is worth spending hours on … not that I have a problem with games or anything, it is just I’m too busy to dedicate that much time to them. This little piece is about the experience of using PS3s to play movies; it could be called a review, but I am not being that formal.

Firstly the experience of setting up the PS3 to talk to an HD TV is not pleasant. This is probably not solely Sony’s fault, but when using the HDMI cable my TV shows no picture. This is probably due to my TV not supporting 576p and the PS3 defaulting to this resolution whilst asking what resolution to use. Resorting to a component cable works fine. However this is hardly plug and play!

Playing back DVDs using the included SCART lead produces a picture that stomps my ancient Toshiba into the ground. Playing back DVDs over the component cables is not quite so good probably because the necessary upscaling is done by my TV which does not do a great job. Overall, good enough that the Toshiba is being retired.

Playing back BD-ROMs is as good as I expected … a big improvement over DVD although not quite as noticeable as the improvement from VHS to DVD.

Lastly there have been quite a few PS3 reviews that have criticised the use of the game controller to control film playback. The common theme is that the controls are somewhat inconvenient to access all the features. Well, I find it perfectly adequate … if all you generally do is hit “Play” and “Pause” (as I suspect most people do) then the controller works perfectly well. Just hit the big X button to do both. Now those who want to playback films upside down at 1/16th the original speed may find the controller inconvenient, but they can buy a more conventional controller.

Using Bluetooth as the protocol for the remote instantly struck me as a bit of an issue … I won’t be able to use my Phillips Pronto to control the PS3. Howvere whilst I would still like that, on using it, Bluetooth strikes me as much better than Infrared. Ever waved a remote at the TV only to find that some component on the floor is blocked and is not listening ? Bluetooth ends that.

Overall the PS3 is a pretty good film player although putting DVD upscaling into the PS3 would be beneficial (this is rumoured to be coming in a firmware update) and adding a USB dongle to allow infrared remote control would be a bonus.

Time For Healthy Packaged Food

 General  3 Responses »
Apr 172007
 

One of the things that irritates me whenever there is any kind of programme on TV about healthy eating is re-learning just how bad pre-packaged meals are. And even more, every time I get lectured to by some pompous food guru who tells me I just need to spend the time to cook my own food to eat healthily.

But I don’t want to use my spare time to cook. I don’t really enjoy it, and I’m often in need of food when I arrive back tired from doing something I prefer. Convenience food is ideal for me, except for the health aspect. I’m quite happy to eat healthily and do try, but convenience food is too convenient to give up.

So why is convenience food bad ? The traditional trend has been for manufacturers to add salt and sugar to cheap ingredients to make them taste ‘better’, and to reduce the price. I would be quite happy to spend a little bit more for a healthier product and I dare say many others would be too.

Rather than be told that we need to cook our food from scratch, it would be better if the TV pundits told us that but also tried to persuade the manufacturers to produce healthier convenience food … perhaps by highlighting products that are good. No matter how hard people campaign, many people will not switch from convenience foods, so improving convenience foods will probably have a greater effect on the health of the nation than just telling us we need to behave better and not be so lazy.

Are Science Types Ignorant or Are Artistic Types Bigotted ?

 General  2 Responses »
Apr 022007
 

Firstly I’ll point out that I don’t really believe that the types mentioned in the headline really exist … all people have artistic sides and scientific sides even if they deny them. I know! I thought I was purely scientific without an artistic bone in my body, but couldn’t stop writing (incompetently) and now I’m obsessed with creating pleasing images (unsuccessfully). However many people do believe that they exist.

I have just finished a book where a literary woman insists that her father is ignorant because he doesn’t read despite the fact that he is a neurosurgeon (which does involve lots of reading) and is a serious music listener. There is enough clues in there for some to guess the book and the author, but I won’t name either because it is a relatively common tendency to run down the knowledge of “scientific types”.

Why? I mean any kind of knowledge is valuable and deciding what knowledge is more valuable than the rest is the kind of game that only the foolish indulge in. Of course “scientific types” have been known to think the opposite … that “artistic types” are the ignorant ones, although for some mysterious reason we don’t get to hear this point of view in the media or great literature.

It is too easy to think of someone who does not spend time learning your knowledge is lazy and ignorant without considering that they may spend a great deal of time learning other stuff that is valuable to them. I don’t as a rule read great works of literature because I either don’t have the time or I am too tired to do the work justice. That doesn’t mean I don’t read.

Iranian Video Of Prisoners

 General, Politics  No Responses »
Mar 282007
 

Today (or to be more precise just an hour or two ago) Iran released a video containing images of the British navy prisoners they took in dubious circumstances. The contents of the video seem to show the prisoners being relatively well treated, and it is possible (I’m being very charitable here) that the Iranian government intended to use it to demonstrate that the prisoners are being well treated.

So why is there so much condemnation of the video ? Well ignoring any other issues, it is against international law in respect to prisoners.

So the Iranians need to understand that whatever their motives, the release of this video is a public-relations disaster for them. They have come across as a government that has no respect for international law. It does not matter if the Iranians believe this bit of law is wrong, or if they do not have respect for international law, breaching the law it in this way will come across very badly.

The Americans and the British have been accused of the same thing themselves, and there is some grounds for complaint here … although our system makes it difficult to do anything with a media industry that is effectively out of control. But two wrongs don’t make a right. The Iranians will not look good whatever they do with regard to the prisoners they hold, but releasing the video makes them look considerably worse.

It would have been better by far if they really thought such a video was needed, to release it privately into the hands of the British government and allow them to decide what to do with it.

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