Listening and watching music yesterday evening in my ‘media cave’, I started again thinking about the value of ‘content’ and the current distribution models of music. According to some sources, already 95 % of CD sales in China are pirated, and the online distribution (legal and not-so) continues to grow in popularity (see references as http://cyberextazy.wordpress.com/tag/research-statistics/ http://www.bpi.co.uk/pdf/BPI_UK_Commercial_Music_Piracy.pdf http://www.riaa.com/news/marketingdata/facts.asp etc.). Looking at the ubiquity of mp3 players, the problems people are having with various copy “protected” legal disks and the hassle-free, cross-device use that is associated with non-protected digital music, it is easy to foresee that the strongly protective DRM road is problematic. If, on the other hand, a CD or a media file is more like an advertisement for the artist in the future, than the actual product people are willing to pay for, where the income is going to come from? Clicking through my collection with the Vista Media Centre, one alternative quickly became obvious: the added value of lyrics, high-resolution album cover art, additional media such as music videos and photo slideshows are surely something that would provide rich experiences for those who really become interested in the artist, after listening the music. There are multiple physical services and products that provide additional value to digital music, such as concerts and large-format printed materials, high-quality archive copies in well-produced DVD/Blueray formats that would still provide revenue for the industry and the artists, even if the business models are definitely going to undergo a transition.
Category: technology
anything technology related, not fitting into other categories
Vista experiments, PC heat
My new gaming PC arrived in Friday, and since then I have been trying out and configuring it, those minutes I had available. The most complex challenge is actually hardware related: the system is powerful enough for me, but it is too hot. Meaning that both the motherboard/system sensors and the CPU are constantly around 60 degrees C. For a moderately over-clocked CPU that might still do, but for the system board that is not good. I have tried tweaking the fan software options, made sure that the BIOS settings also support fan controls, but no. I installed an extra fan into the case but it does not appear to be powerful enough. The only trick so far that actually works is to open side of the case and direct powerful airflow from a 40 cm air-conditioning fan directly into this hornets’ nest. That makes sure that even when I tweak the game settings to the top, or play various video music files while driving several background applications the system temperature does not go over 30°C. Now I only need to weld this fan into a gigantic hole that I somehow drill into the case side. Hmm. Need some thought still.
Apart from the heat frustrations, the new system is a beauty – my old gaming/workstation PC had been so long out of date, that having a fast processor, plenty of memory and even some disk space to spare is a thrill. And I actually quite like how Vista works, with its slick Aero things and all. But there are several downsides to this system as well. Its DRM policies are notorious, and the system security messages start to drive me mad. Yes, I do know that I want to run those programs that I asked the operating system to run, thank you. Having four different dialogues popping up when you download and start up a new networking software is sort of overkill even these days, I’d say.
Vista is still missing some crucial drivers, so no hurry if you do not need to upgrade right now. For example, plugging in two Canon digital cameras, the PowerShot S3 IS was recognised and all worked automatically, but Canon EOS 350D required separate driver installations, and it still appears that the OS tool is not capable of downloading pictures from the camera. You need to use a separate tool from Canon to do that.
Apple iTunes and QuickTime do not work yet with Vista either. I have now opted for QuickTime Alternative and Real Alternative to use open, community supported alternatives. The online, streaming videos do not run completely smoothly with these, though. Hopefully the media player and codec situation gets better, soon. But the Vista Media Center was a real delight; you could spend just hours leaning back, clicking through your photo collections while listening to mp3’s playing in the background. The home theatre setup with its wireless keyboard really gets into its proper use now. DVD movies and digital sound work also fine.
And now back into Neverwinter Nights 2, and the world of Forgotten Realms…
New gaming machine specs
I have now the full specs for my suggested new gaming PC. Here is a quick rundown (skip this if not interested in current gaming PC gear; this is written mostly just as my own review notes):
The memory: two 1GT DDR2 800MHz, Vitesta, 240-pin DIMM from A-Data. It appears to have a lifetime warranty, which is encouraging. The full product specs from Taiwanese manufacturer are here: http://www.adata.com.tw/adata_en/product_show.php?ProductNo=AD2800U
The graphics card is another key element. That is coming from a company called EVGA, and the full title of the model is e-GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB/320Bit DDR3, PCI-E. Also this manufacturer claims to offer “lifetime warranty” for registered customers. The manufacturer specs are here: http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=640-P2-N821-AR&family=23 and the PDF spec sheet here: http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/640-P2-N821.pdf
The essential facts are: DirectX 10 (for Windows Vista Premium), SLI capable (good if you want to plug in another one and really go for the overkill), 240 Hz Max Refresh Rate, 2048 x 1536 x 32bit x85Hz Max Analog, 2560 x 1600 Max Digital; PCI-E 16X, two DVI-I outputs, and one HDTV (through a DVI-I, also a S-Video output in DIN-style, but not a HDMI). They also link to one online review: nV News’ EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS SLI Review (done in February, they were running two of these in SLI parallel mode): http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/evga_geforce_8800gts_sli/index.shtml
They conclude: “I won’t lie: when I first saw the (seemingly) “crippled” specs of the 8800 GTS, I scoffed at the thought of using one or two of those cards when the GTX has SO much more power. But after using these for the past few weeks, I can say without a doubt that these cards are amazing. The almost-free antialiasing in a number of games, the overall amazing picture quality and DirectX 10 support are just three of MANY reasons you should own an 8800-based card.” Well, ok, I think I can live with that for a while. Btw, if you want to see the tester being killed by a troll in The Dark Messiah, here is a video clip: http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/evga_geforce_8800gts_sli/video/dark_messiah.mpg
This is clearly mainly built to be a gamer’s card; the HDTV side is crippled since HDCP protected content can only be output in single-link DVI mode and only 1280×800 resolution is supported, which is a bit disappointing.
The disk will be a Samsung: 500GB Spinpoint T166, 3.5″, SATAII/300, 16MB, 7200RPM. The manufacturer specs are here: http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/SpinPointTSeries/HardDiskDrive_SpinPointTSeries_HD501LJ.asp
It is a rather cheap drive, hope it will last (no lifetime warranty here…) There seem to be no real reviews, but see e.g. http://www.pricegrabber.com/rating_getprodrev.php/product_id=29867541/id_type=masterid/
The optical reader / writer would be a LG: DVD+-RW DL LS, GSA-H12/22/42LRBB, 18x8x8x. They claim that this would burn a regular DVD in 5 minutes and support also burning dual-layer (8,5 GB) DVD burning (which is nice, because my stand-alone dual-layer burner is now broken). It is really difficult to find anything from LG’s own pages, but previous models have fared well in reviews. Here are some specs from a British store: http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/539205/art/lg/gsa-h42lrbb-internal-writ.html#
The CPU will an Intel: Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz, 4MB, FSB1066 Boxed (Conroe). Tom’s Hardware Guide is a good resource of information when you want to know more about processors; here is an Intel platform overview (dated, 2004): http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/07/19/looking_ahead_to_intel/
In 2006 they announced Core 2 Duo as the new king of the hill: http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/14/core2_duo_knocks_out_athlon_64/
In a more recent article they compare Core 2 Duo to the Core Duo Extreme: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/11/core-2-duo-overtakes-core-2-extreme/
This one is mostly interesting for those who will go into the overclocking game, but it appears that these “older” CPUs can actually outperform Intel’s top processors (in 1000-dollars range) by some proper overclocking. Hmm.
Game PC took a closer look at E6600 in last October:
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=e6600&page=1
Their verdict? “The Core 2 Duo E6600 mixes together excellent performance at stock clock speeds, low power consumption, a robust feature set and lots of overclocking potential all at a very tolerable price point.” Nice.
Then into the motherboard: this will be an Asus P5B I965P S775 Core 2 Duo SATA2, FSB1066. A motherboard is a crucial component since it pretty much sets the limits for the peripherals, extendibility and overall reliability you can expect from your PC. The integrated audio chip and connectors might be setting limits to your audio experience. Tom’s Hardware gives you the quick overall idea: http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/26/beginners_guide_to_motherboard_selection/index.html
As to this specific MoBo, you have the ASUSTeK manufacturer specs here: http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&model=1178&modelmenu=1
They also advertise the silence and power-saving features of P5B in a flash show from a “lifestyle” (home theatre) perspective: http://event.asus.com/2006/mb/P5B/index.html
The board also supports something called AI NOS (Non-delay Overclocking System) to boost performance: http://event.asus.com/2006/mb/P5B/ainos.html
The noise filtering system claims to rely on a bundled “Superbeam Array Microphone”: http://event.asus.com/2006/mb/P5B/crystalsound.html (wonder whether that will come bundled with my system?)
The audio part is important for my media room setup (as are of course the system bus, integrated chipset, processor and memory supports, heat control solutions etc.), and even if any serious audiophile would probably upgrade for a separate hi-fi audio card, I will be happy to test the integrated “8 channel HD audio” — at least it has the digital sound output through an optical/coaxial connector so that is a plus.
The motherboard is nothing spectacular, but again another pretty reliable-looking mainstream solution. More on different P5B versions: http://event.asus.com/2006/mb/P5B/models.html
Antec makes good power sources that I have been using also earlier, so I am happy this one also comes with one; Antec 430W, NeoHE 430, ATX2. This one won the MikroBitti 2/2006 power source comparison, so it should be ok (Antec has more efficient models these days, though). Powerful processors and particularly the graphics cards demand loads of electricity very fast, so this is another crucial, backbone part. The manufacturer page: http://www.antec.com/ec/productDetails.php?ProdID=05430# and see also Hardware in Review which writes about its energy efficiency in positive terms: http://www.hardwareinreview.com/cms/content/view/37/1/
The chassis is that part of PC that you will actually be looking and handling, so it would be good to have solid, well-equipped and well-designed one for my new system. In Jimm’s PC Store’s updated offer I have a newcomer specified: CoolMaster Elite 330 ATX. This is a rather basic case, but it has some nice details like the “tool-free” internal design and washable air filter: http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=RC-330&other_title=+RC-330+Elite%20330 and here’s the product sheet: http://www.coolermaster.com/installation_manual/Product_Sheet_(Elite330)_0328.pdf
I was long contemplating about getting a slick HTPC case with some proper AV style controls and connectors, but the price was in most cases ugly and there would have been some compromises in other areas (like expandability of the system) that made me finally go for a basic mini-tower.
Ok, that is pretty much it. The OS will be a MS Vista Home Premium Edition, but as I wrote earlier, there will probably be some multi-boot tweaking for this one. Or then I will just give up for all kind of tweaking altogether, and spend all my hard-earned summer vacation days (apart from the family business) just gaming, gaming, gaming! 🙂
Testing RSS feed with comments
As using a feed reader to follow blogs is becoming more and more common, I am testing a new way to integrate also comments into the blog entry feed. See: WordPress Plugin: Feed With Comments – Jeriko One.
Towards the new gaming pc
Keeping your gaming PC up-to-date is always pain; tech is entering and exiting the market at such speed that state-of-the-art machine bought in January is out of date as the autumn comes. Investing into more memory and new generation graphics cards may help for a while, but eventually the entire system needs to be upgraded, again.
I used to build my own PCs; starting from the AT/286 generation (the first PC after leaving the trusty Commodore 64), tweaking memory in various varieties of 386 and 486, I have had my fair share of IRQ conflicts, motherboard-memory-processor compatibility issues, driver issues, overclocking and processor-burning experiences. No time for that any more.
Yesterday I did finally put in the order for my next PC. After not-so-thorough review round, I ended up getting the “Jimm’s Pro Gamer SE” setup from Jimm’s PC Store, who has profiled themselves as a gamers’ PC shop. The specks should be enough for a while at least: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 2 GB of DDR2 memory, 500 GB disk, nVidia 8800GTS graphics card. The chassis is Cooltek Storm, with a 25 cm fan in the side — hopefully a silent and efficient cooling solution. At 1199 euros it still fits my budget, but I need to prepare for numerous software and possibly peripheral updates as well. The new primary operating system for this set will be Windows Vista Home Premium Edition (due to the gaming and media editing use), but a multiple OS setup is also an option. The delivery time appears rather slow though; they promised 1-3 weeks, and it might be that they are out of parts, so lets see how this finally works out.
FENIX seminar on Interactive Computing
FENIX seminar on Interactive Computing
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.
This is Wanha Satama, a seaside conference centre in Helsinki where the results seminar of FEXIX takes place today. FENIX was a four-year technology research programme that funded also some important research projects of ours that looked into games and gameplay experiences, among other things. Some of its results are available now; more about those later.
Media room project, part 3
Media room project, part 3
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.
Among all the other stuff, the media room project has progressed, too. During the Easter weekend, we finally got the cables into their canals and fixed to the corners of walls, and after carrying in the chairs the project reached some sort of temporary finale. There must be over 50 meters of medium-heavy loudspeaker wiring alone in the room. The most critical point currently is heat: few people, computers and a powerful video projector can easily transform a small home theatre into a sauna. Moving the server and printers into the storage room helped a lot, though. After a couple of movies (Happy Feet, Pirates of the Caribbian) I am actually rather impressed by the quality of audio and images. But there is always something to improve, of course. (Note the custom-made projector logo: “Mäyrän mediakellari”.)
Early spring, London trip
Early spring, London trip
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.
This Sunday birds are already convinced that Spring is here, according all this vocal singing surrounding our house. Laura set up the flowers, I need to prune the apple trees. But this is fun. Getting the Ubuntu server email configuration back online was not as much fun — it took all night and is still only half-working. Tomorrow will be another very long day: wee hours flights (several connections) to get to London, then busy meeting day around pervasive games, then several connections to get back, again well after midnight. Could we just stay at home and do this all virtually, please?
Kuhmo Talo & nanotechnology
Kuhmo Talo & nanotechnology
Originally uploaded by FransBadger.
Arrived to Kuhmo today — an Eastern Finland town, close to the Russian border. Plagued by unemployment and loss of population, this place has reached some interesting results lately by focusing on culture. Chamber music festival and the academic event Ihminen & Kosmos where I will be speaking are some of the annual highlights. Kuhmo Talo is the local concert hall / event building where we today start by listening Kai Savolainen talk about nano-tech. Beautiful sun-set, clean nature, interesting programme — a nice combination.
Upgrading Ubuntu for printer support
My server moved today from its short-term temporary place in upstairs floor to the medium-term temporary place in downstairs media room corner. I would very much prefer to have it in cool, air-conditioned room where its noices would not disturb movie or gaming sessions, but at the moment there is no such room available. This time I attempt to have Ubuntu box to function as file and printer server as well as backup/web/Wordpress one, but lets see how it goes. Of my two HP printers, the multi-functional PSC 1210 seems to print just fine under Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, but HP Laserjet Series 1000 would not print anything, even if it is recognised and the driver appears to install. Well, there was some talk in the forums that upgrade into Ubuntu 6.10 might help, so here we go — this might be the last message going out, of course… See: EdgyUpgrades – Community Ubuntu Documentation
frans goes blog 
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