Taken at Ness Botanic Gardens. Used Photoshop to hide background and increased saturation to bring out the colour.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons
07 July 2009
13 November 2008
A-Z of ZX Spectrum Games #1 - Ad Astra
A pseudo 3D arcade shoot-em-up from Gargoyle Games (Tir Na Nog, Sweevo's World, Heavy on the Magick) released in 1984.
Rented this game from one of the first game rental shops, though with games generally being on cassette it meant that most people copied them....except me of course ;)
Downloadable for emulators or playable in a browser via java here.
Rented this game from one of the first game rental shops, though with games generally being on cassette it meant that most people copied them....except me of course ;)
Downloadable for emulators or playable in a browser via java here.
Project: Projection (Update)
Bloody hell time has flown and not posted in ages.
Anyway the entertainment room upstairs is, for the most part, complete.
Late May/early June, I cleared out the room and, with the aid of my parents stripped the wallpaper off the walls, repaired some of the artex, put some lining wallpaper up on the intended projection area and completely painted the room in 2 shades of grey (matt Dulux Grey Steel 2 & 3) with the lighter shade for ceiling, projection wall and opposite wall, darker for side walls plus the woodwork in white gloss.
As curtains in dormer bay windows tend to let in a lot of light around the sides I decided on a temporary measure of purchasing blackout curtains, cut them to size and use velcro to cover the window when a darkened room is required. Just a temporary measure though til something better is worked out.
I then laid 3 lengths reasonably flat speaker cable (Gale Symphony 300) under the carpet (which will hopefully be replaced some day) from the front of the room to the back for the front left, front right and front centre speakers.
I purchased and put together a basic 2m high white painted metal shelf unit to go at the back of the room to put equipment on.
Onto this shelf unit I then put my Optoma ThemeScene HD70 Projector, my 40GB Sony PlayStation 3, my Microsoft Xbox 360, a cheapish multi-region Philips DVD Player (with HDMI output), a cheap freeview box from Maplin (again with HDMI output) and my newly purchased (and very excellent) Onkyo TX-SR606 a/v receiver.
I still lacked speakers so I popped round to Richer Sounds in Liverpool as I remembered they were selling the KEF KHT2005.2 5.1 speaker set for £400 and they'd received good reviews. Fortuitously, their home cinema demo room had them hooked up to the same receiver as me and I was treated to a demo featuring Ice Age 2 on blu ray and I was sold on them there and then. So I bought a set of them along with 2 pairs of stands (for front & rear left & rights).
A day or two later they were delivered and after setting them up, my home cinema system was now complete.
After that it was to tidy up (a bit anyway still need to do some more) and set up my hi-fi separates system which was placed between the front left & right home cinema system speakers and has the centre speaker on the hi-fi shelving at the same height as the other speakers. I decided to retain my hi-fi system because for music it sounds much better.
Will try and get round to posting some pictures.
Still need to:
a) replace uncomfortable sofa bed with something more comfortable for watching long movies;
b) build a quiet PC that is capabable of gaming to hook up to the system with a wireless keyboard & mouse or maybe trackball) and to also hook up my Blu-Ray drive to it for US Region A films;
c) ceiling mount the projector;
d) get second Sky HD or HD freesat box for room;
e) get a better blinds solution to darken room;
f) replace carpet;
g) get a 40" LCD TV for shorter gaming sessions;
h) tidy up;
i) sort out computer room next door so drinks fridge can go and be noisy in there instead!
Anyway the entertainment room upstairs is, for the most part, complete.
Late May/early June, I cleared out the room and, with the aid of my parents stripped the wallpaper off the walls, repaired some of the artex, put some lining wallpaper up on the intended projection area and completely painted the room in 2 shades of grey (matt Dulux Grey Steel 2 & 3) with the lighter shade for ceiling, projection wall and opposite wall, darker for side walls plus the woodwork in white gloss.
As curtains in dormer bay windows tend to let in a lot of light around the sides I decided on a temporary measure of purchasing blackout curtains, cut them to size and use velcro to cover the window when a darkened room is required. Just a temporary measure though til something better is worked out.
I then laid 3 lengths reasonably flat speaker cable (Gale Symphony 300) under the carpet (which will hopefully be replaced some day) from the front of the room to the back for the front left, front right and front centre speakers.
I purchased and put together a basic 2m high white painted metal shelf unit to go at the back of the room to put equipment on.
Onto this shelf unit I then put my Optoma ThemeScene HD70 Projector, my 40GB Sony PlayStation 3, my Microsoft Xbox 360, a cheapish multi-region Philips DVD Player (with HDMI output), a cheap freeview box from Maplin (again with HDMI output) and my newly purchased (and very excellent) Onkyo TX-SR606 a/v receiver.
I still lacked speakers so I popped round to Richer Sounds in Liverpool as I remembered they were selling the KEF KHT2005.2 5.1 speaker set for £400 and they'd received good reviews. Fortuitously, their home cinema demo room had them hooked up to the same receiver as me and I was treated to a demo featuring Ice Age 2 on blu ray and I was sold on them there and then. So I bought a set of them along with 2 pairs of stands (for front & rear left & rights).
A day or two later they were delivered and after setting them up, my home cinema system was now complete.
After that it was to tidy up (a bit anyway still need to do some more) and set up my hi-fi separates system which was placed between the front left & right home cinema system speakers and has the centre speaker on the hi-fi shelving at the same height as the other speakers. I decided to retain my hi-fi system because for music it sounds much better.
Will try and get round to posting some pictures.
Still need to:
a) replace uncomfortable sofa bed with something more comfortable for watching long movies;
b) build a quiet PC that is capabable of gaming to hook up to the system with a wireless keyboard & mouse or maybe trackball) and to also hook up my Blu-Ray drive to it for US Region A films;
c) ceiling mount the projector;
d) get second Sky HD or HD freesat box for room;
e) get a better blinds solution to darken room;
f) replace carpet;
g) get a 40" LCD TV for shorter gaming sessions;
h) tidy up;
i) sort out computer room next door so drinks fridge can go and be noisy in there instead!
25 February 2008
Project: Projection
I've had a 32" 720p/1080i capable TV (LG 32LX2R) and the Sky HD service for quite a while now and have enjoyed the likes of Torchwood, Stargate: SG1 & Atlantis and Planet Earth on it as well as HD gaming via my Xbox 360.
At the beginning of the year I invested in an LG GGC-H20L combi Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player for my PC and was impressed with the picture quality of Hot Fuzz (HD-DVD) and Blade Runner: The Final Cut (Blu-Ray) from my Blade Runner Ultimate Collection boxset (which I had to import as the blu-ray boxset hasn't been released in the UK yet afaik). However, so far I've only watched them on a 1680x1050 22" Samsung Syncmaster 226BW
This year, being our 10th wedding anniversary has meant we can break into the savings we specifically set aside for this event. The plan being to have a holiday somewhere (nothing fancy) and some money for each of us to spend on something we really want. In my wife's case this means a ring, in my case it means shiny gadgets. I was planning to get a 42" 1080p television which would cost me somewhere in the region of £1000.
However, last week I changed my mind and instead of buying this TV, I bought an Optoma ThemeScene HD70 Projector which although it's only 720p/1080i capable cost me a mere £495.
I also decided against building a media PC and bought a PS3 as it looks like Blu-Ray has won the format war (for a given value of "winning"). Another factor in my deciding to get one is its ability to connect to my PC running TVersity and like my Xbox 360 handle most media that's thrown at it. As it was going to be in the room next to my computer room the 802.11g connection is up to scratch for the task, unlike my 360 which is 2 flights of stairs down and one room across from the computer room which forced me to shell out on a pair of 200Mbit/sec (half-duplex) Devolo dLan 200 AVdesk powerline network adapters to achieve stable video streaming to.
The PS3 and HD70 arrived on Friday, so I spent Saturday morning setting it up in my attic room which is a reasonable 20ft x 20ft and only has a small dormer window which is easy to block any incoming light. For the time being I decided to put it on a coffee table in front of the sofa bed, but eventually I plan to ceiling mount it a little further back (it's designed to project from an angle either above or below the screen and even behind). Even so it achieved a very reasonable ~100" screen size where it's currently positioned.
I fired up the PS3 and the picture looked great even though it is currently projected onto slightly off-white wallpaper, I downloaded a couple of game demos (Motorstorm and Burnout Paradise) and the gaming experience seemed to be elevated to a whole new level for me, I might even actually buy a PS3 game!
The next thing to test was Blu-Ray playback and as the only thing I have on this format so far is the Blade Runner Ultimate Collection, it just had to be Blade Runner: Final Cut. I set the PS3 to output 1080p 24fps to the projector as the HD70 can downscale 1080p and handle 24fps and inserted the disc into the PS3 and my jaw dropped (figuratively speaking). The clarity of the film was utterly amazing, I really must buy some more blu-ray movies now. I also need to test DVD upscaling on it too.
As the bulb with the projector has about 3000 hours (average) lifespan and costs £120ish to replace, I'll not be using this for casual TV viewing, but for movies and gaming sessions I know where I'll be spending most of my time now
With the left over money from my £1000, I plan to either purchase or make my own projector screen and get a few more blu-ray discs.
Once our debts have been cleared (or reduced to more manageable levels) need to start saving up for a surround sound system, a cheap HD-DVD player and, most importantly of all, a more comfortable sofa for that room!
At the beginning of the year I invested in an LG GGC-H20L combi Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player for my PC and was impressed with the picture quality of Hot Fuzz (HD-DVD) and Blade Runner: The Final Cut (Blu-Ray) from my Blade Runner Ultimate Collection boxset (which I had to import as the blu-ray boxset hasn't been released in the UK yet afaik). However, so far I've only watched them on a 1680x1050 22" Samsung Syncmaster 226BW
This year, being our 10th wedding anniversary has meant we can break into the savings we specifically set aside for this event. The plan being to have a holiday somewhere (nothing fancy) and some money for each of us to spend on something we really want. In my wife's case this means a ring, in my case it means shiny gadgets. I was planning to get a 42" 1080p television which would cost me somewhere in the region of £1000.
However, last week I changed my mind and instead of buying this TV, I bought an Optoma ThemeScene HD70 Projector which although it's only 720p/1080i capable cost me a mere £495.
I also decided against building a media PC and bought a PS3 as it looks like Blu-Ray has won the format war (for a given value of "winning"). Another factor in my deciding to get one is its ability to connect to my PC running TVersity and like my Xbox 360 handle most media that's thrown at it. As it was going to be in the room next to my computer room the 802.11g connection is up to scratch for the task, unlike my 360 which is 2 flights of stairs down and one room across from the computer room which forced me to shell out on a pair of 200Mbit/sec (half-duplex) Devolo dLan 200 AVdesk powerline network adapters to achieve stable video streaming to.
The PS3 and HD70 arrived on Friday, so I spent Saturday morning setting it up in my attic room which is a reasonable 20ft x 20ft and only has a small dormer window which is easy to block any incoming light. For the time being I decided to put it on a coffee table in front of the sofa bed, but eventually I plan to ceiling mount it a little further back (it's designed to project from an angle either above or below the screen and even behind). Even so it achieved a very reasonable ~100" screen size where it's currently positioned.
I fired up the PS3 and the picture looked great even though it is currently projected onto slightly off-white wallpaper, I downloaded a couple of game demos (Motorstorm and Burnout Paradise) and the gaming experience seemed to be elevated to a whole new level for me, I might even actually buy a PS3 game!
The next thing to test was Blu-Ray playback and as the only thing I have on this format so far is the Blade Runner Ultimate Collection, it just had to be Blade Runner: Final Cut. I set the PS3 to output 1080p 24fps to the projector as the HD70 can downscale 1080p and handle 24fps and inserted the disc into the PS3 and my jaw dropped (figuratively speaking). The clarity of the film was utterly amazing, I really must buy some more blu-ray movies now. I also need to test DVD upscaling on it too.
As the bulb with the projector has about 3000 hours (average) lifespan and costs £120ish to replace, I'll not be using this for casual TV viewing, but for movies and gaming sessions I know where I'll be spending most of my time now
With the left over money from my £1000, I plan to either purchase or make my own projector screen and get a few more blu-ray discs.
Once our debts have been cleared (or reduced to more manageable levels) need to start saving up for a surround sound system, a cheap HD-DVD player and, most importantly of all, a more comfortable sofa for that room!
17 January 2008
Important Work Task Of The Day 17/01/2008
Today, my main job is to scan in 42 "unofficial" programmes for the 2007 Champions League Final between Liverpool and AC Milan for my boss.
16 January 2008
Why is it...
that no matter how many times I tell certain members of staff that items such as:
"An important message from the Police Guys please pass this along to all the women you know.....This actually happened a few weeks ago right here in England.
It was early evening and a young lady stopped to get petrol. She filled her tank and walked into the store to pay for her petrol.
The cashier told her, Don't pay for your petrol yet....walk around the store for a while and act as if you're picking up some other things to buy. A man just got into the back of your car. I've called the police and they're on their way'.
When the police arrived, they found the man in the back seat of the girl's car and asked him what he was doing. He replied, he was joining a gang and the initiation to join is to kidnap a woman and bring her back to the gang to be raped by every member of the gang. If the woman was still alive by the time they finish with her then they let her go.
According to the police that night, there is a new gang forming here originating from London. The scary part of this is because the guy didn't have a weapon on him. The police could only charge him with trespassing.... He's back on the street and free to try again.
Please be aware of what's going on around you and for your family and friends. LADIES you or one of your family and friends could be the next victim. Please forward this on to everyone you know. Please do not discard this message it is very important that everyone knows what is happening.
Please be careful when leaving your vehicle and make sure it is ALWAYS Locked to prevent this from happening to you."
and I tell them that they're just urban legends (Snopes.com), a month or two later and they're circulating another bloody one?
"An important message from the Police Guys please pass this along to all the women you know.....This actually happened a few weeks ago right here in England.
It was early evening and a young lady stopped to get petrol. She filled her tank and walked into the store to pay for her petrol.
The cashier told her, Don't pay for your petrol yet....walk around the store for a while and act as if you're picking up some other things to buy. A man just got into the back of your car. I've called the police and they're on their way'.
When the police arrived, they found the man in the back seat of the girl's car and asked him what he was doing. He replied, he was joining a gang and the initiation to join is to kidnap a woman and bring her back to the gang to be raped by every member of the gang. If the woman was still alive by the time they finish with her then they let her go.
According to the police that night, there is a new gang forming here originating from London. The scary part of this is because the guy didn't have a weapon on him. The police could only charge him with trespassing.... He's back on the street and free to try again.
Please be aware of what's going on around you and for your family and friends. LADIES you or one of your family and friends could be the next victim. Please forward this on to everyone you know. Please do not discard this message it is very important that everyone knows what is happening.
Please be careful when leaving your vehicle and make sure it is ALWAYS Locked to prevent this from happening to you."
and I tell them that they're just urban legends (Snopes.com), a month or two later and they're circulating another bloody one?
Important Work Task Of The Day 16/01/2008
Was to connect the boss's kids' Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii to their wireless network.
Makes me glad I bothered to go university!
Makes me glad I bothered to go university!
11 January 2008
Important Work Task Of The Day 11/01/2008
was to put three football programmes up for auction on Ebay for my boss!
08 January 2008
The Dalek Invasion Of Ea...My Living Room 2008 AD
Nothing of note happened between getting up, leaving for work and returning home from work. In fact, the only highlight of my work day was getting a lift home from my father and arriving home 40 minutes earlier than normal.
During the evening meal, my wife and I watched "The Family Of Blood", which was the second part of the story that started with "Human Nature" from Doctor Who series 3. It's only recently that I recognised that the chap who plays the creepy alien-possessed Baines in it is Harry Lloyd who has also recently been seen on our screens in BBC's Robin Hood series.
With dinner, the programme over and being armed with the batteries I needed (this time) it was finally on to activating my 18" Voice Interactive Dalek for the first time.
I first tried it in remote controlled mode, which is rather basic. Two joysticks control movement of the Dalek, another to control the rotation of the dome with its eyestalk on and another to raise and lower this eyestalk. In addition, there's a button which causes it to utter one of the familiar lines from the modern run of Doctor Who (i.e. 2005 onwards). Unlike the ones in these later stories, it doesn't off er a rotating centre for shooting behind itself.
"Voice interactive" mode is where it shines. It can stand sentry and challenge (and "exterminate" i.e. make a firing noise while the gun lights up) anything that approaches it; go off on a wander; seek & locate (and "exterminate"); find & track moving objects. It also has a mode where you can tell it to move forwards, left or right (but strangely not backwards) a specific number of units and you can also set up a list of these movements to occur which can be triggered by another command.
It's very fun to mess around with and looks great too, which is ideal for the room I'll be setting up as my gaming/home cinema/hi-fi/reading room later this year!
Wisely, my cat chose to hide behind the sofa, which was kind of apt!
During the evening meal, my wife and I watched "The Family Of Blood", which was the second part of the story that started with "Human Nature" from Doctor Who series 3. It's only recently that I recognised that the chap who plays the creepy alien-possessed Baines in it is Harry Lloyd who has also recently been seen on our screens in BBC's Robin Hood series.
With dinner, the programme over and being armed with the batteries I needed (this time) it was finally on to activating my 18" Voice Interactive Dalek for the first time.
I first tried it in remote controlled mode, which is rather basic. Two joysticks control movement of the Dalek, another to control the rotation of the dome with its eyestalk on and another to raise and lower this eyestalk. In addition, there's a button which causes it to utter one of the familiar lines from the modern run of Doctor Who (i.e. 2005 onwards). Unlike the ones in these later stories, it doesn't off er a rotating centre for shooting behind itself.
"Voice interactive" mode is where it shines. It can stand sentry and challenge (and "exterminate" i.e. make a firing noise while the gun lights up) anything that approaches it; go off on a wander; seek & locate (and "exterminate"); find & track moving objects. It also has a mode where you can tell it to move forwards, left or right (but strangely not backwards) a specific number of units and you can also set up a list of these movements to occur which can be triggered by another command.
It's very fun to mess around with and looks great too, which is ideal for the room I'll be setting up as my gaming/home cinema/hi-fi/reading room later this year!
Wisely, my cat chose to hide behind the sofa, which was kind of apt!
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