Norman Ralph

With my August overtime I went out and bought the first part of my planned AV setup at home. I decided to start with the TV and plumped in the end for the LG (model 32LG2100) pictured below.

I also splashed out on a new wireless keyboard with which to control my linux media centre. I am a massive fan of linux as an OS for media centre PCs and currently run Ubuntu. After spending a day or two configuring all the codecs, permissions and general set up I have barely had to touch anything beyond the GUI except when trying to go wireless. I have never had any success getting any peripheral to operate wirelessly on Ubuntu. This includes WiFi cards, keyboards, mice and bluetooth. I always run into compatibility issues or it simply doesn’t work as required. You can imagine my surprise then when the KeySonic keyboard (picture below) worked out the box as intended. The only issue arising was dus to some local interference but fiddling with my WiFI channels fixed that in a flash.

Next on the list is a DVD/Bluray player and the PS3 is still edging it over an Xbox/dedicated blurayer combo at the moment. Will keep you updated.

It seems that my hard work at O2 over the last year and a bit is about to pay off. I mean this in the purely literal sense as it is bonus time at work. I managed to get an excellent apraisal and I am in line to receive a pretty sizable lump sum! I have decided that this shall be put towards building a relatively starter style home entertainment system. I am new to the whole thing and I have a really small house so I have not gone for anything too flash and a couple of items are still up for discussion – namely whether I sghould get separate games console and Blu-Ray player or plump for the PS3. A lot of articles and pundits have repeatedly opted for the PS3 as the idea source for a low-end system but I still have my reservations about its ability as a console. I will be looking to upgrade they system with a larger TV (ideally full HD) when I have a bigger living room. I fancy adding a full HD projector at some point for those move and sports nights I envisage

Layout

The full list is as follows:

TV: Samsung LE32B450C4
AV Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR507
Sources: Samsung BD-P1600, Sky+HD, Xbox 360 Elite, Custom built Media PC
Speakers: Tannoy SFX5.1

Well I’m ill. Really ill.

I am full of some sort of sickness virus and have been in bed (and the room next door) for the last couple of days. I hate being ill, I’m not very good at it – I don’t sleep enough, drink enough and I forget that eating makes me vomit…

On a slightly brighter note I have managed to watch a season of Voyager and am now on the second season of How I Met Your Mother. The worst thing about being ill at the moment is that there is nobody around to share in my misery. B, as always, is at Chris’s and the rest of my housemates all have deadlines this week and next week which means they are at uni 24/7. Liz is back on Saturday in readiness for Rocky Horror and School Disco (tickets still available for those that are interested).

Today is the final of X-Factor, ITV1’s flagship television programme and mainstay of the lowest-common-denominator era of throwaway tv.

Last year saw over 11 million members of the British public tune in to see Leona Lewis win a recording contract worth an estinated £2million. This year’s prize is a guarenteed £1million recording contract and a shot at the Christmas number one single – an honour that will almost certainly be achieved. Three contestants battle it out on prime time Saturday evening television, three contestants that I wouldn’t book for a pub sing along, in front of four of the most ridiculous judges I have come across. An article on the RadioTimes’ website gives a fantastic insight into what is happeneing to television in this era of low creativity, low expectations and low standards of delivery.

I want quality, entertaining, educational and original programming, not these cheap to make, cheap to air, profit chasing, public mocking shows.

I know I am sounding like an old man, but please will someone somewhere fix this. Or I might just switch over for good.

I am now half way through season 2 of Ally McBeal.

I used to watch it when it was on television in the mid to late nineties, then re-watched it all back to back a couple of years ago and am now in the process of re-watching them all again. I am not sure whether it is a case of me getting old and cynical, or whether I am just not invested enough into this marathon (I am tending to watch the episodes whilst coding) but I don’t seem to be getting as involved in the programme as I used to. I used to have a real affinity with the show. he first time I sat and watched them back to back I couldn’t stop watching, now it’s a case of an hour here and an hour there.

Ah well. It is still good telly!

Due to the fact that I can’t walk more than five steps without suffering intolerable pain or falling over due to my massive lack of skill in using crutches I haven’t been out much the last few days. Instead I have stayed in and generally done bugger all. Apart from a really productive day on Wednesday where I managed to nail lots of coursework and sort out my life pretty well I just have not acheived very much. However, I have just finished two really lovely days with Liz and have two days left before she heads back to Lincoln to start her new, full time job.

She arrived Wednesday night after work in the middle of our banging Hallowe’en party consisting of Michelle, George, Chris W, Chris O and Cara. We didn’t hang around for too long but grabbed some pizza and went to watch a film we had been intrigued by – a 1970s film called Island of Death. I am not sure what to make of it really, it is bizarre. I recommend that people watch it.

Thursday was a werid old day. We were in bed til the afternoon (something I haven’t done for a long long time) and then went shopping! This involved many firsts – namely it was the first time I have been able to get ina car and drive since injuring my ankle, the first time I have stepped into a Primark store since I discovered its record and policy on chiild labour and labour rights, the first time Liz has gone shopping and only bought what she needed and the first time I have enjoyed something as mundane as shopping in a very long while. It was really quite something to spend some normal, quality time with Liz for a change.

Except for a slight interruption in proceedings due to a minor emergency with a friend, Friday went swimmingly too. Everybody was out all day so Liz and I enjoyed a really domesticated, quiet Friday night in. Food, tea and Jonathan Ross – nothing is better! Friday night television is actually getting pretty decent again. From 9pm you have “Have I Got News For You” followed by “The Armstrong and Miller Show” – a sketch show that is surprisingly original and funny, one to look out for – and then “QI”. I have to grudgingly agree with Chris Worfolk’s observations that it is starting to lose some of its originality to be replaced by gimmicks etc.

After watching the horrendous Jimmy Carr present a quiz show celebrating the 25 year history of Channel 4 we headed to bed.

Domestic Bliss!

I have just seen the controller of BBC1 officially announce the end of Neighbours on the BBC! This is a sad day. Not only am I fan of the Aussie soap, but the mechanism of the loss is a problem that is spreading throughout television and the media in general. Greedy TV executives. Basically, the company that sells Neighbours to the BBC have asked for a 300% increase in the amount that BBC1 pays for each episode, a sum that is grossly out of proportion with the market rates. This has led to the BBC deciding not to renew its contract to show the soap. The current contract ends in April 2008. What annoys me is how often we are hearing this story these days. The recent Virgin Media versus BSkyB battle over Sky One is another example of ridiculous demands by broadcasters for their programmes to be shown on other systems. This is not good for viewers.

I realise we live in a competitive world where the common theme is globalisation and capitalism but we must draw the line. We are losing out to fat cats.

I have been watching a show called Jake 2.0 recently. It is about a NSA tech support who gets accidentally infected with nanobots/nanites. These nanobots give Jake superhuman strength, sight, hearing etc as well as the ability to interface directly with computers. It is a really good show. The characters are excellent and the storylines involving. It was cancelled after one series!

There are many other quality shows that were cancelled prematurely, Firefly and Enterprise for example.

I hate the fact that broadcasting and production agencies never give a show a chance. One bad week in the ratings and *chop* goes the axe. I would rather see quality television with poor ratings than Big Brother anyday!