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Denon 2910 Firmware

Bitten with the firmware update bug I hunted around for an update to my DVD player – the Denon 2910. The player has been excellent but I remember reading that there was a firmware update that improved picture quality (especially blacks) over HDMI.

A search on AV Forums produced the answer. There have been several firmware updates issued since last year, the most recent and multi region from December 05. Visit the (unofficial) Denon 2910 firmware page and download the version required. Follow the instructions on the site or on the thread and you’ll have a lovely up to date multi region player. There were notable improvements in the picture quality over HDMI so it’s a worthwhile upgrade.

ABC – TV for Free

ABC has launched it’s full episode TV streaming servicee. For free. Users can watch advert supported episodes from the comfort of their PC. When I first heard about this I thought the adverts would be more intrusive than on TV but they break at the same time and are no different to a normal viewing. Finally a broadcaster wakes up to the modern day requirements of TV watchers and provides a credible alternative to pirating.

Note that this is only available to US viewers although I’ve had joy with Tor. Charon is another alternative as described here.

Holiday Weekend

Busy in the garden for the last couple of days as can be seen below.
Raised Bed
This bed previously had bricks all round it and the rockery had been damaged during the fence install last year. Lots of work on Saturday and a trip to the garden centre on Sunday has rescued it. Enjoyed being out and doing work – the weather was great although it’s a sure sign of turning into an old man. Flickr set here. First full grass cut of the year and some weeding too although there is less to do than last year which is a good sign.

Today was finishing off the painting in the hall. Taken longer than I thought and I’ve still some cornice painting to do. That’s this weekends little task. Hope your weekend was as fulfilling.

Yahoo! Go TV

Yahoo bought Meedio last week and has already released the Meedio Pro software ($45) as a free beta. Meedio is similar to Windows Media Centre or FrontRow in that it groups all your media together in a TV friendly format. Yay! for Yahoo! The bad news is that on start-up it checks to make sure you are located in the US using your IP address so will only work for US users. Boo!

However you can get round the US check and run the software although none of the internet functionality will work. I hope you like purple and blue screens.

Genuine Windows Update

Heard it from one of the guys at work today who was annoyed that his pirated Windows was now suffering from pop-ups telling him so and confirmed on tech sites also – Microsoft are updating their Windows Genuine Advantage software this week to make sure that those without officially licensed copies of Windows will know that it is pirated and keep nagging you until:

  • You buy a Windows license OR
  • You agree to not receive Windows updates from Microsoft

I guess it’s to be expected of Microsoft but seems a strange time to do it less than 12 months away from the launch of Vista. Crackers will undoubtedly get round it and you can disable the service although you will no longer be able to download updates. Time to budget for purchasing an O/S. It seems daft that people are willing to spend £30-£40 on a variety of games but not the £60-£100 on an operating system.

How to beat DVD pirates

Offer DVDs for $1.50….that 84p according to Google. Mad?

Well in China Warner are offering The Aviator for the exact price mentioned above. So the packaging is cheap and nasty and there’s probably no extras but would anyone go to the bother of pirating a DVD if it could be bought so cheaply? Not me.

Makes you wonder how much profit they make in the UK when it can be sold so cheaply elsewhere. Maybe it’s time for everyone to pirate and boycott official DVD purchases to see what impact it has elsewhere around the globe.

HD Stuff

A few bit’s and pieces on HD. Firstly, my TV. Had no real issues with it apart from a bug with the 360 (and maybe hi-def content in general) in that the colour red (and oranges) would cause some ghosting of the image on the screen. Nothing major and certainly nothing that could be spotted in game. You could see it especially on the dashboard and in PGR menu’s although changing the dashboard theme removed the issue.

However I picked up TopSpin last week which looked gorgeous until I played my first tournament on clay. Uggggggghhhhhhhhh. Fugly and difficult to watch – felt the whole image was blurry. Luckily for me the next day saw the latest firmware release for the TV which solved the problem. Good stuff Philips – only took 4 months.

I still don’t know whether providing the facility to upgrade your TV’s firmware is a good idea. In one respect it allows Philips to address issues through the life of he TV. However it also allows them to ship a ‘buggy’ product knowing it can be addressed in the long term. How many users though will:

  • Know about the firmware release
  • Know how to apply it
  • Have the confidence to do it

People I know have issues applying a firmware release to a DVD writer worth about £60 never mind to a TV worth £1800. For me it’s great but I’m a geek. For average users it’s just not good enough.

Other HD news is a rumour – Microsoft will announce their HD-DVD add on at E3 next month and it will be priced at $100. That sounds stupidly cheap. If it’s true then I can see a lot of people picking up the device. Hopefully they’ll add an HDMI socket to the player as well – HDMI is the new scart and I’m still surprised they went with component rather than HDMI on the 360. Time to make amends.

I’m still looking for an HDMI switch box. As I’ve mentioned HDMI has become the standard way of hooking up HD sources yet most screens still only have one socket. If your a switch box manufacturer then the next couple of years is the time to make money. By year end I’ll have the DVD player, Sky HD, PS3 and probably the 360 via the HD-DVD add on all using HDMI. So it’s definitely a five way switch box which looking at those on the market will cost between £150 and £350. Ouch. Octava is my first choice as there is now a UK distributor and it’s the cheapest. Gefen do a 4 way HDMI and audio switch box but it’s over £300. I would rather get a new amp with some HDMI inputs than pay that much. So it looks like Octava unless I turn up a bad review in avforums. I’ll post an update once I have the box and tested it.