The Golden Compass

We went along to see The Golden Compass, the movie adaptation of Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (the first in His Dark Materials trilogy). I suppose I should preface this by saying that I haven't actually read the book - so I can't comment on how good an adaptation it is (or indeed isn't). My experience with book adaptations is pretty mixed with very few effectively capturing the novel - you'll have to judge for yourself I'm afraid. As a movie, however, The Golden Compass is jolly good fun. It is visually impressive with some lovely imagery of the parallel earth and some strong performances - particularly Dakota Blue Richards, who plays Lyra. I found the presentation absorbing and it managed to avoid the twee aspects of Harry Potter. On the downside it does feel like the start of something (and with the next instalment not scheduled for release until 2009 that's a little disappointing) and the ice bear fight has a rather brutal ending which is probably unsuitable to more sensitive children. But otherwise a very enjoyable film.

Media Centre Project - Part 3: Storage

The 80Gb HDD in the Mini isn't really man enough to manage a proper media centre so I began looking around for external drives. One of my major criteria was noise, or rather the lack of it, as the Mini is very, very quiet and I didn't want to ruin that by slapping some box next to it with a noisy fan. Aesthetics were relevant too as, unless you pop the kit into a cupboard (which gives you other issues like controlling it etc.) it's going to be on show and so the drive can't be too hideous.

In the end I plumped for a Freecom 500Gb USB 2.0 HDD which is available from Amazon for around £80. I went for the one with the aluminium external finish which, whilst it does have a black face, doesn't look out of place next to the Mini. The drive does have a blue (white would have been preferable) light on the front to show it's on and it flickers showing drive activity but other than that you'd hardly notice it was there.

Since I bought my drive I've noticed that prices are still dropping and there are some nice 500Gb drives for a little less - of course my criteria wouldn't change and so a fan is a deal breaker for me.

Obviously it's a shame that Apple didn't put Firewire 800 on the Mini (in which case I'd have been looking for a HDD that supported that) but USB 2.0 seems to perform fine. The only question now is do I need more? Having recorded a few TV shows and transferred a couple of DVDs onto the system I think the answer is going to be yes but how to do it without adding noise?

Wheeze-arama

I thought I'd try and see how far I could go on a single battery charge on the PowaCycle Salisbury. Turns out it's just over two and a half round trips to the station (around 3 miles each way). The half becomes important when it's just before the major uphill section of the route home! Blimey is it difficult without the pedelec assistance! I was still panting and wheezing when I got home. So I now know to recharge the battery every two days.

Obviously the range is less than advertised for the flat but since I do have a major hill that shouldn't be a surprise. Overall I'm still pretty pleased with the bike as without the pedelec mode it's clear I wouldn't be making the trip by bike at all!

300

I managed to miss 300 at the cinema (our local multiplex never keeps anything I'd like to see for more than about 5 minutes!) but caught it on DVD the other week. I really enjoyed Sin City, which I know isn't for everyone but is an incredible translation, almost frame for frame, from the graphic novel to the screen, so I was really interested to see how 300 turned out.

300 is a film adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name which tells his version of the Battle of Thermopylae, the legendary stand by a small force of Greeks, led by King Leonidas and 300 Spartan warriors, which held off the enormous army of the Persian King Xerxes who was intent on conquering all of Greece.

Clearly the movie isn't intended to be a historical account of the battle and, indeed, nor was the graphic novel. Rather it is a retelling of the legend and so the massive amounts of artistic licence can be forgiven. Some of the accents are a little incongruous and the outfits are a little briefer than I suspect they would have been in reality and as for Xerxes well...

But the visual style of the film and the choreographed action sequences more than make up for some of the more "fantastic" elements. The style is quite different to Sin City but it has a real impact of its own and, as long as you don't watch it expecting a historical account but rather an interpretation of the legend you'll have a blast!

Media Centre Project - Part 2: TV Tuner

Since the Mac Mini doesn't come with an integrated TV Tuner and doesn't have the option to insert cards I looked around for a USB based device. After a little research I hit upon Elgato who produce both the hardware and eyeTV, which is some pretty nice PVR software.

Since I don't have satellite or cable and my over-the-air digital signal can be a little flaky (we're not scheduled to be switched over until 2012 so it may be a while before that's fixed) I decided to get the eyeTV Hybrid which accepts analogue and digital inputs.



As you can see it's not a big device, about the size of the Apple remote but somewhat thicker.
The dark plastic cap covers a standard USB connector, but given the proximity of the various USB ports and the width of the Elgato device they have helpfully added a short USB extension cable. So installation was pretty simple.

The eyeTV software loaded easily and connected me up to tvtv who provide the data for the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). This is a subscription service and Elgato give you a year's worth but you're on your own after that. The software had a look and downloaded a couple of updates and was then ready to go.

Controlling the device is pretty easy. The software provides both a standard OS X interface and also a full screen menu system which can be entered by just holding the Apple remote menu button down for a couple of seconds (this takes a little getting used to as you can often end up in Front Row by mistake - but you do get used to it). Elgato do provide a separate multi-button remote but as this seems to have to have line of sight on the device it doesn't really work for me (as the Hybrid is behind the Mini - and I don't really want to see it). There is an on screen remote available too but this needs the mouse to operate and so it less hand from the sofa (have you tried using even a bluetooth mouse on your sofa?).

Selecting channels and scheduling recordings is simply a matter of a couple of clicks. eye TV provides playlists to help you organise your recordings. Unfortunately scheduling doesn't take account of the vagaries of the broadcasters and so you need to add some time to the start and end to make sure you get the whole programme - this is a pain but the EPG info isn't live and I don't think they send out any signals (like video+) over digital at the moment.

You can set eyeTV to automatically convert the recording for iPod or AppleTV and it will slot it into iTunes for you. Apparently the latest version also allows streaming to iPod Touch and iPhone, but as I don't have either I can't comment.

A direct interface with Front Row would have been nice but other than that it's a nice all round package. Of course now I'm recording TV I think I might need a little more than the 80Gb internal drive in the Mini...

Going Green(ish)

My commute consisted of car to the station, the train and then the tube. When I worked out that we were really running a second car just for those trips it became pretty clear it was both an expensive luxury and not really doing much for the environment! So I wondered about the alternatives. Whilst walking to the station is possible it adds to much to an already long journey so that wasn't an option I was happy with. A scooter was another alternative but whilst an improvement still wasn't very environmentally friendly. I looked at electric scooters but they're still an expensive option for such a short trip. What about cycling? Being pretty out of condition I didn't think it was practical and I wasn't keen on getting too hot and bothered before a long train journey and then marinating in it (that's not a good picture is it?)! Then I stumbled on pedelecs - or electrically assisted bikes. With most of them looking a bit naff or ridiculously expensive I was about to drop that idea but then I came across two possible contenders the Urban Mover UM36 UGlider and the PowaCycle Salisbury. Both bikes look like road/mountain bike hybrids and so addressed the image issue but what about price. The UM36 was better looking but also the more pricey (at £750+). The Salisbury was still expensive (at £499) but was well equipped (you can use it for a practical commute straight out of the box). So which to pick?

I made a visit to The Electric Transport Shop in London who showed me both bikes, gave me some very useful advice and allowed me a test ride. On balance I whilst the UM36 was undoubtedly better looking the bikes were roughly the same weight (often an issue with pedelecs) and I was actually getting less for my money. So I ended up settling on the PowaCycle.

I chose the Nimh battery rather than the newer and lighter LPX alternative, partly down to price (the latter is £100 more) and because the former is a tried and tested technology.

The ride to and from the station is now a breeze. With the power assistance on you can ride with minimal effort and if you want to get more exercise you can turn it off (and with a heavy bike it certainly gives you a work out!). Of course the trip is somewhat less pleasant in the wet and cold but I certainly and feeling better for the exercise!

Media Centre Project - Part 1: The Computer

When my DVD/HDD recorder packed up recently I decided it was about time I tried to build myself a Media Centre. What I was looking for was a machine which would allow me to watch DVDs and web content on my LCD TV, record TV, play music and, if possible, allow me to experiment with streaming over my rudimentary network.

Obviously the first question was what to use as the base system. Having used Windows for over ten years the first place I started looking was Windows PCs but I rapidly became disillusioned due to the price I'd need to pay for a reasonably quiet system. In addition, I've had all the usual issues with Windows being a little temperamental, slow to start up and coming with a pretty high overhead if you want it connected to the net.

It was all starting to look pretty expensive and not as easy as standard consumer electronics (i.e. robust and easy to use) so that I could get a sufficient SAF (spouse approval factor). Then a friend of mine introduced me to the Apple Mac Mini.

I was really impressed, it's only 6.5" square and 2" high with a DVD drive, HDD, Intel processor, built in WiFi and Bluetooth and most importantly, it runs almost silently. Now, having not looked at Apple machines for many years, my first question was how much is it? Expecting a PC busting number considering the form factor I was rather surprised to find it only starts at £399! Of course that is a little misleading as that's the BYODKM (Bring Your Own Display Keyboard and Mouse) but since I was going use the TV as the display that doesn't add too much overhead.

In the end I decided to up-spec it a little as I was worried the basic 512Mb of RAM might not be sufficient (and you can never have too much RAM can you) [BTW a recent upgrade now gives the £399 model 1Gb of RAM] and the DVD burner (as the base model only comes with a DVD reader).

The machine plugs straight into the PC input on my LCD TV and auto detected the native panel resolution thus giving a pretty nice picture.

So what about media centre software? Well Apple bundles their own Front Row software and remote with the machine so no extra needed there. Front Row allows you to access your music library (from your iTunes library), play DVDs, stored video and photo slideshows (from iPhoto - also bundled).

So it's relatively inexpensive and does most of what I want - what about the downsides? Well, the Mini is pretty much self contained with no easy way to open it up and modify it or expand it within the box. It does, however, have four USB ports and a Firewire port on the rear. But it doesn't have a TV tuner built in.

Obviously moving from Windows to OS X requires a feww adjustments, but not as many as I was expecting. It's not as crash proof as Apple might have you believe but it's a heck of a lot more robust than Windows and much closer to what you need for a living room device.

So a pretty good start - next getting a TV tuner.