Just a quick one for all you Ubuntu (with Gnome, not Kubuntu etc.) folks out there...
If you have a strange problem with your Theme and Nautilus reverting to some basic GTK theme seemingly at random, good luck!
Seems neither group is taking ownership for the issue and from the threads on the Ubuntu forums and Launchpad bug thread it is hitting quite a few people (me included).
Ubuntu Forum thread
Launchpad bug
Shopping for a new distro as I have to tell you since 9.04 I have just spent WAY too much time writing scripts and editing conf files when I should be working or playing.
I don't miss Slackware, nor the days of tarball installs, nor do I miss compiling my own kernel to add support for a sound card but I am finding myself longing for the days when I just installed my shit and it worked. Most of this is my fault (please see rant on software updates) because I have become very complacent with checking what is on the update list before clicking "Install Updates", but I have to hope this ends somewhere.
Note to all software devs who may read this: Bugs happen, code well, debug often and patch ONLY WHEN NECESSARY! Internet patching == idle hands... Keep em busy folks!
Viva Linux!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Mede8er MED500X Quick and Dirty
Well it's been a while since my last rant and I thought I would herald my return to this blog with a quick review of a little media player I picked up over the holidays. So without further ado I bring you the "Mede8er MED500X"...
First things first, this product is manufactured by Sanji Electronics (Pty) Ltd in South Africa (my current home) and is based on the Realtek RTD1073DD/RTD1073DD+ chipset (new models have the + version) as are many of the current crop of HD media player on the market (AC Ryan etc.) with the alternative being the Western Digital products which use a Sigma Designes chipset (Sigma 865x in the case of the WD Live Plus). Sanji have done a bit of work in terms of the Realtek SDK and created a customized interface for their product with extensive use of the Mede8er logo etc. I could have gone for the other player as they are all available in SA but I am one of those folks who is all about giving the local vendor some love so I went for this bad-boy.
Here is my first digression, what the hell were they thinking with the name? Don't get me wrong, in a world full of silly tech names (if I see one more product with an "X" or an "i" in its name I might lose it) but seriously "Mede8er"? Ugh.
End of digression.
So what what about the product? Well in a few words "it plays all your shit". Yep, all of it. I won't go into the full list of features but if you have a media format (pictures, music or video) this thing will probably play it without hassle.
If you have ever delved into the World of HTPC you are probably familiar with the "CODEC Wars" (not to be confused with the Clone Wars, although technically similar) and you have probably found yourself struggling with Divx/Xvid/VC-1/AVC/H.264 not to mention AVI/WMV/MKV and of course OGG/MP3/AC3 (If I have lost you then please stop reading, put in a DVD and carry on) as the number of CODECS and possible video/audio combinations are daunting at best and can lead to frustration with installing and tearing out software on your HTPC or just sitting there crying while your wife or child stares at you with contempt as all they wanted to do was watch a movie, not you with a keyboard.
This being said you need to keep in mind that this product covers a huge number of formats and as such you may run into some obscure video file you downloaded off the Interweb which may cause your device to take a big dump, but I fully expect this in the current climate of "free for all" and to be honest most of the content I play is from my own ripped collection as opposed to the myriad of torrents available in the ether. Please don't think I am being pious here, if you read my previous post on Internet Providers in SA you'll see my dilemma with bandwidth, trust me given the opportunity I would probably have a more eclectic collection of media.
Well the simple solution is get a Mede8er (or a WD Live or an AC Ryan) they all do the same basic thing and they do it pretty well. The only issue I have encountered so far is compressed headers on MKV files which although a part of the specification since inception has only recently been added to the tools folks are using for media creation (as default in most cases), Sanji is expected to include support in the next version of the firmware but for me the fix was to go back to my old encoding tools and simply "fix" the media I had already encoded. Other than this one issue the thing plays MKV with H.264/VC-1 etc. WMV, Divx and Xvid and all without a hickup. Works great on HD media over HDMI with Audio pass-through supported (NOT uncompressed before you ask, but the DD+ chipset apparently does) and with a built-in hard drive (optional), USB, NAS and UPNP support it's pretty swanky plus it passes the "WAF Factor" with flying colours.
Now the bad...
Support although good is still in a bit of a shambles, if you look at the forums you'll see that there are a number of features supported by other players with the same chipeset that are simply not there:
So there you have it, MED500X is pretty sweet for playing your flicks and TV shows or listening to your music or checking out the vacay photos with friends (you know who you are!). In my case it is reserved for the bedroom (not like that!), the HTPC just does way more in the living room and with the Mede8er connected via UPNP I can just watch the same media that is on the HTPC without re-copying everything.
If you live in the EU or SA and want a quick and dirty, Sanji just released another whole line of media players (including the updated MED500X) so check em out!
Details on the Mede8er (Still hate the name, what about SanjiN8er? Nope still sucks):
Mede8er Website
Mede8er Forums
First things first, this product is manufactured by Sanji Electronics (Pty) Ltd in South Africa (my current home) and is based on the Realtek RTD1073DD/RTD1073DD+ chipset (new models have the + version) as are many of the current crop of HD media player on the market (AC Ryan etc.) with the alternative being the Western Digital products which use a Sigma Designes chipset (Sigma 865x in the case of the WD Live Plus). Sanji have done a bit of work in terms of the Realtek SDK and created a customized interface for their product with extensive use of the Mede8er logo etc. I could have gone for the other player as they are all available in SA but I am one of those folks who is all about giving the local vendor some love so I went for this bad-boy.
Here is my first digression, what the hell were they thinking with the name? Don't get me wrong, in a world full of silly tech names (if I see one more product with an "X" or an "i" in its name I might lose it) but seriously "Mede8er"? Ugh.
End of digression.
So what what about the product? Well in a few words "it plays all your shit". Yep, all of it. I won't go into the full list of features but if you have a media format (pictures, music or video) this thing will probably play it without hassle.
If you have ever delved into the World of HTPC you are probably familiar with the "CODEC Wars" (not to be confused with the Clone Wars, although technically similar) and you have probably found yourself struggling with Divx/Xvid/VC-1/AVC/H.264 not to mention AVI/WMV/MKV and of course OGG/MP3/AC3 (If I have lost you then please stop reading, put in a DVD and carry on) as the number of CODECS and possible video/audio combinations are daunting at best and can lead to frustration with installing and tearing out software on your HTPC or just sitting there crying while your wife or child stares at you with contempt as all they wanted to do was watch a movie, not you with a keyboard.
This being said you need to keep in mind that this product covers a huge number of formats and as such you may run into some obscure video file you downloaded off the Interweb which may cause your device to take a big dump, but I fully expect this in the current climate of "free for all" and to be honest most of the content I play is from my own ripped collection as opposed to the myriad of torrents available in the ether. Please don't think I am being pious here, if you read my previous post on Internet Providers in SA you'll see my dilemma with bandwidth, trust me given the opportunity I would probably have a more eclectic collection of media.
Well the simple solution is get a Mede8er (or a WD Live or an AC Ryan) they all do the same basic thing and they do it pretty well. The only issue I have encountered so far is compressed headers on MKV files which although a part of the specification since inception has only recently been added to the tools folks are using for media creation (as default in most cases), Sanji is expected to include support in the next version of the firmware but for me the fix was to go back to my old encoding tools and simply "fix" the media I had already encoded. Other than this one issue the thing plays MKV with H.264/VC-1 etc. WMV, Divx and Xvid and all without a hickup. Works great on HD media over HDMI with Audio pass-through supported (NOT uncompressed before you ask, but the DD+ chipset apparently does) and with a built-in hard drive (optional), USB, NAS and UPNP support it's pretty swanky plus it passes the "WAF Factor" with flying colours.
Now the bad...
Support although good is still in a bit of a shambles, if you look at the forums you'll see that there are a number of features supported by other players with the same chipeset that are simply not there:
- No YouTube (not a biggie for me)
- Internet Radio is spotty (again, not a biggie for me)
- Absolutely no "jukebox" support, so while you can load up some cool backgrounds using YAMJ, ThumbGen or TVIXIE they are "STATIC" meaning you can see some info on the rating, genre, synopsis and stars, you cannot actually DO anything with this data, it is burned into an "about.jpg" and is just there to look good.
So there you have it, MED500X is pretty sweet for playing your flicks and TV shows or listening to your music or checking out the vacay photos with friends (you know who you are!). In my case it is reserved for the bedroom (not like that!), the HTPC just does way more in the living room and with the Mede8er connected via UPNP I can just watch the same media that is on the HTPC without re-copying everything.
If you live in the EU or SA and want a quick and dirty, Sanji just released another whole line of media players (including the updated MED500X) so check em out!
Details on the Mede8er (Still hate the name, what about SanjiN8er? Nope still sucks):
Mede8er Website
Mede8er Forums
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