Eli the Computer Guy

Archive for the ‘Digital Entertainment’ Category

Since I began creating my video classes in Flash Video format one of the things that has really bugged me is that it is difficult to easily view the finished product.  You have to actually set it up on a web page, of there are a few desktop players around, but they are clunky and poor in video quality.

Adobe Media Player solves this problem.  It is a free download from Adobe that allows you to view Flash Video (.flv) files in all of their beauty.  It’s free, easy to use, and displays crisp video.

Check it out at http://www.adobe.com/products/mediaplayer/

For some reason Windows Media player is unable to play a number of types of video.  If you are having problems playing a video with Windows Media Player you should download and install Cole2k Standard Codec pack.  This will allow Windows Media Player to play just about anything.

You can find it at http://www.cole2k.net/

Please know that during the installation process it will ask you if you want to install a number of toolbars.  Just uncheck the boxes to have them installed and you won’t have any problems.

I brought my beautiful 30" cinema display home from the shop since I have started doing so much work from the house. Once it was hooked up I found that I could not get the monitor to display it’s full resolution. At first I thought it was some quirky software problem, but could not find a solution.

Then I brought the computer it had been connected to home from work and had even worse problems.  It simply would not show any video at all.

Frustrated as hell I tried to figure out the problem, and was starting to think I had damaged the monitor when bringing it home.  After looking at the situation I realized that the only questionable part was the DVI cable.

It then hit me that during the transition process I had kept my old cable at home, and the cable that had come with the Samsung at work.  The problem was that the Samsung had come with and needs a DVI Dual Link cord, and my cord at home is a regular DVI cable.

I don’t really play with DVI enough to do more then plug it in so I didn’t think of the number of standards DVI uses.  Unlike a VGA connector there are a number of variations with DVI.  I found this helpful link that explains a bit about it  http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/dvi_info.html

Pandora has quickly become my favorite way of listening to music.  Pandora is an Internet radio station that includes a number of useful features that makes it surpass its clunky predecessors.

At the heart of it Pandora is simply a web site that you go to and listen to music though your computer.  The difference with Pandora is that you can create a user account and then give songs that are playing either thumbs up, or down.  Pandora then tries to find new music that you will like based on your reviews.

As a complete non audiophile I love this service.  My CD and Mp3 collections are a joke, and I have no idea who any of the current bands are.  I like to have good music on in the background as I do work, but please don’t ask me why I think a particular song is "good".

With Pandora I just go to the site and start nodding my head back and forth like a white boy as I blog or sort through paperwork.

Additionally Pandora allows you to stream the music to your mobile phone or portable device.  The download requirements are low enough that you can easily listen to the music using your smart phones data plan.

If you are looking for free music that is not interrupted by advertisements you should check it out.  Just go to www.Pandora.com .

The Pandora iPhone App is a must have app for the IPhone.  It allows you to listen to commercial free radio that is tailored to your likes and dislikes.  The service if completely free, and the quality is great.

The app is a snap to install and setup, and is very easy to use.  Once you have setup the app it will ask you to name a musician that you like.  From this it will create a custom playlist of other artists that it thinks you will like.  You can vote either thumbs up or down as songs are played and it will use this information to play more music that you will appreciate.

I have been using the Pandora website (www.Pandora.com) for around 6 months and am very happy that I can get the same service on the iPhone.