Category: Tech

More Video Options

After mentioning the possibility of Netflix’s Watch Instantly service being available on Xbox Live, I got curious about watching it as it exists on Internet Explorer 7, but on the video projector. So I hooked up Carol’s laptop computer to the projector with a VGA cable, connected to Netflix over Wi-Fi, and started playing Manhattan Murder Mystery. It would be much more convenient if the service becomes available through the Xbox, but the laptop test worked. Are you tired yet of these photos of the projector screen?

Manhattan Murder Mystery

Xbox 360 Reality and Rumor

Eric and I have successfully struggled through setting up streaming media integration between the Xbox 360 and Windows Media Player 11. Very cool! With all of the various dedicated streaming media set top boxes out there, it’s nice to have it work out-of-the-(X)box at no additional cost. With this, I don’t need to bother with Verizon’s FiOS media manager.

Way back last February I featured Star Trek: New Voyages, a continuation of the original TV series, created by devoted fans. Here’s how a low-res copy of one of the shows looks, taken from my PC over the home network and scaled up to 720p by the Xbox.

Xbox Streaming Video

Fun! Now the question is, where is this technology going? Well, the exciting rumor is that the Watch Instantly service on Netflix will be available through the Xbox Live site. That would be great! Even better if the entire Netflix catalog were available, especially with HD offerings. Ideally, I would like to forget not only the red Netflix envelopes, but the format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD; which at the moment appears to be favoring Blu-Ray, because Warner Bros. is dropping HD-DVD.

Zooming In

Why have a 4:3 screen for a 16:9 front video projector? Because you can zoom in to make 4:3 material B-I-G, that’s why. Here are a couple of photos of the Panasonic PT-AX200U picture, zoomed in to fill the screen, taken from the couch. The image is about 75 inches diagonal. This Superman TV show is on DVD…

The Adventures of Superman

… and this spectacular image of Paulette Goddard’s breathtaking face is from a FiOS recording of “Modern Times.”

Paulette Goddard

Pratt Porch Project – P.S.

I’ll get back to posting something of interest once I’ve returned to work and have shaken off the holiday brain fog. But first, here are a couple of pictures of the remodeled porch as it looks now, after painting and the addition of some furniture. We’re still looking for a coffee table and side table.

If you click to look at the full-size picture with the TV, you’ll see it has an old-fashioned rabbit ear antenna. On February 17, 2009, analog broadcast television in the United States will cease. Long before then I plan to have a FiOS set top box installed. Or I could run a coaxial cable to the porch myself and use the analog signal provided over FiOS to watch the same local stations the antenna receives. I suppose it’s possible Verizon will shut off the analog service, although they’re under no requirement to do that.

P.S. According to this item, cable TV companies will keep their analog signals for local stations until 2012.

The Video Of Music

The video projector is addicting, and I’m watching too much TV! Last night it was the NE Patriots game — and I’m not even a football fan. Tonight, ABC is showing The Sound of Music in HD. I added a back light to give a sense of how it looks. Not huge by projection standards, but just right for the room, which isn’t as dark as the camera makes it seem after adjusting the exposure for the bright screen.

The Sound of Music on HDTV

Angela CartwrightHey, look who it is! Angela Cartwright, whose name came up in this past post. When I was a kid, besides the huge crush on Angela that I’ve already admitted having from when she was on Lost In Space with Bill Mumy, I thought it was funny that her name was the same as the fictional Cartwrights on Bonanza.

Angela Cartwright