A guy I sometimes do some web application work for is gifting me a TV. As crazy as that sounds. They are getting me a 26 inch R7 Series Samsung, it’s a really sexy looking TV with this flawless shiny bevel. There’s an R8 series that has just been released but it isn’t easily available yet and I can’t be bothered to wait.

I’ve also ordered an xbox 360, came across a good deal at HMV.co.uk, for just 290 quid, you get that boxed version with HD plus Pro Evolution Soccer, Gears of War and Crackdown. Which are all games I want. To top it off I used a coupon code that gets you 5 quid off. Bargin!  Found it at Hot Deals Oh yeah, bit annoying, the HMV site doesn’t accept coupon codes if you’re using safari, just doesn’t react.  Silly

What a lot of wires.

In anticipation I’ve gathered all the cable’s I will need, and what an insane mess of connections it is too. I’ve got a Mini-DVI to DVI adapter (required because apple put a silly mini dvi port on the iMac), a DVI to HDMI lead, a Wii Component cable, an XBox 360 VGA cable (so that I don’t need a component switcher) and an extra long interconnect to get the sound to my amp.

Is it me, or is the futher along the old timeframe we get the more wires we are dealing with. It’s hardly progress!

Today I will update yuz all on playing my Wii via my iMac using EyeTV. But first…

Rocketboom showed a clip from the BBC Two comedy “Look around you” yesterday and didn’t seem to realise, I think they might have even thought it was from a genuine science experiment. Silly billy’s.  It was from the first season of the show, which I recommend everyone to grab the DVD of.  But avoid the 2nd season which was a “Tomorrows World” spoof and was pants.

The massive problem I was reporting with creeping latency was resolved by updating my EyeTV software from 2.3.2 to 2.3.3, I was a little miffed that I had to be told about the new version because the software is supposed to be self updating.  Grr.

There is still a small amount of latency naturally, but it is now unnoticeable in almost all 2 games I have lol.

But, when I downloaded Super Mario Brothers from the virtual console the latency issue came back, albeit it in a slightly different flavour.

In super mario bros. after playing for about 30-60 seconds the controls begin to feel heavy, and jumping becomes difficult to judge.  But what’s different to what was happening in all things in 2.3.2 is that after minute or less the software seems to realise the problem and catches up with a sudden jolt. It’s then perfectly playable for a further minute or so, before the latency creeps back again, it comes and goes the rest of the game.

Some of the older virtual console games have a particularly low resolution, which you can see from the 100% pixel crop of the screenshot.  So i’m now theorising that this exotic video mode could be confusing the de-interlacing in EyeTV.  Occasionally if I switch to composite from Tuner mode whilst this mario game is running the output goes nuts, flickering like crazy as if it can’t quite work out how to deal with it.  So I turned de-interlacing off, the latency issue is lesser but still happens.  Still, i’m sure there’s something about this old NES resolution thats confusing things
Again, this is now restricted to just super mario bros. (that I know of).  It’s most interesting!

Another thing, apparently S-Video looks better on the EyeTV software than Composite does, but unlike most other console’s that I’ve known, the Wii doesn’t come with S-VIDEO. Even worse, you can’t even buy the cable here in the UK.  I dunno why, they have them in Japan, just not here.  Double Grr.

Noticed something a bit off about weather services.

The top one is from the mac’s dashboard and the bottom is captured from the Wii.

So my question is, which one it so be believed?  I would have thought all weather services would get their info from the same source, such as sheffields met office.  So thats odd.

I went and completed Zelda Twilight Princess on the Wii the other day.

Bit depressing actually because up until completing it i’d be waking up of a morning declaring to myself “ooooh i can’t wait to see what zelda has in store today.”  Now i’ve no zeldery goodness to look forward to.

A lot of people are shouting off saying it’s not as good as others are saying, and also gamespot went all mad and only gave it 88% (despite also making it one of their games of the year)  Well I dunno, it must be a me thing, I like cute video games and zelda is one of the most adorable (just look at link’s big eyes!) around, and I just loved every second of the game to bits.  Heck I must have because it’s a 60 hour+ game and i played through it all in just a week. lol  That really is a record for me.  Most games spend time gathering dust before i get around to finishing them, if I even bother to.  I should probably look back at the list of my favourite ever games which I seem to remember doing a year or so ago, and see where i’d put this zelda.
I want more zelda!  *cries*

Why write when you can hide? Been playing Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii far too much than is healthy. Clocked up about 22 hours on my saved game already! Ouch.

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Yeah, I’ve been hogging the Wii and now Pikachu is annoyed ‘cos he likes to play on it too.I play via the EyeTV Hybrid ‘cos my iMac’s screen is the only convenient one in the house, other than those that others are watching TV on all day. A FAQ on Elgato’s website mentions gaming and states that there’s only a delay of “a few milliseconds” making it ideal for gaming. So this is what I was expecting but alas it appears they aren’t being entirely honest. It’s quite easy to tell what the latency is with the wii because of all the feedback the controller gives, for instance it vibrates when you hover over a button whilst at the same time the main sound output make a tick sound. Well, from my experience with latency settings on pro audio software I’d say the delay from the vibration to the tick sound is close to around 100 milliseconds. The last time I checked 100 doesn’t equate to “a few”.

Also, occasionally when you play it the latency has drifted a bit, which must be a bug because the cpu load is always minimal when I run it. But that doesn’t surprise me, I could write a novel about the bugs EyeTV has.

My Wii arrived yesterday! Wooohooo! The poor delivery person had had a hell of a day what with all the chrimbo time stuff and it didn’t arrive until 7pm, and i’d been waiting on tenterhooks all day long listening for the door. Such a kid!

So many things on my desk are white. Could do with a white pair of speakers. The packaging of the wii is rather sweet, when you open the box there are 2 blue trays with symbols on each showing what the trays contain, cute eh! I was too excited to bother photographing the royal opening.

Haven’t played much zelda yet, played more Wii Sports and its just as much fun as it looks!

Was in town today and tried my lunch at finding a copy of Wii Play (which comes with a wiimote) or just a second Wiimote. But there is none to be had anywhere gosh darn it.

Random finger itches…

My Wii has been despatched!!!!!  Woohooo!!! I’ll either receive it monday or tuesday.  I’m completely trembling with anticipation.  Only issue is that zelda hasn’t shipped yet, but i’m reckoning the sports stuff will be fun enough for the time being.  I’m going to need to track down a 2nd wiimote so that we can have a family christmas day playing it after the mulled wine and with the fire burning.  Awww.

Can’t remember if I’m mentioned on here but I finally managed to buy a second hand 40-150mm 1:3.5-4.5 lens for my DSLR. It’s quite obnoxious looking when its fully zoomed out and you’ve got the hood on the end it, I look like the paparazzi with it.  Haven’t done anything spectacular with it yet… haven’t really been anywhere to exploit it.  Anypoop you can see a rather random gathering of my efforts with it… My flickr photo’s tagged 40-150mm

Captain, can I take a look at your whiskers?!??