Bye Bye 2008. Welcome 2009.

Boy, am I glad 2008 is over (well, almost over) and what a roller-coaster ride it has been. Everything from collapse of Lehman Brothers triggering the global financial meltdown to the Mumbai terror attacks unfolding live on TV affected all of us deeply in more ways than one. Personally too, a lot of things happened to my family and me that I'd rather forget. So, with a lot of optimism, I look forward to the new year ahead. For whatever it is worth, you can find a list of top 10 of everything in 2008 here.

Wish you all a happy and prosperous 2009.

Formatting high capacity disks with FAT32

I primarily use my PS3 as a media player rather than a gaming console. I like games but I hardly ever have time to play them.

I bought it in the US which meant that the console cannot play any non-NTSC or any DVD (including Blu-Ray) not from region 1. I decided to rip and encode all my region 2 DVDs to get them to play on PS3 and I figured I would need a 500 GB disk at the very least to dump all the encoded movies. So, I bought one and copied over some of the files I had already encoded.

But when I plugged it onto PS3's USB port, the hard disk did not show up. After a little bit of troubleshooting, I realized that the disk was formatted as NTFS which PS3 does not recognize. This was a bummer for a couple of reasons:

• I had to now reformat the disk to FAT32 and copy over all the movies once again (did I mention I was lazy? :-) )
  
• I also lose the ability to copy any file more than 4GB (the 32 in FAT32 refers to 32bit which is 2^32 or 4Gb).

Now, if only life were that easy. When I tried to format the disk to FAT32 using Windows XP, I realized there was no option to do so. The only option available was NTFS. After a lot of cursing and yelling at Microsoft and Sony for making me work this hard, I calmed down and started googling for solutions. I came across this support article by Microsoft on FAT32 limitations and why NTFS is better. But the point that got my attention was this:

You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process. Windows XP can mount and support FAT32 volumes larger than 32 GB (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB by using the Format tool during Setup. If you need to format a volume that is larger than 32 GB, use the NTFS file system to format it. Another option is to start from a Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) Startup disk and use the Format tool included on the disk.

So, interestingly, it was the format tool in XP that was imposing the 32 GB limit and not the file system itself. Since, I only had an XP machine at my disposal, I did some search and found Ridgecrop's fat32format, a simple to use command line tool that gets the job done.

After downloading, extracting and running it (fat32format x: (where 'x' is the drive to format)), I had a 500 GB FAT32 partition. I had no problems copying the files over and watching them on PS3.

Why didn't I just format the disk to FAT32 on Mac? Well, I didn't have my MacBook Pro handy. Disk Utility would have made the task a cinch.

Boot Camp and BSOD

BSOD on my MBP

I have been using Boot Camp for a week now and never really had any issue with it until today. I experienced two bouts of BSOD in less than 10 minutes. Ironically, both the crashes happened when I was writing a blog post about my experience with Boot Camp. The BSOD was because Apple's Multitouch Trackpad drivers (applemtp.sys) and this appears to be a known issue.

I, honestly, never thought I would see a BSOD on my MBP ;-). But hey, when it can happen to the high and mighty, how can I, a mere mortal, be spared.

"Maharaja Yes"

I was randomly surfing the net today when I came across this blog. While the content was interesting, what was more interesting is that "important shock" was an anagram of the author's name.

It got me thinking, what kind of anagrams would my name generate. Googling for "anagram generator" took me to wordsmith.org's 'Internet Anagram Server'. I fired up the generator and here are some of the anagrams it generated for my name (Ajeya Sharma):

Maharaja Yes
Maharajas Ye
A Hearsay Jam
A Rajah Seamy
Area Ham Jays
...

Yeah, yeah, I have way too much time to kill :-)

ajeya.net is now live

I finally got around to registering ajeya.net today. It is live now !

I also took godaddy.com hosting services. I figured I could use some web space for experimenting with PHP and what not. So, I paid for the 150 GB Linux plan which set me back by $125.00 for 2 years. After a couple of hours of trying very hard and failing to convince myself that I needed all that space, I called godaddy.com customer support and canceled the hosting plan. I am glad I did because all I needed was to enable Google Apps for my domain which came with everything I want for now.

Setting up Google Apps for ajeya.net was a breeze and I had it working in less than 10 minutes. Google required me to confirm that I did own the domain. I did so by creating a CNAME host entry for a random string (provided by Google) and pointing that to google.com. With the domain ownership confirmed, the services were enabled immediately.

I then wanted to activate Gmail and was given instructions on setting up the MX records for my domain. After I updated the records at godaddy.com, it took an hour or so for the DNS records to propogate across the internet and for Gmail to work (I could login and compose a message but I could not send the message).

I now have Gmail for my own domain, along with Chat, Docs, Sites and Calendar. I am not really sure if I will ever use the other services but I enabled them anyway. The final step was to setup the landing page for my domain and for now it will be this blog.

So, welcome to ajeya.net!!

What's in a name

I had a very rough night yesterday. I wanted to register a domain name for myself. This would be my online identity.

I popped open the browser and went to godaddy.com and began the hunt for the perfect domain name. I wanted something catchy, something intelligent, something geeky.

I tried everything from rwxrwxrwx.com to ls-al.com to logn.com. Taken, taken and taken again. I got one or two names which were available like onlogn.com (O(nlogn)). But come on, that wouldn't serve the purpose. I wanted people to know I was a geek without me telling them.

So, after spending close to 5 hours searching for a perfect name, I am settling for ajeya.net. Something unimaginative, unoriginal, so cliché.

P.S: I came across this article in PC World. Interesting read.

Boot Camp

I have been a mac user for about two years now but never used 'Boot Camp' to install Windows on a Mac Book Pro because of some not so popular corporate security policies.

After I got the new machine, I didn't waste too much time. 

The experience was not really smooth for me. I wanted to install Windows XP Professional on a FAT32 partition so that I could easily access the partition from Mac OS X. I started by allocating 32 GB for the windows partition using BootCamp and and the installation started after a reboot. I could not get the bl**dy installation alway failed after the initial setup screen. 

Microsoft recommends a maximum of 32 GB for a FAT32 partition. During installation there is no way to get around this. After a bit of Googling, I decided to format the windows paritition with NTFS. But that did not work either. The initial installation would go through but after that I would get a 'bad disk' error.

I changed gears and made a backup copy of the XP install CD (before I get yelled at, I confirmed that this is legal since my original CD could be faulty). I tried the installation again with an NTFS paritition. This time I got 'could not find 'hal.dll' message. 

After a bit more googling, I saw several explanations for this including a corrupted boot.ini file. So, with a renewed gusto, I tried installing again. But this time I created a 20 GB FAT32 parition and continued. Lo and behold the installation went through fine.

After the installation, I just popped in the Leopard CD that came with the Mac and in less than 10 minutes I had everything working.

The trackpad did not work well even after the driver installs. This was  a known issue and a software update fixed it. 

I am not really sure if I really want to use XP but it is good to know I do have an option. When I have some time, I will install VMWare Fusion and check how well I can run XP off the boot camp parition.

Instructions for boot camp install are available here.

The new Mac Book Pro

It has been a while since my last post. I have been wanting to write a few reviews for quite a while but there were other things happening in my life which took precedence.

I got a the new MacBook Pro and I am already in love with it. The design is much better than the earlier version. The screen is bigger and the gesture support on the trackpad make things more interesting. You can find a good in-depth review on Ars Technica (Part1, Part2).

Big TV

I finally got Big TV !! The installation process was a nightmare. You can find my very detailed review of the installation experience here.

Here is my review of the available features and the quality of audio and video.

The STB and the firmware:

I have been using it for about two days now and feel that the firmware requires quite a bit more work before it becomes stable. Here are some of the common issues I am seeing:

1. Slow respone times when using the remote. Changing channels is slow. Pressing 'Home'/'Select'/'Interactive' brings up the respective screens very very slowly.
2. It takes about 12-15 seconds for the video to appear when the STB is turned on. 
3. Pressing the 'Select' button takes you to the 'Home' screen with the 'Select' option selected. I felt this was pretty counter intuitive. I would expect it to take me to the 'Select' screen directly. The same is true for the 'Guide' button too.
4. The STB sometimes hangs. The only way out is to power off the STB and power it back on.
5. The 'Mini Guide' only displays the 'Current Event' and the 'Next Event'. To see the schedule for any program beyond the 'Next Event' you will have to use the  'Guide'. Not very convenient.
6. Program descriptions take time to load up.
7. The Logo. I hate the 'Big TV' logo on the screen. It big, bright and gaudy and it takes up way too much real estate. 

None of these are serious issues but I hope they fix them soon. 

Audio and Video Quality:

I am not an expert in discerning the audio and video quality. My comments are based on my experience as a viewer.

I have a 32" LCD TV which support resolutions of upto 720p and the video looks pretty decent on it. But I do see the compression artefacts during action or fast moving scenes. Some channels are much sharper and have more vibrant colors than others. 

Much like the video, the audio too depends on the channel you are watching. The music and the English movie channels sound good but same cannot be said for some of the regional channels. But I am sure this is not an issue with Big TV as much as it is with the broadcaster. The radio channels are crisp and clear. 

People have asked me how the audio and video in Big TV compare to those on Tata Sky and Dish. Honestly, I do not see any difference in quality. But with Big TV set to launch HD channels soon, the game could very well go in Big TV's favor.

Channel Lineup:

While tuning, the STB picked up 187 video and 10 radio channels.

The line up is categorized as follows:

• Cinema: 1 Preview channel and 29 Cinema Channels  (Hindi (10), English (9), Telugu (3), Kannada (2), Bengali (2), Marathi (1), Gujarati (1), Bhojpuri (1))
• Entertainment: DD National, Star Plus, Sony, Star One, Zee TV, Sab TV, Sahara One, Star Utsav, NDTV Imagine, Zoom TV, Bindass, DD Bharati, 9x, Firangi, AXN, Star World, Zee Cafe, FTV India, Zee Trendz.
• Movies: Set Max, Star Gold, Zee Cinema, UTV Movies, Bindass Movies, Zee Premier, Filmy, Star Movies,  HBO, Zee Studio, Pix, World Movies.
• News: DD News, Aaj Tak, Star News, Zee News, NDTV India, India TV, IBN7, Tez, DD Lok Sabha, DD Rajya Sabha, Samay, ETV UP, ETV Bihar, ETV Rajasthan, ETV MP, Times Now, NDTV 24x7, Headlines Today, CNN IBN, CNN, BBC World News, NDTV Metro Nation, News X, Zee Business, NDTV Profit, CNBC TV 18, CNBC Aawaaz, UTVi.
• Sports: DD Sports, ESPN, Star Sports, Ten Sports, Star Cricket, Neo Cricket, Neo Sports.
• Infotainment: Discovery, National Geographic, Discovery Travel and Living, Animal Planet, History Channel, NDTV Good Times, Gyan Darshan.
• Kids: Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Hungama TV, Jetix, Animax, Nick, Pogo.
• Spiritual: Aastha TV, Sanskar, MH1 Shraddha, God TV.
• Music: MTV India, Channel V, VH1 India, Music India, 9xM.
• Regional: Sun TV, Star Vijay, Jaya TV, Kalaignar TV, Chutti TV, Raj TV, KTV, Sun News, Sun Music, Isai Aruvi, Gemini TV, Teja TV, ETV Telugu, Maa TV, Zee Telugu, TV 9, ETV 2, Gemini News, Gemini Music, Asianet, Surya TV, Kiran TV, Kairali, Asianet Plus, Amrita TV, Shalom TV, DD Malayalam, Asianet News, Manorama News, Udaya TV, ETV Kannada, Asianet Suvarna, Zee Kannada, Udaya Movies, Kasturi TV, Udaya Varthegalu, TV 9 Kannada, Udaya 2, Zee Marathi, ETV Marathi, Mi Marathi, Zee Talkies, DD Sahyadri, Star Majha, IBN Lokmat, ETV Bangla, Zee Bangla, Aakash, Star Anando, 24 ghanta, DD Bangla, Zee Gujarati, ETV Gujarati, DD Gujarati, DD Punjabi, ETC Punjabi, Zee Punjabi, PTC Punjabi, MH 1, DD Oriya, ETV Oriya, OTV, NE TV, DD Urdu, ETV Urdu
• Help: Customer Care.
• Radio: AIR Hindi, AIR Marathi, AIR Gujarati, AIR Bangla, Radio Kashmir, FM Rainbow Chennai, FM Rainbow Bangalore, FM Gold Mumbai, FM Gold Delhi.

I took the Smart South Rs. 2190/- pack. Which includes the 'South Popular Pack', 1 'Regional Pack'. For now, I am able to view all except the 9 English cinema channels. But I am guessing that will not be for too long and I will be asked to pay up for the sports channels and regional channels.

The 'Cinema' channels are free for the first 3 months after which the viewer will have to pay for the movie channels. Personally, I don't really care for the 'Cinema' channels. Most of the movies are old and are already available on DVDs.

Guide:

The 'Guide' has pretty accurate but incomplete program listings. The navigation could be better. On selecting a channel, it only displays the current day's listings. Although it took me a couple of seconds to figure out how to get the listings for the rest of the week they still could have done a better job.

The program listings for some channels were incomplete i.e. there were listings available for Wednesday and Thursday but not for the rest of the week. I hope they fix that soon.

Select:

The 'Select' screen is a 4x3 grid which shows what is playing in 12 channels simultaneously. There are 6  'Select' screens categorized by channel type (e.g. Entertainment, Movies, etc).  Although I like the feature a lot, the navigation is sometimes sluggish . This too is in my 'please fixit soon' list.

Favorites:

You can create multiple favorite channels list and give them any name. These favorite lists appear in the category list in the 'Mini Guide'.  This is a nice convenient way to filter out all the channels you don't watch. 

There are a bunch of other settings/features like 'Parental Control' and 'Reminders'. I haven't played around with these yet nor do I plan to anytime soon.

Conclusion:

Big TV has a long way to go before they can claim to be 'India's Best Digital TV Service'. They will have to first fix issues with their customer care and support before they start losing potential customers. As far as the STB user experience is concerned, they can learn a lesson or two from Tivo's UI. But in the short term, I really hope the fix the issues I mentioned earlier in this post.