Some upgrade news on two fronts… one is that of OS. The other is that of home audio: a new receiver.
More after the jump – this is working out to be a much longer post than I planned – and obviously Geeky in nature – so it might not be of interest to all!
OS News: I recently repaved my home machine with a fresh version of XP/SP2 but I’m considering repaving it again. Why? Well, cuz of Media Center Edition. I should have gone MCE on the repave but I sorta forgot about it: I was more intent on moving data and getting the new hard drive installed… The Xbox 360 handles all of my music data just fine but it will only stream video from an MCE box. So even though I don’t have a TV Tuner in there and it’s not hooked up to a TV display, I shoulda went that route? And since I’ve started encoding movies for the PSP, I might start encoding for TV… ah well, I dunno. I really, really don’t want to repave again before [insert a CTP or RTM version of] Vista and I don’t think MCE offers an upgrade path: it’s more for OEM’s than it is end users… we’ll see.
On to the new receiver – this was an unexpected purchase, sorta. I’ve had a hankering for a new receiver since the days of my first Xbox, but I held off for a while. Back in the day, I only ever used the receiver for DVD movies and music. The onboard TV speakers were fine for almost everything else, including PS2 gaming. When I got the Xbox with the advanced AV cable, I said “oO, Halo 2 supports 5.1!” and hooked that into the receiver. That’s when I started to notice that I was running out of optical inputs, something I thought was impossible to have happen when I bought the thing in 1998… I had to move the CD player from digital to analog inputs but that was fine.
Once I switched to HiDef cable, everything changed. On Steve’s advice I started routing all of my TV stuff through the receiver. My new cable box had optical out which was great since some cable channels are pumping 5.1… whoo! Add to that the Xbox 360 – also optical – and well: I had a bit of a problem with inputs.
My 2004 Sony TV is also start to slack a bit. It has seven inputs: one DVI, two Component, and a bevy of SVideo/Composite inputs. I’ve got the cable box into DVI – the DVD, Xbox and Xbox 360 all support Component: shortage! I considered retiring the DVD box, but both the Xbox and 360 aren’t as good as the DVD player: the DVD player remembers the stopping point of your last six discs and neither Xbox boxes do that. Then I remember that I planned to retire the Xbox anyway… I was right in that I haven’t played any of the games that the 360 doesn’t support – even Battlefront II. I was wrong in that I’d keep playing Halo 2 on the 360.
Oh, I can play it. It runs quite well. When I get around to playing the campaign mode, I’ll probably switch to the 360. The glitch is Xbox Live. I love the new controller. I do. I don’t think wireless is causing me any angst on Live – it seems to be fine in other games. However, when playing Halo 2 against other humans… I’m getting my ass kicked in ways I shouldn’t be… and I think it’s lag. Not network lag, per se, but general lag.
Take as an example a recent game: I have the sword. I line up a dude and the sight goes red. I pull the trigger: I see myself jump forward and slash and then, well I’m on the ground dead. The guy didn’t have a sword or a shotgun either – he had an SMG yet I died. So, I started to pull the trigger earlier in an effort to anticipate the game play: got slightly better results, b/c it’s hard to anticipate a game like Halo 2.
Said “Well, let me try the original” again. Whooped ass all over the place. The shotgun was responsive. The sword worked again. Fewer 9-year olds taunted me. Was good. Similar to playing Call of Duty 2 on Live: I’m able to hold my own in that game too – that’s why I don’t think I have network issues… and the emulation for Halo 2 has been nearly flawless – I just think I’m being a picky son of a bitch. As I was trained to be… I am in Test, after all! I also tried playing Xbox via SVideo – unacceptable. Looked like ass. No 5.1 sound anymore either.
All of which lead to do some research for a new receiver. I stopped in Video Only first [a good local store – it’s where I went for my Sony TV] and they had a few receivers. Including an HDMI from JVC for under $500. Of course, I had to get the obligatory “Sony sucks, JVC sucks, Yamaha r00lz – oh, we have those in stock too” speech. Yippie. Especially since I’ve had decent luck with Sony. I then popped to Circuit City and then over to Best Buy in the hopes of seeing a larger product line. I ruled out the HDMI receivers after seeing the $150 price tag for HDMI to DVI cables – that’s just nuts.
As it turns out I went with a Sony again, something from the 600 line for $249 (which replaces a 800 model that was $499 at the time). It has two Composite inputs: one DVD and one Video 2 (XBox). The DVD input has coaxial digital audio; Video 2 (DVD) has optical. Then there’s an optical for Video 3 (cable), MD (360), and CD (open!). A bunch of other inputs as well… It’s also 7.1 capable but it doesn’t have to be! I turned that off since my Bose speaker system is decidedly 5.1.
And before the lot of you roll your eyes at “yet another upgrade” Pft! I say to you. Home audio is something that I don’t upgrade often. Honest! In my bedroom I have a Sony receiver that’s from the mid 90’s – a Technics CD changer from 1990. The Sony receiver I just replaced was the one that knocked the other receiver upstairs. That one is from the late 90’s: the STR-DE825 is so old that it’s not even listed an eBay auction.
Anyway… I’m back on the original Xbox for Halo 2 and FWIW the new receiver was picked up by the Harmony remote without a problem. I just need one more audio cable and the whole rig is good to go.
Although, I still dunno what to do about the MCE stuff though – that just might be the next digital weekend project or something.
For those of you who really want to know…I’ll give you an up to the minute update on that MCE stuff. He just told me he’ll be doing it the rest of the night. No “weekend” projects here. (The project is a lot larger than he’s making it sound, in an effort to not sound nuts.)
BTW…he is alot better at Halo now that he’s not on the 360, which I hear a lot of during online play from others. Whiners.
The sword thing could also be you’re an eliete as well…I had it proved to me…I guess because of the length of the body exceeds that of the spartan, there was adjustments made to the range of motion the eliete has…and it’s very evident during sword use. FYI, spartans have the upper hand. *cries*
Yeah. What she said. :D
Yup and also Elite’s have giant melons, so they are easier to get head shots on. Spartans actually have the upperhand on a few things, it makes me think that Bungie kinda threw in the playable Elite as an afterthought, kind of a shame…
I’d rather be the elite (is that how you spell it, beacuse if it is, I hashed it) because they look cool. BAM
…and then there was a working box.
Mostly, anyhow. MCE seems happy; 360 seems happy. There’s a shitload of new services running that are sorta irksome, but mostly b/c I don’t know what they are.
Next trick is to see if I can playback my PSP-encoded MP4 files. I think I can on the PC but I don’t think so on the 360.