What you did today

[Musopticon?]

Attended a homebreaking party. The attendance was mostly nerds in their early 20's and the talk of the day was free-form gameplay and player-emergent gameplay in mumorpeges. Much beer was had, Dragons of Autumn Twilight animated was watched and torn apart and everyone was in agreement that a modern rpg setting based on both The Wickerman(1972) and Dog Soldiers(both of which we watched) would be awesome.

 

It was kind of interesting to confirm that my new friend actually has around 100 hardcover systems(woo Exalted!) and that his name is actually typoed in 4th ed D&D tester credits.

 

I got home around 4 in the morning. Had a blast.

[Xard]

Much beer was had, Dragons of Autumn Twilight animated was watched

 

ouch

[Walsingham]

Had bizarre convesrsation with ex telling me about her recent one night stands.

 

I had forgotten how jealous I can get.

[Hurlshort]

Also.

 

http://xkcd.com/481/

 

I can't tell if Krezack is calling me a moron or not...

Edited September 28, 2008 by Hurlshot

[Walsingham]

I don't think so. I like this one:

 

http://xkcd.com/479/

[Humodour]

Also.

 

http://xkcd.com/481/

 

I can't tell if Krezack is calling me a moron or not...

 

Of course not. I'm just a fan of xkcd.

 

Walsingham: Yes. You'd be surprised how many phones I've bought that ship with every ringtone but a ringing sound. Most of them are downright embarrassing.

 

Which brings me onto idiots who have Avril Lavigne or something as their ringtone only to turn bright scarlet when their phone rings in public.

[Walsingham]

I just find it bizarre and unnerving that I am so far removed from some portions of humanity. Those portions that find it desirable to hear a man telling them to **** off every time their phone rings.

[Gorth]

I just find it bizarre and unnerving that I am so far removed from some portions of humanity. Those portions that find it desirable to hear a man telling them to **** off every time their phone rings.

I even tell my own phone to **** off when it rings... but then I've always hated phones in all their incarnations, shapes and forms

[Shryke]

wait, so what's your number then Gorth?

[Deadly_Nightshade]

I'm helping a friend recover from a lapse in PC security that left her open to some nasty viruses and trojans. Still not sure how bad it is at the moment as I'm currently phoning in help, but I think it's recoverable and I'll be able to do a hands-on examination tomorrow.

[Gorth]

wait, so what's your number then Gorth?

666?

 

At least the forum software says so

[Calax]

I finished watching the first season of heroes again. and we picked up season two on dvd and started recordings of season three... we missed the first ep but eh we' can survive.

 

Oh and I earned forty bucks painting my parents bathroom doors.

[Dark_Raven]

wait, so what's your number then Gorth?

666?

 

At least the forum software says so

You evil man. Your post count at the moment is 3666.

[Humodour]

wait, so what's your number then Gorth?

666?

 

At least the forum software says so

You evil man. Your post count at the moment is 3666.

 

Wow, that's a whole 3000 posts unrelated to 666! It can't be a coincidence.

[taks]

Nah, both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD lost. Blu-Ray is seeing poor sales in stores even though it supposedly 'won' the format war. They're trying to do gimmicks like sell Blu-Ray discs with magazines.

the problem with blu-ray isn't the format, it is the cost of the players and tvs. still prohibitive. in fact, the best blu-ray player on the market is still the sony playstation 3, and you can get 'em for the same price as the regular players. you just get a gaming platform to boot! add in the cost of an hd-tv and it gets ugly, fast.

 

standard def DVD doesn't hold a candle to blu-ray (or any HD for that matter). in fact, i watch standard def DVDs on my blu-ray player just to get the up-conversion (though it still lacks in quality) to fill the screen. i understand you can get up-conversion DVD players, too, but still, they don't look as good as a blu-ray.

 

i think we'll better be able to see what is going to happen in the market after all of the broadcast tvs go digital in february. the one comment (in your link) about blu-ray being superseded was interesting. the samsung guy wouldn't speculate as to what, just that it would happen. personally, i think we'll end up with flash-based systems in the future. no moving parts leads to much higher reliability, faster transfer rates and fewer bit errors plus it all comes in a smaller package and the replication process will be cheaper to implement (have you ever watched the "how it's made" episode on how they make DVD products? silly complicated). either way, i think this is more than 5 years off. as i recall, similar predictions were made when we went to CDs from tape... 20+ years ago or so?

 

taks

[samm]

in fact, the best blu-ray player on the market is still the sony playstation 3, and you can get 'em for the same price as the regular players.

Definitely not the best, feature-wise. Price/performance is good, because it's also a gaming console. P/p is good for a BD-Player, not a console, of course.

 

Normal university day today, without the first four hours

Edited September 29, 2008 by samm

[taks]

Definitely not the best, feature-wise. Price/performance is good, because it's also a gaming console. P/p is good for a BD-Player, not a console, of course.

not really features, but quality. that may be changing, of course, as new players are introduced. but back in march, when you had the option to get a blu-ray player for $400, or a PS3 for $400, it didn't make much sense to get a player. i got the PS3.

 

taks

[samm]

Yes, doesn't make sense to buy a standalone player currently. I'm waiting for an HD format to become standard for TV broadcasts, 24p support without pulldown and full HD to become standard for TVs, and then save quite an amount of money for such a TV and player until BD becomes an option for me... Probably quite some years from now

 

Played half an hour of Psychonauts (this was the first time it got a bit boring, I was in Lungfishopolis) and coded some PHP stuff that I couldn't finish at work.

Edited September 29, 2008 by samm

[taks]

i wish more stations actually broadcast HD, btw. regular def stuff looks like crap on a big tv. mine is a 52" sony, which isn't really all that big, and i have to avoid regular def shows because it almost hurts my eyes. even with the changeover in february, all that will happen is that analog broadcasts will go away. they aren't required to broadcast in HD, just digital. if you've got cable or satellite, you won't even notice a difference (except when you no longer can pick up your local stations over the air with your HF tuner... grrr).

 

taks

[Humodour]

Nah, both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD lost. Blu-Ray is seeing poor sales in stores even though it supposedly 'won' the format war. They're trying to do gimmicks like sell Blu-Ray discs with magazines.

the problem with blu-ray isn't the format, it is the cost of the players and tvs. still prohibitive. in fact, the best blu-ray player on the market is still the sony playstation 3, and you can get 'em for the same price as the regular players. you just get a gaming platform to boot! add in the cost of an hd-tv and it gets ugly, fast.

 

Yeah, definitely. But this is all the reason why both Blu-Ray AND HD-DVD will be the losers in the end.

 

standard def DVD doesn't hold a candle to blu-ray (or any HD for that matter). in fact, i watch standard def DVDs on my blu-ray player just to get the up-conversion (though it still lacks in quality) to fill the screen. i understand you can get up-conversion DVD players, too, but still, they don't look as good as a blu-ray.

 

Sure, sure. Thing is, most consumers don't know that. I don't even. They say you don't know what you've got till it's gone. In this case, it's you don't know what you're missing out on till you've experience it, I guess.

 

i think we'll better be able to see what is going to happen in the market after all of the broadcast tvs go digital in february. the one comment (in your link) about blu-ray being superseded was interesting. the samsung guy wouldn't speculate as to what, just that it would happen. personally, i think we'll end up with flash-based systems in the future. no moving parts leads to much higher reliability, faster transfer rates and fewer bit errors plus it all comes in a smaller package and the replication process will be cheaper to implement (have you ever watched the "how it's made" episode on how they make DVD products? silly complicated). either way, i think this is more than 5 years off. as i recall, similar predictions were made when we went to CDs from tape... 20+ years ago or so?

 

taks

 

Mmm. Flash-based is very promising. I think you're right, actually. I mean, there's lots of advances in hard-drive technology, and lots of advances in optical disc tech (both are in the terabyte range). But in the end, it probably will be all these fantastic new solid-state devices that win out. Right now, though, it's too cost prohibitive for high-density storage. 5 years is definitely a reasonable timeline to change that.

 

As for digital TV... we'll see how America goes. I think we switch over here in like 2012, so we've got a while yet. There's some controversy about digital TV forcing small broadcasters out of business because they'd need to do expensive upgrades, so I think the government is going to subsides them a bit from memory. Everybody is certainly pushing for digital TV. I'm ambivalent - what, exactly, is the benefit?

[Deraldin]

I spent pretty much all day sleeping. Some bug caught up with my last night after I got back from playing some Battletech and just completely knocked me flat. Had to call my employer to tell them that I wouldn't be able to make it to the job today.

[taks]

Yeah, definitely. But this is all the reason why both Blu-Ray AND HD-DVD will be the losers in the end.

i guess so, in a way, but that's not really a whole lot different than say VHS systems, other than overall duration. i think as technology advances, durations for any product will get shorter and shorter. guess you just gotta hunker down and live with something for a while, then suffer the cost of the next upgrade when you have no choice.

 

Sure, sure. Thing is, most consumers don't know that. I don't even. They say you don't know what you've got till it's gone. In this case, it's you don't know what you're missing out on till you've experience it, I guess.

yeah, i suppose. i have a bit of a deeper understanding of the overall technology (though not by much), and i may also be biased by that knowledge.

 

Mmm. Flash-based is very promising. I think you're right, actually. I mean, there's lots of advances in hard-drive technology, and lots of advances in optical disc tech (both are in the terabyte range). But in the end, it probably will be all these fantastic new solid-state devices that win out. Right now, though, it's too cost prohibitive for high-density storage. 5 years is definitely a reasonable timeline to change that.

yup. i'm waiting, anxiously. i'm tired of HDDs failing on me, too, and i hope they go out the window as well. HDDs are the second most unreliable piece of the system i've ever had, right behind mobos. i'm not 100% certain that my mobo problems weren't actually HDD problems, for that matter. grrr.

 

As for digital TV... we'll see how America goes. I think we switch over here in like 2012, so we've got a while yet. There's some controversy about digital TV forcing small broadcasters out of business because they'd need to do expensive upgrades, so I think the government is going to subsides them a bit from memory. Everybody is certainly pushing for digital TV. I'm ambivalent - what, exactly, is the benefit?

bandwidth efficiency. believe it or not, you can cram more content down a digital channel* than an analog one, plus with error correction coding, you can actually perfectly reconstruct the original signal. that is impossible to do with analog... MPEG2 is the compression, from what i've read, which is variable, and sometimes results in a crappy picture (even on HD channels). this depends upon your carrier and how many channels it's cramming into a given amount of space. i do not know what modulation scheme they're using (though i could find out with some digging).

 

taks

 

 

*technically, all "channels" are analog, the difference is how the information is packaged. in a "digital channel," some sort of digital modulation scheme is used to transmit bits of information, though the actual waveform is still radio frequency (RF), i.e., analog. for example, the most basic digital modulation scheme is known as binary phase (or biphase) shift keying. the carrier wave (some RF frequency, a sinusoid) is multiplied by +/-1 which represents the data bits (0 is mapped to +1 and 1 is mapped to -1). what is transmitted is a noisy looking sinusoid, and the "bits" are encoded in the phase jumps. wiki has a picture under the topic BPSK.

[Walsingham]

Spent the whole day putting the finishing touches on a project proposal. It's really weird doing this sort of thing since it involves basically magicing great things out of nothing. Absolutely exhausting.

[Tale]

We're in crunch this week. I spent what little time I had to myself (the drive home, waiting to fall asleep, and the drive back) yesterday and today thinking... "I don't want this to end."

 

That is to say I think I'll be looking for another job in video/computer game QA. The question is where? I now have to start giving consideration to the possibility of moving. Though we do have a couple of studios nearby. And one of them is supposedly looking.

Edited September 30, 2008 by Tale

[Walsingham]

We're in crunch this week. I spent what little time I had to myself (the drive home, waiting to fall asleep, and the drive back) yesterday and today thinking... "I don't want this to end."

 

That is to say I think I'll be looking for another job in video/computer game QA. The question is where? I now have to start giving consideration to the possibility of moving. Though we do have a couple of studios nearby. And one of them is supposedly looking.

 

Sorry to hear that. I am sure you can secure work somewhere though. Have you considered doing non-gaming software?