It’s on, RadarG

Alright, I’ll admit that I am occasionally sort of stupid. Every few months I’ll think to myself, “Don’t I own justin.kraft@gmail.com? I couldn’t have possibly missed out registering my own name.”

So, I’ll go through a few iterations of guessing passwords, scratching my head, and trying to place this possibly-existent account registration on a time line of previously-retired passwords. I never get anywhere.

So today, I finally realize, after all this time, that I’ve never attempted to find out who actually owns this account (or if it is really me!). Come to find out, the real owner is none other than RadarG, who seems to have an overabundance of network and computer related forum posts across the webernetz.

I was content with this information, and appreciated the content found in the search results. Then, however, I decided to utilize all that science had to offer and conducted a most technical experiment to compare our online personas:

Apparently, I am the suck. I was pretty much devastated by this, and was on the verge of ending it all. Luckily, one of my scientific colleagues suggest that my experiment need a control case:

As one can conclude, both RadarG and I have a long way to go before we really earn our respective places in cyberworldland. That said, I will continue moving forward diligently. Though I have a long road ahead of me, I shall dream of a day when I will equal the red rocket.

PS3 Media Server Lubbinz

Ok, I guess I can take a few minutes to post something. Thanks for making me guilty, Jim.

I purchased a PS3 a few weeks ago to enjoy the gleeful bliss that is the Blu-ray Disc. I was planning on getting a stand-alone player, but a few features, namely Wi-Fi (for updates and BD Live) and the ability to play Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, made the PlayStation 3 the winner in my book of entirely too-low standards.

For years I’ve had a PC tethered to my TV to play video files or music (and Puzzle Fighter emulated in MAME!), and more recently to use for Netflix’s Watch Instantly streaming feature. Though Blu-ray was what I was going for, I was pleased to discover that the PS3 also was a great solution to play media via my home network.

Using software that acts as a “media server,” you can stream files from a computer on your network to the PlayStation. The icing on the cake is that this software can also be used to transcode media on the fly — meaning that file types that the PS3 does not support can be converted into a stream that is playable. There are several software options available to do this, but the catch is that some of them sort of… suck.

I started out with Nero MediaHome, then tinkered with TVersity, but neither of them cut the mustard (am I using too many food related sayings?). There was not enough customization available, nor could I get many of my video files to convert into something I’d want to watch. Also, both of these options depend on indexing a library of your media, rather than being able to see what’s available on the fly. TVersity does have some interesting RSS support, which I still continue to play with a bit.

Finally, I found PS3 Media Server, and it is by far the best I’ve tried so far. Completely free and currently in active development, this thing will play anything, I tell ya. The first time I used it I was streaming 1080p video with 5.1 surround over Wi-Fi within minutes. Craziness. A few positives:

• Handling restrictive situations like streaming over Wi-Fi require minimal tweaking.
• Live file viewing — no “indexing” required to view your media. Recently, a media library feature has been added, but it’s optional.
• Read some basic instructions and ensure you have the proper codecs. You can play anything. MKV, OGM, H.264, 720p, 1080p, surround sound, whatever.
• “Issues” tracking system on Google Code. Track issues and see them resolved, or make suggestions for features.

Though I can’t say enough about PS3 Media Server, I do have a second love, that fills a different niche: PlayOn, from Media Mall Technologies. From the site:

If you have a PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, or HP MediaSmart TV, PlayOn lets you watch Netflix, Hulu, CBS, YouTube, ESPN and more on your TV. Check it out with a 14 day free trial.

We will also be adding support for Nintendo Wii in early 2009. Stay tuned!

I use Netflix Watch Instantly a ton through PlayOn, and it has worked nearly flawlessly. Basically, it shows you what’s in your Instant queue on the Netflix site, including the box art and summary. From reading through the Media Mall forums, there are some issues, including problems with “silverlight enabled” accounts. The free trial is there for a reason, so check it out.

My one lingering “fear” is that Netflix will eventually somehow shut PlayOn down or block it. It is not officially supported, so I’m not sure what will happen in the long run. I’m not so much worried about losing the money I spent on the license, but the ability to play my movies and shows through my PS3!

Hey, this is great.

It’s been pretty awesome since gonad.org has become the most popular site on the nettarwebs. Right guys?

Guys?

Dammit.