Red Bull Cola

Here’s some wise words for you based on an experience I had last night. If it’s 2am and you are getting ready to go to bed, maybe don’t drink two Red Bull cola drinks.

Someone was telling me about them the other day and I was like, “gee, okay… I guess I’ll try it to see what it’s like.”

Also, for the record, it’s not very good. Tastes like they just mixed Red Bull and Coke 50/50.

vBulletin 3.8.3 Upgrade…

Okay, gonna go ahead and upgrade the Digital Point Forums to vBulletin 3.8.3… Since so many of you are freaks and are on it 24/7, I made this post to keep you up to date on what’s going on (I’ll update it periodically throughout the process). You can also use this blog post as the new temporary forum for all your discussion needs while I do the upgrade. hah

  • 3:26 am – Reading and posting seems to work… I suppose that’s good enough for now (still working on the other stuff, but don’t need to force everyone off to do it).
  • 3:24 am – Skimming over various areas of the forum to see if things (mostly) work. I could let you guys in before the templates are fully updated possibly.
  • 3:22 am – New moderator permissions set
  • 3:17 am – Static CSS files located on single server in web cluster and spread around properly (I hate this about vBulletin BTW… gimme a hook location to do it please!)
  • 3:09 am – Core upgrade done.
  • 3:07 am – Recoded some of the upgrade scripts so they aren’t making that change to the reputation table. Will deal with issue this later instead.
  • 3:00 am – Stupid reputation table was altered in 3.8.0 to not allow negative userids so it can accommodate 4 billion users instead of “only” 2 billion. Stupid. I used negative userids internally for some stuff. /thinking what to do about this…
  • 2:55 am – First problem… reputation table alterations not going well. Going digging in raw database…
  • 2:50 am – Running “ALTER TABLE pmtext” on DB servers. That’s a big one… going to get another beer.
  • 2:49 am – Up to version 3.8.0 alpha 1
  • 2:43 am – It’s almost 3am. If you are a cute girl reading this, please post your picture in the comments, k thanks.
  • 2:41 am – I forgot we have to go through all versions to get to the newest… lol… going through 3.7.0 beta 4 at the moment.
  • 2:40 am – Userlist rebuilding
  • 2:36 am – Watching DB servers alter thread table for tagging support… (this is really boring)
  • 2:34 am – Watching DB servers alter thread table for prefix support… /bored
  • 2:30 am – New PHP files in place and synced across web server cluster
  • 2:29 am – DB backup done
  • 2:27 am – Thinking I might not have enough beer for this…
  • 2:25 am – DB backup still running (it’s huge… many, many, many gigs)
  • 2:18 am – Got beer and craisens
  • 2:17 am – Backing up DB
  • 2:13 am – Making this post

Sony Blu-Ray BDP-CX7000ES 400 Disc Changer

So I’ve been waiting for this thing for awhile now, and it looks like Sony is finally going to be releasing it (even $400 cheaper than previously rumored). Yum, yum…

400 discs, serial control, Ethernet port for pulling meta data via Internet, etc… looks nice to me.

Press Release

SONY ORGANIZES YOUR ENTERTAINMENT COLLECTION

WITH NEW 400-DISC BLU-RAY DISC/DVD MEGACHANGER

Company Expands Blu-ray Disc Player Options with Three New Models
NEW YORK, July 23, 2009 – Looking to help consumers simplify and manage their living room entertainment experience, Sony today announced the new BDP-CX960 and the “Elevated Standard” (ES) BDP-CX7000ES 400-disc Blu-ray Discâ„¢ MegaChangers.

The company also announced the BDP-S1000ES single disc ES player expanding the Sony’s Blu-ray Disc line to 13 models offering a broad set of performance and features.

The Blu-ray Disc MegaChanger models store and play 400 Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, and CDs, allowing consumers to relocate their disc library to a convenient, easy-to-access location.

They also feature the ability to download information from Gracenote’s MusicID® and VideoIDâ„¢ products to organize movies and music. When a disc is inserted into the device, Gracenote technology automatically downloads information across an existing Internet broadband service and saves title, director, some cast information, release year, and genre information for most titles, allowing users to easily navigate the library intuitively through the player’s xross media barâ„¢ menu system.

“Think about all those great movie and music discs in your collection,” said Chris Fawcett, vice president for Sony Electronics’ home audio and video business. “Wouldn’t it be great to instantly play those movies or CDs — definitely gives a new meaning to the notion of a movie marathon!”

BDP-CX7000ES and BDP-CX960

Leading the MegaChanger line up is the BDP-CX7000ES which outputs full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinemaâ„¢. Designed to integrate with third-party automation control systems, the model features an RS232 connection and IR-in and is built to high-quality ES standards.

It offers exceptional audio quality with 7.1 channel analog output and superior video incorporating Sony’s HD Reality Enhancer and Super Bit Mapping technologies. The HD Reality Enhancer technology continually analyzes the original source bit by bit, sharpening edges and reproducing detail, while reducing the effects of film grain. Super Bit Mapping delivers smoother color gradation realizing true 14-bit equivalent color tone from 8-bit sources.

The model also upscales standard definition DVDs to 1080p through Sony’s Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology when connected to a 1080p display via HDMI.

Precision Cinema HD Upscale uses advanced conversion and processing to detect image changes at the pixel level, rather than the level of whole scan lines. Additionally, separate algorithms are used to process the moving and still parts of an image, resulting in sharp backgrounds with moving objects that are free from motion artifacts.

Complementing the BDP-CX7000ES, is the new BDP-CX960. This 400-disc MegaChanger also delivers full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinema output and Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology.

Both the BDP-CX7000ES and BDP-CX960 feature an Ethernet port for connectivity to a local home broadband network to download metadata from Gracenote, software updates and to access BD-Liveâ„¢ content. There is also an external port for local storage so users can add their USB flash storage device to support BD-Live content.

The models support 7.1 channel Dolby® TrueHD and Dolby® Digital Plus, DTS®-HD High Resolution Audio, and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding as well as bit-stream output via HDMI. It is compatible with an array of video formats, including BD-ROM/R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD-+ Video/R/RW, CD/R/RW, and MP3/JPEG on BD/DVD/CD recordable media and supports x.v.Color™ (xvYCC) technology. The BDP-CX7000ES also supports Deep Color via HDMI (v1.3).

The BDP-CX7000ES is available this August for about $1,900, while the BDP-CX960 will be available this fall for about $800.
BDP-S1000ES

The single-disc BDP-S1000ES Blu-ray Disc player bolsters the ES line adding built-in Wi-Fi® (802.11N/G/B/A) capability for easy BD-Live access. The model offers full HD 1080/60p and 24p True Cinemaâ„¢ and upscales standard definition DVDs to 1080p through Sony’s Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology.

The model can easily connect to the Internet through an existing wireless home network to download and stream BD-Live content from select titles including additional scenes, short subjects, trailers, interactive games, and more. It also enables easy firmware updates to assist in keeping your player up-to-date with the latest Blu-ray Disc media and features.

While compatible with most wireless routers, the BDP-S1000ES also supports Wi-Fi Protected Setupâ„¢, for a quick and easy connection to enabled wireless routers. Additionally, the player is Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) ready, allowing it to connect to other DLNA compliant devices to watch digital photos on your TV.

The model also incorporates Sony’s HD Reality Enhancer, Super Bit Mapping, and Precision Drive HD technology.

It supports Deep Color video output and x.v.Color technology. The player is compatible with an array of video formats, including BD-ROM/R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD-+ Video/R/RW, CD/R/RW, and MP3/JPEG on BD/DVD/CD recordable media.

The model also is compatible with advanced audio codecs including 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS -HD Master Audio, and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio decoding and bit-stream output, as well as analog 7.1 channel output.

The BDP-S1000ES is available this August for about $700.

Models et al

I gotta say, iMovie HD is really nice for hacking together quick videos with pretty decent quality. I threw together this video for a friend real quick for NVR Strings. Oh darn, I get to look at girls in bikinis while editing video. Sad day for me. 🙁

The original video I output was full 1920×1080 high def, but here’s the YouTube version…

Override CSS

So I found myself wanting to override a few items in a sitewide CSS file, but only for a single page… Rather than make entire new CSS elements, I figured there had to be a way to override the CSS file with a <style> clause within the page itself…

Sure enough, I finally figured it out… !important

[code=css]

[/code]

!important can go at the end of any style attribute and it will override anything that isn’t “important”.

Spider Bottlecap Nearly Killed Me

…so as I’m going through the {cough, cough} 2+ years of comments I never got around to moderating on this blog, I came across one that is freaking me out.

//www.shawnhogan.com/2006/11/vampire-bite.html#comment-33317

Dr. Finch seems to think I have some gnarley spider bite that needs immediate doctor attention and my life is in danger.

I think he missed this part about this post… lol

Quote

“Okay, okay… it was from me trying to open a beer bottle with my bare hands last night at poker.”

Thank God is all I have to say… if it were otherwise, I might be the first person to die from not moderating their blog comments fast enough.