[New speakers!]

My personal test track is G Major Toccata by Mannheim Steamroller (off Fresh Aire IV), specifically the first ~45 seconds.  Top hat hits & rolls to test out the treble, pipe organ & kettledrums for bass, and a Hammond organ for everything in between.  Plus some decent stereo separation.

 

When I was shopping for a new stereo I stopped in to a Hi-Fi store and used this track to test out a bunch of amps and speakers.  I concluded the amp didn't make much difference (at the price point I was shopping at), while the speakers were much more important.  Of course, the one thing I couldn't easily change was the room.

 

[I want (but don't need) a portable system]

After more research it looks like I should be able to get most of what I want by jailbreaking my 3DS XL.  But before I do that, I have some other projects I should be working on...

[Zool - Jaguar-Exclusive track Metal Blockage on YouTube]

You can use https://youtube-dl.org/ to download the audio tracks directly from YT.

 

[Audio Slumming]

The living room is approx 10 feet by 15 feet with the TV & speakers at one short end.  The problem is one long wall is windows with a sofa in front while the opposite opens onto the rest of the house & the stairway.

[Audio Slumming]

My first home stereo system was a Denon amp & Jamo speakers.  About eight years ago I replaced them with a Pioneer S-HSAJ2 5+1 speaker system (although I've never hooked up the center speaker) and Yamaha AV Amp.

 

When I was shopping around I spent some time doing some listening tests at a HiFi store making the sales person swap cables while I listened to the same 30 second clip.  My conclusion was the difference between amplifiers at the price point I was buying was minimal.  Speakers made a bigger difference, although I bought based on reviews & specs rather than listening tests.  The one variable I couldn't change and would make a big difference is the room.

 

 

[Sound chip, video circuitry, and more address decoding: 6502 computer part 2]

Best of luck!  The one thing I suggest is to spend as much time as possible planning before spending $$ and also determine your critical path for spending.  Nothing worse than a CFO asking about an expensive never-to-be-finished project.  Also start small with something you can easily verify success, then start adding complexity.

 

You may want to invest in something like an Arduino or RPi Pico which you can use to validate external HW.

 

Heck, pick up a CoCo off eBay to understand how it works.  (Also check out https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Documents/Manuals/Hardware/Color Computer Technical Reference Manual (Tandy).pdf - lots of good info.)

 

You're also going to need some way to program your micro, i.e. a ROM burner.  You might also want to check into PALs for address decoding.

 

[Fix your RF]

RF suffers from quality loss (versus composite) not from any issue inherent in RF but because of the modulation (up to 61.25MHz / 67.25MHz & VSB filter) and demodulation (back down from VHF) steps.  And you can bet the RF parts in the VCS and most TVs weren't of top quality (which is why you get such an improvement using your studio demodulator).  In addition, as you've found, shielding can make a huge difference in signal quality.

 

[Tell me what's wrong with .wmv format.]

When dealing with audio and video files it's important to understand the differences between the container format and the codec.  Confusion often arises because the filename extension typically indicates the container (e.g. WAV, AVI, MOV, MKV, OGG, MP4) but most container formats can handle a wide variety of codecs (e.g. H.264, MPEG2).  People who don't understand this will complain they can't play a particular WAV or AVI file, not understanding that their player doesn't have a decoder for the codec.

 

According to Wikipedia, WMV files are generally one of the Windows Media Video codecs in an ASF container.  In addition WMV 9 was standardized as VC-1.

 

So depending upon the codec used for your WMV files, HandBrake could have just put the exact same compressed data into an MP4 container.

 

However, looking at episode 1, it appears it's been transcoded to H.264, but probably at a high enough bit rate that the video is visually indistinguishable from the original.

 

As to why WMV is obsolete - it was a proprietary format.  Typically proprietary formats always lose to more open formats.

[Maybe yet another C Compiler for 6502 programming...]

Sounds like quite the challenge, although I have to wonder what you are planning on using it for.  It's not like you're going to implement the standard C libraries on the 2600.

 

For me, I'd start with what problem I'm trying to solve and then build up something from there.

[Trinitron Pickup]

Nice score!

[YouTube new policies]

The way I read https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9528076?hl=en&ref_topic=9257782 is "is the video specifically targeted at minors", not "is this video only for those over the age of majority".  So unless you're specifically targeting kids (or otherwise need to be on the "YouTube for Kids" area), the answer is no.

 

[Episode IX Star Wars binge, part 3]

Personally I enjoyed Ep1 more than Ep2 and Ep3.  I think the good / great scenes in the second two weren't enough to balance out their bad scenes.  Both are also deep into the Anakin storyline, so both films are more focused on him and Padme with more weak writing and bland acting. 

[Episode IX Star Wars binge, part 2]

I did a similar binge before going to see Episode 8.  I remember seeing Episode 1 on opening night and enjoying it - and returning for several more theater viewings.

 

I still enjoy Episode 1 as I find the good parts (Darth Maul, the pod race, the battle scenes, landscape shots) are still very, very good.  I never was a Jar-Jar hater, so his goofy manner doesn't bother me, and it's interesting to watch his character develop - knowing what he later sets in motion.  I also loved Palpatine and how he clearly was pulling the strings to ensure he came out ahead no matter what happened.  This is where the Republic starts to fall.

 

OTOH where the prequel trilogy falls down IMHO is in trying to do what it was supposed to do - explain the origin of the Skywalkers.  Unlike Rogue One, which turned a single line into a coherent movie which was consistent with the other movies, the prequels managed to ruin some of the mythos and introduce contradictions with the original trilogy.  I understand it is very difficult to write a prequel, but George had over a decade to do so.

 

[Rules to buy a new video game system]

My problem with buying a new console is I already have numerous devices and a library of games to play on them (and more available at low or no cost).

 

I will say that # 3 shouldn't be a deal breaker unless you live somewhere where internet is expensive or unavailable.  The question is whether the game can be played offline.

 

 

 

 

[MidSpace Redux: Day 3]

23 hours ago, atari2600land said:

The way I fixed the jumping at 262 scanlines problem was by removing two lines of code, so perhaps I was doing too much at a certain time?

Yep, depending upon how you are counting lines that will do it.

[Going 4K, Take 2]

Yeah, the "no 32bit" is a non-starter for my 27" iMac.  In particular the drivers for my Dell Laser printer / scanner / copier.

 

For EyeTV I suspect the video files could be played back via VLC or similar - but that's not much value without the metadata.

 

I learned at one point to try to avoid recording shows which followed sporting events and try to find an alternate timeslot or channel.

[MidSpace Redux: Day 3]

One thing to check is how you're setting VSYNC / VBLANK.  I have hazy memories of some people having problems with Skeleton which was eventually tracked down to how it did VSYNC / VBLANK (setting bits at the right time of the line and for the right number of lines).  Or was it I didn't use VBLANK, but just generated black.  Something or other.

 

There was also a bug in the original release of Skeleton+ which caused the "YOU WIN" screen to roll.  I wasn't paying attention when I was reordering the data in the cart and the label which I was using for the address of the last line wasn't anymore.

 

Maybe you've got something similar where you're jumping from one routine where the VSYNC is at the top of the loop to another where it's at the bottom.

 

[Rare doesn't mean valuable]

In addition to media coverage of people buying items at high prices there are the "reality" shows which suggest even the most common brass is worth it's weight in gold.  (In fact, many of those shows are staged and the prices are set by the production team.)

 

[Goofin' Around in Minecraft]

Nice build.

 

Currently my wife, son & I have started completing quests on Wynncraft.  I used to play on 2B2T (and make YouTube videos), but now I just log in to see if my base is still standing, or is anyone has left new signs.  My son used to play a lot on Hypixel, and the three of us have played a lot of local survival games (both PC and PS3).

 

[Monitor Controls All, ThinCade: (part 5)]

I am fairly certain you can connect the arcade controls directly to the RPi GPIO headers and use the built-in audio jacks instead of the USB dongle.

[Increased Backup Reserve]

I hadn't thought of the AC conversion losses, but running high voltage high current DC lines would probably eat into most of the short term savings. And unless you're going to feed it with a dedicated 240V 100A circuit you're probably not going to see much benefit from a charging time perspective.

 

I'm just thinking that there would be value from the power controller perspective to have a dedicated PEV charging circuit so it can best manage it. And it's a Tesla PowerWall - shouldn't it have a place to plug in your Tesla?

[Increased Backup Reserve]

Yep, charge the car before dumping the excess power back into the grid. It's interesting the power controller doesn't have a circuit specifically for PEV charging.

[Increased Backup Reserve]

Personally I'd think that having all 240V circuits grid only would make sense as those are typically power hungry and would quickly drain the batteries.

[Hidden info shows better performance]

Yep, I agree. In addition because the interface is "intuitive" they don't bother with documentation. So we the users are left hunting for how to access the information, change the configuration or otherwise make the app do what we want it to do.

 

And the developers aren't doing themselves any favors either. Someone still has to take the time to create those "hidden" functions and test them. But because the majority of users never encounter those functions, they really aren't field tested properly.

[First 2 days]

For me a sunny weekend day means clothes drying on the clothesline - or as I call it "direct usage solar and wind power".