Sure, most things I download from Usenet work out of the box. Some work after repair. And a small number of files are just too broken to even facilitate a repair. A compounding problem is of course that I run Sabnzbd on lean NAS system that really lacks the power to repair bigger releases within  a reasonable time frame. What takes minutes on a normal computer can take hours on a NAS. And sometimes you get caught in a sort of loop where you keep re-downloading, checking and repairing indefinitely instead of just giving up.

In retrospect, I am sorry I didn’t embrace fill servers / block accounts earlier. It would have saved me a lot of time and anguish. I went back and re-downloaded NZBs that wouldn’t complete before and it turns out that just a few megabytes of data was all it took to fix even the worst release, prevent failure or time consuming repair. And it only cost me a few bucks per server for non-expiring blocks of 5 or 25 GB. Given the usage I’ve been seeing so far, these blocks will in theory last a lifetime.

Not exactly the sort of professional equipment I am used to but well suited to the typical garden I am sure. Also saved me the trouble of looking at used leaf blowers and hedge trimmers. I already have a shopping list a mile long and I don’t need trivial stuff like this. Plus I only use the hedge trimmer for a couple of hours a year so …

The blower will see some more action I hope. I mean, the sheer number of things you can do with a leaf blower. It was love at first sight when I first used one ten years ago. It’s a real Swiss army knife of gardening and cleaning around the house. And a whole lot less noisy than the petrol blowers I am used to. Plus no more carburetor cleaning. I still have the snow blower situation fresh in mind.

The MX518 has been a mixed bag so far. It’s smaller, more curved, lighter and the buttons and smaller and more difficult to use. In particular, the middle mouse button (wheel / clicker) is too soft, too small and spins too easily (compared to the massively dense Sidewinder). At the same time it is strangely ergonomic and I did pretty well in Tribes: Ascend trying it out. So perhaps I shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it. Getting used to a new mouse takes time, in particular remembering the button layout and tuning the DPI settings to somehow match up with pointer speed and acceleration in Windows and various games. I do like that Logitech’s SetPoint can disable various features (like acceleration) when going into 3D applications, like games.

The problems, it would seem, are legio. Firstly, the fuel shut off valve must be broken because fuel seems to freely flow through to the carburetor and then obviously onto the floor. In retrospect, this was something that was probably present when I got the machine (it smelled up the garage as it was running on ordinary fuel at this point).

Secondly, I can’t get the machine to run properly any more. This seems to be a more recent problem since it did run just fine when I bought the machine (hence my suspicions about the fuel). Basically, the engine starts easy enough, but finding a proper choke setting is nearly impossible. And if you can get it to run long enough to take your hand off the choke, simply starting the auger will cause the engine to die. Best case scenario, the auger and drive will run until you hit some actual snow, and then the engine will die.

Seeing as I know absolutely nothing about engine repair, this is going to be a problem. Using online guides I was able to remove and dismantle the carb (a flo-jet model), but was unable to fix the problem at first glance. Didn’t have any carb cleaner nor any spare parts obviously, but on the other hand the carb didn’t seem in too bad a state aside from the gaskets, which were pretty much fused with the metal at this point.

Now I have an entire shopping list of things that ought to be replaced. Not counting carb parts, but I am going to hold off on those for the time being since I have no clue what to replace and why. Not to mention that 1970s carburetors aren’t exactly easy to come by. A complete new carb costs as much as the entire blower and even spare parts are incredibly overpriced. But I will start with something cheaper and easier by replacing the fuel line leading up to the carb. The inline fuel filter is a possible cause of problems, but I haven’t been able to remove it because I don’t have the fuel hose clips to put it back again if the old ones should break (and they almost always do). So while I’m at it, I’m going to replace the clips with more traditional clamps and throw in a new fuel hose because the old one feels like it’s about to come apart. Also not helping was the spark plug which had a considerable amount of carbon fouling – a sign of flooding I am told.

On a side note, I replaced the starter handle with a new mitten grip.

A few weeks later I got the exact same type of swelling in my right knee, but I dosed myself with Naproxen right away and it passed fairly swiftly. But since a couple of days ago the damn thing is back again, infecting the right knee once more and this time building to almost the same level as the first time around. The difference being that this time I didn’t self-medicate with Naproxen but rather waited to see what would happen.

So today I did another test for lyme and I got the knee drained of fluids to alleviate the symptoms at least. Got a good 90 ml out of the right knee joint and hopefully things will get (temporarily) better before it fills up again. I see now that there are plenty of funny Youtube videos of the draining procedure also. I’m impressed with the amount of people who seem to do this at home to themselves. Is that the American health care model perhaps? There are some horror stories out there alright.

I don’t know if I want it to be lyme or not, but I would sure like an answer and start working on a solution.

Addendum: Two weeks of Doxyferm (Doxycycline). A very broad antibiotic that is thankfully safe for those with renal impairment. So far so good. Had a swollen wrist last week but that has now subsided as well. Hopefully there will no other episodes.

So far I have:

• Intel i3-2100 – stock cooler
• Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3
• Corsair Vengeance 8GB Low Profile
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 -750 GB, same as old build for now

That is to say a perfectly operational system. Or a good foundation to build on at least. I looked at a lot of other options as well, including the WDTV Live that I owned for a brief time, as well as Fusion/Atom builds and Llano.  But in the end I felt this was my best option. It’s a well-rounded system that will go great with a discrete GPU and has the power to handle any sort of task, including light gaming, MadVR and Hi10p.

I also got the Logitech K400 keyboard, which seem fairly ideal for HTPC use. Never used a touchpad before but it is at least easier to clean than the greasy trackball on my old keyboard. A reasonable keyboard at a reasonable cost. If Logitech could add a backlighting and some media keys it would be golden. Works well to bring the computer out of sleep (S3) but I’ve had problems getting it to work in DOS / Bios. It’s a good thing that Gigabyte has their Touchbios software.

I have a couple of upgrades in the pipeline of course, including a discrete GPU, quieter cooling, possibly including a PicoPSU and of course an SSD (still very costly for a computer you wont use much). But the GPU issue comes first. Just not sure what to get. Just about anything is better than the Intel HD2000 circuit of course, but I would really like something that can offer some light gaming possibilities. And at the very least best the Llano option that I turned down. Ideally I would also like CUDA support, but Nvidia cards are generally quite poor in terms of performance per watt. And I really shouldn’t go down a route that precludes ever being able to run a PicoPSU. At the end of the day I probably need to get the computer concealed inside a TV cabinet first to see whether temperature and noise are really issues.

Selecting a PicoPSU is even more of a nuisance. And a costly one that you can never be quite sure will work in the end. Running a discrete GPU and a reasonably normal system, you can’t get away with a 90 W PSU like some of these other builds you find online. In fact I wouldn’t get anything less than 150 or 160 W, but preferably I’d want one of those 200 W PSUs. Unfortunately, finding a power adapter that can do 200 W, wont cost a fortune and actually works is no easy task. Not to mention the soldering and jury-rigging that might be involved. I’ve never seen anything bigger than 150 W bricks readily available and to power a 200 W PSU you’d need to scavenge an older laptop brick like the Dell DA-2. But going down the PicoPSU route is certainly tempting. Not only will it reduce the noise and heat inside the case (and TV cabinet) but it will free up a lot of space inside the case, allowing for bigger CPU coolers. And it will be possible to add a 120mm fan where the PSU currently sits.

I must also take the opportunity to gripe about Truecrypt once more. Sure, I made a few mistakes the first time around in that I encrypted entire drives in one sweep, either by not partitioning first or by doing system encryption across partitions. But TC sure doesn’t make it easy for people to decrypt their data in the case of system encryption. Not only can you still not attempt decryption of system volumes created outside of the currently running OS, but decryption from DOS using the rescue disc is darn slow. And when you realize how slow it is and defer the process, the entire drive is borked until you go through with the decryption process. There is no option to reverse the decryption process. Nor is there a way to re-install or repair your OS without decrypting (or formatting). Took me almost 30 hours decrypting those 750 GB …

Compared to the perceived stability of a LCD screen, there is no way I would ever take a chance on Plasma again. Too bad really considering the bang for the buck that they provide. But I guess that at the end of the day it’s a bit of a first world problem.

So I guess I am truly back to square one now. CCFL LCDs are all but gone and the LED LCD models aren’t just plagued by clouding and other backlight problems but are also relatively quite expensive, especially when compared to plasma. I might have to spring for a Sony 46EX503 display model. It has its fair share of problems, like an enormous input lag, but has DVB-T2 and at least you can bear to watch it.

OLED can’t arrive fast enough. Just saying.

I tried capturing part of the effect and uploaded the videos to Vimeo:

In addition to seeing what the camera is seeing, I also get a sort of green tinge or aura to or around high contrast areas. White text on a black background for instance. Especially when I pan around, just like I tried to do by moving the camera. It’s probably impossible to explain the effect to someone who can’t see it and never will. I.e. the majority of people. The TV has been adjusted to the best possible picture and has now run a good 130+ hours using break-in slides. The effect however remains.

So what is going on? Well, best I can tell, the different subpixels light up (and decay) at different speeds. Explained in more detail here. Not rocket science. But the question is why some people, like myself, are able to see this at all. Researching the topic brings me back to the term "retinal persistence" or persistence of vision (Beta or Phi?) and that most people are wired in such a way that their optic nerve "responds to changes in light at about 10 cycles per second" .

I did however not see this in any of the stores where I examined the 30-series before buying. My mistake was not play material bright enough and with high contrast. Rather I focused on animated material because I had heard of "large area flicker" effects. I thought that RBE would stand out like a sore thumb and besides, all TVs look a little wonky in stores when placed on a wall with dozens of other panels.

Knowing all of this I went back to the store where I bought the set and examined their other plasma sets, including Panasonic (G30, VT30) as well as LG (PZ570) and Samsung (7005). And I brought new high contrast material. Not only was the effect clearly visible on the store G30 (which had run for almost 1000 hours) but on the VT30 (1400 hours) as well. For the sake of reference I did try the LG and Samsung and much to my amazement, they did NOT exhibit the same effect. To the contrary, the image seemed A LOT more stable and enjoyable in addition to having little to no phosphor trails and no RBE. The LG had minute phosphor trails if truth be told (but only on fast horizontal or vertical movement as it perhaps should be), but the Samsung was eerily perfect. Having said that, I must stress this is just a crude evaluation to establish if and how Panasonic differs and if I can even use plasma based displays. The answer to the last question seems to be a resounding … maybe.

And who knows what else I’ll be able to see on the LG and Samsung once they’re set up in the living room. And they have their own quirks to be sure. LG has a nasty mirror glass panel that is terribly reflective and Samsung seemed a bit dull and exhibited a troubling vertical contrast problem most likely due to its filter. Look at it from above and the screen goes completely dark, much like if you view some LCDs from extreme angles.

So anyway, I tried contacting Panasonic and they did a good job pretending they did not understand what I was talking about. They had read about it online apparently but weren’t aware of any problem basically. Thanks for nothing.

I will try to return the set and then I’m back to square one.

After much deliberation, I got to a point where circumstances forced my hand. There was the technological dead end thanks to the surge of LED TVs and lack of widespread DVB-T2 support. Not to mention frustration that the living room never really got finished. And finally a local event that reduced the price for the 50 inch Panasonic G30 by over €110. Felt like a good idea at the time.

First impressions are mixed. Still in part stuck with SD TV channels which look bad on any TV this big, regardless of the fact that Panasonic has some of the best SD upscaling on the market. 720p HD TV broadcasts also have some compression artefacts and my highest bitrate blu-ray rips (like 20GB+ files) wouldn’t stream wirelessly to my WDTV Live. But the rips I did get streaming showed off the TV in a much better light.

This specific set passed most of the initial tests I could think of. Buzzing was acceptable, but noticeable in bright scenes with the volume muted. Fans were quiet enough. Didn’t see any of the fabled plasma flicker. No dead or stuck pixels that I could see. No color or brightness inconsistencies. Image looks great even in THX mode with colors, contrast and brightness muted. Not the sort of punch in the face you get from LCDs but a soft yet detailed and enjoyable picture. Reflections were also not as bad as I had feared. The G30 obviously is not the worst plasma in this department but I had heard a lot of complaints so I feared the worst. I however found that in a living room setting with dimmed lights and no windows directly behind the TV there was no issue whatsoever. In fact, my old, and equally flat CRT glass screen reflected a lot more. The speakers are also sort of OK for a flat screen TV.

It’s also nice to finally have HDMI ports (and plenty of them unlike cheaper LG plasmas).

The downsides that immediately come to mind are, predictably, phosphor lag / trailing / ghosting and posterization. The former is a little hard to figure out, perhaps I am seeing more of a rainbow effect? Not sure, will have to break the TV in and investigate. Can’t quite reproduce it either.  It’s like if I focus on a point and then move my eyes, or tilt my head, squint or alter some other parameter or lose focus for a split second and experience a green outline / halo all over the screen even during a static scene. Or perhaps it’s the scene itself with a specific mix of bright and dark areas. Not super annoying, but startling and odd. Could also be like with posterization, i.e. something that is reinforced with SD or highly compressed material. So, basically, more grain and less macro blocks will improve posterization tremendously. I should also add that I’ve done very little about the image settings besides activate THX.

Also, on a side note, the built-in EPG is extremely bland, and the tuner is disconnected as soon as the EPG is activated. Changing channels is also a tad slow, but the quality of the tuner image seems otherwise beyond question. Signal reception is very strong.

Built-in "smart TV" functions are sort of rudimentary but this is a non-issue for me. I’m pretty much back to building a new HTPC anyway. Sick of all the underpowered streamer bullshit.

So overall, coming from a smallish CRT, I’d rate the TV as potentially very good but weird and pending a final verdict.

I was on the fence for a while and couldn’t decide between the original Kahtoola Microspikes and the Icetrekkers Diamond Grip. I thought about getting both and I might just do that eventually, but since the Ebay seller wouldn’t combine shipping charges anyway I just didn’t see the point in jumping the gun. Also, the Diamond Grips are about ten pounds cheaper in comparison to the Microspikes. And perhaps a bit better suited to paved roads and normal conditions. One obvious downside of the Microspikes crampon system is that it feels better and lasts longer with a good deal of packed snow or ice.

I’m really looking forward to trying them out when the time comes. Hopefully they will be the solution I’ve been looking for all this time.

I will also look into long-time care. The rubber is probably fine as long as it is stored in a cool and dark place. Metal and road salt is another matter though. I guess washing it in the sink once in awhile should be fine. Or should one perhaps go straight for the lithium grease? I will be stocking up on that stuff for the snow blower anyway.