Sunday, March 12, 2006

Review: Component to VGA box

Device Review

So my anguish over high def video gaming is almost over. I recently bought a Progressive-Scan Component VGA Box from Lik-Sang. This device will take component input in 480p, 720p, or 1080i and transform it to VGA for use with up to two monitors. Out of the box, I plugged everything in and it worked like a charm with my archaic KDS VS-195 monitor. There are a number of dip switches on the device that allow for manual settings, but on auto it worked great. One thing that is a little annoying is that it cannot handle non-hi-def signals at all. So when the XBOX is in the OS screen, it will not be displayed. Another thing is that the colors are very washed out. Not very rich or vibrant, but the thing that was important to me, contrast, was spot on and I can now spot my enemy from a great distance away in dark areas with a crispness that is just not available on standard tv.



Other Stuff

Yesterday's reformat was a success. At least so far. I have yet to test hooking up the camcorder to the computer to see if I am able to pull the videos in. That will be on my to be tested today list. Also I need to test hooking up my new 61 key m-audio keyboard (M-Audio Keystation 61es 61-Key Keyboard). Powered and connected via USB for use with both PCs and Macs, which is also why I am not tempted to get a Mac (although I am tempted about once a year). Garageband is a piece of software that has always intrigued me and it would be nice to run it for a spin or to have something similar on the PC. But alas, I now have to figure out what will be in the budget.

Also, yesterday's reformat has identified a problem of mine. I have not organization for the files that I have on my PC and I think that I am going to need to put them in some sort of order. And definitely run a backup. Yup.

1 comment:

J. Heuer said...

Comes back to an old grudge of mine with MSFT: why the heck do they not have a consistent keyword & comment feature for all files? THat way I could make a search the organisation I need, rather than folders... I have a 400GB external drive a roughly the same capacity spread over my four laptops, so managing files is a real bi&%h... Since such a thing is a file system level solution (to survive copying), only the Big Guys can fix it... I looked in Vista, and nada... Oh well, maybe I am going to dump all my files into a DB and serve them from there with a Wiki Frontend (mmmmh, what frontend that might be???) :-D