The Upgrade from Hell

The Upgrade from Hell

Another title for this post might have been "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry"!

Because of all the trouble I had, for awhile there I truly believed my PC was Evil!!

To really appreciate and better understand this post, you must read the one from last week where I detail what I was planning on doing: You can click here to read it. Note it will open in a new window which you can close and then return here.

So! You read the previous post? Good!

The multi-media drive arrived Monday and I started the upgrade Tuesday as I was taking a personal day because I had a ton of phone calls to make on some personal matters.

Well, the drive installed easy enough, I simply took the rails off the old drive, installed them on the new one and slid it into the cage in the HP Z 565. I connected the power and then ran the SATA cable and then re-attached the face plate. I was doing this on the dining room table and since I am already loading another PC there I had an LCD Display setup which I attached and booted up to make sure I could see the new drive.

Tech Note: Windows XP users should take note when installing a drive like this if you do not have the UFS (Universal File System) drivers installed the drive will act like there is no DVD in it if you insert an HD-DVD or Blu-ray Disc, but, the movie player software will recognize it. Vista users UFS is included int he system already so you would actually see the files on the Disc. Of course DVD's and CD's would show file systems under XP as they would in any DVD drive without the UFS driver.

Anyway, Windows saw the drive fine. Now it was time to put the rest of the case back together and button up the system. I then, to Tails' dismay, shooed her from her newest perch in the entertainment cabinet where the HTPC usually sites when it is not being serviced, and reconnected power, USB, and HDMI connections.

I was stoked! I loaded the HD (High Definition) Diagnostic software which checks all facets of your system and got Green lights across the board except for the lack of player software which I then loaded.

FYI the LG GGC-H20L drive comes with an excellent software suite including Power DVD Ultra, Power Producer, Power Backup, Label Print, Power 2 Go, Power Starter. Check out the Products section of the Cyberlink web page here for product info on these.

With the Player software loaded I played a standard DVD and it looked gorgeous. I loaded an HD-DVD and hit play, 1 second of glorious HD video was displayed, before the screen went black, and an error box stating "The repeater you are plugged into is NOT HDCP compliant. Playback of High Definition content is prohibited on this device"

For those of you unfamiliar with HDCP it is High-Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection. You can read about HDCP here if you wish to.

What this meant in layman's terms whas that the Power DVD software was errouneously detecting that my setup was not compliant with HDCP. Set Phasers on stun, since I was!

Some testing and cable swapping soon showed me the perceived problem was my Onkyo receiver. I have both my IP TV and HTPC connected via HDMI into my Onkyo AV receiver and it then outputs out to my Panasonic plasma display.

If I bypassed the Onkyo plugged directly into the PC it worked fine. This of course was unacceptable for a couple of reasons, first I need to go through the Onkyo for my 5.1 surround sound setup plus as I have more than one HDMI device I need the multi port inputs of the receiver to switch for me.

Not being fully up to speed technically on HDCP I decided ti try an HDMI switch. I connected that and it worked as well, so my next step was to try connecting the PC to the switch, and the output of the switch to the Onkyo.....but alas I was one HDMI cable short.

I sat down and thought some more and realized that I had two HD devices that were working fine connected to the Onkyo which told me HDC was being processed correctly!

I also found though that my current Onkyo unit was one of the first they made with HDMI but, it was still compliant to the original specification. it should be working....love that word..... should.........

So, I fired off a problem report with Cyberlink and ordered an HDMI cable so I could still approach this on two fronts.

Over the next two days on and off I did a lot of research on HDCP, problems with Onkyo devices, and Power DVD issues. It seems many were having them and many had solved it by plunking down $99 for a piece of software called AnyDVD HD which installs as a driver and removes the HDCP protection. I downloaded the 21 day trial and it worked and I could play HD-DVD through the Onkyo.

HOWEVER I really dd not want to pay $99 so I decided to wait for the cable and to hear back from tech support. The reason I bought the new drive for the HTPC was for an economical alternative to buying a Blu-ray player and another HD-DVD as a backup device to preserve my investment of HD-DVD's and to allow me to pay at fire sale prices HD-DVD's remaining on the market at drastically reduced prices. Spending another $100 was not in my game plan!

I head back from Cyberlink this morning and they pointed me to a patch for the Power DVD software and downloaded it. I was in the middle of a work meeting via WebEx and since the software required a reboot I anxiously awaiting the chance to do the reboot.

Work meeting over I bounced the HTPC, reconnected to the work network, unloaded the AnyDVD HD trial and launched Power DVD. The HD-DVD in the drive played in glorious HD with no issues!

Case closed, and for $120 I now have a unit that plays all existing formats:

My current Toshiba HD-DVD player can be boxed up as a backup unit! I am most pleased with this very cost effective solution considering the costs of buying another HD-DVD player as a backup and a Blu-ray player as well. With current costs I easily came in at 20% or less of those projected costs and have a single unit and another free shelf in the entertainment system!

Next upgrade of my Entertainment PC

My Z565 Entertainment system PC took another step today towards being a greater part of the whole home theater experience. Awhile back I had bought an HD-DVD player, and of course we all now know, unless you just came out of a cave where you've been for the past few months, that HD-DVD lost the format war to Blu-ray.

While this distressed me it had the benefit that the price of HD-DVD's plunged and I picked up some good ones at decent prices including dome good collections at 50-70% off!!

With the price of good Blu-ray players still over $300 I was in no hurry to get one though I realized with my passion for video I would need to at some point. I really did not want two DVD players in the entertainment system.

Ideally, a combination unit that played HD-DVD and Blu-ray would have been the best way to go but these are very costly and not 100% compatible with all features on both formats.

What to do going forward was the question which I have been pondering for three months or so.

For $120 with shipping, my HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD question has been answered. One of those sale of the moment sites had an LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray/HD-DVD-ROM & 16x DVD Burner - Sata, Lightscribe drive on sale, and with shipping it came to $120. Newegg has the drive for $165 right now so that's a decent deal!

If you've read about the Z series of systems on my blog before you know what a nightmare it is upgrading these. Space inside the case is extremely tight!

I had to crack the entertainment system since the internal pics I had taken did not show any accessible SATA connectors, plus I had to totally remove the front panel so the old DVD drive could be removed and the length measured and compared to the new drive's dimensions. The new drive is about half an inch deeper which fits with maybe another half inch to spare and there are easily accessible SATA and power connectors for the new drive as well! The old DVD drive was an IDE interface so I knew I would not be able to use the current interface.

That video card upgrade I got is HD compatible so I should be all set; we shall see! I can then continue to stock up on discounted HD-DVD's and also procure any Blu-ray titles that catch my eye (Best Buy is having a 2 for $30 sale right now in fact with some decent titles.

The Entertainment PC waits anxiously, in pieces, on the dining room table for the arrival of the new drive. I could not see putting it all back together and back in the entertainment system cabinet just to do it all over again in a few days; the office PC will just have to suffice!

Star Trek TOS - Season One HD-DVD Review

I recently procured the first season of Star Trek The Original Series (TOS) on HD-DVD. All four seasons will eventually be available this way.

It's amazing what they have done here; they took each episode using the original film and then restored each frame. The color and clarity is simply amazing, just too incredible to describe. side by side comparisons available on the DVD show just how effective they were here. They also re-recorded the orchestra music to provide higher quality.

THEN, while staying true to the original content they replaced all the old optical effects with state of the art CGI. It is incredible! Shots of planets and such which originally were painted balls look fantastic as does the enterprise and other ships and such. Existing effects in live actions shots are enhanced or added where missing, it is just fantastic.

Some episodes have what they call "Starfleet Access" where a series of icons is displayed on the screen to the right of the picture. These can be life form or science/device specific and clicking on them pops open a box with specific information on the highlighted items. For example the first time a Romulan is displayed, there is more detailed information.

There are also comments and other content related to the episode. When you activate this icon the current screen is shrunk down a bit and shifted to the left side of your screen and the new info pops up. This content is fantastic, anything from original footage showed side-by-side with the new footage, little known facts, and lots of other information from various people.

I've watched about a third of the episodes, and it is almost like rediscovering Star Trek. They went to great pains to preserve the spirit of the original, such as in the opening which is all redone, but the Enterprise movements across the screen, the star movement and patterns, have all been painstakingly duplicated.

There are also tons of extras available outside the episodes themselves, such as Billy Blackburn's Treasure Chest: Rare home movies and special memories, Spacelift: Transporting Trek into the 21st century featurette, Interactive Enterprise inspection where you can fly around side the Enterprise, interviews with cast members, and more.

While the price is a bit high in my opinion, though this is somewhat understandable now that I know how much work went into this, I must say this is one of the most monumental sets of DVD's I have ever seen! They are also playable on SD DVD players, though without some of the extra content described above.

This link takes you to an 8 minute movie about these DVD's with some behind the scenes information on their creation.

If you want to know more (much, much more!) about Star Trek TOS, you can click this link from Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

HD-DVD Player

Using Gift Certificates for Amazon that I got for the holidays and a couple I already had I did procure the Toshiba HD-A35 DVD player which arrived yesterday.

It is incredible playing HD-DVD's (I got 10 free!) and on normal DVD's the upconversion does a fantastic job so existing DVD's look great.

I am most pleased with my new toy; I jury rigged it yesterday so I could watch the HD-DVD version of Serenity. my Plasma only has one HDMI input and usually the PC is connected to that. While my Onkyo receiver has two HDMI inputs, I was shy a cable, so I unplugged the PC to connect the HD-DVD and I used the optical audio output on the HD-DVD player fed into the Onkyo. It was incredible! I ordered another HDMI cable which shall arrive today then I can have both switched through the receiver.

Tails was impressed too; below is a picture of her taken during the battle of the Alliance and the Reavers in Serenity:

Curious, Tails also looks like this when I make Beef Jerky! You may click the picture to see a much larger version in a new window.

Late Christmas Present and Xbox 360 Dies!

This month marks the 2 year anniversary of the procurement of my Panasonic 50" HDTV. Other than the computer I have no true HD sources to connect to it. Dish Network does not offer my local channels in HD and Comcast is just freaking expensive.

While DVD's look very nice, particularly when compared to TV viewing, I still do not have an HD video source....but will next week.

I just ordered a Toshiba HD-A35 DVD player; with all the Amazon gift certificates I had it cost me about $150 out of pocket which is cheaper than the add on drive for the xbox-360 and you get 10 free HD-DVD's with it. A good compromise over the HD-XA2 and much cheaper on the out of pocket side.

Speaking of the xbox, ours died a few days ago with the dreaded "Red Ring of Death" symptom!


Bad News: Warranty expired two weeks ago
Good News: Microsoft has extended the warranty to three years for this issue only!

So, I have a call placed with them and am awaiting the prepaid UPS mailer to return it for replacement or repair which should not cost a cent! Whoo Hooo!