My new present: WD TV HD Media Player

This year's birthday celebration was indeed the most different one I had for my past 22 years here in Singapore. For the first time, I invited my friends over for a small party. Though it was a pity that Yeeshuan, Yunyen & Zhexun could not join in with us. Well I guess there is always next time.

For this year, I got a Western Digital TV HD Media Player. Yeah I know it is a mouthful to say its full name. Prior to getting this, my parents always complain to me about how I always coop up in my room during weekends despite my room being one of the hottest room to be in during sunny days. So I guess this little machine is going to be my savior.

For those in the dark, the WD TV HD Media Player can play or display videos, music and photos from any USB storage device plugged into it onto your HD TV. Read here for more info.

Many may think that why should one get this when the state of the art Playstation 3 can do this and much more? Well it is true that the PS3 is an amazing piece of device, and that it can do hundred and one things including solving celestial mysteries, it is not very specialised when it comes to media playing. I deal with alot of videos in various formats very often. Most of the files that I handle uses the MKV container. Sadly, the PS3 cannot handle this format. There are also several other shortcomings of the PS3 with regards to media playing which I am not going to discuss now.

So off I went to Sim Lim Square to hunt for my priced item. After walking around by myself and asking, probing around. I got my set for $179 which I thought was a good price. Next up, I got myself a 2 metre HDMI cable at only $18! I saw one at NTUC selling for $50. Some HDMI cable can fetch up to $250! Some might say that HDMI cables are priced according to its quality. I feel that so long as the cable transmits digital signals, its a good cable. We will only talk about quality when the length is more than 15 metres.

Love the glossy black exterior


Setup was as easy as ABC


Small and does not take up too much space


HDMI for video playback and Optical cable for audio output


Easy to use blue interface


Works like a charm with my HDD


Plays HD content brilliantly


MKV and embedded subtitles support for my anime is perfect
Mio is here with MEEEE!

The main reason I chose the WD TV is because of its 3rd party support. Who says hackers are always bad people. We need them to bring us all these wonderful applications. Using third party firmwares, I can hook up my player with an external USB DVDROM. This way I can play media which I had already burnt into my DVD collection. Other firmwares allow you to connect a USB wireless adapter to access your home WLAN. How neat is that!

All in all, I am very very happy to recieve this as a gift this year. Smiles.

Lonely. An Argument. A New Site.

Wow, been some time since I wrote something. Time really flies. Tomorrow will be my one full year of full time work here in hellhole Singapore. Thank Haruhi I got a nice job with wonderful colleagues to help me past time. But not for long... I bet everyone is aware that Merck had recently made a move to purchase Schering-Plough in the form of a reverse merger. Mergers normally means cost cutting (cutting people mostly). They call it 'consolidation'. Well, I will just live by the day and take it as it comes. All my plans have to be adjourned due to this ,coupled with the current economic downturn.

Now back on topic. The TOPIC actually consists of 3 parts. 3 totally unrelated parts. Lonely. This 10 odd days was, and will continue to be, a lonely period for me as my Dear when back up North to visit her home town. Lonely... I feel so looonely... I've got no muuuney... for my looaaann... AarrrOoohhh...

A couple of days back, my Dad and I were talking about this upcoming Sunday. Apparently, the extended family is going for "Grave Sweeping", after which all will head to the beach as a form of family outing. My Dad wanted me to block out my schedule for the event. I told him I am not interested to go to the beach. Singapore's beach is a dump. A real beach is like Cottesloe Beach in Perth. Now that's a real beach. I proceeded on to describe how wonderful real beaches are supposed to be and how I used to head out there for picnic once every few weeks. Somehow this nostalgic revelation angered my Dad. He said that what I mentioned was very hurtful to people who did not have the chance to see it; i.e. who did not have the chance to have their parents afford their studies overseas.

That statement got my irritated. Yes, indeed I was lucky to have the opportunity to see it. Now that I had seen it, isn't it natural for me to desire it? To yearn for it? To want the best for oneself; to associate oneself with only the best, can one improve and attain higher distinction. I am not stopping others from going to that dumping ground. They had not seen the best, and I think that is perfectly fine for them. They had not seen it but I had. Therefore they can continue to perceive that place as a beach but I couldn't. I am simply saying that I, myself, would not want to go there. Am I not allowed to have my own opinion? Who is to judge that my thinking or opinion is wrong? Am I putting anyone at risk of danger or inconvenience for not going there? Well I guess my Dad's pride is at stake if he had to explain to the extended family why his eldest son did not turn up then...

Regardless, I am not saying that I will not go to the outing at all. I WILL make myself present BECAUSE it is a FAMILY OUTING and NOT because I want to relax at that dum... er... I mean beach. I am all for having some quality time with the family. But please please please please please let me keep my own opinion on how a beach is supposed to be like. Thank you.

Lastly, on a lighter note, during my boredom, I stumbled upon a Facebook look-a-like social networking site for Anime & Manga lovers like me! Its called MyAnimeList.net. I find myself spending more time on it than Facebook as there is a deeper connection and I can actually use it for something that is meaningful. For example give ratings to the media that I had actually seen or read in MAL, instead of participating in questionaires like "What sports car are you?" in Facebook. After rating them, I can check out my 'Compatibility' with other MAL users based on our choice of media titles and their respective ratings.

Anyhow, here is the link to my profile: MyAnimeList.net

Now I am just waiting for my Dear to return from the North to start planing for a Movie cum Seafood Zhi Char outing together with my friends. Movie will be the upcoming The Fast & The Furious 4 or Xmen: Origins. YEAH!