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New Repair Log
I'm adding a new section to the site called "Repair Log" where I'll add some short problem/resolution articles for repairs I've done on arcade games, electronics, etc. First up is repairing chase / rope lights in a Bug Bash Alley Game. I'll be adding a lot more to this section over time since I've been doing quite a bit of repairs on all kinds of things in the last year.

Posted May 23rd, 2010 9:36 AM by AceBHound
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Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive - HDCP Issues

I picked up an HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 a few weeks ago -- yeah I know HD DVD is a dead format, but some really good deals can be had on HD DVDs these days. Some of the same movies that would cost $15+ on Blu Ray are just $2-3 on HD DVD so I figured what can I lose? Anyway I tried out King Kong (that came in the box with the HD DVD drive) and Planet Earth right away and everything seemed fine -- but this weekend sat down to watch Norbit and was getting random spots where it would seem to drop frames (blink a black screen for a split second). Tried HD DVD of Old School and saw the same thing.

It turns out I'm not alone -- apparently what I was experiencing was related to HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection). It's meant as an anti-piracy measure and if you use an HDMI connection to watch HD movies then there is a "handshake" between the HD DVD player & television.. and when one device can't communicate fast enough for the other device you can have issues.

I tried power cycling the Xbox and tv, and tried 3 different brands of HDMI cables that I had just to eliminate that possibility. I then tried on several LCD tvs and all experienced the same issue. Sometimes when fast forwarding, rewinding, or skipping chapters I'd actually get the message that "HDCP Secure Link Lost" and then it would re-establish itself. Throughout the movie the random split-second black screens would persist and were really distracting. Apparently this doesn't happen if you use a component connection from your Xbox since it doesn't have the HDCP security on it.

I'm sortof happy it's not just one TV doing it and that it seems to be the Xbox's HD DVD Player. From what I've read it could have been due to the NXE dashboard update that was rolled out in 2008 and more specifically the H.264 codec used on some HD DVDs. Microsoft doesn't support the device any more so I haven't found any newer firmware updates newer than 2.0.5127.

I plan to try out some more HD DVDs I have that aren't using the AVC / H.264 codec (using the hddvdstats.com list as a reference to the codec used) and see if the issue is strictly with AVC discs. There is a performance comparison of a VC-1 encoded disc versus AVC encoded disc on Anandtech where they use an Xbox HD DVD player on a PC and show AVC takes more cpu power. I would wonder if the Xbox CPU under the new dashboard is being taxed with AVC encoded discs and that's what's causing the intermittent hiccups with HDCP. So much for a painless experience with HD DVDs on the Xbox.

**Update** -- I have tried several other VC-1 encoded discs and did not notice any issues, so this seems to support the theory above. I have also tried an Xbox with an older dashboard and only noticed a black screen flash once after 15-20 minutes, which is a lot better than with the new dashboard.

Posted Feb 28th, 2010 3:43 PM by AceBHound
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camelcamelcamel.com - Amazon Price Watch

A coworker recommended a new Amazon Price Watch website that I've been using the last month or two during comparison shopping - camelcamelcamel.com. I seem to remember there being another price watch and price trend tracking website like this a few years ago but think it vanished. It's really useful if you want to know if you're buying at the highest or lowest a product's ever been offered on Amazon. Somehow I still end up buying a day before they drop prices again though! :)

Posted Feb 15th, 2010 6:46 PM by AceBHound
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Hooking up a Furby Motor to Arduino
Updated the Furby project with my recent experiments with the Furby motor & an H-Bridge driver IC to control the motor's forward and reverse movement via the Arduino. It's not working exactly how I want so there's no how-to or code yet, but it's a start!

Posted Dec 11th, 2009 4:15 PM by AceBHound
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Get "World Of Goo" (Indie Game) Super Cheap! Ends Oct 19th.

This week in celebration of the 1yr anniversary of World Of Goo, the developers are offering a huge sale on the game. You pay whatever you think it's worth in form of a Paypal donation and you get the full game. Regular price of the game is $19.95, so it's a great deal and surprisingly a very fun and unique game. I like to think of it as a new-school Lemmings.

Part adventure puzzle, part physics-based construction sim, World of Goo is a quirky game in which players must build geometric structures by connecting small droplets of "goo." The premise is that players transport a specified number of droplets from the starting point to a pipe that serves as the goal, with leftover droplets automatically traveling along the completed pathway. Challenges come in the form of realistic gravity and weather conditions that change with each season, and as the game progresses players will encounter helpful tools, level-based pitfalls, and a number of different colored droplets, each offering unique levels of elasticity and a finite number of re-connections.

Pick it up before the sale ends on Oct 19th for some cheap fun! And if you like the game enough, support the two developers that created it by buying some additional copies for friends/family!

Posted Oct 17th, 2009 9:45 AM by AceBHound
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Previous Topics

09-20-2009
New Project - Furby Hacking!

09-19-2009
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08-21-2009
New Squeezebox Radios Coming

06-27-2009
I cancelled my XM subscriptions... I think?

05-21-2009
Aspire One - Swapped Atheros with Intel 3945 Wireless Card

04-22-2009
Funny comments in source code

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