Weblog 2004-11-01

It��s always exciting when an old electronic device got a new life my simply installing some software update. Today my Palm (Sony Clie NX-70V) becomes a better portable video player by having a new video converter application.

NX-70V supported MPEG4 video playback from the very beginning, but the bigger problem is on the converter running on the PC. The Clie relies on the converter to convert the right format of video to play back on the NX-70V, but unfortunately, the Image Converter 1.0 which came with the device was very primitive on the user image, the video format that it supports and the speed of conversion. The latest Image Converter 1.5 changed all that.

The latest Image Converter 1.5 can be downloaded at:

http://ciscdb.sel.sony.com/perl/swu-list.pl?template=EN&mdl=PEGNX70V

The one you needed is called ��Sony? Image Converter Update 10/29/2004��. Make sure you also download and install ��Movie Player System Software Update Program��, or otherwise the video you converter won��t got playback (and even hang your machine) on your Palm. I know this because I was tearing my hair off (trust me I don't have much) to figure out why the videos converted by the new converter hanged my machine. (To be fair, part was my problem was that I was using the Japanese version of the converter application.

However, I am still struggling to figure out why the crazy QuickTime didn't function properly after I installed the converter. It keeps requiring me to put in the memory stick in the card reader. But then, once I physically unplug the reader, the QuickTime player will continue playing properly. Go figure. Well, at least I figured the pattern.

I also suspect that the ��Memory Stick Pro Update�� resolves my video play back problem when playing video on the Compact Flash card, because after I installed it, instead of hanging forever, the player actually comes back when I fast skip to the later part of the movie. I��ll do more experiment on this.

OK, just tried, doesn��t seem to have the problem resolved, Sigh.

And speaking of mysterious video playback problem, the Winamp was not running probably lately, and I am not sure if it has anything to do with the installation of the X Code Pack or the Real Alternative player. One thing for sure is that I miss the forward by keyboard capability. Gotta find someway to get that feature back!

Well, just tested it on my Compaq laptop, and found that it seems to be indeed the Real Alterative (or maybe just the Windows Media Player classic that comes with the package) that caused the problem on WinAmp. Uninstalled RealAlternative and things worked fine. Strange.

Remember my Compaq laptop crashes every so often when playing videos? After running the system on another partition, the Compaq seems to be pretty stable these days. I will have to continue observing it, though.

Quest the find an ultimate search tool on my Palm seems to be going nowhere. Sigh.

SecondCopy is my very favorite backup application. It��s small, simple to use, and does the job great. I use it to backup my Flash memory cards.

Finding video file that works with the new Clie Image Converter is such a trial and error task. I got ��Father of the Pride episode 6 & 7�� and an anime converted fine. However, all the ��G4TechTV Screen Saver�� and ��Call For Help�� episodes failed to be converted. Very puzzling indeed.

Because of this, I need to find a tool that can simply convert all video to MPEG1 so that I can safely using the Clie Image Converter to convert video for viewing on my Palm. EOVideo is the tool. I do remember that I previous slammed on this tool because I don��t understand certain part of the UI. But after the learning curve, I actually found that EOVideo is pretty powerful and user friendly.