SuperCard finally supports long file name

The CF2GBA update 1.4.2 released recently. I tried and found the long file name support very nice a feature. BTW, the SuperCard is both a blessing and a curse. For instance, the instance game is simply an awesome feature. However, the slow down problem on a lot of platform and action game, which is the intrinsic problem with the technology and cannot be solved easily without some hardware changes, is a major letdown. Nevertheless, for those games that works with SuperCard, they were awesome, and the SuperCard provides me a totally new gaming experience which I never could have without it.

With SuperCard, I will have my hands full for a while and don’t need to rush to get Nintendo DS and PSP.

Problem with F2APowerWriter ....

For some strange reason, I couldn’t write saver back to the Flash2Advance card using Flash2Advance Writer 3.1. I have to roll back to Flash2Advance Writer 3.0 in order to get the save working. Also, I had problem writing save file back to the cart if the Flash2Advance card was written with F2APowerWriter. Darn, seems like I need to fall back to the old 3.0 version to write ROM and save.

The hell is the moonlight MPEG 2 viewer

A few days ago I started to see a stupid logo dancing on the video player screen when I play some video. I finally got feed up and checked it out online. Turned out that it was caused by a Moonlight MPEG2 codec luring for money (activate some player by playing some shit money). This is crazy since I never installed this moonlight player. Finally I had to go to the damn Moonlight site to download an uninstaller (DecCleaner.zip). And then I don't see that crap logo anymore. But damn I am still pissed. To me it sort of behaves like a spyware (having something installed without my consensus.

Not Gonna buy the DELL for HK$3199

The deal seems to be too good to be true: for HK$3199, you get a Pocket PC with great performance, VGA Graphic resolution, Bluetooth and WiFi support, great video play back ability and many more. That’s exactly what I was thinking when I saw this deal from Dell Hong Kong web site


DellTM Axim X50v 624MHZ

However, after spending 2 hours to study reviews and information from all sort of web sites, I decided not to get this product for several reasons:

(1) I already have a very capable Sony Clie PDA NX70V. Sure it’s not the latest and greatest, but it pretty much does everything I throw at it fine. There’s really not a need to buy another PDA.
(2) I hate the Windows CE OS interface. I will use it only because of the capability it provides, like using Remote Desktop client, or Flash 6 player. But I really have a need for those features. They are nice to have, but not essential
(3) Conversion still involved if I need to play video on the X50v. It’s fast. No doubt, but a lot of the video that I have still required conversion in order to play correctly o the X50v. If I cannot save my time and ease my mind with zero conversion effort, then why spending $3000+ on something?
(4) Carrying and maintaining another gear is not a enjoyable thing. It’s fun when playing it, but it adds another load on my bed, and I really don’t want to use PocketPC for my daily organizer need.
(5) Battery life on X50v is really not good based on what I read from all the review sites. That’s a big big minus.
(6) A dedicated potable video player with a hard disk satisfy my need much better. I am hungry for watch tons of video on the road more than the ability to change some Excel spreadsheet.

So there you have it. My list of not spending that HK$3199.

On the other hand, I found these great Pocket PC info sites along the way. They are all worth checking out.

• Hong Kong Pocket PC Discussion Group
• Aximsite – DELL Axim Pocket PC discussion group

Convert .RMVB to watch on NX70V

Interesting, I didn’t know that Image Converter 1.5 (an application for converting video to be watched on Sony Clie PDA NX70V) could handle .rmvb file until yesterday. I read a post in a forum suggesting readers to simply rename an .rmvb file to .avi and then drop it in the IC 1.5 user interface. I tried and I worked. But then I was wondering if IC 1.5 actually takes the file WITHOUT renaming the extension. I’ll definitely try that one out later.

The dark side of MobiNote’s DVX-POD 7010

Besides Rollei es1020G, MobiNote’s DVX-POD 7010 was something that I considered a good candidate of a PVP to be brought. That is just I read this review:

http://portablevideo.engadget.com/entry/9928147592525569/

Seems like DVX-POD made the same mistake of so many gadgets: rushing to the market without completely tested the machine. In fact, the biggest flaw of the device is that users have hard time converting videos to watch on the device. What good a PVP is if I cannot make materials to watch on the device? There’s no way I will use it simply to record video from video in and then playing back from the same device.

Of course, with future firmware update, all these can be changed. And I am waiting to see the real product showing up at stores in Hong Kong. Sometimes actually seeing and touching it makes a big different on the decision of purchase the right hardware gear.

Mainland China site that talks about PSP and Nintendo DS

Here’s a nice Mainland China site that talks about PSP and Nintendo DS:
http://game.shm.com.cn/forum

No need to convert video for NX70V with high quality setting

After a few experiment, I figured out that my NX70V really is slow regarding to playing video, and even when I provide higher quality video file to play on NX70V, the hardware is simply incapable to handle it and create even jerkier video playback.

I figured that fact out yesterday when I tried putting video compressed in high quality setting and original MPEG 1 video on a memory stick, and then play back on NX70V. I used to simply compress video using the normal compression setting, so at first I still had a hope that the jerky video playback on NX70V is deal to low quality compression. But when I played the MPEG1 video on NX70V, I saw major slow down even though the player continue playing the video. Then I tried playing the high quality compressed video. It played, yet not too much better than the normal version, and definitely cannot justify the doubled file size.

So the conclusion is that I should stay with the normal compression when preparing video to watch on NX70V, and forget about great video playback on NX70V as it won’t happen due to the limitation of the hardware.

Now I understand why those PDA shops showcase PDAs but playing high quality video. That’s for showing off the great playback capability of the gear itself.

Wasting time on reading discussion about gadget

As much as I tried to avoid being hyped, I still have a tendency to be districted by discussion on fancy new gadget or cool new toys. In far, I can spend hours reading and reading about discussion of gadgets in Internet forum. Even though I haven’t waste money yet, I wasted a lot of time, and that is something equally precious to me.

You can say that I am just retrieving more information to make smarter decision. Yet, I need to keep reminding myself in order to convince myself the true money and time saver: the fewer gadgets, the less time and money I wasted.

Rollei es1020G. Very tempting, but PSP seems better

I tried the PVP (Portable Video Player) Rollei es1020G at a store this afternoon. For the price of HK$3880 (HK$3650 from gray market), the product seems to be very reasonably priced. Unfortunately, I turned around and saw a video playing on Playstation Portable (PSP) from a memory stick, and the video quality was TWICE better. Sure the current 512Mb Memory stick size is a big minus (not to mention that I hate the cost ineffectiveness of Memory Stick in general), but one cannot deny that the video playback quality on PSP is just great. And thus I predict that the next generation of PVP will at least match the quality of PSP. So for now, I will wait, at least wait until the official release of PSP in Hong Kong.

Still the reasonable battery life of es1020G makes the product kind of tempting. The store sales told me that the battery life is about 4 hours, which is shorter than most report on the Net claimed. So I tend to believe that 4 hour is the actual battery life.

There are two things that caused me alerted and refuse to get es1020G right away: there is NO SINGLE user review online for the es1020G yet. That makes me feel very unfortable. In addition, I cannot find any information about 1020G in the official Rollei site! That means no manual, no info and no firmware update what-so-ever from the official site. Not a good sign as a technology product in 21st Century. That makes me worry about how much support I will receive after I buy the product.

Well, let me wait 2 months, at least wait until PSP finally arrive.

The package of the USB 2.0 Hub. $37. If you need power adapter (in case you use the hub with external USB harddisk), get one in the same store at $49. That one comes with Power Adapter. 

Here's the look of the USB 2.0 Hub taken out of the package. Nothing fancy, but it works, and cost only $37. Other stores sells the same product at $50. 

... is still a bragin. (sorry for being cut off from the last message.) Here's a closer detail of the receipt. 

This is the cheapest USB 2.0 Hub I've ever found so far. You can see the hub itself and the receipt, thus if you want one you can go to the exact same store to get the prodcut. I tested it on my home machine and it works great. The only downside is that it doesn't provide the power adapter, so you should use this only for device that does not draw much power form the USB Port. For USB harddisk and other high power consumption device, you can get a cheap USB 2.0 hub that comes with Power Adapter for $49, which I think it