Into the Game

How many weeks have passed into the semester? Work starts to pile up and it sucks just to stay up reading articles and documents related to assignment. Few more weeks before the Easter break and nothing has been planned for that yet. Tamagaki is returning to Melbourne but I predict it will be during crunch time. I’ll try get things done in the holiday week…at least I won’t be playing Resident Evil 4 (yes, the old one with some touchups). The Last Remnant looks great and I’ll try to spend some time on it during the holidays.

Congrats to Najib for being the new Prime Minister of Malaysia. I hope he will bring prosperity to the country but I doubt so. Maybe prosperity to himself instead. Harhar. Anyways, he doesn’t have a good track record with the murder trials, conspiracy when he was Minister of Defence and the list goes on and on. What have we brought ourselves into? Time will tell….sighballs.

On the other note, I’ve got twitter! WordPress was happy to put the twitter widget so I did my better part of joining twitter. So whoever who wants to follow just sign me up haha, i’ll try to update as much as possible as this thing needs some getting use to it. I’ve got it installed on my mobile but not on Gravity. Would love to try it soon but pay to use it? Nah…. Twibble is on my list for now. 

Oh, and this blog is getting more and more hits! It’ll reach 100 thousand views soon enough. I’ll try to come up with more guides but so far there’s none. Last weekend we had Rich Maha for dinner and it was crazy filling. $10 steak today and beer. Awesome Dav, awesome. Now bring on WRESTLEMANIA 25!!

Connect Nokia Phones to Melbourne University Wireless

Connecting to Melbourne Uni with a Nokia Symbian phone wasn’t as easy as I thought, but I managed to get it to work on my E71. It should work with 802.11x enabled phones, N-series and E-series, and all Series 60 Symbian OS phones.

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The Wireless SSID is “UniWireless”

Alright, here goes!

Guide to streaming videos with subtitle on PS3 with Java PS3 Media Server!

Alright guys, PS3 Media Server is a new program so much easier to set up than TVersity. It’s Java based, works for Windows or Linux and capable of transcoding any HD content to your PS3 with subtitles on the fly.

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Check out the features here.

Download it here. Latest version v1.10.5.

Okay for those people who followed my TVersity guide, you should install Vista Codec Pack and remove “ffdshow-tryouts” although it isn’t necessary. (Btw, I’m still using ffdshow-tryouts!)

Playing the video files (some extracted from Readme)

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- Install PS3 Media Server.

- Get and install AVISynth 2.5.7 from here (2.5.8 has issues)

- Install codec pack, I recommend Vista Codec Pack. (Btw, I’m using ffdshow-tryouts, installation tips right at the end of this page)

- Set up the FFDShow Audio Decoder Config > Mixer to your preference, or this one 5.1 (3/0/2 LFE)

- Set “Autoload VSFilter” to Yes in Haali Splitter settings. *if necessary*

- Configure Haali Splitter (audio/subtitles language priorities) *if necessary*

- You can have optional codecs i.e. CoreAVC, Quicktime Alternative and Real Alternative.

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Fine Tuning PS3 Media Server

Mencoder settings:

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Common transcode settings:

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- UPDATE: v1.10.5 has improved Mencoder settings especially with subtitles, so no need to play with AviSynth priorities anymore.

- There’s nothing much to tweak for this program as it runs perfectly fine after install.
- Go to Navigation/Share settings and add the folder you want your video files played.
- Download “VSFilter.dll” here. Place it inside Avisynth’s plugin folder found in “Program Files/Avisynth 2.5/plugin”.
- Go to Transcoding Settings to change your Video quality, I use Good Quality and everything plays without stuttering.
*- Change “Avisynth/Mencoder” to 1st priority by clicking the Up/Down arrow on the bottom.*

If your PS3 detects the Media Server, everything should play up nicely!

Notes

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- You can have .avi files with .ass files in the same folder with same name and they will detect just fine.

To install ffdshow-tryouts, download the latest:

• ffdshow, I use ffdshow tryouts
• _MatroskaSplitter.zip :32-bit | 64-bit | old link don’t use Haali
• _MP4Splitter.zip : 32-bit | 64-bit | old link to watch mp4
• Other links: 64-bit | unicode filter from celtic_druid

- Uninstall all your codecs first!! Uninstall Haali if you have it!

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- Some has 2 versions available for the splitters.

For Windows Vista DON’T use Unicode.
Other version of Windows (i.e. 2000/XP) use Unicode.
This might have changed, as newer filters just have Unicode versions. Don’t worry, install and try for yourselves, if it works, good. Not? try another one. I have provided the old links just in case.

We have to install the splitters manually.

• Copy the file into your C:\Windows\System32 directory
• Open Command Prompt (Start > Run > type “cmd”)
• type “regsvr32 matroskasplitter.ax”
• type “regsvr32 MP4Splitter.ax”
• If done correctly, you will receive a success prompt.

UPDATED ARTICLE MOVED TO HERE

Back to reality.

Alright, the Singapore stint is over and I’m back in KL trying to recover from everything. The past week in Singapore has been crazy, leaving us all with very little sleep. We camped in Uni for quite a bit but we managed to make use of our time in Singapore haha. Eating and visiting places during midnight, one thing which we can’t do in Australia. Roti prata and Geylang! I bet Sangeev loved the free samples he got the other time! LOL. I’ll miss Singapore alot. 

male dominated class.

Ernest came to KL for a few days so we went visiting around tourist attraction spots. One of them was the KLCC Skybridge. We went on the Monday, it was closed on Public holidays. Tuesday, we were there again and they told us there’s no more tickets left. Wednesday, Ernest had to reach the airport by 2pm, so we went to KLCC early. Once again we were dissapointed when they told us they were giving out tickets for the 1.30pm trip. It was 10.30am when we reached there. After speaking to the ticket guy, we had wait for 15 minutes interval to see if anyone FFK last minute. Lucky us, after waiting for 30 minutes, we just went into the 11.45 queue and the lady let us in knowing we’ve waited for so long LOL. Thank God for letting us in hahahaha, didn’t waste our time waiting there :D The trip was satisfying, useful for Civil engineers such as myself. 

Yesterday, the hostel in Singapore notified me of an outstanding hostel fee of $1500. This is bullshit, and I want to know why I’m being charged so much. They are trying to telling me to pay via an e-mail. Where’s the invoice and breakdown of what they’re charging me for. Singaporeans aren’t all that smart after all. No offence. But mistakenly charging me for a semester hostel rent is way too big a mistake.

Thats all for now. Another guide coming up soon. I’ll try to make my busiest day reach 800 hits. Currently at 705. Stats stats stats.

Happy CNY.

Oh, here’s the Chinese New Year wish to everyone. I’ve been very forgetful lately.

 And I miss the food. Well, not the rice balls.

Festive season

The flight from Singapore to KL was so enjoyable because it was so short! and the seats were WAAYYY better than Tiger Airways. While keeping myself entertained listening to “Start Something” by Lostprophets, I was trying hard to fall asleep but failed. Like DUH! not when you’re listening to ROCK MUSIC. Well, I’ve done it with BFMV!!

Back to the main topic. It’s CHINESE NEW YEAR! Oh, yes I’m happy and excited but I’ve only 2 days to celebrate it. I missed the big dinner event at Overseas restaurant so I won’t be able to meet some of the relatives which I only get to meet them once a year. But oh well, that’s not very important to me. What matters is the Angpow!! Gotta love those red packets, and the joy of opening them. But surprisingly, I don’t really use the money because I always leave to Australia after CNY! Also, 2 days of CNY for me…..I can’t collect enough Angpow!!! Luckily, I have a twin brother, he’ll collect some on my behalf hahaha.

I really thank God for creating this opportunity to study in Singapore for a month. I’ve travelled so much, made new friends and experience so many new things in my short exchange studies. I’ll definitely consider studying and working in Singapore instead of Australia.

Geeves: I’ve never tried anything as good as this in my life. In Australia, you just eat to fill yourself up, but over here, you enjoy every single moment of it.

Haha, I feel that’s so darn true. 

I’m so looking forward to finish up my course in NUS!

Change is good.

Alright alright, i’ll blog something interesting this time. How about my ‘09 New Year’s Resolution?
I’ll keep it short and sweet, as that’s how I like things to be.

#1: Ignore temporary failure!
I’ve had trouble trying to establish a way of working out 3 times a week, it’s tough but I’ll try harder this year. Focus focus and put in effort! Successful people became what they are because they failed numerous times before.

#2: Eat well, live healthy, and play hard.
Well the last one probably has been achieved but eating and living properly? I’ll still have some work to do.

#3: Meet new people.
This one is pretty important as i’m quite a shy guy. It’s hard at first, but i’ll definitely try my best in this one.

Lots of things have been happening recently in Singapore, I’ve been to the Merlion multiple times with different people. I’ve yet to visit Sentosa Island and the Night Safari. I’m starting to wonder if i’m here on holidays or for exchange studies. LOL.

VivoCity

Anyways, it was VivoCity yesterday and a short visit to Holland Village. Quiet and nice chilling spot nearby my place but nothing compared to Clarke Quay haha! Interesting bars and restaurants makes me wanna visit the place again right now. I’m in uni doing my shit btw… Oh well, friday is coming soon and I’ll be back in KL for CNY. I can’t wait to meet that someone special.