2009 — 21 July: Tuesday
27 months ago, despite the 26 years we'd lived here by then, Christa and I made our first and only visit to the Roman villa at Rockbourne. We'd already been, some years earlier, to the visually more interesting one at Fishbourne. It was a gloriously sunny day, and we enjoyed our picnic lunch even though there was precious little to photograph that day besides the girl herself — of course:
Christa en route from Rockbourne, April 2007
And this rather cute little green man on the roof of our Aygo:
What else? Well, I live in continued hope of a parcel delivery1 sometime today, following Sunday's little burst of reckless profligacy. You could say I'm on Edge. The other planned treat, a bit more in Bro's line, is a visit to the Southampton Hall of Aviation. It's a long time since we last popped in. But we also need to buy quite a lot more food, too! Where does it all go?
G'night.
May the (Parcel) Force be with you...
... quite soon, at this rate:
It's 08:12 — I eagerly anticipate my morning cuppa, too. Come on, Bro! Wake up... Some of the "bin" men have just bin and gone, already. It defeats the purpose of an early morning cuppa if one has to get it oneself, surely?
Compare and contrast... dept.
Before yesterday, I was last in that Yeovilton museum rather more mob-handedly, in 1987. Click the pic!
What a difference 22 years make!
And, to add non-insult to non-injury, Mr Parcel Force has just made me a happy man and John has just made me a morning cuppa. It's only 08:39 and, despite the rain, I'm smiling.
Later
What have we learned today? It's quite tricky to find your way to, and park at, the Southampton Hall of Aviation. It's a lot easier when your brother is available to carry one of the Waitrose bags for you. It's at least twice as costly to feed twice the number of mouths. Oh, and the new toy doesn't work and is going to be swapped out directly by the importer.
It's 18:49 and Bro is tucking into one of my quicker specialities — steak pie, chips, peas and salad. He's forcing it down with the help of the last bottle of ancient cheap shandy, too. I, meanwhile, have been exhaustively trying various ways of getting a decent picture through the toy. When not traipsing around the museum, shopping, lunching at the "Hut", or tearing out what few strands of hair remain and chatting to Henry (the supplier in Norwich) as he suggested various things to try and experiments. Such good fun. I think tonight's video fare will be Stardust — I'm predicting John will like it as little as he did Twilight but that's easily half the fun.
Why am I not on Edge?
Easily described. HDMI input problems. Look away now!
Both the Oppo Blu-ray player and the Oppo 983H deliver perfect video and audio via hdmi through my Onkyo A/V amp via hdmi to the Pioneer Kuro screen. They both also deliver perfect video when directly connected via hdmi to the Pioneer Kuro screen. Obviously I can't assess audio in this case. The Kuro is just a display, no audio. The Edge delivers perfect video (can't test or detect audio) via hdmi direct to the Pioneer Kuro screen. I can see, change and set all parameters, plus display all the advanced test patterns. No problem. Indeed, impeccable video display of the patterns on the Kuro. Trouble begins when the two Oppo players are connected to the Edge because, basically, the Pioneer screen promptly goes blank. When the Oppo Blu-ray is connected to the Edge as hdmi #1 and the Oppo 983H is connected to the Edge as hdmi #2 and everything is powered up and hand-shaken, no pictures arrive at the Kuro (and no sound arrives via the A/V amp if the Edge hdmi audio output is used). If I select and use the optical audio output of the Edge I can -- when playing a CD on the Oppo983H -- hear a single tone high-pitched whistle from what should be a normal classical CD. Still nothing but mostly a pale green, or sometimes pale purple, or sometimes deep blue screen. I can see no difference at the Pioneer between using the hdmi audio-only output from the Edge and the optical digital output from the Edge. I have no other hdmi connection in use at the Onkyo or going to the Edge, or going to the Pioneer. Yet when these two Oppo working signal sources are connected to the Edge, I can use the Edge "Information" display to interrogate them and see on the Pioneer Kuro screen that the Edge thinks the device I have named Blu-ray on hdmi #1 is sending 1080p/60 and that the device I have named DVD on hdmi #2 is sending 1080p/50. Which is correct. To sum up, signals originating inside the Edge are displayed perfectly on the Kuro. Signals input to the Edge do not get through it to the screen, though the Edge does seem to be able to detect them, assess them, and describe them. I have disabled every auto setting I could find everywhere. I have set Oppo player resolutions manually. I have selected the nearest I can get to 4.2.2 colour space. I have tried all variations of power up order. I have also tried RGB colour space. Generally, the Edge blue light stays steadily on, so it doesn't seem to be an hdcp issue either.
Technology, heh? Turns out my new chum Henry has been seeing "noticeable" numbers of (almost invariably) hdmi problems with this particular bit of magic. At his suggestion I tried two further bits of hdmi kit (and he actually said he hoped they failed, too, as that would tend to confirm the ailment). I did. They did. So the Edge goes back into its box...