2014 — 4 May: Sunday
Starting the day, not just with the morning cuppa, but also (following an overnight email tip-off) with yet another update to the Synology NAS software. I'm not sure why I bother to update it so assiduously when I use only the simplest of its many functions — that is, as a network disc store, nothing more.1
Followed, some ten minutes later, by the inevitable minor-league skirmish to uncover the latest way it's chosen to conceal the only bit of information I ever want to ask it: how much disc space have I got left? The answer turns out to be that I'm now using 45% of the 2.7TB of my single RAID 1 volume. And about 90% of those bits are video files of generally transient interest.
Among yesterday's...
... myriad domestic and garden improvements (barely a weed now to be seen among the paving stones alongside my bit of drive, for example) was the fitting (with the aid of a stool) by Peter's g/f of new pull cords to the bathroom and cloakroom lights, thus enabling her to, erm, light her way. I had got into the lazy habit of simply reaching up to whatever fragment of cord still existed (after 33 years, not that much, actually, in either room) and simply yanking it. This was not an option so, erm, close at hand for Peter's g/f — she's not the tallest of female chaps; did I mention that?
The evening entertainment...
... was "3 Days of the Condor" — new to both of them — followed by one of the 'extras'. I chose the eye-opening 2003 French TV documentary episode about the nefarious global reach and operations of the CIA during its first six decades of inglorious meddling and totally illegal, often unconstitutional, activities. (It was actually Gerald Ford, bless 'im, who finally got around to telling them [a bit like the Michael Palin character in "A fish called Wanda"] in an Executive Order that assassinating foreign citizens, trades union members, and/or democratically-elected leaders of the "wrong" political stripe was wrong and that perhaps they didn't oughta do it any more in future.)
I wonder how that turned out for them? Oh, and a bottle2 of champers with the odd fresh raspberry.
It's been nagging...
... at me that I came so unstuck with playback of 4:3 aspect ratio material on my Oppo Blu-ray player. Re-reading the relevant paragraph regarding "Source Direct" one further time, while also recalling Mike's exasperated advice on precisely the same point, has clarified my thoughts:
The BDP-103EU supports a special Source Direct mode through its HDMI outputs. This resolution is recommended for use with external video processors or high-end TVs. In Source Direct mode, the player works as a "transport". It decodes video from the discs and then sends the raw video signal in its native resolution and format, without extra processing, to the external video processor or TV. The actual output resolution varies by content...
In future, exactly as I'd been advised by my late friend Henry four years ago, I shall reserve the use of "Source Direct" for 1080p Blu-rays.
My house...
... is now emptier, quieter, and cleaner than ever. The washing machine is working double shifts, and it only took me a couple of minutes to find various kitchen essentials that had been, erm, relocated or otherwise tidied away. The younger generation set off at about 19:30 after we'd first revisited Fisher's Pond for a late-ish lunch, and then taken a leisurely stroll around Marwell zoo. Neither Peter nor I had been there for a number of years. She Who Must (henceforth3) Be Addressed on this ¬blog as "Peter's g/f" (being, in my opinion, a teensy weensy tad over-concerned with Interweb privacy for someone who uses popular social networks) was making her first visit.