2016 — 7 January: Thursday
My (unpleasant) memories of my struggles with this natty little gadget...
... have just been revived by an email from a chum who's contemplating purchase of the latest variant. It turned out to be very much not the answer to an HDMI/HDCP-less chap's prayers as I spent too much time and money trying to get "protected" hi-def 720p video successfully into my previous plasma screen (vintage 2002) which was "just a year too old" to be retrofitted by Pioneer.1
dear Mama...
... would have been 99 today. I've celebrated by catching up on my sleep debt for a change. Which is why it's already nearly 10:30 I guess.
Just exactly how ill-informed...
... does the BBC think people are?
Just askin'. Besides you can (according to their expert) "look up on the web how to do it" so, clearly, the web must be shut down instantly. Has anyone warned the Trump?
Having skimmed...
... the "High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection System" Mapping HDCP to HDMI Revision 2.2 specification, all I can say is it's a miracle any video content ever makes it all the way from Blu-ray disk to hi-def screen with all pixels intact. You will be pleased to know that page 63 (of the 72-page document) still allows the revocation of your device if anyone does anything naughty.
(Link. [PDF file])
Saints preserve me!
A regular 'supplier' on the other side of the Pond has just emailed to say I need a Blu-ray copy of "Them!"
It's a long, long time since I last watched that... (even longer since the first time, of course).
To my mild discomfiture, I find I've actually been enjoying some, at least, of the Stockhausen music that has featured on the BBC's "Composer of the Week". Worrying.
Just watched, and...
... enjoyed, this 2014 film written by Joss Whedon:
It was sitting patiently on my front doorstep when I got back from my first lunch-and-a-chat of the new year. But the fact that I can't recall the title of the SF story I read in the late 1960s (that had a similar starting premise) is now bugging me.
After I'd bought...
... an entirely different pair of books at AbeBooks, I browsed their "Most Expensive Sales in 2015" list, and noted this little gem:
So what? So what a pity my copy is the 1979 edition! Still, it's in perfect condition, includes the dust jacket, and is probably "worth" several hundred pounds if the prices of the eight copies currently showing on "Abe" can be trusted.