My Second Hobby!

I actually started liking photography when I was in high school, I use to own a Nikon FM-2 Film SLR camera, but taking pictures then was an expensive hobby specially when you have to constantly buy film and pay for development. You can't ill afford to be shutter happy too, as 36 shots after; you are done, I remember buying those cheap ass YKL films just to maximize my money. By the time I was in college, the interest waned and the SLR camera just did not see the light of day again. As time goes on, the idea of taking a picture was using the ubiquitous point and shoot digital camera. But in come 2008 and the Digital SLR, or DSLR for short phenomenon was on its high gear... the technology has gotten to a point that camera companies like Canon and Nikon can now offer their once expensive gears to ordinary middle class hobbyist, and in a snap, people started want to own one.

I bought my first Digital SLR from Amazon.com it was too hard to pass up as its cheaper by almost 7k if bought here in the Philippines, was lucky my parents was there on vacation, so they just brought it back with them. Got myself a Canon Rebel XS / 1000D. It is a 10 megapixel cam, entry level DSLR. It has a kit lens, the 18-55mm with Image Stabilizer. I then started to re-learn the basics of photography, shutter speed, aperture, but at same time has to learn some new stuff that old SLR did not have then Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, the old film ASA is now called ISO (since their is no film now but data to be stored on a memory card), this is its film equivalent. Shooting these days is also a very instant gratification thing, in the past you need at least a few days from shooting to development to see your masterpieces. Today, take a picture, see it in seconds, don't like the shot? Easy, delete the shot and take a new one until the one you like comes up. But at the end of the day, its still taking pictures and these are the memories that you keep until one gets old...

Anyway, after a year, I found the camera to be lacking and the new models coming out are featuring High Definition videos too. In come the Canon 550D, its a high end entry level of Canon, decided to get this one rather their mid level model 7D because the money saved here can get me a very good lens. The days of using cheap lower end lens for me is starting to set in. In a year of shooting, I got to learn that not all lens are created equal, in Canon parlance, the red lined L lens are the ones you had to have. And I got myself two in the span of two months. The EF 17-40mm F4L and the EF 70-200 F4L IS USM. And all I can say is WOW, pictures captured by these lenses were sharper, the build quality of the lenses are nothing short of extraordinary, its weather sealed. its got Canon's proprietary USM (Ultra Sonic Motor), this is the motor that make the Lens' Auto Focus move, and its very silent unlike the non USM lens. As they say, you get what you pay for.

So now, I am in the process of learning more about IR photography, have to also learn more about the different filters to further improve all those photos. I think what makes this hobby fun is you are capturing a moment in time in your own personal circle's life and being or even other people's too. And in essence as other people have said before. Its freezing time itself. Lately, I have seen myself liking to take people's photographs than the usual landscapes but in the end this thing is really therapeutic for me. Just like watching movies on my HT does for me.

The Xtreamer + eTrayz Combo!!!

I been a Popcorn Hour user for the past two years and am very happy with it. But two years in this hobby of ours is considered light years already. Time to move on, saw the eTrayz NAS that was selling very competitively and decided to take the plunge. Pairing it with the right media player, I was deciding on Xtreamer or the new Popcorn Hour A-200.

In the end, I decided on the Xtreamer because of its promise that it will have seamless operation with the eTrayz NAS which comes from the same manufacturer.

First impressions, the eTrayz is not for the faint of heart, not easy to set up, am lucky I got it up and running, but there are still quirks I need to fix, but at least its up and running. I can access the hard disk from anywhere through the internet, from my home network, I can now wirelessly stream my flac audio to my bedroom DIY audio setup through my netbook-Super Pro DAC combo. and off course wirelessly stream my videos through the Xtreamer. It streams 720p flawlessly, unfortunately stutters on 1080p, am glad I use 720p videos mostly.

The Xtreamer, is a very small machine, compared to the Popccorn Hour, its build quality is nothing to crow about. Its plasticky and light as a feather. But setting up was a breeze, upgraded to fw 2.2 before firing it up for video testing.

I like the GUI, not as cool as the previous Popcorn Hour blue, this one is red and black combo. but I liked that it can display a lot of movies on screen and if you have a jpeg file, it will show as a huge thumnail/poster. And once you select the folder, it also has a preview pane for the movie, other realtek based player, can only display 3-4 movies at one time. Its booting time is considerably faster than the old Popcorn Hour, which is a welcome feature, I think from turning it on to recognizing the eTrayz and My Book HDDs to watching is less than 30 seconds. The auto handshake between eTrayz and Xtreamer worked as promised, although you can use other network sharing options like NFS, UPnP or SAMBA, the eTrayz tab option provided the most stable streaming option. I think the makers optimized the settings for this. And since I am not a techie guy, I am happy with this, have not tried the other functions extensively, watched a couple of internet tv (works), the internet radio is pretty cool too, lots of commercial free stations.

Overall, I am happy with my new media player - NAS combo. Movies and music galore!

Some pictures:

The Xtreamer

The eTrayz with 3TB HDDs

The Home Page

Variety of ways to connect to your content, for me just the USB for external HDD and eTrayz for the NAS.

Simple AV settings page, but it gets the job done. No HD audio pass through here.

These logos show up on every settings page, highlighted red means the function is available, no highlight means not available, in this case, I have no internal hdd and no external PC network attached (I think).

Here it shows the movie's poster, not the jukebox we want, but it works. specially with the long movie listing.

Once you enter the folder, it previews the movie on a small pane. Sorry for this picture, it was moving.

Pinoy DVD Forums

I had been a member of this forum for a good two years. I don't usually participate in these forums, I am what they call a "Lurker", a member that does not post or contribute anything but reads and try to get as much information possible from the source forums. There are literally thousands maybe even millions of forums on the Net today, but I usually frequent cellphone and games forums for those occasional tips and cheats we can get to advance in a game or some new apps for our cellphones.

But I finally found a forum that really got my interest, and what's worst was I abandoned all my shyness and began to participate, to the point of even joining EBs (EyeBall = meet ups) among members. And what is this forum all about? It's about Home Entertainment, movies to be more specific and from there a whole slew of sub forums like home theater speakers, amplifiers, players and etc. comes into play. The forum is called Pinoy DVD, its 24/7 DVD and HD Talk!

I have met members from all walks of life because of this forum. Young, old, working men, students, overseas workers, lawyers, doctors, you name it the forum's got it, and all because of every member's love for movies and home theater. Logging into the forum has become second nature to me. A day without visiting just make a day not right, my wife actually complains about this. That's why I was really happy and honored when they offered me a moderating role in the forum, and as these things go, a Moderator's role is to keep the peace among members, make sure the threads/topics are neat and and not cluttered, and of course to participate. It does not pay anything mind you, but seeing all the members appreciate what I do is reward enough. I have been moderating for the past almost six months, and I am really happy with it.

Anyway, anybody whose reading this, feel free to sign up and join in the fun. And before I forget, our Marketplace is one of the most versatile marketplace in the Net. Brand new and pre-owned home theater related stuff at bargain prices. That alone is worth the membership.

SVS PB10-NSD SubWoofer

Finally brought home a SVS subwoofer, its the "small" PB10-NSD model. Got it from the pre-owned market.

You got to hand it to the original owner, he really took care of the unit, it looks brand new, I picked it up all ready, boxed in its original packaging and all. Never thought I would be able to do this with a pre-owned stuff. Very happy I have pictures of the unboxing like its bought brand new.



Set my system up with Audyssey again. Set phase to 90 degrees and sub gain to 12 noon, then watched the incredible hulk, phantom menace, u-571, master & commander and some concert videos.

Well, the packaging & build quality is exceptional. You know you are buying a great product from the packaging alone, it was double boxed.

Performance wise, its pretty obvious that the SVS will perform better than my previous M&K, but I never thought it would be so far ahead. the M&K is no slouch, although its decade-old sealed design and 125 watt amp just can't compete with the SVS' ported and 300+ watt BASH amp. what's surprising is this SVS is a 10" while the M&K is a 12". The dimension of the sub boxes are almost identical except the SVS is longer by almost 3". For my room which is 12 feet x 20 feet by 8.5 feet = 2,040 cubic feet room, the PB10-NSD is more than enough to get the bass going. I initially thought I would like to keep the M&K as a second sub at the back, but after watching the movies I watched. I think I would have to bid farewell to my M&K, one SVS is enough for me.

The movies I mentioned, I watched it last night with my m&k, so the parts for comparison are still fresh on my mind. The parts where bass were evident just sounded so different with the SVS, if I can feel the M&K's bass production, the SVS placed me on the action itself, WOW! For concert videos, I was surprised the SVS handled it very well, clean and accurate bass reproduction, the bass sounds like bass produced by the musical instruments.

I initially read of SVS subs on the internet, and heard it sing (ultras) in one of PDVD's EBs, heard it again when sir streetsmart bought a PB12-NSD, and finally now I have one at home.

Its not marketing, its not even hype, its REAL. If you plan to upgrade your sub. And you feel an SVS is expensive, save some more or like me wait for a good pre-owned one, and get it, as every owner of this sub has been saying, its worth every centavo!!!

UPDATES!!!

Been a very busy few months. With "Real" work and home stuff. I do have a lot to write about. Just so I will remember them all, I will try to enumerate it now, before it gets out of my head.

1. Sony PS3 Slim - finally got one. I have been writing this for the longest time and finally I took the plunge, and hell, it was well worth the wait! Bluray movies, Hi-def games, Online games. This machine can do it all. Two thumbs up!


2. Atlantic Technology THX Speakers - got this pre-owned again! I am lucky, this used to be $1,500 for the whole 5 speaker set. Got for a fraction of the cost. Now my system is fully THXed! From my receiver (Onkyo 806 THX) to my subwoofer (M&K V-125 THX) and these babies. Just switch on all THX and its good to go. Sound so good.


3. Monoprice Two-output HDMI Splitter - this component is heaven sent. Formerly, I can only watch my HDDVD & NMT on my PJ, my Pioneer DVD and KY Karaoke on my LCD panel. But with my new Sony PS3, I expect to play HD games on my LCD panel and watch Bluray movies on my PJ, don't want to go through the hassle of switching HDMI cables and this thing does it for me, just the size of a soap box, tucked just at the back of the set-up without people even knowing it exist. But it does its job well. Glad I bought one.


4. Macbook Pro - my wife decided to retire her old plain Macbook, after almost three years of great service she was ready for a change. Its also fitting to upgrade this time since, at three years, its also the best time to sell the old Macbook when we can get around 50% of its acquisition price. Well, the new aluminum unibody 13" Macbook Pro did not disappoint. Sleek in looks and packing a punch in features. It was an ideal home computing machine, in it is of course the world famous Mac OS X, now on its Snow Leopard run.


These are the updates I have for now, till the next article. I plan to write something different, something I just discovered, I have just tried out their service, hopefully its as advertised.

Pre-owned Hi-grade Audiophile Equipments

I have always dream of owning equipments made from top notch audio equipment manufacturers, but sad to say, with their prices too expensive to even contemplate of touching one! But for resourceful and patient people like me, going into the pre-owned market is one of the ways to get my hands on one.

Rotel, Classe, Theta and etc are just some brands that I need to sell one of my kidneys for me to even hope of owning one brand new, but with pre-owned the gap to actually taking one home is closer to reality.

This past months was a very lucky time for me, I was able to obtain not one but two pieces of award winning equipments to add to my diy audio project and HT room. They are the Rotel RCD-971 HDCD Player and M&K V125 THX Subwoofer. The Rotel cost $600-700 when it was introduced in 1999, while the M&K cost $1,000 when it was launched into the market in 2001 (not sure about the date). But by getting these pre-owned I only paid for them for a fraction of the original cost. Of course there are substantial risks in buying 2nd hand items, but just like buying anything pre-owed, there are certain rules to remember to make these transactions trouble free.

1. Make sure you buy from a reputable person or source. It helps that some of your friends have bought stuff from them in the past, as they can tell you if the owner knows how to take care of his stuff or not.

2. If buying online, make sure the seller has a high positive feedback rate. This at least will give us a sign that the seller has a lot of satisfied customers.

3. Research on the stuff you will buy, so that when you get the item or is in front of the equipment during audition time, you know what to expect from the item operationally.

But following these rules still won't guarantee 100% risk free transaction, as buying pre-owned equipment is really a mix bag of pros and cons, I don't even know how my own acquisitions will fair since its still too early to tell, but by following these general guidelines, it gives me a sense of insurance knowing that the gears I got are from reliable sources hence has a bigger chance of being in good or even in excellent condition. Here are some pictures of what I got....

Rotel RCD-971 HDCD Player



M&K V125THX Subwoofer

My DIY Audio Project!

I decided not to write about my Canon 1000D camera anymore since the new Canon 500D is out. I will now write about my new DIY Audio Project which came so suddenly and was finished in a short amount of time. I am not an audio person, I enjoy watching movies more, and even if I want to hear music, I don't only listen to it but also watch it via my home theater through all the concert videos that is readily available. So having a dedicated audio set up never cross my mind, until....


The picture above is a pair of bookshelf speakers that I bought from a DIY Master I met in Pinoy DVD, he had a chance to make this speaker that he copied from the specification of ProAc Response 1SC. This British brand is known to sound very natural and neutral, which suits audiophiles just right, but the damn thing costs around $1,700 a pair!!! Luckily with this "clones" I paid roughly 10-12% of the original's cost!!! It was an impulse purchase, I could not believe that it would sound so close to the original. But now, I am left with speakers that I don't need for the moment.

I went back to my favorite place on the Net to ask what's next in this audio journey that I just undertaken. In Pinoy DVD, I was advised to go hybrid with regards to getting my pre-amp and amp source, meaning, the pre-amp front end should be tube based, to get the renowned tube openness, warmness and details, then solid state for the amp end for more efficient power handling. But since the price for admission was a bit steep in going separates, I was lucky that another DIY Master of amps in Pinoy DVD offered to make me a Hybrid Tube Gainclone Integrated Amplifier, with its dual 6922 tubes as its front end and a solid state 75 watts per channel RMS driving power, which is more than enough to power the ProAc "clones".


And to round up the entry level system. I also got some other DIY stuff from some other Pinoy DVD DIYers. From powercords, to interconnects and bi-wire speaker cables. So the only stuff that is not DIY will be my sources. For my Ipod dock, I just utilized our old Teac Ipod dock that sounds terrible on its own, but using it with the set-up not only gave me a dock but also a radio tuner! Then for CD listening, since I ran out of moolah, I resurrected my extra Pioneer DV515 DVD player as my cd playing source, not ideal, but will do for the mean time. But a new dedicated entry level CD player in the near future will help complete the set-up.

I set these all up in our bedroom, and the sound that came out was surprisingly pleasing, mids was very clear and natural, highs was not screeching and bass.... bass was admittedly a mixed bag. For instrumentals, jazz and light rock, bass was just right, but for rock and heavy bass music, I felt bass was lacking. Although we can't expect much from bookshelves, I again admittedly still have to break-in the speakers and my placement was less than ideal (atop my cabinet, 7 feet high). But overall, I am very satisfied, I think with some tweaking, breaking in and new source, the set-up should sound wonderful. The sound of music will never be the same again.