Blog purpose

I'm not getting rich by writing on this blog. That's the way it should be, write just for fun.

Another "classic" video

And the struggle continues...

My review of MLB.tv

This a must for the ultimate baseball fan anywhere in the world. That's right, unlike other services based in the US only available to US residents, a MLB.tv subscription may be purchased from anywhere. That's something I like about MLB, you are allowed to be a fan anywhere in the world, not only because of the MLB.tv package availability but for example for buying tickets. You could for example buy a ticket and choose "print at home" and have your ticket in hand even before traveling to the US (exception are those teams still associated with Ticketmaster).

Ok, I'm deviating from the subject of this article. Back to MLB.tv This is one of those out of market packs in a similar fashion as the NFL Sunday Ticket. According to the MLB website all you need is a broadband connection (pretty common nowdays) of at least 768k, 3M if you want to watch in High Def. In my experience 1.7M (meassured using speedtest.net) will give you a steady broadcast.

If your computer is not recent, you'll have to settle for a lower quality setting since the application is processor and graphics card intensive. In any case, the game is displayed in 16:9 aspect ratio which is still pretty good for a HDTV.

Most of the time, the video quality is excellent. I say "most of the time" because like many things in life is not perfect. I noticed for some games (usually when the Yankees play) even using the lowest quality setting and even if you have plenty of available bandwidth, the video may freeze at times, using the lowest quality setting helps alleviate the problem and with some patience it'll go away.

Where it really fails is in the auditory department, most of the time you find yourself cranking up the volume on both your computer and your stereo. Also the audio quality sometimes reminds me of the early days of the Real Player.

When I began using the service in early May, commercial were practically non existent, which made it kinda weird only to see the MLB logo with the "commercial break in progress" legend. Lately for some games, somoe external spondors have begun to appear like some recreational park chain and Toyota. So the commercial breaks are less silent.

Overall is a pretty good service, you get to see any team outside your market and I think the price is very competitive ($99 USD for the basic version).

Blackouts are non existent outside the US and Canada regardless of what is being broadcasted in local TV systems. In the US and Canada there are blackouts, however I haven't encountered a problem because of 1) the main purpose is to watch something outside my market (currently for me, any game involving the Cubs and the Whitesox) 2)if want to watch something in my market, those games are broadcasted on local TV and regional sport networks.

For information and to subscribe visit www.mlb.com

See you soon.

Reproduction Cartridges

The wait is finally over. After about six weeks, the games I ordered from gamereproductions.com arrived. They are awesome !!! They look and feel like any regular NES game cartridge. They were well worth the wait.

The games I ordered are the original Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Famicom Disk System (I won't go into details) and Megaman Ultra which is an excellent hack of Megaman 2, (feels a lot more like a fresh new game).

Great job Phil, your dedication is well noticed in these reproductions. Keep up the good work man.

Imation Earthwise

Imation, (yes, the company behind optical media) now is in the generic toner cartridge business. They are currently selling generic carts for HP (pretty much all models), Canon and Brother. I must confess I'm a bit skeptic with re manufactured cartridges (specially with ink ones). However, with a company like Imation, I'm curious to see if these can match the quality of their other product lines.

For now, I ordered a trial cartridge for a HP 4345 mfp, if everything goes well my company may be able to save about $160 per cartrdige.

I'll let you know how things went.

Source: http://www.imation.com/products/earthwise

The Genesis legacy keeps going

While it's very convenient to just play Genesis games on a PSP, the nostalgic value of popping in a real cartridge has no rival. Since Nomads are becoming more difficult and pricey to come by, this GenMobile system looks like a good choice even you don't have any cartridges on hand, as the system has 20 built-in games. It includes such classics as Sonic and Knuckles, Altered Beast or Ecco the Dolphin. The package makes look like a pretty collectible system. If you are a Genesis fan or just have some curiosity, this is something you may wanna try.

The hedgehog with the attitude

Here is a video of Shadow having a little fun. Enjoy.