Finally, a dual-cpu HD video player

The new DivX v7 is the first video player (that I know of) to support dual-core CPUs. This is a major development as all previous software was unable to coordinate both halves of a now-typical dual-core. So you had to have a really fast CPU to play high-definition videos especially if they were encoded in the new h.264 format. Now, with DivX 7 you can manage it with a much slower dual-core, i.e., with older machines.

Unfortunately, this is only available on Windows (not Linux).

I've done some quick testing and so far the program lives-up to it's claims! I was able to play a 1080p h.264 clip on a dual-core AMD Turion 1.7 GHz, which is about a 3 year-old model. With all previous programs this processor could only play it at half-speed. Now, it can just barely play it at full-speed, and only if the video is full-screen (not windowed) and without anything else displayed on screen such as the mouse pointer.

One problem, however, is that it does not appear to include any deinterlacing. So even though it's fast enough to play 1080i AVCHD clips they look terrible because of the interlacing artifacts.
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Further info on playing AVCHD

I've had a chance to test this on several computers now and can make the following clarifications and improvements to the suggested procedure.

NOTES

• You need at least a ~2.4 GHz processor. It doesn't playback correctly on my 1.9 GHz whereas it plays-back with spare cpu cycles on my 2.7 GHz AMD X2, as well as on a 2.7 GHz Intel Core2.
• The existing 0.9.4 version (in the standard repository) plays AVCHD just as good as the newer "1.0~git" nightly. So there's no need to go through uninstalling, adding the 'nightly' repository etc. But you may still need to reset the configuration files.
• The UI on the 1.0 version has a lot of bugs, so it's preferable to use 0.9.4 in that regard.
  

TWEAKS
There are 3 changes you should make in the configuration:

1. in Tools > Preferences, under Instances, enable "Allow only one instance".
2. Click on Show Settings:All (radio button in bottom-left). Under Input/Codecs > Other > FFmpeg,
   set "Skip loop filter for h.264" = ALL
3. under Video > Filters, on the right-side screen, scroll down the page to the second listing (for Video Output Filter Modules) and enable "Deinterlacing video filter"

That last change re deinterlacing will cause VLC to default to "Discard" mode which uses the least CPU. If you have CPU cycles to spare, of course, you could then go down into the Filters > Deinterlace settings and select a better mode.
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Playing AVCHD on Ubuntu Linux

Have I finally managed it? Can I finally watch my Sony HD camcorder recordings on my Ubuntu home computer?? Still need to try this on my main system (which is faster) but I can finally play them without crashing! Here's how I did it:

PROCEDURE

1. Tested on an Athlon X2 dual-1.9Ghz machine running Ubuntu 8.10
2. I uninstalled all existing 'vlc' components (which were v0.9.4) through Synaptic
3. I also had to delete the ~/.config/VLC configuration files
4. Per the instructions on the Videolan.org site I added their "Intrepid/Nightly" repository to Synaptic,
   http://nightlies.videolan.org/#debian
5. I installed the latest version, v1.0.0~git20081127-4 (according to Synaptic)
6. I then disabled the Videolan repository since this copy seems to be working!
7. Finally, I disabled the FFmpeg "h.264 Loop Filter" in VLC
   (which improves playback speed but at the cost of some picture quality)
   http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42328

My Sony's AVCHD clips are 1440x1080i and this computer (using one 1.9 GHz cpu-core at 100%) can't quite play it back without dropping frames. BUT it doesn't crash anymore, which every other video player (including previous versions of VLC) would do! So now I'm hopeful that my other system will be fast enough...

P.S. I'm being very specific about uninstalling all the original 0.9.4 modules, as well as deleting the hidden config folder, because both of those elements caused errors otherwise!
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Excellent economics essays

Nothing personal to contribute today, just wanted to add to the Google scores of the following essays which I think do an excellent job of explaining our country's current (and increasing) economic problems:

Common economic mis-beliefs
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/10/01/toscano/771bailoutswontwork100108.txt
from Rich Toscano's blog, "Nerd's Eye View", on Voice Of San Diego.

Human nature and the inevitability of financial bubbles
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200812/blodget-wall-street
from disgraced (but still so suave and well-spoken!...) tech-stock analyst, Henry Blodgett

'Gaming' in prices (aka bubbles) for any variable-return investment
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200812/financial-bubbles
from the same Dec '08 issue of The Atlantic
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Installing Canon MP620 on Ubuntu

There's been a lot of pain making my new Canon printer work with Linux. Here's the simplified procedure I finally developed. This is only to make it print! I'm not trying to use the scanner yet.

(These instructions and files were culled from the posts and files at http://mp610.blogspot.com )

PROCEDURE

1. download the two updated DEBs and one PPD (see below for locations),
- cnijfilter-common_2.80-1_i386.deb
- cnijfilter-mp610series_2.80-1_i386.deb
- canonmp610en.ppd

2. install 'libcupsys2' through Synaptic (needed for Canon DEBs)

3. install the Canon drivers,
> sudo dpkg -i cnijfilter-common_2.80-1_i386.deb
> sudo dpkg -i cnijfilter-mp610series_2.80-1_i386.deb

4. install the printer using the newer PPD, canonmp610en.ppd

5. In the printer Properties > Print Options, set Paper Feed = Cassette

DOWNLOAD LOCATIONS

- I got the DEBs from the Canon Asia web-site,
. http://support-asia.canon-asia.com
- I selected Multifunction > Pixma > MP610 > Drivers and then downloaded these 2 packages,
- "Common (Debian)"
- "IJ Printer Driver (Debian)"

- The PPD came from this same blog's SF project,
. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=210977
- Finally, I downloaded 'ppdMP610en-1.3.tar.gz' (English) and unpacked it
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UPDATE (11/3/09)
I've added a new post re new driver versions and Ubuntu 9.10 support,
http://technicaltony.blogspot.com/2009/11/update-on-canon-mp620-and-ubuntu-910.html
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I learned a new French word today (I think...)

I knew there was some kind of foreign-ey expression using "ne" (sic) that related to the change in a woman's maiden name vs married name. And I had occasion today to write an email about renaming my co-worker's network accounts, so I tried to use it. But I wasn't sure if I'd written the expression correctly (I hadn't). It literally took me FOREVER to figure-out a useful search in Google, mostly because I was searching for the wrong word -- it's really spelled "nee" (not "ne").

I had originally written "Please rename accounts for Mary Uglyname ne Smith" (the names have been changed to protect the innocent). But now I've learned that "nee" means "born" in French and so I should have written "Mary Smith nee Uglyname."

P.S. Another quick lesson? Inserting (sic) is supposed to mean, "Yes, I know that preceding word is misspelled!" Or, at least I think that's what it means...

P.P.S. I threw that misused "literally" in there just to mess with my wife :-)
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Follow-up re credit default swaps (CDSes)

My favorite economics and business show, Marketplace on NPR, has a great blog video on the continuing financial crisis,
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/offair/2008/10/untangling_credit_default_swap.html

They don't say anything about any criminal behavior but I'm sure that's to-follow. Instead, they seem to be saying that the issue is the lack of reporting requirements, i.e., companies can essentially be gambling enormous sums of money but not need to tell investors that they're doing it. Obviously, a company that reports 'good' earnings but also has to admit that they're doing a lot of CDS 'gambling' won't be viewed as favorably by the market.

Ultimately, I still stand by my earlier post (April 2008) about "The Credit Default Swap scam" -- there's got to be a lot of fraud taking place, same as in other aspects of high finance!