Frederick's Timelog

I recommend H.264

I’m a fan, user and promoter of the H.264 (also known as the MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding) codec. It’s an excellent standard which provides great quality at low(er) bitrates while supporting true High Definition resolutions such as 1080p (1920×1080).

It is the flagship format of Apple QuickTime and also used by large studios on many Blu-ray releases. Virtually all of the modern personal computers in use at this time support the format or are capable of supporting it:

• Adobe Flash Player 9 is capable of playing H.264 content
• the free QuickTime Player media software supports it
• QuickTime Pro supports exporting to H.264, thus iMovie HD and other QuickTime-based products can use it
• professional video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro support exporting to H.264
• the open source FFmpeg project supports H.264
• open source media players such as VLC Media Player and mplayer support H.264

Unfortunately, Microsoft does not support it at this time, favouring — instead — their own non-open VC-1 codec for HD content and Silverlight.

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Missing in action

I will be gone (as in “out of the country”) for the next week or so, so there will be no blog posts or Frederick Time episodes until at least Monday. Don’t ask me where I’m going. (Suffice it to say that I will be out of reach and “offline”.)

However, if you’d like to keep track of me in a stalker-ish way, follow me on Twitter (it’s even better if you have an account and you click “Follow”). I will use my cell phone to send text messages that will hopefully keep you appeased of what I’m doing and where I am (in a non-specific way).

At the same time, let’s welcome Brandon who is in Canada as part of an exchange program.

If you’re looking for something to read in the meantime, see “Why Kosovo Was And Always Will Be Serbian” or “Georgia-Russia Conflict” from two friends who are ethnically linked to the issues at hand, and who offer insightful perspectives.

Finally, I’d like to apologize for being part of “Western media” when it comes to my podcast’s coverage of the Georgia-Russia conflict. I did try to present both sides or multiple points of view, but I really didn’t know what to believe… thanks to the terribly influential and often deceptive Western media.

My new computer and desktop

The quad core computer that I blogged about recently has arrived, and I’ve put everything together and installed Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. I’m extremely pleased with its performance, though I know that I’ll need to upgrade again (either the memory or the motherboard) within a few years, given the pace of technology.

Here’s a screenshot of my desktop; yes, I’m sure it could look even better if I were running Vista.

If you also have a huge screen resolution like mine (1920×1200), you can take a look at the screenshot in its original size and glory.

As you can see, I like to keep my desktop icons organized (this is the way it’s probably going to look for the next year or two) and I only keep applications that I use extremely frequently on the desktop. Everything else is accessed through the Start menu. (Word 2007 and iTunes are in the often-used programs list, so I don’t necessarily want them on the desktop.)

I’ve also styled Windows using the Zune theme from Microsoft, which gives everything a slick, glossy look. I really like it. With a bit of tweaking, I got it working on 64-bit XP. You can download it for free.

A spectacular opening ceremony

The normal episode for Frederick Time will either come out tomorrow or not at all this week.

I watched the spectacular opening ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing this morning. It was simply amazing.

Exceptional fireworks, amazingly coordinated dancers and artists (thousands of them!), excellent majestic music, and fabulous high-tech shows. Amazing!

Since I’ve categorized this under “Graphic Matters”, I might as well show you some pictures.

There’s more after the jump.
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I’m getting a quad core computer

Yes, you read that right. I’ll be assembling a new PC with:

• Intel Core 2 Quad (Q6600, 2.4 GHz) processor (click on image below to see details)
• 2 GB of memory (that will be upgraded when I need to upgrade)
• Motherboard with Gigabit LAN, HDMI, SATA, RAID, and 8-channel audio, and NVIDIA GeForce graphics (click on image below to see details)
• Mid-tower case with “corporate” appearance, 7 expansion bays, and 600W power supply

I used to say that a quad core computer is “excessive”. I guess I don’t think so anymore, given that it’s going to be used for multimedia and compute-intensive research.

Update: some of the components have now been shipped; the case has been shipped and the power supply is in process. That’s pretty useless, though, since we have another case and power supply.

Update 2: all of the components have now been shipped. TigerDirect has fast processing times!

Do you think a quad core computer is excessive? Do we need quad core computers?

5 days to go

With just 5 days to go until the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, there’s a lot of hype on the Internet (with those on one side criticizing whatever, and those on the other preparing for a great opening ceremony). What interests me, though, aren’t the articles written by the CBC, like “Skies over Beijing clear ahead of Olympics” or “China’s web censors easing off: report“, but rather the reader comments on those articles.

Let’s start with something about the environment:

Andy the Engineer: “China’s success has been built on the back of the environment – they have ruined beautiful rivers, strip mined scenic mountains and poured every type of vile and disgusting exhaust you can imagine into the air – and the Olympic Games will broadcast this to the world.”

Let’s word this more accurately and less xenophobically, shall we? It is the success of the WESTERN WORLD (including Canada — we have our fair share of this blame) that has been built on the back of China’s environment. And India’s. And Taiwan’s. And Japan’s. And … well, basically every early-industrial nation with cheap labour.

I’m fed up with people whose entire wealth is based on the use and abuse of people and resources in other countries who then turn around and act as if they are morally superior to those same exploited people. Grow up.

- MichaelWH

See what they have to say after the jump.

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