Using XBMC as your Home Media Center

Since we moved to Kawasaki, I’ve been working hard to hook up my PC and TV in such a way that I can watch the videos on my hard drive without moving from the sofa. After a few months of sustained effort, I’ve finally settled on a solution.

Hardware

Hooking up a PC to a modern TV couldn’t be simpler. There are expensive wireless systems available, but I use two cables: one is a VGA-to-D-Sub cable which carries the video (D-Sub is apparently a predominantly Japanese TV alternative to VGA), and a male-male 3.5 jack cable to carry the audio signal. Both are 3-5 metres in length, passing through my sliding door and along the skirting board (held in place with some Heath Robinson adhesive pads and cable-ties). If I had a surround-sound system, my audio would need an alternative solution, but for half-decent stereo – I’m not too fussy – my way is simple and effective – one of the problems, however, is that I have to plug the cable in manually before watching TV as the only slot available is designed for headphones, thus shutting off the PC speakers when plugged in, however, this is a small nuisance.

Software

After a long duel between Boxee and XBMC, XBMC became the most effective media centre application for me. However, the reason is apparently linked to my network or laptop hardware and it will be useful to discuss both here.

As a university student, I bought and chipped an Xbox which became my central means of watching movies on my TV – mainly because I needed a DVD player to replace my previous DIVX/DVD player. The key was the XBMC dashboard. Fast forward to today, and now XBMC is a multi-platform application and as a result is more versatile than its older Xbox-based incarnation.

The basic function of XBMC is creating an accessible media library in a package that can be controlled by remote. Newer features include media scraping, which allows you to browse through your shows more easily.

Boxee takes XBMC to the next level. With XBMC code at its foundation, Boxee incorporates internet based content to allow the user to watch streaming content, search for subtitles, and all other useful features. However, in my case, Boxee overloads my Internet connection with media scraping requests that essentially stops all net-based functions from working properly. This is the primary reason I am using XBMC now.

Both programmes have support for music, but anyone used to using iTunes, Winamp, or MediaMonkey will be disappointed with its lack of advanced playlist features.

In addition to XBMC/Boxee, you might want to get the iPhone remotes for whichever you choose. The Boxee remote is free but is rather limited. If you want a bit more functionality, the XBMC remote is a paid app ($2.99) but for the money you get more buttons, customisation and access to your library directly (making choosing the right film or song easier).

Setup

Hook up your TV and computer using the video and audio cables. You will want to set your TV as a secondary monitor and find a good resolution for it using Windows native Display Manager. Unlike simply switching display modes (standard function on laptops), using your TV as a secondary monitor allows you to use the laptop while your media is playing. This is essential if you are running this as part of a family.

Next you want to make sure that XBMC actually opens on the secondary screen. For this, you need XBMCLaunch.exe. Put XBMCLaunch.exe anywhere you wish, and then create a shortcut to it on your desktop. Right-click on the shortcut and launch Properties.  You need to edit the shortcut so that it looks like this:

[XBMCLaunch.exe location] [XMBC.exe location],[Screen Number]

For example:

C:\Users\JamesinJapan\Documents\xbmcLaunch.exe C:\Program Files\XBMC\XBMC.exe,2

Once you’ve done that and click on the shortcut, XBMC will load in the other window with a blank profile. This means that even if you have already configured it, you will need to do so again. It might be helpful to be able to see the screen from your PC as you set it up – I have a door between me and our tiny TV which made setting it up, at least to the point where I could use the iPhone, was a little difficult.

File Management

The next step, if you’re will to make the effort, is to make your media scrape-friendly.

I have separated my files into type of media. In the movies folder you will want to have each movie in a subfolder with consistent names including the year of release. My system works like this:

\Movies\Title (Year)\

Within each folder, name each file ‘Title (Year)’ plus ‘.cd1′ or other information where needed.

Likewise, with TV shows, proper file names are essential.

\TV Shows\Title (Year)\Season #\

Each episode is named ‘Title – S##E## – EpisodeName’.

To help with the scraping and renaming, I recommend Ember Media Manager (for your movies; it’s designed for XBMC specifically but generally applicable) and TV Rename (for your TV shows).

Final Comments

This system is not perfect, and there are many alternatives. I’m interested in hearing your suggestions in the comments below!

iPhone App Review: iKanji Touch

Full Disclosure: I am friends with the developer of this app, and he is a commenter here at this blog. I will nevertheless give you as fair a review as possible!

If you’ve ever tried to study Japanese, you’ll know that kanji are infuriatingly difficult to remember. These Chinese characters represent several readings, all of which you are incapable of knowing without a lot of study and a lot of memorising. They are an essential if you want to live in Japan, and the iPhone presents an excellent alternatives to pencil and paper. Among the many kanji learning apps, nothing can challenge iKanji Touch for its depth.

iKanji Touch filled the gap I was left with after studying with vocabulary learning tools like Smart.fm. It allows learners to focus on the readings of the kanji as well as their stroke order and appearance. As I can power through 20-40 on the train to work,  it’s helped solidify the basic kanji in my mind through its simple 3-stage testing and spaced-repetitive learning system.

Teach Me mode

The basic learning method provided by iKanji is the ‘Teach me ‘ mode. If you are unlucky or unprepared enough to fail in any of its three stages, you will progress to the next stage, but you won’t have completed that character. Instead you’ll be retested on that kanji at the end of the test, along with any other characters you failed on, until you eventually get it right.

The first stage of the testing concerns meaning. You are presented with kanji and have to choose the English meaning from four options. This section is pretty straight forward and there should be no surprises.

The second stage tests focuses on readings. You must select all the correct readings out of a set of ten, all presented in hiragana (kun’yomi) or katakana (on’yomi). To complete this stage of the test you must select all the correct answers and none of the incorrect ones.

Unfortunately, you’ll soon notice the unnecessary repetition. For instance, 一 (1) can be read as イツ, イチ, ひと- or ひと.つ. The latter two readings for the kanji are the same (ひと), the つ at the end of the last one denotes its usage, in this case: counting. (It’s worth noting that つい as in 一日 is not mentioned.) This is common to all the number kanji.

Similarly, 入 (enter/insert) can be read as い.る, -い.る, い.れる, はい.る, and ニュウ. In this case, the first three are all the same reading (い): the first is the plain form, the second is for use in compounds, and the last one is the potential form (i.e. can be entered). This is again a common feature to all verb kanji.

When faced with a set of readings like the ones on the screenshot above, it is pretty easy to guess three of them due to their similarity. The only one that really takes any effort is ロク, but that’s the easiest one. This repetition takes the challenge out of the test. The fault lies with the source data (EDICT), not the programmer (who I’ve discussed it at length with), but it’s a shame regardless.

The final stage showcases iKanji Touch’s most original feature. You are presented with a series of circles and faded lines, all you have to do is draw the lines in the correct stroke order from point to point. The current release has made the hit points easier to hit consistently and reduced the attrition caused by a jostling train or random hiccup. Now everything works incredibly smoothly.

It is comparable to the system from Kanji Kentei on the DS, a product designed for Japanese kanji learners (and rather inaccessible to low-level Japanese learners). Their system for testing your understanding of the stroke order is to ask you to number a given stroke. However, by comparison Kanji Kentei really fails to give the learner any practice in seeing the strokes unfold, or getting a feel for the kanji itself.

In this stage of iKanji Touch, it’s hard to some of the kanji being held up as examples of the ‘exemplary handwriting’ learners should strive for, and there is also no real distinction between the types of stroke endings. However, given the sheer amount of kanji offered (over 2000), and the limitations of the hardware, these minor details by no means impact the successful intuitiveness of the app’s writing system.

This whole stage is excellent and it is the reason I keep coming back to iKanji Touch after trying other apps. While tracing the kanji with your finger isn’t the same as writing it down with a pen, nor will it give you the ability to do so, it is nevertheless a very helpful aide-mémoire that beats simply looking at a character on the screen. If you don’t like it, or if you can’t do it, then there’s even a toggle to switch it off in the settings.

‘Teach me’ mode is designed to slowly build up your knowledge of the kanji. Each kanji entry is given a completion level depending on how many times you have completed the character in the ‘Teach me’ mode. You’ll feel a small sense of pride as your sets begin to fill up with green circles, and even more when you realise you’re being tested on some the kanji far less frequently as a result of mastering them.

Further Learning

In addition to ‘Teach me’ mode, there are other test modes. Although these have no bearing on your completion level, you can attempt any of the above stages individually, and you can also test yourself on each character’s appearance in compound words. Unfortunately this latter test doesn’t appear in the ‘Teach me’ mode, as it would be useful for solidifying the learner’s understanding, but I can also see why it’s left out: the compounds are often very difficult for lower-level learners (the app’s target market, I’d imagine) and they are vocabulary- (rather than character) specific.

To help you decide where to start, the kanji come ready-ordered. By default, you are given two different orderings: JLPT 1-4 (although I expect there’ll be an update once the new JLPT 1-5 system has settled in), and by the grade in which they would be taught at school (1-6). Which one you use will depend on your style and goals, but I would suggest a mixed approach (some very basic kanji are left out of the JLPT 4 set, for instance, but can be found in the Grade 1 set).

Each of these large groupings are divided into sets of 20 kanji, which is a decent size to concentrate on. There is no option to break these down into sets of 10 or 5, but that never really becomes necessary: if you can’t complete a test because there are too many kanji and you have to get off the train or run off to class, then you can stop the test or close the app without losing your completed progress (although you will have to take that last kanji again next time).

In addition to the basic groups, you can create your own practice sets by selecting individual kanji. A less tap-strenuous means would have been welcome, such as being able to select whole groups of kanji as well, but it really depends on what you want from the practice sets: while I’ve had no use for them, they are perfect for someone who wants to test themselves on a small variety of kanji. You can also add items from searches.

The final arrangement of kanji is the revision set. Here you will find kanji that you failed to answer correctly in the individual tests (that is, not the ‘Teach me’ mode). Again, this is something I never really used due to the intuitiveness and progression of the JLPT/school grade groupings, as well as the convenience of the ‘Teach me’ mode over the individual tests, although it would certainly be a valuable tool to anyone looking to nail down hard-to-remember characters.

In addition to the learning side of the app is the reference side. If you want to know more about any kanji you can search for it (through stroke count, meaning, or reading), or just browse for it. Clicking on a kanji entry will open its flashcard showing you the meanings, readings and completion of the individual kanji. It also shows you the radical of the kanji (useful when you progress into harder and harder characters). Tapping on the card will flip it over to show an animation demonstrating how to write the character, and at the bottom of both screens is a button to view further compounds. As a reference tool, however, other apps have iKanji Touch beat with a range of extra features (such as the amazingly detailed ‘Japanese’ by codefromtokyo).

If you’re a learner of Japanese, you really should buy this app. Unlike many other apps, it doesn’t rely on your honesty to decide whether you knew a word or not, it tests you honestly and fairly. It’s the most well-considered, joined up and original kanji learning tool that you can buy. It’s full of lots of nice touches: the excellent graphics, clear presentation and little mascot (Tsutsune) all add character to the app. With clear and intuitive beginner’s guide, it’s readily accessible to all levels of learners. Plus, at ¥1,200 ($9.99), it’s affordable too.

iPhone App Review: Tomena Sanner (トメナサンナー Touch)

“There’s this guy… He just runs along the screen.” The young designer quivered with the dribble of fear that comes from facing one’s boss.

The man at the head of the conference table coughed. “That’s not much of a game, Yamamoto-san.”

The lithe and oily-skinned games designer was now visibly pouring with sweat. “… He can jump too, if you press the screen, that is…”

Sensing the nervousness of their colleague, the rest of the design team piped up.

“There are astronauts too!”

“… and you can ride triceratopses.”

“Don’t forget the sumo wrestlers and the dancing, multiplying school girl!”

Yamamoto shuffled with discomfort as Konami’s Creative Manager stared at him. Seconds stretched into an eternity as the balding, black-suited man with a comb-over picked up his Lucky Strike cigarette from his pocket ashtray. He took a deep puff, exhaling slowly before a grin crept across his face.

“I like it, guys! Yamamoto-san, don’t screw this up!”

The design team bowed and left the room with a buzz. All except Yamamoto who vomited into the plastic potted plant in the secretary’s office.

“What’s wrong?” A concerned colleague inquired.

“What’s wrong?” Yamamoto cried. “What’s wrong?! … Now we have to make this crazy acid trip of a game!”

That’s what I imagine the design process behind Tomena Sanner was like. Released on the Wii and DS for download, it’s also available on the App Store for anyone who wants a simple, one-touch game.

A single press of the screen will see you leaping or interacting with the obstacles in your salaryman’s way: moonwalking past astronauts, punching the Pope, and getting attacked by furries. The design is distinctly Japanese in it’s wacky randomness and the humourous goings on will stay with you long after you press the Home button. However, the more you play, the more it becomes clear that the game harbours a disappointing flaw.

The end of every level features a dance stage in which you must touch the screen according to the guide on the screen. Doesn’t sound so bad, right? After all, it’s only a more simplified version of Tap Tap Revenge, right?

Wrong. In rhythm games such as Tap Tap, the button pressed are synchronised to the beat of the music. In Tomena Sanner, the music is entirely detached from the rhythm elements. Not just in the dance stage.

Konami, the developer, argues that,

Tomena Sanner is a high speed side-scrolling action game that features a unique timing based control system that is as challenging as it is fun. As you fly, jump, and dance over the many crazy obstacles you need perfect timing to keep your speed up and perform awesome tricks like flips or breakdance moves.

Tomena Sanner doesn’t have a suitably zoomed out perspective to make its obstacles avoidable in the fastest pace of the game. Whereas in Canabalt (another popular run ‘n’ avoid game) it is pretty clear that your character fell to his death because of your poor timing, getting kicked in the face by a guy in a giraffe costume in Tomena Sanner often feels unfair – the sweet spot of interaction with the obstacles are rather difficult to suss out. Whereas Canabalt promotes long-term play by recording the distance travelled on an endless track (think about all those times you batted that penguin across the land of Yeti Sports), Tomena Sanner breaks up the play into stages (even in Endless Mode).

With it’s defined end-goals and discrete levels Tomena Sanner instead feels like a simpler version of Rhythm De Go! (DS) with less variety and less replayability. Further deepening the contrast is the disconnection between the music and the gameplay. Whereas the fastest pace could be overcome in Rhythm De Go! by following the beat of the music; with no connection between the two in Tomena Sanner, the lack of audio cues worsens that already palpable cheapness. The inclusion of the dance after-stage simply reinforces my belief that there was supposed to be a rhythm element. I may be wrong, and maybe timing really is key and it’s just that my timing isn’t good enough to keep up with the game, but the game still feels like an unhappy medium between those two other excellent games.

Despite this major flaw in the feel of the gameplay, it ultimately remains fun for short bursts, succeeding as a mobile game (and in some sense benefiting from the ability to play in mute – even if it’s at the expense of its quality). At ¥230, it’s not too bad a price for a bit of fun, but how long it will last depends on how this control system sits with you. For me, Tomena Sanner didn’t sit very well.

Top 10 Posts of 2009

It’s the time of year when our minds turn to the passage of time: as the clock counts down to the end of the first decade of the second millennium, I have become increasingly mindful of all that happened this year. Here are the most popular posts of the year, as based on page-views:

10. Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (13th February 2009)

The remastering of Ghost in the Shell left me a with a bad taste in my mouth. With its drab colours, the removal of its iconic features and a particularly bad dose of CGI, it all came across as a waste of time and money. I hope 2009 is the last time we’ll see such terrible CG, but I doubt we’ll be so lucky!

9. Milo and Project Natal – The Future of Gaming? (5th June 2009)

Microsoft showed off its new toy at the the video game exhibition, E3. The project, known as Natal, allows users to interact naturally with the software by way of a camera, scanner and microphone. Peter Molyneux of Lionheart showed us a video of the future of character interaction as a woman chatted with a boy in a game. Where this is going and when we can see it is still unclear, but I really can’t wait to get my hands on this piece of kit.

8. How Did Ichihashi Evade Capture for 2 Years? (15th November 2009)

After his arrest in Osaka, I raised a number of questions as to Tatsuya Ichihashi’s life on the run. He has now  been charged with the murder of Lindsey Ann Hawker, and hopefully the trial will bring to light the issues I highlighted. In the meantime, the news continues to pour in.

7. Losing Your Phone in Japan (2nd October 2009)

After dropping my Nokia mobile phone somewhere between work and home, I signed up with Softbank for my iPhone and gave some tips for any others who want to follow in my footsteps. Yes, compared to back home it’s a bit pricey and they contract is pretty long, but I love my iPhone: it’s revolutionised the way I spend my time, although perhaps not for the better.

6. Okuribito (22nd February 2009)

Yojiro Takita’s Okuribito was the best film I saw in 2009 (it originally came out in 2008). The beautiful cinematography, tearjerking story and excellent acting really sold it for me. I haven’t seen any other film draw so many tears since Titanic was released.

5. Geotagging Your DSLR Photos Using an iPhone (24th September 2009)

After getting my iPhone, I spent a lot of time trying to work out how to geo-tag photographs. Why? I think it’s nice to know exactly where you took your photos for reference’s sake. Maybe you have taken a photo that might have been excellent in a different season or time of day, geo-tagging allows you to find that place. The only problem is that the iPhone’s GPS resolution (on the move) is rather weak at times – plus the connection cuts when your phone idles. Still, it’s not a terrible way to get it done.

4. iPhone App Review: Championship Manager Express 2010 (30th November 2009)

Championship Manager stole away huge portions of my life. I’ve gone cold turkey now and it’s working out, but its power never ceases to amaze me. The iPhone version is poorly organised and unrealistic, but is still like crack to anyone who loves management sims. This was my first iPhone app review, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. Maybe I’ll do a few more in the future.

3. Bathing in Japan (14th May 2009)

Bathing is a way of life. How you conduct yourself in a bathhouse or hot spring will reflect on you: do it wrong and you’ll make a lot of enemies fast. As a public service, I discussed the various kinds of baths and the general protocol when enjoying them. Oh, but keep away if you’re inked up…

2. How I Got My Spouse Visa… (26th April 2009)

Unless you’ve lived abroad, you probably cannot imagine how time-consuming and laborious visa applications are. Worse still, one tiny mistake can send you right back to the start. After an hour long wait in the immigration office, I wrote up a guide to help others in my situation, along with supporting documentation. I hope that it makes it easier for anyone else in my shoes.

1. Google Earth vs the Burakumin (5th May 2009)

2008 and 2009 were tough years for Google in Japan. People were up in arms over their roaming streetview cameras, and the internet giant put all its energy into breaking the Yahoo-dependent market. However, Google Earth’s listing of old city maps which made it easy to determine the location of former undercaste enclaves was perhaps Google’s most controversial, if unheard of, incident. Google removed all references to the Burakumin, but I was left wondering whether it was a good thing to censor rather than promote such history.
Thank you to everyone who linked to me in the past year, and thank you to everyone who visited and read my blog. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you all.

iPhone App Review: Championship Manager 2010 Express

Has there ever been a bigger drain on people’s lives than football management games? If so, then at least they’re in the top  ten, right?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not particularly interested in football: I can watch it, but it doesn’t do anything for me. I find myself getting to the back of newspapers and wondering how sports news can even merit being in the same publication as world or national news. Yet despite all that, I went through my teens playing Premier Manager (from ’96 onwards) and Championship Manager/Football Manager. They cost me far too many nights of sleep… and now they’ve caught up with me.

I had no idea that CM10 had been released on the iPhone, but when I stumbled across it, I just had to have it. Every free moment, from work breaks and train rides, to toilet breaks and bed time was spent curled up, micromanaging my team (Liverpool). I’ve not played a manager sim for such a long time that it was gripping. I will firmly say that if you like football management games, you will love CM10 for you iPhone.

Lots of the usual features are in there, albeit watered down: tactics, formations, team selection, training, and transfers. Championship Manager’s traditional ‘dots on a field’ matches translate beautifully to the iPhone, giving you something a little less dry than pages of statistics (although there are quite a few of them, too).

Also present is the Championship Manager Season Live mode, which offers monthly updates that allow you to take over from your real life counterparts mid-season. These are in-app purchases, and the desire never struck me to pay for them, however die-hard fans might find it interesting (especially for those familiar with the PC-version of this system).

Also making an appearance are press conferences. They seemed pretty interesting when I first tried them, allowing you to influence the four important stakeholders (the media, players, board and fans) by answering questions by various kinds of journalists. However, after drawing for the first time (mid-season) and without any loses to my name, I found it quite bizarre that the press were saying we were in poor form: top of the Premiership and kicking all kinds of ass. The fact is that the press conferences latch onto facts (i.e. new signings, a recent draw/loss, lack of transfers, etc.) and then engage with these facts like a gorilla with an attitude problem – pounding you for no reason.

There are some other issues too, most annoying of all is the lack of connection between the training and squad screens. You can see a player’s fitness or status on the squad team, but you are left having to memorise which players need what as you try to select the correct training. The same is true, more annoyingly, for the stats: I need to know what my players need to improve on to select their training, but my disappointing memory makes that process take far longer than usual.

It would also be nice if the transfer bidding process was better realised. Currently you respond to bids in the news section (which you cannot get back to once you click ‘next’), and you can end up with countless bids for a player and no real way to manage them or compare them.

These problems are rather unfortunate as they add more time consumption to a game that has already caused a great part of my day to be sucked away. Still, the game is still rather addictive, if not a bit easy and unrealistic: 8-0 games are very common in CM10′s universe, entirely unlike the real world (well, beside Tottenham, it seems). However, if you can look past its problems, and get into the spirit of it, you will find yourself absorbed.

Gallery: