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OSD failure

My OSD failed last night. I was recording the Eurovision final, and not watching (I have not yet had time to watch the semi-finals). The recording specification was 640×480, 2000kbps video, 128kbps AAC audio.
Upon pressing Stop, nothing happened. So I figured I'd let it run, maybe the SD card would fill up, then it would stop itself.

It didn't.

I removed the SD card (four hours later) and looked at the file. It aborted at the 2Gb mark. And as it wasn't finalised, it was essentially two billion and a hundred and forty-odd million bytes of junk.

Just like Zatoichi.

I am wondering if there isn't some sort of bug here - it is perhaps worth pointing out that 2Gb is 2,147,483,648 bytes, which is the largest value that can be represented using a signed 32 bit integer. A hint here?

I rarely use the 2000kbit mode, and this plus Zatoichi are the only things I've recorded so far that broke the 2Gb mark (as both are long). When I did a test of a pre-opened SD card, I used 768kbps mode, and it broke the file into four hour chunks, which ran to something like 1.7Gb.

Thankfully, I have been offered a copy of the broadcast on DVD. <smile>
But it still raises the question of what's up with the OSD. Truth be told, while it is highly annoying (it isn't as if the ESC final is rebroadcast on BBC THREE or anything), it isn't as big a problem as it seems - for I usually use 1200 or 1500kbps, and anyway most stuff isn't as long as the contest so the majority of files will be under 2Gb. Still irksome.

 

Vide grenier

Went to another local vide grenier today. I've been asked if I can show you what I mean, so here are some photos:
Vide grenier, 1

Vide grenier, 2

Vide grenier, 3

Vide grenier, 4

It wasn't a particularly good one this time. A lot of tat on sale. But never mind, I picked up an animé DVD for €2. The guy wanted three, but the box did not say what langue the film was in, or anything actually, other than the title.
I bought a parallel port Zip drive for a fiver. I thought it might be useful to have a backup/spare if I ever try to recover anything from the old zips I have. Plus it had a power brick in French style. Worth it for that, I think. The Zip drive is slightly cuter than mine, with the curvy case. Mine is chunky and square, the Volvo of Zip drives.

iomega Zip drive, 250Mb version

And for something entirely different, a little Japanese tea set. And you can see what I have in mind... ☺

Tea set

 

GPS accuracy

GPS trace inaccuraciesI've noticed that the last few days, the GPS readings have been a little less accurate than usual. Now, I know there is a margin of error for this isn't the super-secret military version, however it seems to be consistantly a little north-east (up and right) of where the trace should be. Below you can see a trace I recorded this afternoon, following a restart of my phone. And the blue line added on top of this is where I actually walked.

Now, the way I see it, there are four possibilities:

  • GPS is always a little off, this is one time it is consistantly off by the same degree and in the same way.
  • Inaccuracies in the phone's calculations.
  • Google's map is wrong.
  • The recent tremors along the south-western Mediterranean is because the entirety of Europe has moved south west by about three metres.
Pick your favourite explanation. ☺

It is amusing in a nearby large town to set up the Google Navigation and then take the new bypass road. The navigation tries to reroute for the way you are going, and then gets confused by you apparently going 80kph across a field...
...Papa? Nicole? [I wonder how many people 'get' that joke?]
 

Awesome deal!

You get a magazine, another magazine, and a little wooden stick figure... for €2,50!
Things that look too good to be true...probably are
Look closer. In tiny writing, it says "in addition to your magazine which is €9,95". The total price is therefore €12,45 and not the loudly promoted two-fifty. Another con is where you get a pack of books which says "ONLY TWO EUROS" (and in tiny writing, it says "per book").

 

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Last read at 04:40 on 2024/12/11.

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