I have had a media PC for a couple of years that I have used with a regular 26″ LCD monitor. So, when I got my Sony HDTV (model KDL-46V25L1) I thought that it would be incredibly simple to connect my PC up to my new HDTV. In fact, it was simple, but the results were disappointing and should be an embarrassment to Sony. However, with some determination, I was able to take advantage of the full resolution of my Sony display. Hopefully, these steps will help you if you find yourself in the same position.

My Sony monitor comes installed with a DSUB/RGB/VGA connector and two HDMI connectors. Sony’s instructions for connecting a PC to the monitor is to use the DSUB connection. This seems pretty obvious, but it turns out that the DSUB connector only supports resolutions up to 1400×1050. There are two problems with this. One, this is much lower than the full 1900×1080 native resolution of the monitor. Two, this is a 4:3 aspect ratio. So, the best you can hope for using the DSUB connector is a fuzzy, distorted, upscaled image.

LESSON: Don’t use the DSUB connector

The next obvious direction would be to use the HDMI inputs to the monitor. You will see below that this, in fact, will work, however, there are complications. First, Sony explicitly states in the WDL-46V25L1 Operating Instruction manual, on page 14

Do not connect a PC to the TV’s HDMI input. Use the PC IN (RGB IN) input instead when connecting a PC.

Unfortunately, they give no reason for why. I can’t imagine that this would do any damage to either your PC or your TV. My best guess is that they tell you this so that they don’t have to attempt the difficult explanation for how to properly configure your monitor to display the PC input correctly.

LESSON: Sony’s instructions sound like FUD, but, follow the rest of my instructions at your own risk.

So, without further ado, here’s what you need to do to get your PC to use the full HD resolution on your Sony Bravia HD display.

1. Make sure the video card on your PC has a DVI connector and supports 1900×1080 resolution.
2. Get a DVI to HDMI cable (male to male). You could also use a DVI cable and a DVI to HDMI adapter. I recommend the cable because it takes up less room behind your TV and should fit more snugly.
3. Connect your PC’s DVI port to one of your TV’s HDMI ports. You may need to restart your computer.
4. Make sure your display resolution is set at 1900×1080

What you will probably notice at this point is that the edges of your computer display is not visible on the TV. This is the reason I think Sony doesn’t want people connecting DVI to HDMI. However, you should know that a DVI signal is compatible with HDMI, so there is no reason to worry here. You just need to do some configuration on your TV.

Using your TV’s remote…
5. Hit the “MENU” button, then choose “Settings”
6. Using the arrows, move to the “Screen” settings tab
7. Find the “Display Area” setting and make sure it’s value is “Full Pixel”
8. Hit the “MENU” button again to save the setting and exit
9. (optional) Hit the “PICTURE” button until the setting is “Standard”. My setting was “Vivid” which make the PC’s display look really washed out. This is just personal taste, however.

That’s what worked for me. Your video card may have other settings, but you should be able to ignore most/all of those. My Nvidia card has a lot of settings related to displaying on HDTV’s, but I found most of them to be useless. YMMV.

Good luck and happy HDTV viewing!

Here it is, I am finally restarting my blog. Yes, it has been a long, long time and a lot has transpired. I’m not really going to go into all of that, but I do want to start blogging again. I was able to import all of my old Blogger posts into WordPress, which is pretty sweet. Unfortunately, I didn’t do a thorough job of backing up my Blogger images and I think they are now lost. Another bummer is that WordPress doesn’t seem to want me to embed widgets in my posts which means some of the old widgets I had embedded no longer work. Anyway, time to start writing something useful again.

I am tired of the name Synthetic Morpheme, so I decided it was time for a change… Now, if I only still wrote things in my weblog.

What more can I say? Click the link [Mashable.com].

In the June issue of Scientific American, there was an interesting article about game theory [The Traveler's Dilemma]. I often times read the Letters section of the magazine, but I have never sent one in myself. Today, however, I wrote the following letter.

From: Christopher Taylor
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 10:26 AM
To: ‘editors@sciam.com’
Subject: What Dilemma?

Dear Editors,

With Lucy and Pete standing beside each other and facing the airline manager across the counter, “The Traveler’s Dilemma”, by Kaushik Basu, frames the question as one of Lucy vs. Pete; each traveler trying to get more than the other. What Mr. Basu seems to overlook is that Lucy and Pete are each more likely to identify with the other than either of them is to identify with the airline manager. Framed this way, the competition is not one pitting Lucy against Pete, but pitting the travelers against the airline manager. With this shift in perspective, the only “logical” choice is for both travelers to ask for $100.

Christopher Taylor
Software Engineer

It would be quite cool if the magazine publishes the letter. But, if not, at least I can still put it on my weblog.

There was one print article in Nikkei Business Daily yesterday, but they didn’t put it online. Today, however, there are a couple of articles on the Net about yesterday’s BOOSTER launch.

BOOSTER press release
[CNET Japan][Furigana.jp][English Translation]

人気アニメ「グラップラー刀牙」がダウンロード可能に
[RBB NAVi][Furigana.jp][English Translation]

グラップラー刃牙：アニメ版全48話をダウンロード販売
[Yahoo! Japan][Furigana.jp][English Translation]

グラップラー刃牙：アニメ版全48話をダウンロード販売
[Mainichi][Furigana.jp][English Translation]

I’ll update this post as there are any new articles for this release.

I was browsing through the referrer lists for Furigana.jp and I found a very nice post in the Blogosphere.

I found this awesome tool for reading Japanese from web pages and text files. If you plug a URL into Furigana.jp, the engine will turn out your text with the wee hiragana gloss that is called furigana. If you are semi literate in Japanese like me, then you can quickly read a text loaded with unknown kanji using this handy phonetic script. [erizabesu]

Quite flattering considering this person actually knows what they are talking about. Read the full post because it has some very interesting tidbits about the Japanese syllabary and even some things I had never heard about before.

As I posted before, the BOOSTER service had launched with two small artists back in March. Today, Groove Digital Entertainment has launched its first major client, Grappler Baki. In contrast with the first BOOSTER release, this release demonstrates a new widget that hosts video content. The widget itself presents an exciting interactive user interface that is both useful and fun.

In addition, Groove has initiated an affiliate program that allows individuals to sign-up and customize their own widgets. These widgets can then be placed on the individuals websites or weblogs. The affiliate program offers both a paid and non-paid option, so that affiliates may, if they have a Japanese bank account, actually get paid a commission on any sales that originate from their widgets.

Official Grappler Baki website [in Japanese]
Sign up to become a Grappler Baki affiliate

For a team with a poor regular season record this year, expectations were low that this year’s Footy Japan/YC&AC Charity 6-a-side tournament would be anything more than a nice day in the sun and a chance to shoot a few balls. The weather was beautiful and we shot a few balls, but Amanis FC also came away with an unexpected tournament victory.

The excuses are endless for why Amanis FC has not made a better showing in TML 2nd Division, however there were no excuses to be had on Wednesday. We arrived at the YC&AC grounds at 8:30 A.M. ready to play, only to have to wait another hour before most other teams had arrived. Our draw placed us in the same group as BFC, which we knew to be a very strong team, but the other teams were unknown.

Things started slow in the group competition when our first opponent turned out to be the parents from a local youth team. Two of the team members were mothers who had clearly had little time on the ball. That game was followed by a challenging game against a young Japanese team. They moved the ball well in typical Japanese style, but lacked aggression and finishing which allowed Amanis to dominate.

Amanis’ third game in group play was against BFC. We had watched two of their earlier games and knew they were going to be a tough team to beat. So, instead of trying to beat them, we decided to fortify our defenses and hope for a draw. It may have been the longest 20 minutes of the day as BFC repeatedly pounded us with attacks, but our determination paid off and the game ended in a tie.

The game against BFC guaranteed our second place finish in group play. The game that followed was just for fun, but our opponent, already battered and beaten by two tough matches themselves, barely put up a fight.

Getting through the group play and into the semi-finals wasn’t too surprising, but we were happy to be there. In our last tournament at Oi Futo, we had been placed against some very tough teams and were only able to play for the plate. So, a chance at the cup was quite satisfying and the team was revved up to see how far we could get.

Our first game in the semi-finals was against a team of young U.S. Navy boys, the Yokosuka Seahawks. Both teams came out fighting, but the Seahawks were especially aggressive, eager to win and scored first. Time was winding up in the game and the Seahawks were still up by one point. The ball was going out-of-bounds on the Seahawk’s end of the field and was being shepparded out by a Seahawks player. However, Christopher Taylor was able to edge around the Seahawks defender to tip the ball toward the goal right on the end line. A quick move around the player, one-on-one with the keeper, a quick toe-flick later and the game was tied 1-1. The teams now tied, the whistle blew and the game went straight to the best out of three PKs.

Already down 2-1 after missing the first one, Amanis star PK scorer, Jorge Kuriyama was up. The expectation was definitely that Jorge would put the ball easily past the Seahawk goalie, but after about a 20 yard run up and a flaming kick, the audience was stunned to see the ball deflected by the Seahawks agile keeper. Desperation quickly turned to relief when the referee made a highly disputed call that the Seahawk’s keeper had come off of his line too early. The call was a blessing, but really put the pressure on Jorge for his second shot. After a similar 20 yard run up, Jorge faked another rocket shot, but dinked it over the keeper instead, the game was now 2-2. The game ended 3-2 after two beautiful saves by our stand-in keeper, Tim Daulat, and an effortless goal by Bruno.

After such a hard-fought win, Amanis was quite fired up to face the TML 1st Division, 3rd Place team, Sala FC. In this game and throughout the tournament, the two Amanis defensive players, Cyril and Vladimir, created an almost impenetrable fortress in front of the Amanis goal. Sala is known as a tough team, but this game definitely favored Amanis and without much drama, the game ended with Amanis on top.

Reaching the final game of the cup was completely beyond what anyone would have imagined this day. We were up against the TML 1st Division 1st Place team, YC&AC. Not only that, they were playing on their home ground. However, Amanis was relaxed and ready to play.

The game started fast and aggressively, but soon turned to Amanis’ favor on a cross that was mis-cleared by a YC&AC defender right to the feet of Christopher. A quick shot to the top-right of the goal and Amanis was up 1-0. However, before half-time, YC&AC equalized when a defensive mistake left a YC&AC player open on the left flank where the player sent a rocket past Jorge, who was in the goal.

At half-time, Amanis was at a loss for how we were going to win, but decided to keep the formation as it was. Amanis again took the lead on a beautiful corner kick by Bruno that came straight to Christopher, for an easy deflection and his second goal of the match. YC&AC didn’t back down, but the final nail was placed on the coffin just minutes later. Bruno, bringing the ball up the right, was able to pull in two YC&AC defenders leaving Jonathan open on the left. A beautiful cross followed by a powerful, left-footed volley wizzed past the YC&AC keeper and clenched the game at 3-1. Minutes later it was over and the victory for Amanis.

Victory is sweet and this was a victory that the Amanis team members are unlikely to forget. It was truly an underdog story and an exciting time.

Also see the TML write-up [Tokyo Metropolis League]

Here at Groove, we have rather quietly launched a new media distribution. It is very similar to SNOCAP in the U.S., but targeting the Japanese market. More information to come when we launch a major client, but here is the first BOOSTER store widget.

WIDGET REMOVED

This music is actually for sale and download… Go check it out!