I just downloaded and installed this great app based on Zumobi for my Windows Mobile phone which makes it easy to look up snow conditions from anywhere! Check out REI Snow Report; it works for Windows Mobile, iPhone, and Blackberry.

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Some internal components make use of the system rating (processor/memory/graphics/disk/etc.) to determine whether a machine is capable enough for certain features (such as media transcoding and transparent windows). Update your system rating quickly from a command prompt by typing: winsat formal

I self host Windows 7 everyday; except I have the luxury of more recent builds than the general public. However, to ensure I can discuss features and bugs as beta testers see them, I have both the beta and the most recent build (give or take a week) installed. To differentiate between the builds I wanted to rename what is presented in the boot screen. Since Vista, boot.ini is no longer an option, so here is how to accomplish the rename:

From an administrative command prompt, type bcdedit. This will list all the installed operating systems known by the boot manager. To change one of the attributes (such as the description), you need to know the identifier. Copy the identifier value (from the output of bcdedit.exe) for the OS you want to change the description for, then:

bcdedit /set ID_YOU_COPPIED description “Win7 Rocks”

If you want to change which OS is started by default:

bcdedit /default ID_YOU_COPPIED

I was very happy to see a subtle change in the Windows 7 networking configuration settings that validates a static change to TCP/IP settings. By default, If you decide to manually enter any of IP address, Subnet mask, Default gateway, or DNS server address, Windows 7 will do a validation test to make sure what you entered hasn’t broken connectivity. You can easily disable this if you are testing or don’t care to validate the changes.

This subtle change will go a long way for those who have to support their friends and family over the telephone Is anyone really making static changes to their TCP/IP settings these days? Certainly not for casual users.

Many of you have already seen the new window management features in Windows 7, such as Aero Peek and the ability to snap windows to the top/bottom/left/right to maximize, minimize, and dock. However, you probably don’t know that Windows 7 provides keyboard shortcuts to improve window management further.

1. Windows key + Up arrow = maximize working window
2. Windows key + Down arrow = minimize working window (or restore a maximized window)
3. Windows key + Left arrow = dock working window to the left
4. Windows key + Right arrow = dock working window to the right
5. Windows key + Space = Peek at the desktop

For folks with multiple monitors, you can move windows between those monitors by using the Shift key:

1. Windows key + Shift + Left arrow = move the working window one monitor to the left
2. Windows key + Shift + Right arrow = move the working window one monitor to the right

I’ve heard mixed feelings about the new Windows Live Messenger behavior when running on Windows 7; specifically, how the application stays docked in the Taskbar while running in the background.

The nice thing about the application always being in the new taskbar is the ability to more quickly interact with commonly used features. A Windows 7 jump list gives you fast access to common tasks for the application, such as changing your presence, accessing your Windows Live mail, etc. This is great if you’re a frequent user of the application.

However, if you’re like me and are not a frequent user of the application, having Windows Live Messenger always on your Taskbar even though you didn’t choose to pin it there, is a bit of an annoyance. You might prefer the previous behavior where the application runs quietly in the background within the notification area until an event comes in; or if you choose to open the application. To do this, navigate to where you installed Windows Live Messenger (usually %ProgramFiles%\Windows Live\Messenger\), right-click on msnmsgr.exe and choose properties. From the Compatibility tab, specify the application should run in compatibility mode for Windows Vista.

Voila! Windows Live Messenger is tucked nicely away in the fly-out list for applications running in the notification area. Events happen the same way whether you run the application in compatibility mode, or in the default mode as part of the Taskbar. Even better, when you decide to use the application, the great new experience is revealed (the icon is displayed in the Taskbar; light-up notifications, jump list and all).

I should have already known this, but learned yesterday that you don’t have to manually traverse/modify/view the Windows Registry via RegEdit. From a command line, type reg /? to see your options. For example, I’m often reviewing a knowledge base article that involves viewing or editing a registry key. A quick copy/paste via the command line will really speed things up.

By way of example, if you wanted to see Outlook policies for HTTP RPC, you could type:

reg query "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\RPC"

On May 15th, an HD-DVD player update became available for the Xbox 360 accessory. Unlike Xbox 360 software updates which automatically download and prompt for installation, you’ll only get a prompt for the HD-DVD player update when you try to play any HD-DVD. This was confusing to me, as I knew of the update, but didn’t know why the console hadn’t automatically downloaded it. After I popped in an HD-DVD, I was asked to install the update.

A reason I was excited about this update was because of important sound fixes and updates. For starters, Dolby Digital (DD) surround always sounded rather lackluster compared to my other DVD player. It turns out that there has been a bug which caused HD-DVD DD output to be stuck in “night mode”, which is essentially dynamic range compression. So, rather than full dynamic range transferred at 640Kbps, the bitrate (and sound quality) was lower. Thankfully, this update fixes the problem and enables the full 640Kbps bitrate by default, and provides an option to enable dynamic range compression (night mode).

My favorite feature of this update; however, is the ability to output all HD-DVD audio in DTS 5.1 at 1.5Mbps. Enabling this was also a bit counter-intuitive to me at first, but makes sense in the end. I thought navigating to the System tab from the Xbox 360 dashboard would allow me to set DTS from within the audio settings. Nope. It does make sense that the option is not here because these audio settings are for the main console, and the DTS feature is specifically for HD-DVD movies.

To enable DTS output, insert an HD-DVD movie, and from an XBox remote (like the one that came with the premium console package, or the HD-DVD player), press the ‘Display’ button. 

You will then see menu options specific to the HD-DVD player:

Choose the ‘Digital audio settings’ menu option to specify the audio output format from the HD-DVD player regardless of what audio format is on the disk.

You only have to set this once, i.e. it is a setting for the HD-DVD player, not any particular movie. Because of this, I would be a fan of moving the HD-DVD player settings into the system blade. Finding this feature was sort of like an Easter egg hunt. Once set, all HD-DVD movies will output audio in the DTS 5.1 format at 1.5Mbps bitrate. I can definitely hear the difference. While Dolby Digital is louder at lower volume levels on my system, DTS is more crisp.

I’d like to see DTS support for regular DVDs and for Xbox Live Video Marketplace. I wonder why this feature is specific to HD-DVDs? Anyone know?

Lossy vs. Lossless

Throughout this post, I use the terms lossy and lossless, where the former means the sound is not the exact original (has loss), and the latter means the sound is the exact original (has no loss). By way of example, a lossy sound format is MP3 and a lossless format is WAV (otherwise referred to as PCM or Pulse Code Modulation as this is the most common use for WAV).

HD-DVD sound parity with DVD

Both DVD and HD-DVD support the lossy Dolby Digital (DD) and DTS surround formats which have a max bitstream of 1.5Mbps. There are four interconnects with enough bandwidth to output this lossy surround signal from your source player to an audio/video receiver (AVR):

• Discrete analog outputs
• Digital Optical (S/PDIF)
• Digital Coax
• HDMI (which will also carry video)

If the discrete analog outputs are used, the digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion happens in the source player rather than the AVR. For all digital outputs (including HDMI), the maximum 1.5Mbps bitstream is simply sent over the digital interconnect to the AVR for D/A conversion.

The only time sound quality would be better using the discrete analog outputs of your source player would be if the analog pre-amp and D/A converters in the source player were better then in the AVR. This is generally not true except for the higher end players (or you have a poor quality receiver).

High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)

HDMI is a single cable high-bandwidth solution for transporting both audio and video. There are three versions: 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3, with 1.1 or 1.2 being in almost every piece of recent consumer electronics equipment today. 1.3 is brand new and adds some new value, but to be explicitly clear:

YOU DO NOT NEED HDMI v1.3 TO EXPERIENCE THE NEW HD AUDIO FORMATS. Both versions 1.1 and 1.2 support the bandwidth necessary for 7.1 channels of 24bit/96kHz audio (discrete analog outputs is also an option if HDMI is not). For the eager minds, 24bit/96kHz is better than big budget Hollywood films which master at 24bit/48kHz, and ordinary films which typically master at 16bit/48kHz.

Speculation as to why pre-HDMI digital interconnects weren’t revisioned

I’m fairly certain digital optical (S/PDIF) and digital coax were not revisioned to support the higher bandwidth needed for the new lossless formats because a single cable for carrying audio and video is a preferred setup experience. HDMI had this promise already, and also supported a copy protection scheme supported by content owners. While it may have been possible to revision existing digital interconnect to meet bandwidth and copy protection needs, receivers would also have to be updated (hopefully just a firmware update), and consumers would still be forced to connect two separate wires and deal with potential synchronization issues between audio and video. In the end, the value of HDMI far exceeded the cost of not sticking with existing interconnect. If a reader has more background on this, I’d love to hear it.

HD-DVD sound advancements beyond DVD

Unlike DVD, HD-DVD also supports two new compressed lossless surround sound formats: Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. As a side note, typically the compression schemes used that can still achieve lossless reproduction are a 2:1 ratio (compressed to half the original size). Additionally, uncompressed lossless multi-channel PCM is supported. As fate would have it, there are also two new lossy formats with improvements over Dolby Digital and DTS: Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio.

All HD-DVD players are required to support every Dolby format; with the two new DTS HD formats as optional.

Additionally, all HD-DVD players are required to decode all audio formats (including the legacy ones) in the source player into multi-channel uncompressed PCM (so it can be mixed with picture-in-picture and menu sound effects), which is far to big to fit over digital optical or digital coax (in reality, the physical cable has the bandwidth, but the standards which govern how the bits are sent over the interconnect do not support the necessary throughput). The uncompressed lossless multi-channel PCM format can; however, be sent over HDMI (any version) or have the D/A conversion happen in the source player and output over the discrete analog outputs.

So, if any of the new lossy or lossless audio formats are used by the HD-DVD source content (what’s on the disk), and a digital optical or coax interconnect is used, the resultant multi-channel uncompressed PCM is automatically re-encoded on-the-fly by the source player (to Dolby Digital or DTS) to fit over that interconnect. In effect, the value of lossless sound is lost and DVD sound parity is the result. Importantly though, you’ll still get great sound, even if it isn’t as great as it could be.

The only way to achieve full fidelity lossless reproduction of the new lossless HD sound formats (or any of the new lossy HD formats) is to use the discrete analog outputs, or HDMI (remember, you don’t need v1.3).

What’s the confusion around HDMI 1.3?

Simple: the HDMI website clearly says that v1.3 is required for the new HD lossless formats. This is true only in the sense that v1.3 allows for the raw Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio bitstreams, as opposed to the uncompressed multi-channel PCM bitstreams, to be sent over the interconnect. This is extremely misleading. Note that sending the raw bitstream would also require the AVR to support the corresponding decoders, but would have the additional value of enabling product differentiation by higher-end digital components and processing of the streams. At the end of the day; however, whether the bitstream is the raw compressed lossless format, or the uncompressed multi-channel PCM format, the audio transfer is lossless (bit for bit the same audio). Importantly, you don’t have to upgrade your AVR or use HDMI v1.3 interconnect to get HD sound. You could in the future upgrade your AVR and have HDMI v1.3 interconnect for potential improvements by way of processing enhancements, but there is no reason to wait.

Conclusion

• If your AVR has HDMI inputs (and processes the sound rather than simply providing interconnect switching) and your HD-DVD player has HDMI output, you can get benefit of all new formats.
• If your AVR has discrete analog inputs (most do) and your HD-DVD player has discrete analog outputs, you can get benefit of all new HD audio formats.
• If you don’t have, or can’t use, HDMI or discrete analog interconnect, you’ll get DVD parity sound (the HD-DVD player will trans-code on-the-fly automatically).
• Your AVR does not have to understand any of the new required HD audio codecs (remember, the receiver sees a linear PCM bitstream).

Let me know if you have any questions or want me to expand more on the topic.

P.S. Thanks to all the bright folks at Microsoft who helped me understand all this voodoo.

Next in series

One thing I like about Mac OSX is the Expose feature. While Flip3d in Vista is cool, it does require multiple keystrokes to find the specific window you’re looking for. With Expose, a simple mouse gesture will display all the open windows on the screen. Luckily, Vista exposes the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) to developers so they can extend (and enrich) Vista and build cool applications, like My Expose. This app does the same thing as Expose for Mac OSX, but for Vista. Note that before you download and install My Expose, you’ll need to install the C++ Redistributable Package.

By moving the mouse to the upper left-hand corner of the screen, or hitting the F9 key, My Expose will nicely display all open windows.