The Longanisa Project 3.0 » gadgets

Reflections on Making My DVD Player Region-Free

jovanpuyo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:28:51 +0000

In my quest to make my Samsung HT-Z210 region-free, I managed to fuck it up. It worked a while for about three months and then suddenly it can only play US discs (region 1) and not DVDs that I bought from the Philippines (region 3). What irony!

I went to the web searching for possible answers. I saw one post in a forum of a guy who experienced the same problem but there was no response from others. After reading that, I started to feel helpless until I visited the product page in the Samsung site and saw that they have a guide for firmware updates.

Hmmm. Seemed like I had nothing to lose (except for the DVD player) so I downloaded the PDF guide and the firmware file and followed the steps. I have to admit this isn’t exactly the most user-friendly manual in the world, but I managed to figure things out. Now my DVD is back in tip-top condition. It can now play region 3 discs and I’ve yet to try if it can still play region 1 discs as well. If it won’t, it doesn’t matter. I have my new Blu-ray player to do that job.

The moral of the story? I can think of several:
1. It’s OK to play around with your stuff as long as you can fix it or at least be willing to pay the consequences.
2. Common sense is way better than Google.
3. Don’t be greedy. If I didn’t wish for a multi-region DVD player, I wouldn’t have had this problem in the first place.

It’s not the iPhone

jovanpuyo — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:16:00 +0000

Globe is offering the iPhone in the Philippines. News of this came out yesterday. So what else is new? It just confirms last year’s rumors. What I’m really excited of is the possibility of finally opening the iTunes Music Store in this country because of this device. Yeah baby!

Gastos Bug?

jovanpuyo — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:51:00 +0000

I finally got to see and touch the Sony Ericsson W960i. I dropped by the Sony Ericsson booth at Megamall’s Cyberzone after paying the landline and water bills. I thought it would be out of stock or something as this was always the case, so I was shocked when the sales person showed it to me. Wow! Finally. Really sweet. Now I’m in love. I think I will be replacing my Nokia N70 very, very soon.

Talking about shopping, I actually splurged on the web, buying running stuff from REI and a Garmin GPS 305 unit from Amazon. I’m sorry. Their offers were quite irresistible. As of press time, I bought a couple of Nike running shorts and dri-fit running shirts from REI, amd a Garmin 305 GPS unit, Flip Video bike mount and two iSkin Evo3s for my 5th generation iPod from Amazon. My in-laws are in Vegas so I’m really taking advantage.

There You Are!

jovanpuyo — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:47:00 +0000

Oh hello, iPod! It seemed like a long time since I last saw you.

I guess you can blame it on wizard Steve Jobs and his merry men of designers. They gave you a very sexy body with a really shiny back – very beautiful. But this is your curse. They guaranteed that you’ll be obsolete in a few months time, and so the moment I use you in the real world, you scratch easily. Because of this, I have little choice but to encase you in a horrendous silicone case made in Taiwan.

Be not afraid, my love, for those days are over now, thanks to the guys at GMask. With their protective film, you stay safe but without the bulkiness of your previous cases. Now I can appreciate your beauty without the worry of you getting scratched.

And now we ride into the sunset.

Awwwww.

Leopard Love: Reason 2

jovanpuyo — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:50:00 +0000

Everything’s so simple, I’m just so amazed, and because of that I’m sounding like an Apple fanboy!

So you shoot videos using Pure Digital’s Flip Video Ultra and you have means to share these on YouTube or Kyte. Now comes the missing link – Apple’s iMovie from the iLife ’08 suite.

It’s so easy that I was able to make a short wala lang movie from the footages I took in Nigel’s birthday party. Granted I still have tons to learn on editing and shit, but to do something like this with just dragging and putting texts blew my mind away. When I showed what I did to my wife, she was so jealous she can’t wait to have her own Mac.

Now if only we had this technology when we were shooting our short film in high school, then Lilim would have been chosen as the class film instead of that silly kidnap comedy.

Check out what I did in my Kyte channel.

Going Multimedia

jovanpuyo — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 02:16:00 +0000

I’ve been going to my friends’ blogs looking for new updates from them when I realized I haven’t blogged for this year. Like Bea, it has nothing to do with the lack of content but more on just plain laziness. So as late as it may seem, let me greet you a Happy New Year and pray that there’s something special in store for you for 2008.

Ever since Charo gave me a Flip Video Ultra for Christmas, I’ve been playing around with it. Took it to a mountain bike ride, did a recording, uploaded it in my Kyte channel and voila! we’re doing video!

Check it out people!

jovanpuyo Channel

Mountain Bike Philippines

Yes, I think we’ll be seeing more videos here for 2008! Heheheheh!

And with this, let me leave you with one more video that will make you hungry. It’s not mine but it’s been going around the office like a 14th month memo!

Don’t you just love Travis Kraft?!