Tuesday, April 19, 2011

VLC - How to Play Video in Fullscreen on a Netbook / Eee PC - Force Aspect Ratio

To force VLC Media Player video playback to fullscreen on a 10.1" display netbook (e.g.ASUS 1000-series Eee PCs, and many, many others), do the following:

1. Select Tools -> Preferences (or enter Ctrl-P)
2. Click "Video" on left side of window
3. Scroll to "Video" on right side of window - you will see an entry called "Force Aspect Ratio".
4. Enter "16:9" (no quotation marks).
5. Try playing a video. It should now be properly formatted to use the full screen.

If the above does not work, try the following in addition to the steps above:

1. Select Tools -> Preferences (or enter Ctrl-P)
2. Click "All" on the bottom-left (under "Show Settings")
3. Click "Video" on left side of  window
4. Scroll down to "Source Aspect Ratio"
5. Enter "16:9" (no quotation marks).

Friday, April 15, 2011

A Guide to Setting up PSP Remote Play - Set Up PSP Remote Play On Any Router

Complete the following steps, IN ORDER, and enjoy many of your PS3's features on your PSP wherever there is an Internet connection. I use mine to watch video from my TVersity Media Server on the go.

I'm going to state at the outset that despite all my efforts to get Remote Start Via Internet to work properly (i.e. not turn the system on randomly and then disable Remote Start Via Internet) - it really does not work well at all., does not work well with MANY router models (my D-Link DIR-625 included).

Sony desperately needs to implement some sort of specialized packet for waking the PS3. Without this, Remote Start Via Internet is essentially useless, as the PS3 will inevitably catch a random packet on port 9293, turn on, time out and disable Remote Start Via Internet. Alternatively, your router will send it an ARP packet, causing it to wake up (my problem). With the great PSN outage of 2011 going on, I doubt this is very high on Sony's priority list.

As it stands, the only truly reliable option is to disable Remote Start via Internet and System Auto-Off, and place your PS3 in Remote Play mode before you leave home / attempt to use Remote Play.

Steps:
1. Connect your PSP to your PS3 system with the USB cable.
2. Enable USB Mode on the PSP (Settings -> USB Connection).
3. Register the Device on the PS3 (Settings -> Remote Play Settings -> Register Device).
4. Enter Remote Play Mode on the PS3 (Network -> Remote Play).
5. Enter Remote Play Mode on the PSP (Network -> Remote Play).
6. Connect via your preferred method (Private Network or Internet).
7. Sign into Playstation Network on the PSP.
8. Enable Remote Start on the PS3 (Settings -> Remote Play Settings -> Remote Start). This is required if you wish to turn on the PS3 via the Internet, rather than locally.
  • If you choose this option, you will have to set the PS3 to login to your preferred user account automatically (Users -> Press Triangle button on preferred user -> Automatic Login)

The above steps will only work if you have your network configured correctly. If you don't know how to access your router's settings refer to this guide. This guide assumes some comfort with adjusting router settings.

If you're afraid of your router, don't be. Take notes, and go through the following checklist, one item at a time.

PSP Network Settings Checklist:
  • 802.11b mode enabled on router? (PSP does not support 802.11g / n standards)
  • Static IP address reserved for PS3?
  • WPA or WEP mode enabled on router? (PSP does not support WPA2 security - enabling WPA mode will weaken router security, although with a long/complex enough key, it may be worth trying. Don't use WEP - it's inherently insecure)
  • If MAC address filtering active on router, PSP MAC address added to allowed devices?
  • Visible SSID on router? (If you use a hidden SSID, you must enter the SSID manually on the PSP)
  • UPnP enabled on router? (Enabling UPnP will weaken router security and I've found it isn't necessary to establish the connection)
  • Port 9293 (both TCP and UDP) forwarded to PS3 static IP?
  • PS3 not in DMZ? - If PS3 is in DMZ, random packets will cause it to turn off and on repeatedly, and the PS3 will disable Remote Start. This means you will have to forward ports for online multiplayer games. [Unfortunately - random Wake-On-LAN power-ups can occur nonetheless. Sony really screwed up here by not using a magic packet].
  • Network bandwidth OK? If your router is overwhelmed, the connection will most likely time out.
 Tested on the PSP-2000.

    Tuesday, April 12, 2011

    How to Format USB / External Drive (FAT32 / NTFS)

    Simply open a command prompt as an Administrator and type the following:

    For FAT32:

    • format /FS:FAT32 driveletter:  (e.g. format /FS:FAT32 F:)

    For NTFS:

    • format /FS:NTFS driveletter:

    All data on the target drive will be erased.

    You can also convert a FAT32 drive to NTFS without any data loss with the following command:

    • convert driveletter: /FS:NTFS

    NOTE: If you convert from NTFS to FAT32, all data will be erased.

    How to boot ASUS Eee PC from USB / External drive - Disable Quick Boot

    6 Easy Steps to Boot ASUS Eee PC from an External Device:

    I still love my old Eee PC after all these years...but I had a helluva time getting it to boot from an external drive so I could try out a certain linux distro.

    Tapping the Esc key upon booting is supposed to bring up a boot menu - but no luck.

    Turns out by default, it was configured to "quick boot". To change this:

    Steps:
    1. Turn off your Eee PC.
    2. Turn it back on, tap F2 immediately. This should get you into the BIOS Setup menu.
    3. Scroll over to the "Boot" tab.
    4. Select "Boot Settings Configuration".
    5. Use the minus key to change "Quick Boot" to Disabled.
    6. Press F10 to Save and Exit.

    Upon rebooting, hit Esc and you will be presented with a Boot Device selection menu.

    This method was tested on a 1000h, however I suspect these steps will also work for many older ASUS Eee PCs. "Quick Boot" may be listed as "Quiet Boot".