The successful outcome of getting Transmission 2.42 working on FreeNAS 8 came from a notion of mine; “If there is a working port of 2.13, surely you must be able to get the more up-to-date 2.42 version working on FreeNAS too?”

And well, it turns out that you can. What gave me the idea that installing version 2.42 was certainly a possibility was a “how-to” guide on the SourceForge forum:

If you’re content with running version 2.13, follow this guide: http://sourceforge.net/apps/phpbb/freenas/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=10959

Prerequisites
By following this guide, I will assume you have a basic understanding of unix along with setting up and configuring FreeNAS. Before installing Transmission, there are a few things that need to be done:

1. Enter your router’s IP into the default gateway
Log into the FreeNAS Web UI, expand Network, select Global Network Configuration and in the IPv4 Default Gateway box enter the IP of your router. For example, mine is 192.168.1.254. This is also the same IP address you use the access the router’s administration page. This is needed so that the package manager can fetch the transmission install files.

2. Enable the root user login
In the FreeNAS Web UI, expand Services and click on SSH, in the pop-up window tick the Login as Root with password option and press save. Then we need to turn the SSH service on; to do this click on Control Services and toggle the switch for SSH to ‘on’.

3. Show console messages in the Web UI footer (optional)
Although this step is optional, I think it’s handy to have to ensure transmission is working without any errors. In the FreeNAS Web UI, expand System, click on Settings and click on the Advanced tab. Now tick the box next to Show console messages in the footer (Requires UI reload) and press ‘save’. Then simply press F5 and you’ll see a black console window with greet text appear in the bottom left hand corner of the Web UI.

4. An SSH client
For Mac users, you can use Terminal found in your Applications/Utilities folder. For Windows users, you can use PuTTy.

5. Setup a directory where you plan on keeping torrents and associated files
To streamline the process, have a directory created where you plan to keep downloaded torrents and associated data (See Step 1b for more).

Step 1a: Logging into FreeNAS via SSH
With your SSH client open, you should have a blank console window with the name of your computer and user. From here, type the following command and press enter:

ssh root@192.168.1.1

Be sure to substitute the 192.168.1.1 above with the IP address of your server that has FreeNAS installed on it.

If you’re logging in for the first time, you’ll more than likely receive a security warning followed by a prompt asking if you want to continue; simply type out yes and press enter. After you’ve typed yes, you’ll be presented with the following message:

FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE-p6 (FREENAS.amd64) #0: Wed Jan 18 13:52:11 PST 2012

FreeNAS nanobsd (c) 2009-2010, The FreeNAS Development Team
All rights reserved.
FreeNAS is under the modified BSD license.

For more information, documentation, help or support, go here:

http://freenas.org

Welcome to FreeNAS

along with a new command prompt:

[root@freenas] ~#

Step 1b: Creating and assigning ownership to a download directory

If you’ve already created a download directory and assigned the correct ownership for it, skip this step.

Once you’ve created a directory where your torrents and associated data will be stored, assign ownership to it for the www user with the following command:

chown -R www:www /path-to-your-torrent-directory

So, for example I’d execute the following command:

chown -R www:www /mnt/ZFS2/Torrents

Step 2a: Making the FreeNAS file system writable
Before we go trying to install the transmission daemon, we need to make the FreeNAS file system writable as by default it’s read-only. If this step is missed, a lot of errors will occur on the proceeding steps. To make the file system writable to us, type the following command and press enter:

mount -w /

This will remount the root file system in a writable state and return us to the command prompt:

[root@freenas] ~#

Step 2b: Installing the Transmission daemon

I noticed using the pkg_add method from the 2.13 how-to guide searches the FreeBSD repositories for the most current release based on the system installed, so that means it would only look for Transmission releases in the 8.2 version repositories (FreeNAS 8 uses this version) and grab the latest. The good thing is that you’re able to manually specify which package(s) you want to install. If you are using a 64-bit system, type the following command to retrieve the Transmission package and press enter:

pkg_add ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-8-stable/net-p2p/transmission-daemon-2.42.tbz

If you are using a 32-bit system, use the following command instead:

pkg_add ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/i386/packages-8-stable/net-p2p/transmission-daemon-2.42.tbz

Once you’ve pressed enter, you will begin to see the packages and dependencies being retrieved followed by transmission being added as a group and user:

Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-8-stable/net-p2p/transmission-daemon-2.42.tbz… Done.
Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-8-stable/All/transmission-web-2.42.tbz… Done.
Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-8-stable/All/ca_root_nss-3.13.1.tbz… Done.
Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-8-stable/All/curl-7.21.3_2.tbz… Done.
Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-8-stable/All/pkg-config-0.25_1.tbz… Done.
Fetching ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-8-stable/All/libevent2-2.0.16.tbz… Done.
Added group “transmission”.
Added user “transmission”.

Step 2c: Setting up the Transmission daemon to start automatically
By default, the transmission daemon installs itself into /usr/local/etc/rc.d/. However, we want to copy it over into FreeNAS. Type the following command and press enter:

cp /usr/local/etc/rc.d/transmission /conf/base/etc/rc.d/

From here, we want to edit the rc.conf file to tell FreeNAS to start the transmission daemon on boot. For this, we’ll be using the nano text editor, although you can use whichever you’re used to. Type the following command and press enter:

nano /conf/base/etc/rc.conf

Once this file has opened up, you will notice a lot of configuration settings for FreeNAS. Using the down arrow on your keyboard, scroll to the bottom. At the end of this file, type the following:

  # transmission-daemon
  transmission_enable="YES"

Although you don’t need the # transmission-daemon comment line, I like to have it there to segment the settings. After you’ve added the lines above, press CTRL + O followed by enter on your keyboard to save the file, then press CTRL + X to close the nano text editor.

Next, the Transmission start up script needs to be modified. To do this, type the following command at the prompt:

nano /conf/base/etc/rc.d/transmission

By default, the Transmission start up script looks like this:

  #!/bin/sh
  #
  # $FreeBSD: ports/net-p2p/transmission-cli/files/transmission.in,v 1.5 2012/01/14 08:56:43 dougb Exp $
  #
  # PROVIDE: transmission
  # REQUIRE: DAEMON
  #
  # Add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf to enable this service:
  #
  # transmission_enable:       Set to NO by default. Set it to YES to enable it.
  # transmission_watch_dir:    Directory for torrent files to download
  #                            automatically. Off by default unless you add
  #                            a path.
  # transmission_conf_dir:     Directory where transmission configuration
  #                            data is stored.
  #                            Default: /usr/local/etc/transmission/home
  # transmission_download_dir: Directory to store downloaded data.
  #                            Default: /usr/local/etc/transmission/home/Downloads
  # transmission_user:         The user account transmission daemon runs as what
  #                            you want it to be. It uses 'transmission' user by
  #                            default. Do not sets it as empty or it will run
  #                            as root.
  #

  . /etc/rc.subr

  name="transmission"
  rcvar=transmission_enable

  command=/usr/local/bin/transmission-daemon

  load_rc_config ${name}

  : ${transmission_enable:="NO"}
  : ${transmission_user:="transmission"}
  : ${transmission_conf_dir="/usr/local/etc/transmission/home"}
  : ${transmission_download_dir="/usr/local/etc/transmission/home/Downloads"}

  transmission_flags=" \
          ${transmission_watch_dir:+-c ${transmission_watch_dir}} \
          ${transmission_conf_dir:+-g ${transmission_conf_dir}} \
          ${transmission_download_dir:+-w ${transmission_download_dir}} \
          ${transmission_flags}"

  run_rc_command "$1"

The script below was posted by user paramount on the Transmission BT forums, it’s intended for FreeBSD 7.1 but it also works on version 8.2. We will modify the default script so that it looks exactly like the one below:

  #!/bin/sh

  # PROVIDE: transmission-daemon
  # REQUIRE: DAEMON
  #
  # Add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf.local or /etc/rc.conf
  # to enable transmission-daemon:
  #
  # transmission_enable="YES"
  # transmission_args=""
  # transmission_home="/var/transmission"
  # transmission_webhome="/usr/local/share/transmission/web"
  #

  . /etc/rc.subr

  name="transmission"
  rcvar=`set_rcvar`

  load_rc_config $name

  : ${transmission_enable:="NO"}
  : ${transmission_args:=""}
  : ${transmission_home:="/var/transmission"}
  : ${transmission_webhome:="/usr/local/share/transmission/web"}

  command="/usr/local/bin/${name}-daemon"
  command_args="${transmission_args}"
  start_precmd="${name}_prestart"
  TRANSMISSION_HOME="${transmission_home}"
  TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME="${transmission_webhome}"

  transmission_prestart()
  {
      if [ -n "$TRANSMISSION_HOME" ]; then
          export TRANSMISSION_HOME
      fi
      if [ -n "$TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME" ]; then
          export TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME
      fi
  }

  run_rc_command "$1"

If you compare both the scripts above, you’ll notice all the changes required are located in the lower half of the script. In the nano text editor, move your cursor to the first line after the # and press CTRL + K to delete line after line, then copy and paste everything from the script above into nano.

So from this:

  #!/bin/sh

  # PROVIDE: transmission-daemon
  # REQUIRE: DAEMON
  #
  # Add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf.local or /etc/rc.conf
  # to enable transmission-daemon:
  #
  # transmission_enable="YES"
  # transmission_args=""
  # transmission_home="/var/transmission"
  # transmission_webhome="/usr/local/share/transmission/web"
  #

To this:

  #!/bin/sh

  # PROVIDE: transmission-daemon
  # REQUIRE: DAEMON
  #
  # Add the following lines to /etc/rc.conf.local or /etc/rc.conf
  # to enable transmission-daemon:
  #
  # transmission_enable="YES"
  # transmission_args=""
  # transmission_home="/var/transmission"
  # transmission_webhome="/usr/local/share/transmission/web"
  #

  . /etc/rc.subr

  name="transmission"
  rcvar=`set_rcvar`

  load_rc_config $name

  : ${transmission_enable:="NO"}
  : ${transmission_args:=""}
  : ${transmission_home:="/var/transmission"}
  : ${transmission_webhome:="/usr/local/share/transmission/web"}

  command="/usr/local/bin/${name}-daemon"
  command_args="${transmission_args}"
  start_precmd="${name}_prestart"
  TRANSMISSION_HOME="${transmission_home}"
  TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME="${transmission_webhome}"

  transmission_prestart()
  {
      if [ -n "$TRANSMISSION_HOME" ]; then
          export TRANSMISSION_HOME
      fi
      if [ -n "$TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME" ]; then
          export TRANSMISSION_WEB_HOME
      fi
  }

  run_rc_command "$1"

The next step is to modify the transmission_home setting. Locate the following line:

  : ${transmission_home:="/var/transmission"}

and replace it with the path to where your download directory is, for example mine is:

  : ${transmission_home:="/mnt/ZFS2/Torrents"}

After you’ve added the lines above, press CTRL + O followed by enter on your keyboard to save the file, then press CTRL + X to close the nano text editor.

Now, we need to reboot the server. We do this by typing:

reboot

After your server has rebooted itself and FreeNAS is up and running again, log back into the FreeNAS Web UI and click on Display System Processes. You should see the transmission-daemon running and listed in similar fashion:

1910   www      3   44      0  39172K  22960K  select   0   54:49   0.20%   transmission-daemon

If the entry is there, you’ve successfully installed the transmission-daemon. Now, onto configuring it!

Step 3: Configuring and accessing the Transmission Web Interface

Accessing the Transmission Web Interface
To access the Transmission Web Interface, type the following address into your web browser:

192.168.1.99:9091

Be sure to substitute the 192.168.1.99 above with the IP address of your server that has FreeNAS installed on it.

Congratulations, now you’ll be looking at a web interface where you control Transmission from! If you get an error message about an authorized IP address; you’ve missed a step somewhere and transmission is reading from a temporary settings.json file.

Configuring Transmission
From what I’ve read, changing any settings in the Transmission Web Interface are only applied temporarily. They are written to the settings.json file when the transmission-daemon isn’t running. The problem here is if you manually kill the transmission daemon, it will try to write settings to the root directory where an error will occur as FreeNAS is a read-only file system. You’ll see an error like this appear:

Jan 28 16:03:12 FreeNAS transmission-daemon[2547]: Couldn’t save temporary file “/root/.config/transmission-daemon/settings.json.tmp.80Zhe3″: No such file or directory (bencode.c:1734)

So, in order to successfully save settings to the correct settings.json file, which should have been created when you edited the transmission_home setting from a few steps above; you need to reboot the server. It’s not the most ideal method, but considering a server is usually running non-stop, I think this is a small sacrifice.

That’s all folks!

I’ve spent quite a few hours figuring out how to get Transmission 2.42 working on FreeNAS 8, not to mention a few hours refining this guide. So, as far as I’m aware if you follow it step-by-step, it should work without a hitch. If it works for you, please feel free to say thanks or leave your comments and/or queries below.

This is by far the best ‘bang-for-buck’ modification you can perform on your iMac. Well, apart from putting in lots of RAM. Best of all? It’s a very simple and straight forward procedure that takes approximately 25 minutes to complete.

I won’t lie, I was actually talked into upgrading to an SSD by several friends, the only problem was cost. Last weekend I decided to finally bite the bullet and purchased a 120Gb Intel 320 Series drive. I highly recommend doing your research before going out and buying just any drive as all drives are susceptible to problems, some just less than others. From the research I did, it seems the Intel drives are a great middle ground in terms of reliability and performance.

Prerequisites
Firstly, Whatever SSD you do end up purchasing, I suggest that you find out if you need to update it with a more recent firmware as not all SSD’s ship with the latest one available. For instance, I upgraded to the latest 320 Series firmware as it offered a fix for a certain issue which occurred with power loss.

Secondly, assuming you have purchased Mac OS X Lion, you’ll need to create a Lion Install on a USB key, see the following guide on how to do this: http://www.cultofmac.com/105527/how-to-make-a-bootable-install-disk-of-mac-os-x-lion/ Otherwise, have your Mac OS X Install DVD handy.

And finally, be sure you have Torx T8 and T10 screwdrivers handy.

Step 1a: Opening up the iMac
This is much, much easier than you think. I’ve read some articles online making out that opening up your iMac requires you to have a degree in engineering or that it was a real terrifying ordeal.. well, it’s not. I’m not sure if the people suggesting it was were just big girls, or that Apple themselves sent some emails trying to deter people from doing it, either way it’s a very simple and straight forward process. The easiest way for you to open up your iMac is to follow the visual guide over at iFixit: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac-Intel-27-Inch-Hard-Drive-Replacement/1634/1

Tip: Don’t spend money on any suction cups to lift the glass off. Just buy a roll of thick duct tape and press it firmly onto a corner. Gently (but with some force) pull it towards you and you will notice it detach. Then simply slide your finger all the way across the top in between the bezel and glass to detach it away from the magnets.

Step 1b: The HDD temperature sensor
If you’ve followed everything in the iFixit Guide and all went well, you’re probably wondering at this point what you’re supposed to plug the HDD temperature sensor back into? Well, here’s the thing; you don’t. What you actually need to do is to trick the sensor into thinking everything is fine. You may have done some google searches and read posts about “shortening” it, relax.. it’s not as crazy as something you’d see on MacGyver, although this is a MacGyver style workaround.

I wanted to elaborate on this step and help others out with it visually, as I myself read about it on several forums but noticed that no one posted any pictures of how they done it, and I certainly wasn’t going to pull my iMac apart just to see what I needed to do. All you need to complete this procedure is a small, thin piece of wire.

I used a small piece from a metal twist tie (the ones you find wrapped around cables to keep them neat) which is pictured here, bent into a ‘U’ shape. What I then did was put it into the connector as pictured here, matched up with the wires. After that, I simply cut a thin piece of electrical tape, covered the wire and tucked the cable neatly under the others near the temperature sensors.

“Why do I have to do this?” you might be asking. Well, if you don’t follow the above procedure, your HDD temperature sensor will panic thinking something has gone wrong and consequently the fan will run at a noisy ~5000rpm+ as opposed to a quiet ~1100rpm.

Tip: Before putting the glass back on, turn your Mac on and ensure that the temperature sensor trick is working. If a loud ‘whirring’ type of sound is heard, it isn’t.

If you’re still not comfortable performing this trick, I suggest you look at a software solution. Perhaps something like http://www.hddfancontrol.com

Step 2a: Installing Mac OS X

By now you should have your Mac OS X Install DVD inserted or Lion Install USB Key plugged in with your Mac preparing to begin installation. The first step is to format the SSD using the Disk Utility, the format I always use is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Once this step is complete, you can begin installing Mac OS. Depending on the speed of your system, this should take ~20 minutes.

Step 2b: Enabling SSD TRIM support
Once the install has been completed and you’ve set up your Mac, the next important step to take is to enable TRIM support on the SSD. By default, this will always be disabled as Apple has only enabled this command for their proprietary supplied SSD’s. The good news is that with a few commands from within the Terminal, we’re able to enable TRIM on 3rd Party SSD’s.

The TRIM command allows an operating system to inform a solid-state drive (SSD) which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally. For an in depth look at TRIM, see: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/03/27/keeping-ssds-in-trim-doing-the-math/

To enable TRIM, use the following commands in Terminal:

1. Backup the IOAHCIBlockStorage file that we’re about to patch:

sudo cp /System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext/Contents/MacOS/IOAHCIBlockStorage /IOAHCIBlockStorage.original

2. Modify the IOAHCIBlockStorage file to enable TRIM support for all SSD’s:

sudo perl -pi -e ‘s|(\x52\x6F\x74\x61\x74\x69\x6F\x6E\x61\x6C\x00{1,20})[^\x00]{9}(\x00{1,20}\x51)|$1\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00$2|sg’ /System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext/Contents/MacOS/IOAHCIBlockStorage

3. Clear the prelinked kext caches:

sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel

4. Clear the System kext caches:

sudo kextcache -system-caches

All these commands should provide zero error outputs if done correctly. After the 4 steps have been completed, reboot your Mac!

To check if your SSD is now TRIM enabled, open up About This Mac, click on More Info and then click on System Report. Within System Report click on Serial-ATA and next to TRIM Support it will either say Yes or No.

All done, enjoy the speed!

Note: I’ve read I can confirm that performing Software Updates will disable TRIM support. To re-enable it again, simply follow the steps above.

In the case of something going wrong and you need to restore the original IOAHCIBlockStorage file, use the following command:

sudo cp /IOAHCIBlockStorage.original /System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext/Contents/MacOS/IOAHCIBlockStorage

I guess I’m just a big kid, because I love animated movies. So when I saw “A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventure” I got quite excited as it looked promising. But that wasn’t the case..

.. Well, for me anyway. I’m not quite sure what it is about this animated movie that left me a bit disappointed. The last animated movie I saw was How To Train Your Dragon and I loved it to bits. So much so, that I think I’ve seen it close to half a dozen times. It had a simple, straight forward plot was an action packed ride.

With Sammy’s Adventure, I figured by looking at the quality of animation and storyline, I was in for an “animated adventure”, I was wrong. I’m sitting here thinking about the movie and how to write this review, and I’m a bit confused to say the least.

A sea turtle who was hatched in 1959 spends the next 50 years traveling the world while it is being changed by global warming.

By reading the brief plot outline, one would assume the movie is about what’s stated (which most movies are). Yet, I’m thinking otherwise. First and foremost, I have to say that this animated movie is really strung out, even though it only went for 1.5hrs, it really felt much longer. The company I watched it with agreed, I think some were starting to fall asleep at one point.

Secondly, I feel they tried to fit too many concepts into this film. From chasing after a female ‘Sammy’ meets at the start of the movie, to finding a so called ‘secret passage’, all mixed in with ecological and environmental messages which I must say became cliche after a while. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a good thing that these messages were put in, but it almost felt like they were being shoved down our throats after the first two.

Thirdly, one could clearly tell this movie was intended to be watched in 3D with the amount of specific visual sequences present. I counted at least 5-6 sequences where a character was isolated purely to ‘pop-out’ at you and display the visual effects of 3D. I was only able to see the movie in 2D, so I was a bit bummed about that.

In terms of characters; I think they could of done a lot more in this area. Some ques from Finding Nemo would of come in handy.. Where the main character talked to some other characters, they didn’t even verbally respond. Only in action or gestures. Now, I’m not sure if this was intentional but it just seemed out of place for some reason. One example were some additional voice dialogue could of made an action sequence a bit better was when a great white shark was chasing Sammy, I think it would of added a bit more ‘thrill’. I didn’t really find myself becoming attached to any of the characters either.

In saying the above and whilst this is not a Disney or Pixar production, overall it was very well made. But perhaps it was simply intended for kids.

Use skEdit? Don’t like the standard dark theme that’s included with the app? Well, here is my concoction for you to try.

If you’re a skEdit user, you’d be familiar with the fact not that many syntax highlighting themes are available to us. Whilst I don’t mind the standard dark theme that’s included by default, I decided to modify it a bit to my liking. What you see above is what I’ve come up with.

If you’d like to try it out, grab it here.

Put it in your ~/Library/Application Support/skEdit/Themes/ folder, then to use it simply select the theme via preferences.

I was looking to upgrade my WDTV HD for quite some time now, so when I came across the WDTV Live on special – I simply couldn’t resist and ended up going home with one.

I wrote quite an extensive post on the HD version of the WDTV, so I won’t go too much into every little detail with this post as I figured most know what the WDTV is capable of. Instead, I thought I’d just post my thoughts and findings on this unit and provide a little feedback to those who may be looking at upgrading. For reference, my setup consists of a Pioneer VSX-520 AV Receiver and Sony SA-VS350H 5.1 surround sound speakers.

The Unit Itself, Hardware
Western Digital have moved away from the all black, glossy finish of the HD to a black matte finish with silver trim on the Live. I quite welcome the change as it makes the unit look a bit more sleek, plus you won’t have finger smudges all over the remote. The hardware is quite similar in terms of the backpanel with the RCA connectors simplified and turned into was is essentially a 3.5mm jack. The other difference being the USB port on the back of the unit is now positioned horizontally, not vertically like on the HD.

User Interface
The UI in the WDTV Live hasn’t changed all too much in comparison to the WDTV HD. The style is very similar, the only two real differences are the positioning and speed. The HD navigation started from the left and menus expanded to the right, the Live starts in the centre and menus expand vertically. One advantage the Live has over the HD is speed, it is much faster overall. Apart from these two things, I don’t think there is much else to discuss in terms of the UI.

Streaming Video & Network Capability
With the Live HD gaining networking capabilities, one is now able to stream video from a media server or a share on a computer. While I don’t have any media servers to stream from, I do stream content from my iMac to the Live handles things just fine. I’ve found streaming large .mkv movies issue free, with no lag or hang ups. Fast forwarding and rewinding is also fine. I have noticed large MPEG based files do seem to lag or even freeze briefly whilst fast forwarding at 8x, at 4x they’re fine.

I don’t know if it’s firmware based, but quite frequently the WDTV will have troubles connecting to my SAMBA network share, other times it’s fine. Infrequently, browsing some folders the unit will just freeze up whilst in thumbnail mode, my guess is processing power. Another annoyance is browsing network shares in thumbnail mode; both the thumbnail and movie are listed. Apparently there is a fix for it which involves removing the .jpg extension, but I’ve had no luck with that.

One more annoying thing is that if you have networked your WDTV, it’ll go online by itself to check for firmware updates. This feature is actually pretty neat, the only annoying thing is the fact that there is no built in setting to turn this off – especially if you use an older firmware.

I don’t have any comments or feedback to provide on the internet media functions of the WDTV Live as I don’t use them. One thing I will note with the earlier versions of the firmware, these internet media options were present in the video menu, which I found annoying. With 1.04.xx they are no longer present.

File Management
A nice, new little feature of the WDTV Live is file management and the ability to move, copy or delete files of both locally connected and networked drives. No real issues to report with this feature at present.

Video & Audio Playback
Video: 99% of mkv videos playback fine. I have noticed that BluRay and HD-DVD rips can stutter depending on the Firmware used. 1.03/1.04 caused playback issues, whereas 1.02 plays things smoothly.
Audio: DTS-ES is passed through, DTS-HD/MA is downmixed to DTS Core 5.1. Dolby Digital+ and Dolby TrueHD are passed through. Dolby TrueHD only seems to be passed through from .mkv files on 1.04 firmware, not sure why as nothing is noted in the changelogs. Multichannel AAC from .mkv files does not play over digital (and from what I’ve read, never will), I did manage to get it working via Stereo though, but what a pain in the ass.

Subtitles
The Live has had some improvements with subtitles support and settings. There are a few more added sizes for subtitle display and positioning (which is set by the up and down arrows on the remote). Unfortunately, there still isn’t any support for styled softsubs which is a bit of a downer, but I kind of don’t mind. The Live also has issues playing PGS subtitles from mkv’s.

Movie Thumbnails (+ network fix)
In Firmware version 1.02.xx, thumbnail colours will show up saturated and do not cache properly, this issue is corrected in 1.03.xx firmware versions. Now, one very annoying bug which WD refuse to fix and call a feature is the display of movie thumbnails on networked drives. That is, the .jpg and and movie both show up. WD answer me this; Just what on earth made you guys think we want to see JPEG images when we’re browsing movies? /facepalm.

This bug annoys myself and many, many other WDTV Live users across the globe. The hardest part was sifting through the useless suggestions people were posting on how to fix this.
I tried everything from removing the .jpg extension to ThumbGen’s fix – all of which didn’t work. The ONLY solution I’ve found to get thumbnails to display on networked drives without them showing up along side the movie is to install the WDLXTV custom firmware. It takes a bit of tinkering to set it all up, but it works.

The process is quite simple, within the WDLXTV configuration you setup your network drive to automatically mount upon start up using xmount. This makes the WDTV think the drive is connected as a normal HDD via USB and thumbnail problem solved!

I am not to be credited for this solution, I actually found it posted by someone else on a WDTV based forum.

Network Shares with Mac OS X 10.7 (WDLXTV specific fix)
So.. You’ve upgraded to Mac OS X 10.7 like I did and realised you can no longer access SMB Shares, WTF!!! I hear you say.. The reasoning behind this is due to SAMBA licensing, thus resulting in Apple writing their own implementation of SAMBA called SMBX. Anyway, after some Googling I found a solution. Read on..

Notes: You’ll need some knowledge of directory structures and paths in order to set this up. You’ll also need at least one USB device attached at all times for automount to work.

Open Terminal.app (found in Applications/Utilities).

Step 1) Type the following command: sudo nfsd enable to enable the NFS daemon.

Step 2) Type the following command: sudo nano /etc/exports to create the paths to your shares.

Step 3) A blank file will open up, in this you want to type the full path to the folders/volumes you want to share. For example, I’m sharing my Public folder, so I have added /Users/Rad/Public to mine. After you have added the full path of the folders/volumes, press control + O to save the file and press enter, then press control + X to exit the nano editor.

Step 4) Type the following command: showmount -e and you should get listing, such as:

Exports list on localhost:
/Users/Rad/Public 192.168.1.0

Step 5) In this step you’ll need to add an automount entry to your WDLXTV config file. I’ve added xmount “192.168.1.83:Users/Rad/Public” “Public” nfs to my config file; which specifies my Mac’s IP address, the path to the share, the share name (as it’ll appear on your WDTV menu) and the share type. Then reboot your WDTV, powering it off and on won’t work. After it boots navigate to your locally connected USB drive and the NFS share should appear in there! If it doesn’t, navigate back one step and try again. This process has worked for me.

Notes on Firmware versions
1.01.xx Nothing to report with this version as I upgraded pretty much instantly when I got the unit.
1.02.xx After some testing with a friend, I’ve concluded that this is the best firmware version. It is the fastest in terms of navigation and most functional by the looks of things.
1.03.xx Similar to 1.02 in terms of speed and functionality, with improved thumbnail caching. BluRay/HD-DVD rips will more than likely stutter, TrueHD pass-through lost.
1.04.xx I wouldn’t upgrade to any 1.04.xx version, no benefits to be had unless you want/need TrueHD pass-through.
1.05.xx I’m currently using this firmware, but the B-RAD version (1.05.04_V.WDLXTV_LIVE-0.5.1.1) which is running flawlessly. Has 3TB HDD support and TrueHD pass-through.

Tip: To remove the dreaded New Firmware Found message whilst using older firmware versions, you’ll need to setup a URL blocking filter from within your Router/Modem configuration interface. In the URL blocking filter section of your Router/Modem, add support.wdc.com to the banned/disallowed list and you won’t have it pop up anymore.

I originally saw the trailer for this movie and being a dog lover, I thought it would be a good watch with the high IMDb rating it received, I wasn’t wrong..

Coincidently, what sparked my interest to finally watch this movie whilst being stuck at home sick was the fact that my mother managed to watch this movie before me (which is a rare occurrence) and the feedback I got from her was “Why did you give this movie to me? I was crying non-stop”. I thought to myself, how upsetting can this movie really be? Well, I was in for a surprise..

To loosely describe the plot of the movie; it is based on the true story of a college professor’s bond with an abandoned dog he takes into his home. For the real and full background of this remarkable dog, check out this Wikipedia entry

The movie is definitely watchable if you just pick it up without having an understanding of the temperament of this certain breed. However, knowing the background of this breed will give a better understanding of its character and the type of personality they have. The “Akita Inu” is renowned for its intelligence and loyalty to its owner, as witnessed throughout the movie. It also goes to show that sometimes even animals hold values and traits better than some humans can; loyalty and faith in this instance.

Initially, it seems as though Professor Parker Wilson (played by Richard Gere) is the main character in this movie, but when the Professor passes away – we come to learn that Hachi really is and always was. What I thought was a nice touch was the fact that not only were we given a view from the humans side, but also a view from Hachi himself – a dog’s eye view which really helps to gather feelings and an understanding of the dog.

The movie is quite enjoyable up to the point where the Professor passes away. At this point, you are strapped into an emotional rollercoaster with no way out.. Even as a grown man I couldn’t hold myself together emotionally. I think I pretty much cried until the end of the movie and some more after it was actually over, the last 20-30 minutes of the movie are just simply that upsetting.

I can honestly say I have never been that upset after watching a movie based around animals. I guess because of the fact I’ve had strong bonds with several dogs over the past decade and a half (1 being my own, 3 being my cousins dog’s), I can sympathise and understand how Hachi would be feeling.

As a young kid, did you need a tissue at the end of Free Willy when he was set free? Well, have a towel ready if you find the courage to watch this movie, because I’m telling you now, you will without a doubt be crying by the end of it.

Hachiko: A Dog’s Story needs to be watched, at least once – as a dog lover or not.

The Legendary MacGruber. Former Navy SEAL, Army Ranger and Green Beret. Served six tours in Desert Storm, four in Bosnia, three each in Angola, Somalia, Mozambique, Nicaragua and Sierra Leone. Recipient of sixteen Purple Hearts, three Congressional Medals of Honor, seven Presidential Medals of Bravery and starting tight end for the University of Texas, El Paso.

It seems there is a lot of negativity towards MacGruber in the reviews. 5.2/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, 5.6/10 on IMDb – it’s not to say that these ratings are unjust, but I feel people are taking MacGruber too seriously or perhaps it simply caters for those who have a wider humour spectrum. The movie itself is all nonsense and literally ridiculous, but you simply can’t help but laugh at foul mouthed dialogue, mini-parodies, raunchy soundtrack and play on words – ‘cunth’ anyone?

MacGruber is an ex-special operative who is called back into action to take down his archenemy, Dieter Von Cunth, who is in possession of a nuclear warhead and bent on destroying Washington, D.C.

Although the plot is straight forward, It feels as though it was almost written overnight or by a 13 year old – but that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things considering the movie is purely driven on its dialogue, not to mention one of the funniest sex scenes I’ve seen in a movie since Team America.

MacGruber is said to be the best of the best, the elite, cream of the crop but in reality he can only be described as a big douche. He dresses like Macgyver, drives a Mazda and carries his car radio everywhere – at one point, he even goes as far as to put a celery stick up his ass to divert attention – classic MacGruber. His sidekick, if you can call him that is Lt. Dixon Piper (played by Ryan Phillippe) who MacGruber makes out to be the clueless rookie, yet probably has more qualifications and training than MacGruber himself.

Then you have Dieter Von Cunth (played by Val Kilmer) the token bad guy, I can’t help but laugh every time I hear “Cunth”, for obvious reasons. If you’re unsure of what I mean, you can read up on it here. While the character of Dieter Von Cunth doesn’t get much screen time, any that he does is usually absurd – he is either belittling MacGruber or painting portraits of naked old ladies with drooping tits.

I’d say this movie would be a cross between Get Smart and Austin Powers in terms of that raunchiness and plain stupidity with the exception being MacGruber is filled with about 10x 50x more memorable one-liners and humour which is crude – sometimes it leaves you thinking, “dude, are you normal?”. But you can’t help but laugh at it all. I can see myself and my boss at work repeating some of the dialogue for months to come.

The action sequences in MacGruber are pretty average, just your run off the mill type – apart from the half dozen throats ripped out within the space of 10 minutes by the man, MacGruber himself.

MacGruber is one of those movies that if you go into it expecting something serious rather than just 90 minutes of pure nonsense, stupidity and laughs you’ll probably end up turning it off after 9. So sit down, shut up and just enjoy it.

Trailer

Last night I watched How To Train Your Dragon and in short, it was awesome. To be honest, I feel the 8.2/10 rating it received on IMDb is a bit of an injustice — It should be in the 9/10 region.

How To Train Your Dragon is the tail of a hapless young Viking named Hiccup, who aspires to hunt dragons like his father. However, Hiccup has an unlikely fate where he befriends a young dragon himself. In spending time with this young dragon, he learns that there may be more to these creatures than he assumed and what has been instilled in him.

DreamWorks really nailed it with this movie, it works on many levels and is a really moving picture. The script is very good in terms of dramatic depth, within it we also explore many other interweaved topics such as ethics, social conscience, family and friendship to name a few. The good thing about the way this movie is laid out is these topics are not bombarded into the script, they just flow through it smoothly.

The animation side of things is superb as well. From the action sequences, effects to the characters and dragons – it is all crafted wonderfully. Last but not least the soundtrack – I thought this was done pretty well too. During the action sequences it really gives a sense of adventure and during the more emotional scenes, it makes it feel more like a heartfelt moment.

All in all, the story and animation tie in very well together and make How To Train Your Dragon a very enjoyable watch. I would love to see a sequel to How To Train Your Dragon, however I think it could potentially tarnish what this movie has already accomplished.

Well, I’ll leave it at that.. I’m off to watch it again – I suggest you watch it too. I’d post a link to the trailer, but I feel it reveals a bit too much.

Yesterday, myself and a close friend attended Concours D’Elegance, Australia — a prestige motoring event which has rare and exotic cars displayed (more than $100 million worth!)

October in Sydney has quite unpredictable weather. Luckily for yesterday – 10/10/2010, the weather was bright, warm and sunny – simply a perfect mix. On display were hundreds of cars; all unique marquees, shapes, designs, styles. Simply an automotive enthusiasts dream. I won’t bore you with words, just check out the pictures for yourself.

Photos taken with a Canon 450D and Canon 10-22mm wide angle lens.

View the set on Flickr

Currently, Predators is rated 6.7/10 on IMDb. I’m stumped as to how this movie even got past 5/10.. Yet, there are even positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, surely I can’t be that wrong?

To put it bluntly, this movie was crap. I can hear it now, fanboy cries of “omg, wtf r you on about it was awesum!!1″.. Yeah, perhaps it was if you’re a 14 year old who has never seen the original or one of those real die hard Predator series fan. After I finished painfully watching Predators, I decided I’d put on the original and cult classic: Predator.

So, what did I learn? I learned what 23 years difference makes. Back then, you were given a classic, a franchise maker.. now you’re a given movie that milks and butchers franchises. This movie is B-grade, and if you thought otherwise – you’re wrong. The movie is labelled a sequel, yet it stinks purely of an adjusted remake.

I thought I was totally wrong in my diagnosis of the movie with all the positive reviews I saw on Rotten Tomatoes, until I found quite a few which I could relate to:

“This small-minded reshuffling of the “Predator” franchise that began in 1987 is little more than a modern sci-fi B-movie filled with more plot holes than you can count.”
“A stolid, uninspired imitation of the original… “
“An unnecessary reboot of the 1987 cult movie. Quite literally every image, every idea in Predators, is a straight steal from another film.”

And they are correct. The plot is all over the shop, the actors are so-so, they obviously didn’t have to deliver much – was Adrien Brody bored? The lines were average, heck – they could of almost made the movie without any. Lawrence Fishbourne made a cameo, perhaps to generate some buzz? The only real interesting and most exciting scene was towards the end when Hanzo, (a Yakuza killer) took on a predator in a sword fight. Apart from that, I was bored shitless.

Comparing this to the original which had a decent soundtrack (including a memorable theme tune anyone?), good action scenes, memorable lines such as (but not limited to) Dillon! You son of a bitch! Runnnn, Gooooo, Get to the chopperrrrr! and some plot credibility, Predator should started and finished in 1987.