Author: admin

PS 4 Random Disc Ejection

I have been having an annoying problem with my PS4. Without warning and, both while it is on and being used and also when it is turned off, it will eject the game disc. Then when the disc ejects it won’t go back in until the console is turned off then back on.

Needless to say this is more than annoying particularly when it ejects in the middle of a challenging part of a game.

It is the original 500GB model and is out of warranty. So I could either pay for it to be repaired or buy the new “Slim” model. I don’t want to upgrade to the PS4 Pro as I don’t have a 4K / HDR TV.

Before spending any money, I decided to look on line for an easy repair.

This YouTube video describes 2 things that I was able to do and it seems to have fixed the problem (Touch Wood !)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF7awGOi7os

I don’t know if “tightening the screw” would work by itself as I did both before turning it back on. Try the screw first to see if this works as the rubber foot can be a bit difficult to put back.

With the screw, be aware that it is down below what looks like air vents and can be a little hard to see and access. Shine a light on it and you will see it.

Also with the little rubber foot, I took it out and then re-inserted it. It comes out very easily as shown,  but is a lot harder to put back in. I used a little screw driver to push it back in starting at the front and working back. On the YouTube video it looks like he just leaves it out.

So thank you very much YouTuber MightyMrMustache – you saved me the cost of a repair.

 

I have always had both a PlayStation and an X Box. The original X Box 360 was the one that I had problems with previously and this time around it is the PS4. (Although nothing as bad as “the red ring of death”on the first 360.)

Another issue with the PS4 is that I find the wireless controller has to be charged much more frequently than the controller for the X Box One. This is not a big deal as you can have it plugged in while playing a game. However the supplied charging cable is short and I have to use the much longer cable that comes with the X Box One if I want to sit back on my chair and play while charging. Thankfully both consoles use the same standard USB plugs/sockets.

Open Live Writer

Comments on the replacement for Windows Live Writer.

First up, it is an ongoing project and their web site is here http://openlivewriter.org/

Improvements and updates are being worked on and, no doubt, it will get better over time.

I am using the latest build (0.6.2 as at 5/7/17) but one thing I did notice is you can’t drag the borders on tables to change the width of the columns.

Even if you specify a size, the program still inserts table columns of equal width to fit page. To get the desired column widths in the previous post, I had to open it with Windows Live Writer.

Apart from that I can’t see much else that is missing. You can “drag” images to change size:-

IMG_4021

Kondalilla Falls

AND can “watermark” images and change tooltip text,

IMG_4021

AND crop, rotate and tilt..      ( Highlight the image / Format Tab. )   

The spell check automatically picked up that I was using Australian English and, generally,  it works just like the Microsoft version.

WINDOWS ESSENTIALS A Sad Farewell

Windows Live Essentials

If you are not aware, the suite of programs under Windows Live Essentials stopped being available from Microsoft in Jan 2017. If you already have them installed, they will keep working. However, if you have to re-install Windows then you will not be able to download them again.

This was an excellent group of programs and it is a pity that they are gone. These are some alternatives:

NAME

Alternative for Windows 7

For Windows 10

Windows Live Mail (WLM)

Mozilla Thunderbird

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

CARE! Hotmail/Live/Outlook Email accounts no longer work on WLM

If your have G Mail , Yahoo Mail, or Hotmail / Outlook / Live, you can always log in via a browser.

Win 10 Mail App comes with Win 10 &, while not as good as WLM, this App is being continually improved. Mozilla Thunderbird will also run well on Win 10.

Windows Live Writer (WLW)

Open Live Writer (An “open source” fork of WLW)

http://openlivewriter.org/

Same as for Win 7  This post was written and uploaded with Open Live Writer.

Windows Live Photo Gallery

(WLPG)

Paint.net https://www.getpaint.net/

OR MORE ADVANCED

Free “Open Source” program called – The Gimp https://www.gimp.org/

The Photos App that comes with Win 10 will do everything and more than WLPG did (Apart from a Collage)

Use The Gimp for a Collage and other advanced editing.)

Windows Live Messenger

Skype messenger but there are plenty of others.

Same as Win 7

Windows Live Movie Maker

(WLMM)

Loss of WLMM is a disappointment & is the hardest to replace unless you pay for a program.

Adobe Premier Elements is probably the best but it is expensive AUD $130

A cheaper “paid” option is Sony Vegas Movie Studio – COST USD$50

http://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-movie-studio/

There are good reviews for the following free “open source” program:

“Shotcut” https://www.shotcut.org/

A video editor called “Story Remix” will be a part of the Photo App in Windows 10 . It is due later this year. However, this looks like it will be like the old “Photo Story” but with videos as well as still photos.

Until then the alternatives under the Win 7 column will also work on Win 10.

UPDATE X Box One and PS 4

It has been a year since I last wrote on my blog so I though that I would update my experiences with both consoles.

In March last year I stated that I was slightly in favour of the PS4. However, since then X Box One has been updated to a greater extent and my preference now tips towards X Box One.

Progress with the 7 items mentioned in my previous post is as follows:

No 1 Voice messages – No progress and this remains the one remaining disappointment on X Box One.

No 2 Game Install Times – X Box One has fixed this by providing a choice about updates at install time. If you have slow internet like me, always select the install later option. Both PS4 and X Box one are now about the same.

No 3 – Compulsory Game Install to Hard Drive. Same on both consoles and this is not going to change but is mitigated see 2 and 6.

No 4 Media Extender.

X Box One fixed.

How to:

  • Install the free Media Player App on X Box One (from the Store)
  • On your computer, make sure that picture / music / video files are shared and in their respective libraries
  • Ensure that the X Box One is ticked as “allowed” in Control Panel / Network and Sharing Centre / Media Streaming Options

This app will play all files including the Media Centre Recorded TV .wtv files.

No 5 Playing videos on external drives.

X Box One – fixed. Plays .wmv and .mp4 (will not play .wtv files – but see “4” above.)

PS4 – I plugged in a USB 2 and USB 3 thumb drives with .wtv .mp4 and .wmv and did not see the drives.

No 6 Hard Drive size.

X Box One has mitigated this issue by allowing an external Hard Drive to be attached and added to the storage space.  I now have a 2TB USB 3 External Hard Drive plugged in at the back of the console with this drive fully integrated into the console’s storage space. (Set this up in Settings / System / Storage.)

PS4 has not changed in that you can install a bigger (internal) drive.

I could not get my PS4 console to see either a USB 2 or 3 thumb drive but according to “the internet” you can attach an external drive for video and music storage but not saved games. It must only work with a powered drive.

No 7 Access to Videos / pictures / music over home network.

X Box One – now works just like X Box 360 – See No 4

PS4 – No progress but said to be coming in 2015.

OTHER

  • Both consoles now support 3D Blu ray
  • X Box One has a basic media remote but there is no official media remote for PS4 (I want media remotes like the 360 and PS3 had.)

CONCLUSION – UPDATED

With updates, the X Box One now has only to get voice messages to have everything that the X Box 360 had. I see that you can also get a Free to Air digital tuner for X Box One (for Australian Channels) so that you can use the Kinect voice controls to watch TV. I have not bought one and it still cannot work with Foxtel like it does with cable TV in some other countries.

The PS 4 has fallen a little behind in the terms of the items mentioned above. But it remains that if you want to play one line with your friends you have to retain or get the same console as they are using.

Otherwise I think that X Box One just might be ahead at this time.

I have both and I now rarely play on 360 or PS3. Also I have to say that the best game I have played on either new console is “The Last of Us” which is exclusive to PS4. On the other hand “Far Cry 4” which I have on X Box One is also very good.

The Last of Us

This is a great game but I played it through twice before I realised that there is not enough of the pills or machine parts to max out Joel’s abilities and his weapons. It was only after reading some of the “walkthroughs” on line that I realised that you have to restart as the “continued” game so that you retain your pills and parts from the previous play through and can max out everything on the second play through. I must be getting old!!!

X Box One and PS4

I have been using my X Box One for a few months now and frankly, I think that it has a lot of issues that need urgent attention.

It has nice graphics and the voice control works OK, but the graphics are not that much better than the 360 and the novelty of voice control has, at least as far as I am concerned, worn off.

These are a list of the things that I find most disappointing in order from most disappointing to less disappointing:

1. No voice messages

2. Game install times – it takes forever to install the disk to the Hard Drive and I have problems with freezing during the install. (See Also 3 & 6)

3. Having no choice about installing the game to the Hard Drive (See also 2 & 6)

4. Not working as a media extender for Windows Media Centre

5. Not playing videos on external drives

6. Small Hard Drive and no ability to attach an external drive to store games. My drive is already almost half full and this means that I will soon have to start deleting stuff (See No 2 and 3)

7. Not being able to access files (pictures videos) on computers on my home network

At this time there are many annoyances both big and small that tend to sour the Xbox One experience and I am so glad that I kept my 360.

I had intended to delay purchase of a PS4 until the PS4 supported 3D Blu-ray. However in view the issues with the Xbox One, I decided to buy a PS4 now to compare the 2 consoles.

I bought 2 games for the PS4 – Tomb Raider Definitive Edition that I have also played on X Box One and Killzone Shadowfall (because it was bundled in a deal at EB Games).

Now that I have been using the PS4 for about 2 weeks this is my opinion of both the new consoles.

Controllers:

As I have mentioned in previous posts, one of the main reasons I have favoured the X Box is because I liked the X Box Controller better than the PS3 controller.

PS3 controller dislikes for me are:

  • Small size;
  • No triggers;
  • No removable battery; and
  • Needs to be recharged frequently via USB cable to console.

The PS4 controller is much improved in regard to size and you could probably now say it has triggers (sort of). But the PS4 controller still has the problem of no removable batteries so that it has to be connected via USB cable to the console to recharge and I have found that re-charging seems to be needed more frequently than the Xbox One / 360.

Verdict – Improved but still not as good as X Box (but for me no longer a deal breaker)

ITEMS LISTED ABOVE FOR XBOX ONE COMPARED TO PS4

Item 1 Voice messages

I don’t have a head set for the PS4 and I don’t have a subscription to Play Station Plus. However, from what I can see it is similar to X Box One in that it has in game chat but no voice messages.

Item No 2 – Game Install Times. PS4 WINS hands down. Games install very quickly and this is in marked contrast to the X Box One.

Item No 3 – Compulsory install to Hard Drive. The PS4 is the same as the X Box One but this is greatly mitigated by the very quick install times.

Item 4 – Media Extender. The PS3 did have DLNA but I can’t see this on PS4.

Item 5 – Video on External Drives. I plugged 2 USB drives into the PS4, one formatted as FAT32 and the other as NTFS. It did not see either drive.

Item 6 – Hard Drive size. PS4 has the same size hard Drive as X Box One but the big difference in favour of PS4 is that, unlike the X Box One, the PS4 uses a standard SATA Hard Drive and you can self-install a bigger drive. There are plenty of “How To” guides on line. More importantly, it does not void the warranty and Sony has a place to download the recovery software if you swap in a bigger drive http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps4/new-install/

On the other hand the PS4, like X Box One does not yet support attached external drives.

Item 7 – Access to Home Network attached computers. From what I can see, the PS4 lacks this function as well. The Xbox one interacts with the iPad App and no doubt the PS4 does similar things but I want to be able to stream pictures, video, and music from my computer over my home network – just like X Box 360 and PS3.

GAME PLAY

Comparing Laura Croft Tomb Raider Definitive Edition on both consoles, the video quality, load times (apart from initial install) and general game play seem to me to be all but identical.

INITIAL SET UP

The PS4 was easier to set up and the initial update was smaller. But this is not important as you only do it once and the X Box One has a Kinect that adds to the set up.

X Box Live vs. PlayStation Plus

You now need to pay for on line gaming on both consoles but as I do not have PlayStation Plus I can’t really comment. Also, for obvious reasons, it is hard to get an unbiased opinion on line. I will assume that they are about equal.

CONCLUSION

This is my opinion only and it does not take into account the new non gaming things that the XBox One in particular can do (most of which don’t work in Australia in any case).

Both XBox One and PS4 need a number of updates to equal the functionality of the Xbox 360 and PS3.

However if you only want to play video games, at this stage, I am slightly in favour of the PS4 but not enough to make me switch my X Box Live subscription or pay for both.

It is just far too early to make any drastic decisions and whether or not I decide to pay for PlayStation Plus and / or continue to pay for X Box Live will depend on what updates are provided and how fast they are implemented.

If you are buying your very first console to play games only, and you do not have friends that are using a particular console that you might want to play with on line, and you don’t to want to wait to see what happens with updates/ improvements, I have to say that the PS4 seems a little bit better. (Note – this is based on the much slower initial game install times on X Box One. If XBox fixes this, then I would say they are about even.)

In other words, pick the console that your friends are using.Otherwise stick with your existing Xbox 360 or your PS3, particularly if you already have an Xbox Live / PlayStation Plus subscription and / or most of your friends remain on the old consoles.

Kinect

Finally, I should mention that at first I always used the Kinect voice commands but after a few weeks this became less frequent and about he only one I now use is  “snap / unsnap” and I don’t use this very much. The only other regular use of Kinect I make is the automatic face recognition to sign into X Box Live.  A cheaper XBox One without Kinect would not make much difference to the gaming experience but would make it price competitive with PS4. If games eventually come out that really require a Kinect, then you could buy one as an optional extra.

X Box One and Active Shutter 3D Glasses

While I was watching a 3D Blu-ray movie on my PS3, I discovered that Active Shutter 3 D Glasses don’t work when the XBox One is turned on.

I am guessing that the new XBox One Kinect is the culprit. Even though none of this stuff works in Australia#, the Kinect has an inbuilt IR blaster which probably interferes with the infrared signals being sent to the 3D glasses by the TV.

In any case the problem goes away as soon as the XBox One is switched off.

This is going to be an issue if or when XBox One is upgraded to pay 3D Blu Ray.

# I have read that the the Australian free to air (FTA) channels will not provide their EPGs to Microsoft. (By that I assume it means they will not allow Foxtel to extend use of FTA EPGs already in in Foxtel / Austar STBs  for use on X Box One.) Reports that FTA channels won’t co-operate come as no surprise. After all, these people can’t even tell the time. (I am talking about advertised program starting and finishing times.) And don’t get me started with the irrational chopping and changing of programming schedules. I remember when the Sopranos was being shown on FTA. It was almost impossible to keep track of broadcast times and I gave up trying to watch Fringe for the same reason.

Foxtel has also not yet allowed use of its EPG (with or without the FTA component). You can get Foxtel Play (for a fee) via the X Box 360 (as well as PCs and other devices). Foxtel Play is a way of getting Foxtel over the internet without a STB. So, unless I am missing something, it doesn’t appear that being able to plug the Foxtel/Austar STB into the XBox One would harm Foxtel Play.

In any case, it seems that Foxtel and MS are having “discussions”.  See http://mmgn.com/xboxone/news–why-theres-no-foxtel-on-xbox-one

 

WINDOWS 8.1 UPGRADE PROBLEM WITH PC Refresh and PC Reset

 

This article – Windows 8.1 Update Leaves OEM Owners With Broken Restore Function describes a problem that I have encountered on all of my home built computers – AND it is bloody annoying.

In summary if you use the free app to upgrade an OEM Win 8 system to Win 8.1, the very handy and useful “PC Refresh” and “PC Reset” functions no longer work.

Quotes from this article:

Microsoft made a huge blunder that could leave you in a bind should you ever need to use the Refresh or Restore recovery tools after you upgrade.

AND

Amazingly, Microsoft is aware of the problem and doesn’t seem to care. IT did not apologize, nor does it have any plans to release the ISO, or seem to have any interest in fixing the problem

There is further information here:

http://www.neowin.net/news/some-windows-81-users-dont-have-any-reset-or-refresh-options-but-theres-a-solution

And information on how to download the 8.1 iso with a Win 8 key here:

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-download-windows-81-iso-windows-8-product-key

I have not tried to download the iso yet and frankly I don’t see why I should have to go to all this effort.

Suffice to say that I am not a happy camper.

My work around is to create a system image (using the very useful old Win 7 system image function that can still be found in 8.1.)

In my opinion this is the best solution in that you can image the drive after you have set it up and installed and activated all of your programs. Even with the less destructive PC Refresh you lose traditionally installed programs / activations including Office.

In my case I used up my last remaining Foxit activation when I was trying to solve the problem caused by the 8.1 upgrade. I thought I had done something wrong and went back twice to do a fresh install from the Win 8 install DVD.

All of the time that I wasted on this was bad enough but I am really more annoyed that MS did not put a warning in the 8.1 upgrade app that this might happen particularly as I completed the upgrade on my 2 computers plus another home build from a friend before I became aware of the issue.

Anyhow, if the reports that Microsoft doesn’t care are accurate, there is little use in whining.

My MacBook is now a few years old and, even though it still works well, when the time comes to upgrade, it will definitely be another MacBook not a PC. (That’ll teach them to annoy me!!)

THIS IS HOW TO DO A SYSTEM IMAGE:

Find a place for the image to be recorded – either on a separate HDD in the computer or on an external drive. (Try to avoid burning to DVDs.)

Go to Control Panel / File History and click on “System Image Backup” in the bottom left.

Follow the prompts – it is easy.

IMPORTANT _ after you are finished you have to make a new USB Repair Disk or recovery drive. NOTE! a Repair CD/ DVD made for Win 8 will not work. You have to make a new one for 8.1 and it can only be on a USB Thumb Drive – not an optical disk.

Insert a Thumb Drive – a 500mb one is more than enough. Even though you don’t have to, I format it as NTFS and label it “Win 8.1 64 (or 32) bit recovery”.

Open Control Panel / File History / Recovery (bottom left) / Create a Recovery Drive – At this screen you will see (if you have the problem) that you cannot click on the option to “Copy the recovery partition”. If you can click this box you probably don’t have this problem.

Follow the prompts. It only takes a minute or so.

TO RE-INSTALL YOUR WIN 8.1 SYSTEM IMAGE:

1. IMPORTANT – If your computer has more than one internal HDD, make sure you know which drive is your (imaged) C drive – Either look at “This PC” in Explorer for the size of the disks (usually a good way to tell) or go to Disk Management for full details. You will need to know this when you get to No 10.

2. Boot from the USB recovery drive . The option to boot from USB HDD worked for me.

3. After allowing a few seconds for the USB Recovery to load, choose your keyboard layout. In Australia we use US keyboard – you have to use the mouse to click on more options to get to “US” at the end.

4. Now click on “Troubleshoot – Refresh your PC or use Advanced Tools”;

5. Click “Advanced Options”;

6. Click “System Image Recovery”;

7. Click “Windows 8.1” (this should be the only option);

8. The next screen asks for the location of the back-up image. Find / choose where the system image is located – usually the default “last image” will be the one;

9. Click “Format and re-partition” and then click the “Exclude” box;

10. IMPORTANT – Make sure you click to exclude all drives except the C drive to which you want the image to be re-installed. – See No 1;

11. Follow the prompts. When it is finished, remove the USB Recovery Thumb Drive and re-start.

The whole process is quick and painless and will restore your computer to the date that the image was made. I just did it on the computer I am now using (my HTPC) and it finished in 10 minutes. (Although my C drive only has 40 GB of stuff on it.)

Everything will be “as it was”, activations included. IMHO this is by far the best restore option. You can easily update the image but be sure that your computer is up to date and free of problems before you do.

Failing this, if PC Refresh / Restore does not work, you have no choice but to start over with a re-install of Win 8 from the original disk or source.

X Box One continued (Don’t sell the 360 – just yet)

I have been using the Xbox One continually for a week now and have a couple of extra comments to make.

First up COD Ghosts is the best COD ever – Better than Black Ops 2. Infinity Ward seems to me to do it better than Treyarch. Yes and I am continuing to like the Xbox One. It is faster, more responsive, and now that I know my way around, easy to use. After I finish the Campaign on COD Ghosts, I am getting BF4.

However, there are a couple of things to consider before you sell or trade your Xbox 360.

No 1.

Xbox One, unlike the 360, is not a media extender, and, according to Microsoft, won’t be. http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/08/05/ask-microsoft-anything-about-xbox-one

I have TV tuner cards in 2 of my computers and use Windows Media Centre to record TV programs. I then stream the programs that are saved on my computer to my TV via the 360. Still pictures stored on the computer can also be viewed on the TV using the same “media extender” function.

No 2.

The Xbox One will not see attached USB drives. Unlike the 360, you can’t plug in a USB thumb drive containing pictures or video to play/view them on the TV

No 3.

You need a 360 to listen to any voice messages that friends (who still have a 360) send you.

No 4.

See No 1. – X Box One does not currently have any support for DLNA. DLNA is an industry standard that is similar to Media Extender referred to in No1. It allows content such as video and pictures to be streamed over a network. For example, my TV and PS3 both have DLNA so that these devices can see pictures and video stored on my computer for display on the TV.

No 5.

I have mentioned in the previous post that all games whether purchased on line or by disk have to be loaded onto the hard drive. A check of my hard drive (via “My Games and Apps” / navigate to game / menu button) shows that COD Ghosts takes up 39.9GB of space on the hard drive. Therefore the 500GB drive will probably be able to save only about 10 to 12 games before the disk is full. (Update – I have just watched the Teardown of the X Box One on TWIT.TV  http://twit.tv/show/twit-live-specials/174 and there is  about 391.9GB available for storage so it will probably be 9 games or less).

NOTES

No 1. And No 4.

Despite what some individuals have said (without explanation) on the internet, I have not been able to find any way for the Xbox one to see shared files on computers on the network.

There are reports that Xbox One (and PS4) will be getting DLNA support but I have not been able to find any actual statement from Microsoft.

You can work around this to some extent by saving things to SkyDrive and accessing this content using the SkyDrive app on the Xbox One. Even if you have installed the SkyDrive app on your computer so that you can drag and drop stuff to SkyDrive, this still involves extra steps. More importantly, there are problems with large files and upload/download times. The drag and drop has a 300MB file limit with 2GB for the upload app. Then there are the limits on SkyDrive storage. The normal free limit is 7GB. (Although I have the original 25GB plus 20GB from Office 365).

In addition, the Xbox One SkyDrive App does not see .wtv video files. (.wtv is the format used by MS Windows Media Centre for recorded video). Also a typical one hour recording would exceed the 2GB upload limit to SkyDrive.

Therefore to make the SkyDrive option work, you would have to go through the time consuming process of using Windows Movie Maker to break the video into sub 2GB lots and render in WMV format then upload to SkyDrive.

The SkyDrive work around is OK for still pictures but not acceptable with video for the reasons mentioned above. Moreover, when I tried it with a small 40MB .wmv file, the play back stopped (buffered) 3 times – not all that good for such a small file.

I found this on MS Support http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-on-other-devices/windows/how-to-add-video – Not only does it apply to the 360 but also it seems to only make video on the computer available when you click the Win 8 / 8.1 Xbox Video Tile. This seems pointless in that that you can already access the video on the computer. The video does not show on the video app on the console. I also note that again it does nothing with the .wtv format.

No. 2 and 3

Access to external drives is said to be coming soon. I hope that voice message is also coming soon. It will be interesting to see if an ability to play video on an attached drive becomes available and if the .wtv format will work. 

No 5

Eventually, the 500GB hard drive will fill up and you will have to delete older games. If you buy on line, it is hoped that you will be able to re-download deleted games (like a Kindle) but I would definitely check this first. On the other hand if you have purchased a disk, it will be easy to re-install, although, as I stated in my previous post, this takes time.

I think I will stick with disks, mainly as I like to trade in old games.

I have read that when the Xbox One acquires the ability to read attached USB drives, you will be able to store games on external storage.

CONCLUSION

It is hoped that DLNA, the ability to access attached USB drives and voice messages are all added soon.

Until these issues are addressed satisfactorily, hold onto your 360 or delay the upgrade to Xbox One.

These are the reasons why I have kept my 360.

FINAL NOTE – NAT – STRICT

When I was playing around in the console, I noticed that the NAT (Network Address Translation”) setting had been altered to “Strict”. “Strict” just about breaks everything for on line play. I am sure that it was “Open” when I set it up.

There are any number of fixes on line but this is what worked for me to get it back to “Open”.

I turned off the Xbox One console and disconnected the Ethernet cable from the console. (I have a wired connection.) I then went to my router and in the router settings allocated a fixed or static ip. It is called “Address Reservation” under “LAN Set Up” on my Netgear router. After a couple of minutes I turned the console back on and NAT was back to “open”.