Automated recognition of online images

An interesting news item about technology and image recognition.

An extract from the article:

"We're trying to find very short codes for images," says Torralba, "so that if two images have a similar sequence [of numbers], they are probably similar--composed of roughly the same object, in roughly the same configuration." If one image has been identified with a caption or title, then other images that match its numerical code would likely show the same object (such as a car, tree, or person) and so the name associated with one picture can be transferred to the others.

Link to full article: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/csail-tt0521.html

SIGMATEK XS-700 Pro DVD Player

I've recently purchased a SIGMATEK XS-700 Pro DVD Player to replace my now nonfunctional Wharfedale DVD3210DVX DVD Player which only lasted me 7 months before giving up the ghost.

Firstly I'll admit that it isn't the prettiest device to ever sit in an AV rack or under a TV but once we get past that my other initial impressions are quite good. [Mine doesn't have those ugly grey port covers either, they are black] The SIGMATEK has a plethora of connectivity options around the back, S-Video output, HDMI output, Composite video output & Progressive Scan video output (YUV and RGB) which is nice, although I only need the SCART socket.

The image quality of playback is very good, and the player supports up-scaling as well should you need it. I don't have a HD ready TV but it does upscale content to 576p which is handy in some instances like when playing region 1 DVDs.

Another plus is the USB port on the front which can be used to play music and movies in a variety of formats. A neat benefit of the up-scaling is that DivX movies are up-scaled to use the full potential of the screen. The quality of the up-scaling of this content is quite good but of course depends on the quality of the original recording.

Playback from USB is prone to an occasional loss of sync which doesn't happen when playing the same file from CD or DVD so I'll assume it is because the USB port is actually a USB 1.1 device (or slower).

So would I recommend one? Well if you are in the market for a cheap well featured DVD player with up-scaling and support for a range of formats then yes.

Wharfedale DVD3210DVX DVD Player

I recently bought a Wharfedale DVD3210DVX DVD Player to replace an ageing Crystal DVX2005 DVD player, which whilst being a perfectly capable DVD player was a bit fiddly to use due to its very sensitive and minuscule remote and it didn't handle DivX files very well.

I saw the Wharfedale DVD3210DVX advertised quite cheaply on a PC components website where I was buying a few item as Christmas presents and after a few minutes of reading the reviews of the player happily added it to my shopping basket.

As luck would have it my ageing player decided to expire just after Christmas (the DVD player expiring wasn't the luck - it was the having purchased another DVD player) which gave me a perfect excuse to rearrange all of the devices under the telly and give the new one a spin.

To my surprise and disappointment the Wharfedale is a few inches wider than any of my other AV components under the telly which means that it has to go to the bottom of the pile, not a huge problem, but annoying none the less. Apart from that it looks fab with its glossy black finish and blue lights.

Once I had connected everything came the real test I popped a CD with an .avi file and was pleasantly surprised by how great the remote and menu system is. Each file has a preview in a small window which starts playing the files on the CD and the system is very responsive.

On playing the files I immediately noticed a huge improvement in the playback of complex scenes. Scenes with rain, snow, or rippling water brought the Crystal DVX2005 to a fitful stall, but the Wharfedale DVD3210DVX plays through them with just a hint of being a bit slower.

DVD playback is as one would expect on any modern DVD player - excellent.

There is only one major fault with the Wharfedale, and it really isn't a fault per se, the remote triggers my Fusion FVRT100 PVR to start recording, switch off, and do all sorts of things that I don't want it to be doing. The two devices must use the same codes, but funnily enough the Fusion remote doesn't affect the Wharfedale.

I haven't as yet found a way to stop this from happening short of placing something in front of the PVR receiver, which is a right pain.

Apple iPhone

Its Here. The worst kept secret in the history of badly kept secrets has arrived and I have to say I think its fantastic.

I haven't seen one in real life, but it looks like the most fantastic phone in the history of telephony.

I know that it has its faults, it is a little too big, there is no 3G, it has a puny 2MPix camera, it runs Mac OS X & Safari web browser, there is a relatively low res screen, etc., but still the Apple iPhone is the most functional beauty of a phone I've ever laid eyes on.

Now if only there was someone out there who could build something similar that ran Windows, had 3G and used one of Hitachi’s 800 x 480 miniature LCD panels. Then we'd be talking.

Digital Photo Frames

I've been looking into digital photo frames recently as I thought that one might make a good Christmas present for someone.

I went to John Lewis so that I could get my mits on the new Philips Digital PhotoFrame™.

Whilst they were quite interesting they did look a little cheap and plasticky, and were fiddly to use. More annoyingly (at least for me) they has a nonstandard aspect ratio of 3.3333:2 which is really bizarre. The resolution was quite good though at 800x480 pixels, available in two sizes 7" and 9". I preferred the 7" frame.

There was also a BT 9FFCW0 LCD Digital Photo Frame, which whilst being quite small at 5.6" at least had the virtue of having a 3:2 aspect ratio display. Unfortunately the resolution was very low at 320x240 pixels.

Dissapointed in the selection I had a look online where I found a number of frames of varying sizes from 5.6" to 10", unfortunately they all had relatively low resolutions and were for the most part 4:3 ratio screens. There was a 15" frame with a 1024x768 pixels screen, but again that is a 4:3 ratio.

Finally I decided to take a look on Amazon which has a surprisingly large selection of digital photo frames and I stumbled across the Linx 8" High Resolution Digital Photo Frame which has a 3:2 aspect ratio and a reasonable resolution of 720x480 pixels. It even has a remote control! Wicked the perfect gift.

Well it would have been if I had any money left! Christmas shopping, it is always a nightmare.