Philips DVP3166

I have been using Philips DVP3166 for the past 1 and half years.I bought it for Rs 3500 from Vellore. I have purchased this over the others mainly due to its Divx Compatibility and USB connectivity option.

On the Plus Side it does what it supposed to do that is to play commonly used Video and Audio formats without any hiccups

So far i have tested it with following formats and it works perfect for me

In Video

Divx-Home theater profile(As well as custom without changing the resolution), both avi as well as divx extension upto Divx 6.8.5 revision. I tried the bitrate upto 4000 kbits and maximum single file size 2.16 GB without Q-Pel and GMC.

Xvid-Simple to Advanced Simple Profile in avi extension(better to use DX50 Fourcc code instead of Xvid)without Q-Pel and GMC(rest same as Divx)

MPEG-4 file made with MPEG-4 using FFDShow VFW enocder(Not Xvid/Div3)

To my surprsie all these 3 formats plays well in both .MP4 extension as well as the traditional .Avi

MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 in .MPG or .MPEG extension(Main/Std Profile)

DVD Format .VOB(Main profile)

In Audio

MP3(CBR/VBR),M4A / AAC(HE/LE),WAV,AC3,WMA(upto WMA 9)

Photos-JPEG

Through USB almost all the above are playable but there is one limitation though. I have tried with various Capacity Thumb drives and USB hard disks and file system. This machine recognizes only Hard Disk under 40 GB in FAT/FAT32 file system.Both USB 1.1, 2.0 are recognized.

On Minus side it has the following drawbacks

Up conversion of SD into HD not possible,the user interface is very limited and sluggish.It has no amplifier in it in case one want to use this with a home theater system. Also,there is no firmware update available (since its launch in 2007) for this model from Philips.

But still its a great little (cheap) dvd player weighing less than 2 Kgs with a sleek/stylish design and works perfectly for most of the common media formats.

Baali's Rating ****/5

Return of The Prodigy

I love listening to Electronic Music,in particular the ones with hard beats in it. The Prodigy is one of the very few Hard Techno bands(still making studio albums) I've been following for years. Recently(after 4 years hibernation)the band released their 5th Studio Album Invaders Must Die(late February 2009). As a devoted Electronic Music + The Prodigy fan, i had my ears on this new album as early as possible. I am happy to say that the guys from Essex,London did not disappoint me(in fact they sound better than ever).

This is what Album Contains (i have got standard edition-no bonus tracks in this list)

1. Invaders Must Die – Title track of the album, sounds very energetic and gives the feel of high octane action packed riding. IMO Best Track of the Album.

2. Omen – I didn't like it very much(many Prodigy Fans might disagree with me), to a certain extent it is a bit let down.This sounds very much of a mishmash of their old singles.

3. Thunder – This one is much better with its repeated THUNDER chanting(still not up to the Prodigy's mark)

4. Colours – It's an Okay track with lots of Synth (more of a retro feel)

5. Take Me to the Hospital – I like this track, the bass and synth used here gives me the feeling of Humans attacked by Robots(kinda transformers scenario)

6. Warrior's Dance – Slowly starting with super heavy dancing vibe in the middle, lead by a female voice(attractive)

7. Run with the Wolves – Grrrr.Not good

8. Omen Reprise – Not much of a difference from its original version

9. World's on Fire – I like this as well. It uses beautiful fast hum by a female voice (Rave nostalgia) with WORLD'S ON FIRE chant by a male and has got nice rhythm + Synth

10. Piranha – Groovy start with heavy beats and Gothic feeling

11. Stand Up – Psychedelic Finishing with a feel for Melody, nice ending

Overall i think this album will please most of the hardcore fans of The Prodigy, even new listeners to this Genre also might like it in parts. As with many of The Prodigy's Albums, the songs contains superfluous words. But who cares for the lyric in a Hard beat electronic music as long as it got the best beat to mouth along with.

The album trying to deviate itself from the Band's previous ones(i mean tries to compete/match with the rival Genres of the current music trend)and to a certain degree it succeeds in doing that.

I would strongly recommend this album for anyone who likes to listen good electronic music post 2000, especially for those who wants heavy beats(with good rhythm) in it.

Baali's Rating - ***/5

My Favt Free Applications for Windows

(Disclaimer: I am not a geek, but i love to meddle with my Laptop's software whenever its possible for finding the best possible combination of tools for my requirements. The list i am providing here is just my personal opinion, it may or may not be the best solution in its concerned category.)

Following is the list of software i use frequently in my Vista Ultimate. I prefer using Open Source & Free Softwares hence most of applications in my list is somewhat related to open source or free software.

Firefox + Add Ons / Opera - For Web browsing

Foobar2000 + Add ons - For Audio Playback

MPC-HC + Haali's Matroska Splitter - For Video Playback

UTorrent - For P2P

Peerguardian - For P2P Protection

7Zip - For Compression

Skype - For Video Chat

GoogleTalk - For Voice Chat

Avast Home Edition - For Anti Virus

IrfanView + Plugins - For Image Viewing

Orbit Downloader - For Download Management

GIMP/Paint.Net - For Photo Editing

Blender - For 3D Creation

Inkscape - For Vector Graphics

Scribus - For Desktop Publishing

CDBurnerXP / ImgBurn - For Burning CD/DVD

CCleaner - For System Optimization

OpenOffice.org - An alternative to MS Office Suite

Foxit Reader - An alternative to Acrobat Reader

LAME ACM /AC3 ACM /FLAC - For Audio Encoding

Xvid /X264 + MeGUI - For Video Encoding

VirtualDub + Avisynth + Plugins - For Video Editing

MP3Tag - For Tagging Various Audio Formats

NotePad++ - For source code editing and enhanced Notepad Features

(There are some more tools i use which i have not mentioned here)

Have you seen Santa Sangre?

What is 'Surrealism'?

Sur - re - al - ism (n.) -(often l.c.) a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or non rational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc.


Santa sangre - Means Holy Blood, this was my first experience with Director Alejandro Jodorowsky (and surrealism in cinema), tells the story of an young man named Fenix confined in a mental asylum with tragic past. Events of the past and present from his life is slowly revealed in a dream like manner with more gruesomeness. The film contains some real weird visualizations with lesser explanation (e.g.Elephant scavengers at City Dump). As with many of Jodorowsky's films, we get to see many freaky looking people (e.g. cross dressed wrestler, midgets etc.) for variety of characters.

On the Acting Front everyone in the film does a fantastic job but in particular Blanca Guerra owns big time as a Religious Fanatic 'Concha', a leader of heretic church Santa Sangre and the armless controlling mother of Fenix. Alma, mute girlfriend of Fenix does a good job as does the Orgo (Knife Thrower) father of Fenix.

This film has got one of the best background score of Jodorowsky's work(by Simon Boswell), with beautiful artistic camera work (by Daniele Nannuzzi) complimenting the slow paced but gritty story line.

In a way this movie ignited my interest in Surrealism & Weird Artistry.