Stereo Update

My back is getting over carrying the Subwoofer, and then the Onkyo Receiver home from the local 'Post in a Shop', up the steep hill to my house. The back pain came a day or two later, and I'm just getting over it..

Of course, deciding to refurnish the 'stua' to suit the stereo system didn't help any, as I have a hell of a lot of books, and boy are they heavy!

I've moved the bookcases and shelves to their end sites, but there are still large 'movers boxes' of books waiting to take their new places on the shelves.

Moving the bookcases and a few pictures uncovered some pretty resistant dust stains that had to be washed as well as possible where they had become exposed.

So, the end wall of my stua now has three book shelves, where the TV takes centre place on top of a now unused Soundbar. On its left is the Onkyo NR-535 Receiver, and to its right is the Pioneer Blu-ray player BDP-450. All in rather uninspiring black boxes.. oh yes, and I have an Airport Express providing audio from iTunes to the PC Input. Hardly any visible wires these days with HDMI cables between the devices, and a short Optical from TV to the Receiver :)

The basic 2.1 sound is surprisingly good! Those old Sony SS A-705s are remarkable. Mind you they cost a bit back there when the kids were young.

Only snags/Cons; the Blu-ray Remote (like many) is hopeless. It was ages before I pressed something and suddenly saw SACD video.. come to think of it, they might have an Android app, though I don't feel like spending more on a Pioneer Wifi option. Why couldn't they have built it in like Onkyo do?

BUT, I'm damned happy with the result, and can recommend both the Onkyo and Pioneer devices to anyone reading this.

A while since

The fine summer weather has been taking priority over surfing and solving problems these last few days.. not sure if I clarified what was going on with the iChat and Syncopation issues, but after a lot of searching I came across a guy who clearly knows about security - securiosis blog - and he had analyzed the Leopard firewall back in November and some of what he found was what I have been experiencing.

Using the 'access to services and apps' mode, if the app changes in any way then it will fall out of being accepted without saying, eg like Syncopation. iChat is a weirdo... I have it set to open at login on both machines, but it needs to be quit & reopened, and then 'accept network connections' for screen sharing to work. I'm not sure if that applies only on bootup or also after sleep..

I tried using Patriot on the suggestion by 'Ralph', but that really screwed up and I had to restore from a SuperDuper backup an hour earlier :) Still I learnt about Patriot, which allows you to select from Apple CD contents and install just what you want.

Syncopation trouble again

Posting this now while listening to a new album from iTunes Koppel Piano concerto #3, like Prokofiev.. anyway after downloading the latter I tried syncing but ran into the rotating ball syndrome :(

To cut the story short although I had Syncopation allowed all incoming in the firewall, I had to open to all before it could get through.

I think a temporary fix may be to remove Syncopation and put it back again, in the firewall I mean. Did that at both ends and the spinning ball has gone for now. Will keep my eye on it!

Btw, this was found later as a suggestion on Discussions by an expert..