Okay the title is a bit cheesy and I apologise for that, but the EzVision is sooo cool! I had seen one of these for sale ages ago and then when my wife left a Christmas catalogue from I want One of Those with the convenient little tabs you could use to mark what you liked (so Santa might buy it for you) on the coffee table. I made sure that this gadget was at the top of my wish list!

On Christmas day the first thing this little gadget was plugged into was my iPod video. I thought it would have plugged into the socket I used for syncing my iPod with my PC but it actually goes into the same socket as the headphones. The EzVision comes with its own headphones connected to the eyewear. The first thing I was expecting when I put these on was to feel as though I was right in front of a large 52inch TV screen or as if I was actually in the movie I was watching. Well its not quite like that, when the box it comes in says a 52inch screen its actually feels more like sitting near the back in a cinema and watching a large screen. At times you almost expect people to be getting up or arriving late to take their cinema seats.

The other thing I like about the EzVision is it just looks so cool, several times I've been tempted to rush outside with them on and say "Quick! What year is it?!"

Not just for your iPod

Its important to note that the EzVision is not just for your iPod it also comes with a connector that will allow it to connect to any device with an RGB or composite video output. What this means is you can connect it to an Xbox, Playstation and Wii console. Yes you heard that right you can connect this to a Wii console. "But doesn't the Wii remote need to see the TV screen?" I hear you say. No actually, if you are playing games such as Wii Tennis it works just fine and I found it was even more fun playing it this way than it was on the TV screen! Just remember than when you are trying to select menu options on the screen before a game you need to be facing the Wii sensor that is usually located on your TV. Other devices this little gadget will connect to is your Sky box if you have a scart to RGB converter, these usually come with a PS2 or you can pick them up for a couple of quid from Maplin. You can can also connect it to your PC if it has a video output socket!

Looks like Microsoft are teaming up with BT to provide BT Vision content on the Xbox!

Now it wasn't to long ago that I mentioned how perfectly suited the Xbox 360 was to such a service when I started using it to view DRM content downloaded (via my PC) from on demand services such as BBC iPlayer, 4oD and Sky Anytime. I couldn't quite figure out why Microsoft hadn't signed up a dedicated content provider or several for that matter?

What is taking place makes perfect sense there are obviously more XBox 360's in circulation than there are BT Vision box's which according to the BBC only have 100,000 customers. The only problem I can see is that BT Visions content doesn't seem all that inspiring, either that or they are just not showing all the content they really have on their web site. The other thing is that Sky seems to have most of the interesting content as far as I am concerned and no one seems to have an on demand versions of killer shows such as Hero's, Battle Star Galactica, Prison Break etc.

I'm not sure how different Tomb Raider is on the various consoles out there but on the Xbox 360 its got pretty decent graphics and game play. I was originally going to buy the Wii version but was advised against it by the guy at the game shop, however just to satisfy my curiosity I may go and buy the Wii version for a comparison.

Now just as a little help to anyone else who has been struggling in some parts of the game I thought I might just post a few guides every now and again to help people through. At the moment I am still on the Peru - City of Vilcamba trying to get through some more of those Inca doors.

Peru - City of Vilcamba

 Part of this level had me for a while and that was the part with the Inca door that appeared to have two levers that were just out of reach. Other than that this part was pretty simple.

Go into the right had entrance next to the door and follow this all the way through. You'll encounter some bats here so have your guns ready. You'll then get to a room filled with water and some broken ledges. Its pretty simple to workout what you have to do here.

Simply jump onto the ledges and use them to get around the room to the entrance higher up off the floor. Remember Lara can do some pretty impossible jumps and it doesn't matter too much if you miss your hand holds the water will break your fall.  You will encounter a walk way with a divide you will need to jump. Jump the divide and you will see one of the wooden bars above the gate. Now this is the part that through me. You need to jump and catch the wooden bars(or levers) that are jutting out, this will not work unless you have a good run up before jumping. After  catching the bar it will swing around. You will need to do the same thing again but on the entrance on the left hand side which is almost an exact duplicate to the one on the left. After this the gates should open.

If you've been reading my blog you will have noticed my fascination of trying to stream content via my Xbox 360 for services provided by the BBC iPlayer, SkyAnytime PC  and now Channel 4's 4oD service (TV and Film on demand). Basically the BBC, Sky and Channel 4 all provide separate services for which you can download content off the Internet. This could be an episode of Star Gate SG1 you may have missed (Sky), Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (Channel 4) or East Enders (BBC and no I don't like it but my wife does).

What all of these technologies have in common is they all use Microsoft's DRM (Digital Rights Management). What this means is that the content provider (BBC, Sky or Channel 4) can control how long you are able to watch this content until it expires, this also controls who can watch it. All this is taken care of in the background where a licence is downloaded to your machine enabling you to watch the content. While all of these providers may appear to have different innovative interfaces, under the covers they are all really using Windows Media Player which supports DRM. The BBC got a lot of flack for not using an open source platform for doing the same thing. The truth is this method has probably worked out cheaper, as so many other providers are using the same technology its tried and tested (until someone cracks it of course).

One of the let downs I found of these services was there was no way of watching the content you missed on your TV. You had to watch it on your computer. Unless you were a bit computer savvy and knew how to plug your computer into your TV (not all TV's support this) there wasn't really much of an alterative. That was until the Xbox 360 started to be able to stream content from your Windows Media PC. I found the Xbox 360 proved to be a cheaper alternative than having a dedicated PC for watching content from the Internet on your TV. I have also found it also works well with content from Channel 4's service 4oD. The only problem I have found is that 4oD's videos are not as higher quality as those provided by Sky (this may probably change), it gives the impression of a pixilated image on my 1080i LCD screen. I think Microsoft can provide a lot more upgrades for the Xbox 360 to take advantage of this place in the market. Although I suspect they may be keeping a bit quiet about the potential because they may be thinking of a separate content deal they want to put together, so they can charge Xbox Live subscribers for the privilege.  

It looks as though no one has really taken advantage of the potential for a TV Over Internet Provider (TOIP) box that could pull all these providers together maybe even including Joost?

Just to recap on my last article about how to watch BBC iPlayer content through your Xbox without using Media Centre I have now tested it with Sky Anytime PC and it works like a charm.

The best way to make this work is to log into Sky Anytime PC and click on the "Account & Settings"  button from here you can find the "Default Download Location", copy this and then open windows Media Player 11, click Library > Add To Library and click add to add the folder location you just copied from Sky Anytime PC. Now next time you download a file from Sky Anytime PC it will automatically be added to your Windows Media Player library. If you followed the steps in my previous article to share your library with your Xbox you should be able to now watch SkyAnytime PC content on your Xbox withut having to drag the downloaded movies into the My Movies folder.

Having recently bought an Xbox 360 I heard there was a way of streaming content from your Windows XP machine to the XBox, the reason I was particularly interested was that I had started using the BBC iPlayer and Sky Anytime PC service for watching TV programs on demand. It was great for catching up on shows I had missed or forgot to record on my Sky Plus box. The only problem I had was that it wasn't much fun watching these shows on my laptop screen when I had a 42inch LCD screen with surround sound sitting around being unused naturally the Xbox filled this chasm.

Having looked around the net many people who do not have the Media Centre edition of Windows XP do not seem to be able to stream DRM protected content to their Xbox. Well the solution to the problem is pretty simple and you don't need to use TVersity (great free program by the way).

The Solution

1. Ensure you have Windows Media Player 11 installed you can download this from Microsoft's web site. Chances are if you have the BBC iPlayer or Sky Anytime PC installed you will already have the latest version of Windows Media Player.
2. Click on the Library tab and select the option Media Sharing. From here tick the checkbox "Share My media to:". If you click on settings in this window you have the option to select what type of content you wish to share. Click OK to close this window.
3. Now after you have downloaded some content from BBC iPlayer first select to watch the content. What this will do is get the licence (DRM) to allow you to view the video. No need to watch the video you can close the BBC iPlayer window.
4. Copy the movie into your movies folder (found under my documents) and then drag it into Windows Media Player. This part is quite important I couldn't get this to work unless I carried out this step for some reason it has to be inside the Movies folders located under My Documents.
5. On your Xbox select the media tab, select Video and then select computer. If all goes well you should see your Windows XP machine. Select your computer.
6. Back on your Windows XP machine go back to Windows Media Player select the Library > Media Sharing over here you should see your Xbox. Select it and then select Allow and then OK. (Don't worry you only have to do this once).
7. Go back to the Xbox and press the backup button and select the Video option again as in step 5 you should now see the video's you had placed on your Windows XP machine. Select the video and enjoy!

Now don't panic you don't need to carry out the steps above all the time. Every time you want to add a new movie try to watch it first to acquire the DRM licence then place it into Windows Media Player and then watch from the Xbox. This seems to have been the only way I could get this to work. I see no reason why the above will not work with SkyAnytime which I will be testing shortly. If you are not able to see your Windows XP machine from your Xbox backup to the media tab itself and go back in. If this doesn't work ensure your Xbox is connected to your network.

If you know of an easier way of doing this I'd love to hear from you.

Every now and again we do a few drastic things or have a few spending urges and its going to sound a bit hypocritical regarding my past posts about saving money but I splashed out on an Xbox 360. Now I am a pretty big Sony PS3 fan but the PS3 is still just too expensive for me right now and I really wanted to play the game Gears of War ever since I saw it. What was the result? Well I am very happy with my purchase Gears of War was better than I ever thought it would be and its nice to have a device that take advantage of my High Resolution TV at 1080p I really hadn't realised how good the picture could be especially how the Xbox upscales DVD movies it was a nice surprise.

The other thing I like about the Xbox and I know the PS3 is capable of this is actually streaming movies from your PC to your Xbox this pretty neat as you don't really want to watch movies on your PC right? The only thing I haven't tried yet is streaming my Sky Anytime PC or BBC iPlayer content onto it. I'm hoping the DRM content is not going to be a problem.

Gears of war is excellent and my wife loves playing it with me in split screen mode, only problem is she thinks she's better at it than I am...pah!

Interesting post containing a video on my friend Julians blog about the decline of the PS3 by Sony. The video does seem more inclined towards the Xbox.

As far as I am concerned I think the PS3 is an amazing machine and had the benefit of seeing one at a demo with the most amazing graphics I have seen in a long time. However I think the price tag will be its downfall, maybe what Sony should have done was specked down the machine so it wasn't so expensive when they launched it which I think is the only thing that puts people off the console. The console has just about everything included making it a powerful multimedia machine. If Sony had included a desktop OS, keyboard, mouse etc they may even have been able to target it towards part of the desktop PC market (maybe this would be included at a later date as an optional extra).

Well the PS3 Launched but the reaction seemed a bit mixed and Microsoft rained on the parade with quotes such as "Sony.....you're late!". The biggest launch was in London however over the rest of Europe in some cases the press outnumbered people purchasing the consoles. I was just wondering if the price was what was putting people off the console? I'd really like to own a PS3 but will probably have to wait until they became a bit more affordable. I was hoping Microsoft may have brought the price of the XBOX down but sadly that didn't happen yesterday.

I am a huge fan of the Playstation ever since I got my Playstation 2 I have had hours of entertainment playing games on this console. However I noticed after a while I was buying PS2 games played them once or twice and then they stayed on the shelf collecting dust. Playing games started to become a bit of a task they weren't the type of games you used to play on the old Atari consoles where you could have a quick game of pong or space invaders. Each game has an intro and loads a bit like a movie its a great experience for those ultimate games but it gets a bit annoying each time you load the game. But none the less I still loved the console it provided a great Karaoke machine and it was my first DVD player (a darn cheap one at the time). My natural thought was to go onto the PS3 when it came out over Christmas 2006, but then it didn't turn up in the UK. The only console available was the Wii, I had heard little about the console until I started seeing people playing on it on TV and in shops, what a cool idea! Why hadn't anyone else thought of a such a cool way to play computer games. The Wii was a great console for playing fun games and it had made me forget about getting my hands on the PS3 it was a console that allowed all your friends to join in your games instead of waiting one at a time and then trying to figure out all the different combo's.

Now that I have a Wii console I want a more serious console for playing serious games and when I looked at the XBox 360 I was amazed by the game Gears of War there was nothing that seemed close to it on either of the other consoles and I am considering buying the console just because of the game. Also the fact that the PS3 will cost £429 from Amazon and the XBOX 360 is £269 and I have heard a rumor that the XBOX 360 may come down by £50-£80 in price when the PS3 launches. I am wondering who will pay £429 for a games console you can buy a plasma TV for that price in some places.  So what game will convince me to buy the PS3 or shell out so much cash, the truth is there isn't on at the moment and the console is much to expensive. I just hope Sony hasn't overstretched itself a bit too much trying to bring out the PS3 which could probably make or break Sony as the leader in the games console market.