Putting XBMC on a Raspberry Pi is Ludicrously easy

I know I'm late to the Raspberry Pi party, but as I mention in the video, sometimes it's wise to wait until after all the fuss has settled down. In the year since this tiny low-power computer was introduced, enthusiasts have spent countless hours optimising and debugging code to make this hackers machine an easy to use consumer product for your average end-user like me.

I delayed making this video for months. I really thought that installing XBMC would be a lot more complicated than it was. I anticipated that I would be fiddling about with settings and configuration files for hours, but in reality the whole process turned out to be a surprisingly simple formality.

If after watching this video you like the idea of having a Raspberry Pi powered media centre but still aren't confident about configuring your SD card (and you live in the UK) you can even buy a Pre-Loaded SD card.

I don't know if this is the cheapest way you can get XBMC on your TV...and at times the menus can be a tad laggy, but the features that make this configuration particularly appealing to me are the Airplay capability and the fact it can be powered directly from my TV. 

Total Costs: Under £45

Raspberry Pi  £28 for a Model B (512mb). 

Wifi Dongle £12 - All from CPC Farnell. (You can get other dongles for £5 on ebay)

Case £2.58 From Ebay

All the other items I used were already in the house (HDMI Cable, 1 amp USB Charger, SD Card, Keyboard Remote).

The Lenovo N5902 I used is overkill. An MCE Remote will be more than sufficient. 

By the way - I know there are a few continuity errors in this video which I'm fully expecting youtube commenters with way too much time on their hands to bring up....4GB cards becoming 32GB cards, WiFi dongles changing ports - references to keyboards and mice on the setup screens which don't appear in the video and vanishing ornaments. These things come from shooting a video over three different days, spread across two weeks....that and I had to let my continuity team have the week off (as well as the fact they don't exist anyway).

In case anyone is interested, the film playing in the video is 'The Brain', AKA 'Le Cerveau', a 1969 French caper movie with the dream cast of David Niven, Belmondo and Bourvil. 

Revisiting the Sony Action Camera

I've owned my Sony AS10 Action camera for six months. Since I posted my original review in January,  I've bought another one (the AS15), picked up numerous accessories, and the camera has received additional features through a firmware update. I therefore decided that it was time for me to make a video update. 

In the video I mention that you can download a sample of the footage I recorded in it's new 1080p60 mode. CLICK HERE to download this file from Dumptruck. 

You can see from the comments posted under my previous AS10 vs White video that people can get very excitable about action cameras. They'll defend a particular manufacturer's range as though their life depended on it. So for those individuals, I'd like to reiterate,  I'm not saying this is better or worse than any other model from any other manufacturer. The world isn't that simple. Decide what camera you want....but don't try and tell other people that it's what they want too, that's something for them to decide. 

The GSE550 1080p GPS Dashcam (clone)

I started on this review a couple of months ago, after a few people had requested that I do some reviews of higher priced dashcams. I thought that a small car camera with built in GPS and 1080p h.264 video for less than £70 could be of interest to a lot of people (if it was any good).  

I broke away from doing this review when Blackvue and Hetai sent me their latest dashcams but now that those reviews are complete I've finally found the time to finish this video.

In the meantime I've found that this camera is a knock-off of the real GSE550 made by DOD. I'd imagine that the original DOD version is in a completely different league from this camera. 

I was very tempted to just delete the project off my hard drive, and start on something more interesting….but after spending £68 and countless hours, I wanted to have something to show for my efforts, so here it is, a review of a camera that really wasn't worth reviewing.

If you like the design of the camera, but would prefer a version that works properly - then this link will take you to both auctions of the real DOD GSE550 and the knock-off version I bought and reviewed. 

Now this adds up - The SpikenzieLabs Calculator Kit.

A few weeks ago SpikenzieLabs sent me over their Calculator Kit. Unfortunately it arrived just before I took a few weeks off so this review has been delayed somewhat.

I'm old enough to remember when pocket Calculators first became affordable. I recall getting a £30 Commodore Calculator with a red LED display in 1977. A young child doesn't have much use for a calculator…but it's something I desperately wanted at the time.  

Over the years calculators have become disposable items. The last one I bought came from a pound shop, It's very poorly constructed, but it does work.

This SpikenzieLabs kit brought back some of the feeling of wonder and excitement that I would have felt all those years ago when I unboxed my first calculator. The bright red segmented display, solid chunky construction, and large responsive keys reminded me that cheaper isn't necessarily better. 

The work that goes into designing and manufacturing a kit like this doesn't come cheap. However if you've bought any Lego recently, you'll know that quality and precision always come at a premium price.  

You can buy this kit direct from the Spikenzielabs website. 

WIN A FULLY CONSTRUCTED CALCULATOR KIT (Closing date 31 May 2013)

One lucky individual can receive a fully assembled calculator free of charge. In addition to the model that I assembled in the video I was also sent a kit with a board soldered professionally by the chaps at Spikenzielabs, I've assembled this one too and am now giving it away.

To win it…all you have to do is tell me the Make & Model of the item I unbox in my Unboxing with a twist...guess the contents video from May 3rd.

Follow me on Twitter and send me a tweet containing the answer (You'll see my Twitter feed in the blue column on the right) and I'll get in touch with the winner on the 1st June 2013 to arrange delivery.

A Beginners Guide to Car Cameras

Dashcams are already well established in some countries and people all across the globe are gradually learning about the usefulness of these devices. It can be difficult though, for newcomers to learn about a complicated product like a car camera from scratch, so to make things easier, I've made this one-stop video explanation that covers all the basics. 

This video explains the purpose of car cameras, what features are useful and which ones are unnecessary. 

Feel free to send this video link (below) to any friends or relatives who want to know more about 'those car camera things'.

http://youtu.be/HQ0Tm9FFpKM

Proview HD Action Camera from Chinavasion - Review

Here is my somewhat delayed video review of the ProView Camera from Chinavasion. This is advertised as an action camera - but can also be used as a car camera. This video had to cover a lot of ground because of the camera's extensive feature set.  The camera comes with most of the accessories that people will need - and also sports a convenient tripod hole which enables it to be used with many other mounts.

I'm always on the look out for the cheapest decent-quality action camera and this is definitely one worth considering. It's smaller and cheaper than Chinavasion's Crocolis and Xdreme cameras that I reviewed previously from Chinavasion.  If you like the look of the Proview and want to buy one then please CLICK HERE.

I mentioned in the video that the clips from the camera look a bit jerky in the review - they don't look jerky if you play back the original clips from the camera, and I'd recommend you DOWNLOAD MY ORIGINAL CLIPS FROM HERE. (Note most of these have been trimmed for length - but not re-coded in any way). These clips are stored on Dumptruck- this is a site that takes a few seconds to load up initially, so please be patient.

I am still searching for the elusive sub £50 water-resistant HD action camera with a microphone-in socket (this isn't a feature included on this camera). A lot of people like the idea of a helmet side-mountable camera with a microphone socket that can also survive a rain shower.  This is something I receive a lot of emails requests for, so I should re-iterate here that I haven't found a camera that fits these requirements yet….but when I do, I'll be sure to review it.

Apologies that my voiceover is a bit blown-out at times at the beginning of this video…I accidentally nudged some settings and thanks to everyone who sent me messages during my enforced absence and I'm sorry that I couldn't respond to them all. Hopefully I can get back to my usual irregular update schedule now. 

IMPORTANT UPDATE - Contrary to what I mention in the video, the lens does rotate. This allows it to be twisted either 90º or 180º. The reason that this is important is because it means the camera can be mounted on the side of a helmet using the clip on the base and then the lens rotated at 90º. This also resolves the upside-down timestamp issue. 

Unboxing with a twist...guess the contents.

I don't do unboxing videos. I won't share my opinion on this form of video 'entertainment', because I know that some people (crazy people) do like watching them. 

However when a large interesting-looking box arrived from abroad...I couldn't resist sharing. I've added a twist to this unboxing though, see if you can figure out the parcel contents from the clues I give, before I've finished unpacking it.

This video was just uploaded as a bit of fun. The real reason that this clip exists is a little more mundane. I had my camera and tripod nearby and thought it would be a good idea to record the unpacking if I needed proof that the fragile contents had been damaged in transit so I could claim on the parcel insurance. As it was, the packing job was one of the best I've ever seen and the contents were in perfect condition.

In future I'll continue to quickly skip past the unboxing steps of any product demonstration and get on with the review. I'll leave unboxing videos to the 'experts'.