Miglia TVMini-HD: HDTV for your Mac

While in California, we picked up the Miglia TVMini HD. It's a USB ATSC tuner that is capable of picking up digital television signals from terrestrial antennas and from cable (assuming they are “Clear QAM” which means unencrypted). The included antenna is more of a toy than anything else. It's much to small to receive more than one channel in this area. The old fashioned yagi antenna should do much better.

Much to my delight we discovered that Comcast broadcasts quite a few channels as Clear QAM including all of the local channels and a few nationwide ones as well, even with the basic channel package (the one that's around $10/mo. that they don't advertise at all).

The picture quality is terrific– gone are the fuzzies, snow and interference of analog tv, especially when you receive a picture as 1080i. The unit retails for $199 but can be had for around $170.

Link.

Here is a short glossary so you won't spend the time looking up these terms like I did.

ATSC: Advanced Television Systems Committee. Just like NTSC of yesteryear, this is a set of standards that describes how video is sent and received. Also includes the standard of NTSC. The FCC will soon require all TV sets to include an ATSC tuner.

Clear QAM: Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, the method most cable companies have adopted to send digital television over their network. There is no FCC requirement for TV sets to include a QAM tuner, although some do. Clear means unencrypted. Obviously, encrypted QAM would be used to send premium channels such as HBO and Discovery.

1080i: 1080 lines of vertical resolution that is interlaced (i). Part of the ATSC standard.

Today’s Phobia: Fear of Pickles

This one explains itself, yet explains nothing. It's so absurd you have to wonder if the girl featured on the Maury show is being paid enough to humiliate herself. What exactly is the correct –phobia term for this? How does she feel about cucumbers? What about zucchini and squash?

Link. Via BoingBoing, Via ABC News Top YouTube videos of the year.

UPDATE: While browsing the Internet Archive, I found a short advertisement that would have been shown at a drive in movie theater featuring pickles! Link.

No soap this year.

Sorry folks, there'll be no soap this year. The magical ingredient “lye” was recently pulled from shelves as it seems some were using it to make meth. (Sure, that'll stop 'em.) So now amateur soap makers have to turn to bulk purchases of sodium hydroxide. This brings up some problematic storage and safety issues since you have to buy a lot of it.

More from the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Here are some more photos taken at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on our recent visit to California.

The lovable sea otters; playful like dogs and they eat on their backs.

The kelp forest tank, which gently sways back and forth to simulate the wave action.

The octopus; visitors are asked not to flash the octopus so this made for a tricky shot. I steadied the camera with my hands on the lens and the glass of the tank and took several shots.

Two sea annemones, spectacular coloring.


Perhaps the most dazzling exhibit in the whole aquarium, the jelly fish tanks. Although I'm not certain, I think they are illuminated with UV or black lights as there was a tank where you could press a button to see what they look like in their natural environment (i.e. turn off the light).

The sunfish. Located in the outer bay tank, the sunfish is very large, slow moving and totally cool. It was being fed while we were there.

Outside of the aquarium, “Cannery Row” in Monterey once famous for sardines.