New Monitors!

Badaboom 2

nVidia recently released an update for their GPU video transcoding Badaboom software. The new version 2 now supports the newer ‘Fermi’ family based GPUs (i.e. all of the GTX4xx and GTX5xx cards).  The new version also has a large list of supported output devices- including Apple iPad, AppleTV, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab and many others.
However, it appears that Badaboom does not work with the latest version of nVidia’s drivers; running display drivers v266.58, Badaboom 2 will crash at 6-8 seconds into transcoding.  When I reverted back to v263.09, transcoding works as designed.
It takes about 7 minutes to transcode a 40 minute 720p video file to Motorola Xoom format; much better than straight CPU encoding (which takes about 20 minutes on a Core i7 860) !

Update: It appears it is not a problem with nVidia's driver- but rather with my system.  I did a full rebuild Badaboom 2 will work properly with either version of the driver...

LCD Monitor Upgrade

I have been sporting a pair of 24” monitors for quite a while now- one was even purchased from CompUSA when it was still in it’s prime.  They are sport a wonderful 16x10 aspect ratio (1920x1200) instead of the newer 16x9 aspect (1920x1080) so I have been resistive to give up my 120px of vertical screen real estate. 

But today I finally gave in- and also upgrade to 3D as well…

I purchased a set of an Asus VG236H 23” Monitor Kit VG236HE 23” Monitor from amazon.  Both are 23” 120hz 3D ready panels, but the former item includes an nVida 3D Vision kit.  I am skeptical about the 3D part as it still seems very gimicky, but it might me fun to try out World of WarCraft or Age of Empires to see how it looks in 3D.  nVidia has an extensive list of games that are supported with nVidia 3D vision, but- sadly- the original Dungeon Keeper II is not among them…

I am more interested in the 120hz refresh and the 2ms response time- and the reviews have been pretty positive on NewEgg (unless I get a dead pixel or a green line on the screen).

The monitors are shipping 2nd day from Amazon (gotta love Amazon Prime!) so I should have these guys setup on Wednesday- and then I will either be wondering how I lived with 60hz monitors or cursing nVidia for being near blind from ‘3D Vision’.