I am now officially old.
I know this because my children show me how to do stuff that I used to be able to work out how to do myself. In my day (that's the phrase that clinches the deal) this would have been programming a video recorder but now it is related to tasks such as using iTunes and video chat things. Nasty business.
Curiously, the really technical stuff is still my domain but once it's all set up, the kids seem to be immediately able to use it and make it do whatever they want. For example, I have recently resolved to put my entire DVD collection on a networked attached storage drive and hook it up to the big telly in my front room. I shouldn't really be telling you this as it's still illegal in the UK pending some long overdue changes in copyright law but I'm hoping that by the time anyone actually reads this, it'll all be above board. Getting back to my point, the kids have not the first clue what video encoding is or how you go about doing it. It has been my task to find out and set about the laborious task of transferring my extensive DVD collection to computer files and then work out how to get them on the TV in the front room. The children simply accept that it happens and this is why they appear so much cleverer than me because they don't care about CODECS, screen resolution or discrete channels of sound.... so long as Rango is visible on the screen and you can hear what he's saying. So when they start using it they aren't even slightly amazed that it is appearing on the TV screen, that's a given, they can get straight into discovering the "cool" features and making me look like I have no idea what I'm doing at all. I know my place.
I plan to blog about more than my home media set-up but given that I am utterly pre-occupied with it at the moment expect to be utterly bored by talk of Macs, Plex and DVDFab in the near future. If you're still reading this (or in fact reading it at all), please let me extend a warm welcome to my mind and warn you that it is a strange place inhabited by questions, dancing girls and Absolute Classic Rock radio. Mostly though, it's full of home media stuff right now (and dancing girls).
Did I mention I wanted to be a cat? Alistair, my cat, has the most idyllic life you know. I would say he's looking at me while I write this but he's not, he is fast asleep. He has actually been fast asleep for about seventeen hours now and frankly that is an appealing lifestyle. I don't much fancy having to eat the head off a mouse but I think that is a small price to pay for being able to sleep for 70% of your life. I will probably post a photo of Alistair (asleep) once I've got to grips with this whole blogging thing.
Anyway. 'Tis time for me to get on with this video encoding malarky so I will say farewell to myself. If you happen to chance upon my musings, please drop me a line. The first person I hear from will receive a free photograph of Alistair (naked!) and a free weekend in May 2012.
God Speed.
Lord Camsell
