Problem with HDMI Deep Color

Recall that life was very different after I had gotten my Onkyo Amplifier. Not just in terms of better entertainment, but I had to get in touch with lots of troubleshooting and face with new terms like HDMI, ARC, optical channels etc. Well, if you had read my previous posts, you will know I had a fair amount of problems with Diyomate. Well, to be fair, Diyomate is actually pretty goo, just that it does not play too well with my Onkyo.

So today, I am going to talk about a feature in the HDMI that is known as "Deep Color". A pictures says more than 1000 words, so here:

I think its needless to say that with an option like "Deep Color" I would not think twice to enable it. This is exactly what I did on my Measy X5.

Measy X5 is a fantastic 3D Player with a build in HDD bay and it really works very well. Except until I played with this "Deep color" feature. Normally, this would problem not cause a lot of issue. But it happens that Onkyo does not like the additional data in the video send by this "Deep Color" feature. What happened was that I often get video off (black screen) while the sound goes on (also carried by the HDMI cable). It is very irritating especially when I cannot even finish watching a 20+ anime without hitting this a few times. In addition, sometimes the Onkyo will display an error message that goes something about an incompatible video stream was detected...

So, I did my research and guess what? Almost nothing support the "Deep Color" feature. Not your common DVD or BLu-ray player. Not your common amplifier. Not even some of the TV! I wondered why I like to create so much problem for myself!

Anyway, in short, I finally switched it off and found out that this is indeed the option that had created the problem for me. So now, my Measy X5 doesn't output "Deep Color" and everything is working once again. I really hope this helps anyone who has a similar issue out there!

Smart File Advisor Crapware Removal

If you had come to this page, you are more likely than not to have installed a perfectly legit software which had bundled with this software known as "Smart File Advisor" also known as SFA. One known one is Alcohol 52% FE.

While what SFA tries to do is to keep track of your file associations, but in a very dangerous way. Instead of letting Windows manage it, it checks for a php online everytime a new file type is used. In addition, it messes around with your registry at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Associations
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Associations
And this is where the real danger lies in. In theory (if it had not already been taking places) is that whenever you try to download a file, it would poll that php scripts and it CAN do really bad things like redirecting you to another file instead (and renaming it to be your original - Its not even hard), make you run some scripts which captures information form your PC, insert codes into your return pages which can do almost anything a page can do and more.

In short. SPYWARE. And its not just me doing all the bullshiting here! Even AVG backs me by flagging SFA as a virus!

So, if I have convince you to uninstall SFA. Good. But this is just the point where you find that if you try to uninstall it from the Add/Remove or "Programs and Features" (in Windows 8), you will either find that SFA will threaten to remove your other software as well and most likely it will fail to uninstall anyway.

So, is there a uninstaller? Yes, but after looking through the page I found, I find the "uninstaller" rather fishy by itself too, so I really won't recommend it. So, let's do it manually. You will need to make sure you close the stupid SFA program from the tray and in memory (Task Manager). Then you will need to perform the following which involve deleting of a folder (usually just 1, 32 or 64 bits). And then you will need to remove some registry entries away. I had it packed into a reg file for you to cut and paste into your editor and save it.

1. Delete away these directories if you have any of them:
C:\Program Files\Smart File Advisor
C:\Program Files (x86)\Smart File Advisor

2. Here is the "Remove SFA.reg":
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\sfa_checksum]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\!sfa]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Unknown]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Unknown]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\sfa_checksum]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\!sfa]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"Smart File Advisor"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"SFAUpdater"=""

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Smart File Advisor_is1]

Removing the "Special Offer" or Ads in Kindle Paperwhite

Recently, I just bought an Amazon Paperwhite device for reading. Unlike the normal tablets out there be it Android or Apple, this is not too bright and it is in fact very nice for the eyes when compared to the other tablets. The secret is in its special ink technology and therefore, you will also need to get a special type of screen protector for it too.

Amazon Paperwhite:
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Paperwhite-Ereader/dp/B00AWH595M

Well more on that next time. What I want to talk about today in about the "Special Offer" you might had mistaken opt in for during the purchase of Paperwhite or another Kindle device. In plain simple text, "Special Offer" = Advertisements. Yes, that is basically all to it. And you CAN actually pay additional $20-30 to buy the non-"Special Offer" edition. But I guess if you are reading this, its too late anyway.

Well, not really, if you live in USA, you can still pay the difference and have it removed. Or if you think you can convince Amazon that you are not in the USA, then you can have it done for FREE! Yes, I am not joking. Because all the ads are targeted for USA, non of them will work anyway even if you click on them! On this basis, there is an excuse to remove the ads since it is a waste of bandwidth (and precious reading space).

So, how would one go about with this? First, login to your Amazon account (which no-brainer should be a non-USA account). Then lodge in a request for support and select through the options ending up with something like "the advertisements link does not work". If not, just manually complain this. In any case, tell the support personal (nicely) that you are not in the USA and request them to remove the ads. They will.

Well, not to encourage everyone to use this exploit, but I think some of the offers are good if you can use them. But otherwise, I think this is a great idea to claim back some reading space (and USD$20) from Amazon.

HDMI Issues with Diyomate

It seems that the HDMI ARC control is really screwed up by a Diyomate device. Confirmed. In fact, I had gotten hold of yet another device - Diyomate X12 and a consistence behavior is observed.

Diyomate X12:
http://www.diyomate.com/productInfo.asp?PID=493

Without the device, my TV and Amplifier plays nice ARC controlling the sound. Once the X12 is plugged in, the whole ARC connection is screwed up and does not work anymore. So the big question is this. What does the Diyomate device do to the HDMI signal? Or rather what are they sending that is causing the rest of the device to be confused. That is something rather interesting to know, but not easily resolved unfortunately.

Meanwhile, I would still want to use my Diyomate here and then, but in order to make my whole Home Theater System works, I have to unplug the Diyomate's HDMI whenever I do not use it. Hope this helps some of you out there.