Category: Current Events

An arm-chair punter’s view on his world.

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Astro B.yond HD

Astro compared the launch of B.yond, its HDTV service in Malaysia, to the arrival of color television broadcasting. That’s quite a claim. And as much as I hate to admit it, I’m old enough to remember the day RTM first switched to color. I recall the excitement—curious neighbors cramming into the living room, eyes glued to the rare color TV set, gasping in awe at every vibrant hue. We didn’t care what was on—we religiously tuned in to any program that aired in color, even if it was just a news anchor talking about rubber exports.

Astro B.yond, on the other hand, while delivering on its HD promise, isn’t nearly as revolutionary.

High-definition content is nothing new. If your PC runs at a resolution higher than 1280 x 720 pixels, congratulations—you’ve been enjoying 720p HD for years. If your puny 2-megapixel camera takes images at 1600 x 1200 pixels, you already have more height resolution than 1080p, the current gold standard for HD. Blu-ray discs (and before them, HD-DVD), gaming consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360—they’ve all been HD for ages.

So unlike the color TV era, Astro B.yond doesn’t have a major novelty factor. It’s hard to imagine your neighbors barging into your living room just to witness the breathtaking detail of David Letterman’s forehead wrinkles.

The Hardware & Channel Lineup

At launch, B.yond offers just four HD channels—NatGeo HD, History HD, HBO HD, and Astro Supersport HD—with ESPN HD “coming soon.” To access them, Astro requires you to replace almost everything: the dish, decoder, smart card, and even the remote control. The new Set-Top Box (STB) is smaller and sleeker, with a redesigned on-screen menu system. It also has a front-facing USB port, possibly for future TiVo-like features—if Astro ever decides to roll those out.

Originally, I had stripped my Astro subscription down to the bare minimum, partly as a protest against their ever-increasing prices. This left me with mostly documentary channels, so my TV diet consisted of Mega Disasters, Ice Road Truckers, and Mega Movers. What I quickly discovered is that the HD versions of NatGeo and History don’t just offer higher resolution; they actually have different programming schedules from their SD counterparts. HBO HD, on the other hand, is just HBO SD with a 60-minute delay, while Supersport HD is essentially Supersport 2 in HD.

The Good: Jaw-Dropping Documentaries

The documentary channels look phenomenal. The colors are richer, and the level of detail is incredible—you can read tiny background text, spot imperfections in ancient artifacts, or count the number of wrinkles on the expert’s forehead as they discuss the fall of the Roman Empire.

Feeling optimistic, I upgraded to the movie package to check out HBO HD.

The Not-So-Good: HBO HD’s Disappointing Quality

That’s when my excitement took a hit. Unlike the razor-sharp clarity of the documentaries, HBO HD looked… soft. The compression Astro uses for this channel seems aggressive—action scenes suffer from blocky artifacts, making them resemble poorly compressed pirated DVDs. Some sequences are downright unwatchable, especially when there’s a lot of movement on screen.

The Ugly: Audio Issues That’ll Drive You Crazy

Astro B.yond boasts Dolby Digital sound, but in practice, it’s a hot mess. The audio channels are often encoded incorrectly. The most common issue? Voices don’t just come from the center speaker—they’re also leaking into the left and right speakers. And to make matters worse, the vocal track isn’t even properly synchronized across the channels, creating a weird out-of-phase effect that makes dialogue sound echoey and unnatural. It’s like listening to an interview inside a tin can.

The Road Ahead: Can Astro Fix This?

For Astro to succeed, they need to fine-tune this service. With just four HD channels at launch, it’s unlikely they’ll attract the masses—except maybe during World Cup 2010, when all matches will be broadcast in HD. Right now, early adopters like me are willing to pay the extra RM20 a month for the technology, but for mass adoption, they need to:

  1. Fix the compression issues, especially on movie channels.
  2. Sort out the audio disasters.
  3. Rapidly expand the HD channel lineup.

Because after watching HD, one thing becomes painfully clear—Astro’s standard-definition channels look really, really bad.

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Directions to Lake Fields

For those who are coming to the morning session of Celeste and Ming Han’s wedding, here are some quick directions to Lake Fields.

Directions from Kesas (Lebuhraya Shah Alam) to Lake Fields

1.

 After the KESAS toll, travel eastward on KESAS towards KL

4.0 km

2.

 Take right fork towards Cheras. You will be now on Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR 2)

2.0 km

3.

 Look out for Bandar Tasik Selatan LRT station on left. Take left ramp and make a U-turn to the other side of MRR 2

0.3 km

4.

 Continue on MRR 2 until you see the turning to Serdang, Balakong, UPM on the left

1.7 km

5.

 Take that turning and continue straight. You will come across a traffic light. The Sg Besi LRT station is on your left

0.2 km

6.

 Continue straight and take flyover on the left that says Lake Fields

0.3 km

See Google Map

Directions from Federal Highway to Lake Fields

1.

 Head east on Lebuhraya Persekutuan towards Kuala Lumpur

0.2 km

2.

 As you pass MidValley on your left, take the exit onto Jalan Klang Lama

3.1 km

3.

 Travel straight and turn left at Jalan Kuchai Lama

2.6 km

4.

 Continue straight all the way and you will be travelling on Lebuhraya Sungai Besi

4.0 km

5.

 Take “Lake Fields” ramp when you come to a 3-fork that says Sg. Besi/Cheras (left), Lake Fields (centre) and Serdang/Balakong (right)

0.4 km

See Google Map

Directions from KL Seremban Highway to Lake Fields

Take the Cheras exit from KL-Seremban Highway

0.1 km
Take the left ramp to Sungai Besi (via Lebuhraya Sungai Besi) *warning: do not take leftest ramp to Putrajaya

56 m
Keep right at the fork to continue toward Lebuhraya Sungai Besi (towards KL)

1.0 km
Make a U-turn

2.5 km
Continue straight on Lebuhraya Sungai Besi (towards Serdang)

4.1 km
Take “Lake Fields” ramp when you come to a 3-fork that says Sg. Besi/Cheras (left), Lake Fields (centre) and Serdang/Balakong (right)

0.4 km

See Google Map

When you reach Lake Fields, you will see white 3 storey houses that look something like this:-

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The Lost Symbol

I have a confession to make.

I would lust after Kentucky Fried Chicken and would feel really bad after eating it. Not from a guilt point of view due to unhealthy indulgence. Nope, I really do physically feel bad after finishing the last piece of fried chicken that has been secretly embalmed with 11 herbs and spices. It always leaves a peculiar after-taste that can be described as a bad combination of sickeningly creamy grease, refrigerated overnight chicken soup and sweaty salty skin.

Which is like the new Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol. While I couldn’t resist the marketing messages which promoted this book like it is the sequel to the Holy Bible, the feeling that I get after completing it can be described as a bad combination of sickeningly ill-constructed scenes and dialogues, refrigerated plots from previous books and conspiracy theories and non-sweaty predictable plot twists.

In this novel, Dan Brown took familiar plot elements from The DaVinci Code, Angels & Demons, Deception Point and Digital Fortress and transported the story to Washington D.C. This time around, a diabolical and murderous villain with the moniker of Mal’akh forces Robert Langdon to once again solve puzzles based on long lost symbols. I wouldn’t write anything more about the plot because the book has nothing else going for it and I do not want to spoil it in case one wants to read this book or wait for the Tom Hanks movie version of the book.

What I’ve discovered when reading The Lost Symbol is that Dan Brown has unabashedly recycled plot elements and characters from his old novels. (For those who do not like spoilers, skip to the last paragraph now).

For instance:-

  • Robert Langdon is forced into solving the puzzles
  • Female co-lead is forced into the situation too
  • It’s a race against time
  • The secret that is such a big deal is always hidden in plain sight in paintings, buildings, etc
  • The secret, if made known to all, will cause massive chaos and disorder
  • There is a an official from hell who apparently hampers Langdon and his female co-lead but who eventually turns out to be one of the good guys after all

The saving grace to this book is that with all the flaws it is still fun to read. That is if one lowers one’s expectations enough to read it for the pulp fiction value that it is and nothing more.

dsdI have a confession to make.
I would lust after Kentucky Fried Chicken and would feel really bad after eating it. Not from a guilt point of view due to unhealthy indulgence. Nope, I really do physically feel bad after finishing the last piece of fried chicken that has been secretly embalmed with 11 herbs and spices. It always leaves a peculiar after-taste that can be described as a bad combination of sickeningly creamy grease, refrigerated overnight chicken soup and sweaty salty skin.
Which is like the new Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol. While I couldn’t resist the marketing messages which promoted this book like it is the sequel to the Holy Bible, the feeling that I get after completing it can be described as a bad combination of sickeningly ill-constructed scenes and dialogues, refrigerated plots from previous books and conspiracy theories and non-sweaty predictable plot twists.
In this novel, Dan Brown took familiar plot elements from The DaVinci Code, Angels & Demons, Deception Point and Digital Fortress and transported the story to Washington D.C. This time around, a diabolical and murderous villain with the moniker of Mal’akh forces Robert Langdon to once again solve puzzles based on long lost symbols. I wouldn’t write anything more about the plot because the book has nothing else going for it and I do not want to spoil it in case one wants to read this book or wait for the Tom Hanks movie version of the book.
What I’ve discovered when reading The Lost Symbol is that Dan Brown has unabashedly recycled plot elements and characters from his old novels. (For those who do not like spoilers, skip to the last paragraph now).
For instance:-
• Robert Langdon is forced into solving the puzzles
• Female co-lead is forced into the situation too
• It’s a race against time
• The secret that is such a big deal is always hidden in plain sight in paintings, buildings, etc
• The secret, if made known to all, will cause massive chaos and disorder
• There is a an official from hell who apparently hampers Langdon and his female co-lead but who eventually turns out to be one of the good guys after all
The saving grace to this book is that with all the flaws it is still fun to read. That is if one lowers one’s expectations enough to read it for the pulp fiction value that it is and nothing more.
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The Beginning of Sleepless Nights

Chloe’s Close-Up, originally uploaded by CeeKay’s Pix.

One of the most frequent reply that I got on SMS amidst all of the congratulatory messages was that I have to bid farewell to my nights. Little did I know that the senders were dead serious.

On average, I had slept no more than 4 hours per night since Tuesday. There were times when I was lucky enough to sleep for 2 hours straight. In the morning, I was rushing around, trying to get one thing or the other done.

It simply isn’t easy.

But something in her brings out that extra ounce of energy in yourself that you need to push yourself further beyond your breaking point.

After starting the day being heavily deprived of sleep, I was rushing from the one place to another, buying last minute baby items and ensuring that Cheryl is comfortable so that she can recuperate. After all that helter skelter of a day, as I was about to fall asleep, a tiny cry came from the crib in our room at 2.30am.

I walked there, feeling tired and I saw a priceless stare (as captured in this photo) from Chloe.

She could have asked me to walk to the moon and back and I would have happily complied. Luckily, for her and for me, she didn’t. However, 10 minutes after the photo was taken, she wailed until 4am. After trying all methods from feeding to swaddling, she eventually fell asleep on her mother’s bosom.

Babies are designed cute to elicit an emotional response from their parents to provide for them comfort, food and attention even though they could only cry and wail. After experiencing this first hand, I must conclude that this is probably one of the most brilliant evolutionary development in the human race.

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Welcome to the world, Chloe



Introducing Chloe Koay, originally uploaded by CeeKay’s Pix.

It was scheduled for tomorrow but she just couldn’t wait.

Cheryl was having contractions last night and it persisted until this morning. Fearing that we were going to go into labour, she called up Dr. Ravi who asked that we come in within the hour.

Upon arrival, Cheryl was strapped to some thing-a-magics that could detect contrations, her heart rate and baby’s heart rate. When the doctor arrived, he advised that we go ahead with the C-section today rather than the scheduled one tomorrow.

I was then whisked away to don on the blue surgeon robe while they prepped up Cheryl for the spinal anesthetic. We met again in the operating theater and the baby Chloe out less than 15 minutes into the procedure.

We are very grateful that the baby turned out okay and our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Ravi who handled the whole procedure professionally and to the staff of Gleneagles Intan Ampang who were very helpful.

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Spring in Oslo

City Hall Oslo, originally uploaded by CeeKay’s Pix.

I haven’t been to Scandinavia since the days when I was still in Cell Network, which was a good 6 to 7 years ago.

Recently, I was in Oslo for work. Perhaps not a lot of people (outside of the telco industry) know that DiGi is owned by the Telenor group. We are part of the 7th largest telecommunications company in the world.

We managed to take some time off to see Oslo. I’ll be uploading some photos as I get the time to do it.