Recent Entries
Mac to Samsung TV via HDMI and “Mode Not Supported”
I’ve had a Mac Mini hooked up in my living room and being used as an HTPC for a while now. However, as the Mac Mini doesn’t have HDMI-out, I wasn’t able to get it set up as I really wanted, which was to have it going through my receiver as HDMI and just use the receiver to switch between my various home theater components. That is, until I found an adapter at Monoprice that takes the mini-displayport and USB outs on the Mac Mini and combines them to output a normal HDMI signal with integrated audio and video. So, I immediately ordered one.
When it arrived, I went to set it up and then turned everything on. Voilà: I was getting a signal via HDMI! But it didn’t look too good, so I changed the resolution on my Mac Mini and immediately got a “Mode Not Supported” message on my Samsung TV (PN50A550, specifically). Rebooting did nothing. Booting in safe mode worked and let me change stuff, but as soon as I booted normally, I’d be hit with “Mode Not Supported” again. I searched online. And searched. And searched. I just couldn’t figure it out.
Posted Thursday April 29, 2010 in Computers & Software by Chris Curtis
Grid + Clique Setup
Yup, another WoW post, so fair warning up front! =) This time, I’m planning to give some information on how to set up the Grid and Clique addons to use (primarily) for healing. This is a common alternative to HealBot and I really like it myself. Basically, the idea is that you have relevant information about your party/raid displayed in a condensed area for you upon which you can then perform actions (such as healing, cleansing, etc.). I’m doing this mini-tutorial from a paladin perspective, but the concepts are applicable for everyone. Continue on to start learning!
Posted Sunday February 21, 2010 in World of Warcraft by Chris Curtis
Equinox Returns!
I previously wrote about our hero Equinox (Defender of the Horde!) back in 2007. Basically, it’s sort of a graphic novel based in and created with WoW. The author had taken an extended break, but I was very excited to learn recently that new stories are coming out this year again. As I write this, Equinox: Defender of the Horde has two new stories available in their Northrend/2010 section and it sounds like additional stories are planned for release every Friday. I think I’m going to have to go back and read the old stories all over again now!
Posted Saturday January 9, 2010 in Humor, World of Warcraft by Chris Curtis
Prot Paladin Raid Cooldown
Yes, it’s another WoW post. =) Many protection spec paladins (i.e. tankadins) aren’t aware that a new damage reduction cooldown was added in the most recent patch (3.3), so I figured I’d help get the word out. So, in patch 3.3, the Divine Guardian talent in the Protection tree was reworked. Essentially, what happens is that when Divine Sacrifice is activated, the paladin gains the Divine Sacrifice buff (to receive redirected damage from the party, not raid) and the entire raid including the casting paladin receives the Divine Guardian buff, which provides a 6-second 20% damage reduction for everyone.
The problem for a tank using this is that if there is much raid damage going on when used, there is a large chance that the redirected damage will take the tank down to 20% health quickly, thus increasing the likelihood of getting one-shot by a boss’s next hit.
The trick here is that the Divine Guardian buff will persist even when Divine Sacrifice has fallen off. So, what we need is a macro that activates the ability and then gets rid of Divine Sacrifice as quickly as possible to avoid incoming tank damage. This will still leave the Divine Guardian up and the 20% damage reduction it provides to the entire raid for the full 6 seconds.
#showtooltip Divine Sacrifice
/cast Divine Sacrifice
/in 0.5 /script CancelUnitBuff("player","Divine Sacrifice")
The macro is from the Maintankadin forums. It casts Divine Sacrifice and then cancels it 0.5 seconds later, which allows for latency with the servers so that your character actually has the buff active in order to cancel it.
My own latency is almost always below 0.2sec, so I was able to use 0.3 in the macro safely as a margin of error. You may want to adjust the number based on your own average latency. (To test the macro, you’ll need to be in a party and within 30yds of the party member before you can even activate Divine Sacrifice to test it and ensure that Divine Sacrifice is being canceled correctly.)
Posted Thursday December 31, 2009 in World of Warcraft by Chris Curtis