09.22.07
Posted in Media, People
at 9 pm
If you noticed my Depeche Mode fandom it should not come as a surprise that I may have a bit of a Depeche Mode library. Having been an obsessive collector of Depeche Mode for a number of years (tapering off after the Ultra era), I still have quite a collection of releases, but there are a few items that have always been out of reach. One of those items recently became available:
eBay: DEPECHE MODE – STRANGE * JAPANESE LASERDISC WITH OBI
Yes, the only non-VHS release of these videos up until the DVD era. Now here’s why this is important in a Depeche Mode collection: 1) it is laserdisc, which means playing it more than once doesn’t risk destroying the media (unlike video tape), 2) it is laserdisc which means, properly taken care of, it will retain a higher quality signal than the VHS release, 3) it has entire song and cuts of other videos that are currently unavailable on DVD.
The closest release of these videos on DVD was The Videos 86->98 DVD, which had the ’single mix’ of most of the tracks (A Question Of Time, Strangelove, Never Let Me Down Again, and Behind The Wheel) which is a terrible thing, and a travesty when it comes to the NLMDA video because it cuts out NEARLY HALF of the original footage! Adding to the problem is the lack of the short inter-song connections and the the complete loss of the video for Pimpf. What makes Pimpf so special? It’s the only b-side that Mode has ever made a video for.
Strange is one of the best Mode releases, ever. Now I have it in the most pristine format ever released.
So, as of this week I finally have purchased (but not received yet) the Japanese laserdisc release of Strange, thanks to an eBay god, a friend of mine who goes by the handle “HighVelocityVav”. Vavrin, your are my hero, my fast-fingered-friend!
…And before you ask, yes, I do actually own a laserdisc player and no, I don’t even have to dig it out of storage.
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09.16.07
Posted in Apple, Media, Tech
at 10 pm
So I got the $100 rebate from Apple for my iPhone and added that to a small monetary gift I got recently to purchase the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid which I had on my wish list for a while. The device receives HDTV signals and passes them to a Mac and works pretty well.
The one piece missing from the package is an antenna. A simple $20 antenna gets a good solid signal. Given the location of our TV, facing west out through our westward-facing windows out to the West Hills where the TV broadcast antennas are at, we could have gone with the even cheaper $10 model. Remember, in most cities, HDTV broadcasts use the UHF band, and any UHF antenna can be use. (There’s no need to get an HD-specific antenna so don’t over spend in this arena.)
The biggest problem with our setup is that the Mac Mini only has the base 512MB of RAM. Until an upgrade, a few of the highest quality channels stutter. KGW seems to be pushing out a full 1080p signal, which I think is overwhelming the RAM buffer. Whereas the KOIN and KATU feeds are at 720p and the Mini keeps up with them pretty well.
The reason I’m most interested in Over The Air (OTA) HDTV is that our analog cable signal gets horrible crosstalk and ghosting. With a lack of insulated coaxial wiring, local channels are bad to really bad. Now we can see them really in clear, sharp high quality. Next to getting Digital Cable, this is the best way to get these channels.
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09.09.07
Posted in Career, Transport
at 7 am
This was my travel plan from last week’s business trip. The only change was that I ended up on an earlier flight on the way home, the first leg of which was in United’s Economy Plus featuring 5″ of additional leg room. Nice for a free upgrade, not worth purchasing though.
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Flight 574
United Airlines Inc Confirmation Numbers: ZCWTNI
Depart: Portland Intl Arpt (PDX)
06:34 AM
Arrive: O'Hare Intl Arpt (ORD)
CHICAGO, Terminal 1
12:22 PM
Seat 19C
Flight 536
Depart: O'Hare Intl Arpt (ORD)
CHICAGO, Terminal 1
02:00 PM
Arrive: Logan Intl Arpt (BOS)
BOSTON, Terminal C
05:25 PM
Seat 23C
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Avis
Confirmation Number: 00710940US6
Pick Up: Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Logan Intl Arpt (Terminal)
Phone: 617-561-3500
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The Westin Waltham-Boston
Confirmation Number: C531347547
The Westin Waltham-Boston
70 Third Ave
Waltham Ma 02451 Us
Phone: 781-290-5600
Check In: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 3:00 PM
Check Out: Friday, September 07, 2007 1:00 PM
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Flight 881
United Airlines Inc Confirmation Numbers: ZCWTNI
Depart: Logan Intl Arpt (BOS)
BOSTON, Terminal C
09:00 AM Friday
Arrive: O'Hare Intl Arpt (ORD)
CHICAGO, Terminal 1
10:37 AM Friday
Seat 17D
Flight 929
United Airlines Inc Confirmation Numbers: ZCWTNI
Depart: O'Hare Intl Arpt (ORD)
CHICAGO, Terminal 1
12:20 PM
Arrive: Portland Intl Arpt (PDX)
02:38 PM
Seat 13D
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09.08.07
Posted in Media, Tech
at 12 am
The latest process:
1) I’ve saved my DVDs using MacTheRipper (For discs that are tough for Handbrake to handle.)
2) Recoded them to .m4v (MPEG-4) with Handbrake (great for iTunes. Handbrake also automagically runs the file through MetaX to gather more info.)
3) Converted the the .m4v’s to .mpg (MPEG-2) via Tivoizer. (I had to really look hard to find a copy of Tivoizer on the web. If you’re looking for it and want a copy, send me an e-mail. It’s just a GUI wrapper to FFmpeg, but it makes it easy to set and forget.)
4) Holding down Option while opening up the TiVo Desktop system preference shows the Videos tab for sharing them from the Mac to TiVo. (This step only needs to be done once, the first time.)
5) Drop the .mpg file into the folder that’s set in the TiVo Desktop Video tab preferences.
6) After a while, the TiVo Desktop software processes the video and creates a *.properties file
7) The .properties file can be edited by hand in a text editor to reflect the Title and such that you want the TiVo to show. (Note that the TiVo Desktop software uses the first part of the filenames to associate the .properties and the .mpeg files. The “title” property in the .properties file does not have to use the exact filename as the source file, so it can be edited to your heart’s content.)
As TiVo is the main way that Amy and I watch TV, this is the best way we have to integrate what used to be a separate video source (DVD Player, PlayStation 2, LasedrDisc, or Mac Mini) which require another remote control to operate. Now everything we have, video-wise, is accessible via TiVo’s interface. Now I’ve just got to get Miro to drop stuff into the proper folder after converting the incoming videos to MPEG-2.
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09.02.07
Posted in Meta, Tech
at 8 am
The following was sent via the USL Live Contact Us form. I’m guessing they won’t get to this until after the season is over, but in case any one wants to know how to get great video from their service on the Mac, read on.
Dear USL Live,
There is a lack of information regarding the set up for Macs to get the best playback on your site and in your Help section. At this point, most of the people I’ve talked to think that it’s impossible to watch USL Live on a Mac. The problem is, they (and your web site) is missing a critical setting that makes USL Live work on a Mac.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE add a section to your FAQs on both of these pages:
You need to add a paragraph that says something like the following:
For the best viewing experience on Mac OS X using the Flip4Mac WMV plug-in, you will need to set the following option in the System Preference Panel.
- Click on the Apple Menu in the upper-left hand corner.
- Select the System Preferences from the Apple Menu.
- In the System Preferences, look for the Flip4Mac WMV icon at the bottom of the window, in the “Other” section. Click on that Flip4Mac WMV icon.
- Click on the “Player” tab at the top of the Flip4Mac preference pane.
- Make sure that there is a check in the checkbox next to “Create Streaming Movies”.
- Close the System Preferences. (No restart is necessary.)
This setting controls how the software treats streamed video (like USL Live). The default method (when the box is not checked) causes Flip4Mac to access the stream without a buffer and without adjusting the video playback to accommodate the speed of your connection.
With this setting activated, Flip4Mac will now perform like a champ, displaying even full screen video with quality on par to the playback on the PC side of things.
In fact, while watching the Portland Timbers (as they defeated the Carolina Railhawks to reclaim first place in the USL First Division) at Slabtown with a contingent of the Timbers Army, the 4 or 5 people gathered around my PowerBook at the back of the bar got to watch the game a full 60 seconds ahead of the other group watching it via a PC laptop.
The amount of buffering that the Mac was doing vs. the amount of buffering on the PC side is the only thing I can think of that would cause this variance. Not that I’m complaining mind you, but when Amy and I started celebrating the Bryan Jordan goal in the 80th minute, I think the rest of the Army was wondering what the hell was going on over in our corner. The goal 50 or 60 seconds later on their screen probably made our whoops and hollers seem like a spoiler. Sorry guys!
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