Hauppauge WINTV PCI Frequently Asked Questions.....
I wish I'd came across this FAQ before I started re-installing my Hauppage PVR250 card - merely running the uninstaller, re-booting, re-installing the current card driver and then the application ain't good enough! The page on their site doesn't seem to be linked off of the support section and has a couple of dead links - the link to the PVR application (for example) - you can snag that file from their Digital Asia site.

This aside I think it is a killer product - I'm increasinly using it instead of my VHS.

Graham is the king! Despite loosing out to Rupert in yesterday's Googlefight he got to the bottom of a thing that has bothered me and others for ages. If you have a striped array hooked to NT / 2k /WinXP and then you remove it Windows keeps a "ghost" record of the array and if you attempt to attach another array with the same name you get told where to go - once that has happened it seems that the disk manager gets less and less willing to see new SCSI devices. However, as ever there is a registry key that returns things to disk nirvana if you delete it!

Googlefight! - I'm glad to see that both God and Jesus beat Satan and also that life wins over death!

Many thanks to my chum Simon Hillman for pointing me at this!

Microsoft Keyboard Mapper looks like a more industrial strength solution than the various methods I've previously employed (particularly using a G4 keyboard on the family's main XP box) - see my previous post here.

Claim back the bandwidth XP reserves with the help of the group policy editor.


- Start Menu / Run... / gpedit.msc / ENTER
- Local Computer Policy / Administrative Templates / Network
- QoS Packet Scheduler / double-click Limit Reservable Bandwidth / set to Enabled
- Change Bandwidth limit % to 0

Having been at the Production Show 2004 all week demoing equipment to potential purchasers (as well as crowds of students on day-release from meeja skool!) I conclude there are two types of people who witness demos and to a degree their reactions probably mirror their overall views of life:

• The enthusiast is either impressed or easily impressed by cool technology - they really get into the demo and have loads of insightful questions - they want to understand how it works and fits into what they do.
  
• The cynic takes a pride in never being impressed - they can't in any way see how anyone could have a use for the software/hardware you're showing and a minor option missing is the most important thing in the world to them. I used to work for a guy who I was embarassed to go to trade shows with for exactly this reason and that lack of joi de vive was mirrored in every other area of his life.

Lindy IDE Raid enclosure - cheap & easy - just the job! Also - it looks like a single IDE drive to the motherboard controller. I like!

VirtualVTR from Gallery Software. We had Mark from The Gallery on our stand demoing this - it really is the business. For me to say such things about something that runs under OS-X is unusual! As a cheap (yet seemingly very powerful) picture-follow replacement for audio suites (as well as a play-in server for studios etc.) it looks hard to beat, and at £500 why wouldn't you? Contact the Root6 sales office!
Only one thing Mark - the "Unix powered" badge may have to go if the Open Group get their way! (see here).

Firestore FS3 is a camera-back disk recorder for DV cameras - we've been bigging them up at the Production Show and it really is a good bit of kit - I was shooting all week on a DSR-570 Sony DVCam and it worked every time - producing Avid OMF files as you shoot. Could revolutionise the post-production process or cause mass unemployment for edit assistants (depending on your point of view).

With the increasing use of AC3 in DivX files means you really should have an AC3 filter installed so that Media Player can decompress the audio on those movies - also, if you don't encode DivX then consider just using FFDshow as your playback filter.
FFDshow filter from AfterDawn.
AC3Filter

Jason and I did our first fibre install this week - it went very well but it is definately a different way of working:

• The cable (particularly the four-way stuff) has a mind of it's own - you can figure-8 it but with care.
  
• You can pretty much always see if a joint is good but you get a slightly different view looking down the microscope compared to viewing it on the monitor - the monitor seems to show up problems with the exterior of the joint whereas the microscope shows problems on the inside of the "pipe"
  
• Applying a bending strain so that the fibre makes a 360 hoop about fifty mil in diameter will break the joint if it is bad.

I'll post some video-grabs from down the microscope to illistrate these points.

My eldest boy Joe has been getting into animation - see his first ten second effort on my photo blog. We've done a couple of little things with Pure Motion EditStudio which seems like quite a nice little MPEG-based editor. See our Christmas microsite from last year. Click on movies to see the Lego film we did.
I'm currently trying to get them into using Avid ExpressDV because it's the industry standard.

If you read this blog via RSS or from my server you'll have not seen the pictures of Root6's ability to make fibre cables - all very exciting! Go to Atomic Lava and check out (in the right-hand column) the pics of Jason using the Tritec fusion splicer. We have our first paing job on Monday at Wall to Wall.

No-name gig ethernet card at Maplin for £17! Not the kind of thing to rely on for work - but a great way to start moving your home network to gigabit. They have stock in the Tottenham Court Road shop (for all you Soho boys and girls!)

This appeals to me! - go on, add a message and see if you giggle as much as me.

HP xw8000 upgrades from Crucial Europe - We sell lots of these workstations and I always forget which memory and how many slots.