Re: [H] Western Digital TV HD

[Stan Zaske]

Damn most of what you're into I've never even heard of. Rock on Dude!


Robert Martin Jr. wrote:

Yes, it has an ethernet port and can receive content from a variety of servers 
although I use wizd and momitsu servers mostly. Wizd will run off my slug 
(nslu2) and off my HTPC. It also has a usb2 port for direct connection to USB 
hard drive. I also watch some streaming video through tversity on the 
linkplayer but it can be choppy sometimes. I've been playing with the LiveCD 
version of XBMC on a couple lower end itx boxes and it looks promising and can 
handle a huge variety of video and audio formats. I'm thinking about building a 
midrange system running XBMC installed from LiveCD and see whether I like it 
better than the linkplayer.

The capture cards I have are WinTV-HVR-1250 (this one supports HD), a standard 
PVR150 card (PCI), and a WinTV-USB2. I don't capture much HD content, I mostly 
grab what I want online. I do record a bunch of TV shows for the family though. 
I can play most video formats without problems using the linkplayer2. I do keep 
an eye on the new standalone networked players but there hasn't been anything 
too impressive yet.

I picked up 6 of the ADS MXL-581 (discontinued network media players) and 
damned if they don't work great with the wizd server. They can't handle the 
variety of formats that the linkplayer2 does, and can't handle HD, but they can 
play most of my xvid and divx movies. I have one of these in each room, and 
only payed $23 each at geeks.com about 8 months ago.

lopaka


Interesting, does that Avel Linkplayer2 have an actual Ethernet port? If 
so do you think it superior to making a network share out of a regular 
DVD burner? What video card do you use for HD content?


Robert Martin Jr. wrote:
  

I hadn't seen that one before. My HTPC is really just used for video


capture so I have a fairly minimal system. I also run a few websites off the
same box along with MisterHouse for home automation. I use an Avel Linkplayer2
(network DVD player) for playback and it can handle HD content no problem.
I've had it for years and it still does better than a lot of the new
players.
  

lopaka

--- On Tue, 2/3/09, Stan Zaske  wrote:
From: Stan Zaske 
Subject: [H] Western Digital TV HD
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 6:54 PM

Have any of you seen this new product from WD? You can turn any USB


storage
  

devise into a media player in your living room without the complication


and
  

expense of building an HTPC. Much more versatile that the nVidia ION in


the
  

number of file formats it supports. Cheap too!

http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=902

  




  

Re: [H] Western Digital TV HD

[Robert Martin Jr.]

Yes, it has an ethernet port and can receive content from a variety of servers 
although I use wizd and momitsu servers mostly. Wizd will run off my slug 
(nslu2) and off my HTPC. It also has a usb2 port for direct connection to USB 
hard drive. I also watch some streaming video through tversity on the 
linkplayer but it can be choppy sometimes. I've been playing with the LiveCD 
version of XBMC on a couple lower end itx boxes and it looks promising and can 
handle a huge variety of video and audio formats. I'm thinking about building a 
midrange system running XBMC installed from LiveCD and see whether I like it 
better than the linkplayer.

The capture cards I have are WinTV-HVR-1250 (this one supports HD), a standard 
PVR150 card (PCI), and a WinTV-USB2. I don't capture much HD content, I mostly 
grab what I want online. I do record a bunch of TV shows for the family though. 
I can play most video formats without problems using the linkplayer2. I do keep 
an eye on the new standalone networked players but there hasn't been anything 
too impressive yet.

I picked up 6 of the ADS MXL-581 (discontinued network media players) and 
damned if they don't work great with the wizd server. They can't handle the 
variety of formats that the linkplayer2 does, and can't handle HD, but they can 
play most of my xvid and divx movies. I have one of these in each room, and 
only payed $23 each at geeks.com about 8 months ago.

lopaka


Interesting, does that Avel Linkplayer2 have an actual Ethernet port? If 
so do you think it superior to making a network share out of a regular 
DVD burner? What video card do you use for HD content?

Robert Martin Jr. wrote:
> I hadn't seen that one before. My HTPC is really just used for video
capture so I have a fairly minimal system. I also run a few websites off the
same box along with MisterHouse for home automation. I use an Avel Linkplayer2
(network DVD player) for playback and it can handle HD content no problem.
I've had it for years and it still does better than a lot of the new
players.
>
> lopaka
>
> --- On Tue, 2/3/09, Stan Zaske  wrote:
> From: Stan Zaske 
> Subject: [H] Western Digital TV HD
> To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
> Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 6:54 PM
>
> Have any of you seen this new product from WD? You can turn any USB
storage
> devise into a media player in your living room without the complication
and
> expense of building an HTPC. Much more versatile that the nVidia ION in
the
> number of file formats it supports. Cheap too!
>
> http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=902
>
>   

Re: [H] Western Digital TV HD

[Stan Zaske]

Interesting, does that Avel Linkplayer2 have an actual Ethernet port? If 
so do you think it superior to making a network share out of a regular 
DVD burner? What video card do you use for HD content?


Robert Martin Jr. wrote:

I hadn't seen that one before. My HTPC is really just used for video capture so 
I have a fairly minimal system. I also run a few websites off the same box 
along with MisterHouse for home automation. I use an Avel Linkplayer2 (network 
DVD player) for playback and it can handle HD content no problem. I've had it 
for years and it still does better than a lot of the new players.

lopaka

--- On Tue, 2/3/09, Stan Zaske  wrote:
From: Stan Zaske 
Subject: [H] Western Digital TV HD
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 6:54 PM

Have any of you seen this new product from WD? You can turn any USB storage
devise into a media player in your living room without the complication and
expense of building an HTPC. Much more versatile that the nVidia ION in the
number of file formats it supports. Cheap too!

http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=902

  

Re: [H] Western Digital TV HD

[Robert Martin Jr.]

I hadn't seen that one before. My HTPC is really just used for video capture so 
I have a fairly minimal system. I also run a few websites off the same box 
along with MisterHouse for home automation. I use an Avel Linkplayer2 (network 
DVD player) for playback and it can handle HD content no problem. I've had it 
for years and it still does better than a lot of the new players.

lopaka

--- On Tue, 2/3/09, Stan Zaske  wrote:
From: Stan Zaske 
Subject: [H] Western Digital TV HD
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 6:54 PM

Have any of you seen this new product from WD? You can turn any USB storage
devise into a media player in your living room without the complication and
expense of building an HTPC. Much more versatile that the nVidia ION in the
number of file formats it supports. Cheap too!

http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=902

[H] Western Digital TV HD

[Stan Zaske]

Have any of you seen this new product from WD? You can turn any USB 
storage devise into a media player in your living room without the 
complication and expense of building an HTPC. Much more versatile that 
the nVidia ION in the number of file formats it supports. Cheap too!


http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=902

Re: [H] DVD copy

[Bobby Heid]

I second DVDFab 5.

Bobby

-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of prs
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 6:57 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] DVD copy

Stan Zaske wrote:
> For making backups of your DVD's its hard to beat Slysoft's CloneDVD2 
> which does a much better job than DVD Shrink (which is no longer 
> supported). Shrinking your DVD's to fit on standard 4.7 gig disks 
> doesn't seem to hurt the video quality IMHO.
>
>
> Sam Franc wrote:
>> There seem to be a slew of programs for copying DVD.
>> Is there a general opinion on the best one.
>> Sam
>>
>
>
Also, DVDFab Platinum...Does a lot of things with DVD... also to 
mobile..generic,ipod,psp,zune,nds,xbox360,ps3,cell phone,pvp and pda.

hth pauls

Re: [H] DVD copy

[prs]

Stan Zaske wrote:
For making backups of your DVD's its hard to beat Slysoft's CloneDVD2 
which does a much better job than DVD Shrink (which is no longer 
supported). Shrinking your DVD's to fit on standard 4.7 gig disks 
doesn't seem to hurt the video quality IMHO.



Sam Franc wrote:

There seem to be a slew of programs for copying DVD.
Is there a general opinion on the best one.
Sam




Also, DVDFab Platinum...Does a lot of things with DVD... also to 
mobile..generic,ipod,psp,zune,nds,xbox360,ps3,cell phone,pvp and pda.


hth pauls

Re: [H] Copying VHS tapes to DVD

[Robert Martin Jr.]

Any hardware based capture card (hauppaggue) and many of the entry level 
PCI/PCIx or USB2 capture devices can receive video/audio from a VHS. One 
problem that pops up sometimes is if the video has any little glitches in it, 
the software interface can mis interpret this as macrovision protection and 
will halt the capture. 

You will usually get a little degrading of signal and sometimes colors may be 
slightly off.
My preference is to use a DV based capture solution if possible and capture the 
full raw stream, then de-interlace it with TMPEnc and run any filters if 
necessary. Then chop it down and encode it to DVD format. The extra steps can 
often give your finished video slightly better quality than the original (since 
you can filter out and blend artifacts, etc)

lopaka


--- On Tue, 2/3/09, Thane Sherrington  wrote:
From: Thane Sherrington 
Subject: [H] Copying VHS tapes to DVD
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 11:24 AM

Does anyone have any suggestions on hardware/software for copying VHS tapes over
to DVD?  I've got some family film that for some ungodly reason I wish to
keep for posterity. :)

T

Re: [H] DVD copy

[Stan Zaske]

For making backups of your DVD's its hard to beat Slysoft's CloneDVD2 
which does a much better job than DVD Shrink (which is no longer 
supported). Shrinking your DVD's to fit on standard 4.7 gig disks 
doesn't seem to hurt the video quality IMHO.



Sam Franc wrote:

There seem to be a slew of programs for copying DVD.
Is there a general opinion on the best one.
Sam

[H] DVD copy

[Sam Franc]

There seem to be a slew of programs for copying DVD.
Is there a general opinion on the best one.
Sam

Re: [H] ?small problem

[Bill Cohane]

At 13:00 02/03/09, DHSinclair wrote:
Bill, I have read thru your share several times. Many years ago FORC5 
schooled me in the use of removing old ghost devices in the Safe Mode 
and the use of the "View Hidden Devices" switch in the CP/Device 
Manager.  I now plan to view and decode all the items of my current 
hidden devices from the fully booted perspective.
Thank you for the idea about the "system" file. I was able to find it 
after allowing hidden system file view temporarily. Normally I leave 
this stuff hidden because I can be a klutz!  :)

o-Yes, my "system" file is now 10,240 KB and dated yesterday.
o-I do not overclock any of my systems any more.
o-I do not see a "Reset ESCD" switch in my current 0502 bios (Asus 
P5Q3). I'm off to study the UM again.
o-I have re-flashed my bios w/o any change. There is a newer bios 
available (0603) but the release notes do not suggest any improvement 
to my kit stack. Still thinking here anyway :)


There is a 39 page discussion (pages are short, with only a few posts 
per forum page) entitled "Windows XP freezes at mup.sys, how do I fix 
it?" at . My 
suggestion is mentioned, as well as the idea that mup.sys is not the 
culprit but only the last good on screen (or log) entry before the 
problem happens. Several people mentioned that they have the problem 
when trying to boot in safe mode but not in regular mode. Some solved 
their problem by making hardware changes (swapping a memory stick, 
updating their motherboard BIOS, changing device driver version, new 
keyboard, disabling processor cache, for example) and some downloaded 
and installed a fix (a file download) from Microsoft or Intel.


In my last email, I talked about "%WINDIR%\System32\Config\System". 
"System" holds the System Hive which is the part of the Registry 
(HKLM\System) that's referenced when windows is starting up. I'm not 
sure about Windows XP, but Windows 2000 can only use 16MB of memory 
when first loading, and this limited memory must be shared by the 
kernel, the HAL, the boot drivers, and the system loader. If the System 
Hive gets too big, or badly fragmented, then it cannot load and windows 
stalls. That's why I asked you how large your "system" file was. My 
problem happened when my "system" file was about 9.8 MB in size. That 
was too much. (The limit is supposed to be 10.3 MB for Windows 2000 
Server.)


You can shrink the System file manually (ADD-REMOVE HARDWARE or 
equivalent) or use the Veritas VxScrub utility which you can download 
using the link . 
(You have to type in your name, phone number, and email address. I 
tested the link last night using fake personal information and the 
download works fine.) I used the Veritas utility (Vxscrub –forcepurge) 
to shrink my system hive from 9.8MB to about 4MB on one system. (Every 
time I changed one or both of the SCSI controllers in that system, I 
acquired 26 more SCSI devices in ADD-REMOVE HARDWARE, two entries per 
device, and I had changed SCSI cards several times over that year's 
period. Every time I added a USB device, multiple entries were added in 
ADD-REMOVE HARDWARE.) Using Vscrub looks complicated (you run it in 
command mode using switches) but the directions as listed on the 
webpage I gave are straightforward. It helps if you print them out.


If something happens and you cannot boot up your system (to shrink the 
system hive) you could try the FixBoot command in the recovery console 
(boot from the WINDOWS CD and run \I386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons). This 
should fix the error temporarily. When I did this, the problem 
reoccurred every few days. Apparently the "system" file changes size 
during during daily use and "system" kept going over that 10 MB size.


Another helpful utility is NTREGOPT (Registry Optimizer) which is a 
separate utility that is included with ERUNT (Emergency Recovery 
Utility NT which makes a copy of your registry...or lets you replace it 
with a previously saved copy). Both work for Windows 
NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista. NTREGOPT can shrink a registry if it's 
fragmented or contains too much white space.  Get them from 
. All these 
utilities (VXSCRUB, ERUNT, NTREGOPT) require a reboot after running.


Regards,
Bill

primary email: wcoh...@nyc.rr.com
list email: wcoh...@gmail.com (because I can't get list email at my 
Road Runner address)


  

Re: [H] Copying VHS tapes to DVD

[Winterlight]

Any capture TV Tuner device will bring it in and turn it into a DVD 
file ready to create a DVD with. Hauappage, ATI  TV cards and capture 
devices will all allow you to record from the composite video to an 
in jack in DVD quality. You will be able to select what quality you 
want, mpg, mpeg-2 standard DVD, DVD long playing, mpeg-4. Of course 
it will never be better then what you started with... just a 
different format. You will end up with files you can burn to a DVD 
after using the appropriate burner. Nero, or Easy DVD creator will 
take it from there. That is going to be the way simplest way to do 
it, short of purchasing a dedicated hardware device to turn VHS into DVDs.


If you want to edit and re-encode, and put effects in then use 
something mainstream for amateurs like Ulead Video Studio or Pinnacle 
Studio for an all in one solution. You can even capture directly to 
these apps.  I personally use the TMPGenc separate applications. 
Adobe has Premier which is said to be very good for professionals but 
like all Adobe apps it has a steep learning curve and you damn near 
need to take a course to learn how to use it.


At 11:24 AM 2/3/2009, you wrote:
Does anyone have any suggestions on hardware/software for copying 
VHS tapes over to DVD?  I've got some family film that for some 
ungodly reason I wish to keep for posterity. :)

T

[H] Copying VHS tapes to DVD

[Thane Sherrington]

Does anyone have any suggestions on hardware/software for copying VHS 
tapes over to DVD?  I've got some family film that for some ungodly 
reason I wish to keep for posterity. :)


T

Re: [H] ?small problem

[DHSinclair]

Mark,
I do not know how to do a "stepped boot."  The last thing I see in the (AMI 
bios) Post is "checking nvram", then the screen goes black; shortly 
followed by the XP boot screen.  It is actually pretty tough just to even 
get to the F8 (Safe Mode) selection screen.


Bill Cohane,
I have read thru your share several times. Many years ago FORC5 schooled me 
in the use of removing old ghost devices in the Safe Mode and the use of 
the "View Hidden Devices" switch in the CP/Device Manager.  I now plan to 
view and decode all the items of my current hidden devices from the fully 
booted perspective.
Thank you for the idea about the "system" file. I was able to find it after 
allowing hidden system file view temporarily. Normally I leave this stuff 
hidden because I can be a klutz!  :)

o-Yes, my "system" file is now 10,240 KB and dated yesterday.
o-I do not overclock any of my systems any more.
o-I do not see a "Reset ESCD" switch in my current 0502 bios (Asus P5Q3). 
I'm off to study the UM again.
o-I have re-flashed my bios w/o any change. There is a newer bios available 
(0603) but the release notes do not suggest any improvement to my kit 
stack. Still thinking here anyway :)

Best,
Duncan



At 22:09 02/02/2009 -0600, you wrote:

Can you do a stepped boot not in safe mode and get hung up at the same
place?
Mup.sys is blamed a lot just because it is the last thing loaded, it is not
really causing the problem in most cases.

-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of DHSinclair
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 6:33 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] ?small problem

John,
Thanks.  I'll drill into your send.
I choose to wait to update the bios; I do not meet the minimum ATM.
mup.sys remains the stop for a boot to Safe Mode.
I'll find it in time.  Time I do still have.
Yes, have a new bios also. Already discussed.. :)

Really odd glitch; from my perspective. Have patience.
Can wait. winXP-SP3 is still AOK here ...
(as long as I don't drill into either mup.sys or "network'.)... odd
I remain in this "Stuff Happens! Mode" right now; still digging.
Duncan

At 15:36 02/02/2009 -0800, you wrote:
>Here are some more to try.  :)
>
>
>Here are some troubleshooting suggestions:
>
>. ESCD corruption, Try resetting ESCD and/or changing ACPI setting in
>the BIOS. If there is no specific way to reset the
>ESCD data via the BIOS you can force this by reflashing. For added
>value check to see if there is a BIOS update available first.
>
>. If your system is overclocked, Try reverting to the original
>standard spec.'s
>
>. If you have USB devices connected, including any hubs, try removing
>them all before you boot
>
>. If you have devices connected to the serial or parallel ports, Try
>disconnecting them, again before you boot
>
>. If you added any new hardware recently, including PCI,PCI-E, ISA
>cards, Or memory DIMMs Try removing them one at a time, reboot
>and see if this allows the system to boot correctly
>
>. If you have access to a DMM (Multimeter), Check all the power supply
>voltages and try to watch each as you try to boot. If they are more
>than 7% below normal and\or your PSU is over 5 years old, less than
>350W and you have a 3D gaming graphics card with 128MB
>or more of graphics memory. Consider replacing the power supply with
>an upgrade of 500W or better.
>For more information on troubleshooting PC Power Supplies see my
>article on ATX PSU Troubleshooting
>
>. If you have PCI, PCI-E or AGP Graphics card and also have a video
>connector on your motherboard try taking out the graphics card and
>run off the motherboard video. Be sure to adjust your BIOS accordingly
>
>. Try moving around your System RAM DIMMs and/or try removing one
>
>. Try running an antivirus scan from CD or Diskette if you have that
>capability. If needed boot the recovery CD to a prompt first
>
>. Try booting with as minimal a system you can. Remember to disconnect
>optical and floppy drives. Also, try using a non-USB kybd and a
>regular ball mouse that plugs into the PS\2 port in place of an
>optical USB type
>
>. If all this fails to identify or fix your problem, Try Running
>Chkdsk from the Windows XP\2000 Recovery Console.
>If chkdsk fails to resolve the problem, at this point you may need to
>reinstall windows but first ...
>
>. Try checking out my Windows XP Boot Issues article to find out how
>to fix mup.sys hangs by manually restoring your registry. The process
>I detail is reversible if you back up the original hives first as
>instructed so it is worth a try ;) The fundementals of this procedure
>should also work on Windows 2000.I can say from experience that this
>absolutely fixes the windows XP mup.sys boot hang when the cause is a
>corrupted registry!
>
>. The motherboard my have failed or was damaged in a particular way
>such as from an excessive power draw by USB devices or AGP graphics
>card.
>