Archive for February, 2006
Feb
15
Posted by Dogfish
I enjoy reading. My wife sometimes mocks me about how much reading I do on my handheld. I think that I have read probably 25 books on it in the last year….
She teases me and says it’s not REAL reading.
Anyhow, I tend to read light and airy stuff. Not womanly light and airy but more fantasy and spy/espionage stuff. It is a good escape for me.
Right now I am reading The Paris Option by Ludlum Good book, good suspense, good for bedtime reading 
Feb
14
Posted by Dogfish
Yeah yeah yeah, I know it’s mushy, but somedays I feel like the luckiest man alive. How did I end up with the bestest wife in the world. I think she misheard the announcement…
I am sure she heard, “line up here for a partner to help beat lupus!”
Actually the guy said “Line up here for a free dufus!”
Phew, am I glad she has horrible hearing!
That being said, I love my Valentine.
Feb
13
Posted by Dogfish
when your name is gonna come up.
I had lunch with a gentleman today that I know slightly. I have created a website for he and his wife who is a doctor. I saw him going into the local deli and stopped there as well. I was heading their for a sandwich and invited him to join me. What a delightful lunch. This man is very cool! I really enjoyed talking to him. He is an accomplished Jazz musician that has become Mr. Mom and also helps run his successful wife’s practice. So cool.
During our conversation, he re-iterated to me the fact that he and his wife are thrilled with their site. Phew! I thought. Then he told me that his brother has been working in the graphics industry for 20 years in the Kitchener / Waterloo area and when he told his brother that I was doing the website, his brother said,
Oh yeah, I have seen dogfish’s work. I like it.
Wow, I have never met this man. I guess more information gets out than you realize.
I have to tell you that I am thrilled by this. This is the way that we are going to grow our business. By word of mouth advertising and good testimonials. What a great day.
Feb
12
Posted by Dogfish
Oh yeah Baby!!!!
Jennifer Heil wins Gold in Women’s Moguls!
Yes! I am pumped. This chicky rocketed down the bumps. Wow. I can hardly wait to see the Men’s competition.
A good start I would say.
Feb
12
Posted by Dogfish
Got the new video card.
I had to re-install the system. It does not like it when you just shut it down and putting something different in. I understand that. I am now up to about 5 installs on this thing, but that is good I think that it only takes like 45 minutes once you are used to it and know where you are going and what you are doing….
I also put a signal booster onto the cable line that I had kickin’ around in the technology bin downstairs. Nice. Works like a charm and we have good clear signal on all channels again. So, I think we are good to go. I am going to do some more testing this week to see if there are any other issues. The only other thing that I may consider at some point is putting a dvd burner in it. I have one right now in the laptop, but it takes quite a bit of time to transfer videos over the intranet…. A half hour show is 1.5 gig. Twenty minutes in transfer time. Not really bad, but not really great. My cabling skills have a lot to be desired really. So, it would be nice if I could just burn it right off at that machine.
Feb
11
Posted by Dogfish
Well, I have successfully taped about 4 shows now on the mythtv setup. The recording is going great. The first 2 were kind of so so really. I did some research and realized I could increase the resolution on the capture so I did that. Much better. Then I noticed that the playback was not the greatest. Hmm.. I wondered if the video card I had in the machine was a little substandard.
So, I copied a test file of higher resolution. With the PVR-150 card, the captured video is in mpg-2 format already, so I just burnt it to dvd and tried it in the regular DVD player. Voila!!! Beautiful picture!
I am going to need a different video card. Other than that, it is sweet!
Feb
10
Posted by Dogfish
Man, I am so pumped! As a kid, I really loved watching the Olympics when they were on. It hasn’t changed… I must admit that I am a bit of a fair weather olympics person though. I don’t always know all the athletes but when the event comes round I sure do feel like cheering on!
So, GO CANADA!!!!
I think it is going to be great.
Feb
10
Posted by Dogfish
The machine is up and running well!
I had a few hiccups along the way. The program guide seemed to get itself off somehow, but I finally figured out you can shift the schedule in the setup by half hour increments so it is cool now. Then shows would missed the first two minutes. That was fixed by simply changing the BIOS clock. Other than that, it seems to be working golden really.
I am supposed to be able to use the remote that came with my capture card, but the documentation on getting it to work is just sickening. It is miles long 
I think I will just stick with the keyboard, it is put in an out of the way place to keep momma happy, so I think it is going to work just fine….
Now, I just need to figure out getting taped shows off of the system over to my laptop and then I can burn them out to dvd. Sweetness.
Feb
09
Posted by Dogfish
The MythTV box is up!
Video is a little choppy right now though. I think that is because I am using an ATI card and they don’t suggest that. I have another card I might try. If I do, that would be the 3rd install. I am getting quite good at it though
Anybody out there running linux and had any good luck with ATI cards that could lend me a hand? Let me know if you do. Other than that, I just have some tinkering to do I think. I need to get the timezone and datetime thing figured out as the program guide seems a little messed up. But we will get there.
More to come.
Feb
08
Posted by Dogfish
Well, I am to the point where I am going to spend some money on the mythtv box. I need a capture card. I have it on good authority that the PVR-150 (WinTV, or Hauppage) is the best for my scenario. (I have read a gazillion forum threads about this I think…) Then I need a good size hard drive. FS has one on sale for $120 for a 250 gig I think. That should suffice.
And of course, I need that new fan desperately so maybe I will be able to hear something instead of the jet engine of a computer that is sitting there.
So, here is my next conundrum. I am thinking that once I have it up and running, I will be using a regular monitor for my install. Then I will port it over to the projector. But the issue is how to get it there. I could use a vga cable but I would have to buy one. If I did that, I would not have to put the video into my amp at all. However, if I did put it in the amp, I could take the $40-50 for that video extension cable and get a decent Nvidia video card with composite out from Ebay at a decent price. It does not have to be the latest and greatest. Just a decent one.
So, all you techies, let me know your thoughts on that one. I would love to know.