Posts Tagged ‘ROX’

This That and the Other

Friday, March 19th, 2010

I haven’t had a chance to post anything for a while as my life has became quite full lately.

This week is spring break at Ivy Tech and IU.  It’s been a nice break from the organized chaos that has become my life.  So I thought I would write about the goings on lately.

Backup, Backup, Backup!

I finally got a stable backup file server going.  My original one died and I’m in the process of parting it out.  If you’re looking for some cheap computer parts you can find ‘em right here.  I finally gave up on linux and went with Windows Server 2003.  It’s essentially XP with additional goodies for server functions.  I only have one step left, and that is setting up the RAID configuration.  That’s for a safety net should a hard drive fail.

ROX Update

While I haven’t had much time to concentrate on ROX, I have started recording episodes that still play on CATS.  I have many of the episodes on VHS, but capturing them straight to a digital format makes things much easier.  Given the advanced development of my daughter I might be able to start working on ROX again and finally get season one released in a few months.

Amelia

Taylor & Amelia

She is growing and developing at an alarming rate!  She is now eating solid foods every night.  She is also starting to move around on her own, she isn’t crawling yet but very close.  She has learned that she has a voice and likes to use it often.  I would say her favorite activity is getting mommy and daddy wet when she’s taking a bath.  She’s a hoot and a very happy baby.  We couldn’t ask for more.

The Semester From Hell

This semester I’m taking a class I’ve failed before (MATH-111) and a class that interests me (CINS-102).  My math class is great, as the instructor does his best to ensure everyone in class understands the concepts and can do the work.  85% of the final grade in this class is based upon test scores, something I’ve never had to deal with before.  Right now I’m earning a solid B, which makes me very happy.  I plan on thanking him at the end of the semester for being such a good instructor, all teachers should be reminded how much they’re appreciated when they do a good job!  My other class is a completely different story however.  While I’m learning some much needed skills in this class (XHTML & CSS) the instructor seems to use the class has her way to release frustrations she has.  There aren’t many people in this class, and many don’t seem to have the skills required or aren’t putting forth the effort required.  The class has opened my eyes to the world of web programming, but it’s almost impossible to swallow her totalitarian attitude.

Give Me The Fiber

If you live in Indiana, you might have heard about what Smithville Telephone is doing.  All of their customers are receiving fiber to the home.  It’s exciting to say the least.  Last year I rewired the phone lines in my house and installed a LAN in anticipation.  This week we were “pre-wired” for it.  This consisted of them installing a new network interface on the outside of my home, installing a battery backup system in my home, and installing a data jack.  My area, called the “Fullerton Remote” should be completed by the last quarter of this year.  With this upgrade broadband Internet download  speeds are rising from 1.5mbps to 20!  They are also adding television services which beat all it’s competitors, but that’s my opinion.  This upgrade is amazing to say the least.  Do  you know anyone who has access to 100mbps download speeds at home?  That will be their fastest rate, and I’ve seen it work.  It’s almost like comparing a 14.4 modem to a 56k, a world of difference.

Spring is in the Air

Spring is upon us here in Indiana.  The grass is becoming green again, and the temperatures are rising.  That means the honey do list starts back up again.  I listed what we want to get done around the house in an earlier post.  Now it’s time to get into gear and get those items checked off the list!

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Posted in B-Town, Computer Frustrations, Education, Family, Home Improvement?, Links, Pix, ROX, The Amelia Files, Weather & Seasons | No Comments »

Like a Phoenix

Friday, November 6th, 2009

I am slowly but surely rising from the ashes of a dead hard drive.

About a month ago, my brand new 1.5 terabyte Seagate hard drive crashed.  I tried a few tricks to try to recover the data, but none of them worked.  I didn’t want to spend the $700 to $2700 I was quoted for data recovery, as I am a person of simple means.

Luckily I had old data from my old computer stored on 4 separate hard drives.  I used my “old” hard drive dedicated to video work and installed it, and then started transferring data.  Unfortunately my “backup” drive decided to crap out as soon as I got most of the data off of it.  That drive is the only other Seagate I have.  Their reputation isn’t doing so well with me.  I think I’m going to stick with Western Digital from now on.

I now have almost every episode from season one of ROX on my computer and edited.  There are a couple I’m having problems with, but this time around things have been much smoother than before.  It’s a shame because I spent 3 years working on that stuff.  The video is crisper, the audio is clearer – just a better product all around.  I think this disaster was actually a blessing in disguise.

Once I get these “trouble” episode problems resolved, which are:  Family Values Special, A Festival of Fools and Mom, Dad, I’m Getting Married.  I can start on DVD menu authoring which is a tedious process.  The more time I spend on it, the better the end product will be though.  I want this season to be the standard, not the example.

Season One will be made up of two volumes of 4 discs each.  This is mainly due to quality concerns.  In the set will be all 25 episodes!  Also included will be special commentary on episode 31, A Toast to Poverty by the shows’ producers – J and Editor B.  Plus a few surprising extras.  It should be a hit for all!

I finally have a backup plan so this shouldn’t happen again.  With some help I have purchased a backup hard drive for ROX and I will have my server up and going soon.  With those two options, I hope I have enough redundancy for this not to happen again.

I hope to have season one finalized within a few months, so be on the lookout!

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Posted in Computer Frustrations, Links, ROX, The Vid Biz | 2 Comments »

Crash and Freeze?

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Over the past couple of weekends I’ve been working hard at getting ROX season one to the production phase.  I’ve authored all the DVD menus and have done most of the design of the case inserts.  I had all the episodes ready.  It was just a matter of rendering all of the discs and making sure I had all of the extras we wanted before it would be finished.

All of that work took an extreme turn for the worse the other day.  I had been having troubles rendering video.  I thought it was a Sony Vegas or Quick Timeissue, so I removed and reinstalled.  I then went on to think it was a codec issue, so I removed every media codec I had (quite a few), still didn’t fix it.  I had given up for the night out of pure frustration as to why my 2 month old computer wasn’t working properly.

The next day I woke to something I’ve never seen before.  A black screen with a message:  Cannot read disk on SATA 0 and Cannot read disc on SATA 3.  WTF!

I restarted the machine to hear a distinct “clicking” noise.  One of the hard drives was toast, so I removed the secondary one (the one with all the important data on it) and the computer would then boot into safe mode.  Apparently, my virus software which I get from Indiana University somehow became corrupt and became “Incompatible with my version of windows.”  So I wiped it and am still installing my programs.

My 1.5tb drive which has all of my personal, business and ROX data was clicking.  What do I do?  I could not initialize the disk.  My first thought was disk recovery, so I called the only computer service place I trust and they referred me to Drive Savers.  They gave me a code that cuts 10% off the price and gives you a no data – no cost guarantee.  I called them up and the estimate was quite shocking, $700 to $2700.  Anybody want a large Seagate drive on the cheap?

Is the data worth that?  It contains 3 years of blood, sweat and tears on this project.  I conferred with my partner in crime, Editor B.  He said he would help, which was a relief.  My homeowners insurance policy will cover anything over $1000.  After much thought and searching my other hard drives for data, I’ve decided to try something a little ‘home brewed’ to alleviate my situation.  Freezing the drive.

Not like this picture though.  The moisture from the ice will ruin it.  I scoured the interwebs looking for “freezer trick hard drive” and came across many posts about how this can help you retrieve the data you need.  Sometimes it works for just a few minutes and sometimes it works for a few hours.  There is no definitive amount of time, I think it’s limited to just how damaged the hard drive is.

I put my hard drive in the freezer last night about 6pm and I plan on taking out about the same time tonight.  I wrapped it with some paper towels and placed it in a vacuum bag.  This will help with any moisture issues that could result.  I plan on keeping the hard drive in the bag and placing it in a larger bag with ice.  When I connect the drive the computer, this will help keep it cooler longer.

I have about 500 gigs of data that I would like to get off of this drive.  But I have prioritized what I am retrieving.

Wish me luck.

UPDATE: This did not work in my circumstance.  However I’ve been told it does.

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Posted in Computer Frustrations, Deep Thoughts, Links, Pix, ROX, The Vid Biz | 1 Comment »

Season One

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

I started working on ROX because of a passion.  This show is one of the few things that let me get away from the craziness and feel free from the uncertainty that was my life.

When I “rediscovered” the show in my late teens, I began going to the MCPL and getting my hands on as many episodes as possible.  VHS tapes were extremely cheap at the time, and I thought I would eventually do something with that collection.  While I’m unsure of how many episodes I currently have, it has to total more than 50.  Little did I know that an infamous hurricane would run me into a crash course with the shows’ producers.

I had just built an amazing computer at the time, and I wanted to condense all of those VHS tapes taking up space in our apartment.  So I made a DVD set of the first 6 episodes for the shows’ creators.  This would start an ongoing collaboration to stabilize the archives of this show.

Four years later, I seemed to be at an impasse.  After buying a home, going to school and having a child on the way, I didn’t seem to have any free time to even relax – let alone work on a “hobby.”  In that time, we had re-worked my original creation into a product that many fans have purchased and enjoy to this day.  I had also done hundreds of hours of work to try to make some damaged episodes of the show up to par.

I have begun work on authoring the DVDs that will become the season one set.  Preliminary results show it will be an 8 disc set.  Due to packaging constraints, it will be split into two volumes; sold as one.  I’m not sure on the price  yet, but I expect it to be in the $30 range.  With 25 episodes, and a few extras – this was a much larger undertaking than the 7 episodes of season zero.

With season zero, I was wet behind the ears.  For season one, I’ve sharpened my skills.

I hope to have all of the preliminary work done within a few weeks.  I’m sure editor b will make some announcement when the time is right.

A special thanks goes out to “roxfan” who sent me a few episodes on DVD.  Without the kind generosity of people like him, this project would still be stalled.  You will be the first to receive a set.  I just need to find your address.  If you read this, leave me a comment and I will get back with you.

These sets are a completely non-profit project.  All charges are for cases, discs, ink, inserts and all other associated costs.  The biggest of the costs being ink.  We might setup a bartering system, to help eliminate costs.

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Posted in Links, Pix, ROX, The Vid Biz | No Comments »

Dying Update

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

I was filling an order for ROX season zero and upon testing the DVDs for playability, they would only play on my computers DVD player.  Not standalone units. I think it’s time for a new PC.

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Posted in Computer Frustrations, ROX, The Vid Biz | 1 Comment »

Must Find Happy Place

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

Nothing seems to be going right lately.  The things that normally bring joy to my life have disappeared or are disappearing.  It’s hard to wake up in the morning when you don’t have a lot to look forward to.  The only thing I have currently that brings some potential light at the end of the tunnel are my classes.

Education is sought after more than skills at this point.  At least in my experience.  I learned this the hard way and it’s really doing a number on me.  There was an opening at my job in Technology Services at the Kelley School of Business.  It’s almost exactly what I do, with a few other added responsibilities.  I’ve been here just one month shy of a year now and I thought I would be a good fit.  The only caveat, they wanted someone with at least an associates degree which I do not have.

They must have thought I was a good fit as well, because I almost immediately was asked for an interview.  It went extremely well.  I thought it was only a matter of time before the job would be offered to me.  Then my boss’s boss wanted to speak with me, it was regarding the position.  They offered it to someone who had “more rounded experience.”  They said she “can give a different perspective that nobody else in the department can.”  While I understand they have to do what’s best for the department and not myself, it didn’t hit me until today – the day she started.

There is really nothing I can do to make myself happy but continue my education and hope to find something someday.  The only real issue bugging me is that I know that day won’t come soon enough.

This on top of all of the other issues I’m facing.  I need a new computer & printer, I am on a deadline for remodeling the basement and old “office.”  I need to start planning a summer job or load up on classes for the summer semester and get a large student loan to cover the lack of income.

I feel like I haven’t moved forward at all, but just taken a few dozen steps back since I started on my own back in 1999.

My only solace at this point is my love affair with ROX and computers in general.  The computer doesn’t care about how much money I make or any of the other human conditions.

If only life were this simple.

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Posted in Career Hunt, Deep Thoughts, Life, The Ed Biz | 1 Comment »

Cutting Costs

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

This market has been bad on my personal and professional life.  My business has run out of money and I am being forced to cut all costs where possible.

I have been on the fence about this, but I think I am going to end hosting my website online.  At $60 a year, it isn’t that bad really for what I get.  I would rather pay for it out of my own personal money to keep it going, but I need to really start separating my business and personal expenses.

I have only really found 1 client due to my website.  While that client was a large one, with almost 50 transfers, but it hasn’t really been a big income maker in the long run.

Since I am going back to school and trying to focus on other projects more, I don’t think it’s completely necessary to have a website.  Most of my clients are referred by word of mouth.  It will just feel weird to not have a @lmlvideoservices.com email address anymore.  I try to be as “official” as possible, and I think that in itself gives me a touch of professionalism.

I think once I have a better website designed, and enough money in the bank I will re-start lmlvideoservices.com.  It just doesn’t seem feasible at this moment to keep it.

I want to make it clear that I am not “giving up,” I am just closing my website.  I will still be working on ROX, and transferring all kinds of media to current (and future) formats.  I will probably list updates on this blog from now on.

In an odd note, I got a job copying DVDs for a faculty member here at the Kelley School of Business.  He came to the TS department to have DVDs copied, but he needed more than our policy allows.  With permission from my boss, I was able to offer my services – as long as I offered an alternative, such as another department within IU.

He accepted my offer, and I should be finished tomorrow.

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Posted in Links, ROX, The Vid Biz | 2 Comments »

Good Drinkx, Good Conversation

Friday, September 5th, 2008

After 3 years of e-mailing, sending packages and working on what has become a major project in my life, Editor B and I finally met.

He and his family evacuated from hurricane Gustav.  When their respective schools decided to close until Monday, they decided to head back to Btown.

He sent a twitter update inviting all to Upland at 8pm, also sending me an email asking I attend.  I had a busy day, but I wouldn’t miss this for anything in the world.  I didn’t want to miss this chance.  The last time we tried to meet, tornado warnings and a worried wife kept us from meeting.  B was heading back to New Orleans the next morning, on the long road home to rebuild their home and New Orleans after Katrina.

When I first arrived on the scene, I was almost too afraid to enter.  Upland was severely crowded, something I had never seen before.  People were parking up and down the entire block.  I was lucky and got a parking spot right next to the door.

After waiting a while in the standing room only crowd, I introduced myself.  H-T columnist Mike Leonard and his wife were there as well, then the interesting Paul Smedberg arrived.  We finally got a table a few minutes later.  Paul reminds me of a comic, but I can’t remember his name at the moment.

It was nice to meet Mike, as I’ve emailed him a few times and I’m sure he thought I was some local crazy of some sort.

I was amazed at the subjects of conversation, ranging from books to the lack of economic prosperity in this town.  We went on to talk about how children change your life (not in a bad way B), to the founding ideas of the Green party (which I didn’t really understand until last night).

Back to the subject at hand, It was a pleasure to finally meet you B.  You’re everything and more that I had expected you to be.  Most conversations I have are intellectually lacking, last night was a much needed shot to the brain.

Hopefully I can make the trip down to New Orleans sometime soon. 

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Posted in B-Town, Deep Thoughts, Friends, Geeky, ROX | 1 Comment »

Final Diagnosis

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

While diagnosing my computer last night, the real problem revealed itself.  My motherboard is cracked, or broken in some way.

I was testing my 4 RAM chips individually, to ensure my RAM was the problem when something happened.  The computer just quit.  It wouldn’t turn on, nothing.

Since I’ve had many power supply failures, I thought it was worth a shot to test it.  I found a thread on how to test a power supply by running a jumper between the green and a black wire on a power supply.  If it is good, the power supply will turn on, if it is bad, it won’t.  My power supply came on.

Since I know my processor is good, and I have tested most of my RAM, it’s just a matter of deduction from there.

Finding parts for a computer built 3 years ago is surprisingly hard.  Newegg only has 2 motherboards available, but both seem very cheap.  Looking around the internet, I found many suppliers but most of them were out of stock.  So I went to the “last resort,” eBay.

We found a OEM model that includes 8x AGP.  The auction ended in 10 hours, but I decided to “buy it now.”  Hopefully this thing will be as good as the reviews I’ve seen for it.

I also purchased a new IEEE 1394/Firewire card and 3 new 80mm cooling fans.

Now it’s just a matter of delivery and assembly.  I wanted to dis-assemble everything to prepare, but Rachel wants me to relax tonight as we have a early start tomorrow.

We are now discussing purchasing, dare I say it, a Dell for our normal “personal” computer.  This way we can separate everything physically.  I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but finances have dictated otherwise.

This wouldn’t be possible without the help of Editor B.  I want you to know that I will always feel in your debt for the things you have done for me.

I hope to keep on track for Holiday season availability for ROX season one.

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Posted in Computer Frustrations, Links, ROX, Rachel | No Comments »

Harvest for All

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

Over the weekend my in-laws came up for a get together to celebrate my daughters’ upcoming 9th birthday.  They also had fun picking apples from our apple tree.

My mother-in-law took 2 five gallon buckets that were almost halfway full.  My niece Sabrina got a nice amount in a box.  After the festivities were over I wanted to go pick some, not for me but for my ROX family.

This is what I could reach.  It may not look like much, but believe me it’s a grab.  I do not fertilize or spray my tree, so these are completely natural treats the entire family can love.  There is still this many or more near the top of the tree, but they are not ready for harvest yet.  When they are I will be ready.

I couldn’t keep my mouth shut about what I was going to do, so I posted about this earlier.  The only problem is that the apples weren’t ready yet.  They are now.

This is what you will be receiving in the mail (in 2-4 days).  A sheet with greetings and instructions on what we think would be a good use of the apples, a mason jar containing apple crisp mix, nutmeg and apples,  there is also extra apples in each box.

We divided the apples in the big box pictured above into 4 equal parts.

B:  If you want to find out what variety of apple these are, please do!  I’d like to know for myself.

I don’t feel it’s appropriate to let this great natural resource of mine go to waste.  You have all been like a family to me in one way or another.  This is just one of many ways for me to say thanks.

P.S. MF and Kelly:  You’ll be receiving another “surprise” gift once I get a shipment in the mail.

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Posted in Family, Links, Pix, ROX, Rachel | 1 Comment »

Makin’ ROX Look Better

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

I’ve restarted this adventure I started over 3 years ago, by working full force on season 1 of ROX again.  I was working on 2 seasons and I believe I got way over my head.  There were just too many problems to handle at once.

I started over the weekend by transferring what I only had on VHS onto my computer.  I then worked several hours on the first episode of season 1, Special Mish-Mosh Episode.

One of the reasons I had abruptly quit working on the series was the amount of heat damage (i believe) associated with many of the episodes.  I tried to correct this issue using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Sony Vegas, but only came  up with juvenile results.  I started posting questions and viewing others’ questions on a forum that specializes in just these sorts of things, videohelp.com.  It has helped tremendously.

I have uploaded 1 minute segments of episode 8, so you can see the differences made.  This episode had a vast array of problems, from over saturation, to needing color correction in the worst of ways and needing some sharpening.  All of these fixes added together make for a “better end product” I believe.  I still have some work to do on the audio, as I want to normalize the volume and filter it to remove tape hiss, etc.

I’ll leave that up to you though, please let me know what you think.

Before:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lml_dvd/2755801226/in/photostream/

After:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lml_dvd/2754979589/in/photostream

If anyone has any recommendations, please make them in the comments section, as I would love to hear them!
 

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Posted in B-Town, Embed Media, Geeky, Links, ROX, The Vid Biz | 2 Comments »

The Cat is Out

Friday, August 8th, 2008

Last week I sent an email to the entire ROX blogging crew, asking if they liked apples.

I was very surprised as to the response I got.

B is very curious about what my plans are, and even told me about a particular type of apple he enjoys.

MF told me that she isn’t particularly an apple person, but I have another idea which she might enjoy just as much.

J and Kelly both told me that they love apples and can’t wait to see what they shall receive.

I can’t hold this little secret any longer, so the cat is out of the bag folks’.

This is my apple tree.  When we first moved into our home, it looked like an overgrown bush.  With much trimming, I’ve turned it into a “happy tree” as I like to call it.  We’ve only had one harvest due to an ice storm last February.  My mother-in-law came and took all of those apples, which I didn’t mind.

We’ve been checking the apples every week to see if they are ripe.  They aren’t yet, but once they are your packages will be in the mail.

This year is a different story, as I want my ROX family to enjoy the fruits of my trees’ labor as well.  All of you have been like a family to me, in one way or another.  This is the least I can do to thank yall.

I don’t know the type of apple that grows from this particular apple tree.  They are green, medium to small sized, and quite tart.  They are best used for baking purposes.  My thought, send everyone a “apple crisp in a box kit!”

I also plan on sending Kelly and MF ROX Season Zero sets as well.

It bothers me that my search for help with this heat damage problem has led me nowhere.  Sometimes you have to find your own solution to problems, which is what I’m working on.  With the help of Photoshop for Video, I have learned a few things.  I hope to soon have the skills to correct this damage, and continue on my way of saving this beloved show for generations to come.

This show enlightened me in those key teen years.  It wasn’t about the drinkx, or the drugz, it was about keeping your mind open to new and unusual things.  Something that is still lacking in society today.  If I hadn’t stumbled upon J&B on the ROX playing on BCAT oh so many years ago, I very well could be in prison or dead by now.  Many who know me well, know that my life has been nothing but a story of hardship and overcoming seemingly impossible hurdles.  It will all be in my book.

I know I’m repeating myself, but this is the least I can do to thank everyone who participated in the show, whether as an active participant, or as a passive person who was just there when the camera was rolling.

I came into this as merely a fan, but I’m treated as if I’m a family member.  Words cannot describe how amazing that feels.

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Posted in B-Town, Deep Thoughts, Family, Links, Pix, ROX | 4 Comments »