Finally, DVR! Guest Post

After 5 years of pining over the idea of building a DVR, Rachel and I finallly decided to go for it as a (early) christmas present to each other. We are both pretty thrilled with it. There were some bumps along the road, but fortunately - the right software existed for me to make it happen to our specifications.




I got a micro ATX form factor case for the project. The guts are as follows:

• Sempron 140 processor
• Gigabyte AM3 motherboard with HDMI output
• Two 640 GB WD green hard drives
• Samsung DVD-RW
• Radeon 4200 onboard video card
• Hauppauge 2250 dual ATSC/QAM tuner card
• 4 gb of unganged 800 mhz ram

The hard drives use the onboard RAID controller to function as a RAID 1 configuration. I did this because I wanted a fairly robust storage solution for the house.

The RAM was supposed to be 1033 mhz, but it was unstable at that clock, so I had to bump it down. I didn't want to deal with returning it, and it seems plenty fast.

The processor actually has two cores, that my motherboard was able to unlock, so while it is a Sempron 140 - it registers at post as an Athlon X2 4200+.

The idea for this build was to use MythTV on ubuntu linux. I bought all my hardware with an eye for linux compatibility. That didn't work out. I'm sure that if I really hacked on it, I could have gotten it all to work with linux, but I decided that it wouldn't be up to rachel's standards in the end. I had a copy of Windows 7 beta, so I thought I'd give it a try for the media center.

It worked great! I had spent several hours trying to get linux working, but windows media center was up and running within 30 minutes.

There were still a few software quirks to work out, however.

The main thing I had to work out was the power settings. The system didn't wake from sleep properly, so I had to configure everything to work as hibernate. I got lucky, as my motherboard supports waking from hibernate for windows scheduled events (like show recordings). I had a hard time getting the thing to go back to hibernation after it woke up for a recording. I eventually found this software (http://slicksolutions.eu/mst.shtml) for configuring standby behavior with windows media center, and it works great.

I also snagged a plugin to make hulu desktop a clickable item from within windows media center. There are several out there, and none seem to work quite right - so I'm still working on that.

I had some trouble getting the sound to come across the HDMI because the settings in windows were strange. In the end, I didn't really need to do anything - it just worked. The problem was that it doesn't say that it's a 5.1 signal unless one is actually being sent. This was mainly a problem in the windows media center speaker configuration thing, as it couldn't tell I had 5 speakers for some reason.

Windows media center is a very slick DVR solution. It has netflix watch it now included in it, and you can record things with all the power that you might find in a Tivo. I actually like the interface better in some spots.

We have the capacity to record about 40 hours of HD stuff and have some room left over for music and photos.

We can record two shows at once, which I am amazed that we actually do (I'm looking at you bones).

Here are some (bad) pictures of the interface.

Serious updates needed.

I'm sure in my lack of writing lately, the top question on your mind is What does Rachel think about season 6 of SYTYCD?  Am I right?  Too bad.  That's what you get :-P

• Love the new stage.  The backdrop gives the show designers something to do instead of screwing up the view with complicated lighting, like they used to.   It also prevents the camera men from doing wacky side and circling moves from the old thrust stage.  Instead we get more nice, front-on views so you can actually see the dances.
• I don't miss Mia.  Bring on Stacey Tookey and Mandy Moore instead!
• I love Adam's judging comments.  With our fab new DVR I skip Nigel and Mary and go straight to his review. 
• I'm not impressed with Wade Robson this season. 
  

Favorite Routines

  (sorry, can't find just the dance online)


skip to 1:45 for the dance


skip to 2:05 for the dance

Favorite Solo

(sorry for the dumb pop-ups)

Favorite Couple

I wasn't a fan of Ashleigh at first, but she's really improving.  And Jakab is another superhuman dancer like Brandon of season 5.  Not as powerful or versatile as Brandon, but Jakob's lines are better.


skip to 1:40 for the dance


It's no "Bleeding Love," but another great one by Nappy Tabs. (Yes, I watch Bleeding Love about once a month still.  So. Good.)

Slacker

Hi there.  Been quiet lately, no?  Today I'm home sick.  I haven't missed a day of work yet, but I felt so darn crummy today, I didn't think I could make it through the afternoon patient turnover, work 12 hours, then be on call.  So I called my manager and asked them to bring in the evening person early and I went home.  I feel kind of bad about it.  I have a lot of guilt about missing work.  At least today was a good day to leave early.  I helped get the day started at 6 like usual, so they're not behind schedule (like so often happens when someone calls in sick and the day starts short-handed).  We have a moderate patient load with no portable one-on-one runs.  So staff can stay in the room with a manageable number of patients.  Still.  Do you remember going to the school nurse and as soon as your mom says she will come pick you up, you felt better?  That's how I was today.  Once my manager confirmed I could go early I thought "Oh, Rachel, you're not that sick.  Stick it out!"  But I'm trying to be nice to myself instead of running haggard.  I've got indigestion, nausea, some woman troubles, and I kept nearly fainting while working this morning.  Seriously, I grabbed the wall on my way back from the kitchen with coffee for a patient.  Also, I have an old dance injury in my back that flared up this week.  It's not as bad as it was during last year's flare-up, but it makes moving around and lifting fairly painful.  Thus I just got up from a nap and ate my lunch.  I'm going to lay low and still do call tonight.  I hope I can power through my next set of shifts - MTW all in a row! so I can have an enjoyable Thanksgiving break.

Finally fallish

My hands are coated in sugar and butter and cinnamon.  It feels and smells and tastes sooooo good. 

Welcome Home

Welcome Home, originally uploaded by Ben Mason.

This is what I came home tonight. Brrr! I wish I had tomorrow off of work! It was no fair having to go in today when everyone else in Denver got to stay home.

The fluffiness makes it impressive

Snowy Morning

What a grand day to have off from work!  I woke up at 6 am and promptly turned off my pager, no longer on duty.  Then I went back to sleep :-)  Later I made pancakes for breakfast, and shared them with my dear husband who was working from home.  You see, when we got up there was already 3 inches of snow, with much more forecast.  We took Jem to daycare so she would get plenty of exercise despite the cold.  Also, we could have an undisturbed day of coming and going from the house with her out of it.  I haven't taken her to daycare in a long time and gee whiz, I thought she was going to stroke out on excitement.   She starts running around the backseat, whimpering and clawing at the window, getting more and more exacerbated the closer you get.  She DEFINITELY knows the route there.

To give him time to work undisturbed, I slowly shopped around Target, one of my favorite suburban pastimes.  I needed some Halloween candy, stat!  I also called my sister who is shacked up in the mountains, hopefully having a relaxing time.   Then I got a peppermint hot chocolate at Starbucks and chatted with my mom, watching the snow fall in heavy clumps.

At home I met up with Ben and we walked down the block to the local Chinese restaurant.  I love eating lunch out with Ben, and I love hot egg drop soup and rice with soy sauce on cold days.  It was quite a trek to get there actually.  The snow was knee deep in places on the way back.  We passed a group of snowboarders on the sidewalk. They had built a ramp of snow at the top of a set of stairs down the hill.  The stairs have a long, shallow rail running down it.  They also hooked a bungee cord to the railing.  They would bungee up the snow ramp, then jump on the railing with their snow boards, ride it down the hill, falling off onto the snow banks when they lost balance.  Very clever. 

Ben got back to work and I finished Shakespeare in Love on Netflix.  Good movie.  For a snack, I indulged in my all time favorite - diet cola with ruffled cheddar baked lays.  Browsing for another instant play Netflix show, I found a real gem - 

Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre!  Holy crap this is a treasure.  Did anyone else watch this when they were kids?  It was on Showtime in the 80s, then picked up for syndication by the Disney Channel and PBS.  I selected Snow White to watch.  What. a. cast. First, we have Vincent Price as the mirror.  With his face is painted like wood and stuck in the wall, he provides droll narration.  Then Vanessa Redgrave plays the queen.  I kid you not, she has red crimped hair frizzed out and wanders around waving her arms, draped in teal and purple velor.  Fabulous.  When she dies of vanity at the end she actually sticks her tongue out to make goofy gaggy noises while rolling on the floor.  Fantastic.  Finally, the singing prince is none other than my beloved Rex Smith!  One year after his world debut in the Pirates of Penzance film, he's back!  Singing!  In thigh high leather boots!  Oh, be still my heart.  The episode needed a lot less stupid dwarfs and a lot more Rex.

So yeah, really good day so far.  I'm not feeling the cooking vibe, so at Target I bought ready made frozen lasagna, ready made garlic bread, and salad in a bag.  If you know me, you know how weird that is.  Ben said "This doesn't look right" as he was putting the groceries away.  I need to find something quick to take to movie club though.  Brian has picked a super-Halloweeny treat.  It's the Black Cat, by Edgar Allen Poe, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.  How great is that?  I hope I can watch it all and still get enough sleep for tomorrow when it's back to work for me.

Owls on my sweater!

I finally finally finished this sweater.  I stopped near the end because summer came, and I didn't want to not be able to wear it when I finished it.  Then I stopped to make a dress for Zaley.  The recent snow reminded me that I need to GET ON IT and finish this thing.  Ta Da!

See the owls along the neckline?  I need to find buttons to put on their eyes.  Then it will be more obvious that they are owls.  It's not a perfect fit.  The back sags a little, the collar could come up higher.  But it's my first sweater!  The homemade look is ok. 

Getting closer and closer

Ah, Stargate is the next movie of the night. To answer Serin's
question, I started work at noon. So I'm entering overtime for 12+
hours. . . now! I'm trying really super hard not to think of my warm,
soft bed with snuggly down comforter, snoozing husband, sleeping
puppy, and dozing kitty. All probably wondering when I'll join them.
I'm glad Jem was at daycare today. Ben tells me that she wore herself
out hard. Hopefully she will agree to my "sleep in super late" plan.