I hate losing pictures

I hate losing pictures, I’ve been taking digital pictures for almost as long as you have and I hate losing them. I can’t readily locate the pictures from my honeymoon ten years ago. It would be a terrible loss if I never find those pictures again.  To help ensure that I never lose another picture I employ a variety of backup systems.

Systems and services that I am going to discuss in this post:

Jungledisk from jungledisk.com

Amazon S3 from aws.amazon.com/s3/

Windows Home Server from microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver

Disclaimer:

I do not work for or own any of the companies that I am discussing today.  I use the products but that is the only relationship I have with these companies.

To backup my pictures I bought the jungledisk program, it cost a one time fee of $15.  This program is used to access Amazon S3 to use as a storage system.  Jungledisk maps a local drive letter to Amazon S3 on each computer that I have it loaded.  Amazon S3 stores my data.

I have Jungledisk configured to nightly backup my pictures folder on my main computer to Amazon S3.  I don’t backup all of my data, just the pictures folder.  Only changed or new files are moved up to Amazon S3 so the upload is usually small and fast.

I get billed by Amazon for my S3 useage monthly, most of my bills are between $.17 and $.27 for the month.  I played around and moved several gigabytes of data through S3 last month and my bill was an eye watering $1. something.  Not too bad for storing all of my pictures.

I also use Amazon S3 to help me move files and data between work and home.  If there is something I don’t want to forget I’ll upload (drag and drop into the jungledisk drive) the files to S3 and then download them at home.  Speeds are as fast as your network connection and the storage is resonably price.

In the past couple of months I’ve added a Windows Home Server (WHS) to my network.  I use the WHS to backup all of my PCs in my home and sometimes to share files between systems.  Microsoft offers a six month free trial of WHS and so far that’s what I’ve been using.

I took an old PC that I wasn’t going to use again, added some hard drives and loaded WHS on it.  Over the period of the last couple of months I’ve migrated the data off of the old smaller hard drives I’d initially set it up with onto two new terabyte sized drives.  The migration of drives is handled by WHS and was very easy to do.

Most of the time I leave my WHS server off, I tend to turn it on over the weekends to let it get a current backup of my workstations.  I’d leave it on all of the time but I don’t want to burn the electricity for the server when I’m not using it.

WHS supports add-ins to help with the administration of the server and to add capabilities.  One of the add-ins that I’ve installed is the Jungledisk add-in.  Because I am already a Jungledisk user this add-in was free.  I have Jungledisk scheduled to backup my WHS server to my Amazon S3 storage on a weekly basis.

So, to recap my backups:

1) Jungledisk backs up the pictures on my main PC

2) WHS backs up all of my PCs to it’s drives

3) Jungledisk backs up WHS

I’m getting multiple backups of my data, 1 on my WHS and 2 copies on Amazon S3.  Eventually I’ll clean this up so that I am only getting two backups, the local WHS and the remote Amazon S3, but for the mean time Amazon S3 storage is cheap so I don’t mind the duplication.

Westinghouse 42″ 1080p at Costco for $699

In store Costco has the Westinghouse 42″ 1080p LCD television model number VK-42F240S for $699.  I picked one up last night for my bedroom and am extremely pleased.

This television looked small in the store when compared with the 50 and 52″ sets but once I got it home and mounted on the wall it looked humongous.  The tv features 4 HDMI ports (the box says 2 but there really are 4), a VGA port,  a couple of Component inputs and a composite input.

The picture and color appear to be as good as my old 47″ Westinghouse.  The inclusion of tuners in this, as opposed to my 47 which is a monitor only, really makes this thing shine.  The system picked up all of the SD channels that my cable company offers as well as a bunch of Clear QAM unencrypted HD channels.

Channels that are related like ABC and ABC HD are located next to each other in the channel numbers.  ABC is channel 2 and the TV puts ABC HD as channel 2.1 which means that when you hit channel up from 2 you go to 2 HD then 3 then 4 then 4 HD etc etc.  Channels without an HD equivalent sit by themselves like 3 does in my example.

This TV looks huge but I was able to mount it to the wall with a Peerless mount that is rated for 40″ and small sets.  The mount is rated for 80 pounds and this TV weighs in at about 46 pounds so should have no issues with the mount.

I’m not planning to hook a computer to this set, at least not now but I bet it would make an incredible monitor.

I talked to one of the TV guys at Costco, he said they had recieved 38 sets that morning and expects them all to be gone by the end of the weekend.  Hurry if you want one.

High Speed Wireless N in the home

I was looking to setup a high speed network in my new home but I don’t want to run cables.  My office is in an upstairs room above the garage, this is where the cable modem is located.  My XP MCE computer is in the family room, ground floor and at the far end of the house.

While living in my apartment (we moved a week and a half ago) I tried using 802.11g wireless to pull files from one MCE computer to watch on another.  The transfer rate was so poor that the video would be choppy and the sound out of sync. To resolve this issue I started looking for a high speed connection solution.

I did my research through online reviews/articles as well as consumer reviews on sites like Amazon and Newegg.  I looked at Ethernet over Powerline devices, they didn’t provide the throughput I was looking for.  After several weeks of browsing I happened across the Netgear Wireless N HD/Gaming solution.

This solution provides two wireless nodes, an AP (access point) and a bridge.  The AP sits near and plugs into your Internet Router, the bridge goes whereever you want access.  In my case the AP sits in my office and the bridge goes downstairs in the family room next to the XP MCE computer.  Both the AP and the bridge have two ethernet ports, this allows me to either plug in two devices to the bridge or plug in a switch/hub off the bridge and plug in more than two devices to the switch/hub.

wnhdeb111 at Amazon.com

I’ve had this up and running for a full day now and am loving it.  The Netgear boxes (the kit has model number WNHDEB111) report that they are talking to each other at 300 mbs.  I copied a file from my XP MCE computer connected to the bridge to a laptop connected to the AP and got a throughput averaging 50 mbs.  I believe that the difference between the routers reporting communications at 300 mbs and my throughput at 50 mbs leaves plenty of room for multiple computers to be talking over the routers.

With a cost of ~$175 this is not the cheapest wireless solution available but I hope it to be fast and stable.

I’ll try some streaming video soon and report back with the results.

MCE is alive again!

We just moved, we moved from the Los Angeles area to an outlying Los Angeles area.  This move has helped my MCE box in a huge way.  We are no longer with the Los Angeles chapter of Time Warner but now with Time Warner Central or something like that.

At the old location a cable box was required to see even SD cable signals.  At our new home channels 99 and down are unencrypted and available to my HD/SD tuner card.  Wow, the MCE box is excellent when it can see and record from 65+ channels.

One issue I am finding is that at my new location I do not receive any broadcast signals OTA (over the air) so I have lost my OTA HD.  Giving up seven channels of OTA HD for 65+ SD channels seems like a fair trade.  I’m still working on getting back my OTA HD, I’ll try moving the antenna around the house a bit to see if I can get a signal.

I also need to look into a Clear QAM tuner as I expect many of the HD channels will be unencrypted.

I’m not sure why my new Time Warner is different from my previous Time Warner but it sure is making my life easier.  I prefer XP MCE over a cable box for tv watching.

more Westinghouse magic at Costco

If 47 is great then 52 must be greater.

Costco now has the 52″ Westinghouse 1080p LCD available online.

The television is $1499 plus $49.99 shipping.

Here are the details from Costco’s site

Limited to supplies on hand.

Introducing the largest LCD1080p HDTV from Westinghouse Digital-TX-52F480S. This magnificent 52” 1080p LCD TV will re-define your idea of home entertainment; developed to ensure an unforgettable HDTV experience this LCD TV will not disappoint. Offering 1080Pure™ – 1080p resolution out of all HD inputs (including component), an astounding four (4) HDMI™ inputs – accept a 1080p/24Hz signal and an integrated ATSC/NTSC/ClearQAM tuner. This display is not only an engineering marvel but designed with class and sophistication; featuring subtle curves and a thin 6.2” housing this display is encased in a black piano gloss bezel. Enjoy the latest Blu-ray™ or HD DVD™ movie, gaming on a PS3™, Xbox 360™ or Wii™, or watching your favorite HD TV show.

Features:

• Costco extends manufacture warranty to 2 years
• Returns accepted within 90 days from date of purchase
• Screen Size: 52″ Diagonal
• Aspect Ratio: 16:9
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Contrast Ratio: 5000:1
• Response Time: 6.5 ms
• Viewing Angles: 176° x 176°
• HDTV Compatibility: 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
• Tuner: NTSC/ATSC/ClearQAM
• Progressive Scan
• 3D Noise Reduction
• De-Interlacing
• 3D Adaptive Comb Filter
• Autosource™
• SpineDesign™
• DayBright™ – High contrast LCD for both day and night
• Table Top Stand: Included
• VESA® Compatibility (8 hole pattern): 100mm x 100mm, 200mm x 200mm
• Weight: 86.8 lbs (w/ base), 79.7 (w/ out base)
• Dimensions: 50.6″ x 34.8″ x 10.3″ (with base), 50.6″ x 32.3 ” x 6.2 ” (w/out base)

Audio:

• Speakers: 2×15 watt
• 12 watt Subwoofer
• User Adjustable 5 Band Equalizer

Inputs/ Outputs:

• HDMI x4
• Component x2
• S-Video x1
• RF In x1
• D-Sub (VGA) In x1
• PC Audio In (mini) x1
• Audio In (dual RCA) x4
• Audio Out (dual RCA) x1
• SPDIF Optical Out x1

1 TB internal SATA drive for $156.71 with free shipping

For all you PVR nuts out there (like me) Circuit City has the Western Digital Caviar GP 1TB Internal SATA Hard Drive for $164.96.  Use the coupon code ZXAKLWWA68 to take off 5% and drop the price to $156.71.

Coupon is good until tomorrow, Saturday 6/7/08.

Here are the details from Circuit City’s site:

Reduced power consumption: WD has reduced power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to competitors’ drives with the combination of WD’s IntelliSeek™, IntelliPark™, and IntelliPower™ technologies.

Helps enable eco-friendly PCs: WD Caviar GP drives yield average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over competitors’ drives making it possible for our energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation. This power savings equates to reducing CO2 emission by up to 13.8 kilograms per drive per year – the equivalent of taking a car off the road for 3 days each year. By using environmentally-conscious PCs with our WD Caviar GP drives on board, large organizations with many desktop computers can minimize their carbon footprint and save real money on electricity costs.

Cool and quiet: GreenPower technology yields lower operating temperatures for increased reliability and low acoustics for ultra-quiet PCs and external drives.

Perfect for external drives: External drive manufacturers can eliminate the need for a fan in a high-capacity product with a WD Caviar GP drive, the coolest and quietest in its class. External drives with WD Caviar GP drives on board can save up to $14.00 per year in electricity costs. See our power savings chart for details.

IntelliPower: A fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance. Additionally, GreenPower drives consume less current during startup allowing lower peak loads on systems as they are booted.

IntelliSeek: Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration.

IntelliPark: Delivers lower power consumption by automatically unloading the heads during idle to reduce aerodynamic drag.

Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR): Employs PMR technology to achieve even greater area density.

StableTrac™: The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations.

Capacity: 1TB

Westinghouse 47″ 1080P at Costco for $999

I was in a couple of my local Costco’s over the past week and have seen the Westinghouse 47″ 1080P TX-47430S for sale at $999. Each store seemed to have about ten units available.

From what I’ve read on AVSForums this TV is not the same screen as in my 47″ Westy monitor but is still quite good. This TV includes tons of inputs including 4 HDMI as well as an SD and HD TV tuners.

The TX is great for use with a computer / video game system as well as using it as a tv.

I’m tempted to pick up one of these for the bedroom.

Need (want) a media center extender?

Amazon has a special on the Linksys Media Center extenders.

These extenders allow you to control and view media from your MCE PC on another television.

There are two models, the DMA2100 and the DMA2200. The difference between the two models seems to be that the DMA2200 has an upscaling DVD player in it and the DMA2100 does not.

The special at Amazon is $100 off with the use of coupon code MSFTDEAL. After using this coupon price drops to $150 for the DMA2100 and $200 for the DMA2200.

Here’s the link to the DMA2100:

Here’s the link to the DMA2200:

I want one of these but am going to hold off until I get an HDTV in the bedroom.  This looks like it will work with a SDTV and downconvert the media but I’m not 100% positive.

Clear QAM is not looking good in my area

I used SiliconDust’s Channel List by location to determine which channels TimeWarner is broadcasting unencrypted in my area.  The channels I was looking for are not to be found.  No HGTV, SciFi or Discovery for me, looks like I’ll have to keep paying for TimeWarner’s DVR if I want to record those channels.

I really want a Clear QAM tuner for my HTPC

I’ve been running the cable DVR (Digital Video Recorder) for about a month now and I love it.  Being able to record Mythbusters, Dr Who and Torchwood makes it worth the $14 a month.  Damn, $14 a month works out to $168 a year, for that amount I should be able to add a tuner to my HTPC that can pick up these stations.

The question is are my favorite stations broadcast in Clear QAM?  Clear QAM is the format that television is broadcast over cable, it is different than the way television is broadcast over the air.  Clear QAM will not allow you to pick up encrypted channels like pay channels so I need to determine if my favorites are encrypted or not.

I’ve been reading about Clear QAM tuners for months and the absolute best/easiest solutions seams to be  Silicon Dust’s HDHomeRun dual tuner network device.  The HDHomeRun has two tuners, each can be ATSC (over the air HD) or Clear QAM.  The device costs $169 just about everywhere, funny that price seems familiar.

If I determine that most of the channels I want are available unencrypted over cable I think I will buy the HDHomeRun and return the cable box.  I’ll let you know what I decide.