Category Archives: DIY

MythTV vs. TiVo

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I’m hooked on TiVo. If you’ve never used one, I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, the company’s insistence on charging monthly for TV schedule information, means that I turned to other sources when I got an HDTV and wanted TiVo-like features.

Specifically I turned to MythTV (or MythTVHD if you prefer). Being a bit of a do-it-yourself geek, it made total sense. I have plenty of experience with Linux and open-source software. After buying the appropriate hardware, I put together the internals of a MythTV setup. It took some tweaking, but I got the entire system working with over-the-air HD recording last March. I had intended to build a custom case and wireless remote control setup over the summer, but then two things happened.

Zap2It labs cancelled free schedule service for hobbyists (including MythTV users). While I’m sure they had good reasons, but I decided to wait and see what was going to happen with schedule service for MythTV. Then a couple of weeks ago TiVo offered to sell me a brand new TiVoHD unit, and transfer the lifetime service from my old (standard-def) TiVo for a total cost of $498. I pretty much jumped on the offer.

So after 6 months with MythTV, I’m now using a brand spanking new TivoHD box. How do they compare?

    MythTV:

  • supports playback of DVDs
  • can rip DVDs to the hard drive
  • unencrypted HD signals only
  • can detect and skip commercials
  • works with whatever size hard drive you install
  • scheduling now costs only $2/month

    TiVoHD:

  • better user interface
  • two tuners built-in
  • supports encrypted HD via 2 cablecard slots
  • can fast-forward through commericals
  • can hack it to work with any hard drive
  • scheduling costs $5-$13/month
  • it just works

Truthfully, it’s that last bit that’s the clincher. It took me days to get the MythTV setup to where I wanted it, it took me no time at all to setup the TiVo. With lifetime schedule service from TiVo, the benefits of MythTV are minimal.

So I think I’m going to punk out, and dismantle my MythTV box. I suppose I could just turn it back into a gaming rig, but I don’t really need one of those anymore…

Frugal Photography

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I’ve was thinking aobut putting up a blog devoted to DIY/cheap photographic equipment. It would link to the large number of DIY projects already on the web, and I’d add my own personal thoughts and ideas. I’m not positive it would be much of a resource though. If anyone’s interested in reading such a blog, leave me a comment and I’ll keep considering it.

In the mean time here’s some links to free/DIY type photographic stuff that I’ve found so far:

Free Photo Software:
Adobe Lightroom Beta
Adobe has made a public beta of their soon-to-be released photo workflow program available for free. The Mac version is available now, the Windows version will be available soon.
Picasa
A free image editting program brought to you by the fine folks at Google. Currently available for Windows and Linux. Downloading Picasa from the following button, earns this site $1 and it costs you nada.
GIMP
An open-source editting program that mimics the functionality of Adobe Photoshop. GIMP is available for: Linux/Unix, Mac, and Windows, but can be a unwieldy since it uses other open-source tools for display (noteably XFree86).

DIY Projects:

Paper Camera
What could be more DIY than making your own camera out of paper. These guys have put together their own version of the czechoslovakian Dirkon paper camera of the 1970′s
Strobist SSO-CLK
Instructions for putting together a quality, portable flash rig on a budget.
Darkroom
Process your own film and save. DIY and cheaper to boot!
LED Ringlight
There are a lot of ringlight projects out there, this one is more complicated, but the results are pretty professional looking.
Macro Extension Tube
Make macro photos with the lens you already have and $10 in easy to find parts.
Softlight Panel
A light diffusion panel and stand made from PVC
Lightbox
An economical lightbox for product photos
Mini-Studio
Everything you need for a small DIY photo studio. I like the SSO-CLK from above better, but this might suit some people more.

The CREATE USB Interface

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Ok, this looks kick ass. It’s an interface board to allow direct connection of sensors or other electronic inputs via USB (they also have a bluetooth version) without the need for custom device drivers.

This is totally cool. I wish these had been around when I was a kid, I might have wrecked fewer controllers/computers/stuff. I’m going to want one of these, or maybe I’ll go ahead and build my own (yeah right, like I even have the time to use the thing). I should add that it’s a steal at $50, pre-built.

Update: Mine is now on order.

Setting up a small darkroom

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Justin Ouellette from Chromogenic.net has very cool directions for setting up a minimal darkroom (negatives only) in your bathroom. I did this for a while in my old apartment, and it was a great way to save on black and white developing, as well as being a good segue into a full darkroom. I would add a couple of things to his article though.

First, a changing bag means that an absolutely dark room isn’t as important. The room should be dark, but I’ve loaded negatives in a normal room at night and not had problems when using a changing bag. They’re a bit of a hassle, but if your bathroom has a window, this is a good alternative.

Next, I like liquid concentrate developer since it lasts longer between uses. The problem with most dry chemicals is that you have to use them pretty soon after mixing (a month or two). Liquid concentrate developers tend to be more stable and they can sit for 6-18 months between uses. Right now I use, Edwal FG7 Developer, but it can be hard to measure for small amounts of use.

I would also argue that there is one meaningful difference between steel and plastic reels. If you need to do two or more batches in a row, steel reels are much easier to load while wet. I used plastic for years, and until I was told this, I never understood why I’d sometimes have problems with the plastic reels. Sure enough, when my (Paterson) plastic reels were wet, they were really hard to load. I switched to steel (also my steel tanks leak less, but thats not so important), and I can reliably load them wet or dry.

Tools for more effective blogging

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Last week I posted four suggestions for improving your blog (or website), this time I thought I’d recommend a few tools that go along with those suggestions.

  1. Screen Size Tester – check what your page looks like on different sized screens. While this tool does not simulate different browsers or include the blog explosion banner, it will give you an idea who other people will see your site.

    Checking the statistics for my blogs it looks like : 800×600,  1024×768, 1280×1024 account for 80% of my page views, with 1024×768 in the lead by a long way (4x the next most popular screen resolution). So minimally, I’d check out my page on a simulated 1024×768 screen, although all three settings would be a good idea.

  2. Web page Analyzer – find out how long your page takes to load on different types of Internet connections:

    This tool lets you know how long (in minutes and seconds) your page could take to load on different types of Internet connections. It’s not definitive, but it produces pretty good optimal times. It’s a fair bet you page won’t load faster then these estimates.

  3. BrowserCam (free trial) – see what your page looks like on different computers and browsers

    BrowserCam rocks, no two ways about it. The free trial is enough to let most people know how their site looks, and lasts long enough to fix any problems with your site. If you have lots of blogs, or develop webpages for a living, then the monthly subscription is probably a worthwhile investment.

  4. I don’t have a tool to help you include a mute button on your website, but if you’re looking for some cool tunes to surf (or blog) by, check out Apple’s iTunes Music Store.

Apple I: It’s alive!

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I completed the Apple I replica (Replica I). I had a couple of false starts, and ended up redoing a few low solder joints, but all in all the assembly went pretty smoothly. All told, I probably spent 3 hours on the assembly, and didn’t really run into any real problems. Tom Owad’s book “Apple I Replica Creation” came in handy, in spite of the review on Slashdot.

A few of quick insights:

  1. Boot times on a device with no disks rock!
  2. I don’t remember much BASIC
  3. BASIC is kinda fun
  4. No line editor == not as much fun
  5. I should have added the serial interface board

That last one is a killer, I can’t store anything I write (or load existing software) without the interface.

Apple I replica board has arrived

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My Replica I board has arrived on thursday. I ordered the “barebones” kit with just the board and the rare integrated circuits (ICs) from Vince Briel — the creator of the replica I. Since then, I’ve been scavenging around the house and garage the parts I need to complete my Apple I. As of last night, I’ve got most of the small components sorted out and installed, and placed an order for the missing parts at Jameco. If anyone is interested I’ll put up a detailed shopping list for this project, although you can just order the complete kit from Vince. I’m throughly having fun with this little project, and it’s had some beneficial side effects.

First, I’ve had to rummage around and find all of my electronics gear; there’s quite a bit of it, and it’s been spread around the house. I’ve even discovered my old single board computer from college — Dr. Hawkin’s V40 board. Unfortunately, my V40 board no longer seems to work; I sent off an e-mail to Dr. Hawkins hoping for some of the old notes on the board to see if I can bring it back to life.

Fooling around with getting the V40 working meant cracking out the good, ol’ logic probe, and that led oddly enough finding my probescope. I hadn’t realized how cool the probescope really is. I remember basically going broke and eating ramen for a week to get it, but I had either not realized, or not known that it’s a 2MHz oscilloscope (I remembered it being less than 1MHz). While I’d still like a scope capable of working on more complicated systems (1GHz) this one will be great for noodling around the Replica I.

Anyway, part of rummaging through all this old computer and electronic stuff got me aggravated with how cluttered the house/garage/life is, so I called up my friend Austin, and gave him anything he would haul away. Essentially he got: 3 complete PC’s (486, Pentium, Pentium II), a PowerMac, a monitor, a DVD-rom, a (broken ?) Playstation, a bunch of expansion cards, a 12-port hub, plus some junk I made him haul off as payment. Oddly, Austin was excited since he currently gets a kick out of rescuing and rebuilding computers. He’s got the all the parts necessary to make a homebrew Tivo, and now there are only five or so spare computers around here; everyone is happy!