Cutting the Cord and Cutting the Bills

Saving money with LED outdoor lighting

2012-04-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

Are you interested in ways you can save energy and money? With electricity prices rising and the switch away from inefficient incandescent light bulbs, it makes sense to consider alternatives. However, switching to Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) or LED bulbs isn't so simple or necessarily cheap. These more efficient alternatives differ in a number of ways:

CFL and LED bulbs cost more than incandescent bulbs (often a lot more) for the equivalent light output
CFL and LED bulbs don't produce the same color or full spectrum of light as incandescent bulbs.
CFL bulbs contain mercury, not a very environmentally friendly choice
LED bulbs are usually more efficient than CFLs, but are also more expensive
CFL and LED bulbs often do not work with dimmer circuits (or even day/night sensors - see below)
CFLs and LED bulbs last longer (often much longer), but their expected life can vary quite a bit.
LED bulbs currently don't put out as much light as incandescent bulbs can (e.g. beyond 75 Watt equivalent), so might not be a good choice when you need a lot of light.
LED lighting is very directional with bulbs containing many individual LEDs. This means you may have to choose a particular packaging that is appropriate for your application.

As my porch light had just burnt out and I was out of replacements, I thought I'd go green and switch to LED outdoor lighting. Given the higher cost of CFL and LED lights, it made sense to me to start with my lights that are on the most. My outdoor lights are on 8-12 hours per day (an obvious first choice even if they are fairly low wattage).

My goal was to fully recover the cost of the new lights in 1 year or less (I came close). Given that the bulbs should last many years, I'll be saving a significant amount of money in the long run. Plus, I'm immediately saving electricity. It is nice when you can be green while saving green.

This turned into two different mini-projects. I first replaced my porch light and then later converted all of my outdoor lighting. I also learned a bit in the process. I'll share how I did it and I have lots of pictures for you to enjoy.

Project #1: Outdoor (120V) porch light

Lesson one: LED bulbs (and also CFLs) don't like dimmers. That is one of the first things that I read about when looking for a light for my porch. I did have a day / night sensor on my porch light, but I assumed it would be okay (I was wrong!).

For my porch light, I looked for a bulb that would be a direct replacement for the 15 Watt incandescent bulbs I had been using (and replacing frequently). I wanted a bulb that had a "warm white" look to the light (not the usual bluish light typical of LEDs). I found this bulb from Lights of America which was perfect for the job and only uses 2 1/2 Watts

Well, after about a week the light bulb burnt out - not a good sign. Good thing I had a spare! After a second bulb burnt out, I wasn't feeling so smart. I had a feeling my day / night sensor might be at fault.

I read a bit about day / night sensors and learned that there are different types. I had one that is wired in-line with the light. With only two wires, it doesn't ever completely shut off the power for the light. In fact, I noticed that the LED bulb would still glow slightly during the day time (my first clue). Even when fully on, the bulb would buzz audibly (my second clue). I suppose incandescent bulbs can take the abuse caused by the sensor, but an LED bulb apparently can't.

Note that they do sell dimmer compatible LED bulbs, but they are more expensive (and might not even help in this case). The problem was the sensor, not the bulb. Here is a picture of my old sensor:

What I needed was a day / night sensor that fully switched off the light (e.g. with a mechanical relay). I found these sensors by searching for "fluorescent compatible dusk/dawn sensor" (they weren't otherwise easy to find). This sensor should work for any type of bulb (both CFL and LED alike). Since it was cheap (and easy) enough, I simply replaced by old sensor.

Of course, I could have also simply disabled the old sensor. LED bulbs use so little electricity, this would only be a minor waste and cost. With the new sensor I'll save money mostly by making the bulbs (hopefully) last longer.

Besides, after destroying two bulbs, it was now a matter of pride that I make it work!

The new sensor was a direct physical replacement for my old one, I just needed to enlarge the sensor hole a bit and rewire the circuit per the included instructions. Note the three wires below:

I even moved the sensor to a "smarter" position on top of the fixture so that the light doesn't cause it to switch off / on accidentally:

Here is my new LED porch light on with an (incandescent) outdoor column light in the foreground for comparison. Note that the color of the porch light is a bit whiter, but still acceptable (in my opinion).

Project #2: Low voltage (12VAC) landscape lighting

With the porch light done, I thought I'd tackle the (hopefully easier) outdoor lighting for my housing complex.

We have a 12V AC (low voltage) system with 18 lights in total. 10 of the lights are 25 Watt column lights and the remaining 8 are 16 Watt stake lights. This is a total of 378 Watts!

Even with our timer / light sensor, they are on about 8 hours a day and consume about 3 Kilowatt hours per day (very wasteful in hindsight!).

In order to replace these lights, I found a low voltage LED bulb that:

Had a wedge base (compatible with our stake lights)
Worked on 12V AC (some bulbs are DC only)
Radiated light in all directions (just like the old bulbs)
Had a warm color temperature (like my porch light)
Long life (50,000 hours)
Low power (2 Watts)
Produced an equivalent amount of light (to the old bulbs)
Cheap enough to make replacing 18 bulbs economical

The above link is a reference. I actually found the bulbs cheaper elsewhere at about $5 per bulb here.

After installing these bulbs the actual measured total power (using my handy Kill-O-Watt meter) dropped from 370 to under 40 Watts (a huge difference)! I figure this is going to save $75 per year. And, as a bonus, they are in fact brighter than the bulbs that they replaced!

As far as color is concerned, they are definitely "whiter", but since I got the "warm white" version, they aren't bluish - white like many outdoor LED lights. They also now perfectly match my porch light.

Installation pictures

Note: For the outdoor lights, I had two types of fixtures to deal with (column lights and stake lights). Both types of lights are low voltage (12 V AC).

Column lights

Note that our column lights are a bit unusual in that they use a regular (medium base) 120 Volt light fixture. This was a pain because I had to find low voltage bulbs that screwed into a medium base (shown above).

While it is possible to also find low voltage LED bulbs with a medium base, they are more expensive and you don't have as many choices (like wattage and light color). I thought it would be better if I could find an adapter which would enable me to use the same bulbs as I do for our stake lights.

In case anyone is interested, I bought the adapters (shown installed above with the LED bulb) from Harrington Lights (product id R3-MED-T5-WEDGE).

Stake lights

Note that the replacement LED bulbs are a bit taller than the incandescent bulbs that they replaced. Fortunately, they still fit in the stake lights (but it was a much tighter fit as you can see below).

A Logitech Touch joins my squeezebox powered home

2011-12-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

If you've read my previous article on my whole house streaming audio solution, you know that I like the Logitech squeezebox product line.

Since I wrote that article I've added two more squeezebox radios (one for work), built a custom battery pack and recently picked up a Logitech Touch. I had been waiting on the Logitech Touch as I was using my Media PC to stream music to my main stereo. As convenient as my Media PC is to use, I've found that having a device dedicated to music is nice to have. Plus, I missed having a display that showed me what I was playing.

Here are some quick thoughts on what I think about the Logitech Touch.

Logitech Touch v.s. Logitech Radio

On the surface, the Touch and the Radio seem quite similar (ignoring the speaker). They both have the same menu interface (which is nice). Audiophiles will like the fact that the Touch outputs 96khz audio (if you have the media). The Touch also has lots of extra features such as the ability to play files directly off of a sdcard or an usb attached disk using an embedded version of Logitech Media Server.

However what I really liked about the Touch was its large display (easily readable from across the room). The included full featured remote (v.s. the mini remote that came with my Boom) is also quite useful.

One subtle feature is that the Touch changes its UI depending upon if you are using the remote or touching the screen. When touching the screen the menu font is normally small. When using the remote, the menu font is extra-large (making it readable from a distance. Very sensible!

The Touch has some really cool screen savers and even the ability to stream photos from the web. However, for everyday use I find that I prefer the simple album art display (shown above) and the large clock (when off). If I had a Touch on my desk (v.s. across the room), I might take advantage of some of the other features & plug-ins.

One minor flaw in the design that I've noticed with both the Touch and the Radio is that their screen has a very limited vertical viewing angle. If you are sitting below the level of the table on which it is sitting, their display can be hard or impossible to read. I get around this problem by tilting the unit forward a bit, but I wish I didn't need to do this.

All in all I'm quite happy with the Touch (and my multiple Radios). The touch interface is actually quite useful. My kids even like it too (although I'm not likely to replace the Radios in their room until a version of the Touch comes out with speakers (like the Boom).

Nice job, Logitech!

How to true a bike wheel

2011-12-03T15:52:00.000-08:00

As part of my project to do my own bike maintenance, I thought I'd take a shot at wheel truing. I had just gotten through rebuilding the suspension on my recumbent bike and I wanted to make sure my wheels were as straight as possible.

Truing a wheel is deceptively simple. There is only one adjustment possible: you simply tighten or losen the spoke nipple. How hard could that be? Doing a little research I realized that there is quite a bit to the subject. First of all, unlike traditional bolts on a bike, you don't adjust spokes to a specific torque setting. Although a spoke is really a very long, thin bolt, you adjust spokes by turning the nipple (nut) to adjust the tension.

Furthermore, there are four different parameters that you are adjusting during the truing process. These parameters are lateral true (side-to-side movement), radial true (in-out movement), dish (the offset of the rim relative to the center of the hub), and spoke tension.

Balancing all of these parameters at the same time is what makes truing a wheel a challenge. However, with the right tools and a little bit of patience, it is a rewarding process.

The right tools

While it is totally possible to true a wheel right on your bike, it isn't always that convenient. I figured if I was going to give this project a go I might as well buy a good set of tools. I selected a quality truing stand, truing stand base, and spoke tension meter. I decided not to buy a dish tool (more on that in a minute).

You don't really need a truing stand base (listed above) as you can easily mount the truing stand in a vise (if you have one). However, having the base means the stand becomes portable and easy to use indoors (a nice feature).

As far as spoke wrenches go, if you have the Park Tool AK-37 Tool Kit, it already comes with three common spoke wrench sizes. However, I also have a bike with "aero" wheels. These wheels might need a special wrench to adjust the spoke nipples (like Park tools' SW-15 listed above).

Adjusting the stand

Park tool has a bunch of helpful articles on their web site. In particular, I found an article covering the adjustment (centering) of their truing stand. If you have the stand properly centered (mine was off by a couple of mm), the you don't need a tool to "dish" your wheel. The calipers on the truing stand will tell you if your wheel is properly dished.

Here is a closeup of a wheel in the stand showing how the calipers let you see the dish as well as adjust the wheel.

The two arrows show the side-to-side gap (lateral true) as well as the in-out gap (radial true or run out). Since this is a front wheel (with no dish), it should be precisely centered between the calipers (as you can see above).

Of course if your wheel should be dished, it would have a larger gap on one side or the other. If you like, when adjusting for dish, you can flip the wheel to work with the other side. All of this depends on the stand being properly centered. Once you check/adjust the centering of the stand, you shouldn't have to do it again (or very often).

Measuring your spokes

Before truing your wheel you should know how to use the spoke tension meter to measure the spoke tension. Spoke tension is usually determined by the rim manufacturer. For example, I was truing a Mavic MA-40 rim. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the recommended tension so I just used a generally recommended tension of 100 kgf (Kilogram Force).

In order to use the tensionmeter, you need to determine what type of spoke you have (steel, aluminum, carbon, bladed or round). Then you need to measure the diameter of the spoke (as shown here):

In this case, I have round, steel spokes with a 1.7mm diameter. Then you use the tension meter to measure the spoke tension:

Finally, you lookup the value from the tension meter using the conversion chart:

For example, a reading of "20" for 1.7mm round steel spokes means a tension of 98 kgf.

So, what does all this mean? Well, people typically recommend that spokes (on each side) have the same relative tension (+/- 20%). This means the spokes should have a tension range of 80 to 120 kgf (or have a reading of 18 to 22 on the meter). When you have spokes outside of this range you risk damaging the rim, breaking spokes, or having your wheel go out of true quickly.

Also keep in mind that if you wheel is dished, the average tension of your spokes will not be the same on the left side as the right side.

Adjusting the spokes

To tighten or losen the spokes you need a wrench that exactly fits the spoke nipple. Don't use the wrong size wrench or you might strip the nipple. Also keep in mind that the spokes use standard right-hand threads. However your point of view while truing the wheel means that you turn the spoke nipple in the opposite direction that you would normally think. In the image below, the arrow points in the direction of tightening the nipple and tensioning the spoke.

If you have aero wheels in which you can't access the spoke nipple from the underside, you'll have to remove the tire and adjust the spokes from the outside. The holes for the nipple will likely have very little clearance, so you need a thin walled socket to make the adjustments

Adjusting these spokes works the same way, but is a bit more intuitive since the direction you turn the nipple isn't backwards.

An iterative process

As mentioned before, adjusting all four properties of a wheel (tension, dish, lateral true, radial true) is a bit of a balancing act. Every adjustment you make to a spoke affects the entire wheel (to some degree). Getting everything right while keeping the spokes in the right tension range is what makes the process a challenge.

However with the right tools, reading a bit about the process, and a lot of patience, you can master it. Wheel truing is a really facinating subject and there are some great resources on the web, here are a few that I recommend.

References:

Rebuilding a Ballistic 600 AII front suspension fork

2011-05-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Recumbent bikes are a ton of fun and the Vision R45 is the second that I've owned. I consider the Vision R45 a nearly perfect bike for me. Mine has front and rear suspension, aerodynamic wheels, a short wheel base design, and under-seat steering. It even has a fairly nice component group. There is only one problem: it is more than 10 years old and the company that made it (ATP) is now out of business.

I'm not about to buy another recumbent bike and if anything breaks on it, it is up to me to fix it. Recently I went about doing a complete overhaul on it to get everything back into top shape. Bike maintenance really isn't that hard and it is really enjoyable with the right tools. See this article for how I first got started doing my own maintenance.

One of the biggest challenges in overhauling the Vision R45 was rebuilding and servicing the suspension systems. The rear shock (a Cane Creek AD-5) isn't a problem as you can still get a rebuilt kit for it (with instructions). However, the front shock (a 20" Ballistic 600 AII) is another matter entirely. It seems there is almost no information about this shock online even though it was a very common shock for recumbents with suspension.

So, in the hope that it will help others, I'll share my complete rebuild instructions and even a tip to make a minor improvement.

Why not just buy a new one?

This is a good question. Let's ignore the fact that I hate to throw away perfectly repairable parts. Front suspension forks aren't hard to find, but keep in mind this is a 20" fork designed for a smaller than normal front wheel. Nevertheless, there are still a few choices in 20" suspension forks (by MEKS / SASO, White Bros., Spinner, etc.).

However, one major problem with these other forks is that they don't have crown pinch bolts. My bike uses these bolt to also attach my under seat steering (see the pictures below). Obviously, without the bolts, I have no way to steer the bike! Many (or even most) recumbents come in above-seat-steering configurations which do not have this requriement (they simply clamp to the top of the fork steerer just like any other bike).

So, unless I want to convert my bike to above-seat-steering or I want to try to custom fabricate a solution, I'm stuck with a single model of suspension fork that is no longer being made! A further complication is that newer suspension forks often only support disc brakes (v.s. cantilever rim brakes which I need).

The bottom line is that I better figure out a way to make this fork last!

Tools you may need

Besides a good set of bike tools and such (see here), the only additional tools that I needed was a set of snap ring pliers and a P-handle hex wrench set. If you are really clever, you might be able to get away with using regular pliers with the snap ring, but I wouldn't recommend it. A P-handle wrench is needed because most hex wrenches aren't long enough for this application.

Remove the fork

Each side of the fork has a snap ring locking the stanchions to the top of the crown. Use the snap ring pliers to remove the rings. See the green arrows below.

Next, you can remove the two allen head (pinch) bolts that bind the stanchions in the crown. You'll need to loosen them enough so that the fork stanchions can be lowered (you might need a mallet or other tool to gently tap them out of the crown).

Note: I wouldn't try to overhaul the fork while it is in the crown as the compression from the crown bolts will make it hard to take the rest of the fork apart.

Here is a picture of the fork removed from the crown:

Start disassembly from the top

The red pre-load adjust knob at the top of the stanchion is easily removed by removing a tiny allen head bolt. With this removed, it initially looked to me like I might need a special tool to take the rest of the assembly apart.

I was stumped at first and took the fork to a friend of mine for advice. After thinking about it for a bit we realized that a 14mm nut would fit perfectly into top and allowed us to use a wrench to loose the top cap.

With the bolt in place, the top cap is easily unscrewed and the rest of the fork comes apart.

(Optional) Remove bottom spacer

At the bottom (underside) of the fork arms, you will notice there is an allen head bolt. When I first tried to figure out how to disassemble the fork, I removed this bolt thinking the fork would come apart (I was wrong). Turns out this bolt secures a long spacer with a green elastomer bumper. I believe this bumper dampens the rebound when the shock bounces back from being compressed. I don't think you really need to remove this piece when you are rebuilding the fork (so I think this step is optional). However, if you do loosen this bottom bolt, you are committed and will need to fully take apart the shock in order to reassemble it properly. This is due to the fact that there is otherwise no way to tighten the bolt again.

You will need one regular hex wrench on the bottom bolt and a long hex wrench inserted into the stanchion to keep the spacer from turning while you tighten the bolt. My hex wrenches were short and this is where the p-handle hex wrench set comes in handy. It was probably a good thing (for me) to take this apart as I found that one of my green bumpers was loose. I ended up using some black electrical tape to "shim" it so it stayed put.

Cleaning and Reassembly

With the fork fully disassembled, I examined everything to make sure nothing was worn or broken. I then cleaned off all of the excess/old grease and got it ready to reassemble.

I liberally covered all contact points with grease (including the yellow elastomer itself). I also made sure that the pre-load adjuster turned freely. I normally would have used a light oil on the threads, but mine was already pretty well oiled.

I used blue (medium) strength Locktite on the bottom bolt that secures the lower spacer to the fork.

I also applied some Tri-flow on the stanchions as they were pretty tight and I felt that heavy grease would only cause them to bind.

Finally, I was a bit concerned about what torque to use for the crown pinch bolts. As I couldn't find any assembly manual. I did find a old Manitou 2 fork manual that recommended 90-110 in-lbs for what is a similar fork design. If anyone knows the proper torque setting, please let me know. To be safe, I also used medium Locktite.

Fixing the pre-load adjustment

When I finally got the fork back together I noticed that the pre-load knobs were really hard to turn. As soon as I snugged the securing bolt, they bound up right away. I also recall them being the same way on my old Vision R-45 as well so I decided to investigate a bit more.

I took the assembly apart again and didn't find anything wrong. The pre-load bolt turned freely without the knob attached. Turns out that the knob itself was being smashed down on to the top on the stanchion cap. Well, it seemed to me that a thin washer might be all I need to fix this problem. Unfortunately, a washer small enough to fit into the existing hole might be hard to find.

Well, I headed back to my friends' house and he custom filed some small washers (thanks Kevin!). You can see it installed here:

With the washers inserted, I could snug down the bolts and the knobs still turned freely. I think I may have also used a bit of blue Locktite on the allen bolts as well to make sure they didn't come loose.

Done!

Well there really wasn't anything wrong with my front shock when I started, but now I know that it is well serviced and working great. I even fixed the pre-load knob and it is working better than ever.

Best of all I know that I can keep this shock in good shape for years to come.

DIY high capacity battery pack for Logitech's Squeezebox Radio

2011-03-31T00:15:00.000-07:00

If you enjoy the Squeezebox line of products like I do, you probably already know about Logitech's Squeezebox Radio. I've just added a third radio to my collection (shown here with cat 1 of 2). However, if you don't yet have a battery pack for your Squeezebox Radio you are missing out on one of it's coolest features (it's portable!). Of course, it still must be in range of a wireless signal (all the more reason to get a really great wireless home router). Unfortunately, the battery pack must be purchased separately for $50. Logitech does bundle it with a mini-remote to help make it a bit more tempting.

Since the accessory pack wasn't released until well after the radio, many adventuresome owners went ahead and built their own. Now that the pack is available, there is less reason to do it yourself. You can still build a pack cheaper yourself (depending upon the cost of the batteries), but you might not save that much money (and it is a hassle). The main reason for doing it yourself now (IMO) is that you can build a higher capacity pack. Logitech claims 6 hours of battery life on their pack, but people have reported up to two hours more - not bad. However with my pack, I've gotten just under 11 hours! More importantly, doing it yourself is fun!

Here is what I did:

Please note: if you follow these steps, do so with care. Standard disclaimer: I'm not responsible for any damage or injury that might occur...

Getting Started

Besides basic electronics tools, wire, solder, etc., you will need a battery kit and some batteries.

The kit for building the battery pack consists of the battery connector, a thermistor (for measuring temperature), and instructions. You can order the kit from Small Green Computer for $7.99 (including shipping). These aren't expensive parts, but this seems a very reasonable price. Plus, they sent me two connectors so I could actually build a second pack if I bought another thermistor myself.

Which batteries to use?

The pack needs 10 rechargeable AA NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydroxide) batteries. Logitech's original pack contains batteries that are rated at 2000 mAh (milliamp hours). mAh is simply a measure of battery capacity (more is better obviously). Logitech's batteries are also a special type called LSD (read all about low self-discharge here).

LSD NiMH batteries (first introduced in 2005) are just like regular NiMH batteries except that they will tend to hold their charge much longer when not used (a very good thing!). This effect is much more pronounced as the batteries age (have more charging cycles). LSD batteries are reported to be able to hold a significant charge even after a year (when regular Nimh batteries would probably be nearly dead). Regular Alkaline batteries don't have this problem (though they do leak eventually!). Now you know why regular rechargeable batteries are a bad choice for an emergency flashlight!

In addition to LSD NiMH batteries, there are alternatively much higher capacity NiMH batteries (up to 2700 mAh). However there doesn't yet seem to be a battery that is both high capacity and LSD. So you need to choose one or the other.

For a really great discussion of NiMH batteries that compares the various brands and actual measured performance see this NiMH battery shootout over at candlepowerforums.

A good example of high quality LSD battery is the Sanyo Eneloop. These cells are rated at 2000 mAh. The best price I found was a 16-pack new version Sanyo Eneloop for $40. I suppose you can always use extra batteries around the house so this is a good value. If you go with the Sanyo Eneloop purchased elsewhere make sure it is the new version (which was just released).

A good non-LSD higher capacity battery is the regular Sanyo 2700 mAh. The cheapest place I found them was from BestByte.net at $5.99 per 2-pack (where I bought mine). You can also order them from Amazon in 2-packs, or 4-packs.

Finally, if you are going to build a battery pack, they do make special versions of batteries that have solder tabs (pre-attached wires). This makes it much easier (and safer) to wire the batteries together. However, finding the battery you want, cheaply enough, with solder tabs is a challenge. Here is one source for the Sanyo 2700 mAh batteries available with solder tabs (Batteries America at $3.75 per cell). If you buy from them, be sure to select solder tabs as they aren't the default.

You also have the option of buying off-brand batteries that are probably significantly cheaper. I have nothing against this, but keep in mind your time and effort in putting together the pack. For this reason alone I wanted the best high quality battery I could buy (for a reasonable price)!

Finally, you might also be able to find a complete pack already built up (many battery stores on the net have 10-packs available). You might need to modify it some, but this is an option too. However, I couldn't find one that was both cheap enough and had the batteries I wanted.

I ended up selecting the regular Sanyo 2700 mAh batteries because I don't really care about the LSD aspect of these batteries for my purpose (I'm sure the radio will be mostly plugged in). I'm more than willing to trade off LSD for longer battery life. Finally, I went with batteries without tabs simply because they were cheaper and I knew I'd be VERY careful soldering them (more on that in a minute).

Based on what I read about LSD NiMH and higher capacity batteries, I was willing to gamble that the charger in the SqueezeBox Radio would still work. What is the fun of a project without a little risk?

My Completed Pack

No it isn't "pretty", but it will be hidden from view once installed.

Let me point out some non-obvious things about the pack before I get into how to build it.

The red arrow shows the thermistor that measures the battery pack's temperature. This is important as the charging circuit (algorithm actually) needs to make sure the pack doesn't get too hot. Also, some charging algorithms use the temperature to determine when the pack is fully charged (more on that in a minute).

You can't see the thermistor here because it is taped to the side of the battery in the middle of the back (to better measure the "core" temperature.

Here is another shot of the pack from the other side:

Note the red arrows again. These show two additional battery "taps" measuring intermediate voltages in the pack (reported by the Radio as vmon1 and vmon2).

Other than the thermistor and two battery taps, the pack is simply 10 batteries connected in series to deliver 12 to 14 volts to the Radio. Note that a NiMH batteriies' voltage varies with their state of charge (just like any battery).

Note that I've read that the original battery pack has a fuse of some kind (possibly current or temperature actuated). I couldn't find any details on this fuse and it wasn't mentioned in the kit or by any of the other DIY packs. Frankly, this does worry me a bit. If anyone has any details on this please let me know! I'll add it later if I can. Safety is important!

Next, you have the connector. This is a tiny 5 x 2 pin connector with crimp on pins. Did I mention that it was TINY? I had a heck of a time crimping on the wires, but your eyes may be better than mine. Just take your time. I also soldered on the wires to the pins to make extra sure that I had a good connection. Just be careful as too much solder will melt the insulation and prevent the pin from going in the connector. Soldering wouldn't be necessary if you are better at crimping than I am.

Finally, there is a REALLY TINY tab on each of the pins that locks them into the connector. Be sure not to smash this down as you crimp the pin (I did this on the first pin) otherwise it won't stay on the connector. Fortunately, my kit came with extra pins.

Lastly you have the challenge of soldering to the batteries themselves. I chose to use plain old solder wick as a convenient jumper (thanks Kevin for this and other tips!). Solder wick is easy to solder (obviously), conducts well, and probably helps keep the soldering iron heat off of the battery. It also looks just like a ground strap.

To make the soldering easier, I filed (roughed up) the surfaces of each side of the battery. I then quickly pre-applied a bit of solder to the battery at medium heat. I found that if the heat was too low the solder took too long to flow. Then I soldered the solder wick to the battery by applying the iron for a couple of seconds (or less). Use at little time as possible to avoid damaging the battery.

NOTE: The top of the battery (positive side) has vents along the button at the edges. BE SURE not to fill these with solder or rosin. This is a battery safety mechanism that prevents too much pressure from building up in the battery. Closing this off would be most likely VERY BAD. If this happed by accident, I'd throw away (recycle) the battery instead of using it.

TIP: Practice doing the soldering on cheap or dead alkaline batteries first until you feel comfortable that you can solder them quickly and without excessive heat on the battery.

IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP: Wear eye protection when soldering. You might have your eyes up really close to the batteries. If something bad were to happen because of the heat, you want your eyes protected!

Other assembly tips

The thermistor just has bare leads so I used heat shrink tubing to prevent shorting.
I used 3M double stick tape to get the batteries to stick together and electrical tape to wrap the whole pack together.
I routed the wires through the tape to create a crude strain relief for the solder connections. It isn't bullet proof, but sufficient as long as you are careful.

All done

Here is the battery pack all tucked into it's compartment. Note that there isn't much room to spare (which is why you can't use much more than tape to hold the pack together.

Note that I didn't bother insulating the sides of the battery pack itself. The battery compartment of the Radio is plastic so it won't short anything out. Since the pack will spend it's entire life there, I saw no need for extra insulation. Besides, if I have to take apart the pack later it won't be covered in goo from old tape.

Charge it!

What would be the fun of this project if you couldn't get all kinds of GEEKY numbers from the charging circuit / algorithm itself? On the squeezebox radio simply go to Settings->Advanced->Diagnostics->Power and you will see a screen with tons of info on the battery. It reports battery voltage, wall voltage, battery tap 1 and 2 voltage, battery temperature, power mode, battery capacity (as a graphic) and the charging state. Is this cool or what?

Even though we don't have control over the charging circuit, it is really interesting to read about how sophisticated NiMH chargers have become. Turns out that detecting when a battery is full isn't so simple. The charging circuit must look at the temperature, change in temperature v.s. time, voltage, change in voltage v.s. time, and/or the charging current. There are also fast chargers and slow (trickle) chargers. Often the faster you charge a battery, the less life (charge cycles) you will get. Also, if you over charge your batteries (or get them too hot), you also reduce their life (or risk them exploding). Batteries do have safety mechanisms built in (like the vents on the top of the cells), but they aren't perfect.

The developers at Logitech have hinted that there is a fair amount of code dedicated to the charging circuit so I have no doubt that the algorithm is pretty sophisticated.

Here are some good links for reading about how some NiMH chargers work at PowerStream and BatteryUniversity. This is great background info for interpreting the data that the Squeezebox Radio reports via it's diagnostic screen.

So, how did my pack perform?

First of all, I had pre-charged the batteries before assembling the pack. After installing the pack (without A/C power), the Radio booted right up and worked (always a good sign). All of the voltages, etc. reported by the radio looked fine. I then plugged in the A/C adapter and the battery started charging (topping off since the battery was mostly charged).

The next morning I started a playing music on battery only. I streamed FLAC files continuously from my local PC to see how long it would go. All day long it played without a problem. It finally shut off after about 10 hours and 49 minutes (not too bad!). I did notice that the battery indicator dropped down quickly to about 1/4 full within a few hours. However, it just kept playing. I'm assuming that the battery graphic is calibrated to the lower capacity 2000 mAh battery pack so may not be entirely accurate anymore. From what I can tell from 2700 mAh batteries, their voltage drops quicker (initially), but holds longer than a 2000 mAh equivalent.

After the Radio died, I plugged it in to see how the charging worked on a (nearly) dead pack. I'm sure the batteries weren't completely dead as the Radio's circuit would protect against damaging the pack. Anyway, charging went very slowly over several hours (slow charging is better for the battery life). The packs' temperature eventually rose to about 45C (113F), at which point the charging was paused by the software (presumably due to a temperature threshold). The pack wasn't yet fully charged, but based on the reported voltage of 14.4, I'm assuming it was pretty close.

Afterwards, charging resumed and the radio reported a full charged pack. I'm assuming the lower capacity Logitech pack might have fully charged in a single cycle, but I don't know that. All in all I'm impressed with the intelligence of the radios' charging circuit and that it is working so far with my custom pack.

Reference

There are lots of threads on forums.slimdevices.com that discuss DIY battery packs, but this one has the most info "Sqeezebox Radio Battery Kit Available".

Do it yourself, do it all Media PC for $600

2011-01-28T09:06:00.000-08:00

If you are going to "Cut the Cord" you are definitely going to miss the ability to record, pause TV and skip commercials. Building a Media PC is the perfect solution to make the process painless and you will wonder why you never did it before.

So, what can this box do?

Play and Stream most disc based media: Bluray, DVD, CD, etc
Record, Pause, Playback High Definition Free Broadcast TV (no subscription needed!)
Plenty of storage capacity (1.5TB = 100s of hours of TV)
Place-shift live TV and locally recorded media (watch it anywhere)
Play Internet content Hulu, Netflix, Boxee, YouTube, etc.
Play (all formats of) videos stored on flash drives or usb sticks
Streams Videos, Pictures, etc. from other computers on your network
Surf the web with Firefox or your favorite browser with long range wireless keyboard
Fully functional TV-style remote controls 95% of Media-PCs functions
Stream music directly to your receiver without having your TV on
Play PC or web-based games (power gamers will want to upgrade the graphics)
Display 3-D media and play 3-D games
Plenty of graphics and cpu horsepower for almost any media or server application
Stays in standby mode when not in use (uses less than 2 watts! - measured here)
Quiet (fans barely audible)

The list really goes on as this is a fully functional Windows Media PC and there is no limit to what you can do with this it With Windows Media Center and some properly setup software, you can do almost anything you could imagine with ease in a family friendly package.

Note: A Media PC is also sometimes called a Home Theater PC (or HTPC). I prefer the term Media PC since it is a more general term that better describes it's capability and use.

Why do it yourself?

There are an endless list of stand-alone media/set top/DVR boxes you can buy (or rent), but in my opinion they are all flawed in one way or another. Most of the problems with other boxes are:

Cable, Satellite, or IPTV DVRs have limited functionality and tie you to expensive monthly fees
Media streaming boxes can be limited to specific services and often will only play limited video formats.
Few devices will let you record broadcast TV (and usually come with monthly fees)
Few devices will let you surf the web (or if they do, come with crippled browsers)

There really is only one type of box that will have few compatibility issues and nearly unlimited functionality and that that is a Media PC.

Another advantage to building a Media PC is that you can replace multiple boxes with one device that really does it all. In my case I replaced a DVD player, Slingbox (for placeshifting), Comcast Cable DVR and Squeezebox (for audio streaming) all with one Media PC. As a bonus, I sold my old devices (Comcast took back my DVR) on Craigslist and recovered some of my project's expenses!

Some videos of the Media PC in action

Also, here are more pictures of what this box can do.

Build Instructions

First, since it is so important, here is a overview of the remote control options for a Media PC.

Steps:

Parts list
Assembly instructions
Setting up the BIOS
Loading the software
(optional) Turn your Media PC into a SqueezeBox Audio Streamer
(optional) Configure a recording light
(optional) Go wireless N for streaming Media
(optional) Tame your remote with an IR blaster and EventGhost
(optional) Setup your Media PC for place-shifting and remote access
(optional) Easily backup your Media PC
(optional) Add multiple tuners to your Media PC
(optional) add 3-D to your Media PC

Note: As I add features, I'll keep this post updated so check back for changes.

Troubleshooting and fixing a bicycle "creak"

2011-01-19T23:07:00.000-08:00

I had just bought a new mountain bike and really enjoyed my first few rides on some trails near my house. At first I couldn't be more pleased with it. The bike rode great and was a huge improvement over my old one. Unfortunately, I quickly noticed a problem when climbing up hills. After each pedal stroke I heard a rather loud and annoying "creak". I'm used to most normal bike noises, but this one had me worried.

Of course a "creak" is usually caused by two parts of the bike rubbing together under pressure. The real question (and not so simple one at that) is which two parts. I could simply ignore it, but that is almost certainly a bad idea. Creaks always seem to get worse over time and can end up in something breaking catastrophically. I can still remember when a "creaking" stem on my bike suddenly snapped into two pieces (an experience I don't recommend).

After several disappointing experiences with local bike mechanics, I had already decided I was going to do all my own minor bike repairs. I was especially concerned about this particular problem because it only showed up while climbing steep hills. I couldn't make the problem happen on a bike repair stand or with the rear brake on. This meant that it wouldn't be easy for a bike mechanic to troubleshoot in their shop. I could easily see myself having to take the bike to the shop several times as they tried various "fixes". All the more reason to do it myself.

If you Google "bike", "creak" and similar terms you will find an overwhelming amount of information. Turns out "creaks" are a really common problem with multiple causes including:

A cracked frame
Bottom bracket shell / Bottom bracket bearing cups
Chain ring bolts
Crank arms / crank spindle
Pedals / crank arms
Rear wheel quick release too loose
Spokes
Seatpost / seat post clamp
Saddle / saddle rails / saddle clamp
Handlebar / Stem / Headset
Loose rear cassette

Fixing this problem turned out to be a fun little project and I learned a tremendous amount at the same time. It also reinforced my belief that bikes really are precision machines that have quite a bit of impressive technology. However, with some patience, the right tools and healthy dose of curiosity even "non-experts" can fix them.

I'll go over the steps I took to diagnose my problem, how I eliminated the easy stuff, then what I did that eventually fixed the problem (hopefully) for good.

First up, how I started the troubleshooting.

Step #1: Isolate the problem by "diagnosing from the saddle"

Given the variety of causes of creaks (or any problem really), it makes sense to try a few experiments in order to get a better idea of what might be the cause.

The first thing I tried was to see if the creak happened while I was "standing" and climbing. Sure enough, the creak continued even with my weight completely off the seat. This eliminated my saddle, seatpost or seatpost clamp as the cause.

The next thing I tried was climbing without putting any stress on the handlebars. This isn't as easy as it sounds, but I was able to get pretty close. Again, the creak remained. This eliminated my handlebar / stem and headset as a likely cause.

Both the seatpost and stem are really common causes of creaks (and easy to eliminate or confirm). In any case, my problem was clearly elsewhere.

Step #2: Eliminate the easy to fix stuff first

Since I had narrowed down the problem as much as possible while riding, it was time to start examining the bike in more detail on a bike stand.

Some "fixes" for "creaks" are easier than others. At some point it makes sense to simply try the easy stuff first no matter how unlikely. Save the complicated fixes for later when all else fails.

The first thing that I tried was to reinstall the pedals in the crank arms. Pedals are notorious from causing creaks when they are not installed correctly (plus they are under a lot of stress). I removed the pedals, cleaned the pedal threads, applied anti-seize (not grease), and re-installed them. I also was careful to tighten the pedals to the correct torque. Sadly, the creak continued. However, now I at least know the pedals are installed correctly and shouldn't cause me any problems down the road.

Next I checked some of the other less common causes. I checked my rear cassette and didn't notice any side to side play. Also, the rear wheel quick release was tightened with the proper force. I checked my rear spokes and didn't notice any that were loose or overly tensioned.

Finally, I checked my frame for any obvious cracks. I didn't spot anything (thankfully, as new frames are really expensive!).

Step #3: Make an educated guess

I'd pretty much taken the diagnosis as far as I could without actually starting to take the bike apart. Given that the "creak" sound appeared to be coming from around my cranks, I guessed that the problem could be one of three things in that area (chain ring bolts, bottom bracket cups or my crank arm). All of these involve taking apart the crank completely.

Note that even though the creaking sound seemed to come from the cranks, many people have discovered that sound can be transmitted along the frame of the bike. People have sworn that the sound is from their cranks and yet it ended up being something else entirely (like a loose rear cassette). Since I eliminated those causes already, I was ready to proceed with the cranks as the likely culprit.

Step #4: Do your homework before you pick up a wrench!

The first thing that I did was review the chapter on cranksets in my Park Tools' Big Blue Book of bicycle repair. It is an easy read and has a specific section that covers my style of crank and bottom bracket (FSA's MegaExo). However, any general bicycle book is bound to be slightly inaccurate even if it provides you with most of the background you need to get started. For the latest, most accurate instructions you need to keep digging.

Modern bikes are assembled from components by many different manufacturers (brakes, shifters, hubs, etc). You can get service information from your bike vendor, but sometimes they just have information about the bike frame itself. Any information they do have about components is often generalized so I would recommend using the specific component manufacturers' info first.

My frame is made by Gary Fisher and my Crankset is made by Full Speed Ahead (or FSA). Specifically I have the FSA "Carbon Pro Team Issue" Triple Crankset with their matching MegaExo BB-9000 bottom bracket. I went to both the Gary Fisher and FSA websites to get their service procedures / info.

Yes, I know some of you may snicker at me for "reading the instructions" (almost like cheating), but it more than paid off as you'll see below.

One other note: The only reason I checked the Gary Fisher website was to get the torque setting for the bottom bracket. Although FSA specifies the torque for reinstalling the bottom bracket, so does Gary Fisher (and they are a bit different!). More on this later.

Step #5: I disassembled the cranks and found four problems!

Here is a nice diagram of the FSA "Carbon Pro Team Issue" crankset and the FSA MegaExo BB-9000 bottom bracket:

Disassembly was relatively easy as I already had all of the tools I needed. Right away I spotted several problems, some more important than others:

Problem #1) Grease was smeared over everything inside of the bottom bracket (spindle, splines, alloy center sleeve). This is (IMO) both unnecessary and messy (the bottom bracket uses sealed bearings and the bottom bracket shell is also sealed).

More importantly, grease was used between the spindle splines (#9 in the diagram above) and the mating non-drive crank arm (#11). See this warning note from FSA instructions:

It specifically says, do not use grease, use Loctite 641 assembly compound! Unlike grease, Loctite 641 will fill the spline gaps and form a hard bond between the crank arm and spindle. Sounds to me like a much better product for this application. This could definitely be the cause of the creak!

Problem #2) As I unscrewed the bottom bracket cups, I noticed that I had to use a lot of force to get them off (way more than I expected given the correct torque). My guess is that the cups were either over-torqued or they had started to seize. Note that even if you use grease on the threads, grease can dry out over time (which is why anti-seize is better). Over torquing the cups is a major problem because it could strip the threads and it creates too much pre-load on the bearings (both are very bad). I doubt the creak was caused by this, but I'm glad I found this problem.

Problem #3) I noticed that the chain ring bolts didn't have any grease on them. FSA does recommend using grease. This could definitely be one source of the creak. However the bolts didn't appear to be over-torqued and weren't loose (so at least that was good).

Problem #4) I noticed a missing "rubber shell spacer" as indicated in the diagram below:

It took me a while to figure out if this spacer (also called a crush washer) was important or not. Turns out it is mostly cosmetic and merely fills the gap between the bottom bracket cup and shell. Nevertheless, it seems like a good idea to have this in place to keep crud out of the threads.

Step #6: Get ready to reassemble everything

I had most of the tools I needed (see my previous post on do it yourself bicycle maintenance), but I still needed to order a few special things:

Park Tool SPA-2 Pin spanner wrench -$10 (for the final nut)
Park Tool BBT-19 bottom bracket tool - $18 (for setting proper bottom bracket torque)
Loctite 641 retaining compount - $20
FSA Mega Exo BB Crush washer MS145 - $3

While I waited for the tools and such to arrive, I thoroughly cleaned all the parts with de-greaser (except the bearings of course), and got ready for the reassembly.

BTW: For a good laugh and a step I DON'T recommend, read about my little experiment using acetone to clean bike parts on MTBR.COM (a great website!).

Step #7: Assemble the crankset, doing it right this time

Here are LOTS of pictures and comments from the assembly that show how much detail is actually involved in putting together the cranks correctly. This was actually pretty fun and went rather quickly.

Here are the chain rings and parts disassembled and cleaned:

I applied anti-seize to bolts and mating surfaces (using a q-tip because it is messy):

I assembled the chain rings and torqued bolts to 12 N-m (per FSA manual).

Here I hit a bit of a problem since my Park Tool TW-2 torque wrench (shown below) isn't accurate at the lower 20% of it's scale (which includes 12 N-m). Instead I used my smaller Park Tool TW-1 wrench to set the torque to 7 N-m (the maximum of it's scale), then manually added about 1/8th of a turn. This is probably close enough to the proper torque (I'm not about to buy a third torque wrench).

I was particularly concerned about over-torquing the rather weak alloy chain ring bolts. They have a reputation for easily being stripped (and in fact, I did strip one by accident). Be careful!

I cleaned and applied anti-seize to bottom bracket shell (both sides) before installing bottom bracket.

I hand threaded the right (drive) side bottom bracket cup (with middle spacer and one 2.5mm shell spacer). Note that I applied a bit of grease on the tiny middle spacer o-ring seals to help keep them from drying out (seemed like a good idea).

Now I torqued the right side cup. FSA specifies a torque range of 39 to 49 N-m. Gary Fisher specifies a torque range of 32.9 to 40.7 N-m (Yes, they are different!). I thought I'd play it safe and chose 35 N-m. It is a little low for FSA, but still felt plenty tight for me. I'd rather err on the side of not damaging the frame:

Now I inserted the inner alloy center sleeve from left (non-drive) side. This sleeve will press against the inner race of each of the bearings.

When the left cup is later installed, the difference between the cup torque and the (opposing) crank fixing screw torque should determine the final pre-load on both bearings (since they are sandwiched between the two). This is another reason why torque is so important. Improper torque will result in improper bearing pre-load and early life failure of the bearings (IMO).

Now I hand threaded the left side bearing cup into place. When fully threaded into the frame, the left side does NOT mate flush with the frame (unlike the right side) because it will be held apart by the greater width of the inner alloy sleeve. This leaves a "gap" that is filled in by the crush washer (which you can see below).

When you torque the left side not only will the cups be secured into the frame, but the inner alloy sleeve will be applying an unopposed outward force on both inner bearing races. When the cranks are later installed with the crank fixing screw, an opposing force will push the bearings back from the other direction.

Now I torqued the left side to 35 N-m.

Now the bottom bracket is fully installed. If you rotate one bearing, the other will spin too as they are now physically "connected" and pressing against each other via the inner alloy sleeve.

NOTE: Isn't the hollow bottom bracket design with it's external bearings cool? I think so.

Now it is time to install the cranks.

Be sure to THOROUGHLY clean the spindle and crank splines so that there is absolutely no greasy residue to interfere with proper Loctite 641 adhesion. I used Simple Green first, then finished it off with two or three washes with electronics contact cleaner. FSA recommends Acetone, but some suggested this might be better (see my link about my "accident" with Acetone above).

I installed the first of two metal o-rings on the crank spindle before sliding it into the bottom bracket.

I GENTLY slid the cranks into the bottom bracket. There is an inner bearing dust cover that you need to make sure you don't damage on the opposite side of the bottom bracket.

Next, I installed the second metal o-ring

Time for the Loctite 641:

Here you can see that I applied a thin layer of Loctite 641 (orangish color) to the inner and outer surfaces of the splines.

I pressed on the left crank arm until it was flush with the bearing cup.

Here I applied blue Loctite 242 (medium strength thread locker) to the crank fixing screw. I installed the inner washer too (part of the self-extraction assembly).

Next, I hand threaded the crank fixing screw

Now it is time to torque the crank fixing screw. FSA specifies a torque range of 44-54 N-m. As this is 5 N-m greater than the torque for the bearing cups, I assumed that I should add 5 to the 35 N-m that I used. Again, I figure it is the difference (5 N-m) between the two torques that creates the final bearing pre-load.

So I torqued the fixing screw to 40 N-m. This is plenty tight and the blue loctite should keep it from ever coming loose by accident.

Here I inserted the last washer and nut (for the self-extracting crank fixing screw - nice and simple design!)

Now I used the pin spanner wrench to snugly tighten the nut.

IMPORTANT: Now leave the bike undisturbed for 24 hours for the Loctite 641 to fully cure. I waited about three days just to be sure.

Step #8: Test ride and no more creak!

Now for the fun (and nerve racking part), the test ride to make sure it is fixed! After all that effort, I admit to being more than a little worried. However, I told myself that I had learned a whole lot in the process and was definitely confident that my bike cranks were reassembled correctly (fixing a number of problems and preventing further issues down the road).

The good news is that there is no longer any creak. The only bad news is that I'm not totally sure which of the steps that I performed above was the final fix (only the nerd in me really cares). If I were to take a bet, I'd put my money on the use of loctite 641 v.s. grease. My second guess would be the use of anti-seize on the chain ring bolts. In any case, the problem is now fixed and my cranks should be good for probably thousands of miles to come. The only follow up that I need to do is to check the torque on my chain ring bolts after a few rides to make sure they are staying tight.

I could have taken my bike into a shop to have them fix this, but based on my experience I doubt that many mechanics would have gone to the trouble I did to fix the problem. I would have been out time and money with no guarantee that they would eventually find the right fix. Furthermore, it reinforced my opinion that a bike is a precision machine that deserves quite a bit more respect that it usually gets!

Do it yourself bicycle maintenance

2011-01-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

If you are like me, you love bikes. However, bikes are only fun when they are working right. Nothing is worse than riding down the trail/road and having your bike shift badly or sound like it is about to self-destruct. A simple twist of a screw may make all the difference between a great ride and walking home in frustration. The trick is in knowing a little about how bikes work and having the right tools. Once you get started I think you'll find it is really interesting and fun.

Now you are probably thinking, "what does bicycle maintenance have to do with either technology or saving money?"

While a bike may not be "tech" in the same way as a computer, don't underestimate how much technology has been incorporated in modern bikes. New bikes are now using aerospace grade materials and alloys (carbon fiber, titanium, scandium), radical frame designs (with endless suspension variations), ceramic bearings, etc. New bikes definitely have more than their share of "tech" features to keep your inner nerd happy.

Furthermore, saving money isn't obviously a great reason to fix your own bikes (there are far better reasons). You need to invest a bit into tools and spend some time learning. As with a lot of things, paying someone else to do it might seem cheaper at first. Nevertheless, doing your own maintenance can more than pay for itself in the long run.

To get started with "do it yourself bicycle maintenance", I'll talk a bit more about recent bike technology advances, go over the real reasons why you should do maintenance yourself, and finally show you some of the tools and other stuff you will need.

Let's start first with technology...

Bicycle technology is evolving rapidly

It has been about 15 years since I last seriously looked at mountain bikes. Back then I bought what I thought was a pretty high end bike (a 1996 Gary Fisher Paragon). It had an aluminum frame, front shock, clipless pedals and weighed a mere 26 lbs. It was (and still is) a fun bike to ride in the dirt. As advanced as the bike was at the time, it still was basically a traditional diamond frame bike with bigger tires.

Recently, I figured it was about time to upgrade so I started shopping for a new mountain bike. After getting over the initial shock over the (dramatically) higher prices, I started realizing just how much things have changed. I ended up getting a pretty good deal on a lightly used 2009 Gary Fisher SuperFly. Here is a summary of what is new and cool over my old bike:

Frame, seat post, and cranks are now made out of carbon fiber (now only 23 lbs!)
Wheels are 29" (3 inches larger for better traction, stability, etc).
Tires are tubeless with sealant (self healing, better grip and no more pinch flats)
Crank spindle is now hollow (less pedal flex, more power, better bearings)
Suspension fork is fully adjustable (stiffer, lighter, and has a full lockout)
Hydraulic Disc brakes (AMAZING stopping power, no loss of braking in the rain/water/mud)
9 speed rear sprocket (huge 34 tooth rear gear for climbing steep hills)

There are also now an amazing array of specialized bikes (Full suspension bikes, downhill specific bikes, Fat tired snow bikes, Single speed bikes, etc.) If you love biking, there has never been a better time to get back into the sport.

With all this technology, you'd think that the average person probably has no chance of working on their bikes themselves.   Actually, it really isn't that hard as long as you have the right tools and knowledge. Fortunately, both are readily available on the Internet.

Why do bike maintenance yourself?

If you are like me, you might have some minimal mechanical skills (maybe you can fix a bike flat). However, when it comes to adjusting a derailer, you'd probably prefer to take it in to a "professional". I did this several times recently and was frankly disappointed. Each time I ended up with something not quite right and had to "fix" their repairs myself.   By the time I got my bike working correctly, I could have done it far quicker myself. Here are a couple of real examples:

My road bike was making a "grinding" noise from the front wheel. I took it into a bike shop and after about 5 minutes of examining the wheel off of the bike they determined that the bearings were bad. I'd have to order new ones. I didn't want to be without my bike while they ordered the parts, so I left. Out of curiosity, I tried another bike shop on the way home. They listened to the noise and determined that the bearings were actually fine, and only needed some grease. So for a small charge ($30), they regreased both front and back hubs. I left pleased knowing that I it was a simple fix. At home I discovered that the front wheel was still making grinding noises (wouldn't even spin twice!). Nothing like a little bit of anger to motivate you to do something yourself!

I took the front hub apart and realized that it was an incredibly simple design. There is just an axel, two sealed bearings, spacers, and covers.   Grease was smeared everywhere (thanks to the last shop), but was totally unnecessary. Since the bearings are sealed, grease on the outside doesn't help and just ends up attracting dirt. I discovered that the grinding noise was actually coming from the covers pushing against the hub itself. After cleaning off the excess grease, I simply spaced the covers away from the hub. My front wheel was now absolutely silent and spun freely.   My bearings were totally fine. Both bikes shops were wrong and I wasted a bunch of time and money. The fix was free and I learned a whole lot more in the process.

There is yet another reason to do maintenance yourself and it is directly related to technology. With all of these exotic materials being used, very specific procedures are now required. For example, if you use too much force on a bolt, you can destroy (or damage) the underlying part. Even worse, that damage might not be immediately apparent until it fails (with catastrophic results!). This isn't as scary as it sounds as long as you have the right tools and take the time to do it right. Each manufacturer specifies the proper torque (tightening force) and all you need to do is look it up. I'm sure many bike mechanics know this, but I'm not sure that on any given day the person working on "YOUR" bike will take the time. The bottom line is that no one cares about your bike more than you do. More importantly, no one has more to lose than you do.

Finally,with all the moving parts (shocks, bearings, chains, shifters, etc) on modern bikes, you'd be amazed at how often you might need to take your bike in the shop for regular service or trivial adjustments. If you have a family and/or multiple bikes you can just start multiplying the cost. Bike service isn't cheap (nor should it be if done right). However, this adds up fast and the time and money invested on doing it yourself starts to make sense and pay off.

Perhaps the most important reason of all: working on bikes is fun! All the modern technology is cool and really, really interesting. Doing it right (and knowing you did a good job), is truly a great feeling.

What do you need to get started?

Okay, ready to do some shopping? You might have some of these tools already (and you might not need them all), but I'll go over what I have and recommend.

1. Essential bike repair book.

A good bicycle book is without question your best investment in both time and money. You can buy one, learn a bit and decide if you are ready to go further.

I read a bunch of reviews on different books and ended up with Park Tool's Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair (rev 2) - ($20). This book has chapters on each of the major sections of a bike, clear pictures, and great advice. It is really easy to use as you simply skip to the relevant chapter.

Like with any general bike book, I also recommend going to the manufacturer's websites for specific service procedures. No book can cover it all (or be up to date), but this is probably the only book you will need and it is both a great reference and helpful tutorial.

Highly recommended for those with beginner to intermediate skills levels.

2. Bike repair stand

Nothing is more frustrating than working on a bike and holding it at the same time. inevitably it falls over, breaks or dings something. A good bike stand will keep your bike steady, keep it at a convenient height, and make it much easier to work on. You can even wash your bike on it.

I selected a more modern design that doesn't clamp onto easily damaged frame or seat post parts. The Park Tool PRS-20 Team Race Stand - ($172) only requires that you remove one wheel (front or back) and folds up for storage. You can adjust your work height and it rotates 360 degrees. I even got it to hold my (highly unusual) recumbent bike! It is super sturdy and highly recommended.

3. Essential tool set

Sadly, new bikes require special tools. It is also true that well made tools are often expensive. So it makes sense to buy a set of tools together so you can at least get a break on the price. You may not need all of these tools on day one, but running to the bike store to pay retail for tools one at a time gets old real fast. If you haven't notice already, I like Park Tools. They have an excellent reputation for providing quality tools. Sure you can get cheaper sets, but it is also true that cheap tools can ruin your expensive bike parts pretty quick.

Since I didn't have many bike tools, I picked up the Part Took AK-37 Advanced Mechanic Tool Kit - ($215). It has 37 common tools for all kinds of bikes - see here for a description. It isn't complete, but it should have 90% of what you need and is a great place to start.

4. Floor pump with guage and dual head

Everyone need a good floor pump. The Topeak JoeBlow Sport II - ($35) has a gauge, will go up to high pressures, and has dual head supporting presta or schrader valves. It even has adapters for filling soccer balls, air mattresses, etc. It is stable and has a comfortable handle. This is the best floor pump I've owned and I've had a few!

5. Torque wrenches and socket set

Torque is the force needed to tighten bolts. With modern lightweight materials used on bikes, it is more important than ever to use the right torque. If you tighten something too much you risk stripping the bolt or nut. You could also literally "crush" the material in the bike itself. Stripping a bolt isn't the end of the world, but some fasteners are molded directly into your bike frame (e.g. the bottom bracket shell). Strip that and you are looking at buying a new frame (ouch). Conversely, if you don't tighten a bolt enough it could fall off later (I think you can understand why this could end badly).

Sounds scary or complicated? It isn't really, if you have the right tools. You simply use a special wrench designed to measure the force used on a bolt. You just tighten a bolt to the specification determined by the manufacturer of the part. Please don't use a automotive torque wrench! Torque settings for cars are much higher than bikes, so you need a different tool.

I use two wrenches: the Park Tool TW-1 ($36) and Park Tool TW-2 ($43). They are (respectively) used for low and high torque applications. These are "beam-type" wrenches which never need calibration (nice), bi-directional (also useful), and are very sturdy. I also bought a set of sockets that come in very handy when using the wrenches: the Park Tool SBS-1 ($28 Amazon).

Some will tell you that you can just "feel" when a bolt is too tight. That may be true for highly skilled mechanics, but I'd rather "do it by the book" and know that it is right.

6. Lube, anti-seize and thread locker

While working on your bike you are bound to need a general lubricant for a variety of applications. The Park Tool AK-37 kit already contains some grease and lube. Additionally, I like and use TriFlow (high quality) in both aerosol ($6) and drip bottles ($7). The aerosol is good for tough to reach places while the drip bottle is good for chains or brake / shifter cable housings.

Old school bike mechanics will tell you to put grease on things that might seize or gall (i.e. stick together - preventing you from taking them apart again). A far superior product to use is anti-seize ($6). This is the same stuff you use on car spark plugs and it won't dry out like regular grease. You will need this for pedals, bottom brackets, etc.

Finally, some bike bolts might need a little help in staying put/tight. For these applications you can use a medium strength thread locker ($7) - also known as Loctite 242 "Blue". The bolt can still be removed with tools and is less likely to vibrate loose.

7. Cleaning supplies

Bikes get greasy and dirty so you are going to need a good degreaser/cleaner. I like Simple Green ($11) and having it in a spray bottle makes it super easy to use. It is non-toxic and biodegradable. If needed, pour it in a jar for soaking really dirty parts. Note: remember to dilute consentrated Simple Green with water by 50% when soaking parts or you may risk "etching" the metal parts.

You could use rags for cleanup, but I find paper towels simpler and easier.

Cleaning your frame and other parts requires a set of brushes that you don't mind getting dirty. I bought this set by Finish Line ($12) as they nicely compliment the one brush that already comes with the AK-37 tool set above. Any car washing soap should be fine for cleaning your bike frame, just be sure to NEVER spray water on or near bike bearings. It could force water inside the bearings (which would be bad). Just gently wash the bike (or better yet, use a bucket). Warm water works best.

For the final, show room look you might try a bottle of Pedros Bike Lust ($9). It is a silicon polish that will make your bike look better than new!

8. Third hand tool (great for cable adjustments)

If you have ever tried to adjust a brake cable, you can probably appreciate that it often takes three hands to do the job. Two hands to tighten the cable pinch bolt and one to hold the cable taut. The latter is what Avenir's Third-Hand Cable Puller ($12) is used for. There are other ways to get the job done (e.g. vice grips), but none work as well as this tool. This tool isn't a "must have", but it sure is a nice to have!

9. Measuring tools

Like it or not, bikes have become precision machines. Often you need to measure a part to know if it will fit. Installing the wrong size part can easy damage something. A good set of digital calipers is handy for this and many other household jobs. I especially liked the Park Tool DC-1 ($34) because it can measure in inches, mm, and even inch fractions (e.g. 1 1/8in)! Okay, I admit it, I think it is just so cool that I can measure something to 1 / 1000 of an inch or mm!

It is also cool to have a shop scale. If you get really weight conscience about your bike, every gram counts. You could try the Park Tool DS-2 ($32), but really any scale will do. I happen to use this cheap digital postage scale. It works, but isn't the most accurate (+/- 5 grams or so) and only displays in ounces.

Enough for now...

Now that you know what I have in my shop, In the next few posts I'll go over some bike projects that I've been working on with these tools. Stay tuned.

Panasonic KX-TG6445 - a great cordless phone for the OOMA Telo

2010-12-27T10:11:00.000-08:00

I've been a fan of the OOMA Telo since I got it just over a year ago. In fact, I just got my first annual bill associated with OOMA that starts on your second year of service. I paid only $11.75 for another year (saving me $360 per year). A fantastic deal for what has been excellent phone service and a great way to cut your bills without sacrifice!

When I bought my OOMA telo I simply used it with my old Uniden cordless phones (and it worked reasonably well with them). However, the batteries on my Uniden handsets were starting to die and rather than replace them I thought it might be time to look for something better.

Panasonic KX-TG6445t

Initially, I was just looking for a decent deal on a phone set with at least 4 handsets.

However, as I read a bit more about the newer DECT 6.0 phones I ran across some really cool features that made upgrading my phones particularly tempting.

Because my old Uniden phone wasn't able to detect if there was voicemail on my OOMA telo, I was always stuck with using two message systems. I used the built in answering machine on the Uniden 95% of the time. However, if I got a call while I was on the phone, it would still go to my OOMA voicemail.

This was particularly annoying as it was easy to miss that I had a message waiting on my OOMA telo (v.s. my Uniden which would simply flash to get my attention).

Time for a better phone!

Note: The KX-TG6445t is the 5 handset (t = titanium black) version of KX-TG6441 (one handset w/answering machine), KX-TG6442 (two handsets), KX-TG6443 (three handsets), KX-TG6444 (four handsets).

What I look for a in a cordless phone

Besides the obvious features that we all take for granted (good voice quality, simple use, long battery life, good build quality, etc.), there are some things that I MUST have in a cordless phone:

It shouldn't interfere with my wifi network (DECT 6.0 uses 1.9 Ghz) - so that should be fine
Lots of handsets (I could use 4, and the KX-TG6445 comes with 5) - nice to have a spare!
A easy to use MUTE feature (comes in handy when you have a noisy household)
It should also have a standard 2.5mm headset jack... for those long phone calls!

Bonus features of the KX-TG6445:

Talking Caller ID - This is, in a word, simply awesome. It announces each call on the second ring with fairly reasonable clarity. You can even edit (or override) the name that each phone number announces (a feature that is just asking to be abused!).
Supports a caller block lists - for those annoying robo-calls that just won't stop! - works great!
Each handset uses two standard AAA rechargeable batteries (no more battery packs to replace, yeah!)
Very power efficient (only 1.1 Watts while in standby) - less than most nightlights!
Cool intercom feature. With enough handsets for one in every room, my kids love this. Beats the heck out of using tin cups and string!
Automatically updates the time from caller ID info - one less device for me to update for daylight savings time!

Note that you might have noticed that Panasonic has newer models branded "DECT 6.0 Plus". The KX-TG6445t is not one of the "Plus" models. However, last time I was at Fry's Electronics I noticed quite a few returns of the "Plus" models. Also, the KX-TG6445 gets pretty good reviews on Amazon. Sometimes the "lower" model is the one to get!

So, how does it work with OOMA?

Just about any phone will "work" with the OOMA Telo. However, the trick with using one with the OOMA telo is good voicemail integration. A phone should have the following features:

Should be able to disable the built-in answer machine (if it has one)
Should be able to program (and easily dial) a voicemail number
Should support a Visual Voicemail Waiting Indicator (VMWI). Turns out there are two ways to do this: FSK (frequency shift keying) or SDT (stutter dial tone).

In the case of the Panasonic KX-TG6445, it works great with OOMA voicemail. The answer machine is easily turned off and you can configure it to call OOMA's voicemail instead. As far as Voicemail Detection, the Panasonic KX-TG6445 seems to support either FSK and SDT. FYI: the OOMA telo uses FSK for those that care.

Once you set it up, each handset will show if you have new voicemail waiting (and flash the charging LED).

Finally! No more hassles with two different message systems!

Note: I could have just gotten a phone without an answering machine as well (might be cheaper). However, I might not always have OOMA and I don't want to have to buy a new phone if I change providers.

What about the cordless OOMA handsets?

OOMA does make a DECT 6.0 cordless handset you can buy:

I'm sure these handsets have even better OOMA integration (and/or voice quality). However, at $50 a handset, they just aren't as good of a deal (for me). If you only need one or two handsets, they might be worth trying out.

Other tips for using the Panasonic KX-TG6445

It is definitely worth spending some time reading the manual to look at the different ways you can configure this phone (there are lots of options). I ended up disabling the ringers on all of my handsets. I enabled the ringer (and voice caller ID) on my base station only. If you have a small enough house, having only one phone ringing may be enough for you.

What I didn't like about the phone

So far I only have a few minor criticisms of the phone:

Issue #1: I can't name each handset like I could with my older Uniden phone.

The Panasonic KX-TG6445 handsets are labeled 1-5, plus there is the base station. Naming is really nice if you like the intercom system. However, since all of the phones look alike, it is really easy to mix them up. If you named them then you'd have to worry about them ending up in the wrong room. So, the lack of naming is a minor issue for me and easily ignored.

Issue #2: I wish the handset display was a bit easier to read from a distance.

The LCD handset display isn't very high contrast and is hard to read from a few feet away. Once the backlight is on, this isn't a problem. I'd also like it if the charging LED was more visible from the front. This would make it easier to notice when it is flashing for new voicemail.

All in all I'm pleased and the Panaxonic KX-TG6445. It is a cool phone and makes a great addition to my OOMA Telo!

Cut the Cord: a survival guide (episode 6)

2010-11-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to "No-Pay-TV" Island and to another episode of Cut the Cord Survivor! If you have just arrived, you can start at Episode 1 here. Our challenge for today:

Episode #6 - Miss your DVR yet? Choosing the best "box" for cutting the cord!

Like many of you, I've become addicted to the features of my Digital Video Recorder (DVR). I first got one of these beauties years ago back when Tivo was first getting popular. At the time I was a Direct TV subscriber and loved the fact that I could record two programs at once. Later, when HD arrived, I switched over to Cable for a variety of reasons. I appreciated that they "gave" me (rented is more like it) a similar DVR which could record in HD. The years passed and I became more and more frustrated that the features in my Cable DVR never improved (and yet the prices increased). This story should sound familiar to many of you!

Nevertheless, if cutting the cord meant living without a DVR it would be a tough sell indeed. Fortunately, that isn't the case. Also, the point I like to make is that cutting the cord is about taking advantage of both free broadcast TV (if you can) and Internet video. The two services combined really do make a compelling alternative to Pay TV. To fully enjoy either service (and more), you will need much more than a simple DVR.

Not everyone's requirements or needs are the same, so let's go over some of the features that you might look for in a "box" that would help you cut the cord!

What kinds of boxes are there?

One of the advantages of improving technology is that many of the features that used to require a separate box can now be integrated into another device (such as a traditional TV or BluRay player).

I'm sure manufacturers love that they can incorporate compelling new (and/or exclusive) features into their TVs, but be careful as there are definitely some huge drawbacks for us. At least in the case of TVs (and some BluRay players), these are not cheap purchases. The two main disadvantages of this approach are that they become obsolete more quickly and they encourage vendor specific lock-in. You may also find that the features integrated into your TV aren't nearly as nice as what can be had in an external box (which can be more easily upgraded or replaced). For example, just because a device can do "Netflix Instant Streaming", doesn't mean it does it in the same way or with as nice of a UI. See my blog post here about that surprising result.

Nevertheless, we can't ignore this category and a single smart TV may be all that some people are looking for or need (especially if you are in the market for a new TV anyway).

Besides TVs and BluRay Players, you can buy a variety of stand alone boxes. Closest to a traditional DVR would be boxes from Tivo. There are also Internet only Media streaming devices from Apple, Boxee, and many others.

What to look for in a "Box"

Let's ignore what the "Box" looks like for a moment and just talk about what we want it to do.

If you have switched to broadcast TV (or are using unscrambled Cable), you will want traditional DVR features. This means being able to record (and play) HD signals. Also, most people would appreciate at least two tuners for recording programs simultaneously.

Secondly, many people look for Media streaming capability as well. The box should play a wide variety of Internet video sources like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon VOD, iTunes, Youtube, etc.

Beyond these two major categories (which really divide the current crop of boxes), there are also a long list of other nice to have features:

Play traditional disc media like BluRays, DVDs, CDs, etc.
Play movies on removable media like flash drives, etc.
Placeshift (view elsewhere) your recorded content (e.g. like a Slingbox)
Remotely access your recording schedule (e.g. change it from work)
Easily share / view content throughout your own home (e.g. like a media extender)
Optionally connect wireless to your home network
Play games, surf the web, or otherwise act like a PC or Mac
Be quiet and use very little power when not in use.

Hint: This list might look suspiciously like what my Media PC can do. So far I haven't found a better box (for me), but that doesn't mean it is the perfect solution for everyone!

Not every feature above will likely be important to you. As you consider your choices keep in mind that if a device doesn't have something you want, you may need more than one box (not a big deal for some). Few boxes can do it all and no solution is ever perfect (except mine - insert smiley here!)

Multi-room setups

Finally, if you have a family (or large home), you probably have more than one TV in your house. Traditionally (with Cable TV), you might have a cable wire run to more than one location to make adding TVs easy. Satellite TV is more difficult to deal with, but it is basically the same.

So, if you are going to cut the cord from pay TV, you need to think about what you are going to do for those other rooms in your house.   Does this mean you need to buy one "Box" for each room? If you rely on a smart TV does this mean you need all new TVs for each room? (I know which answer TV makes want to hear!).

I've blogged more about the multi-room issue in detail here.

What is available

There is a seeming endless list (and growing) of devices that fill some of these needs. Having spent quite a bit of time looking at them I'll share with you some of my overall observations.   Many of these boxes fall into a just a few categories.

The broadest category are (mostly smaller) manufacturers that aren't strongly affiliated with major content providers. You'll find that these boxes try to offer up lots of Internet content and give you the impression that you can have it all for free. I would place Boxee, xTreamer, Popcorn Hour and others into this category. I'm personally skeptical of the longevity of these solutions because the content provides (movie studios, etc) are constantly cutting deals with specific box makers to try and squeeze out the competition.

On the other hand you have major players (Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Sony, Walmart, Roku etc) that have strong content deals/affiliation and are in constant warfare with each other to get the most and/or exclusive content.

There is also the largely ignored category of feature enhanced DVRs made by Tivo and others.

Strangely enough, it appears to me that Microsoft has been taking a pretty low profile in all of this even though they have a very good solution (IMO).

So, which solution is right for you?

Ah, the million dollar question! Unfortunately, I can't answer that as there are so many different things that people might want.   If for example you only want Netflix you might be happy with a Roku, PS3, Wii or Xbox. If you watch tons of Internet content and want a simple solution check out xTreamer, Boxee, Popcorn hour, etc. Or, if you are lucky, your latest TV/BluRay player might already have enough of what you need. If you are more adventuresome and "want it all" you might go for a Media PC as I have done.

Conclusion

Note that when I first thought about this article I was planning on listing the pros and cons of many of the Media Streaming boxes available today. I quickly realized that there are a couple of problems with this approach. First, I couldn't possibly do justice to even the major ones without making this article way too long to read (and write!). Second, things change so rapidly that it gets out of date too quickly.

Instead what I've focused on are the steps that I went through in choosing my solution and what I've learned in the process. I certainly have come to realize that there is a wide range of solutions available.

It is all too easy to get overwhelmed and decide that this is just too complicated. In a way you are right, but some of this confusion is what makes cutting the cord viable. Pick a solution, try it, and I think you'll be surprised how easy it is to live without pay TV.

I'll devote future articles to specific solutions (like Google TV), to give them the full attention that they deserve. In the meantime, there is no shortage of devices to help you cut the cord and enjoy the savings!

Cut the Cord: a survival guide (episode 5)

2010-10-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome back everyone to "No-Pay-TV" Island and to another episode of Cut the Cord Survivor! If you have just arrived, you can start at Episode 1 here. Our challenge for today:

Episode #5 - Keeping your inner sports fan happy

There is no doubt that Pay TV's major weapon against cord cutting is sports. If you are a big sports fan and are constantly watching sports of all kinds on TV, you might be stuck with Pay TV for now. However, don't give up hope just yet (things are constantly changing). If you are like me, you could be surprised by what is available now. It pays to keep an open mind!

Let's start with a quick review of broadcast sports (and the advantages), then I'll review some of the Internet sports options. I've blogged about some of this before here, so I'll also cover some new features that I've discovered with Windows Media Center that I think you'll appreciate. Yet more reasons why using a Media PC to watch TV (and sports) is really cool.

Watching Sports in Windows Media Center

If you are a Major League Baseball fan, this is a pretty exciting time of the year. The San Francisco Giants just won the National League Championship and are all set to play the Texas Rangers in the World Series(tm).

One really cool thing about Windows' Media Center that I've recently starting using is the guide search feature. If you click on the "View Categories" when viewing the TV guide you will see an expanded search menu. Clicking on each of the categories will limit your guide data to the channels offering the programming you want to focus on. In the case below, I've selected "Sports".

This is really handy for quickly seeing what is on when sporting events might be on channels that are quite far apart in the guide (remember I receive 67 channels!). I also like and use the HDTV and Kids categories.

Enjoy superior broadcast HD quality

One clear advantage that broadcast TV has over Cable and Satellite is the quality. Broadcast TV in HD usually looks fantastic. Cable and Satellite have to cram hundreds of channels and you can't do that without some loss of quality. Just watch crowd shots, or look at the detail in the grass and you will see what I mean. Not bad for free!

TV Guide data

One warning though: Although the guide data in WMC has up to two weeks worth of programming, it isn't always accurate. In the case of sporting events, the timing and programming might not be updated frequently enough. A good example is the upcoming World Series. Although the Giants won last Saturday, the guide data still doesn't show them playing yet (as of Monday):

In case you are curious, you can force Windows Media Center to fetch the latest TV guide data by going into Settings -> TV -> Guide and selecting "Get Latest Guide Listings".

However, this doesn't always help. If your guide data is wrong, you might have to schedule a manual recording. Fortunately this is easy to do. Finally, for recording sporting events, always add extra time to the end of the recording so you don't miss the ending! I've done that a number of times.

Use two TV tuners!

For recording sports, it is really essential to have at least two TV tuners. Recording back to back sporting programs that don't (normally) overlap can overlap when they extend into overtime! Read about easily (and cheaply) adding a dual tuner to your media PC here.

Broadcast TV & Football

I'm not really a big Football fan, but I am impressed with how many games are available on broadcast TV. This past Sunday there were at least three full games on with two of my local teams playing. That is a lot of football to watch and I don't see how you could do it without recording it. Of course, by recording it you can quickly skim to the interesting parts too. There is even football on Monday if your local teams are playing.

You aren't limited to the major broadcast networks for Sports!

I've mentioned this before but it is worth repeating. You can catch some really good sporting events on other broadcast channels such as Univision (Spanish) and Universal Sports Channel (if you get them). For a full list of channels that I get for free look here. English-only soccer fans probably don't care if the commentary is in Spanish, the game is easy enough to enjoy either way! The Universal Sports Channel often show wide variety of sporting events (e.g. volleyball, biking, etc).

Internet channels in WMC

Before I finish up with Windows Media Center (and broadcast TV sports), you might have noticed some of the Internet channels in WMC listed under the Sports category:

Most of the content here seems to be short video clips. There are lots of interviews, commentary, and event summaries. Many of the videos are 3-10 minutes each and cover NASCAR, NFL, Boxing, etc. All seem to be available in WMC under Showtime sports.

Internet Sports

Okay, enough of WMC, let's see what else is available.

When it comes to Internet sports, there are a few things available for free, lots of sports clips and a few subscription options. If you live outside the US (but watch US sports), you even have some options we don't have here. I'll go over just a few options, but keep in mind that things are constantly changing!

ESPN3

One really cool site for sports over the Internet is ESPN3. As long as your Internet provider supports them (e.g. ComCast), you can watch all kinds of sports for free. According to their FAQ they cover College Football and Basketball, NBA, MLB, UEFA Champions League Soccer, The Masters and US Open Golf, all 4 Grand Slam tennis tournaments.

Major League Baseball

If you are a baseball fan (although the season is almost over), there is also MLB TV. Although paying for watching baseball right now only makes sense if you don't have access to broadcast TV!

Pro Football

The football season is just starting up and there is lots of games to watch. Unfortunately, there aren't many Internet choices for full games, however there are a few things available.

International fans of American Football can get access to NFL GamePass (full games).

If you prefer to listen to your games, you can try the NFL Audio Pass. For $20 per season or $10 per month you can nearly complete access to the audio from the games.

Of course, there are also lots of free NFL highlights available on the NFL video website.

Pro Basketball

The NBA offers a service like MLB TV called NBA leaguepass. There are packages available for Cable and Satellite customers but also one for broadband only customers. I noticed there are (not surprisingly) restrictions on what games are broadcast, but for basketball fans that want to cut the cord at least it is something! There are also free highlights and commentary on the NBA videos section of their website.

Racing

One of the most popular sports in the US is car racing (although it doesn't always seem that way). If you go to NASCAR video you can catch lots of video clips of race highlights. The videos are shorts from TNT, SPEED, and you can even subscribe to Race Rewind on iTunes.

And there is more!

Think of a sport, any sport. There is probably a dedicated cable channel for it as well as one or more major websites. More examples include Tennis channel, Golf Channel, Fox's Soccer TV, etc.

Rather than list them all here, I suggest you head over to one of the popular video aggregator sites or applications. Many of these have sub-categories for sports that are really helpful:

Clicker. Sports related videos are here (then choose filters for Professional sports, College sports, Soccer, Olympics, etc.
Ovguide. Sports channels are here.
Zinc.tv (screen shot shown above)
Boxee

Between these four (and I'm sure many other) aggregator sites, if there is a website for your favorite sport you'll probably find it listed.

Summary

While there really are a lot of websites with sports videos, when in really comes down to watching your favorite events "live", Cable and Satellite do have a major stranglehold on most content. Beside, if you watch a lot of sports you are probably getting your moneys worth when you pay your TV bill.

This isn't all that surprising when you think about professional sports. After all they are for-profit businesses that are still trying to figure out how to make money on the Internet without destroying their income from Cable and Satellite.

On the other hand if you are only a casual sports fan and/or not very picky about what is on, then cutting the cord may still be an option for you (as it is for me). Even if you miss some of your favorite events, you can always put the money you save towards seeing it truly "live" (i.e. go get a real ticket)! Or, you can head over to your local sports bar and enjoy their programming for the cost of a meal or a few drinks.

Cutting the bills pays off big - $4,000 per year and counting!

2010-10-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's report card time here at CuttingTheBills. Just to show you that this blog isn't just about cutting the cord from pay TV I thought I'd start adding up some of my annual savings from a few of my projects. So far I'm saving easily over $4,000 per year. YES, FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS! If I were that piggy-bank, I'd be one REALLY happy pig!

As nice as these savings are, there are even more ways to save. In fact, I think this is just the beginning.

Are you skeptical? You should be! Let me review the savings and I'll show you how you can save too! And to be fair, I'll be disclosing ALL of my costs (even trivial ones). If I've made a mistake or missed something, let me know and I'll correct it. But the bottom line is that you can save a significant amount of money in quite a few different areas.

In the process, I hope you also appreciate my blog's main theme that technology can help us cut costs (without sacrifice). All too often technology is just a way to distract us with shiny new toys while really trying to sap our pocketbook. It's time to fight back and who says we can't have some fun in the process!

Now on to the savings!

First let's go over the items that are pretty straightforward. These are items that I've mostly blogged about already.

Just follow the links in the tables to see the original articles that talk about each savings in detail.

Cutting the bills	Annual savings
Cutting the cord from pay TV	$960
Switching to an OOMA phone	$360
Making my own coffee	$740
Getting Smarter car insurance coverage	$580
Collecting cash for recycling	$60
Canceling my gym membership	$480
Avoiding a cell phone data plan	$600

Total annual savings: $3,780

WOW, that is a lot of cash (and this is just the easy stuff to count)! Those savings sure do add up fast!

What you don't believe me? Okay, here are the details:

Cutting the cord savings

My old "triple play" (or rather triple pay) cable bill was $165 per month (phone, cable TV and Internet)
With Internet only service (no TV or phone), it dropped to $42 per month
I added Netflix (the 1-out at a time plan) which is just under $10 per month
My net savings is $165 - $42 + $10 or $113 per month
I estimate that the phone portion of my old cable bill was about $33
OOMA (my new phone) isn't totally free, the monthly "tax" fee is about $3.47 for most people
My net phone savings would be $33 - $3 or $30 per month ($360 per year!).
My net TV savings would be $80 per month ($960 per year!)

Coffee savings

A typical coffee drink is about $4, one per day, 5 times a week that is $1040 per year
Yes, I like coffee, but I have a relatively mild habit compared to some!
I'd estimate my coffee supplies (beans, milk, chocolate) at $25 per month or $300 per year
I only buy fresh beans from a local coffee roaster (remember, savings WITHOUT sacrifice!)
Net savings on coffee of $740 per year

Car Insurance savings

We have three relatively new (2000, 2005 and 2007) vehicles in our family
The vehicles aren't fancy, just practical
By removing collision/comprehensive (with a $1,000 deductible) we save $580 per year
Yes, I've assumed some risk, but I've also maxed out my liability coverage (the protection that is really important)! Read my argument here why I thing this is being smart for the long-term.

Gym membership savings

I haven't blogged about this yet, but by canceling my local gym membership (at $40 per month) I save $480 per year
No, I haven't stopped exercising!
I switched to more time-efficient and free methods (and am actually in much better shape now!).

Recycling savings

By collecting cans, plastic and glass bottles (instead of dumping them in the recycle bin), I'm getting cash back that amounts to about $5 per month, or $60 per year.

Cell phone savings

My current cell phone bill (AT&T) is usually less than $30 per month (and with plenty of minutes)
I haven't done an exhaustive survey, but $80 per month for an iPhone with a data plan isn't unusual.
This save me $50 per month (I still use my iPhone's data features, just only on Wifi). This saves me $600 per year.
I also bought a portable GPS navigator to use instead of my cell phone (works better too)
NOTE: If you are a light user of a cell phone, you can save ever more. By switching to a pre-paid plan I got my Mom's bill to about $5 per month!

Okay, that covers the easy stuff, what about the rest?

Some ways to save money are more difficult to estimate exactly. These items could be small, or run into the thousands. For example:

Cutting the bills	Annual savings
Reusing older computers	???
Using my local library	???
Doing simple car maintenance	???
Watching my electricity use	???

Computer Savings

Instead of buying new computers, I've upgraded nearly all of my computers to Windows 7. Microsoft has done a fantastic job with this new OS and it runs on surprisingly well on old computers.   For once, PC users get an OS that is more efficient and doesn't force you to buy new hardware!

A new laptop alone for me would be over $1,000 (I like the good ones).   I've even upgraded my kids' computers (really old) and they work great now. Eventually I'll have to buy new computers, but Windows 7 has allowed me to put off that expense for a while - saving me money!

You even can pick up a 3-User Windows 7 (Home Premium) upgrade family pack from Amazon for less than $150. This is much cheaper than new computers!

Library savings

I'm also a fan of using my local library. I can rent (borrow) DVDs, CDs, as well as avoid having to buy books. Anyone with kids can appreciate how expensive a trip to Barnes and Nobles can be! Having access to free DVDs is also a great way to help you cut the cord.

Car maintenance savings

Working on your own car doesn't have to be scary. It doesn't have to even be big things. I've blogged about doing simple things like cleaning your own cabin air filter.   Even better, if you change your own oil, you can save $50 (as much as $200 per vehicle per year!). Sure car maintenance is a challenge, but if you do it yourself you learn a bit and know it is done right.

Electricity bill savings

Finally, one simple tool that I've blogged about can help you with your energy use. A typical electricity bill can run over $100 per month. Just being smarter about what you buy and how you use it could easily knock 5% off your bill. That would add up to $60 per year with no effort at all.

For most of these items, it is really hard to estimate how much I'm actually saving. However, it isn't a question of if I'm saving, it is really a question of how much. I could make a silly guess, but I'd rather be conservative and just say that these items add up to at least a few hundred dollars per year (minus any costs).

My combined savings are over $4,000!

Okay, while $4,000 is an attention grabbing number it is easily attainable and justifiable. However, I did spend some money on a few technology toys that helped me along the way. My goal is saving without sacrifice and some technology is great at that. To be fair, we must offset the savings by this cost:

Fixed (one time) costs

Item	Cost
An OOMA Phone	$200
My DIY Media PC	$600
Digital TV Antenna	$150
Garmin GPS Navigator	$150
Kill A Watt meter	$20

Total costs: $1,120

With a annual savings of $4,000, spending a little over a $1,000 is truly a no-brainer. Of course, these items should easily last several years. Just average these costs out and almost all of your savings stay in your pocket where they belong!

Summary

Well, I hope I've made a believer out of some of you in that there are multiple ways to cut your bills and save money with technology. With how busy we all are it is sure easy to ignore some of these and you don't really realize how quickly it adds up to real money. While cutting the cord is definitely one of my favorite topics, it is just one of many ways to fight rising bills.

There are lots more ways to save and if people tell you that it isn't worth it don't believe them! Try it for yourself instead!

What ways have you saved money?

Cut the Cord: a survival guide (episode 4)

2010-10-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome back everyone to "No-Pay-TV" Island and to another episode of Cut the Cord Survivor! If you have just arrived, you can start at Episode 1 here. Our challenge for today:

Episode #4 - Winning the kids' hearts and minds

Fans of the movie "Lilo & Stitch" might recall this scene:

[Nani is taking Stitch outside]
Lilo: He was an orphan and we adopted him! What about "ohana"?
Nani: He hasn't been here that long!
Lilo: Neither have I. Dad said "ohana" means family.
[Nani stops]
Lilo: "Ohana" means family. Family means...
Lilo, Nani: ...nobody gets left behind.
Lilo: Or...?
Nani: ...or forgotten. I know, I know. I hate it when you use "ohana" against me.

Anyone with more than one person in their household knows that for cutting the cord to be successful you have to make sure the entire family is happy... especially your children. Ohana means nobody gets left behind! However, merely keeping your kids occupied with TV shouldn't be your goal (although any parent can appreciate how useful this is!). Just recently I had an interesting experience that I'll share with you about educational television that might just change your perspective about kids and TV.

Yes, your kids have been patiently waiting for you to give up this cutting the cord foolishness so they can get back to their favorite shows. We are almost halfway through the "Cutting the Cord" survivor season, let's see if we can win over the kids too!

Let me first start with the experience that truly surprised me as a parent, then I'll go into some great sources of (more traditional) entertainment for the kids

What does this old guy have to do with Kids entertainment?

My Son constantly pesters me to read him stories at night. Perhaps it is just his way of putting off bedtime a little longer, but I'd like to think that I'm instilling in him a passion to read and enjoy stories. I know someday soon it will be the last time that he asks (they grow up so fast), so I'm also trying to enjoy it while I can.

The other day I was flipping through the TV channels (free, broadcast TV mind you), and ran across a Ken Burns' series on PBS called American Stories. This particular episode was on Samuel Clemens (the great American author, lecturer, and storyteller). Of course, Samuel Clemens is probably better known by his Psuedonym of Mark Twain.

At the same time my Son was busy with another activity and not paying attention to what I was watching. Gradually he started listening to the program and wandered over. Soon he was sitting on the couch next to me asking me questions and enjoying it with me. The show was a fascinating documentary about Samuel Clemens' career, business investments, family and his ability to overcome adversity and personal tragedy. As an adult, I was enthralled yet I would have never guessed that this would have grabbed or held my young Son's interest. Perhaps it was the style of Ken Burn's documentaries that he liked (old black and white pictures with short bits of narration). Without a doubt, Ken Burns' own storytelling succeeded in bringing Samuel Clemens' story to life in very human terms.

Moral of this story:

PBS is full of educational and entertaining programming like this. I think you'd be surprised at how much of it would appeal to kids. Of course they have cartoons (I'll talk about PBS Kids in a minute), but I think it is a mistake to underestimate your childrens' ability to absorb/enjoy the rest.

While I watched this program recorded on my Media PC from broadcast TV, there is also lots of PBS videos available on the Internet as well. If you are a fan of Ken Burns you can watch two of his other series on National Parks and Baseball here.

What else is on broadcast TV for kids?

The first thing that I did when I hooked up my TV antenna was look for what stations played kids' programming. Fortunately, I have good reception and had a few channels to choose from. In the morning and afternoons, you can find quite a bit of kid friendly content on PBS (and their sub channels). There are shows like Caillou, Sid the Science Kid, Sesame street, Barney, Curious George (my personal favorite), Martha Speaks, etc.

ION (channel 65 for me) has a sub channel for the Qubo network with mostly kids shows. Qubo has Magic School Bus, Jane and the Dragon, Zula Patrol, Turbo Dogs, etc. You can even get some of these shows in HD on NBC (channel 11) on Saturday mornings.

I'm sure if you get a decent selection of broadcast channels, you will be surprised at how much kid friendly content (e.g. cartoons, animal shows, etc) you will find. Of course, it really helps if you have something you can record them on so that they are available to watch later. This is where a Media PC or DVR comes in really handy.

However, your kids might be still be a bit disappointed about the selection. What if they want to watch specific shows that aren't on broadcast TV? Fortunately there are lots of options for watching kids programming directly on the Internet. Let's see what we can find...

Netflix to the rescue!

Before we cut off our Cable, our kids loved to watch Sponge Bob, Pokemon, Scooby Doo, and other cartoons that they found in the on-demand section of our Comcast DVR. Many of these shows were nowhere to be found on broadcast TV. When I signed up for Netflix, I didn't realize that they also have a good selection of kids shows on demand too!

Here is just a short list of what my kids have been watching on Netflix in the past month or so: Lilo & Stich (the series), Johnny Test, Looney Tunes, Muppets in Manhattan, The Pink Panther, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Astro Boy, Dinosaur Train, Wallace & Gromit, etc. In short, Netflix easily replaced and exceeded the selection of kids shows that I had available on-demand with my Cable company. I'm sure there are some shows that aren't there, but there is plenty to keep the kids entertained.

Just go to the Netflix "Children & Family" section and browse around. However, keep in mind that Netflix only shows you 75 titles or so (on my Media PC anyway). If you want more, either use the search feature or open a browser window to Netflix to get a more complete selection.

Hulu (and HuluPLUS) too!

We don't use Hulu quite as much as Netflix, but it is an "all you can watch" service well worth considering. Hulu has channels for both "Family" and "Animation / Cartoons" to help you find content suitable for kids.

Shows that might be interesting include: Woody Woodpecker, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Sesame Street, etc.

HuluPlus (the $10 per month premium service) adds some shows: Speed Racer, Sitting Ducks, Astro Boy (more episodes) as well as a few family movies too.

This isn't a fantastic collection of kids's content, but Hulu is free and HuluPLUS is appealing for other reasons.

NOTE: While the Hulu Family channel has a Kids filter, the Animation/Cartoons channel doesn't. You might want to be careful what you let your kids watch as there is definitely some more adult oriented content here (e.g. Family Guy). I looked around and didn't find any parental controls. Hopefully, Hulu finds a clearer/better way to partition kids' content from everything else in the future.

What about other websites?

Okay, between broadcast TV, Netflix and Hulu things are looking pretty good right? Well, my kids still missed a few of their favorite shows (like Pokemon and Sponge Bob). This is where you need to venture a bit further out into the Internet to get what you want.

If you like Pokemon, start with the official site. Likewise if you like Sponge Bob, head over to Nickelodeon. Unfortunately, both sites only have a few full episodes. If you want more episodes, you can always try looking for alternative sites. I know I've found more Pokemon episodes on vimeo (for example).

One alternative to searching on the Internet for other sources is simply to buy the DVDs. For example, you can pick up the first 100 Sponge Bob episodes for $81. More than enough to keep even a die hard Sponge fan busy for a long time.

In fact, (in general) buying DVDs is a reasonable way to get some Cable only shows (especially if you are a collector) - just as long as you don't mind waiting for them to come out on DVD. You can even save some money if you find second-hand copies. Last years' shows are still just as funny and enjoyable.

I've mentioned before that I like both Boxee and Zinc.tv as ways/tools of discovering new content. They are also useful in finding and exploring kids shows too. Once you find something you like, you can either watch it directly or try to search for the original source website. Sure all of this is more work, but once you find what you are looking for it is no more difficult than managing bookmarks for webpages.

Summary

Okay Islanders, thanks for sticking with me this far. Hopefully you have found enough TV shows for your kids and family to enjoy. Certainly there is a lot out there and cutting the cord doesn't have to involve any real sacrifice at all (at least for kids' content).

Till next episode, just remember: Ohana!

The Digital Lifestyle Show

2010-10-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

While I am working on Episode 4 of the cutting the cord survival guide, I thought I take a moment to highlight a great resource on the web brought to you by TheDigitalLifestyle.com. Specifically I'm talking about The Digital LifeStyle Show, a weekly podcast hosted by Ian Dixon on a wide variety of media technology, trends, products and personalities.

Last week I had a great time talking with both Ian Dixon and Garry Whitaker from the show. You can listen to show #274 here. I got a chance to share some of my inspiration for creating this blog among other topics. Our Q&A begins at about 18 minutes into the show. I hope you enjoy it.

BTW: The show now has a new name (formerly called "The Media Center Show") and has been going strong for a number of years now. As the show is based in the UK, you also get a refreshingly international view of US and non-US players in the media space (e.g. like LoveFilm a NetFlix-like service based in England).

I actually discovered their show when doing a bit of research into remote access applications for Windows Media Center. They had interviewed the author of Remote Potato (a great Media Center add-on that I highly recommend).

Cut the Cord: a survival guide (episode 3)

2010-10-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

Aloha fellow Islanders!

Well it is time for dessert here on "No-Pay-TV" Island! Welcome back to Cut the Cord Survivor! If you have just arrived, you can start at Episode 1 here. Our challenge for today:

Episode #3 - Enjoying dessert: premium streaming TV and rentals

In the previous two episodes we have combined both broadcast TV and free internet TV to try and "kick" our pay-TV habit. While the two together may make a nearly complete entertainment "meal", we can't skip what I consider the best part. I'm referring to watching premium movies and streaming TV. I don't know about you, but I really enjoy movies. In fact, I probably watch movies more than broadcast TV or anything else. Movies are my dessert and I love dessert!

So, what kind of Movies are available to cord cutters? While you can certainly find quite a few among the free sources we just went over, it is a pretty slim selection. In this episode we open up our pocketbooks a bit and consider some pay services that deliver movies and premium TV.

But first, remember life before the Internet?

I recall a time not too long ago when video rental stores were on almost every block. It was pretty much a ritual for my family to rent a few movies for the weekend to watch. For years nothing changed, even as VHS tapes were replaced by DVDs. Then came the Internet and destroyed all of that (disrupted is the preferred P.C. term).

Around here video stores are gone, driven out of business by DVDs via-the-mail and streaming movies over broadband. You can blame Netflix if you like, but if it hadn't been them it would have been someone else. Call me old school, but I don't find looking for movies in a browser (or via a TV) quite the same experience. Nevertheless, you can't turn back the clock, so you have to take the good with the bad (and there is a bit of each).

So where does that leave us? Because DVDs (and now BluRays) haven't gone away yet, we should look at both rental by mail services as well as premium streaming. Fortunately, there really are a wealth of services available. I'll cover mostly US services, but will touch on non-US services at the end. Let's take a look at just a few:

Netflix
BlockBuster Express, RedBox, etc
your local library
Amazon VOD
Apple iTunes
Blockbuster
Vudu
GreenCine
HuluPlus
LoveFilm (UK)

That should be plenty to get started, let's go!

Netflix

I've blogged about Netflix here and am still a customer ever since I cut the cord months ago. It is a fabulous resource for cutting the cord and works on my Media PC as well as numerous other devices (with some differences).

Only one thing changed for me since I initially became a customer: I cut down my 2 out-at-a-time plan down to 1 to save a bit of money (yes, I'm cheap). I find that I simply can't keep my DVD rental queue full and mostly use their unlimited streaming service anyway.

One things is certain, by providing DVD/BluRay by mail and streaming movies, Netflix has combined two great services at an affordable price. However Netflix isn't the only game in town.

BlockBuster Express, Redbox, etc.

One alternative to the local video store that seems to have survived the Internet onslaught are the video rental kiosks. My local grocery store has had one of these for a few years now. With a family to feed, we do our share of shopping and renting a movie for $1 a night is reasonably convenient and cheap. Originally these kiosks were branded by another name (DVD express? I can't remember exactly), but now they are Blockbuster Express.

Don't confuse Blockbuster Express with the Blockbuster that filed for bankruptcy protection last week. BlockBuster Express is owned by NCR and a separate company.

Having used the kiosks quite a bit, I will say they are great but have some downsides. While we shop a lot, we don't shop every day. Returning the videos the next day often means an extra trip (although the stores probably like this a lot!). Also, while the selection of movies is usually decent, often the top movies are sold out. I am amazed how many movies these boxes hold, but after a while you might get tired of waiting for new stock to show up.

There are other services like this including Redbox. They are easy to miss, so look for them as they are a reasonable alternative (and great for spur of the moment rentals).

Free DVD rentals?

If you are lucky and have a great public library system, it is worth checking out! I've written more about this here. Fortunately libraries aren't likely to go out of business and you might be able to find a large selection of movies to borrow. My library limits me to 10 movies and they don't have to be returned for weeks! If you have this available, this is a service that can't be beat. They also have music and so much more. Really a fabulous resource for cutting the cord.

Amazon VOD

Amazon's Video on Demand is an instant streaming option with a few surprises. They may not have Netflix's all-you-can eat (watch) pricing, but they have a far larger collection of movies to choose from (and more current movies). They also have a nice twist in that you can combine a purchase of a DVD/BluRay with an instant viewing option (great for collectors that don't want to wait).

Read more about what I thought about Amazon VOD in another post here.

Apple iTunes

I confess that I'm not much of an Apple user even though we own our share of their products. We have iPhones, iPods and I've played with their Apple TV here. Like Amazon VOD, you can watch movies on your computer with iTunes (either rented or purchased). Of course, if you have iProducts you can use them too. If you want to read the FAQ about Itunes movie rentals you can find it here.

Some of the movies are in HD (at a higher price), but there are also movies you can rent for 99 cents (which is nice).

BlockBuster

Yes, I know Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy. However, unless they go into liquidation, I would assume this is a non-event for Internet only customers.

Like Netflix, Blockbuster offers movies (and games) by mail as well as on demand to many devices. You can also watch movies downloaded to your PC (offline) with their player here. I didn't see an option for Apple users.

Vudu (Walmart)

Vudu offers yet another movie rental/own option. Recently purchased by Walmart, Vudu integrates their player into may TVs and BluRay players (I didn't see any support for computers). They claim to have the most HD movies. Prices for the rentals seem comparable to Amazon VOD (e.g. Avatar is $3.99 to rent, and $19.99 to own).

GreenCine, and others

I'm sure there are quite a few smaller DVD rental by mail companies as well. To survive, I suspect that they are focusing on niches that are currently under served by Netflix and the like. GreenCine is an example of one service. If you find Netflix's catalog lacking, you might look around for alternatives like this.

Hulu Plus

Here is another service that might interest people. You certainly can't ignore Hulu and their new service called HuluPlus is worth a look. HuluPlus is currently in "Preview" mode, which means it requires a special invite which you can request here. They must not be all that picky because I requested an invite and got one less than two days later. Sadly, it wasn't free (darn)!

HuluPlus is a $10 per month service that promises to offer you many of your favorite TV shows (current and past seasons) on demand. Like many services, you can watch them on a growing list of devices.

I signed up and browsed around to see what I could find. True to their word, I found things like all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (curiously, except season 3, episode 4). I can watch all of season 2 of Glee (as it comes out), but only a three episodes of season 1. Clearly they are working on rights issues to get all the content to you.

Sadly, there are still commercials (really disappointing for a paid service). On the plus side (pun intended), you get great HD quality! Once you sign up, you can look for the green "H+" logo and enjoy all of the exclusive content:

HuluPlus is probably a particularly good match for cord cutters that don't (or can't) get particularly good broadcast TV reception.

Non-US options

Many of the streaming services that we are familiar with in the US are not available in other countries. I'm sure they are working hard to compete internationally (for example, Netflix recently announced that they are expanding to Canada). Sadly, I'm mostly pretty ignorant of what is available elsewhere.

One service I have read about is UK's LoveFilm. They offer movies by mail and instant streaming (and can be compared to NetFlix). Clearly companies around the world are not sitting still while the US companies fight it out here. Cutting the cord obviously depends a whole lot on where you are I've touched on here.

Summary

So what have we learned?

Netflix and HuluPlus have all-you-can-watch video streaming plans
There are many choices for (no monthly fee, pay-per movie) on-demand streaming
HD content is usually available (sometimes with a higher price)
You can stream to many devices (but not every service supports every device!)
Many services stream to computers, BlockBuster works with Windows, Vudu requires a special TV/BluRay player
There are several rent-by-mail providers
Kiosks are nice rental options
You really should visit your local library, too...

While Netflix is a mainstay in my household, there is thankfully no shortage of competitors just itching to take a piece of their business. Don't you love competition? This is exactly what you are missing when you subscribe to Pay TV. Once again it requires a bit of effort to look for what you want (v.s. just turning on the Cable box), but the results (and savings) are well worth it in my opinion!

Next up, keeping the kids happy on No-pay TV Island!

Cut the Cord: a survival guide (episode 2)

2010-09-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Aloha fellow Islanders!

It is so nice to see so many eager faces here on "No-Pay-TV" Island! Welcome back to Cut the Cord Survivor! You can find the previous Episode 1 here. Our challenge for today:

Episode 2: Foraging for free Internet TV

For those of you who just joined us, we are on this Island to isolate us from the evil temptations of Pay TV. Over the past week we have learned to survive on a simple, yet nutritious diet of free broadcast TV. It literally is in the air all around us. Contrary to your fears, we have not starved! We have discovered high quality television, news and sports (all for free). Hopefully we now appreciate that we were paying for content that was simply repackaged by the Cable and Satellite Companies. Getting mad yet? Good!

But wait, I see some unhappy faces in the growing crowd. I'll bet some of you are tired of the same meal every day. Ready for a little more variety? Great!, the challenge for today is to find free Internet TV. Why free? We'll get to pay Internet services soon enough. You've paid for Cable bills for years; now it is time to see what is available for free (you've earned it).

A couple of announcements first. First, our Island is in the US territories, so you'll find mostly US content reviewed below. Hopefully our International visitors will hang in there until sharing content cross borders is no longer a problem (read more about that problem here). Second, we are looking for free content, not illegal content.

We'll also be skipping Kids and Sports content for now. Each of those easily deserves their own dedicated Episode. All you need is broadband and a computer to start the hunt!

Now let's head off the beach and let's see what our Island offers!

Free Internet TV: What we should expect?

Unlike broadcast TV, free online TV is a moving target. New sources pop up all the time, old ones go away, content is constant shifting. Some content is meant to lure us back to Cable or other Pay Services. That is life. Foraging for free TV won't be without it's challenges, but it is far from difficult and definitely rewarding!

Given the current state of free internet TV it should come as no surprise that things aren't nicely organized. I'll show you a few places to start your searches and I'm sure you'll find more as you look around.

If I don't touch on your favorite source, leave a comment and share it with us. Since we are a large group we should leave no stone unturned!

I'll start the tour with Windows Media Center, just because it is already built in to Windows 7 and my Media PC is my favorite way to view web content.

Let's get started:

Windows Media Center: Internet TV (Classic TV, Popular Series, etc).

When you bring up Windows Media Center you will find "Internet TV" under the TV menu. This is "new" as it used to be under the TV guide area (thankfully they moved it as it didn't belong there).

As far as the content, you can find (not surprisingly) lots of CBS and MSN stuff. There is a really good selection of News programs (Mad Money, etc.) and a mixture of other interesting content (The Guild, PBS Video, etc). I also enjoyed a few gems like Star Trek Enterprise (the first four seasons) and the Original Star Trek (first 3 seasons).

One of the major problems with Internet TV via WMC is that it is often better to go directly to the source. This is usually true of all of the Video portals and aggregation sites (even my favorite like Zinc.tv). While it is nice to have content accessible from a single interface you are going to find that they aren't complete, links will be dead and many other issues. Nevertheless, WMC's Internet TV is still useful (as are the others) for discovering what is out there.

Hulu and Hulu Desktop

If you don't know about Hulu you've probably been living under a rock. Hulu has a lot of great content and has recently launched Hulu Plus in an effort to monetize more of it's content. I'll skip Hulu Plus for now (covered in an upcoming episode), but I would like to mention Hulu Desktop as not everyone knows about it.

Hulu Desktop provides a couch friendly interface for browsing Hulu content and is well worth loading. Of course there is no reason why (just like Netflix) you can't use either interface if you like (if you have a computer) - it is nice to have a choice.

Hulu is also one of the few places you will find (some) Hollywood feature length movies. I've watched a couple of movies via Hulu, but I suspect that their content has been impacted by the launch of Hulu Plus (and I don't blame them) to compete with Netflix. You might also find that some content is available in other locations (for example, there are more episodes of Family Guy available via adult swim video site - see below).

Mainly we use Hulu to watch TV shows that we've missed or forgot to record.

Zinc.tv, Boxee, Ovguide (other video aggregation / portals)

Since content is spread all over the Internet, it is not surprising that more than a few companies have tried to put everything in one place (good luck to them!). Some are more successful than other, but there is no winner yet, so plan on using a few of these. However my strategy is use them to browse and if I find something I like, try to get the content direct. Another problem with these guides is that they can be out of date or incomplete (yet another reason to go direct). However, let's go over them:

Definitately check out Zinc.tv, Boxee and OVGuide. So, the lesson here is use these tools just like you would use a favorite's bookmark in your browser and/or search engine. Then start bookmarking your favorite direct sites as you go.

Network portals

Each of the major US TV networks (and lots of the minor networks) have their own websites where you can watch their shows. These include TNT, CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, etc:

This brings up two more common problems with Internet TV. The first is all of those annoying teaser clips. At first glance it looks like there are a lot of shows, but many are just 2 or 3 minute clips. Most of the sites allow you to filter for full episodes, but they obviously don't make it easy. The second is that they don't often have a complete archive of past shows. Nevertheless you can still often catch the latest show if you forgot to record it (or don't get broadcast TV at all).

So, are you a fan of "The Closer", "Rizzoli and Isles", "CSI: NY", "Bones", "Cold Case" check out TNT.tv and start browsing around. This was one of our favorite sites when we did our "trial" cord cutting and it really helped convince us that we could easily live without cable.

CBS has some full episodes including great news content (like 60 minutes) or the Late Show with David Letterman.

On ABC you can find "LOST", several soap operas, and Classic shows (like Magnum PI, A-Team, etc).

Fox TV has "House" and "Glee".

Finally, don't ignore the lesser know TV networks such as CW TV, Bravo TV, DIY Network, etc. This list really goes on and one...

So, while these sites aren't perfect, the price is right! Browse around, you mind just find more than enough to keep you entertained!

Public Broadcasting

PBS Video: If there is an OMG moment when browsing for content, this is it. Check out this list of shows: Austin City Limits (Live Music), Front Line (investigative reporting), Nightly Business Report (Financial News), The American Experience, etc. There is too much to list. This site is awesome, go there now.

I imagine that viewers in the UK feel the same way about their BBC programming as well. Public broadcasting is a treasure and we should fight to keep it! If you are feeling generous, please donate to them!

Internet Archives

Here is an another awesome resource that many people don't know about, The Internet Archives. This is a massive collection of freely downloadable music (lots of live recordings), movies and more. If you are a fan the early color TV program "Bonanza", you can download 53 episodes there along with other shows like the "Beverly Hillbillies". Well worth checking out what is here, if only for the music. The Classic TV shows can be found here.

Comedy and Soaps

Life on "No-Pay-TV" Island got you down? How about a quick laugh? No shortage of comedy and/or daily shows to get your mind off your troubles:

Of course we can't forget such favorites like South Park, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (both at Comedy Central), and The Late Show with David Letterman (at CBS), and All My Children (Soap opera) at ABC.

Animation

Oh, so you like South Park, how about some more animated fun?

AdultSwim video has Family Guy (250 episodes!), you can also find "King of the Hill", "Robot Chicken", and tons more off-color humor and action shows. You can also check out Crunchy Roll a great source for anime.

Direct to Internet Shows

One of the things that I discovered at one of my last startups (plug for Euclid Media), is the weath of videos that people are producing directly on the Internet. Sure, some of the content is ... well ... spotty at best, that doesn't mean you should ignore it altogether. Billions of views can't be wrong, can they?

You can find a lot of the content on YouTube (of course), but there are other sources like Crackle, Vimeo, etc. Tube Mogul publishes an Internet Top 40 so you can see who is hot (literally). Most of the content can be crude or worse, but it has it's place (and fans) too. Explore at your own risk.

Feed your mind

Okay, after diving down into the depths of user generated content it is time to feed our brains a bit. Besides, we are on a Island right? We might need to learn how to build a raft or particle accelerator some day! If it is mental stimulation you are after, the is no shortage here either.

Just stop and have a gander at the videos available at TED, or Stanford University via iTunes. If you can't learn something from watching these videos then you aren't paying attention.

Summary

Internet TV is far from the simple packaged world of digital broadcast TV. Nevertheless because it is streaming we can watch what we want, when we want. Not a bad trade off if you are willing to look around a bit for things that interest you. I hope you'll now appreciate the variety of sources that we have available to us for free.

Video quality of all of the sources varies. There is some HD, but most is probably closer to standard definition. The good news is that all you need is a modern computer, broadband and Adobe's Flash plugin and you are good to go. Even better, the content is available to you where ever you have a fast internet connection (at least in the US).

Combining broadcast TV and Internet TV should start to look like a compelling alternative to Pay TV. For some, it is probably more than enough.

However, if you are still craving more we will look into some of the pay services next. The good news is that they are cheaper than Cable and might offer that perfect "Desert" that finishes off our meal!

Please leave a comment and share what you have found too!. Till next episode, Aloha!

Cut the Cord: a survival guide

2010-09-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Would you like to be a cutting the cord survivor?

Are you tempted by those monthly savings, but think they are too good to be true? Tired of poor customer service and endless Cable bill increases? Do you hate being bled to death by those "extra" monthly charges: what? you want HD, a DVR, and multiple rooms with TV? Are you annoyed that the one channel that you want to watch always seems to be in the most expensive channel package (along with 100s of other channels you could care less about)?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you might just have what it takes to join me on "No-Pay-TV" Island for a little game of "Cut the Cord" Survivor. Don't worry, I'll walk you through the process starting with a risk-free trial cutting and finishing up as a full-fledged cord cutting advocate!

We have just started season one and casting is about to start. Before you say yes, let me tell you what you are in for. Not everyone has the courage and motivation to make it. Many have dreamed of this and more than a few have failed. If you ask your friends they might laugh; if you read the news reports they will say it can't be done. Pay no attention to the nay-sayers. I'll share all of the secrets and we'll see who laughs last!

Here is a quick outline of the Season:

Episode #1 - Surviving on a crash diet of broadcast TV (this post)
Episode #2 - Foraging for free Internet TV
Episode #3 - Enjoying dessert: premium streaming TV and rentals
Episode #4 - Winning the kids' hearts and minds
Episode #5 - Keeping your inner sports fan happy
Episode #6 - Miss your DVR yet? Choosing the best "box" for cutting the cord
Episode #7 - Just say yes to place-shifting
Episode #8 - Dealing with annoying Cable addicts and cord cutting jokes
Episode #9 - Cancel your Cable bill in under 30 minutes

Finally, there is the problem of what to do with your monthly savings. Sadly, for that, you are on your own.

Still interested? Think you are up for the challenge? No ticket is necessary, just follow along.

Feel free to forward to your disbelieving friends. Let's make this a big party!

Episode #1 has just started and the Island awaits you!

Welcome to "No-Pay-TV" Island!

We will start with a "trial" cord cutting. No you don't have to literally "cut" the cord (although that would be satisfying). Just unplug your Cable/Satellite set top box or DVR and place it in your closet. You don't even have to tell your Cable company. It will be our little secret.

If your kids or significant other ask, just tell them that the DVR broke and the Cable company is sending you a new one (however it might take a few days - try to be vague). Oh sure, there will be complaints at first (a little screaming, some wailing, and much gnashing of teeth). Just hide that DVR really well or you could end up with a bit of a situation!

This is more or less exactly what we did a little over a year ago. We were remodeling our living room and had to move not only the Cable DVR, but the TV as well into the garage where they gathered dust for over 6 weeks.

What happened next was a total surprise to us. We found that we were amazingly content to substitute our cable viewing habits with what we could find on-line and (later) over the air. At the end of those 6 weeks I had almost forgotten about Cable (but the Cable company kept sending the bills!).

This is the same experience I'd like you to share. We need to cut ourselves off from the Pay TV first to give us the motivation to seek out alternatives.

You are on "No-Pay-TV" Island now and there is no Cable or Satellite TV here. So, what next?

Free Broadcast Digital TV

We will start with over the air or broadcast TV as it is probably one of the best kept secrets of cord cutters. If you are like me, you probably hadn't hooked up a TV antenna in years (perhaps some of you have never hooked up a TV antenna ever).

The transition to Digital TV in the US a year or so ago was mostly a non-event for people here. If you were a Cable or Satellite subscriber you could care less. You probably still have images in your mind of the old analog TV reception issues (snowy screens, ghosting of two channels together, garbled sound). Yes, that was what analog TV was like (especially in fringe) areas. However, believe me when I say that Digital TV is totally different.

If you live in a major metro area (or say within 30-40 miles of the transmitters), your TV reception could be near perfect. Oh, and by perfect, I mean really mean PERFECT. One of the joys of digital TV is that once your signal strength is past a certain point (e.g. about 50-60%), the image is nearly flawless. Gone are the issues of poor analog reception. Of course, you might need a good antenna if you are far away, but that is a small investment considering what you can get (and compared to Pay TV's bills!).

Who can get Digital TV?

I live in the San Francisco bay area (in California). My area is relatively highly populated and I have a good selection of TV channels to choose from. Lucky me you say, but I'm not alone. There are more than 5 million people who live in this major urban area so the channels that I'll review here should be directly of interest to a large audience.

However, other major urban areas in the US should have a similar selection of TV stations to choose from. Also, around the world many countries have already completed their transition to digital TV (or are in the process). So, I think it is fair to assume that raising people's awareness about digital TV is of general interest even if the specifics may vary widely. Just to give you an idea, here is a World map showing areas where Digital TV is already or is coming:

I think it is safe to say that Digital TV is pretty much a world-wide phenomena.

Sure, but I'll bet there is nothing on!

Wrong again. Remember, you have DVR unplugged and hidden away (no cheating!). I'll bet your stomach is growling and you are itching to grab that missing remote. Just wait, you are starting to get the right motivation needed to really appreciate what is available for free in the air all around you.

I'll skip the specifics of hooking up an antenna. You can read all about my antenna and how to point it here. Most modern TVs sold recently are mandated to have the ability to receive digital TV broadcasts. Just connect that TV to the antenna and let's see what is on! You don't need a fancy DVR or Tivo (We'll get to that later), just plug that antenna in directly! It couldn't be easier to get started:

Here is just a quick teaser before I jump into the channel list that I get for free.

All of the Major US TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC)
A live 7 by 24 TV guide channel
Multiple local TV stations with a variety of local news, weather, movies and entertainment
Multiple Public Broadcasting stations (and sub-channels)
Other TV networks such as CW and ION (more really good programming)
A large assortment of foreign language programming and news (some in English, and in a variety of languages). Lots of non-English speakers here. Cable TV subscribers pay an extra fee for this!
There are even a couple of simulcasts of excellent public radio stations.

All in all I get at last count 67(!) channels and I see more showing up all the time. Many of these stations broadcast in HD. For you sports fans, watching broadcast HD is clearly better that the same feed over Pay TV. The other day we compared AT&T's U-verse with broadcast and broadcast was clearly better. Funny that you are paying for an inferior picture that you can get for free over the air!

What about the programming itself? Well, the Fall TV show lineup has started and I can enjoy Glee, Castle, House, and numerous other high quality shows all in High Definition. I get Sunday (and Monday) night Football. Note: Monday night football is rebroadcast on CW in HD channel courtesy of ESPN (only when local teams are playing). I even get a non-stop diet of Olympic style sports on the Universal Sports Channel. Soccer fans can get their fill of coverage (not always in English though), via Univision.

Here are some screen shots of Glee on FOX, Monday Night FootBall on CW, Castle on ABC:

Nothing wrong with these pictures! We got full HD here.

Also, unlike Cable TV, many of the local stations have quite a bit of character. If you check out KOFY you can watch a late night horror show with a bit of entertainment on the side.

67 channels, I don't believe you!

Still think there is nothing on, check out this list of channels that I get:

KAXT - Low power local station with 15 sub channels and diverse programming. Channel 1.1 "The Cool TV" now has on on-air guide for all broadcast stations in the bay area! Some of the sub-channels have Vietnamese, Spanish, and Indian programming. There is also a Family sub-channel that occasionally plays older movies.
FOX - Major Network, 2 sub channels (FOX HD, and FOX). The non-HD sub-channel carries spanish programming
KRON - Major Local Station, 2 sub channels (one has usually has HD, the other standard definition, but both are in English).
CBS - Major Network, only one channel, often in HD
ABC - Major Network, 3 sub channels. The first one has HD, the second has misc programming (and infomercials, and the last has local weather radar).
KQED A Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) - 3 sub channels. Needless to say PBS stations contain top-quality educational and news programming. They also have excellent childrens' shows. While the first sub-channel is in HD, the other two often show interesting content as well. The other nearby PBS station KTEH often coordinates programming. When KQED is broadcasting something in SD, you can often find it in HD on KTEH - nice!
NBC (KNTV) - Major Network, 3 sub channels. The first is in HD, the second carries local weather, and the third (Universal Sports) covers unique sports programming (volleyball, bicycling, skiiing, etc).
Univision - Major Spanish Network, 2 sub channels. The first is in HD. Before English speakers dismiss this channel, keep it mind it has unbelievable coverage for Soccer. While the major World Cup games were covered by English networks, Univision carried almost all of the games (and in HD!). Besides, it is kind of fun watching sports in a foreign language. The sports casters aren't nearly as annoying when you don't understand. However, GOOOAAAALLL!!!, isn't hard to translate!.
KOFY - Local station, 2 sub channels. The first channel carries HD programming and the second sub-channel has Spanish programming. I've notices that KOFY has an eclectic mixture of show including vintage TV shows (e.g. Streets of San Francisco) and even an off-color late night horror movie on Saturday night.
KCRB - Another PBS station that is a bit far for me to receive all of the time, but it occasionally comes in. Like KQED, it has 3 sub channels and a mixture of HD and SD programming. The third sub-channel is a simulcast of KRCB-FM (audio only).
KTSF - Local independent station with 3 sub channels. Carries programming and news in multiple languages including Japanese, Madarin, and Cantonese.
KFTL - Local station with 4 sub channels. Carries a mixture of programming in multiple languages including Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese. Has religous programming during the day in English.
KMTP - Local station with 4 sub channels. Another multiple language channel including German. Carries International programs in English including Deutsche Welle TV, Russia Today TV, and the Classic Arts Showcase.
KICU - Local station with 3 sub channels. The first channel contains a mixture of classic TV shows, movies, and kids programming on the weekend. The two other sub-channels show programming in Korean and Spanish.
KCNS - Local station with 3 sub channels. Has programming in multiple languages including Tagalog (Philipines), Mandarin, Cantonese, etc.
KTNC - Local station with 3 sub channels. The first two channels are Estrella TV (Spanish). The third sub channel carries this TV (English) and an assortment of movies.
KBCW - Also known as CW, owned by CBS. This stations carries a lot of premium content and is often in HD. For you American Football fans, it also carries Monday Night Football through ESPN HD! (correction: when local teams play)
KSTS - Owned by NBC and operated by Telemundo and has 2 sub channels. Broadcasts in Spanish.
KTEH - Local (PBS) station with 5 sub channels. See KQEH above about the excellent PBS programming available. I can't say enough about the quality of shows available on PBS. If you aren't a PBS member supporting this outstanding service, you should be (and this week is pledge week).
KCSM - Local public station operated by the college of San Mateo and has 3 sub channels. Includes two sub channels Worldview (showing worldwide programming) and a simulcast of the SUPERB Jazz radio station KCSM-FM 91.1.
KKPX - Part of the ION network, with 3 sub channels. Lots of great content in both HD and SD. There are also quite a few Home improvement shows. This is a nice compliment to the normal mixture of shows on other stations.
KFSF - Univision affiliate with 2 sub channels. Spanish broadcasts in HD and SD.

With the exception of KCRB noted above, I receive all 67 channels nearly flawlessly. I probably could even get KCRB if i wanted to put up a bigger antenna, but why bother (no offense to KCRB)? As you can see there is plenty to choose from. All of this is thanks to the new digital technology and transition to High Definition. It took a while, but I'm glad it is finally here!

All you can watch TV

No, this is not the fabled 500 channels (ha!) that you are used to watching on Pay TV. There is no HBO, Showtime, or the like. However, we are on Survivor Island! This first step is to show you that you won't die without Cable TV (and this is just with free broadcast TV alone). There is plenty of enjoyable content (more than plenty really) that is available for free.

This is only the first step. In later steps I'll show you how you can supplement your diet of broadcast TV with other sources to truly make you forget that you ever paid for TV. We are not there yet, but already I hope you have an appreciation that things are looking up. You may just make it to the end of the Season and send that DVR back for good.

Leave a comment, and let me know that you are on the Island too!

More to come...

Cash for Trash! Recycle and save.

2010-09-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

No that isn't trash, it is $5.30 of free money with almost no effort. Well, not exactly free. I paid for it and for years I've been throwing it away even though I recycled as much as possible.

Our family has been an advocate of recycling long before it became so convenient. Sure, there have been cash deposits on soda bottles for years, but we used to make a special effort to take all of our glass, aluminum, cardboard etc. to a local recycling center. We didn't get any money for it and it certainly was a lot harder than just throwing it in the trash. Nevertheless it was the right thing to do and it was a good lesson to learn as a kid.

Today (fortunately) we have separate recycle bins that are picked up right next to the trash every week and it couldn't be simpler. I'm still shocked that people don't pay more attention to recycling even now.

Sometimes people need a little monetary incentive to do the right thing. Look carefully at the side of your soda bottle and you might see some interesting fine print. Look for "CA CASH REFUND" or "CA CRV":

I'll save you the trouble: If you live in the US states of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Oregon, or Vermont you get 5 cents per bottle (or aluminum can). If you live in Michigan you get 10 cents! Hopefully the other states have similar programs.

Here is a little bit more information about the California recycling program here and here. This money is not a government handout, it is a tax that is added to the purchase price and eventually refunded to you. Of course you only get it if you personally return bottles to claim it!

What, you don't know where to take the bottles? No problem, if you live in California, just enter your zip code to find the nearest recycling center.

Okay, 5 cents (for small bottles or cans) is not exactly a huge amount, but it adds up fast. As an experiment I started saving up all of our cash redeemable recyclables for a little over a month. Pretty soon the bottles and cans were piling up (we drink..., okay, I drink too much soda). I grabbed a couple of garbage bags and quickly sorted the cans from the bottles. Fortunately my recycling center is conveniently located right next to my grocery store, so no hassle for me. I had saved $5.30 which I used to reduce my grocery bill!

Given that it is super easy to save up those cans and bottles, why not give it a try? If I saved $5 a month, that adds up to about $60 per year without any real effort.

Here is another thing to consider: if you don't do it you can be sure that your recycle company is doing it for you (and not giving any discount on your Garbage bill!). If I do it, it is like getting two free months of my Garbage service per year!

Not exactly exciting, but why throw away your money?

Amazon Video On Demand - Another resource to cut the cord!

2010-09-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Amazon has been offering movie rentals for download and purchase for some time now. Originally branded as Amazon unboxed, it is now called Amazon Video on Demand.

One of the major concerns people have when cutting the cord is getting access to the content that they want to watch. Amazon has quite a substantial library of Movies and TV shows to choose from and even offers them in HD (for specific players).

Being a Netflix subscriber, naturally I am really interested in comparing the two services. One nice thing about Amazon is that they occasionally offer promotions and freebies. As part of my project with 3-D and my Media PC, I ordered Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs BluRay 3D, about a week later Amazon sent me a $4 Video on Demand credit. I completely missed the "Special Offers" section below my order (next time I'll look more carefully for these gems!).

Cool, a chance to play with Amazon VOD for free! I was actually surprised by what I found and think it is yet another great resource for people who want to cut the cord.

I'll go over what I found and some of the nice features (as well as the problems).

1. Using Amazon VOD

There are currently three main ways to access your movies:

Amazon VOD is available on your PC (Mac or Windows) in a browser just like Netflix's instant streaming. This works great on a Media PC.
If you have a supported BluRay Player, TV, Tivo or Roku you can also watch directly on one of these devices.
Additionally, Amazon offers the unboxed (software) player to view videos offline that you've purchased. Unfortunately the player only works on Windows and you can't transfer your movies to other devices.

I had no problems with Firefox on my Media PC. Note: Amazon uses Flash (as you would expect).

2. Size of library

Of course, none of this matters unless you can find something that you want to watch. Being a Netflix subscriber I can definitely say content is one of Netflix's Instant Streaming's weak points. Yes they have a lot of movies. Last I recall they claimed over 19,000 videos, but that was a few months ago. In any case, you can't go by numbers alone. If all of the movies are of no interest to you (or you can't find them), then the service is no good.

Amazon claims over 75,000 and has an impressive list of TV shows in that list. It isn't hard at all to find content in Amazon's library that Netflix is missing (for instant streaming). Since there is really no reason why you can't use both services, this is all good news for us cord cutters. Choice, competition and diversity is a very good thing even if it means you must look in more than one place for what you want.

3. Price

Amazon's VOD pricing is quite different from Netflix. Here Amazon is much more like the Cable / Satellite VOD services that I'm used to. Movies typically cost $3 (for deals) or $4 (typically). You can also buy entire seasons of your favorite shows. At this price point, I'm not that tempted to rush out and rent all of my Movies from Amazon.

I much prefer Netflix's model, but we get back to the problem mentioned earlier of who has the content. $4 is a whole lot cheaper than even one movie ticket let alone what it costs to take a family out!

4. Quality

Amazon prominently advertises that they stream HD to compatible devices. You obviously need a broadband connection with lots of bandwidth to enjoy HD (> 2.5Mbits / sec). When you are browsing around their catalog, look for the "HD" blue bar at the top of the video before you rent.

However, if you try to watch a HD video on a PC, you are currently out of luck:

Looks like you need one of the devices listed on their website to enjoy HD. This isn't a big deal for me (Netflix was this way as well until a few months ago). In any case, the standard (480p) quality was more than acceptable on my Media PC even when viewed on a 65" screen. Plus, Amazon doesn't use Silverlight which seems to cause (or is related to) video stuttering problems when viewing Netflix's instant streaming.

Give Amazon time and they probably will stream HD to PCs as well (and perhaps come up with a more tempting business model - like Netflix).

5. Extra features

After you get over the initial excitement of watching a video streaming online, you start to look for some of the standard features that you missed when you gave up DVDs. These features include subtitles and high quality surround sound.

I played around with Amazon's video player (in Firefox) a bit, but couldn't find any features that related to sound output or subtitling. Now I have good hearing, but subtitles are important to me. I like to turn them on when watching late at night (so as not to disturb others). It is also nice on some foreign films that are in English. Sometime accents are tough to understand and subtitles help (especially when the volume is low).

As for 5.1 surround sound, I've read that this is supported on Tivos and Roku boxes currently. Again, give Amazon time and there may be a solutions for PCs later. I'm not tempted to give up my Media PC or add more boxes to my entertainment center just yet. A Media PC is a better solution and worth the trade off for me.

6. Promotions

In addition to coupons and low priced movies, one of the things that can tempt me is a good promotion. I like Amazon's "Disc+ on demand" idea. You can purchase a DVD or BluRay and you get a free rental instantly. What a great option for collectors! You get your movie in high quality for your library and can still enjoy it right away. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't offer this on all their movies, but "The Book of Eli (BluRay)" is an example.

To browse their selection of promotions, go to their main VOD page, and look for "Special Deals", and "Disc+ on Demand".

7. Summary

I'm impressed and I should have looked in to Amazon sooner. Amazon VOD is a no hassle, no monthly fee alternative to enjoying a movie instantly (or even downloading to own). Unlike Netflix, you don't have to commit to a monthly subscription. If you only want to watch one movie, you only pay for that movie.

If you are a frequent renter, clearly Amazon VOD is going to be a more expensive option. However I see no reason why you can't take advantage of the promotions and/or use Amazon a additional resource (just like Hulu, YouTube, etc).

Got 3-D? (part 4): BluRay 3-D!

2010-09-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

You know the old saying "You learn more from failure than you do from success"? Well, it couldn't be more true in my case as I almost have BluRay 3-D movie playback working.

This is part four of a series of posts on 3-D for my Media PC. You can start at part one here.

First off, I'll share the main points I learned:

If you are into gaming, and/or are planning on getting a discrete graphics card don't buy a low-profile case (go full height). It is very difficult to find a low profile graphics card that (currently) can decode BluRay 3-D, is silent, and/or is low cost.
BluRay 3-D is still really new. There are only a few movies that you can buy and graphics driver support is still evolving. You can throw money at the problem and buy a solution that works today, but my advice is to wait a bit until the dust settles. As soon as there are a lot of titles available there will be more widespread hardware support (so you'll have more options).

I'm using a low cost integrated graphics adapter (ATI's Radeon HD 4200) and it could be expecting a bit much from this solution to have it be able to do BluRay 3-D. Nevertheless, it seems to be able to handle other 3-D video formats (even up to 1080p), so it isn't out of the question that it could do it with some time and better drivers. I'll share the things that I tried and how close I got.

1. Playback software

In order to play BluRay 3-D you need some up to date player software. PowerDVD 8 which came with my retail BluRay drive only plays back regular 2-D BluRay movies. Note that PDVD8 will load a 3-D disk, it just won't let you select the 3-D version (you can still play it in old-fashioned 2-D).

One upgrade choice is PowerDVD 10 Ultra. Fortunately, you can download a demo version that works for 30 days. Plenty of time to try it out to see if it works on your hardware. This is the version that I used.

Another choice is ArcSoft's TotalMedia Theatre 3, also known as TMT3:

TMT3 also has a demo version which you can download. However, I've found that the demo version doesn't support BluRay 3-D. You need to install a paid 3-D plugin. Now the plugin only costs $20, but I find it rather annoying that you can't try out all the features before committing to buy (especially if you are not sure your hardware will work). So, I didn't try it out. Besides, I suspect that it would have the same result as PowerDVD 10 on my system (as I'll discuss below).

2. You need a 3-D movie, obviously!

3-D BluRay movies are different than regular 2-D (obviously). Only a few of these are available now, but I suspect that they will get increasingly popular since the new 3-D is so much better than the old Anaglyph 3-D that we are used to. I read a lot of good reviews about the movie "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" and people generally liked the 3-D effects (much better than in "Monsters v.s. Aliens". It also helped that I hadn't seen the movie yet.

Note that I expected multiple disks in the package since it advertised both 2-D and 3-D versions. There is only one disk, and you are prompted when starting playback which version you want to play. Nice! No more hassles with multiple disks!

3. What else do you need?

I've already gone over what you need for 3-D in my previous articles. You need 3-D glasses, a 3-D Ready TV and a 3-D source (in my case a Media PC).

4. So, did it work?

Almost... I can get the movie to play in 3-D, however there are some obvious problems on my system. The first is that the player drops frames causing the picture to appear a bit jumpy. The panning scenes have stutter (a clear indication that there is a problem). However the most serious problem is that the sound lags way being the video (and tends to break up a bit). Both problems make the movie basically unwatchable in 3-D.

The good news is that the 3-D effect is undiminished by these problems. You can put on your 3-D glasses and see depth in all of the scenes. Not that you'd actually want to watch the movie this way, but it is nice to see what you are missing to know if it is worth the effort to fix it.

5. Okay, why doesn't it work?

While the problems are clear indications that the system doesn't have the horsepower to decode the 3-D BluRay movie, we should probably do some investigation before trying to solve the problem. Here is the first clue. When playing a regular BluRay movie, the system hardly breaks a sweat. Here I'm playing the 2-D version and have a performance graph running at the same time.

I've highlighted the cpu usage (it ranges from about 15% to 25% while playing the movie). This is hardly what I consider "stressed" and the system clearly has plenty of headroom when decoding regular BluRay.

Here is another clue, DirectX VA (otherwise known as hardware accelerated video decoding), is enabled when playing the movie:

This helps offload the CPU and makes BluRay playback possible on modestly powered systems. Note that I don't really consider a dual-core 3Ghz cpu "modest", but it is no performance screamer either. More on that later.

Okay, now let's take a look at the performance while playing the 3-D version:

See the problem? 100% cpu usage (both cores). No wonder the playback has problems. I wonder if DirectX VA is enabled...

Ah ha! DirectX VA is not in use! If the cpu doesn't have any/much help from the GPU, it is no wonder the cpu is running flat out and can't keep up. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that it still almost works.

So, why isn't DirectX VA available? I think this is the fault of the ATI graphics drivers (not the player software). From what I could discover, ATI doesn't yet have hardware support for decoding BluRay 3-D. Here is a relevant thread. It looks like ATI has committed support for it's 5000 series cards soon.   Who knows if the HD 4200 would be supported as well?

Nevertheless, I've read that some people have had success with some of their higher end ATI 5000 cards. It isn't immediately clear to me how this is working for them (without acceleration support) unless it is due to the fact that they have a faster cpu.

6. What about getting a faster cpu?

Since my system is on the verge of having enough cpu to play a BluRay 3-D, I wondered what would happen if I got a faster cpu? I have a fairly inexpensive 3.0 Ghz dual core cpu after all.

Rather than buying another cpu, I thought I'd give overclocking a try. The motherboard that I bought has a bunch of features that make overclocking relatively easy. Nevertheless, I realized I had a lot to learn as to what is and isn't possible with a budget system. Note: I don't think overclocking is a solution.   With overclocking you can run into stability problems and you tend to give up power efficiency features (AMD's cool n' quiet). Even so, it is an interesting experiment. Let's break out a case of Red Bull and see what this baby can do!

Before you get started overclocking, it is good to have a simple benchmark so you can tell if there are any improvements.   I chose HyperPi. It is trivial to run and is a good test of core cpu speed (and should also be applicable for software video decoding).

Baseline performance: I could calculate 2 million digits of Pi in about 65 seconds.

By following the guidelines here, here and a few other places as well, I was able to crank up the cpu clock to about 3.4 Ghz before my system became unstable. I won't bore you with the details of "front-side bus" speeds and what-not, just suffice it to say that it was quite the learning experience. Don't try this at home unless you don't mind smoking your system!

So, what could it do now? With the turbo charged settings I could do the same calculation in about 54 seconds: 11 seconds faster (or about 17%).   Not too bad. I'm sure I could have done much better with a good cpu cooler and cpu/memory chosen specifically for overclocking (which I don't have).

Okay, now on to playing a video in 3-D! Did it help? Short answer: Yes, but not quite enough.   I saw noticeably fewer dropped frames and the sounds stayed in sync longer. However, the cpu was still maxed out and the main problem remained.

I suspect with a fairly high end cpu and better memory, I probably could have succeeded.

7. What else can I try?

It also occurred to me that some of the cpu load during playback might be due to decrypting the BluRay Disc itself. So I tried ripping the BluRay with DVDFab (to an ISO image). Unfortunately, this didn't help.   The rip would play 2-D, but not in 3-D. I suspect that this is a bug in DVDFab that will probably be fixed soon.

I also tried ANYDVD and at least the rip worked. However, playing the ripped movie in 3-D had the same problems. Oh well, it was worth a try.

However, I did enjoy the fact that I could now skip all of those annoying warning messages at the beginning of the disc. It made it much quicker to test possible fixes!

8. Okay, I give in! How about a Nvidia graphics card!

Nvidia seems to be a bit ahead of ATI when it comes to 3-D support, so it makes sense to try an Nvidia card next. I was all set to run down to Fry's to try this out when I realized that I had a problem.

I have this nice low profile case that is a perfect form factor for a Media PC. However, it also means that any cards that you put into it must also be low profile. This isn't a major problem for common cards that you might put into your PC (like my dual ATSC tuner and Wireless-N cards). However, for graphics cards this severely restricts your choices. So, I'm probably stuck for now.

However, if you have a full height case, I've read good things about Nvidia's GT 240 card.

You can even get a passively cooled version that would be perfect for a quiet Media PC. This one by Zotac seems to be pretty popular and has good reviews.   There are a couple of links here and here indicate that people have had success with the GT 240 playing BluRay 3-D (and games). It is also in the list of cards Nvidia says support 3-D (all good).

Sadly, it looks like a full height card (and even double width). There is no way this would fit into my case. However, if your case is big enough (i.e. normal PC sized) and you want a budget discrete graphics card that does BluRay 3-D, this might be the ticket.

Another advantage to a discrete graphics card for high end Media enthusiasts is that they can support high definition audio as well. My HD 4200 can only do up to Digital Dolby and DTS.

9. I FAIL! (for now)

As they say, we learn way more from failure than we do success. The gotcha is that it might not be anything useful (chuckle). This was a fun exercise even if I can't watch my movie in 3-D (yet).

However, let's put this in perspective. BluRay 3-D is really new and there are so few movies available that it is really nothing to lose any sleep over. While you can easily throw money at the problem, half the fun is to see how cheaply you can find a solution. I think in the next 6 months 3-D will become much more common and driver support will materialize. Who knows, maybe ATI will even see fit to add BluRay 3-D hardware support for the HD 4200! It is possible and the system clearly (to me) has the capability to do it.

If not, then you can always upgrade your hardware. However, I'd wait until there are lots of compelling movies (and great examples of 3-D) that really make it worth you while. In the meantime, I'd just enjoy some of the other uses of 3-D that we can do on our systems (as is)!

Got 3-D? (part 3): Playing 3-D games

2010-09-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

3-D TV is more like looking through a window than watching an actual TV. Of course, 3-D gaming takes that realistic experience to a whole new level. If there turns out to be a killer app for the new 3-D technology, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being gaming even if BluRay 3-D gathers all of the attention.

This is part three of a series of posts on 3-D for my Media PC. You can start at part one here.

I use an embedded graphics solution on my Media PC's motherboard (ATI's Radeon HD 4200). Clearly this is not an ideal solution for playing GPU intensive games. However, it is more than adequate for typical Media PC applications (and is both cost effective and power efficient). Surprisingly though, the HD 4200 is also capable of playing 3-D games (at least good enough to give you an idea of what 3-D gaming is like). Any seriously gamers will want to upgrade to a discrete graphics card, but at least you can try it out first!

So which games can you try in 3d? Nvidia has an impressive list of them by quality here. To get started, I just installed Steam and looked under demos for a free one that was in Nvidia's list.

1. Load IZ3D's 3-D driver software

ATI supports 3-D gaming through the use of 3rd party software from a company called IZ3D. This software is free for ATI Radeon users, but I've also read that it can work for Nvidia users as well (I haven't verified this though). I'm currently using the beta drivers which you can find here.
Note: Here is an alternative to IZ3d called DDD Tridef that I might explore later.

IZ3D's drivers support DirectX9 (and it looks like they are working on DirectX10). I'm no gamer, but I figure this might limit which games you can play in 3-D (Given that DirectX11 is the latest). In any case, it is still possible to use some older games while the 3-D driver software plays catch-up with the gaming industry.

Here are the steps for installing the software

I just accepted the standard installation prompts and made sure the ATI DLP driver was loaded:

At the end of the install, the software reminds you that it is setup for an IZ3D monitor, and this might not be what you want (we'll change it in a minute):

Just launch the control center (or let it launch automatically after the install) and change the default output device as shown here:

Now, before you try to play any games, you can use the driver to display a static or dynamic test image, as shown here:

Click on either image (or both) to see that you have 3-D working. Of course, this image looks fuzzy because it is meant to be viewed with 3-D glasses.

2. Using the IZ3D gaming setup wizard

One you launch a game that is compatible with the IZ3D drivers, you will see a text overlay on the initial gaming screen. It will instruct you to put on your 3-D glasses and press 'N' to continue (in RED).

Tip #1: This overlay is from the IZ3D driver, not the game (so it may look strange or be out of context).

Tip #2: To make the overlay screen go away, press "Shift NumLock and "*" at the same time. You must use the "*" that is on the keypad, not the one above your 8 key. However, before you make the overlay go away, you can explore the wizard to help you configure the 3-D effect.

Tip #3: To actually enable 3-D you must press NumLock and "*" at the same time. This will actually toggle between 3-D and 2-D views. Try this when the game is running or you see the setup wizard.

Some (but not all) of these keys are configurable via IZ3D driver wizard itself:

IMPORTANT: If you happen to be using the same (compact) IOgear wireless keyboard that I'm using, you might notice that there is no NumLock key (or keypad for that matter)! This creates a problem as you can't make the overlay screen go away without pressing these keys. If you have an extra wired keyboard handy, you can plug it in to get around this problem. Unfortunately, I didn't find any options in the IZ3D driver that allowed me to remap these keys. Serious gamers would probably want a different keyboard and mouse for playing games anyway.

3. Make sure your TV is in 3-D mode and the resolution is compatible with 3-D

Of course your TV must be in 3-D mode as described in my earlier post on playing 3-D videos. However, you may also need to make sure that your Media PC is outputting a resolution that is compatible with 3-D.

In my case, my TV will only support 3-D at the 1080p resolution. This means I must select either 1920x1080 or 1820 x 1024. I use the latter custom resolution to get around my TV's overscan (the TV will still see a 1080p signal for either resolution).

Now, on to some games!

4. Microsoft flight simulator X demo

Who could resist flying a virtual plane in 3-D? Microsoft has always had a good flight simulator and the latest demo works in 3-D!

The demo is a little quirky, but all I needed to do was make sure that I selected the correct resolution as I mentioned earlier. In this case I used 1820x1024x32 to get a full screen view. I also dialed down the graphics a bit too.

Of course, I didn't read the directions, I just jumped into some fun missions. The first one is dropping flour bags on targets in the ocean. As shown below, the IZ3D wizard comes up and you can use the NumLock and "*" keys to toggle 3-D mode.

All I can say is Wow! The 3-D effect is really cool. Right away I wish I had a better graphics card because the plane is very hard to control. However, I still had fun flying around the nearby island, mountains and buildings. I really liked the 3-D view from inside the plane. The instruments looked so much better in 3-D with a realistic view out the windows. Very nice!

5. Half Life 2 demo

So, the flight simulator was fun, but I wasn't able to get the controls to work very well. I guess my HD 4200 just isn't up to the task. I thought I'd try a real game next. Half-Life 2 is probably one of the most popular and highly rated games out there (so I've heard).

As before I started up the demo and set the screen resolution to 1820x1024 and dialed down as much of the "eye candy" (graphics detail) as I could to give it a chance to run.

Surprise! Not only was the game very playable without lag, but the 3-D effect was nicely done! Here was a 3-D world in which you could explore and have fun (if you like this sort of game).

You will want a better keyboard / mouse solution as using a trackball for a first person shooter is a real challenge to say the least!

Well worth checking out! and very playable!

6. Batman: Arkham Asylum demo

Batman is another highly rated game. The short video clip that plays before the level begins isn't in 3-D so I started to loose hope. However once the play started, I got 3-D enabled!

I couldn't find any controls to lower the graphics detail, so the play was extremely laggy. It is no where near as playable as Half-Life 2 demo on my HD 4200. However, it worked and the the 3-D effect was good! Chalk up another reason to upgrade the graphics card!

7. Summary and things I've tried that didn't work so well...

I also downloaded a bunch of other demos from Steam including Mafia II, Just Cause II, Bioshock, and Company of Heroes. All of them either crashed or didn't work and I'm not entirely sure why. It could be that the demos are buggy or perhaps it's just asking too much of the HD 4200 to even launch the game!

You might get lucky (like with Half-Life 2), but for gaming you should skip the embedded graphics and get a reasonably powerful discrete graphics card.

I also tried Google maps (it has a 3-D mode, but sadly it is Anaglyph only). I tried Google Earth too, but couldn't find any support for 3-D at all. Perhaps I can get it to work with the DDD software.

Finally, I noticed an unrelated problem with Netflix in Windows Media Center. Every time I exited a movie, WMC would seem to crash/hang. I could kill it with the task manager, so it wasn't too painful (just annoying). Once I unloaded the IZ3D drivers, the problem went away. I'm still debugging this so I'll report back if I find a fix.

All-in-all, 3-D gaming is pretty cool and worth checking out!

Got 3-D? (part 2): Playing non-BluRay 3-D videos

2010-09-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

No, that isn't a blurry picture above. It looks perfectly fine on my TV (when I wear my 3-D glasses). If you have ever tried an old-fashioned stereoscope then you already know exactly how the new real 3-D works (and should look) on your TV. Looking at this image looks exactly like I am looking through a window at a real scene. The people in the foreground look closer (not just bigger). Also, the wall on the left looks like it is next to me and goes off in the distance towards the buildings. In my opinion 3-D on real live scenes looks way more impressive than 3-D animation because it looks, well... more real. That should, after all, be the point of 3-D!

This is part two of a series of posts that I'm doing on 3-D for my Media PC. You can find part one here.

Now that I have my Media PC and TV ready for 3-D, I thought it would be fun to play with some demo videos that you can find on the web. What you see above is a scene from a short tour of Heidelberg Germany. Let's go through the steps you need to start watching some of these 3-D videos. I'll be covering 3-D BluRay playback in a separate post (I'm still working on it).

If you don't yet have a 3-D Ready TV, I'll even show you how you can use a cheap pair of red-blue glasses to at least get an idea of what you are missing!

1. Enable 3-D mode on your TV and put on your glasses

Depending upon your TV, you may need to enable 3-D mode (unless it detects it automatically). My Mitsubishi TV requires this be done manually so I use the TV's remote to turn it on:

As shown above, I've enabled 3-D mode and set the "Glasses L-R" to "Reverse". I've read that reversing L-R images is necessary when using DLP Link glasses (as I do). If I don't use "Reverse", I don't get a 3-D effect (the image just looks strange).

Note: earlier Mitsubishi TVs (made in 2007) called the 3-D mode (FX Gaming). You can read a helpful FAQ from Mitsubishi about their 3-D support here.

Next, I put on my glasses and turned them on:

If you read the manual that comes with the Optoma BG-ZD101 glasses that I use, turning on the glasses is simply a matter of pressing the red button. Here is their datasheet with a good close up view. However, I noticed what appears to be an undocumented "feature". If the glasses are on and I press the button quickly, it appears to step between three "modes". I'm guessing that they are left eye view, right eye view and combined view. I only get 3-D if I am in the combined view mode. So, if you don't see in 3-D, try pressing the power button again to get into the right mode.

Note: Another really nice thing about the Optoma glasses is that they are large enough to fit around your regular glasses (if you happen to need them).

Now with your TV in 3-D mode, your glasses on (and in the right mode), any 3-D content displayed on your TV should look... 3-D!

TIP: I don't put my TV in 3-D mode until right before I'm ready to display 3-D content because it makes my screen look fuzzy. Fortunately, it is fairly easy to switch back and forth with the remote.

Now we are ready to play some 3-D videos!

2. Get a stereoscopic media player

Unfortunately, a regular video player like Windows Media Player, VLC, etc. isn't going to work for 3-D videos (yet). The video formats are "new" or at least not yet popular enough. So, we need what is called a Stereoscopic media player. If you browse around IZ3D's website, you will see that they provide some links under viewing software.

First of all, if you have 3-D software to play BluRay movies (like PowerDVD 10 Ultra 3-D), I've found that it doesn't work on the demo videos I've tried. Perhaps a future update might fix that. I've also tried ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 3, but it requires a plugin for 3-D (which I don't yet have).

Back to IZ3D's recommended software. I tried to get their free IZ3D movie player classic to work, but it doesn't appear to support the 3-D checkerboard video format that my TV needs. I fiddled with a bunch of options, but failed. For fun, I also tried Nvidia's stereoscopic player. Surprisingly, it actually ran! However, it had the same problem in that I couldn't figure out a way to get it to output checkerboard 3-D. If anyone has gotten either of these players to work (using checkerboard), please share!

However, the demo version of 3dtv.at's Stereoscopic player does support the checkerboard output. The only limitation of the demo software is that it stops playing the video after about 3 minutes and asks you to pay for a license (sigh). Looks like a private license costs 39 Euros (see here). Demo videos are usually short anyway.

Setting up 3dtv.at's player was simple, all I recall doing was making sure the output method was the one that my TV required:

Then I just loaded up a 3-D video and played it:

One of the real interesting thing about watching 3-D is that it works in a window too. Here I am watching a 3-D movie and my desktop isn't 3-D. Very strange effect! A 3-D window on a non-3-D desktop looks like I am looking through a real "window" on the move. Kind of cool! Of course, I can watch movies full screen too (just hit Alt-Enter) in the player. The 3-D effect works even better when it is large and you don't have a distracting desktop!

NOTE: If you want to compare real 3-D to the old Anaglyph mode, you can configure the player to output in that format. If you have a pair of red-blue glasses lying around you can switch back and forth to see the difference between active shutter 3-D and Anaglyph. Just go to the settings menu and change the playback options as shown here:

If you do this, of course you don't even need a 3-D Ready TV! However, if you do have a 3-D Ready TV you will see how much better the new system is!

3. Get some videos

Alright, let's watch some videos! Where can you get them? The first place that I tried was Nvidia's website. You can find several videos that play just fine. Here is the link. It is kind of funny to go to Nvidia's site and find videos that work on my ATI system (I just love standards...).

All of the videos on the Nvidia site work for me including 1080p videos!

Okay, now if you want to impress your friends, I recommend downloading all of the videos, but watch them in this order:

Knight's Quest 3D (Fun animation)
Katana 3D (an interesting demo to watch once)
Mouldpenny (so-so demo, not shot very well, poor use of 3D)
Rhine Valley (not bad, pretty outdoor shots but I hate the extreme foreground shots)
Summer in Heidelberg (much more impressive, nice subtle use of 3D)
Oldtimers (now we are talking! gorgeous picture of the train in 1080p)
Nurburgring 24-hour race (okay, this will knock your socks off and it's 1080p!)

Here are some stills (non-3D) of the last two videos:

If the Nurburgring video doesn't impress, nothing will! It is a professionally done promo that is cool (turn up the volume too). This really gives you a good idea of what 3-D can do!

I'm sure there are lots of other cool 3-D demo videos out there. If you find them, post some links here!

4. Extra stuff in 3-D

Watching 3-D in a window on your desktop gives you a really good idea of what a 3-D desktop manager might be able to do. On IZ3D's website, there are links to a 3-D image viewer and a 3-D desktop background maker. I couldn't get either to work, but I'm sure you can appreciate that the possibilities for a 3-D desktop and it's potential are worth exploring.

I've read that flash 10.2 will support true 3-D and we may be able to watch YouTube in true 3-D soon (not just Anaglyph). Hulu would be nice too!

5. Final observations

I noticed that when I turn 3-D mode on, my desktop gets fuzzy and hard to read. I imagine this is the result of the checkerboard pattern and the fact that Windows doesn't really know anything about 3-D (yet). I expect that when 3-D gets more popular, a 3-D desktop will fix this problem. Alternatively, it would be nice if the TV could sense a 3-D signal and automatically switch. Of course with 3-D windows, some parts of your desktop will be in 3-D while others may not be. This might make auto detection a challenge.

I've read that if your TV has overscan (like mine), you should make sure that you avoid using any GPU scaling. I set my scaling to 0% and use a custom resolution (1820 x 1024) to avoid any overscan issues (and see 100% of my desktop). Somehow the scaling (if you have it enabled), can interfere with the 3-D checkerboard pattern. Scaling is also bad for image quality so should be avoided anyway if at all possible.

I do notice a slight flicker with the 3-D glasses. It isn't annoying, but I can clearly tell when the glasses are synced and are doing their magic. The flicker is most noticeable when I look out a window (while the glasses are synced to the TV).

3-D is like many technologies. It can be used well and be very effective, or it can be overused or done poorly. When videos are shot well, 3-D is nothing short of amazing and the new 3-D technology is well worth checking out. Even better is the fact that you can do this relatively cheaply and in your own home.

That's it for now, the next post will talk about 3-D gaming, 3-D BluRay, 2-D conversion to 3-D, and anything else interesting I can think of...

Got 3-D? A Media PC does that too!

2010-08-31T12:12:00.000-07:00

This post started out life as a quick project to setup 3-D on my Media PC, but I quickly realized that there is a lot to explore and some real interesting background to this technology. As many of you are aware 3-D television isn't very new at all. What is new is the entertainment industry is making another run at trying to hook people into 3-D technology. If they succeed, you can be sure it will drive another wave of upgrades for the consumer, (obviously) higher theater ticket prices, and even another lock-in for pay TV. Naturally, my goal is quite the opposite. How can we have fun with 3-D without the high cost? If you like your cake, and want to eat it too, read on!

Since a Media PC can be the do-it-all center for driving entertainment in your living room, it makes sense to wonder what it would take to get it to display 3-D as well. Well, the good news is that it can, but there are few things to talk about first.

This first post will cover what you need to get ready for 3-D on your Media PC. I'll do several more posts each covering related topics:

(Non-BluRay) 3-D movies
3-D games
BluRay 3-D movies
Broadcast 3-D
2-D to 3-D movie conversion

Now, ready for some 3-D fun?

Now, you are probably thinking that you have to wear those silly red-blue glasses that you remember as a kid (like this):

Absolutely not! Technology has improved dramatically since then. The 3-D glasses of today will make you look far cooler (okay, maybe cooler is a stretch).

Older 3-D technology (that used the red-blue) glasses was pretty simple but had it's advantages. The most important advantage is that it worked with any projection system or TV. No special viewing equipment was needed. All you needed were those goofy glasses and you were good to go. Unfortunately, the red-blue lenses did terrible things to the colors of the movie so the illusion of 3-D was an obvious trick that you never really believed was real. If you want to read more about older 3-D (known as Anaglyph, read about it here).

The new 3-D technology (available now), uses what is called Alternate-frame sequencing. Using special active shutter glasses, each eye can be presented with it's own image/view. Your brain does the rest and you see a fully 3-D image. Unlike the Anaglyph technique, the colors aren't distorted and what you see looks truly realistic.

The theaters of today use a very similar technology with polarization 3-D and (inexpensive) polarized glasses. The two techniques (Alternate-frame sequencing and polarization 3-D) produce nearly identical results. The main difference is that theaters use a projection system that isn't yet practical in the home (so we are stuck with active shutter glasses). Finally, there is an another method that is being developed called Autostereoscopy or Auto 3-D (3-D without the need for glasses). This has promise, but has yet to be available in the home at reasonable prices.

So that leaves us with technologies that that use Alternate-frame sequencing. The good news is that it works really well. Let's see what we need to get this working in your home. You need four major pieces: 3-D capable TV, 3-D active shutter glasses, 3-D capable player, and finally you need some 3-D game or media to watch. Let's go over each one.

1. a 3-D ready TV

When I recently upgraded to a new TV, I was aware that 3-D was coming. I looked for an inexpensive TV that not only did 1080P but was also 3-D Ready. Of course, I had no idea at the time what 3-D technology was about back then. I just saw the 3-D Ready logo and was happy knowing that someday I'd get to watch 3-D stuff. Well that day has arrived.

So, what does 3-D ready mean in a TV? One prerequisite of 3-D TVs is their ability to display at a refresh rate of 120Hz or higher (two times the normal 60Hz). This is necessary because the TV needs to display twice as many frames per second (one image for each eye). It is then the job of the active shutter glasses to alternatively block each left-right eye view 120 times per second. Obviously the glasses need to coordinate their work with the TV itself so that everything is in sync.

So, how do the TV and glasses stay in sync? If you look on the back of your set, you might see a special plug marked "3-D glasses emitter".

You can purchase a special IR emitter that plugs into your TV and sends a signal to any active shutter glasses in your TV viewing area. Seems simple enough?

There is actually another method of syncing glasses (for DLP TVs) that doesn't require a special emitter called DLP link. The TV displays a white "flash" that the glasses can sense and allows them to stay in sync. So, which method should you use (emitter or no emitter), if you have a choice? That will probably depend on your TV.

Turns out that my 2009 65" Mitsubishi TV has a "feature" that makes using an IR emitter undesirable. On pre-2010 Mitsubishi DLP TVs they forgot to turn off the DLP link "flash" when using an IR emitter. This causes the colors to be off when using glasses designed for IR emitters. So, if you have an "older" 3-D ready DLP TV make sure you can turn off the DLP link feature or use only DLP link glasses. You can read about this issue here on AVSforum.

Finally, the last aspect of 3-D readiness is the signal format itself coming from your Media PC, game system or DVR. The 3-D signal is going to be delivered over HDMI, but there are actually multiple standards (and quality levels for doing this).

There are four standard 3-D signal formats called Checkerboard, Side-by-Side, Frame Sequential, and Frame Packing. You can read a really good summary here. You don't really need to worry about the differences so much as you need to know what format your TV and player support.

In my case, my DLP TV only supports Checkerboard. Newer (and more expensive) TVs support additional formats such as Side-by-Side. The advantage of the Checkerboard format is that it actually doesn't require any additional bandwidth over the HDMI cable (and is covered under HDMI 1.3 spec). In that sense Checkerboard is a lot like interlaced TV signals (the signal data is cut in half so that twice as much information can be sent). The other formats send twice as much data (and have higher quality).

If your system can support one of the full-bandwidth 3-D formats (Side-by-Side, etc.), then by all means use it. Otherwise just use Checkerboard and be happy.

2. Active shutter glasses

Active shutter glasses are still pretty new so they are frankly a bit expensive. I'd expect them to drop in price significantly in the near future. You also have to be careful to buy glasses that are compatible with whatever system you are using. See the discussion above about using a 3-D IR emitter v.s. DLP link.

Since my best quality option for my TV is to use glasses that don't require an emitter, I opted for glasses made by Optoma (model BG-ZD101). I've read good reviews about them and while they aren't the cheapest solution, they seem to be the best quality.

A week later, my Optoma's arrived and they are indeed a nice set of glasses. They come with three interchangeable nose pieces. They don't have rechargeable batteries like some other glasses, but I figure the batteries might just last far longer than my interest in playing with 3-D.

They have a power button on the top of the glasses. When you activate them (and they sync to your TV), you will notice a slight dimming of your view as each eye is being alternatively blanked. Pretty cool technology if you ask me!

3. a 3-D capable player

Along with your 3-D ready TV, you need some system that can send a 3-D signal to your TV.

Before we go on, you may have read about 3-D kits available for your 3-D ready TV. These kits usually include things like active shutter glasses, an emitter, and a HDMI cable. You may or may not find these useful or a good deal.

However, these kits can also include an adapter for 3-D signals for your TV. An adapter might be necessary if your 3-D player outputs a signal that your TV doesn't support (see discussion above). For example, if you have a BluRay player that outputs 3-D in the Side-by-Side format and your DLP TV only supports Checkerboard input, then you will need an adapter. Here are two examples:

Here is yet another advantage to having a Media PC.   My Media PC uses ATI's embedded graphics processor called the Radeon HD 4200.   With some special drivers, the HD 4200 is capable of outputting the 3-D Checkerboard format (directly) as required by my 3-D ready TV. No adapter needed!

The software needed by ATI's 3-D solution is made by a company called IZ3D. The drivers are free for your use on ATI systems.   Just download, install and you are ready to play with 3-D. Here is a link to the drivers. I installed the Beta version, just to make sure I had the latest features.

Keep in mind that I'm using a motherboard with an embedded graphics processor (i.e. a really cheap solution). If your goal is to play hard-core 3-D games, chances are really good that you will want to upgrade to a much more capable discrete graphics card.   Fortunately, graphics cards aren't that expensive. However, since 3-D support is changing so fast, if you are like me you are deferring that option until later.   For now, I think it is really cool that an embedded system works at all for 3-D (and it does!).

4. Software and 3-D content.

Now that we have all of the hardware and drivers needed for 3-D what is left?

Well, in order to play movies we need software that understands and will decode the 3-D formats. For games and BluRay titles we need the 3-D versions. Finally there is software to convert 2-D movies into 3-D (either on the fly or offline). I'll explore how these options work on my Media PC in the next few post.

Total cost invested to play with real 3-D on my Media PC: $80. Not too bad!

More to come...

FreeFlix: Free Movie rentals and much, much more!

2010-08-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, here is probably one of the best kept secrets to surviving after cutting the cord (and also all-around great resource for saving money). Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, etc. profit greatly when we don't use it. It is your dusty old public library.

Go ahead and have a good laugh... get it out of your system... Ready now?

If you live near a major US city, chances are really good that your library hasn't been sitting still through the Internet revolution. You may not have been back to the library since you were in school so be prepared for a bit of a shock. If you have kids, the odds are better than you've noticed that the library offers more than just books. You might even be lucky and are near a newly remodeled branch that looks and feels more like a Barnes and Nobles cafe/store than the old library of your childhood.

Here is just a short list of the many things that you can borrow at the library that you may not be aware of: movies on DVD, CDs (of all genres), Video games (no, I'm not joking), Audio Books on CDs, Magazines, Newspapers, etc. Also, your library probably has an on-line portal as well with even more services (which I'll cover in a minute).

Okay, for movies, you are probably thinking (what could they possibly have)? While it is true that they don't have the selection of a Netflix or Amazon, you might be surprised at what they do have (or can get for you from nearby branches). It is also not just old movies as new titles show up all the time.

Here is another thing I like about the library. Ever since Netflix (and others) drove my local video store out of business, I missed the ability to just browse around (in person) and pick a movie to watch. Sure, I subscribe to Netflix and can watch streaming movies instantly. However, sometimes you just want to flip through a few DVDs and pick something to watch. Doing this with a web browser and/or waiting a couple of days for it to arrive by mail just isn't the same experience.

Did I mention that it is all free? Kind of hard to beat that! Of course it really isn't free. We all pay for it with our taxes (so no need to feel guilty). However, that is all the more reason to take advantage of such a wonderful resource. By using it, you also help insure that it will be there for future generations. Stop using it and I'm sure the mega-retailers of the world will not shed a tear when the competition goes away.

So, let me give you a quick tour of just some of the things that you might find at your new public library.

First, let's start with how the library has kept up with technology. I'll use the Santa Clara County Library as an example (here in the south bay area of Silicon Valley, California). Hopefully your local library is similar or even better!

Your library is online!

Find out if your library has a web site. Login in with your library card and start to explore some of the services that they provide. What is that you see? Facebook, Twitter, and a Blog too? This isn't the library you probably remember!

Check out their online catalog, there is where you can search for (and request from other branches) any book, movie, CD, etc. that you might want:

You can even do this with a mobile app via your iPhone or Android smartphone:

Electronic Media

What about electronic media? Well, your library probably hasn't been sitting still there either.

Streaming music

For example, here is a selection of Smithsonian recordings available for instant streaming to your computer.

Note: 2,812 albums to choose from! They also have an even larger selection of classical music (4,174 albums!). All available for instant streaming.

Now clearly this isn't a huge or very diverse selection of streaming music, but it is free for you to enjoy and explore.

And downloads too

There is also downloadable music via a service called FreeGal

I haven't used this much, but there is a much wider variety of music and you can download 3 free songs a week. Not bad! I checked out the tracks from Glee and they were awesome (I love that show!). If you have an impulse to get a song, check here first! It's free!

Other services

Finally, let's check out some of the other aspects of the library portal:

Look at what is available: Job/Career resources, Small business resources (got a startup idea?), Meeting rooms, Adult education and more.

The Library: as a video rental store?

Even if you still have a local video rental store, you might want to consider using the library too. At my library I can check out 10 DVDs at a time. If I have a favorite title and it isn't at my branch (or is checked out), I simply reserve it and I'll get emailed when it is available (I have 3 days to pick it up). Note: I've heard that some branches charge a nominal fee for inter-branch transfers (mine, however, is free).

If you want to watch international movies, you might find a section with a variety of foreign languages:

My library also has a large collection of childrens' videos on DVD (and even some on VHS!):

Not just Movies

You can also find lots of CDs, (a few) Video Games, and many Audio Books too!

Summary

So, is your local library a replacement for Netflix? Well that is up to you (and depends on your library). It is free and is certainly well worth your time to check out. You will be amazed how they have changed and kept up with technology.

There is no doubt they are a valuable public resource and are under-appreciated! Now, go get a library card and use it often!

Survey says!

2010-08-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

Fans of the early Saturday Night Live shows might remember this mock episode of Family Feud featuring Steve Martin, Bill Murray, and Dan Aykroyd. Classic TV Comedy! The real Family Feud game show centered around guessing the most popular answers to a survey.

Recently, a friend of mine has been bugging me about changing the blog. You might have noticed that many of the posts are about a Media PC and cutting the cord. When I first started the blog I thought I would make the focus a bit more broad as I'm interested in many other ways (and technologies) that can help reduce monthly bills. I do have lots of posts planned and could write about different things.

So, I thought I'd do my own survey. I've also put together a simple poll (see the top of the blog), but feel free to leave comments here too.

In particular, do you like posts on a wide variety of topics and technology or are you interested in only specific areas? Are the posts too detailed (or not enough)? In what ways could the blog be better or more interesting?

What do you think.... Survey says...