I see you...

Now that I have the outdoor camera working, I wanted to set up an indoor security camera. I thought the LinkSys WVC54G looked pretty good because it connects directly to your home network wirelessly without having to be hooked up to a PC. On CNET, customer reviews averaged to a 4.7 (out of 10!) but I didn't know if many of those complaints were based on expectation or difficulty in set up for people who may not be so inclined for setting up things on their home network.

Anyway, so I took the plunge... and I, too, am disappointed. It has motion detection capability, so I thought that would be perfect to let it record whenever it detects something... However, if you want to record, you can only record on set schedules. The motion detection capability is only for recording up to 5 seconds and then sending by e-mail! Then, it requires you to wait at least two minutes before sending the next e-mail.

Hmmm, so if I set this up in the foyer, it would be enough time to show us going to the door, but perhaps not enough time to show who is at the door. Great!

Besides that, since it was behaving a little flaky at the beginning, I upgraded the firmware to the latest on the LinkSys website. Then, I could not get the e-mail function to work. I later found posts where they said the latest firmware seems to prevent the e-mail function from working. Great! Fortunately, I actually found a newer version of the firmware than what was posted on the LinkSys web page. (Actually, this looks like a European version of the firmware.) Anyway, it does work...

The quality of the pictures remind me of an older webcam... But this is wireless, so perhaps one can't expect too much.

Anyway, still a disappointment, but I think this will do for now. I decided to set up a Gmail account to receive these thousands of e-mails it will end up sending to us.

And by the way, you can view the live stream from the camera either with the provided software or through a browser. If you use a browser, though, it only supports IE. (Boo hiss!!)

Pros: Form factor is good. I want to mount this on the wall and other Internet cameras will not mount flat against the wall. That is, you can take the base off which leaves a flat unit which can be mounted flush on the wall. (But by the way, I did read of one person who had to drill holes in the case because it would tend to stop working when it gets too hot.)

Cons: Limited capability of motion detector, low quality video, lack of flexibility in how the videostream is supported. There's also no remote pan and tilt function with this camera.

Update: I did find software from VisionGS (http://www.visiongs.de) which does almost everything I was expecting the LinkSys software to do.

1. Most importantly, it allows you to record video based on triggering of the motion detector. However, I am not sure how fast it is able to pick up on motion, though. The biggest drawback is that the recorded video does not include sound. You can define the length of the video up to any reasonable duration (ie, longer than 5 seconds!).
   
2. It streams live video so that it can be viewed through other software, such as Windows Media Player or VLC.
3. It can also take pictures on a regular basis (such as every minute), with the capability of defining schedules.
4. It allows the data to be stored on a ftp server or anywhere locally. (Remember that the 5-second video from the LinkSys software could only be e-mailed.)
   

PDA/Phone wish list

It's never to early to start thinking about your next phone/PDA:

PDA:

• VGA screen
• 20GB hard drive
• USB A-B port, ability to connect to external drive
• Wireless (bluetooth, wi-fi)
• Strong enough infrared to be used as a remote
• MP3 player / Video player
  
• GPS
• Phone/Internet/E-mail
• SD card slot
• External speaker
• Battery-life
• Security
  

Phone:

• Video Camera
• 1+ Meg Cameria (3Meg would be nice)
  
• SD card slot
• Speaker phone
• Bluetooth (or UWB?)
  
• Internet/EV-DO
• E-mail
• MP3 player / video player
  
• Voice recorder
• Battery-life
• Security
  

Of course the desire is that these are in the same device.

I can back up my data with one hand tied behind my back...

When buying a new hard drive enclosure, I thought I would get one which has a one-button backup capability. I opted for Z-Disc (made by Cintre USA) which I found on the Tiger Direct website.

When I received the hard drive, I had a hard time getting it to work, though. I received it while in Florida, along with a new 300GB Seagate hard drive. I had also brought along to Florida an older HD enclosure and an older HD (the Western Digital hard drive which failed on me!!). Anyway, I could get the old enclosure to work with the new Seagate HD, but I could not get the new enclosure to work with the new HD. Therefore, I ended up taking both the new enclosure and the new HD back to Dallas. (I had wanted to leave the old HD in Florida, which actually, I did... In the trash!) I wasn't sure if the problem with the new enclosure was that it had limited support for larger HDs, and since I had no other HD available, I could not verify whether it was working or not.

Anyway, when I got back to Dallas, I still could not get the new enclosure to work, even with smaller HDs. However, I did figure out that the problem was that the IDE cable was plugged in improperly on the enclosure side. So much for quality control! The IDE cable was only plugged into half the pins. Fortunately, this did not damage the enclosure and once I plugged it in properly, it was working. I had a hard time getting the one-button to work consistently, but I also found it was due to it another cable not being plugged in all the way. (I am not sure if I had caused that problem or not.)

Anyway, everything now seems to work well. With the backup utility, you can specify multiple "tasks" for backup. That is, each task is a source/target pair, so you can backup as many directories as you want. In addition, you can specify other options, like if you simply want to backup or want to synch. I have not verified how well the synching works. Hopefully, it works well because that is the type of backup Kyoko prefers.

Anyway, since this enclosure does not cost any more than other enclosures, then I think this is a good choice. There is one strange behavior if I plug in the enclosure into the computer when it is turned on, then the device is not recognized. Therefore, I have to plug the device in first, and then turn the device on.

However, I am intrigued by the Netgear SC101 network storage device. I have heard it is slow, though, but perhaps for my needs, that is not a problem. It does look like a toaster, though. It would be cuter if they would give it ears and a tail.

Update: Hmmm, I hear strange noises out of the Z-Disc external hard drive enclosure. It sort of sounds like something out of an old science fiction movie. I was thinking it was the hard drive causing this sound (ie, another WD hard drive failure) but when I put the hard drive in a different hard drive enclosure, it does not make funny noises anymore.

Update:Unfortunately the backup software provided was too limiting. Kyoko wanted the capability to have the backup to be a mirror of selected folders, meaning that if she deletes a file, it would be deleted on the backup. No such luck with the provided software. I found that Microsoft provides SyncToy as freeware which does provide such a capability, so it makes more sense to go to the old way of backing up on a network computer, but this time using SyncToy.

Streaming live video

I am trying to stream live video on my home network.

I have a Hauppauge PVR-250 video card and based on information I've found on the Internet, I should be able to use it with Windows Media Encoder to stream video.

I have found I can stream video which has been recorded from the Hauppauge PVR-250 card (such as recording a TV broadcast and then streaming that), but I receive this error when trying to stream the live video directly from the PVR-250 card.

This is the setup in Windows Media Encoder. WME does recognize the PVR card as a valid choice for source.

This is how WinTV2K looks, so everything looks ok here.

I thought the codecs problem may be related to the type of output, so I played around with various settings, but nothing seemed to work for live video.


Here are a couple of links describing how this is SUPPOSED to work:
http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/faq/support_faq_pci.html#5b
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=386789&rl=1

I have been able to perform normal file conversions using WME. For example, I was able to convert a recording from WinTV2K into an ASF video appropriate for video streaming.

So far, no solution yet...

Update: So my solution was to go without WME. I used VideoLAN (free software) for both streaming and client software. In theory, I would have thought that I could use Windows Media Player as the client as well, but that does not seem to work. Anyway, it is a moot point. I use VideoLAN anyway as the client for streaming from ReplayTV. The whole purpose of streaming live video was to be able to view who is at the front door (through the front door camera) from any PC in the house. Beats actually having to get up and go to the front door. Just kidding! But we would like the ability to screen who we greet at the door, just as we screen our phone calls, and it would not help if they see us through the decorative glass we have at the front door or adjacent satellite windows.

But this does provide additional possibilities, like watching live TV from any PC. I do have sling box, but this would in theory provide a cheaper solution and does not limit the number of clients who can view at the same time.

Anyway, this does leave a challenge regarding my PCs. Now I need to have one PC in the study to run the streaming software. This PC can do other things, like it could be my MovableType server. However, it does seem to be running high on CPU.

I moved the NetVista into my home office, but since this is an older, slower machine, I am not sure this is the right machine for my office. In addition, that'll mean I should move the old printer in my office, so I should clean up my office a little bit so noone breaks their neck trying to retrieve a printout. Obviously, another choice is to put an old ThinkPad in the learning center to be the print server for the upstairs printer. Update: Ah, I had an old USB HUB I wasn't using at the moment, so I hooked up Kyoko's ThinkPad to the printer, bluetooth adaptor, and external hard drive by using the USB HUB. See! It helps to have old stuff around and to buy things even though you don't know exactly what for yet...

The NetVista could go downstairs and work double as the downstairs print server as well as a client for the front door camera. That way, we don't have to walk ALL THE WAY to the study to see who is at the front door. Life's tough.

Windows Media Encoder, although not working out for streaming, may be the solution if I want to get video into a format to play on my Zaurus. Since I moved PCs around and the one which I used to use as my "work" (ie, sandbox) PC is now streaming the video from the front door, I put the NetVista in my home office. However, it seems to be missing some codecs and does not properly play some of the MPEG2 videos. Strange, though, is that they play on WMP but not on WinDVD. I tried to re-install WinDVD from the CD but it complains that I don't have a DVD player on that PC. Of course not, I moved the DVD to a different PC! Doesn't the software know that! Grrr, so now I have to either move it back, or perhaps I'll just get that region-free DVD-ROM drive I've been thinking about. Anyway, seems like it may be a couple of months until I can get around to trying this out.

Don't I need a new PC anyway? This is a rhetorical question by the way... But don't tell Kyoko!

Update: Placing a monitor to the downstairs print server (old iSeries ThinkPad) seems to work out well. Now, I am out of monitors and cannot set up my ThinkPad for work with dual monitors while working. Does this mean I need to buy another monitor??? Actually, it's not high on my priority list right now. However, the iSeries ThinkPad (266MHz!) seems too slow for video display. In fact, I seem to remember watching MPEG movies on this ThinkPad was not possible. If I am fast enough, I can walk in the front door and go to the monitor and still see myself at the front door. Wow, I can be at two places at the same time! OK, maybe not... So anyway, I guess this really means I need another PC, maybe two! (As if there was any doubt...)

Update to Googling

japanese tutor flower mound	japanese class flower mound	japanese language class flower mound	learn japanese flower mound
1. Craig's list	1. Craig's list	1. japanese-tutor.com	1. Craig's list
2. Furl.net reference	20. Craig's list	2. japanese-tutor.blogspot.com	101. movil.be reference to del.icio.us
6. japanese-tutor.com	299. movil.de reference to del.icio.us	3. Craig's list	116. movil.be reference to del.icio.us
7. movil.be reference to del.icio.us	319. movil.de reference to del.icio.us	12. movil.be reference to del.icio.us	265. japanese-tutor.com
11. japanese-tutor.blogspot.com	380. japanese-tutor.com
13. movil.be reference to del.icio.us
26. Jimrin Gadget blog

Western Digital... you're fired!

Argh! Third hard drive failure in about a year... I guess I'll be sticking with Seagate.

Social bookmarks

I believe it is good to have information all in one place. That way, you know where to look for it because there is only one place it can be. However, one thing about information is that it doesn't do you much good if you do not have access to it.

That's why I have been using iwon.com's capability to store and categorize bookmarks. Other web sites have capabilities for storing bookmarks, like Yahoo and MSN. However, the way in general that the iwon.com page can be organized is a little more aesthetically pleasing. In addition, iwon.com allows the bookmarks to be sorted in any sequence while Yahoo always sorts them alphabetically.

Anyway, this way of storing bookmarks has been useful to keep handy the sites I use regularly... But not a good way to store sites I ran across which I want to keep around. I've been doing that in my private blog.

My private blog as well is a place where as long as I have access to the Internet, I have access to my private blog (assuming Windows is running IIS ok on my machine). But it is not always handy to go to my blog to save a link and this definitely would not be a good way for my mom.

Bookmarks/favorites are ok but I never seem to organize them. In addition, those are stored only on one's own machine and not accessible from a public Internet terminal or someone else's PC. What I need is a place to store my bookmarks on the Internet! These are also known as social bookmarks.

I have found a few:

del.icio.us
www.sitebar.org
www.furl.net
www.spurl.net

del.icio.us does not seem to allow categorization. Ugh!

Both sitebar.org and furl.net allow categorization. In case of furl.net, it seems to allow multiple catgorization but does not seem to allow customized sequence. sitebar.org has a limit of 100 links for the free accounts. Spurl allows categorization and subcategorization, but also does not allow to customize sequence. Spurl seems to perform better than furl.

Therefore, the winner seems to be spurl.net although furl.net is close. I can use this as a backup for my links on iwon.com as well as categorizing anything I want to save from the web. Response seems to be a bit sluggish when I want to save a link. In addition, "furling it" does not necessarily sound like something I want to do voluntarily, but I guess it's just a name.

Impressively enough, furl.net also saves a cached version of the web page, so in case the page has changed and you cannot find the original information, you still have the cached version. I assume Spurl does the same.

Update: I am using Spurl because of the capability to display the bookmarks on the sidebar of the browser. It makes it very easy to navigate and find the desired bookmark without having to go to the Spurl website first.

Photosharing

We have a Flickr account. I like the way you can see thumbnails of all the pics at once and the slideshow function is pretty good.

There are some things about Flickr aesthetically which are not clean.

There is also Smugmug. Smugmug is very well done. One thing I like about Flickr is the calendar function to be able to see when pictures were taken very easily. Smugmug does have a map function which would be good in our case since we do a lot of traveling.

Smugmug does require an annual fee, but it is $29 and there's no limit on the amount of photos you can post. Flickr is free with no limit on photos as far as I can tell, but you can only post so many photos per month (as determined by how many bytes are uploaded). I signed up for the premium account in Flickr which increases significantly the upload limit.

I'll have to play around some more to see what are all the pros and cons between Flickr and Smugmug.

Media hub

I was looking around for a media hub which can be used to transfer video from PC to TV. I did find an article from Fresh Gear (on http://www.g4tv.com) regarding Moxi Media Center. It's not exactly what I am looking for, but I'll keep looking.

Engadget also had an article about a new product called DVX-700 M20 from Japan’s TransTechnology. Available now for ¥32,800 ($283), or ¥29,800 ($257) without WiFi.

Information is located @ http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000230066045/

New blogs

I found another website for blogs:

http://www.cjb.net

It has some features which Blogger does not, like categories and making posts private.

Update on cjb.net: Although I like the functions available on cjb.net, I am not thrilled about the fact that I have received spam mail (including phishing) to the e-mail address registered there.

In addition, there's:

http://www.faces.com

which has the advantage of being able to post by e-mail from multiple e-mail addresses and also allows private posts. However, it seems very slow and does not allow a lot of customization.

And finally, there is:

http://www.iblogs.com

It has multiple categorization but seemed to have some bugs with its composer editor. It also does not allow a lot of customization. Entries on it seemed to turn up quickly in the blog search.

If I decide to go with other blogs, I would need to come up with a way to backup the content, perhaps using the RSS feed...

Joys of ReplayTV

Unfortunately when I tried to record Walker, Texas Ranger Trial by Fire, I found that football ran long, so I did not record the entire movie. However, I was easily able to find a fellow ReplayTV owner who was able to send me the movie over the Internet, and we were able to watch it last night.

Of course, the movie itself could have been better, but at least we were able to watch it and not have to wait until the possibility of it being re-broadcasted at some time in the future.

I have noticed that other people on the Internet have commented that they were not able to record the entire movie. They should have ReplayTV!