Category: The Vid Biz

Capturing Complete

I honestly can’t count how many times I have captured all of the season 1 ROX episodes, but it’s been too many times.  Between all the issues I’ve had, there isn’t really an exact source to point the blame to.  I’ve had a hard drive crash, which put me to tears.  I have some tapes that CATS made for me which have been in bad shape since the day I got them.

The hard drive crash made me seriously look for backup solutions and I found one.  I created a backup server, which backs up my files to a mirrored raid.  Should 1 drive fail, I can simply replace it and lose no data.  The system has expandability for more hard drives in the future should I need them.  The only item I haven’t done is off site or cloud backup, mainly due to the file size of video files.

For a while I was transferring video using a USB device, which worked well for a while but now leaves a video frame in places where they shouldn’t be.  I think it’s a bandwidth issue.  Now I’m transferring with a capture card, and haven’t seen any of the issues I had with the USB device.

As of right now I have over 600 gigabytes of files solely dedicated to ROX.  Most of those are simply draft episodes which have been captured, but aren’t suitable for release.  They are either missing one piece here or there, or just need fade effects added to the beginning and end.

That’s what I do.  I’m not interpreting the original work, merely trying to make 1 good episode from a sea of bad ones.  It’s not easy work.  I go over each episode frame by frame and look for things such as heat damage (which has been the biggest issue thus far) y-axis video track issues and a plethora of audio issues.

Now the real work begins.  I’m hoping to edit and render 1 episode a night.  If I’m able to keep on this schedule I might be able to start DVD authoring within a month.

Editing Schedule

I am currently between semesters, my last one at Ivy Tech and my first one at IU. In this downtime, I’m working in some editing of the “good” episodes of ROX that I have, which are a majority of season one.

On a good night I can crank out 2 episodes. Last night I was only able to complete one.

Most of these episodes are in pretty good shape, they still need a look over to make sure they meet my high standards before I’ll allow people to pay money for them.  The biggest issue seems to be with transitions between shots and the beginning and end of the show.  Luckily I have a ton of “stock” clips to use if one is bad.

If you look at all of my blog posts regarding ROX, you’ll see many ramblings about technical difficulties or just not having time.  I’m finished with giving excuses.  I’d like to get season one ready and launch it with my new LML Video Services website.

Once this “easy” process is over, I will start the tedious heavy editing process.  Dissecting each episode ensuring the audio and video tracks are synchronized and making sure there are no other transitional issues.

After the editing process is complete, DVD authoring and design begin.  This is where I actually create the look and feel of the DVD.  Then I design the case and labels.  Once the producers give their words of approval, it will be released.

The biggest difference between this time, and the last time is I have an active backup solution.  My computer is backed up every night, and those backups are backed up weekly.  If my hard drive fails, I haven’t lost any work.  That is what put me over a year behind.  I had to recapture everything and start from day one.

Wish me luck.

Summer Luxuries

This summer is wildly different than the last couple of summers.  I’m actually working a regular schedule!  That means we have the means to do more!

I’m also taking my last semester at Ivy Tech, the school I have learned to despise.  Since I am transferring to IU, I didn’t have many choices because there are a limited amount of classes that transfer.  So I am taking Econ-101 and Hist-125.  Economics is well, economics; there isn’t much I can really say about such a dull class.  History is a different story however, as the focus for this class is “The History of American Technology.”  There is nothing that gets me as excited as history and technology, well I can probably name a few things but I must digress.

I also made the deans list for the Spring 2010 semester!

My econ class is online, and my history class was originally a “hybrid” class, which is essentially online; with the option of coming in for lectures and discussion.  I guess not enough people registered for my section and it was canceled and moved to a online section.  So no rushing to class for me this summer!  Score!

Interestingly enough, one of the first classes I will be taking at IU is a similar class, but it is in relation to how the computer changed America.  It is through the American Studies program.

I have had an average of 100 pages of reading per week thus far, and I expect that pace to stay the same.  For someone who only reads something if it’s necessary, that’s a mountain of reading.  Luckily I’m able to read and do my homework while at work, which opens up my time away from work for activities I’d much rather be doing.

Speaking of work, it seems as of the last few months that more and more people on campus are moving to Apple computers; the pressure for us to offer support for them has grown exponentially.  I haven’t seriously used a mac since the original Macintosh.  So with some preparation, I will be purchasing a macbook sometime this summer.  I hope to learn the systems inside and out in the only way I know how; enveloping myself in it.  Some think that it’s a large expense for just a learning tool, but I think it’s a small investment in my learning.  Plus it will elminate our current battles over who can use the laptop.  Even Amelia wants to play on what we call “the magic box.”

We’re currently talking (and planning) on adding a HTPC (Home Theater PC) to our endless collection of technology at home.  The key issue is price at this point, neither of us want to spend too much money.  With the lack of abilities a DVD player provides, a HTPC can offer us endless opportunities for whatever we want to do.  I have many movies that we can simply watch over our home network, plus with things like Hulu, Boxee and my new fave, Netflix – we’ll never have the excuse that “nothing’s on.”  With that in mind, I’m currently working on getting our LAN up and running.  I just have to install the box, an outlet, and connect the wiring.

I’ve all but completed the new website for LML Video Services.  I just need to raise the $60 I need to re-up my hosting package.  I built this website from scratch through my Computer Information Systems class last semester, and then tweaked it for “commercial” use.  It’s simple, just my style.  I’m currently trying to make the decision to leave PayPal and use Google for checkout options, but that’s still on the drawing board.  I also have a “Latest Updates” section that is essentially a blog.  I would like to use Word Press or some other blogging type script to update this rather than hand code it.  Unfortunately I cannot work on this until it is actually up and running.

Educating My Business

While I’m currently taking classes to earn an Associates of Applied Science in Programming at Ivy Tech Community College, I try to use my business as a resource from time to time.

This semester, I get to use it for something I’ve needed to do and spent countless hours doing.  Rebuilding my website.  While I was happy with what I had, I knew I could have a better designed one that might draw in some clients and some revenue.  Without some basic skills, what I had was the best that I could muster.  This semester I am taking CINS-102.  It is essentially a class that teaches you XHTML and CSS.

We haven’t done much in this class as of yet, but I can see the momentum starting to build.  We’ve mainly had tremendous amounts of reading each week with smaller projects in class.  Our project due this week is to find 5 url’s that we like and select one we want to use for a basis of a new website.  What a perfect opportunity for my website to be re-born!

My financial plan this year is to save any money I make.  I plan on saving as much as possible.  I did the math last night and found out I have personally spent over $3000 on expenses for my business.  I hope to eventually repay that debt.

If things are good this year, I may put my new and improved website back up.

Like a Phoenix

I am slowly but surely rising from the ashes of a dead hard drive.

About a month ago, my brand new 1.5 terabyte Seagate hard drive crashed.  I tried a few tricks to try to recover the data, but none of them worked.  I didn’t want to spend the $700 to $2700 I was quoted for data recovery, as I am a person of simple means.

Luckily I had old data from my old computer stored on 4 separate hard drives.  I used my “old” hard drive dedicated to video work and installed it, and then started transferring data.  Unfortunately my “backup” drive decided to crap out as soon as I got most of the data off of it.  That drive is the only other Seagate I have.  Their reputation isn’t doing so well with me.  I think I’m going to stick with Western Digital from now on.

I now have almost every episode from season one of ROX on my computer and edited.  There are a couple I’m having problems with, but this time around things have been much smoother than before.  It’s a shame because I spent 3 years working on that stuff.  The video is crisper, the audio is clearer – just a better product all around.  I think this disaster was actually a blessing in disguise.

Once I get these “trouble” episode problems resolved, which are:  Family Values Special, A Festival of Fools and Mom, Dad, I’m Getting Married.  I can start on DVD menu authoring which is a tedious process.  The more time I spend on it, the better the end product will be though.  I want this season to be the standard, not the example.

Season One will be made up of two volumes of 4 discs each.  This is mainly due to quality concerns.  In the set will be all 25 episodes!  Also included will be special commentary on episode 31, A Toast to Poverty by the shows’ producers – J and Editor B.  Plus a few surprising extras.  It should be a hit for all!

I finally have a backup plan so this shouldn’t happen again.  With some help I have purchased a backup hard drive for ROX and I will have my server up and going soon.  With those two options, I hope I have enough redundancy for this not to happen again.

I hope to have season one finalized within a few months, so be on the lookout!

Crash and Freeze?

Over the past couple of weekends I’ve been working hard at getting ROX season one to the production phase.  I’ve authored all the DVD menus and have done most of the design of the case inserts.  I had all the episodes ready.  It was just a matter of rendering all of the discs and making sure I had all of the extras we wanted before it would be finished.

All of that work took an extreme turn for the worse the other day.  I had been having troubles rendering video.  I thought it was a Sony Vegas or Quick Timeissue, so I removed and reinstalled.  I then went on to think it was a codec issue, so I removed every media codec I had (quite a few), still didn’t fix it.  I had given up for the night out of pure frustration as to why my 2 month old computer wasn’t working properly.

The next day I woke to something I’ve never seen before.  A black screen with a message:  Cannot read disk on SATA 0 and Cannot read disc on SATA 3.  WTF!

I restarted the machine to hear a distinct “clicking” noise.  One of the hard drives was toast, so I removed the secondary one (the one with all the important data on it) and the computer would then boot into safe mode.  Apparently, my virus software which I get from Indiana University somehow became corrupt and became “Incompatible with my version of windows.”  So I wiped it and am still installing my programs.

My 1.5tb drive which has all of my personal, business and ROX data was clicking.  What do I do?  I could not initialize the disk.  My first thought was disk recovery, so I called the only computer service place I trust and they referred me to Drive Savers.  They gave me a code that cuts 10% off the price and gives you a no data – no cost guarantee.  I called them up and the estimate was quite shocking, $700 to $2700.  Anybody want a large Seagate drive on the cheap?

Is the data worth that?  It contains 3 years of blood, sweat and tears on this project.  I conferred with my partner in crime, Editor B.  He said he would help, which was a relief.  My homeowners insurance policy will cover anything over $1000.  After much thought and searching my other hard drives for data, I’ve decided to try something a little ‘home brewed’ to alleviate my situation.  Freezing the drive.

Not like this picture though.  The moisture from the ice will ruin it.  I scoured the interwebs looking for “freezer trick hard drive” and came across many posts about how this can help you retrieve the data you need.  Sometimes it works for just a few minutes and sometimes it works for a few hours.  There is no definitive amount of time, I think it’s limited to just how damaged the hard drive is.

I put my hard drive in the freezer last night about 6pm and I plan on taking out about the same time tonight.  I wrapped it with some paper towels and placed it in a vacuum bag.  This will help with any moisture issues that could result.  I plan on keeping the hard drive in the bag and placing it in a larger bag with ice.  When I connect the drive the computer, this will help keep it cooler longer.

I have about 500 gigs of data that I would like to get off of this drive.  But I have prioritized what I am retrieving.

Wish me luck.

UPDATE: This did not work in my circumstance.  However I’ve been told it does.

Season One

I started working on ROX because of a passion.  This show is one of the few things that let me get away from the craziness and feel free from the uncertainty that was my life.

When I “rediscovered” the show in my late teens, I began going to the MCPL and getting my hands on as many episodes as possible.  VHS tapes were extremely cheap at the time, and I thought I would eventually do something with that collection.  While I’m unsure of how many episodes I currently have, it has to total more than 50.  Little did I know that an infamous hurricane would run me into a crash course with the shows’ producers.

I had just built an amazing computer at the time, and I wanted to condense all of those VHS tapes taking up space in our apartment.  So I made a DVD set of the first 6 episodes for the shows’ creators.  This would start an ongoing collaboration to stabilize the archives of this show.

Four years later, I seemed to be at an impasse.  After buying a home, going to school and having a child on the way, I didn’t seem to have any free time to even relax – let alone work on a “hobby.”  In that time, we had re-worked my original creation into a product that many fans have purchased and enjoy to this day.  I had also done hundreds of hours of work to try to make some damaged episodes of the show up to par.

I have begun work on authoring the DVDs that will become the season one set.  Preliminary results show it will be an 8 disc set.  Due to packaging constraints, it will be split into two volumes; sold as one.  I’m not sure on the price  yet, but I expect it to be in the $30 range.  With 25 episodes, and a few extras – this was a much larger undertaking than the 7 episodes of season zero.

With season zero, I was wet behind the ears.  For season one, I’ve sharpened my skills.

I hope to have all of the preliminary work done within a few weeks.  I’m sure editor b will make some announcement when the time is right.

A special thanks goes out to “roxfan” who sent me a few episodes on DVD.  Without the kind generosity of people like him, this project would still be stalled.  You will be the first to receive a set.  I just need to find your address.  If you read this, leave me a comment and I will get back with you.

These sets are a completely non-profit project.  All charges are for cases, discs, ink, inserts and all other associated costs.  The biggest of the costs being ink.  We might setup a bartering system, to help eliminate costs.

IOU

I’ll be buying a new computer within a couple days. It’s just a matter of finding the proper hardware for the right price.  Right now I’m leaning towards a Dell Optiplex 760, it’s a solid business class machine.  KSoB uses them exclusively, and I know their inner workings inside and out.  I wanted a quad core machine, but to get this machine I will have to sacrifice that feature.

Cutting Costs

This market has been bad on my personal and professional life.  My business has run out of money and I am being forced to cut all costs where possible.

I have been on the fence about this, but I think I am going to end hosting my website online.  At $60 a year, it isn’t that bad really for what I get.  I would rather pay for it out of my own personal money to keep it going, but I need to really start separating my business and personal expenses.

I have only really found 1 client due to my website.  While that client was a large one, with almost 50 transfers, but it hasn’t really been a big income maker in the long run.

Since I am going back to school and trying to focus on other projects more, I don’t think it’s completely necessary to have a website.  Most of my clients are referred by word of mouth.  It will just feel weird to not have a @lmlvideoservices.com email address anymore.  I try to be as “official” as possible, and I think that in itself gives me a touch of professionalism.

I think once I have a better website designed, and enough money in the bank I will re-start lmlvideoservices.com.  It just doesn’t seem feasible at this moment to keep it.

I want to make it clear that I am not “giving up,” I am just closing my website.  I will still be working on ROX, and transferring all kinds of media to current (and future) formats.  I will probably list updates on this blog from now on.

In an odd note, I got a job copying DVDs for a faculty member here at the Kelley School of Business.  He came to the TS department to have DVDs copied, but he needed more than our policy allows.  With permission from my boss, I was able to offer my services – as long as I offered an alternative, such as another department within IU.

He accepted my offer, and I should be finished tomorrow.