Aspect Ratios, HD and Windows Movie Maker

I'm having a lot of fun with HD video. I'm hoping that others are seeing that HD video will be the standard for home video, but with that comes challenges. The hardest part is dealing with the tools we have for editing video; it's not a seamless environment yet. I can't take stuff I've captured in Sony Vegas and easily use it in Windows Movie Maker. Similarly, if I want to capture something in WMM, it doesn't come in seamlessly into Sony Vegas.

For example, recently our family took a camping trip to Mammoth Lakes. I had set up our camera and filmed 40+ minutes of us setting up the tent. Obviously, I didn't want to have people watch a full 40 minutes, I wanted to speed it up but with variable speeds, slower at the beginning, faster in the middle, slower at the end.

Windows Movie Maker only has the ability to increase the speed by powers of 2 (double, quadruple, etc.) by applying the Speed Up, Double effect up to 6 times. Even with my custom effects for speed (that allow other speed rates), I couldn't get the effect I wanted. So I switched to Sony Vegas Pro 8. For some reason it didn't like the dvr.ms format that I captured in WMM. So I had to recapture it in Vegas. That was okay, but then I found that Sony Vegas doesn't let you speed up more than 4 times. Since I wanted to get our 40 minutes down to about 1 minute, it meant I would need multiple passes.

My plan was to do the first pass in Sony Vegas with variable speeds, then do an overall speed up using Movie Maker. Things were going fine... I did the first pass and saved the clip in a high-bitrate WMV format. Then I brought it into WMM and applied the speed effect to get it down to a minute. I published the movie.

What I discovered was that WMM took only the top, left corner of the video. So rather than thinking I had 1920x1080 video, it saw it as 720x480 and only took those pixels in the upper right. I'm thinking it must be related to the format that Sony exports in that it must not be *true* WMV format, or is otherwise causing WMM to get confused.

In the end, I had to do all the work in Sony Vegas with about 3 (or was it 4) passes there. The result is great, but it took a lot more time than I thought it should. I hope we get to the point where things will be seamless and all formats will be recognized. Will we get there? Who knows?

Posted by guest blogger via blainesville.com what to post your article here on my Blog? Feel free to say something I will lest you post to be my Guest blogger.

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How-To Install Windows Movie Maker 6.0 on Windows 7 or 8

If you are reading this, I'm going to assume you've upgraded or purchased at least one PC with Windows 7 or 8 and discovered Windows Movie Maker is no where to be found. In its place, Microsoft now offers a set of programs called "Windows Essentials". Often these programs are installed on a new PC but otherwise you must download the Movie Maker program to once again have the ability to edit movies.

Many people have tried the newer version of Movie Maker 2011 or 2012 and complained about the lack of a traditional timeline, issues with crashing, long times to prepare video files and the inability to customize the transitions, effects and titles. If you have been building up a library of custom titles, transitions and effects under Windows Movie Maker 6.0, none of these can be used in the newest Movie Maker because the rendering architecture has changed and Microsoft has no API for customizing things.

The good news is you can still use the latest version of Windows Movie Maker 6.0 from Vista. You can do this manually by copying the files from a Vista machine, registering some DLLs and creating a shortcut in your start menu. Or you can just use the installers I created below:

Movie Maker 6.0 for Windows 7/8 (64-bit) download here
Movie Maker 6.0 for Windows 7/8 (32-bit) download here

There are two versions (64-bit or 32-bit) depending on the version of Windows 7/8 you are running. If you are unsure, go to your 'Start' menu, right-click on 'Computer' and choose 'Properties'. System type should show 64-bit or 32-bit operating system. Pick the installer that matches. After that, don't forget to start previewing all the cool add-ons that you can have with this version.

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AsRock EP2C612D16C-4L Server Motherboard Review

ASRock opened the motherboard floodgates on Tuesday to reveal 17 new C612 motherboards for servers and workstations. This new series supports DDR4 memory modules and Intel's Xeon E5-2600 v3 and ES-1600 v3 "Haswell-EP" processors.

In the first group, High Performance Computing Servers, ASRock provides the EP2C612D16-2L2T and EP2C612D16-4L. These motherboards feature dual CPU sockets, 16 DDR4 DIMM slots, 10 SATA 3 ports via Intel and 2 SATA 3 ports by Marvell. They also include an Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller, support for two 10G Base-T and support for two GLAN.

The next group, Cutting-edge Front PCIe Design, includes the EP2C612D16FM and the 3U8G-C612. These boards include 2 CPU sockets, 16 DDR4 DIMM slots, 10 SATA 3 ports by Intel and 2 SATA 3 ports by Marvell. The EP2C612D16FM can be installed in main storage bays with lots of drives while the 3U8G-C612 is a barebones rack.

Next up is the Thermal Optimized Servers group, which includes the EP2C612D16NM-2T8R, EP2C612D16NM-8R and EP2C612D16NM boards. These feature CPU sockets that are located in places where they will get air flow equally. There are also 16 DDR4 DIMM slots, 10 SATA 3 ports by Intel, 8 SAS3 ports by LSI, and support for 3 PCIe 3.0 x16 slots.

There are only two motherboards in the Highly Expandable Servers group: the EP2C612D16SM-2T and the EP2C612D16SM. These boards contain 6 PCIe 3.0 x8 slots, 10 SATA 3 ports by Intel and an additional mezzanine slot for a storage mezzanine card. Other features include support for the Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller and support for GLAN.

The next batch, ATX Compact Storage with Onboard SAS3, includes three motherboards: the EP2C612D8-2T8R, EP2C612D8-8R and EP2C612D8. These set of boards include 10 SATA 3 ports by Intel, 8 SAS3 ports controlled by an LSI chip, 8 DDR4 DIMM slots, an Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller, 2 PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and a single PCIe 3.0 x8 slot.

Specifications

MB Physical Status
Form Factor	- SSI EEB
Dimensions	- 12'' x 13''
Processor System
CPU	- Intel® Xeon processor E5-2600/4600 & v3 series
Socket	- Dual Socket LGA 2011 R3
Power Design	- Intel® C612
System Memory
Capacity	- 16 DIMM slots
Type	- Quad Channel memory technology - Supports 2133/1866 LR/R/ECC, UDIMM and NVDIMM
Voltage	- 1.2V
Expansion Slot
PCIe 3.0 x 16	- 3 slots
PCIe 3.0 x 8	- 2 slots (PCIE1 switch with PCIE2: x8/x8 ; PCIE3 switch with PCIE4: x8/x8 )
Storage
SATA Controller	- Intel® C612 : 10 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s, support RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 (SSATA_3 port is shared with M.2 Socket)
Additional Storage Controller	- Marvell 9172: 2 x SATA3 6Gbps, support RAID 0, 1 1 (supports M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s))
Ethernet
Interface	- 1000 /100 /10 Mbps by Intel® i210
LAN Controller	- 4 x RJ45 GLAN by Intel® i210 - 1 x RJ45 Dedicated IPMI LAN port - Supports Wake-On-LAN - Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az - Supports Dual LAN with Teaming function
Management
BMC Controller	- ASPEED AST2400
IPMI Dedicated LAN	- 1 x Realtek RTL8211E for dedicated management GLAN
Features	- Watch Dog - NMI
Graphics
Controller	- ASPEED AST2400
VRAM	- DDR3 16MB
Rear Panel I/O
VGA Port	- 1 x D-Sub
USB 3.0 Port	- 2
Lan Port	- 4 + 1 (IPMI) Lan port (RJ45) - LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
Serial Port	- 1 (COM1)
UID Button/UID LED	- 1
Internal Connector
COM Port Header	- 1 (COM2)
Auxiliary Panel Header	- 1 (includes chassis intrusion, location button & LED, front LAN LED)
TPM Header	- 1
IPMB Header	- 1
Buzzer	- 1
Fan Header	- 2x CPU Fan, 6x system Fan (4-pin)
ATX Power	- 1 (24-pin) + 2 (8-pin)
USB 3.0 Header	- 1 ( support 2 USB 3.0)
USB 2.0 Header	- 1 ( support 2 USB 2.0)
Type A USB 3.0 Port	- 1
System BIOS
BIOS Type	- 128Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS
BIOS Features	- Plug and Play (PnP) - ACPI 2.0 Compliance Wake Up Events - SMBIOS 2.8.1 Support - ASRock Rack Instant Flash
Hardware Monitor
Temperature	- Motherboard Temperature Sensing - CPU1 Temperature Sensing - CPU2 Temperature Sensing
Fan	- CPU/Rear/Front Fan Tachometer - CPU Quiet Fan (Allow CPU Fan Speed Auto-Adjust by CPU Temperature) - CPU/Rear/Front Fan Multi-Speed Control
Voltage	- Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore, DRAM, 1.05V_PCH, +BAT, 3VSB, 5VSB
Support OS
OS	Microsoft Windows - Server 2008 R2 SP1 (64 bit) - Server 2012 (64 bit) - Server 2012 R2 (64 bit) Linux - RedHat Enterprise Linux Server 5.10/6.5 (32 / 64 bit) - CentOS 5.10 / 6.5 (32 / 64 bit) - SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 11 SP3 (32 / 64 bit) - FreeBSD 9.1 (32 / 64 bit) - Fedora core 19 (64 bit) - Ubuntu 12.04.2 (64 bit) / 12.10 (64 bit) Virtual - VMWare ESXi 5.5 (not supported for Marvell 9172)
Environment
Temperature	Operation temperature: 10°C ~ 35°C / Non operation temperature: -40°C ~ 70°C

The next group, High Performance and High Density, consists of the EP2C612D16HM-2T and EP2C612D16HM boards. These are proprietary half-width server boards with two CPU sockets. They also include 16 DDR4 DIMM slots, 10 SATA ports by Intel, 8 SAS3 ports by LSI, and the Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller. There's also one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot.

Finally we have the Versatile Server/Work Station/IPC with Thunderbolt group, consisting of three motherboards: the EPC612D8A-TB, EPC612D8A and EPC612D8 boards. These include a single CPU socket and support for the Intel Xeon E5-1600/2600 V3 CPU. Other features include 8 DDR4 DIMM slots, 10 SATA 3 ports by Intel, the Aspeed AST2400 remote management controller, 4 PCIe 3.0 x16 slots and 1 PCIe 3.0 x8 and M.s slot. They also have two GLAN ports by Intel.

Save for the last group of motherboards with a single socket, all motherboards listed here support the Intel Xeon E5-2600/4600 v3 processor. To see more information about these 17 new ASRock boards, head to asrockrack.com.

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Understanding SCSI, ATA, SAS and SATA

For years the parallel interface has been widely used in storage systems. The need for increased bandwidth and flexibility in storage systems made the SCSI and ATA standards an inefficient option. A parallel interface is a channel capable of transferring date in parallel mode — that is transmitting multiple bits simultaneously. Almost all personal computers come with at least one parallel interface. Common parallel interfaces include SCSI and ATA.

SCSI

(sku4ze) Short for small computer system interface, a parallel interface standard used by Apple Macintosh computers, PCs and many UNIX systems for attaching peripheral devices to computers. Nearly all Apple Macintosh computers, excluding only the earliest Macs and the recent iMac, come with a SCSI port for attaching devices such as disk drives and printers. SCSI interfaces provide for data transmission rates (up to 80 megabytes per second). In addition, you can attach multiple devices to a single SCSI port, so that SCSI is really an I/O bus rather than simply an interface.

ATA

(Also known as IDE) is a disk drive implementation that integrates the controller on the disk drive itself. ATA is used to connect hard disk drives, CD-ROM drives and similar peripherals and supports 8/16-bit interface that transfer up to 8.3MB/s for ATA-2 and up to 100MB/s (ATA-6).

So, what do parallel interfaces have to do with SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) and SATA (Serial ATA)? A lot, actually. It is the architectural limitations of the parallel interfaces that serial technologies like SAS and SATA address. In contrast to multiple parallel data stream, data is transmitted serially, that is in a single steam, by wrapping multiple bits into packets and it is able to move that single stream faster than parallel technology.

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)

Abbreviated as SAS, Serial Attached SCSI, an evolution of parallel SCSI into a point-to-point serial peripheral interface in which controllers are linked directly to disk drives. SAS is a performance improvement over traditional SCSI because SAS enables multiple devices (up to 128) of different sizes and types to be connected simultaneously with thinner and longer cables; its full-duplex signal transmission supports 3.0Gb/s. In addition, SAS drives can be hot-plugged.

Serial ATA (SATA)

Often abbreviated as SATA, Serial ATA is an evolution of the Parallel ATA physical storage interface. Serial ATA is a serial link — a single cable with a minimum of four wires creates a point-to-point connection between devices. Transfer rates for Serial ATA begin at 150MB/s.

Starting with SATA, it extends the capabilities of ATA and offers transfer rates starting at 150MB/s and, after years of development, has moved to the mainstream of disk interfaces. The successor the SCSI interface is SAS at speeds of up to 3Gb/s. Additionally, it also addresses parallel interface issues such as drive addressability and limitations on the number of device per port connection.

SAS devices can communicate with both SATA and SCSI devices (the backplanes of SAS devices are identical to SATA devices). A key difference between SCSI and SAS devices is the addition in SAS devices of two data ports, each of which resides in a different SAS domain. This enables complete failover redundancy. If one path fails, there is still communication along a separate and independent path.

Cables & Connectors

Another big advantage of SATA over ATA is the cabling and connectors. The serial interface reduces the amount of wires needed to transmit data, making for much smaller cable size and making it easier to route and install SATA devices. The IDE cables used in parallel ATA systems are bulkier than Serial ATA cables and can only extend to 40cm long, while Serial ATA cables can extend up to one meter. In addition to the cabling, a new design of connectors is also used that reduces the amount of crosstalk between the wires, and the connector design also provides easier routing and better air flow.

The Benefits of SAS & SATA in Storage

Serial interfaces offer an improvement over older parallel SCSI (with a serial version) in storage applications and environments. These benefits include better performance, better scalability, and also better reliability as the parallel interfaces are at their limits of speed with reliable data transfers. SAS and SATA drives can also operate in the same environment while SCSI and ATA cannot. For example, using faster SAS drives for primary storage and offloading older data to cheaper SATA disks in the same subsystem, something that could not be achieved with SCSI and ATA.

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OpenWrt with PPTP VPN on TP-Link TL-MR3020

The other day, I gave up trying to put OpenWrt on a TP-Link TL-WR703n. The stock firmware seems to check for valid hashes, and OpenWrt doesn’t pass the test. Until someone comes up with a hack, I’ve moved on to the TL-MR3020. From what I’ve read only, the only difference is that the MR3020 has a few status LEDs, and the stock interface is in English instead of Chinese.

Again, my plan for this router is to use it when I travel. I plan on plugging it into the ethernet port in a hotel and having it broadcast a wireless network. Any devices that join that wireless network will be VPNed in back to a PPTP VPN server at my house. This encrypts my connection, as well as gives me access to resources at home. Eventually, I’ll be upgrading the VPN server at home to OpenVPN. If you don’t know the difference between PPTP, IPSec, and OpenVPN, you should get started with this.

Install OpenWrt

First, disconnect your PC from all wired and wireless networks. Then, plug the MR3020 into your PC with a wired connection. Do not do any of this over wireless. I started off by checking my IP in Windows.

Read more about OpenWrt with PPTP VPN on TP-Link TL-MR3020 at LoganMarchione

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