How-To: Broadcatching Part 1: History
Part 1: History
For people not living in the United States or temporarily traveling away, new domestic TV episodes are not broadcast regularly which makes it difficult for fans to keep up. The age old solution for those temporarily traveling away was to leave a VCR running at home to time-shift episodes on to low-quality VHS. The problem with this approach was that VHS tapes had very limited recording capacities and a single-tuner VCR could only record one show at a time. There had to be a solution short of having multiple VCRs and tapes. For many years, it has been possible to view and record television on computers via a host of add-in cards. It was only a matter of time until savvy computer users figured out how to record TV shows onto their computers through kludgy interfaces which littered the early TV tuner landscape. Quality wasn’t always great because MPEG encoding had to happen in software run over processors (i.e. Pentium 2 450Mhz in my case) choking on 720×480 streams which made it necessary to keep resolutions low. Although bigger hard drives solved the problem of limited storage, consumers were usually stuck with the ability to record only one show at a time due to a majority of the cards only being equipped with a single tuner. Then came the consumer TV tuners with hardware MPEG encoding and multiple tuners which allowed a bump in resolution, a loss of random pauses while recording, and allowed recording of more than one program at a time. These developments spurred the underground world of computer-based TV recording.
As most things in the digital world, people wanted to share their recordings with over fans but limited bandwidth outside of ISDN lines to the home or ethernet connections in college dorms still prevented widespread sharing. For the general public, P2P applications coupled with high-speed cable and DSL broadband internet connections finally made widespread sharing possible. Many iterations of P2P came about and legal pressure from various industry groups forced newer generations of P2P protocols to cope. BitTorrent ultimately was released which provided a revolutionary way of removing all the burden from a server (in a client-server relationship) to that of one where clients would share chunks of data with other clients. In other words, the single server bandwidth burden was now less crucial. Unfortunately, lazy users still had to specifically search for shows through a non-automated process. BitTorrent made this even harder because files called torrents had to be located which contained the necessary information to download the file in question. Finally, suggestions started flying around the internet that the subsciption capabilities of RSS could allow users to subscribe to trusted feeds of specific shows. The feeds would imbed a torrent file which would be automatically downloaded at a set interval and a BitTorrent client would then automatically queue the file for transfer. This marriage of RSS + BitTorrent was termed broadcatching. All of this meant that finally a distribution model existed akin to Tivo’s Season Pass functionality where users could watch television shows without manual intervention. Although there are many legal uses of RSS + BitTorrent, sharing of TV show content is generally considered to be copyright infringement in the United States but not necessarily in other countries around the world.
In the next few parts, I will outline how to use various pieces of software to acquire content from a variety of sources.
Note: If there are any errors, shoot me an email.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer so I’m going to forego the legal doubletalk and say this all directly. All the information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. It is the responsibility of the reader of this information contained in this entry to verify that they are in compliance with all applicable laws. I cannot be held responsible for any damage or illegal usage of the information provided. I cannot and will not condone copyright infringement.
Notebook Tech Still Lagging
I wrote this message back in May of 2004 on a forum that I used to be active on. Interestingly, we are only now seeing many of the ‘esoteric’ technologies I talked about in wide distribution. I’d like to speculate why but there seems to be a stubborn desire for companies and consumers to drag their feet due to reliance on relic technologies. For example, in the last 18 months there has been no real push towards wide adoption of the new ExpressCard or 6-channel audio standards in notebooks. Only recently has the Apple announcement of the Intel Core Duo-based MacBookPro’s use of only the ExpressCard/34 been of merit. Even then, Apple didn’t bother with 6-channel audio. It seems to me that notebook manufacturers have become comfortable with the status quo and has left consumers like me keeping our money in our pockets until something new comes out.
What about Firewire800? Many notebooks (let alone Desktop PCs) still do not come with a standard Firewire and Firewire800 is even rarer. Although add-on PC Card, PCI and PCI-Express cards are available it’s still a hassle to something that could be included on the chipset. Apple did include Firewire800 on it’s 17-inch G4 Powerbook but the new MacBookPro doesn’t offer it (yet). Although I understand why Intel hasn’t bothered with Firewire (largely due to the fact that they are in the USB camp which requires a host PC), it is still in the best interest of consumers to push for as many I/O options as possible. I mean how else will I connect my external desktop hard drive/DVD/CD enclosures or notebook hard drive enclosures? At least Firewire800 is backwards compatible with Firewire (400).
Anyway, that is enough complaining from me. I will continue to wait for the next notebook that includes support for Intel’s Core Duo processor, DDR2 or better memory, Intel’s VT technology, both Expresscard/34 and /54, Firewire800, Gigabit ethernet (that supports jumbo frames), 802.11n wireless networking, Bluetooth 2.0 (w/ full A2DP supported in the default Bluetooth stack), 15.4″ or larger WUXGA glossy screen, 512meg PCI-Express x16 video card (based on a standard interchangable/upgradable industry format!!!), illuminated keyboard, all the legacy ports (serial, parallel, IrDA), DVI out (w/ VGA adapter), external SATA connector, SP/DIF (coax NOT optical) 6-channel audio out, EV-DO/EDGE/UTMS/WiMAX connectivity options, HDTV/CableCARD, Blu-ray/HD-DVD drive options, full hardware-based H.264 (full bitrate) decoding support, and SATA hard drive support. The funny thing is that all the technology is available (or will be available shortly) to put 95% of the components I listed into a laptop. However, no manufacturer is willing to make this killer machine because they are too afraid of how successful it would be.
MS Office SP2 Update Failures
I’ve switched over my computers to Microsoft Update which provides service releases for both Windows and Office instead of the plain old Windows Update. I’m also a heavy user of registry cleaners like WinASO, Registry Mechanic, and CCleaner. I’ve found that with regular computer maintenance that a Windows installation can last a very long time. However, one problem I’ve had is with failures of Microsoft Office Updates. Usually they fail with a message reading:
The update cannot be installed.
or
Installation Unsuccessful
Both of these messages can serve to be a huge annoyance not only because the only thing I hate more than wasting time waiting for non-automated updates to apply is to try to troubleshoot why updates didn’t apply in the first place. However, there is a solution!
The problem lies squarely on registry cleaners removing certain “Path” statements to where the update program can find the installation files. The solution is presented in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #884298. In a nutshell, the fix is simply replacing Sting Keys that were originally removed in:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SOFTWARE\
Microsoft\
Office\
Delivery\
SourceEngine\
Downloads\
“download_code”\ (series of numbers representing the Office install)
Sources\
“various IDs representing installed Office apps”\
Path (type: String Key) with a value of
“either D:\ (i.e. CD\DVD drive path) or C:\MSOCache\ALLUSE~1\”download_code” (if you copied the install to the hard drive)
That’s it, the updates should apply then without problems.
Dell x51v (x51) PDA Bluetooth Problems
UPDATE: Members of Aximsite have hacked together a Widcomm Bluetooth stack that has all the missing profiles. Instructions and links to downloads are available in this thread.
I posted this message on the Dell Support Forums about two weeks ago:
I am a current Dell Axim x51v owner that is very angry that Dell rushed out this PDA with an incomplete Bluetooth Stack implementation. I can’t connect to my cellular phone nor can I can’t connect to my headset so it’s like having a Bluetooth Dongle without drivers (i.e. useless). Technical support has been of no use because they were shrugging their shoulders at first. Finally, after a lot of research on various forums, I learned that Dell, unlike its Windows Mobile 5.0 competitors from HP and Asus, refused to use a third party Bluetooth Stack. What’s even more troubling is that Dell’s previous x50 has more Bluetooth functionality than the current release because it also uses a third party Bluetooth Stack. I wish I had known these facts before I gave Dell my money. Don’t get me wrong, for other things, the Dell Axim x51v is great but it is sorely lacking in its advertised Bluetooth capabilities—I would go as far as to say misadvertised capabilities. If Bluetooth functionality is important to you, then please do not buy Dell’s x51 series PDAs until Dell fixes these problems. My question to Dell remains: when are you planning on restoring functionality available in your previous flagship PDA (x50v) to your current x51v flagship model? I have hope but the technical staff’s empty promises coupled with silence from Dell on these issues is bothering me. I await a response.
I am thoroughly disappointed with Dell’s response so far. They have released a ROM Update to version A06 which was said to clear up many of the issues but it hasn’t. The key is Dell making a move towards releasing Microsoft’s Adoption kit Update 2.0 for Windows Mobile 5.0. This update includes several Bluetooth profiles that we need, such as:
Generic Access Profile (GAP)
Generic Object Exchange Profile (GEOP)
Serial Port Profile (SPP)
Dial-up Networking (DUN) Profile
Hands-Free Profile (HFP)
Headset Profile (HSP)
Human Interface Device (HID) Profile
Object Push Profile (OPP)
ActiveSync-Over-Bluetooth
Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)
Until then, I’m going to recommend that no one waste their money on either the Dell x51v or the lesser x51 handhelds from Dell.
GigE troubles or why Dell/Broadcom suck
I’ve been considering upgrading my network to GigE (gigabit ethernet) for a long time because of the sheer amount of data (hundreds of gigs nightly) that I push around between my computers. I had been considering picking up a Linksys EG008W because it would stack perfectly on my customized Linksys WRT54g running Tofu’s firmware. However, after reading this review, I realized that it doesn’t support jumbo frames (i.e. MTU > 1500) which will effectively limit my peak throughput to around 400-500mbps. The suggestion in the review was to look at the SMC EZ Switch SMC8508T which supports jumbo frames. At $88, I’m probably going to wait it out. Another option is going for the 5-port version which is closer to $58.
This isn’t the end of the story though. After seeing the lack of jumbo frame support at the switch level in the Linksys EG008W, I started hunting for information on my GigE network cards. Luckily, my Dell PowerEdge server has an Intel GigE network card which supports jumbo frames and checksum offloading which should allow a max throughput of around 900mbps or higher. My other system has a Realtek 8169 GigE network chip directly on the motherboard. A quick google search shows that it supports jumbo frames but the exact value quoted varies from 7.5K up to 8K which further solidifies my opinion that Realtek is garbage. Lastly, my Dell M60 (Precision Workstation) laptop has a Broadcom 5705 chipset which, unfortunately, does not support jumbo frames. Why Dell could not pay an extra 50 cents for an Intel GigE chip in their flagship laptop product is beyond me. Regardless, I’m fairly sure that my network will still get a speed boost from a GigE switch (~4-5 times faster) but as it stands the consumer needs to do their homework to determine jumbo frame and checksum offloading support before forking any cash to any vendor.
Finally Microsoft fixes the hibernation bug in XP SP2
Running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) systems with greater than 1 gig of ram (1.5 gigs on my laptop) would lead to problems with putting the system in hibernation. My regular system RAM usage is usually over 1.1-1.2 gis of RAM with spikes much higher. My default choice of powering down my laptop has always been to hibernate the system because of the instant restoration of where I was before. However, frequently when I chose to hibernate the system, WinXP would initially start preperations and exit out of the GUI. A few seconds later, the screen would pop up the XP desktop again and a pop up would read:
"Insufficient System Resources Exist to Complete the API."
At that point, I couldn’t hibernate the system anymore as the option would disappear. This would leave me with the choice of either “Shut Down” or “Standby.” For months Microsoft had a fix for this problem for non-SP2 machines (KB330909) which could not be applied to my SP2 laptop. Luckily, Microsoft released a hotfix (KB909095) which cures the problem. The only catch is that customers must call 1-800-MICROSOFT and request it. My phone call this morning took about 10 minutes from dialing until the hotfix was in my inbox. I successfully applied it to my laptop and it has worked repeatedly. As can be seen by looking at Bryce Yehl’s site and my own experience, this problem has been going on for a very long time. Now if only Microsoft would provide a post-Sp2 override for shutting down USB ports when badly behaved USB devices request (but don’tt use) >500mA of power.
Update (3.13.2006): I found a download link for this hotfix at rapidshare from another blog via Google.
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