Inveterate DIY

2007-11-25T10:02:00.000-05:00

So, with the engine and transmission built, I moved them out of the way, covering them with a sheet and wheeled the body into my shop. This will be a total rebuild. By the time I'm done, I will have degreased, media blasted or replaced every single part on this car.

Although the body needs rust repair in several spots, generally its in good shape. The previous owner gave it a very poor paint job, tho - one of those where you just put masking tape over the bare minimum and give it a quick spray w/o much prep work. So, I need to strip all the paint down to the bare metal and cut out the rusted sheet metal and weld in new panels. To do this, the car must be completely disassembled. Interior, suspension, everything off. The easiest way to do this is by putting the car up on a rotisserie. A rotisserie, just like the one you use on your BBQ, attaches to the front and rear of the car, suspending it in air allowing you to rotate the car freely.

So, after removing the interior of the car, I welded together a rotisserie for it. Once up on the rotisserie, it was easy to flip it over and remove all the brakes, suspension, steering et cetera. All that's left now is the bare chassis.

That was about where I got to by the end of the summer. A couple other things took up my free time over the summer that slowed things down (building a shed, helping Anna paint the house). Since then, I've repaired the rust on the chassis by cutting out the rusted parts and welding in parts cut from cars that were being stripped.

I have now moved the chassis out of my shop and have it bundled up for the winter. I've lined up a guy who is going to sandblast the chassis, but I'm not sure if I'll do that this winter as I need to be able to prime it immediately after stripping the paint, and I'm not sure if I want to do that in my shop in the winter. Its difficult to get good ventilation in my shop for painting - I can do the epoxy priming outside next spring/summer.

But, I have all the suspension/brakes/steering parts to refinish this winter. Lots of media blasting and painting that should keep me busy.

That's the update.

2007-11-25T09:37:00.000-05:00

Since I added this blog as one of my websites on Facebook, I thought I should at least put a post up to say what I've been doing. I see my last post was dated over a year ago!

Ok, so last year I wrote two applications - iPodifier and AnalogWhole. iPodifier is used to automatically convert TV content for the iPod, and AnalogWhole can be used to remove DRM from music. Both apps are doing ok now. I do absolutely nothing with AnalogWhole now. The program works and gets downloaded a lot, but after the online help forum for it got overloaded with spam, I gave up trying to keep it clean. iPodifier is doing great and I regularly monitor its online forum to help out users. There are some things I should update in iPodifier, but it seems to be working fairly well, so I'm not touching it.

Last fall, I found I was spending way too much time in front of a computer, so I began to look around for a more hands-on project. I hadn't done anything really mechanical since rebuilding my motorcycles a couple years back (Kawasaki GPz-750 and a ZX-11). I remembered reading an article some time back about a guy who rebuilt a Porsche 911. I did a bit of research and found that there is a great online community around the Porsche 911. Also, 911's have been appreciating in price nicely, so it looked like the effort put into rebuilding one could be realized if I wanted to sell it.

I began looking around for a distressed 911 for cheap and after about a month of searching, found on in Concord, New Hampshire. The guy selling it was a bit shady and had had the 911 up on ebay. His ebay ad had very little info, and a pic of the car from a deceiving angle that made it look pretty good. The car sold to a guy from Germany, but b/c he didn't have a title for the car (not req'd in NH), the guy from Germany couldn't import it, so the deal fell thru. I went to see the car and found that it had some pretty severe rust on it, and the engine/transmission was pulled out and sitting beside it with only a flimsy tarp doing little to protect it from the elements.

Perfect - a real basket case that I could get for a good price. So, here's the car as I purchased it. Anthony and I dragged it home on with car dolly. There were no real surprises - it was in tough shape, but everything was there and I got it for a very good price.

I covered the car with a tarp and pulled the engine/transmission into my workshop. From ~Jan-Mar I worked on the engine. First time I'd seen a Porsche engine before, but since there is a great online community, technically, it was not too difficult. Because it was very rusted/dirty it took a lot of cleaning and sand/media blasting. I made a sandblasting hood which turned out to be very useful. After I completely disassembled the engine, I send the critical bits (i.e. heads, cams) to a shop in CA for machining and worked away at cleaning up the other parts. I won't bore you with the details, but in the end, it came out pretty nicely.

After finishing the engine, I did the same with the transmission. First disassembling it, cleaned all the parts, sourced replacements, then re-assembled it.

More in the next post...

2006-09-23T13:25:00.000-04:00

We bought a laser engraving machine at work. Althought it will cut a variety of materials, it cuts acrylic especially well. I slapped together a simple iPod dock using it. It is basically three 1/4" acrylic pieces assembled using stainless-steel press-fit pins in each corner.
The top piece has a cutout to accomodate the standard iPod dock adapter that comes with every iPod.

The middle piece has a slot cut so a standard iPod docking cable slides in. This cut needed to be made on an angle. This angle cut was made by propping up one side the acrylic piece while laser cutting it.

The bottom piece has a slot cut to allow the docking cable cord to lay in.

Pretty simple, eh? This is just a prototype that took me about 1/2hr to design, cut and assemble. I'll probably put a few of these together for some co-workers.

If anyone wants detailed drawings, lemme know and I'll post them. Although I used a CO2 laser engraving machine, this could be made easily using a standard mill, or even a drill and saw.

2006-04-12T11:37:00.000-04:00

If you haven't already, head over to www.ipodifier.com. I will be releasing the first version of iPodifier (the replacement for SageToiPod) shortly.

This will likely be my last post here regading SageToiPod. Once iPodifier is released, I suggest all SageToiPod users switch to using it as I will no longer be supporting SageToiPod. iPodifier has all the same features that SageToiPod has and then some. iPodifier is a complete re-write of SageToiPod that is built to accept video from a variety of sources, including SageTV.

I look forward to seeing you at iPodifer.

Geoff

2006-04-01T19:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, just to show that I haven't been sitting on my ass doing nothing, here's some screenshots of the new version of the software.

As you can see, the new name of the software is iPodifier. You might also notice that I have a google Adsense add embedded in the software. I'm just playing around with that now. Not sure if it will be in the final version.

In addition to re-writing the entire program and re-implementing all the old features of SageToiPod in the new software, the user interface is as you see, juiced up a bit. You'll notice also from the screen shots that you can now use different transcoding options for different video sources.

One thing that I want to add to the software is a new feature - the ability to create a video podcast of any show. I'll explain more about that later.

For now, if you are interested in testing the new version, send me an email. I have registered the domain name ipodifier.com, so you can keep checking there for a website.

I'm a bit burned out now, as this re-write has taken quite a lot of my time. I now need to focus on making a website. If anyone out there has website building skills and some time on their hands, let me know as I could use a hand with it.

Stay tuned...

2006-03-17T19:28:00.000-05:00

Again, sorry for the long delay between posts. I am busy working on a complete re-write of the SageToiPod software. It will not be called SageToiPod anymore, as it will no longer be dedicated only to SageTV, but hopefully will import lots of other video sources as well (i.e. bittorrent, Tivo, Windows Media Center et cetera). I have made a lot of progress recently and it is looking very cool. I have completely re-written the engine as well as the UI. The basic engine is working and I'm now integrating it with the new UI. I hope that in a week or two I'll have a first release. Stay tuned for the new name and website for the software.

I finished v1.76d of the SageToiPod sofware and several people have beta tested it. I hesitate posting it, tho, as it includes some of the features that will be in the new version. I'd rather just wait and post the new, rewritten application. Email me if you can't wait that long and I'll send you a link to v1.76d of SageToiPod.

2006-02-19T15:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long delay between posts. Th next version will be comming shortly. This will likely be the last version before I do a major revision. This version is a start towards moving the SageToiPod application beyond just supporting SageTV. This version will allow you to specify the type of video each source has (i.e. TV show, Movie, Music Video et cetara).

Because some changes were made in the way the videos are organized in iTunes, you will need to delete all entries of videos it iTunes and have SageToiPod re-add them. This doesn't mean you need to re-encode them, just delete the reference to them in iTunes. I'll explain this more when I release this next version.

Anyone wanting to test this new version, email me (geoff.gerhardt@gmail.com).

Geoff

2006-01-30T19:45:00.000-05:00

I am working on the next version of the software. I am moving away from it being a dedicated application for SageTV and more towards an application that can funnel a variety of video sources into the iPod. I will be adding the ability to indicate whether a video source is either a TV Show, Music Video, Movie, Home Video or Other. If it is designated as a TV show, playlists will be generated for each show. It will be able to take TV shows from any source (i.e. TiVo or downloaded BitTorrent TV content) as long as the naming convention is Showname - EpisodeName.xxx. If the source is designated as a Music Video, Movie, Home Movie or Other, it will be put into the appropriate playlist (playlists for each will be created).

I will also be adding the ability for users to specify all encoding parameters for FFMPEG. This will allow those non-iPod users to adjust the encoding parameters specific for their application.

Let me know if you have any other ideas.

Geoff

2006-01-15T19:09:00.000-05:00

SageToiPod v1.75 is now available - Click here to download

New features/bug fixes:

Fixed 2gb show limit bug
Added fancy little pie chart to show how much time left until next directory search
Fixed column sorting routines on file views (i.e. You can now click on the column header for each file view and sort the videos by name, date, size et cetera)

Please report any bugs or suggestions at the forum.

2006-01-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

SageToiPod V1.74 is now available - click here to download

Added features:

Cleaned up visuals of the user interface
Update not performed on library management changes
Default to no shows transcoded when shows added to management window
Added approximate time remaining in queue
Enabled better resizing of form
Form splitters used to resize form internals
A few bugs fixed

Also, I have added a forum. While I don't mind receiving improvement suggestions via email, it might be better to discuss future improvements of the software on the forum. I will be posting new versions there as well as answering any questions/issues people are having with the software. I've added a link to the forum on the right side of this page.

Keep the suggestions comming!

2005-12-27T17:13:00.000-05:00

I have a new version of the SageToiPod software ready for testing. It includes most of the things you've been asking for including:

Specify multiple SageTV video source folders (unlimited)
Specify a file mask so that directories that contain files other than video can be used (i.e. a mask like *.mpg;*.avi can be used so SageToiPod will only process those files)
You can now specify the output video resolution (320x240, 640x480 or same as source

PLEASE EMAIL ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN TESTING THIS LATEST VERSION.

I have been playing around with transcoding TiVo videos as well. They transcode fine, but I only have a Series 1 TiVo and I'm using TyStudio to extract video off the TiVo. It would be relatively easy for me to automate the TyStudio video extraction with my software, but I suspect people with a Series 2 TiVo use the TiVo-to-Go software to get video off their TiVo. If anyone has a Series 2 TiVo and wants to give me some info about how the video file is named, let me know and I'll add some code to correctly tag TiVo. With this latest version of SageToiPod, you can specify your TiVo video directory, but it won't try to figure out the show name and episode because I haven't included code to parse the filename.

2005-11-30T19:10:00.000-05:00

Well, its about time! The new version of SageToiPod software (version 1.5) is now available. Click here or on the link to the right to download it. I would recommend un-installing any previous versions before installing this version.

Whats new? Check it out...

General reorganization of the GUI
The user interface has been reorganized significantly to make it easier to use and more compact.

A second directory to scan for video other than the SageTV directory
You can put other video sources here and they will be automatically queued, transcoded and imported into iTunes in a separate Playlist called "Other video"

iPod video management
This allows you to manage how much video you want transcoded on a show-by-show basis. For example, even if you keep all the Simpsons episodes on your SageTV system, you can set the number of shows you want to keep in your iTunes library. SageToiPod software will keep the most recent shows up to the quota you've set in your iTunes library. It will delete old video from your transcoded video directory when the quota you've set for a show is exceeded.
IMPORTANT NOTE: To enable iPod video management, you NEED to install the Meekel STV for SageTV (http://www.vinceanido.com/blog/sagetv-plugins/) and enable XML file generation by selecting Settings->Advanced->External Setup->Auto-create XML. This is REQUIRED for iPod video management. With this enabled, An XML file will be generated in the SageTV video directory for each show. SageToiPod software needs the information in these XML files to properly manage the video directory.

Restricted time encoding
On the Transcoding Settings tab, you will notice that you can now set a time window for transcoding activity. If you don't want to be interrupted during the day with transcoding, you can enable it to transcode only at night.

Variable bit rate encoding
Variable bit rate encoding is now used for both mpeg4 and h264. I have found this to give smaller file sizes with improved video quality. I would recommend usingthe "mpeg4" Codec with "Good" or "Better" Video quality setting.

Abilty to specify additional FFMPEG command-line arguments
If you know how to use FFMPEG, you can add additional command-line arguments (i.e. you could add the argument "-r 15" to reduce the framerate to 15fps to save a little disk space).

Full log support and FFMPEG output
From the menu bar, you can turn on logging as well as view the log or FFMPEG output. This is very useful in troubleshooting if you experience any problems.

2005-11-21T08:02:00.000-05:00

I apologize for not getting the new version out yesterday as promised. It is completed, but not tested enough. If there is anyone who is currently using the software and wants to test the new version, email me (link on the right side). I'd rather have a couple people test it before I post it.

2005-11-19T10:19:00.000-05:00

I've had a rather busy week this week and haven't had much time to spend on the SageToiPod software. I'm looking at it today and will try to get a new version out tomorrow (Sunday). If you haven't already, make sure you install the Meekel STV for SageTV and enable XML creation. This will create an XML file for each show recorded that contains all the episode information. This XML file makes it much easier to manage the shows. The new version of SageToiPod will allow you to specify how many of each show you want xferred to iTunes. The show info is needed to make sure that old shows are replaced by new ones - I need the aired date shown in the XML file to get this. Also, a lot more tagging info can be added to iTunes with the XML info file (i.e. show summary).

2005-11-13T18:52:00.000-05:00

I thought I would be able to post a new version of the SageToiPod software today, but I just finished it up and it needs further testing. Hopefully sometime this week. This version (1.4) should have a lot of the features that have been asked for. It has iPod library management where you can specify how many episodes of each show you want syncronized onto your ipod. There are a lot of other change that I will enumerate when I post it. Here's a couple screenshots of the new version:

Screenshot #1
Screenshot #2

2005-11-10T08:21:00.000-05:00

I just installed the SageToiPod software at work and noticed that when you first start the software up, a message box pops up in Spanish (I think) indicating that a directory cannot be found. I apologize for this. I removed some initial registry settings that occur during install that caused this. Just select a directory for your SageTV and iPod videos, exit the program and all should be good. I'll fix this in the next release.

2005-11-09T20:07:00.000-05:00

I am just finishing up another update to the SageToiPod software. The following will be added:

Indicators for each directory displaying current number of videos and size
A second video source (in addition to your SageTV directory) can be added. This can be used to automatically transcode/add to iTunes/iPod video from other sources such as Tivo, bitorrent et cetera. It should be able to handle most common video formats and transcode them to either mpeg4 or h264
Easier transcoding format setup
A couple minor bug fixes

Hopefully I'll have these new features coded and tested by the weekend.

I'd also like to add some form of automatic iTunes/iPod video library managment. Right now, the software will just keep cranking out video onto the iPod. It is up to you to delete shows. I'd like to add something like this:

Syncronize with SageTV (i.e. delete content when disapears from SageTV)
Remove content by time (i.e. delete all content, say 7 days old)
Remove content by size (i.e. delete older content once a iPod Gb cap is exceeded)
Remove content by number of shows (i.e. keep only x number of most recent show

Any comments?

2005-11-07T20:22:00.000-05:00

A couple minor changes and fixes in v1.01.
- New application icon
- Tray icon is animated when transcoding
- Fixed "Re-add All to iTunes" (it wasn't working)

Please send me an email with any feedback you might have.

2005-11-06T22:46:00.000-05:00

Just another note about the SageToiPod software. It uses ffmpeg as a video encoder. When you run the SageToiPod software, you will see a text box labeled "FFMpeg encoding parameters." By default these parameters are "-f mp4 -vcodec mpeg4 -s 320x240 -r 15." This sets up ffmpeg to use the mpeg4 codec with a video size of 320x240 (correct for the iPod) and a frame rate of 15fps. I haven't had much success with the h264 codec, but you can give it a try. I haven't found that higher frame rates improve the video quality, but significantly increase the filesize. Feel free to play with the parameters if you like. If you want to learn more possible encoding parameters, find the ffmpeg.exe file in the install directory, and run the file without any parameters from the command line. It will spit out all the possible encoding parameters.

2005-11-06T19:46:00.000-05:00

After a week of neglecting my family as I whacked this together, here's the first release of SageToiPod. Now be gentle with me, I doubt if I got all the bugs out first try, so check back here often for fixes.

Either leave comments here of email me (email address in the about box of the software) if you have problems.

I have a few other ideas for it, so I will be adding features as time permits.

Good luck.

Download SageToiPod here.

2005-11-05T11:30:00.000-05:00

I have also added video playlists. All shows are now loaded into their own playlist. Currently, the playlist is the show's name. I will add the option to allow you to select whether you want the playlists created by show name, channel or maybe genre (catagory).

Check it out:

2005-11-05T11:17:00.000-05:00

Ok, memory leak fixed (I think). I've set it up to run for this afternoon and night. If no more serious issues arise, I'll post the install package here tomorrow.

Just so you don't think I'm yanking your chain, here's a screenshot of it in action.

2005-11-04T08:03:00.000-05:00

Still working on getting the bugs out. Functionally, the software is working quite smoothly. It is successfully scanning the SageTV directory, transcoding files, loading them into iTunes, adding the tag info then updating my iPod. It is gakking when I walk away and leave it to run overnight, tho. Hopefully I'll get that issue worked out tonight or tomorrow and have an initial release Sunday.

One thing I need to add is the ability to create Video playlists. Right now, I have about 30 shows on my iPod all jammed into the "Movies" catagory. I need to have the software go thru the shows added to iTunes and sort them either by show or channel into playlists so its easier to navigate. Should be relatively easy, but I'm going to try to get the bugs out first before adding new features.

2005-11-03T08:04:00.000-05:00

As soon as I bought my new video iPod I began thinking about a way to syncronize my SageTV media library with the iPod. I wanted all my SageTV content to become automatically available in an organized fashion on my iPod. Everytime I docked my iPod, I wanted all my SageTV content to be syncronized onto my iPod.

For those who don't know what SageTV is, its very similar to Tivo, but it is Windows-based software. Like Tivo, you can setup recording schedules and favorites. It stores all recorded shows as MPEG2 files in an easily accessible directory. Because Apple decided to limit the video codecs supported by the new iPod to MP4 and h264, the SageTV content must be transcoded before it can be transferred to the iPod. Also, while your transcoding, you may as well adjust the framerate and video size such that it is appropriate for the iPod as well. Finally, SageTV stores an xml file with each recorded show that contains show info. In order to properly organize the TV shows in iTunes and on the iPod, this show info must be read and added to the tag information when the video is imported into iTunes. Once all that is done, your golden.