Daily Doings at the Line of Death Bar & Grill

For the last several years, I've been wanting a home theater PC. A few of my friends already had home theater PCs, through which they could play their music on their stereo, display their pictures on their TV, and play their videos on their TV. Some of these systems were based on the Windows Media Center edition OS. I didn't want a Windows-based home theater. Support for the Media Center versions of Windows has waned, and in the current version, it's practially non-existent. I had heard of Mythbuntu -- a flavor of Ubuntu [Linux] with MythTV support integrated into it -- and wanted to try it out.

The name for this machine -- and the project -- was GoldChannel, after the high-priority command-level communications channel on "Babylon 5". Since my main desktop is named "orac" (from "Blake's 7"), and my main laptop is named "tardis" (from "Doctor Who"), I wanted to continue using names from some of my favorite science fiction programs.

The goal was to build such a home theater system for under $1,000 using easily obtainable parts.

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Last month, I finally got started on one of my long-term projects: convert my collection of video tapes to DVD.

I have about 500 VHS tapes and 100 Beta tapes in my collection. A couple of years ago, I picked up a copy of the Honestech VHS to DVD 3.0 package at Big Lots for about $25. It came with capturing and editing software, and a device to convert a three-RCA-plug signal (audio-left, audio-right, video) to a USB connection.

And so, I hooked up a VCR with the output cables going into the converter device, and plugged the USB end into my computer. And it performed rather well. I'm now doing about 1-2 tapes a day. I tend to start a tape before I go to bed for the night. And the next morning, after the tape is done, I create a project file, and move the resulting MPEG files to an external hard drive. A T-120 tape, with a full 6 hours of information, take up about 20 Gb. So, on a 1 Tb drive, I can have up to 50 tapes saved.

The next step is to edit the MPEG files to trim out the filler at the beginning and end of the program, and put in markers so I can skip through the commercials. It's probably too much of a hassle to edit out the commercials, so I'll put the markers in after the commercial breaks, right before the program resumes.

I probably won't burn DVDs of programs that are commercially available, e.g. Babylon 5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Friends. But for the items that aren't available, or rare (e.g. the original pilot of Babylon 5 as it originally aired in 1993), then they're getting the DVD treatment.

One of the things I've wanted to do with my computer is to use it to digitize my record and tape collection, and convert them to audio CDs.

Last week, I picked up the Honestech Audio Recorder 2.0 at Big Lots. It's a package which contains adapter cables and software to perform audio capture and editing. Overall, the package is inexpensive and easy to use. It doesn't have any special settings to remove tape hiss or record scratches, though. And I had a hard time figuring out how to break up the audio stream into tracks.

So far, I've digitized two albums that I had previously recorded to cassette tape. One was a tape of the Caroleers' "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", a Christmas album I've had since I was in kindergarten. The other was a tape of Billy Joel's first solo album, "Cold Spring Harbor", that I obtained from a friend in high school. This 1971 release has notoriety because it was mastered at a speed slightly slower than normal, resulting in Billy's voice sounding higher than natural. The album was re-released in 1983, but the orchestral tracks were removed.

One thing I've discovered is that the source has to be high-quality to have a CD-quality result. Cold Spring Harbor was recorded on one side of a TDK D C-90 tape nearly 30 years ago, and whatever high range it had has been lost. As a result, the final product sounds a bit muddy. I'd very much like to get my own copy of the original 1971 album and re-digitize it, if I can find a copy. I think I saw a copy on EBay for $40.

Years ago, I purchased a complete set of The Photo partworks magazines, published by Marshall Cavendish UK. The series is like a photography tutorial; the issues form volumes that can be referenced like an encyclopedia or dictionary. I'd like to put these into binders, but the series has been published so long ago (early 1980s) that I doubt the "official" binders are available from the publisher. To complicate things, the magazines are A4 size, not 8 1/2 x 11.

My current plan is to get 100 A4 magazine holder straps and 7 4-ring A4 binders to fit. (There's a grand total of 98 issues.) Yes, this will involve ordering items from the UK, which may make it more expensive. At this time, I don't know of any domestic supplier of A4 binding supplies. Any suggestions?