Uh oh.... Storm on the way!

[Dee_Ann]

Well here he go... There's a nasty mess brewing up in the Gulf of Mexico and we are going to get a bunch of rain and strong winds at the least. They are saying it has the potential to become a hurricane and that we should not be surprised if it does. Heavy rain, flooding and vicious mosquitoes will be back very soon.. :cry:

Already the winds have picked up here so I took down all my wind chimes, tied the cover down on my John Deere and used the rest of the rope to tie my big dishup pretty good. I left a little slack in it so I can move the dish several degrees each way but if the motor gives out in a high wind the rope will keep it from flopping all the way over and breaking.


Next week I'm going to borrow my folk's Openbox S9 to try and tweak my 1.2m dish for FSTV on 123. I still can't find it as I have nothing that can blindscan S2 and my two meters do not recognize S2 either.

Also, which forum would be the appropriate one to post in in regards to my "new" WD TV Live Plus thing? I'm getting the hang of it, I see a lot of potential there but I also see a LOT of limitations, restrictions and annoyances. I'm also pretty sad that it won't play my soaps that I bought on Amazon.com

When I was searching google for a way to add an internet stream to the WD such as Whitesprings.tv (I still like that channel, I always did) I stumbled across a bunch of stuff about people hacking these things to get more features out of them. So I'm wanting to hack mine but being ever cautious I want to do a lot of research first and talk to people who have hacked theirs already.


It's still a long way off from what I really want, an Azbox but for now it will have to do.

Oh, and I flipped out when I went to buy cables to hook the little devil up! $22 for a flippin video cable and $16 for the audio cable! HA!!!!!!!

I drove to every place in town and I couldn't do any better than $14 for the video cable from Big Lots. Walmart was the only one that had the audio cable (I guess it's a laser cable) and that was just too much!

I bought the video cable because I needed it NOW. All I get is sound out of the TV speakers and that's a big bummer because I'm used to the 5 speakers with the pc theater system. There's a sound cable that goes to a stereo box from the pc. The pc doesn't put out any sound through the tv at all and that's fine with me, I like the 5 speakers way better.

But the WD thing, it only puts sound to the TV speakers.
I looked at the manual for the TV and you can connect the laser sound cable from the TV to the stereo and turn the TV speakers off completely by the menu.

So I looked on ebay and I found the exact same laser audio cables that Walmart wanted $16 for. Guess how much? $2.25 each with free shipping from Montana !
$16?? HA!!!!! Not from this chick!! :rant:

I could have gotten the video cable almost as cheap too but I didn't want to wait a week, I wanted it NOW...

I guess my dream of having a "One box does it all" gadget is still a long way off, if ever...


(Oh, and someone sent me a PM but I can't reply because their mailbox is too full. )


Have a great day!

 

[osu1991]

My dad got a live plus to go along with the WDTV Live Hub I gave him for Xmas. No hacking it though, as all they wanted it for was to stream from the Live Hub to the other HDTV, so they didn't have to keep unhooking it to use between tv's. I have part of my DVD/Bluray collection ripped to an external drive for them and then they watch a lot of the Australian and UK shows that I acquire by other means. They copy things over their network to the internal drive of the Hub and take it with them on vacations to use in the hotel rooms at night too.

The Live Plus should have come with it's own proprietary cable for composite and component video/audio. Then it has HDMI and optical audio out too. You can't hack the Live Hub, like you can the Live Plus, as it wipes out the DRM keys if you do, but I am pretty sure the Live Hub can play several file types that the Live Plus can't as the Live Hub is the latest model put out by WDTV with the newer chipsets. You should be able to use one of the various file converters on the internet to convert your files into something the Live Plus can play.

Here is the forums for the Live Plus.

Recording and Playback Equipment

 

[Dishman Dan]

Oh, and I flipped out when I went to buy cables to hook the little devil up! $22 for a flippin video cable and $16 for the audio cable! HA!!!!!!!

I drove to every place in town and I couldn't do any better than $14 for the video cable from Big Lots. Walmart was the only one that had the audio cable (I guess it's a laser cable) and that was just too much!

I bought the video cable because I needed it NOW.

So I looked on ebay and I found the exact same laser audio cables that Walmart wanted $16 for. Guess how much? $2.25 each with free shipping from Montana !
$16?? HA!!!!! Not from this chick!! :rant:

I could have gotten the video cable almost as cheap too but I didn't want to wait a week, I wanted it NOW...

Oh Deere!!!

I would of bought the cables at Walmart and the ones on Ebay!

Then use the Walmart ones until the ones from Ebay arrived

and returned the ones back to Walmart!!!

 

[Dee_Ann]

Oh Deere!!!

I would of bought the cables at Walmart and the ones on Ebay!

Then use the Walmart ones until the ones from Ebay arrived

and returned the ones back to Walmart!!!

Weeeeeell.....................
I never thought of that. I'm not one to return items once I've bought them. I think I've only returned maybe 4 things this century, they were all just defective things I exchanged for the same thing.

I really thought the gadget would have had the cable I needed but it only came with the oddball cables instead. They both have little headphone plugs on one end and one has red/white/yellow plugs and the other has red/blue/green plugs. I needed the hdmi plugs that look like giant usb plugs. Everything I have read says that gives you the best picture. That's how the pc plugs into the tv, with one of those cables. When I bought the tv I plugged it into the pc with the red/white/yellow wires cables and it didn't look so good. A few weeks later my ex came by for a few days and rewired everything, changed all the apps, put a new windows on and bunches of other stuff to annoy me. He said he was gonna fix things up so I would have to worry about anything for a few years. Long enough for him to disappear to a desert island leaving me to struggle with the mysterious mess he left behind. I do have to admit though that after he changed the tv from the red/white/yellow wires to the hdmi usb looking wire the tv picture got waaaaaaaaaaay better. But when he changed the windows and put the theater app on, things got more stupid. Oh well. I'm still hoping to one day get an Azbox and be done with the dumb stuff..

Have a great day!

 

[Phottoman]

Dee, you might consider this. As has been said in the past, about the ONLY thing the AZ box does that S9 or S10 doesn't is 4:2:2. Is it really that important that you get the 4:2:2 which is mostly used for sports?

Also, one more thing to consider. It seems from your writings that you record a LOT of stuff to watch later. If you record a 4:2:2 program with an S9 or S10, you can later watch it on your PC (and drive it through out your system?) when it's more convenient.

MUCH cheaper that way.

Photto

 

[Dee_Ann]

Dee, you might consider this. As has been said in the past, about the ONLY thing the AZ box does that S9 or S10 doesn't is 4:2:2. Is it really that important that you get the 4:2:2 which is mostly used for sports?

Also, one more thing to consider. It seems from your writings that you record a LOT of stuff to watch later. If you record a 4:2:2 program with an S9 or S10, you can later watch it on your PC (and drive it through out your system?) when it's more convenient.

MUCH cheaper that way.

Photto

Phottoman,

I have no interest in the 4:2:2 stuff as I have been informed that that is strictly sports. ZERO interest.

The Azbox does a LOT of things no other tuner does. It's a very Internety kinda box. It lets you watch internet video streams like Whitesprings.

I WANT an OTA and DVB-S2 tuner all in one box that that can record. My pc is doing that now but it has a lot of limitations and disadvantages.

The Azbox will play files on my pc like the WD TV box does.

You can log into the Azbox from a pc and control it and all sorts of things.

There's so much more but this isn't the Azbox forum.

As it is now I have two pc's on all the time generating heat, noise and running the electric bill up. I would like to get rid of the pc that runs the satellite stuff.

The Openbox tuners are ok but fall far short of what I want and need.

 

[Dee_Ann]

My storm readiness..

It's starting to get fonky out there. Dark skies, strong winds, heavy humidity.

My big dish is ready. I think. I hope..

 

[Anony55]

I have no interest in the 4:2:2 stuff as I have been informed that that is strictly sports. ZERO interest.

Well, not 100% sports. There is some non-sports 4:2:2 stuff up there. But depending on your needs, you still may not care about those.

...I WANT an OTA and DVB-S2 tuner all in one box that that can record. My pc is doing that now but it has a lot of limitations and disadvantages...

If you use the right software and a tuner with a "supported" remote control, you can do pretty well with an HTPC. I'm a big DVB Viewer fan myself. I'm not saying that there's not a learning curve setting things up (because there is). But once things are figured out, you can do a lot of things that no stb can do. Plus, HTPCs can change with the times.

But they can be spendy if you're not careful. Mine was around $1,500... and that was with me building it myself (and didn't include an OS). But then, I do have a habit of overdoing it on some projects.

As it is now I have two pc's on all the time generating heat, noise and running the electric bill up. I would like to get rid of the pc that runs the satellite stuff.

Yes, there is that to contend with. And if you live out in the sticks like I do, you have to take it outside and blow it out every six months. I used to leave my HTPC on 24/7. But now I turn it off when not in use and no timers set. Not to save power, rather to keep the fans from pulling in so much of that country dust.

The Openbox tuners are ok but fall far short of what I want and need.

Actually, I've found the S9 to be a pretty sensitive tuner/blindscanner. That's what I use to find TPs for the HTPC. But I can see how it might come up a little short as a "main box". Still, for the price, the S9/S10 is a lot of bang for the buck.

AZ has an ATSC tuner now, but I'm not sure what receivers they do & don't work in. That might be worth a look if it works in one of the blindscan boxes.

Cheers

 

[Dishman Dan]

Weeeeeell.....................
I never thought of that. I'm not one to return items once I've bought them. I think I've only returned maybe 4 things this century, they were all just defective things I exchanged for the same thing.

Radio Shack is great on returns too!

It was a Radio Shack manager that got me on the "dark side"

and returning things. I bought a camcorder 20 years ago to

record our wedding and he said to bring it back when done!

I took it back and then it went on sale and I bought it again!

It is kinda embarrassing walking into Walmart and the return

lady knows my name! ...The electronics people do too!!!

 

[rv1pop]

So far Lee is not going to 'hit' Houston. But you might want a weather radio as the prediction is for 60 or so tornados from him.

 

[Dee_Ann]

So far Lee is not going to 'hit' Houston. But you might want a weather radio as the prediction is for 60 or so tornados from him.

I just watched the local evening news and it looks like, as usual, you can't ever tell what a storm is going to do until it's on ya.
This one took a turn to the east and is pretty much totally missing us. This time. We're still getting some strong wind gusts +35mph..
The torrential rain they promised us is not going to happen either. Thankfully! I don't mind a little rain but I can't deal with my yard flooding for a week and turning into a mosquito hatchery.

I'm still going to leave the ropes on my big dish through the weekend just in case. It has enough slack that it can move several degrees either way.

As for a weather radio, I have one but I despise it. It's a really, really old one, I think close to 20yrs old. The newer ones can go off to ~just your local area~.
Mine, goes off constantly and is triggered by ANY weather alert for 500 flippin miles from here! It's so annoying that I just leave it turned off unless something really bad is going on, like a full on hurricane bearing down on us directly. One of these years I want to get a new one with the better alert system.

 

[turbosat]

We need the rain badly here, I know Texas really does also. It's been about 3 weeks since we got a rain , everything's just about burned up with the temp hitting 95-96 nearly every day. I have some cable connectors to seal properly tomorrow, before any of this alleged rain gets to N AL on Sunday. Hope I have enough coax seal left, lol.

 

[Dee_Ann]

They said on the news that we're not going to get as much rain as they hoped and that within 3 weeks they are going to institute an "extreme emergency water rationing program" here in our area. That means the idiots will have to stop washing their cars, watering their lawns and filling their pools.

I know one thing, if they try to start recycling sewer into our drinking water like they are doing in several other places, I'm moving! I will NOT drink or use sewer water and there is nothing anyone can say or do to convince me it's safe. NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tron]

Dee, Our good friend Lee has decided he is going to take a tour of Southeast Louisiana ... It's not going to bring dangerous winds, but they're saying 15+ inches of rain in the metro. Also, it doesn't take extreme winds to endanger a solid, portable BUD. I'm debating taking down PortaBUD's reflector. I really don't want to lose MeTV for a couple of days, but that would be better than losing it indefinitely!

One thing is certain, September is here ...

 

[Dee_Ann]

Dee, Our good friend Lee has decided he is going to take a tour of Southeast Louisiana ... It's not going to bring dangerous winds, but they're saying 15+ inches of rain in the metro. Also, it doesn't take extreme winds to endanger a solid, portable BUD. I'm debating taking down PortaBUD's reflector. I really don't want to lose MeTV for a couple of days, but that would be better than losing it indefinitely!

One thing is certain, September is here ...

Oh gosh... Yes, I agree, better safe than sorry. Even if you don't get hurricane force winds there are still strong gusty winds that are more than enough to do damage to your little friend Portabud. I would put him in the garage where it's safe for a bit.

Losing MeTV for a few days would s**k but maybe you could use the time to get some other things taken care of around the house or spend some family time?
When my kids were little and a storm would knock out the power we would play monopoly by the light of a coleman lantern. Family time!

Oh darn, that reminds me, it indeed is September and I need to find my coleman lantern and make sure I have propane for it and my coleman stove!
My generator is messed up, I let the gas go bad in it for years and it turned to a thick, gooey turpentine smelling mess, I have to get it fixed now.

I so hate this time of year. Horribly hot, miserable mosquitoes and, hurricanes...

August and September are the months that really scare me the most. It's rare that we have problems with them into October (Except in 2005!)

So far this year, we've been really lucky. Shhhhhhhhhhhh! Don't say anything!

Best of luck with the weather there!

 

[Dee_Ann]

Oh, and by the way, I was googling for a way to watch Whitesprings.tv on my new WD TV Live Plus gadget and I stumbled across a site that's all about hacking the thing to give it more features!

Sooooooooooooo................. :


I joined the site and followed the directions and I now have a WD box with vastly expanded capability! OMG it's awesome what this thing CAN do if you hack it!

I figured if I can jailbreak my iPhone then I should be able to do this. It was SIMPLE. I just put three files on a usb stick, plugged it in, followed the upgrade prompts and a few minutes later, BOOM! Coolness!

Hello! New WD Live+ owner & wanting to hack it!

If ~ I ~ can do it I know you guys can!

Now this thing is approaching what I was hoping to have in an All-in-one box.

It's not there but it's several steps in that direction.

 

[avenger]

Dee_Ann;
Are you subscribing to Netflix with this thing of yours, or did buy it to to play with and add to you extra viewing of FTA channels?

There are quite a few of this thing being sold on E-bay. The price of the refurbished ones are cheap enough. Post more of your experimenting and findings, who knows, I might even invest in one of them.

 

[Dee_Ann]

Dee_Ann;
Are you subscribing to Netflix with this thing of yours, or did buy it to to play with and add to you extra viewing of FTA channels?

There are quite a few of this thing being sold on E-bay. The price of the refurbished ones are cheap enough. Post more of your experimenting and findings, who knows, I might even invest in one of them.

I haven't purchased or signed up with Netflix yet, I am worried that they may not be there tomorrow. I've been seeing a LOT of bad press about them lately.
They recently made a LOT of people mad when they changed their prices and procedures then Starz dumped them the other day.
Now people are wondering as I am, Will they be there tomorrow?

For now, I'm holding off. I'm not real big on watching movies anyway unless they are OLD movies.

One thing about hacking the WD box is you can add a lot of things to it that WD never intended for you to do.
I hacked mine and it's incredible what it can do! You can add internet TV to it via an addon (after you hack it) and with a little work you can watch pretty much anything your heart desires. If it's online you can watch it. I'm trying to figure this out right now. I want so much to have Whitesprings on it and I know for a fact that it is possible but I'm extremely new to this gadget and reading like mad to try and figure out how to do it.

After you hack it it will have a web interface that you can control from your PC and even from a smartphone!


The main reason I bought this was to fill in the gaps that my home theater pc leaves. It's pretty good with watching satellite and recording satellite but it's HORRIBLE if you want to playback recordings or saved stuff. And it flat out will not let you watch internet tv at all. So I bought this WD thing with the hopes that it would be nicer to me about playing things back. And it is!

It comes with apps pre-installed but they are very limited and restrictive. And they do not allow you to view any online channels outside of their predefined garden walls. So I googled hoping to figure out a way to add online content of MY CHOICE to it and I discovered that you can hack it and get waaaaaaay more out of it than it was designed to do!

I'm really impressed with this little gadget and I will definitely be buying a second and maybe a third one. One for the kitchen for 100% sure and maybe one for the living room. Once upon a time there was TV throughout the entire house until my ex came in and totally messed up EVERYTHING. After he was done I was left with TV only in my craft room / home office and my bedroom and even that is a massive pain to switch between the two. I hate it now but I can't figure out how to get it back to where it plays in every room again. These WD boxes are really neat though and I see them as a very easy solution to several problems I couldn't figure out otherwise.

I highly recommend this gadget. It's ~easy~ to use and just as easy to hack/upgrade into a super cool gadget!

__

 

[avenger]

Thanks for the info, does this unit has to have a dedicated computer attached to it, and how fast of a computer is required. If I read it correct, this unit is wi-fi compatible, so if you have wi-fi at home, then the more units the easier it is to view on your computers.

This sound like a fun toy to buy a play with. You mentioned that it only takes three software programs to make this thing go. If is not that hard to convert it, then I guess that I will be visiting Mr E-bay very soon.

Thanks again.

 

[osu1991]

It is a stand alone media player. You don't have to have a computer to use it but it helps with some things especially if you modify the firmware. It has an Ethernet port but wifi requires a USB wifi adapter

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