If the power goes off, or I need to reboot my WDTV for any reason, when it comes back on my screen is always tainted with a pink hue, it seems to be called the “Pink Screen Issue”. From what I can gather, its caused by a mismatch in frame rate when using HDMI. Here’s how I fix it on my unit. I hope this works for you as well.
Start at the home screen
Scroll through and select the “Setup” option
Then select Audio/Video OutputThe next step is to select HDMI
Now select AUTO
Next, choose OFFPINK BE GONE! Click OK to save the changes
Close out of setup by pressing the Home button on your remote
PART 2 – Installing Vidblaster, Connecting Your Webcam, Switching and Interface Basics
In this tutorial I show you how easy it is to install Vidblaster in both Mac and Windows, and get started with some basic switching between modules, adding a title, playing a video and showing a picture.
Note to Pros – These articles are aimed at beginners, who wish to spend little or no money until they have a grasp on the topic, and are hoping to learn how to get started quickly and easily, using equipment they most likely already have.
httpvh://youtu.be/wk7UC-ZVHeI
You can download a free unrestricted trial copy of Vidblaster from vidblaster.com
Part 1 – Selecting Video Switcher Production Software – The Heart of Vidcasting – VIEW HERE Part 2 – Installing Vidblaster, Connecting Your Webcam, Switching and Interface Basics – VIEW HERE Part 3 – Adding Additional Cameras – VIEW HERE Part 4 – Mixing Audio, Mics, and Avoiding Looping in Software – VIEW HERE Part 5 – Desktop and Browser Capture – VIEW HERE Part 6 – Connecting Guests Via Skype – VIEW HERE Part 7 – How To Make A Lower Third Overlay – VIEW HERE Part 8 – Adding flair with Effects, Soundboards and Chat Streams – COMING SOON! Part 9 – Green Screen/Chroma Keying and Virtual Sets with iClone – COMING SOON! Part 10 – Recording and Streaming – COMING SOON!
If you have got an idea for a Vidcast (Video Podcast) or a Internet TV Show, but don’t know where to start, You are in the right place! All you need is a Computer with a Web-Cam connected (And a good internet connection if you plan to stream live) and you are ready to get started.
Note to Pros – These articles are aimed at beginners, who wish to spend little or no money until they have a grasp on the topic, and are hoping to learn how to get started quickly and easily, using equipment they most likely already have.
Over the next 10 Tutorials/Articles I will show you everything you need to know to make your idea a reality!
Part 1 – Selecting Video Switcher Production Software – The Heart of Vidcasting – VIEW HERE Part 2 – Installing Vidblaster, Connecting Your Webcam, Switching and Interface Basics – VIEW HERE Part 3 – Adding Additional Cameras – VIEW HERE Part 4 – Mixing Audio, Mics, and Avoiding Looping in Software – VIEW HERE Part 5 – Desktop and Browser Capture – VIEW HERE Part 6 – Connecting Guests Via Skype – VIEW HERE Part 7 – How To Make A Lower Third Overlay – VIEW HERE Part 8 – Adding flair with Effects, Soundboards and Chat Streams – COMING SOON! Part 9 – Green Screen/Chroma Keying and Virtual Sets with iClone – COMING SOON! Part 10 – Recording and Streaming – COMING SOON!
It is worth noting that what you are about to undertake, will eventually cost you a few dollars if you are really serious about it, and during reading these articles you will probably feel like throwing your hands up in the air and saying “It’s too hard”. But keep in mind, just 15-20 years ago, this sort of thing was only achievable if you owned a TV station with a staff of engineers and production folks, and a multi-million dollar budget. If you get overwhelmed, stop, take a deep breathe, and please stick with it. I know there is a lot to learn, but the rewards are well worth it!
PART 1 – Selecting Video Production Software
There are several video production programs available. The average price is around $500, but there are some Free options available as well. Most of the programs have free fully functioning trial versions, so you can get started TODAY for zero outlay, and grow your rig as your budget permits. In my opinion, the software you use to create your production will be the heart of your show, so once you are done with the trials, this is probably the first investment you need.
At the time of writing, the following are the main players I dug up. I am sure there will be a few others, so don’t be afraid to leave a comment if you know of one I have missed. Lets take a look at the options!
Boinx TV from Boinx Software is a really stable application. As it is a MAC only program it makes use of QuickTime for capture and record, which works really well. Boinx TV seems to be based around layering the content from the bottom up. For example, at the very bottom would be your Web Cam video feed which remains constant, and your is your default view, then any thing you want to play over the top like a subtitle or a graphic goes on a higher level. If you want to run a video clip for example, you put it above your Web-Cam feed which is always on, and when you start the clip it fades in OVER your Web-Cam and plays, then fades out revealing your Web-Cam when it is done.
Boinx TV has some really nice features, as well as some nice built in themes you can use to give your show a flavor and feel, like a newsroom theme with newsy animations and subtitles,
and a cool Sports Show theme as well.
As cool as Boinx TV is to play with, It can be a little frustrating too. There’s a bit of a learning curve, and it is not really intuitive (Instantly Useable). If you have planned your show/broadcast in its entirety, and have everything set to go, it is great, but if you fly by the seat of your pants, and want to make it up as you go along (Which most of us do), it is very hard to “produce” your show while you are appearing on camera, managing titles, and queuing up clips. Very difficult to use “On The Fly”. And for $499, Boinx TV does not get my thumbs up. However, if your using a Mac, give it a go! You’ve got nothing to loose, and it might just suit you! Download the trial version HERE.
Wirecast from Telestream is probably the most popular video production program out there. It is available for both Mac and Windows. This one (Much like Boinx TV) needs you to jump through a series of hoops in order to make things happen. Ive tried several times to “Give Wirecast A Go” because it seems like it should be awesome, but for me, it just isn’t. Like Boinx TV, Wirecast is not intuitive, and has quiet a learning curve to it. Pictures, Videos, and even Music files are called “Shots”. You have to “Set up a Shot”, and after you have painstakingly set up all of your “Shots” for your episode, you then have to go through the whole layers thing again………..I just don’t get it…..
However, The features I really do like in Wirecast is firstly, the Desktop Presenter. This is AWESOME! The biggest problem I have found in putting Web Shows together is that it is often too much for one computer to handle, but the Desktop Presenter takes care of this by giving you a way to integrate other computers into your show. You download the Desktop Presenter software and install it on other computers in your network (lets say you have a second machine that will be solely for connecting with your guests through Skype) and it sends your screen from the second computer back to the first, so you can incorporate its video feed in your production/show. Another feature I like is the presets for broadcasting/sending your video stream to streaming services like UStream and Justin.tv.
Like Boinx TV, I am unable to give Wirecast the thumbs up. It’s $495 for the basic package, and if you want stuff like themes or a scoreboard (useful if you are streaming a sport or game) you have to pay $995 for the pro version. I find it confusing and impossible to use efficiently on the fly, but feel free to give the trial a go, because it might just work for you! You need to create an account to download the trial, and you can get that done and Download it HERE. The trial has the most annoying watermarks through your feed though (see above screen capture), and plays an equally annoying “Wirecast” audio message every 30 seconds or so. I am sure there are people out there who love this program, but respectfully, it is at the bottom of the heap in my opinion.
VIDBLASTER – WIN ONLY (Works great in Virtual Machines and Bootcamp on MAC)
Vidblaster in my opinion is the best, by far! In less than a minute of running it for the first time, within the first few mouse clicks, you will see things happen that make sense, and start to get a feel for how it works. It is effortless to switch between cameras and media on the fly, and feels focused solely on freeing up your mind of all things techy so you can go star in your show. It works on modules. Each camera, title, video clip or webpage etc you wish to use in your show is assigned to its own module, and when it comes time to run that particular piece of media, you just click its preview window to launch it. If you only have a limited number of modules, it is very easy to add new media to an existing module on the fly.
This program is one of the best pieces of software I have seen….ever!
It is a Windows only program, but in my experience it works flawlessly in Windows on a Mac, in either virtualization (like in VMWare Fusion) or in a dedicated Windows partition via Bootcamp.
There are 4 different levels of Vidblaster, Home, Pro, Studio and Broadcast. The Home edition allows you to run up to 7 Modules, but I expect that once you get a taste for the power of Vidblaster, 7 wont be enough. The Pro version lets you run 15 modules. This is probably the version most of you will want. The Studio version gives you 25 modules, and if you are going to get really serious about your show and are happy to make an investment, you will get all you need here. The Broadcast version is way more than most of us will ever need. It’s aimed at those who are running a full on studio with an audience environment, who wish to broadcast HD video to several different services. It has up to 50 modules, and supports streams up to 30Mbps. Most of us will use either the Pro or Studio versions.
What is REALLY cool about Vidblaster is the free trial. It is a fully functional unrestricted studio version (25 Modules) of the program, that never times out! You can use it free for as long as you want. The only thing is that there is a “Vidblaster” logo that runs over your production in the top right corner. Buying a license removes it. It is a much more sensible and generous way to trial a program than Wirecast.
There is a very rich forum with lots of help, but to avoid humiliation I would strongly suggest that if you need help, thoroughly search the forums before posting to it, or sending a email.
Download the latest version in the Vidblaster Forum HERE.
**NOTE** – As Vidblaster’s free trial is fully functional, generous in features, the easiest to use and generally awesome, the rest of the tutorials in this series will be based on it.
VMIX – WIN ONLY – FREE VERSION AVAILABLE (Works in Virtual Machines and Bootcamp, but not all hardware is supported).
VMix has only come to my attention recently whilst researching this article. My first impression was not good. It didn’t support my computers built in web-cam, and wouldn’t play the mp4 videos I tried to test. It seemed everything I tried to do resulted in a error box. But I did persevere with it, and I have to say that the little I could do with it really impressed me.
It is much more sensibly priced than the above mentioned programs, and there is a free version which is somewhat restricted, but still very useable for the task at hand.
Like Wirecast, there is a desktop capture program you can run on a second computer, so you can import it’s screen on the first, to help with processing. I was REALLY impressed with how well this feature worked!
Included are some pretty nice virtual sets and lower thirds.
I am looking forward to playing with VMix more, and getting a feel for it.
VIDSTUDIO – WIN ONLY – FREE (Works great in Virtual Machines and Bootcamp on MAC)
Vidstudio is pretty similar in appearance and functionality to Vidblaster. Its obviously a much younger program that still has a lot of stuff to be added, which I am sure we will see soon in future version. In its current state, it is very useable, very good, and FAST! My guess is of all of these programs, it is the lightest on system resources. Initially, I did have some trouble getting sound to play in videos, but the author was super quick to respond to my email, and very helpful. It turns out that you have to have the “SOUND” option checked in the bottom right corner of the module/preview window BEFORE you select the file you want to play.
I REALLY like this program! It’s free (For the moment, I expect once it is more polished the author will want to get paid), and very quick and easy to get up and running.
The are very limited support options at the moment. There is no forum and a very basic FAQ. But the price is right! Download your FREE copy HERE.
CUTFOUR – WIN ONLY (can work in Bootcamp, probably not suitable for a Virtual Machine)
In the interest of fair reporting, I also tried Avtake’s Cutfour SD/HD and DV versions. I tried it on 3 different machines, and was only able to get it to run on one. I even custom built a machine for it based on Avtake’s recommended specs, and it just continuously crashed on launch. After comparing the system it worked on to the ones it didn’t using the very cool and very free Belarc Advisor, I learned that this program needs Microsoft DotNet to run. Thanks for NOT mentioning this Avtake! It’s NOT even mentioned in the “Minimum System Requirements”……
I was not able to get any of my cameras to work on it, not even my Sony HD Broadcast camera over Firewire. I don’t believe this program supports WDM Cameras (The USB webcams that the majority of us use) either. Accepting defeat in the camera department, I tried to run a few videos, and again found failure. The program seems to support only AVI video’s of a specific flavor.
The layout looks really nice, and of all of the programs I tested, this one is the closest to a real Video Tricaster. Given how specific the requirements are regarding input types, and media formats, I don’t think this program is suitable for most of us. It definitely has potential, but needs to be a bit more flexible to be of use in my set up.
Boy have I got a GEM for you! I’ve just stumbled upon Free File Sync – a FREE file and folder sync program. It does everything that the programs you have to pay for do, and more, FOR FREE!
Free File Sync is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It can Mirror Sync (Left To Right) as well as Sync in Both Directions (Two Way), Can Compare before Sync, has lots of sync options such as Archiving/Versioning duplicates, Moving to trash and permanent deletion, and you can even make it shut down your machine once syncing is complete.
It will even do Live Real time syncing. Just select the folders you want it to watch and as soon as you add a file to that folder, Free File Sync will automatically sync the file to the your destination folder – How Cool Is That!
When synchronization is occurring, you get a nice informative window telling what is going on.
I am really blown away by this program. I have just deleted my copy of Chronosync (Which I payed $40 for) as well as my copy of Martian Slingshot (Real Time Sync which I payed $30 for) and now have Free File Sync on all my machines – FOR FREE!
**NOTE** – THIS ARTICLE VERSION IS WRITTEN FOR MAC USERS – WINDOWS VERSION COMING SOON
PART 1 – Setting up MAMP (Experts Shortcut – Install MAMP and proceed to step 2)
If you have a WordPress Blog or Web Site, it can be VERY handy sometimes to be able to take your live published site and copy onto your local computer. This enables you to play with, set up and assess plugins, try out new themes and layouts, and generally mess with your site without affecting your real live site.
To get started you need to create an environment that will allow your site to function on your computer. The two main ingredients to a WordPress installation are PHP (web language) and SQL (Database). To get these two engines running on your computer you need to download some free software that installs them as part of a server. MAMP (Macintosh + Apache + MySQL + PHP) is excellant for this. It is available free from MAMP.info HERE. The free version and the paid version are bundled together, but for our purpose here, the free version will be fine, so lets go ahead and install that. Once you have downloaded MAMP, Unzip the zip file and run the installer package.
Click continue.
Click Continue.
If you agree, click continue.
Confirm you Agree……click continue……And once you arrive at the screen below, we will tell the installer not to worry about MAMP PRO, and to just install MAMP Free. (If you want to try MAMP PRO free for 14 days, skip the following 2 steps).
Click the “Customize” button in the left.
Uncheck the “MAMP PRO” option.
Type your password to allow the installer to run.
Once the installer has finished, click “Close” in the lower right hand corner. You can now open a new finder window, and in your Applications folder you will see a new folder called “MAMP”.
Double click the “MAMP” application to start it up.
Now click the “Start Servers” button.
Once you have green lights, click “Open Start Page’. this will open your browser to a page that will tell you if all your services (IE PHP and SQL) are up and running on your machine.
WOOHOO! We’re ready to start copying our web site!
PART 2 – COPYING LIVE SITE
Its now time to copy over the files from the site we want to clone. To get started, log into that site, For this tutorial, I am going to use my Photography and Design site Gruffpuppy as an example. Once logged in, click “Plugins” and select “Add New”
In the search field type “Duplicator”.
Once Duplicator is found, Install and then Activate the plugin.
When activated a new item will appear in the Column Menu on the left side called “Duplicator”. Click it, and you will be brought to the main screen of the plugin. To begin downloading a copy of your live site, the Duplicator asks you to name the back up package. You can change the default name, but in my experience the default auto generated name that is already in there seems to work without error. If you are happy with the name, click the “Create” button, the first in the top right row.
You will now be asked to confirm, and Duplicator will start compressing your entire site into a zip file, ready for download. This can take a while, so now is a good time to stretch your legs and get a drink. Once it has finished compressing, the screen will update automatically with your available downloads.
You will need to download both files (Installer and Package) to your desktop. If you have a large site, the package file can take some time to download. Once your files are downloaded, there’s one more small task.
Select “Settings” from the column menu on the left and then “Permalinks”.
Although no action need be taken, It is important to take note of the setting. As you can see, mine is set to “Day and Name”, but yours could be different. We need to know this setting when we recreate and activate the copy/clone of our site later. Once you have written down or memorized your permalinks setting, you can log out of your site.
PART 3 – SETTING UP A DATABASE FOR YOUR CLONE
The next step is to set up a blank SQL database on your computer. With MAMP running, click the “Open Start Page” button again, and click “phpMyAdmin” from the top menu of the page that opens.
Now, click “Databases”.
In the create databases field, type a name for the new database. It can be whatever you want, but it is important that you write it down, as we will need to use the name later. Im calling mine “gruffpuppy”, one word, all in lower case. Then click the “Create”. Once this is done, close out of the web browser window. There is no need to create “Users” for the database as we will use the root/default user account, which is automatically created for every database.
PART 4 – CREATE THE COPY/CLONE OF YOUR SITE
With MAMP still running, and your server active (Green Lights) , its time to move the files “Duplicator” created to your local server directory.
Open a new finder window, and go to “Applications”, open the “MAMP” folder, and then open “htdocs”.
Drop the zip folder and the “installer.php” file Duplicator created in and close the finder window.
Open up your favorite web browser (For this tutorial I will be using Firefox, as there’s a little bug I want to show you, that doesn’t seem to appear in Safari) and in the address bar type “localhost:8888” and you will see a directory listing of your “htdocs” folder.
Double click the “installer.php” file and the Duplicator installer will open. YAY! This means your server is all working great, and you are viewing your first web page on your local server. Now it’s time to set up the database connection. In the MySQL Server area, leave “Host” set to localhost. in “User” type “root”, as we will be connecting using the automatically created user profile I mentioned earlier. In “Password” type the word “root” again, and for “Database Name” you need to type the name you specified earlier in phpMyAdmin. I used “gruffpuppy” so that’s what I am typing here. When your done, press “Test Connection”.
As you can see, my connection is good and I am ready to move on to the next step. If you receive an error here, you need to go back and check your credentials. It’s usually a typo of your credentials or database name. Once you have a successful connection click the “Close” button.
Check the warning box and click “Run Deployment”.
Another warning will pop up, which is irrelevant to this project, so go ahead and click “OK”.
Duplicator will now start building the copy of your WordPress Web Site. This can take a while so be patient.
Once installation has finished, you are given an opportunity to change some parameters. Unless you have some special circumstances outside of the scope of this tutorial, your fine to accept the default settings. Click “Update Tables”
The next screen means the duplication of your site is now complete, and there’s just a little bit of house keeping to be done before you can use your site.
STEP 5 – FINISHING UP THE INSTALL
At this point, I recommend closing all open windows of your web browser and opening one new window with your default homepage showing, and then clear your browser history, cache and cookies etc. More often than not in Firefox the next step will yield an error in the process and you will not be able to continue. It looks to me like something that is kept in your browsers memory blocks the CSS (cascading Style Sheets) from loading and your site looks like this:
If you are using Firefox, Select “Tools” from the menu bar and then “Clear Recent History” gets you going, and in Safari, Click “Safari” and then “Reset Safari” to bring up the browser cleaning options. Once you are all cleaned up, type “localhost:8888/wp-admin” in your web browsers address bar and VOILA!
Log in to your site with your regular username and password.
From the menu column on the left select “Settings” and then “Permalinks”.
Referring back to the note we made in step 2, make sure the appropriate setting is selected (mine was Day and Name) and press “Save Changes”. Even if your setting is already selected, it is still important to press the “Save Changes” buttons so the option is written to the database.
Your site is now completely cloned/copied to your local machine and you can mess with it until the cows come home without affecting your live site in any way.
STEP 6 – HOUSEKEEPING
The last step is to delete your install files from your “htdocs” folder.
Locate the “installer-data.sql”, “installer-log.txt” and “installer.php” files, move them to the trash and give yourself a pat on the back! YOU DID IT!
As mentioned in THIS post, I bought a WD TV Live Hub unit a month ago, and I have been fairly happy with it so far. The premise/purpose of the unit is good, it is well featured in hardware, but the firmware/operating system is not as good as it could be, given the potential of the units hardware capabilities. I have found it to be slow, kinda clunky, and a bit frustrating when it comes to finding media quickly, as I have a large collection. The current version at time of writing is 2.07.17. Since purchasing the machine I have tried several versions of the firmware, and have settled/rolled back (using WD’s own rollback instructions and previous OS builds on the WD Firmware Rollback Page) to version 2.04.13, which in my opinion, and the WD Community opinion, seems to be the best offering so far.
Last week however, my 3 week old unit simply refused to boot. It didn’t work. I would press the power button on the remote and see the screen above, and then the unit would just turn itself off. I tried the using the power button on the unit, and it yielded the same result, automatic shut down after the loading screen. I was quiet enraged. My wife gathered up the units box, dug the receipt out, and was set to drive me back to the store to exchange the unit, when I proceeded to do what any grumpy male geek with a failing piece of technology would do – I took to it with a screwdriver, pried it open and voided the warranty!
I did learn a lot about this unit during this process though, and will share it with you now – and as always, I am sharing MY experience! Should you CHOOSE to try to replicate my experience with your device, and FAIL, it is completely your own fault, and I take no responsibility what so ever!
After Googling the symptoms, it appears that this is a VERY common problem with this unit, and the folks at WD refuse to acknowledge it as an issue. However, there is a VERY simple fix, but it does involve opening the unit. Inside the box is the main PCB (Printed Circuit Board), and there is a smaller PCB for the POWER button connected to the main PCB with a few wires. This seems odd for the power button to be on a different board, but it is a gift from god that it has been designed this way. It seems that something on the smaller power PCB, or perhaps the power button itself shorts/fails, hence as soon as you start the unit, the switch thinks its been pressed and it turns the unit off.
The cure, simply disconnect the smaller power button PCB. YES, you read correctly, just disconnect it! There is a power button on the remote you can use to switch the unit on and off anyways. The ironic part of this is that I actually found it harder to open the unit than disconnect the power button PCB. My first instinct was to crank on the thick chunky bit of plastic with the scallop shapes, but I soon learned that this was just an aesthetic, the actual lid is the thin piece above the groove in the aesthetic scallop bit.
To open the case, take your preferred case opening screwdriver and insert it between the thick bit and the thinner top panel at the back of the unit above the composite (yellow) video output.
Once you have made a gap you will see the fastening tabs that hold the lid on, and its just a matter of forcing the top upwards and gently pushing the fastening tabs towards the inside of the case. Below shows you the different types of tabs you will need to defeat to lift the lid.
Once you have the lid off, its a simple matter off locating the power button PCB, and the wires that join it to the main PCB. The power button PCB wires mount to the main PCB underneath, but the white terminal is easily visible, and requires little effort to disconnect. I just flicked it of with the screwdriver I used to open the case.
Once the wire is disconnected, you can re-fit the top panel, plug the box in again, and watch your unit boot back into that familiar home screen!
Now, if you want to win a prize (Charlie Sheen’s Tiger Blood), look closely at the photo’s in this article and be the first to comment with the reason why everybody who reads these articles should take extra special note of my disclaimers, and why Australian Geek Guys die younger than American Geeks!
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If the power goes off, or I need to reboot my WDTV for any reason, when it comes back on my screen is always tainted with a pink hue, it seems to be called the “Pink Screen Issue”. From what I can gather, its caused by a mismatch in frame rate when using HDMI. Here’s how I fix it on my unit. I hope this works for you as well.
Scroll through and select the “Setup” option
Then select Audio/Video Output
The next step is to select HDMI
Now select AUTO
Next, choose OFF
PINK BE GONE! Click OK to save the changes
Close out of setup by pressing the Home button on your remote
And you are now all set to go
