Montana Trip

Headed to Montana for Thanksgiving. I was only able to make it to Great Falls this time around--it was different. Usually, I'm in Missoula, and my trip up to Great Falls is quick. It was nice to just relax and not try to cram everything into a day or two.

I had been hoping for snow, but temperatures sat right around 60 degrees F for most of my visit. The day before I left, it dropped to 25F and we got a little snow.

Photos...

And a video...

Comcast Tech Support

I called at noon to have digital cable and DVR restored, (I had shut it down over the summer to save $$,) and was told it would be just a bit till everything came back online.

At 1:00pm, I saw the basic "This channel will be available shortly" message on the TV screen, so I waited. I checked the cable box configuration screen in the menu, and noticed the part that said "Disconnect: Yes"

Called back at 1:30pm to see how long I should expect it to take.

Shawn (the female kind) answered, and said that she saw plenty of activity going to my cable box.

I told her that in the cable box configuration page, the "Disconnect" label was followed by a "Yes"

She replied, stating that it had to do with my TV, and suggested I try a different input from the box to the TV. I explained to her that I was getting a video signal from the box to the TV, because I could see the guide, menu, etc. She stated that even my neighbor could see that screen from his TV--it had nothing to do with the box or the cable. WTF??!! So, my neighbor, with no physical connection to my cable box, can somehow browse the menu on my cable box from the comfort of his own home? I'm not an expert, but I think I need to call bullshit on that one.

She then suggested that I plug the TV into the cable box via coax instead. I figured I'd humor her by trying, but when I looked at the back of the box, I noticed that there was no coax out... I explained this to her, but she insisted that there was. I wasn't sure where to go from there. I'm looking at the cable box, and there is a coax input, but no coax out... She kept insisting that I was mistaken.

She finally offered to send a technician out. I declined. Figured I'd call back in a few and try to get someone competent.

I'm not a cable expert, but I'm not an idiot. If my TV is getting a signal from the cable box, changing the input source isn't going to magically work.

Ironically, in the 5 minutes it took for me to walk into my office and type this up, the cable started working.

Things that make you go, hmmmmmm...

Encoding Videos for YouTube

I don't do a lot with YouTube--just upload a home video or two every now and then to share with friends and family. One of the frustrations I've always had with YouTube is the result of re-compressing my video to the FLV format used on their site. I could never figure out exactly what format to use in order to achieve the best results. I Googled it, tried different ideas myself, Googled it again... Nothing. Everything I uploaded ended up looking like crap once it had been "YouTubed". Today, I think I may have stumbled on the settings that work perfectly for me. I say "for me" because I don't want a bunch of hate mail saying that these settings didn't work for them. I use Compressor with Final Cut Studio, but similar settings in other encoding programs should work as well. So YMMV, but here they are:
Audio Encoder
AAC
Stereo (L R)
44.100 kHz
128 kbps
Video Encoder
Format: QT
Width: 640
Height: 480 (for 16:9 videos, Height would be 360)
Pixel aspect ratio: Square
Crop: None
Padding: None
Frame rate: (100% of source)
Frame Controls: Automatically selected: Off
Codec Type: H.264
Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On
Pixel depth: 24
Spatial quality: 75
Min. Spatial quality: 25
Key frame interval: 15
Temporal quality: 50
Min. temporal quality: 25
It's also worth noting that the two videos I've uploaded so far using these settings have automatically showed up with the High Quality viewing option. Kinda cool. YouTube Compressor Droplets ** UPDATE ** These settings will not allow your video to show up in YouTube's pseudo-HD format. I'll write another post later for that.

Comcast's Bandwidth Cap

I got an email from Comcast a little after 10pm last night. I've read a lot of stories about Comcast's bandwidth cap, but this is the first email I remember getting from Comcast stating exactly what that cap is. It's always been a bit of a mystery.

In the email, they confirm that 250GB is the bandwidth cap. I honestly can't see myself ever going over that amount, but it's interesting that they finally came out of the closet with it.

From the email:

"In the updated AUP, we clarify that monthly data (or bandwidth) usage of more than 250 Gigabytes (GB) is the specific threshold that defines excessive use of our service. We have an excessive use policy because a fraction of one percent of our customers use such a disproportionate amount of bandwidth every month that they may degrade the online experience of other customers."

 So now we know. I'm curious as to what the public opinion will be on this.