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My girlfriend has one of these, ethernet-connected to her router and thus available on her home network.  However, in order for any computer, Windows or Mac (what about linux?) to access it, it is necessary (aside from any hacky-workarounds that may possibly exist) to install the Iomega Home Storage Manager.   This makes volume(s) offered by the NAS appear, on the Mac in Finder under SHARED, or on a Windows machine as additional drive letter(s).

To acquire the Iomega Home Storage Manager, go to https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/app/platform/p/1031,1043 or else try https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/ and click on [Desktop Network Storage > Home Media Network Hard Drive].  May need to establish and login-to an iomega support account (free) first.

I wondered at first about enabling the NAS as a Mac OS Time Machine (backup) disk.  An iomega article I saw suggested that should be possible, for iomega firmware 2.0 and above.  But the disk as it stands is NTFS-formatted - because when it was set up we had only Windows machines.  Now that disk contains much material in that NTFS.  I guess it might be possible to partrition the disk e.g. to keep the existing NTFS and add alongside it a HFS+ partition for Time Machine to use.  But it’s guesswork that carries risks (of disruption/damage to existing contents).  We want an easy geeking-minimal life, so maybe better to repurpose that NAS and get a purpose-made Apple Time Capsule instead. Either way, the evening wears on, so I’ll shelve that idea/investigation for now…

(more…)

My girlfriend’s MacBook laptop, at every system-startup, was giving the error popup: “To open NovamediaDiskSupressor, you need to install Rosetta. Would you like to install it now?”.  Caution dictated a negative user-response to this.  It was just plain annoying.

Web-search (on full error-message) revealed NovamediaDiskSupressor to be non-mal, but to be a support software needed by Vopdafone’s cell-wireless dongle of a couple or so years ago.  I don’t know if Vodafone have improved things since then, but I also had issues with it under Windows 7, where its firmware installed drivers incompatible with that OS.  So basically the whole dongle was a nuisance.

How to uninstall it (from Mac OS Snow Leopard):

• I dragged the Vodafone app to Trash
• …BUT :
  • that is not sufficient, further cleaning-up required, as below…
  • Also, when I tried to empty the trash, error popup said: `The operation can’t be completed because the item “Mac_SwapperDemon” is in use’.
    • Maybe it will work following reboot?

According to advice posted at http://benmenson.blogspot.com/2009/12/removing-vodafone-malware-that-spoils.html, repeating that at http://tumblr.mloughran.com/post/173997552/removing-vodafone-malware-that-spoils-the-snow-leopard:

• Remove the following from /Library/LaunchAgents/
  • cn.com.zte.usbswapper.plist
  • de.novamedia.NovamediaDiskSupressor
  • {Those were the only entries in this folder}
• Remove
  • mac_swapperdemon
    • from system preferences user > accounts > user login items
    • {BUT no items were listed there at all, let alone that one}
• Remove
  • /Library/Application support/Vodafone
  • /Applications/Vodafone mobile connect
• Update: also discovered some kernel extensions to remove
  • sudo rm: {OR just Trash them via Finder, I discovered}
    • /System/Library/Extensions/USBExpressCardCantWake_Huawei.kext
    • /System/Library/Extensions/ZTEUSBCDCACMControl.kext
    • /System/Library/Extensions/ZTEUSBCDCACMData.kext

These are the applications  listed when, in my Windows VM on Mac, I did [RightClick>OpenWith] on a [.EDL] file:

• Avid:
  • ALE
  • EDLManager
• Apple:
  • Color

Following-on from my earlier post, Mobile Video Editing Hardware: Thoughts, Ideas & Dreams, where I considered an eventual migration from my laptop to a luggable PC, my thoughts veered (possibly having spotted cash-icebergs among them) towards an alternative solution:

• Use the laptop for lightweight editing & compositing.
• Use the desktop as a number-crunching RADI-attached server.

The two could be linked by:

• Remote access / remote sessions (some of which via smartphone)
• DropBox, e.g. have an active folder where I can drop Adobe Premiere XML and have it processed remotely by Adobe apps installed there.

Some links:

• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/11/virtualisation_at_home_part_2/
  • (There’s no equivalent “_part_1″ page.  I guess it’s just “Part 2″ of that guy’s story).
  • DIY virtual machines: Rigging up at home, by Trevor Pott, 11th January 2012 14:33 GMT
  • Personal Virtual Machine (PVM) (in use) for about seven years with retail boxed version of Windows XP.
  • VM has been moved from virtualization platform to virtualization platform over the years … the most recent incarnation … inside Hyper-V.
  • …nothing beats Windows Server 2008 R2. It comes with a top-notch virtualisation platform (Hyper-V), and added RemoteFX support with Service Pack 1. You can still use the desktop operating system for all your HTPC needs, and a single Server 2008 R2 Standard license allows you to run both a host copy and a single virtual instance of Server 2008 R2.
  • In my case, the host instance does little more than play movies on the projector via VLC. The virtual instance of Server runs my Plex media server, and aggregates my many storage devices into a single share using DFS.
    • Presumably “DFS” refers to Microsoft’s Distributed File System.
• Shuttle Inc (Taiwan)
  • (MBR’s suggestion)
  • http://uk.shuttle.com/products/productsDetail?productId=1477
    • Small, quiet, hardware-configurable systems.
    • May be a sensible basis for a modular luggable?
  • http://www.okobe.co.uk/ws/product/Shuttle+SH67H3+Barebones+Personal+Computer+FH67+Socket+1155+Intel+H67+Black/1000065737?ref=1q4bs
    • Shuttle SH67H3 Barebones Personal Computer (FH67 Socket 1155 Intel H67) (Black)

• http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/opening-my-mind-has-opened-doors
• http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/eitheror-both
• http://www.tolisgroup.com/products/

I’ve been using Winclone, a Mac OS app, to back-up my Boot Camp - Windows 7 partition onto a HFS+ (Mac OS compatible) external disk drive.  However tonight it failed, early in the attempt, repeatedly.  Also when I asked it to look for updates, it failed to connect to the internet, whereas I could access websites OK over Safari.  Searching round, I found a later version, downloaded it, deleted the existing one (2.2) and installed the new one (2.3).

The new one similarly failed to access the internet.  On the other hand it did not fail early on in the process.  I aborted it anyhow, for reasons that will become clear (below).

Web-Search:

• Google: [winclone alternative]
  • Several posts stated:
    • Mixed experiences when using Winclone under Snow Leopard and the impossibility of using it (straight) under Lion)
    • To minimise problems under Snow Leopard, [Compressed] should be disabled.  Also select [.dmg] format.
    • This product (Winclone) was no longer being developed
  • Best Example:
    • http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1046365
      • Link to further information: http://www.google.com/search?q=http://twocanoes.com/discontinued/winclone/slwin7.html+site:forums.macrumors.com
      • <<I suspect that a big part of the change may actually be changes to hdiutil in the point releases of OS X that have been released since the Winclone authors posted their suggestion due to an uproar of issues in their forums. (Winclone is really just a GUI front end for hdituil, ntfsclone, and other tools>>
      • The “Demi-God (Moderator)”, balamw, indicated he might possibly develop a follow-on product.

I’m doing a tidy-up of the MacBook. The application [Disk Inventory] revealed that one of my largest disk-occupying items is MobileSync Backups, which I assume to be from synchronizing iPhone with MacBook.  It consists of several roughly equally-sized files.  Overall I wonder:

• Is there a way to store the backups somewhere else than the system disk?
• Do the  ”several roughly equally-sized files” imply I have more than one backup on the disk (in which case I’d like to purge all but the most recent).

Google: [mobilesync backup files]

• https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2617941?start=0&tstart=0
  •  how to move MobileSync backup folder?
• http://www.techzilo.com/save-disk-space-delete-old-iphone-ipod-touch-backups/
  • Save disk space by deleting old iPhone/iPod Touch backups
• http://www.appleexaminer.com/iPhoneiPad/iPhoneBackup/iPhoneBackup.html
  • Processing iPhone / iPod Touch Backup Files on a Computer
  • (What’s inside the files etc.)

I have a Sony XDCAM-EX clip at 1280×720p25 to be transcoded to ProRes, so it can be used as source for iMovie (for another user on another machine).

In principle it should be very simple: go on Mac, use Compressor to transcode the XDCAM footage to ProRes.  But as usual, things are pernickety…

Sequence:

• First tried dragging the XDCAM [.mp4] file into compressor.
  • Not recognised.
  • Likewise the BPAV folder.
• Next, I transcoded the XDCAM footage to “MXF for NLEs” format, using the Mac version of Sony Clip Browser
  • Not recognised.
•  Next, opened the XDCAM Transfer app.
  • In this app, open the XDCAM’s BPAV folder.
  • The footage displays OK but how do I export it to a QuickTime [MOV] file?
  • Looks like I can’t.  It only offers to export to an [MP4] file.
  • Instead, I guess I’ll have to open it from FCP.
• FCP
  • I opened a random existing FCP project.
  • The footage is 720p but the project/sequence settings are arbitrary (unknown to me)
  • FCP: File > Import > Sony XDCAM…
  • It imported to somewhere … but where?
  • FCP Browser: file > RightClick > Reveal in Finder
  • It was at [/Volumes/GRm HFS+/_Media/_Projects/2010-05-30 (Esp) Alison Doggies/020 Source/Sony XDCAM Transfer/SxS_01]
• File System:
  • In other words, at whatever destination was last used by some app - presumably XDCAM Transfer or possibly FCP
  • The destination path was in fact specified in XDCAM Transfer, under its Menu: [XDCAM Transfer > Preferences > Import]
  • Moved the file instead to [/Volumes/GRm HFS+/_Media/_Projects/2009-11-22 (JRM) Lady of the Silver Wheel]
• Compressor:
  • Open it in Compressor
    • Drag it to the “job-strip” (my term) in Compresor.
  • Compressor displays data about that clip (e.g. 1280×720, 25 fps)
  • Select jobstrip settings:
    • Select Setting
      • Settings: Apple > Formats > QuickTime > Apple Pro
        • Name: Apple ProRes 422
        • Description: Apple ProRes 422 with audio pass-through. Settings based off the source resolution and frame rate
    • Apply (Drag) Setting to Jobstrip
  • Destination
    • Leave destination unspecified.  Then it will be the same folder as Source.
  • Processing (transcoding) of this footage (1280×720p25) took about 3 minutes (on MacBook Pro 2009).
  • Result was not that much bigger than the original:
    • Originally recorded [.MP4] file: 1.19 GB
    • Rewrapped [.MOV] from XDCAM Transfer: 1.14 GB
    • ProRes [.MOV] from Compressor: 1.97 GB

I wanted to pass on some of my XDCAM-EX footage (from my Sony EX3 camera) to someone using only iMovie. But would/could iMovie recognize that format, or possibly the “MXF For NLEs” rewrapped-format offered by Sony Clip Browser?

The best route is to provide iMovie with a ProRes version of the footage, because it converts anything else to (the older inferior format) Apple Intermediate Codec (IAC).  I can convert to ProRes (and deinterlace) via Apple’s Compressor, which comes as part of Final Cut Studo.

Web-search:

• Google: [xdcam ex imovie]
  • https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1882215?start=0&tstart=0
    •  iMovie converts all assets to Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC).
      • So does Final Cut Express. Only Final Cut Studio uses Apple ProRes as codec.
      • When going the Full HD and BluRay route you WILL see this. For instance when panning, you’ll see that Final Cut Studio is superior over AIC.
      • Yet I use the iMovie and Toast route because it is fast and good. Toast delivers better results than iDVD08. I havent tested iDVD09 yet but am about to do so. Remember that Toast can handle BluRay and iDVD not. Even for normal DVD you’ll see that Toast renders better than iDVD. The menus have improved in Toast10 but still cannot match iDVD. DVDstudioPro is very nice in results, but has a learning curve. Consider the Ripple Training DVDs to tackle the possibilities.
    • iMovie will edit many QT codecs directly including ProRes 422, H.264/AVC, DVCPRO HD. It converts to AIC only when you import from a camera.
      • So if XDCAM EX is converted to ProRes outside iM — then iM will edit the ProRes. Even HQ.
      • You do have export correctly — to ProRes — in order to get full 1920×1080 from iM for burning BD.

I had a go with iWeb (3.0.4) on the Apple Mac.  It is a mortal-friendly website-editor complete with templates and widgets etc.

Some non-obvious things:

• Opening & Closing the App (iWeb)
  • On opening the iWeb app, you are prompted to select a template. I couldn’t see any way to avoid selecting a template.
  • There is a [File Save] but no [File > SaveAs]
    • So how does it get named?  Where does it get saved?
      • In app’s left-hand pane, select the Site in question, it asks for a Site Name.
  • The [File > Close] action closes the whole app, not just the current project (or whatever).
    • So I guess (???) there is no concept of “empty default page” here (???).
      • Though under each theme is the option of a Blank page.
• Web-Page Editing
  • For the ??? template, you get a page with an elegantly paned “window” of assorted default images.
    • If you drag a new image on top of of one of the default ones, that new image becomes the replacement, and it inherits the “mask/zoom” capability.
    • If you simply drag an image to the same part of the webpage, it has no “mask/zoom” behaviour.  However you can add it via [Format > Mask] etc.
      • Format > Mask Shape ???
  • Setting a hyperlink on text involves an easy and intuitive-guessable method, but setting a hyperlink on an image requires a different and less obvious method.
    • [View > Show Inspector]
    • ???
• Publishing (to Web)
  • You need to establish a location to publish to.  This will typically be an ftp server with upload-access protected by username and password.
    • Before anything else, get your username and password (for that location) to hand.
    • Personally, I like to peek around first, using an ftp client.
      • Mac OS already has a read-only ftp client built-in.  From Desktop, do Control-K.  A “bare bones” instance of Finder appears.  Click the tiny oblong button at top-right if you want to see the usual explorer pane/sidebar.  HOWEVER: it is not really up to the job…
        • I discovered this at http://osxdaily.com/2011/02/07/ftp-from-mac/
        • However it is read-only, hence no ability to add or remove files or folders.
        • Also it appeared (for me at least) not to refresh properly.  Scope for time-wasting confusion!
      • For the Mac, favourite add-on clients (according to the same osxdaily article are Transmit and CyberDuck.
        • Which one is best?
          • CyberDuck runs on both Windows and Mac.
          • There is a review comparing them at http://pixelspread.com/blog/59/transmit-vs-cyberduck
            • CyberDuck is free (but “begs”), Transmit is not.
            • One user (at least) claimed that CyberDuck used to be good once but as more features have been added, it’s getting more bugs.  Unverified.
            • Some users say that CyberDuck runs (more slowly?) than Transmit.
              • A user-comment says that this is because CyberDuck is Java-vased.
            • Both programs have Bookmarks/Favourites and both have a Dashboard widget that lets you drop files into to upload straight to a specified folder on an FTP server.
            • Their main difference is in how Bookmarks/Favourites works.  Transmit has dual panes, for Local and Remote, and when you make a Bookmark it includes both these locations.  CyberDuck in contrast only displays and bookmarks the remote location, requiring you to use a separate Finder for local, hence you drag files between these apps.
          • I see also, from is website, that Transmit has handy peripheral features like a Sync button.
          • I tried them both, concluding:
            • CyberDuck is pretty basic but it appears to work OK.  Setting up my ftp account was easy apart from the password, which only gets asked when you first attempt to log-on to that account.  It seems more for the beginner and explains about Amazon s3 storage etc.
            • Transmit feels “cleaner” to use and the dual-pane is definitely handy.  Also the Sync function is not a bad idea.
  • Before publishing, you need to define the location-to-publish.
    • If you just hit the “Publish” button, it will only prompt you for a MobileMe account.
    • To define the location, first in iWeb’s left-hand “explorer” pane, select the Site (as opposed to the Page).  This brings up a form where you can define the upload (ftp) data etc.
      • One entry in this form is for an email address.  But how securely is that email address presented on the page?  I am in the habit of not making life easy for email-harvesters, so I don’t want the email address to be in plain text in the HTML, I want it encrypted.  So I chose to just put a “dummy” address in here.
  • The webpage (root .html file etc.) gets placed in the specified location as follows:
    • An [index.html] file is created there.
    • Any existing files (other than by that name) are unaffected.
      • That is “safe” and also useful e.g. if you are in the habit of placing “robots.txt” files at webpage root.
    • A folder is created there, named after the Site.
    • The subdirectory is named after the page-name
      • The page-name appears in the app’s left-hand pane, it can be renamed.
  • What happens if you delete a webpage in the app then republish?
    • The existing subfolders for the now-deleted pages are not deleted.
      • I guess one would then delete them manually or else delete everything and republish the whole site.