The Hounds Are Quiet Today

This morning was cool temps, little sunshine and a pretty quiet morning with the hounds. They went outside as usual this morning but didn't run, didn't play and really didn't stay outside that long.

I'm not sure why, maybe they are just wanting to relax or maybe they can tell it is a taping marathon going on in the living room ... they are pretty low key today.  No one was begging to be fed lunch, that is very strange. Before I even looked at the clock we were about any hour past their normal lunch time.

Still had time for a walk this afternoon. It's a nice day although not sunny and nothing close to the predicted high temperature today. I wanted to try something different on taking photos today ... every photo is with the 18mm-55mm lens.

 

Stella was interested in the sounds of the heavy equipment within hearing distance

Without going to her normal spots to the right side of the field, she followed along with Sadie for a lot of the walk.

 

She is still very interested in the 'no fly zone' and would love to get back in that area where she snuck off to the other day ... over that hill by the tower.

Sadie waits for Stella to catch up as she is lagging way behind today ... at a very slow pace. It reminded me walking with Winston and the pace he use to walk at.

I am going to be taping non-stop today and tonight since there is nothing on tv that I want to watch. I want to get as much of the taping done as fast as possible. I wondered today if I was never planning to keep all of my media on the DVR, then why do the upgrade just for more memory space? Of course it would be many more games, movies stored in an HD format.

The hounds and I are too lazy today in 'the tropics of Southern Indiana ... not much is going to get done today.

Recording From DVR to DVD

First of all I am making this as a separate post for two reasons.

The story that goes along with the process may help some readers that would like to take their programs they have recorded on the DVR, in my case it is the Directv HD DVR, and move them off of the DVR onto a DVD disc.

I am also writing this to me, as a reference that I can look back on in the future if I need to. I will be able to see how to connect the equipment, what will or will not work and the correct cables to use in case in the future I change equipment or lose my mind.

Currently I have used 90% of my DVR hard drive memory so if I wanted to keep those ballgames, a couple of movies or the last 3 years of the Indy500 Race I am going to have to move them to DVDs. My current DVD has 500Gb of memory and Directv's new Genie DVR has 1 Tb of memory. I have thought about upgrading to that machine for more memory where all the shows recorded would stay in HD quality.

From everything I've read, looked at on YouTube and talked to tech reps on the phone, the files on the HD DVR cannot be moved to the new Genie DVR like you can with a new computer. Either way, I have to move programs that I wanted to keep for future viewing onto DVDs. If I decide to go with the new DVR model, then I have a lot more memory to use.

In the past I had this same Toshiba DVD Recorder and I did tape programs from my DVR to DVDs ... so I knew it could be done.

The problem was I had forgot how to do the process from 3-4 years ago. I thought maybe the HDMI cables could be used in recording and keeping the file in HD format. (I was hoping) This might be something all of you run into ... each tech rep or customer service rep on the phone will give you a different answer to the same question. I am sure their answers are based on their experience. Also consider what I write here is just what I have found from talking to reps on the phone, read on forums for satellite tv and/or searched on Google and read for myself.

I'll try not to go into a lot of detail in this story but I will say that 2 out of 3 reps at Directv told me I could not record any programs on my DVR to a DVD disc. Maybe they were confused by my questions? Or were they thinking HD programs?

Right off the bat I will say that with the common user (me) and the $100 recorder you cannot record in HD because the $100 recorder does not have an "input" for HDMI cables. I am sure if I were an electronics expert and a top-of-the-line recorder for hundreds of dollars more .. it could be possible. I'm not an electronics expert and I have a recorder that cost me about $100 a few years ago. So the quality of the picture is not HD quality but still good viewing quality and I am freeing up hard drive space on my recorder.

My last Directv Technical Rep did say it was possible to do what I wanted to do, but could not tell me how to hook up the equipment so that it would work.

Here are the cable options:

• HDMI cables - are only 'output' capable only on the equipment and 'input' on your tv
• S-Video Cable - A single connection for all 3 signals - 'output' only and 'input' on your tv
• RCA Video Cable - 3 connections color coded red, white and yellow - has the only 'input' on the recorder

The 'Quick Install' Guide from the Toshiba Recorder showed connections of all 3 cables but they did not tell you that ONLY the RCA Cables were the only option to RECORD. I tried recording using each cable in the order the cables are listed. That was out of the box effort and before I called anyone or read any information online.

The HDMI cable is connected from the recorder to the tv and will not be an issue with recording as it is used strictly for playback. When I tried the S-Video Cable my tv did not recognize the recorder as one of many devices connected to my tv. Using the RCA video cables, the tv did recognize my recorder as a device.

Just like the older VCR recorders, you can set up the dvd recording modes of XP, SP, LP, EP and SLP - anywhere from 1-4 hours in length. Even though I am using the DVD-R disc I found that I could still record over any testing I had done unless of course the disc had been "finalized".

I am sure the younger blog readers and other media experts reading this are saying WHY BOTHER???? ... everything is now on YouTube, Amazon tv, Netflix or 'the cloud' and there is no reason for cabinets of DVD's. In fact in a few years DVDs may not even be sold. That is all true UNLESS you live in 'the tropics' of rural small town USA and have only satellite internet as your provider with a limited amount of data per month.

When I was looking at YouTube videos on just a couple of recording options ... my data graphs on my Activity Monitor screen were maxed out and the MB of data received were increasing so fast I thought I was looking at the gas pump when I fill up the FJ. Those videos were only 5-10 minutes in length.

So THAT is why I am having to go 'old school' by taping to DVDs and storing them in my media library. Like most of you I have changed from cassette tapes to CD's for music and still have some electronically on my computer. I just have too much music to convert everything electronically. Then it was VCR tapes to DVDs and hearing  yourself say "I'll never buy a new machine nor any of those new CD's or DVDs .... I HAVE TAPES!!!"  LOL

So .... in summary

• You can record programs from your DVR to a DVD disc -- just not in HD quality
• You can only record these in "real time" - meaning if it is a 3 hour race it will take 3 hours to record
• Owner's manuals, tech reps on the phone, customer service reps on the phone, forum experts, will all have different ways of doing this. Nothing is clear and easy to understand.
• Unless you have a very expensive recorder you will not have an "input" connection for your HDMI cable.
• It will record and shut off automatically if you tape long 3-4 hour programs as you sleep
• You can set your disc to "auto finalize' when the disc is full or when the specific time has elapsed
• The tv can be turned off during recording for those times you are taping while you sleep
• Sadie and Stella are more than happy to put their heads where you have yours to make sure you connect it correctly

If there are any electronic 'geeks' reading this and I know there is at least one reader that fits that description, feel free to comment and correct any information that is wrong ... or any suggestions that might make the process more efficient.

The hounds haven't done to much today ... it's foggy, overcast and a little cool. I believe Heidi and I will be making a visit to the vet this afternoon as the vet is only there today for a couple of hours.

A lot to do today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

DVD Recorder & Hounds

First of all I will say that every since I deleted the .net domain from this site, my visits from China, Russia and the Ukraine practically disappeared. That same .net domain is what I used when I was on Wordpress and found via their program that almost all of the traffic from the .net domain was foreign spam visitors.

How could I tell? When I installed a 'plug-in' to block spam visits (hits) my spam traffic went to less than 10 per day. When I moved to my Blogger blog my spam traffic exploded to over 100's per day by directing that .net domain to my Blogger blog.

Of course earlier Heidi did get up for lunch. She never misses a meal of Fromm kibble and even eats almost the same quantity as the bloodhounds do in an attempt to regain her lost weight. When you look at these photos remember that just 10 months ago all the white hair on her rear upper and lower legs was raw red chewed skin. The vet at that time said that hair would never grow back on those areas. Those areas also included the tops of her front paws.

I think you can tell a difference and even see new hair trying to fill in all of the bald spots. By midday there is more redness than what she has when she gets up in the morning.

It is a slow process trying to get her cuticles to retract so her nails can be cut back shorter each week.

Well I installed the DVD recorder and am ready to record programs I have saved on my Directv DVR. I will find out very quickly after trying to record if the program is protected against copy or not. Years ago I could copy almost all of those programs that I would save on the DVR. I will find out how things have changed. To test, I will use only one DVD-R to see if I get the error message and if I do I will move to the next ballgame, race or movie to check their status.

After getting things set up, I heard that familiar sound of the door handle making a noise as Stella moves her nose in the upward motion as if she was opening a door handle that was a lever instead of round. Old doors have old door handles which have some wear and tear where it can be moved slightly in an up and down motion if I want it to or if she wants it to.

Like they have done recently once they were outside they both stood there by the house not moving to the field, which until the past few weeks that is all they did ... take off. Now they want for me to say "let's go for a walk". (I know the period belongs inside the last quotation mark but to me that doesn't look good)  lol

This walk was a little different as the photos will describe.

You can tell it was pretty slow paced compared to this morning's walk. Stella was still going to test me though just to show me she thought she was in charge. She does this by putting the bloodhound gene in action by "ignoring" me. She would do anything to be able to get back to that "no fly zone" she ran to the other day.

Checking to see if I am watching her

Ignoring me say "come on"

Checking one more time if she can escape

Continues to ignore me saying "come on"

Finally decides to turn my direction

Not happy so she will take her time ... very slow

One last look at the "no fly zone"

Walking home slow as possible

Sadie waits up for us - she wants to get home

Walked in slow motion all the way to the house - when she closes her eyes she isn't happy

Otherwise it was a beautiful day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana with more predicted in the days ahead.

The Hounds Love Fridays!

It's going to be a beautiful Friday here in 'the tropics' today. Our whole schedule started a coupe of hours later than normal. The skies were overcast when the first photo of the field across the highway was taken from my door step. I am not sure why but I always like having that same photo each day on the left margin to start the blog.

In it's separate folder it's nice to see the changes  in those photos from day to day, month to month or annually. It will be interesting to see how the spring operates after such a mild winter here.

I was reading last night about ways to shore up my bank along the driveway. In one spot it is borderline dangerous. A serious weather event (straight line winds) that happened in June 2008 started the demise of the bank along he drive. Those winds pulled up large trees all the way down the bank like weeds and spread them across my frontyard, through the fence.

Add in the issue of a 6 year fight with the neighbor on property lines. He couldn't read and understand even with help from my lawyer. A few springs ago I wake up on a Saturday morning to the sound of chainsaws. The neighbor had decided after his chat with my lawyer that he would hire some of his friends that needed money to cut down every tree that was left on MY bank ... plus pull out any roots.

Talking to him about erosion that would take place after removing those trees from my bank were way above his level of intelligence. Luckily this *$^@##(N moved in July 2014. Add in the fact that the local utility company decided about three years ago they would institute their right of public domain and cut all the large trees on MY bank under THEIR power lines to MY house .. so it's safe to say over the last 8 years MY bank as gone from a 125' bank with solid large trees to keep the bank intact ... has changed drastically. I have some work to do with large riprap rock this spring and maybe summer.

How did I ever get going down that direction ... LOL ???

Anyway the hounds and I were a couple of hours behind schedule today. That means they will have lunch a couple of hours later than normal. It doesn't matter to them as all of them are sound to sleep after their morning walk. Except Heidi. She is asleep but refuses to walk until the temps get warmer than 42°.

The skies turned blue and I could tell from the start that Stella's nose was working a little better than normal.

How? When her nose is working better than normal ... she ignores my calls to "come on".

Then she wanted to walk into the wooded area that is off limits to both bloodhounds because of the huge drop off into a valley about 10' into the wooded area. She did come when I called for her to get out of there ... then Sadie and her trotted down along their path. A few times Stella headed to the middle of the field based on what her nose was telling her. She had a lot of interests today while walking.

She went even further than normal to the right side of this field than she normally does. Once again my Nikon D3200 decided not to work during the times she was sprinting towards Sadie and I to get caught up. I was able to catch her running on just one photo.

With both hounds really giving the area along the fence line extra attention I knew I was going to have to watch Stella as we approached the turn to go home. This fenced area is where deer jump the fence and sprint through that field toward those barns. The times I have seen them do that, they are usually in groups of 5-8 deer. So you can see both hounds have a real interest in the area today.

As I turned the corner to go home, I looked to see Stella's nose in the air and her attention pointing to the "no fly zone". I could tell she wanted to go back and almost did until I yelled 'no' to her. She didn't run to me immediately ... she stopped a couple of times to look back to the area she wanted to visit again.

She gave in and came back to join Sadie and I but she didn't seem happy about it.

Between the camera not working all the time, plus the amount of time both hounds walked close to me, we didn't take a lot of photos on the way back. You will see though they both explore the ground from the field through the back yard all the way up to the house ... their noses miss nothing.

After I watch a game of basketball at 2:30pm today, I am going to hook up a brand new recorder that will record all the ballgames and the last 3 Indy500's I have on my DVR to DVD discs. I need to clear off that DVR not only for space on the hard drive but I am also considering getting a Directv DVR upgrade to their Genie model, that has 1Tb of memory. I bought this recorder a few years ago after a huge power surge destroyed my other recorder. I was able to find and replace the exact same model.

I don't keep all my recordings but a few things I would like to keep and have in the past on DVR for future viewing.

We might fit in an afternoon walk today since the weather is nice. Heidi's skin is looking the best ever this morning, at least the best it has in the past 18 months. So I hope to get some photos of her skin improvement, if I can ever talk her out of sleeping all day today.

Life is good today ... in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.