John’s Reviews & How To’s

Been trying my hand at cheesemaking lately.  It is somewhat challenging, almost as precise as brewing homemade beer, depending on the cheese.  The first cheese I made was “Queso Blanco”, which is pretty easy, since you use lemon juice to create the curds, instead of rennet.

About two weeks ago, I attempted to make a basic hard cheese, the recipe I got from Fankhauser’s site.  I used yogurt to inoculate the milk, which I think made a difference.  The next day after adding the rennet, and waiting a couple of hours, I got a clean break.  I pressed the cheese in my makeshift cheese press (made from two polypropylene cutting boards, 3/8″ threaded rod, hardware, coffee can, and follower).

According to Fankhauser, he doesn’t use weights to press his cheese, just a strong rubber band.  I pressed my 1 lb. round of cheese with 40lbs. of weights, then flipped it about 6 hours later and pressed again with the same weight.

After it was finished pressing, I took it out of the press, coated both sides with sea salt, and wrapped it in paper towels, storing it in the fridge.  So for two weeks, each day I changed the paper towels, as they absorbed moisture, and flipped the cheese.  Once I determined it was dry, I coated it with Gulf Wax (paraffin) mixed with annatto powder, since I didn’t have any real colored cheese wax.  So now it’s sitting in a container in the fridge, and will be ready to eat in a couple of months–too long to wait!  Here it is in all its glory:

So, the cheese is chillin’ in the fridge at 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  Nearly everything I read afterwards said the temp should be at 55, but I had already followed Fankhausers guidelines to put the cheese in the fridge for two weeks.  So I’m sticking with it, we’ll see what happens next.  I have an ice cream freezer in the garage, and a temperature controller, so the next batch I make will go in there, and cool at the correct temperature.  I’ll update this blog again when I cut the cheese.  Ha, ha.

28 Feb 09

Ok, so I finally cut the cheese.  A little early.  Well, I guess it was.  The cheese was moist in the middle, and a little sour,  but not BAD.  I put the two halves in the freezer cooled at 55 degrees in ziploc bags.  Will have to check it in a month.  And, made another 1lb of cheese, this time Muenster.  I had calcium chloride this time, so I got a clean break an hour after adding the liquid rennet.  So here are the results from the first cheese, nice looking, but not the greatest.  Well, practice makes perfect, I suppose.

I must admit, I am not a big fan of Microsoft.  I don’t agree with all of their so called business practices.  So I have tried many linux distros just to see if I could wean myself away from windows.  It is difficult, and nearly impossible.

Why, you might ask?  Maybe I’m in favor of Microsoft.  Hardly.  But one has to look at software and whether it is user friendly.  The best distro I’ve found has been Ubuntu, and it is a very friendly OS.  But it doesn’t meet my needs.  I subscribe to Rhapsody, and if I use Ubuntu, I cannot transfer my songs from my subscription services to my MP3 player using Ubuntu.  Nor can I watch my “watch instantly” movies from Netflix.  I guess the ones to blame are the music and movie industry, and their crippling DRM technology. 

And what about games?  Same thing.  I’ve tried using WINE to play new games purchased from direct2drive, and could never get them to work.  I don’t have the time nor patience to study and learn how to make these things work in Linux.  Not worth it.  And now that I configured my router to work with OpenDNS, my linux doesn’t connect to the internet.

Too much frustration and wasted time trying to make Linux compatible.  When these OS’s can integrate smoothly with all these services, then I will permanently switch.  Until then, I will stay with Windows.  Unless someone can convince me otherwise.

This is a short review regarding three of VR-3’s car audio products.  If you are interested in any of their products, you can go here:  http://www.roadmasterusa.com/vr3.html

Unfortunately, I have been disappointed by their products.  I bought the expensive VRFM9 FM transmitter at Walmart so I could have music in my car without having to install a new stereo, or having to run wires (this was before I installed the Sylfex).  The sound quality was very weak, and was of worse reception than my local FM station.  Why any manufacturer puts out products like this is beyond me.  And the price is ridiculous.  I assumed that since it was so expensive, it would be putting out decent levels of RF power.  Wrong assumption.  So although the quality was lacking, I had to use it until I could find something better; I had to, I just spent nearly $60!

Later on, I saw another product, also at Walmart, which caught my eye.  It was a bluetooth headset and speaker device for use with bluetooth phones.  I bought it for my wife’s Motorola RAZR, and apparently, it worked well.  No complaints from the wife.  So 1 point for VR-3, they made a product which actually worked, and worked well.  But…

Assuming that maybe I was too skeptical of this company, I decided to give them another chance.  And since the bluetooth headset thing seemed to work, it was only fair.  This time I was shopping with my son at (yes, you guessed it, Walmart), to buy him a car stereo for his car.  We found a moderately priced car stereo unit (VRCD400SDU) that was compatible with MP3, WMA and CD/CD-R/CD-RW, and at $79, couldn’t pass it up.

So after my son purchased this unit, I spent a whole afternoon trying to install this thing in his Mitsubishi Lancer OZ Rally.  After consulting the internet a few times, trying to correctly identify the pinouts, and using a multimeter to identify the correct wires, it was installed and powered up.  Plus, another nice feature of this stereo was that I could install the old factory radio brackets on the sides, and after removing the black frame on the front, it fit perfectly into the dash.

I ran the engine, and tested this stereo.  Found out if you turned on the vehicle lights, the audio would cut out.  Or stepping on the brake would cause the radio to shut off.  I assumed that maybe the supplied ground that was used on the old radio was possibly faulty.  Or maybe I didn’t connect the +12VDC illumination line correctly.  Verified that line with the multimeter and by switching the lights on and off, and also verified the other DC lines.   Plus, I connected a new ground to this unit.  Still the same results.  And eventually NO power to this stereo, which forced me to return the item.

So in summary, I would say it’s hit and miss with VR-3.  If you want to take a chance with this company, go ahead.  I won’t take that risk again.  I say don’t waste your time and money; go with a company that has built a reputation on quality.  It’s your time and money.

This is a post on how to install the Sylfex aux audio input circuit card on a Mazda6 2006. I got the idea from the tutorial at mazda6tech.com; many thanks to them! Without their guide I wouldn’t have been able to do it. I decided to take my own pictures and create an updated guide for the 2006 Mazda. I ended up having to do the procedure twice, since the first time I forgot to reconnect the antenna cable to the stereo. At that point, I decided why not take pictures of the procedure, since I was now familiar with it.

The whole reasoning behind using the aux mod is savings. It cost only $60 for the card, which plugs into the stereo underneath, and you simply extend an audio cable from that card, and make a port somewhere on the front of the dash, to enable audio input from your MP3 CD player, IPOD, or whatever. An audio cable with headphone style jacks is about $10, and approximately $5 for a female headphone jack to mount somewhere on your dash. So total cost about $75. I completed the installation and was amazed at the sound quality, much better than an FM transmitter.

Consider using this over replacing the factory radio with say a cheap $100 car radio, a new console and a wiring harness. A new console from Crutchfield’s is $179, and a wiring harness about $13. So you’ll spend close to $300 if you choose that route. That was a big motivator for me to go the aux mod route. No problems since installation, and I’m happy with it, plus I saved money. Here’s my PDF tutorial: console.pdf

I use alot of freeware applications, since I don’t like to spend more money than I have to (free is a good price!). One of the best websites in my opinion is snapfiles.com. They have both shareware and freeware, but I prefer to search the freeware only section. Just go to snapfiles (previously known as webattack.com) and then do a search for the type of software you’re looking for in the top right search box. Your search results will probably generate a long list of software, some free, some shareware. To shorten the list to only freeware, select the box, “Only search for freeware (limits the results)”. New results will come up, and now only freeware is displayed.

There are many titles to choose from and download. A really good program is Restoration, which will undelete any files you’ve accidently deleted from your hard drive or flash card. Easy to use and free. For bloggers, one program I’ve used is thingamablog, but configuring the ftp connection to your personal website was challenging. Other than that, it works well, has nice selectable templates, and creates clean pages.

One really versatile program is camstudio, which allows you to take videos of your desktop. It can capture the entire desktop, or sized areas that you designate, and generate avi or flash files. Great for creating tutorials and how to guides.

Still in the media vein, photofiltre is a must. It has many options to choose from, allowing you to edit digital photos, apply filters, save in many different formats, and tons of other features. I believe it’s free only for non-commercial use, but you’d have to verify that.

I realize I’ve only covered a few programs, ones that I actually use. There is so much at snapfiles that an entire blog wouldn’t be enough to review all the great software. Just go there and explore, it’s a great site!

Windows Media Center Edition 2005:  Got this software at a discount, and it installed easily.  Got all the options configured, although I had to build an infrared connector using wire and an old remote control, since I couldn’t find the LED that came with the capture card.  Changes channels on my DirecTv box nicely, and records everything I throw at it.  However file sizes are huge, since it records in the dvr-ms format.  Need a bigger hard drive, but other than that, this software works best for the price.  Very satisfied.  This was cheaper than buying SageTV or BeyondTV, plus I got a new operating system to boot!

Snapstream Beyond TV 4.8.1: Nice interface, installed easily, found my PVR-150 MCE right away. Watched and paused live TV. Attempted again to pause it, said could not display TV as I needed to reconfigure some settings in the setup. Couldn’t get video in to work, but tuner-in worked. Tried to record a two hour show when I went to bed, upon awakening, the interface was locked up, wouldn’t allow me access to the program, or windows. Had to reboot the system. Nice visual appealing program, but not reliable, and at $69, too much money for a program that is bug prone. I have to give this software a 4, from 1 to 10. Not recommended.

GBPVR version 1.2.9: Not for the timid, and somewhat difficult ensuring all the settings are correct before it will work. After configuration, program worked fairly smoothly, although seemed a little slow and unresponsive. Especially when clicking on live tv, it took about 8 sec for the video to start. Also, when pausing the tv, the screen often went black, but the video returned after pressing play. My wife used it to pause her program, the program wouldn’t play afterwards, and the menu didn’t respond. Good software but needs to be optimized, is somewhat slow, and many of the older plugins, like the one for watching internet video, no longer work with this version. Nicely done software, and I enjoyed that it could play my windows dvr-ms files, but this software was too slow. But you can’t beat the price of free. Worth trying, 5 out of 10.

SageTV Media Center for Windows Version 6.3: Didn’t expect this software to amount to much, based on its quirky name. The program installed easily, and was easy to setup. Video quality was good, I could pause video and play afterwards, seldom without a hiccup. Also it had a wide variety of internet channels I could watch or listen to, which was one of my favorite options. The quality of the streaming video was better than expected. Sorely missing is the ability to add ones own internet channels for customization. All in all, this was the best PVR in the bunch, but the price is too rich for my blood, $79.95. 7.5 out of 10.

MediaPortal 1.0 RC1: - Oh, this looks like promising software. You would think this PVR software would do alot, considering it takes about 10 minutes to install on a fast system. After installation, it crashed. Restarted, it crashed. Did some fiddling with a menu that came up, looked like a debug menu. Restarted, no crash. Tried to setup my TV guide, but said it couldn’t find the tvguide.xml file. I subscribe to schedulesdirect.org, but apparently that’s not an option. Got to see the weather for my locale, but alas, no TV. Amazingly, my Hauppage remote worked, but I couldn’t back out of any menu using the remote, (using <-back or any other button on the remote didn’t work). Ended up using the esc key on the keyboard. Overall opinion, bloated software that does nothing. Waste of my time, thank God, not a waste of money. Stay away from this software until they come out with a new working release.

Yahoo Go for TV! version 0.2.5.5: This software installs the quickest, and is the easiest, in my opinion, to setup. All the options are very intuitive, including recording TV shows. On my 45 button Hauppage remote, I would merely press the record key, set the options, then to record. If there were no conflicting schedules, the program would acknowledge that. I would then close out YGT, and it would record all selected shows in the background. One of the major glitches I found with the software was the poor ability to rewind smoothly while it was recording. It would work, but only if you pressed the rewind button once. Holding it down would cause the show to lock up, and only a few minutes would be recorded, or the show would be split into two recordings. Also with this version of YGT, the video doesn’t fill the screen of my wide LCD monitor, as it did with the previous version 0.1.34, which was unfortunately buggy. So if you need a free, reliable PVR that does the basics, YGT is a good choice. One down side is that all recordings are in the dvr-ms format, which means a 30 minute show is at least 3.5 GB in size. Not for those with small hard drives. 7 out of 10.