Category: Technology

  • Trim video without re-encoding using ffmpeg

    I’ve been taking the time to learn ffmpeg and some of the really useful stuff you can do with this command line tool (CLI). Here’s one example of a situation I find myself in frequently and have not had a great solution until now. The ability to trim a video file without re-encoding! “Re-encoding” means…

  • Zoom TV Interviews

    Feeding our Blackmagic ATEM Switcher with Zoom Participants A few weeks ago I had a blog post on my Zoom and Stream Deck configuration to support TV interviews. The setup continues to evolve and I wanted to take a moment to share an update. The biggest problem we have with Zoom is the Audio-Follow-Video auto-switching…

  • Production Switcher to Zoom

    Production Switcher to Zoom

    Blackmagic Web Presenter, the perfect tool for the job. After several weeks on backorder, our Blackmagic Web Presenter arrived from BH Photo! The “black box” is a simple device that works out of the box. No drives, no software. Simply take the output of your video production switcher, professional SDI camera or HDMI source into…

  • Stream Deck for Zoom Meetings

    Stream Deck for Zoom Meetings

    UPDATE: My setup for Zoom has evolved and somewhat less dependent on StreamDeck now. You may want to check out my new Blog Post with our updated Zoom setup for TV interviews. This week I purchased a Stream Deck XL ($235) to help streamline our video productions with Zoom remote guests. Since the COVID-19 crisis…

  • 60 Degree Day

    What a day today, just an incredible temperature jump this weekend. Two days of 60-degree temps in January is rare, so I made an extra effort to get a run today. The Blackstone Bike Path was really busy today, again highly unusual in January. The parking lot had 20ish cars and the traffic along the…

  • FIX: Greyed Out Folders on Mac OS

    Recently I had an issue with my Synology NAS Music folder that I use with Plex Media Server. Hundreds of folders were ghosted or greyed out an inaccessible. I was able to access the files through the Synology Disk Station web interface, not via Mac Finder and Plex could not access the files. Solution All…

  • Christmas Vacation Light Show Tribute

    It’s crunch time this weekend, our Christmas Light Show is scheduled to start next weekend and we’re WAY behind with setup and programmed songs. This morning I spent some time cutting together a Tribute Mashup of the 1989 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for some time. I…

  • Late Night Repair

    In helping my son prepare and set up his Christmas light show this year we discovered half the channels on this controller stopped working. This is our second Light-O-Rama CTB16PC controller, both were purchased as a kit. Just in case another Light-O-Rama ower runs into this page here’s the troubleshooting we performed and the ultimate…

  • Backing Up Large Video File Collections to AWS Glacier Deep Archive

    Part 1 – Why AWS Glacier Deep Archive? Backing up large collections of raw video footage and edit masters remains a real challenge for anyone working in the video production world. As the Executive Director of a local community media station, I’m responsible for maintaining a Synology NAS which currently holds 55TB of final edit…

  • LastPass Unlocked Event

    Last Thursday, October 3, 2019 I had an opportunity to attend LastPass’s Unlocked – Cybersecurity & Identity Trends event in Boston, MA. The panel of security experts included: Bill Cheswick, Computer Security and Networking Researcher Gerald Beuchelt, Chief Information Security Officer/Vice President for LogMeIn Steve Gibson, Software Engineer, Security Researcher, and Host of the Security…