In the past I have used software called pdf machine merge to email out personalised pdfs to students (sending personalised pdfs works well for certificates or project feedback). Unfortunately my license expired recently and I recalled that in theory you can do the same thing with adobe acrobat pro and word. In practice when I tried to work through a mail merge in word, there was no way to do a merge to pdf using the adobe plugin because the menu item didn't show in word.
After hours of searching/fiddling/updating I finally identified the problem. It turns out that my version of office wasn't playing nicely with my version of adobe acrobat. As I had the latest version of office (office 2013) I first had to update to the latest version of adobe acrobat (XI pro) AND then install the latest update for that version (to move to 11.0.10). Once this was done the "ACROBAT" menu required to do pdf merging finally appeared again in word. After that it was a fairly simple matter to do the merge as per these instructions.
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
Windows 8 update tip
It seems like whenever I update a Windows 8 system I get stuck in an "update loop".
Windows tells me it is busy installing updates, then it tells me that installing the updates failed so it is rolling back my system, then it trys to install the updates again: repeat ad infinitum.
Eventually, if you are lucky, it might actually allow you to login (having failed the update process for hours on end). Sometimes I've waited SIX hours for this to happen.
Here is where I finally remember to do what I should have done before, the magic step that always seems to sort out this particular problem. I recommend doing this step before any major windows 8 update (and also directly after an operating system update, before the rest of the updates get installed).
1) Swipe from the right and select "Settings".
2) Click on Control Panel.
3) In the top right search box type "Trouble" and then click on the "Troubleshooting" option that comes up.
4) Under "System and Security" click on "Fix Problems with Windows Update"
5) Click Next and then "Try troubleshooting as administrator".
This should fix your updater problems so that when you reboot you don't get stuck.
Windows tells me it is busy installing updates, then it tells me that installing the updates failed so it is rolling back my system, then it trys to install the updates again: repeat ad infinitum.
Eventually, if you are lucky, it might actually allow you to login (having failed the update process for hours on end). Sometimes I've waited SIX hours for this to happen.
Here is where I finally remember to do what I should have done before, the magic step that always seems to sort out this particular problem. I recommend doing this step before any major windows 8 update (and also directly after an operating system update, before the rest of the updates get installed).
1) Swipe from the right and select "Settings".
2) Click on Control Panel.
3) In the top right search box type "Trouble" and then click on the "Troubleshooting" option that comes up.
4) Under "System and Security" click on "Fix Problems with Windows Update"
5) Click Next and then "Try troubleshooting as administrator".
This should fix your updater problems so that when you reboot you don't get stuck.
Thursday, 7 August 2014
Hands on with surface pro 3
I'm typing this update on the new surface pro 3, thanks to a very kind colleague who lent me their machine.
Here are a few thoughts from setting it up.
Initially the surface refused to turn on, despite having been plugged in and charging it for a good length of time. I worked through the instructions here: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/surface-pro-wont-turn-on
Fortunately the very last step worked (essentially a hard reset). I was holding my breath for a while there! It took a long time holding down various buttons before I saw the screen come to life.
Windows 8 setups are usually pretty painless. I've been through several windows 8 installs now but got thrown with this one because I didn't have the stylus handy. As part of the setup you need to do a Bluetooth pairing with the stylus. It took me a while to find the stylus, unscrew it and check the battery was present (I removed the little paper tab that was inside with the battery). By the time I had it ready the surface had tried pairing three times and gave up. I continued with the install but it said it failed at the end, so I redid it with no problems second time around.
One think to be careful of is to make sure you select the correct keyboard type. In a previous setup I inadvertently selected UK (thinking I was selecting UK English), only to discover that I should have selected the US keyboard I had was typing different symbols when I hit certain keys (including the @ symbol which makes it tricky to email anyone!). It took a lot of fiddling to set the keyboard back to US.
As mentioned in other posts, the first thing to install is Classic Shell: http://classicshell.net/. It really does make a difference if you are used to previous windows versions. Unless you are an experienced windows 8 user, you'll be forever trying to find settings and apps that used to be "easy" to locate unless you install this little app which gives you back your start menu.
The display on the surface pro 3 is stunning. The extra size really makes a difference, as does the ability to position the kickstand exactly how you want (it means you can reduce reflective glare). When using the surface with the keyboard docked, the larger screen makes it feel much more like a laptop that a tablet (particularly when compared to the surface pro 2 which felt cramped). This is probably helped by the new 3 by 2 ratio (so it feels less like a widescreen machine). If you undock the keyboard you still feel like you have a tablet.
I like the new larger form factor and it doesn't come at the cost of extra weight or thickness (in fact it is thinner and feels lighter). It feels really nice in the hand, with a solid build.
The new keyboard is an improvement on the old on in just about every respect. There is a surprising amount of travel and while an external keyboard is always going to be nicer, this will do well for on the go. The backlit keys are a nice touch and the trackpad is a bit larger. I actually prefer the keyboard to the "Chiclet" ones that are becoming standard on many laptops. It seems easier to hit the right keys on the this keyboard. It is also very useable on a lap and MUCH more so that the surface 2 or 1 was. The new attachment mechanism which relies on attaching at two points with magnets gives a lot more stability. My only gripe with this attachment mechanism is that it gets in the way of swiping up from the bottom of the screen (which is sometime useful, particularly for charm apps).
The pen feels MUCH nicer than the stylus that came with the surface 2 or surface 1. It has a good heft to it and feels solid and more "pen like". It is also much more accurate and this is particularly noticeable in the corners of the screen (which used to be very problematic to work with on the surface 1, which made hitting the correct option on menus tricky sometimes). It is also nice to have somewhere to stash it on the keyboard (they included a little loop that adheres to the keyboard, so you can slide your pen in for safe storage when it isn't in use. Overall the pen experience is a big improvement and I can see why they switched from the previous stylus (which was a Wacom one) to the new N-trig version. I am slightly concerned that the new one requires batteries and this needs to be kept in mind (you'll want a spare AAAA battery and a couple of 319 button batteries on hand in case they die during something important). The other thing I noticed is that the screen seems to be more slippery than on my older surface (I suspect this may change with use and could just be because the new unit is still pristine and extremely clean)
The sound is surprisingly punchy and there is no problem relying on the speakers if you are watching YouTube videos and the like. In fact you may even be reaching for the volume down button.
Overall first impressions are extremely positive. Microsoft seem to have got a lot right with this iteration.
Here are a few thoughts from setting it up.
Initially the surface refused to turn on, despite having been plugged in and charging it for a good length of time. I worked through the instructions here: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/surface-pro-wont-turn-on
Fortunately the very last step worked (essentially a hard reset). I was holding my breath for a while there! It took a long time holding down various buttons before I saw the screen come to life.
Windows 8 setups are usually pretty painless. I've been through several windows 8 installs now but got thrown with this one because I didn't have the stylus handy. As part of the setup you need to do a Bluetooth pairing with the stylus. It took me a while to find the stylus, unscrew it and check the battery was present (I removed the little paper tab that was inside with the battery). By the time I had it ready the surface had tried pairing three times and gave up. I continued with the install but it said it failed at the end, so I redid it with no problems second time around.
One think to be careful of is to make sure you select the correct keyboard type. In a previous setup I inadvertently selected UK (thinking I was selecting UK English), only to discover that I should have selected the US keyboard I had was typing different symbols when I hit certain keys (including the @ symbol which makes it tricky to email anyone!). It took a lot of fiddling to set the keyboard back to US.
As mentioned in other posts, the first thing to install is Classic Shell: http://classicshell.net/. It really does make a difference if you are used to previous windows versions. Unless you are an experienced windows 8 user, you'll be forever trying to find settings and apps that used to be "easy" to locate unless you install this little app which gives you back your start menu.
The display on the surface pro 3 is stunning. The extra size really makes a difference, as does the ability to position the kickstand exactly how you want (it means you can reduce reflective glare). When using the surface with the keyboard docked, the larger screen makes it feel much more like a laptop that a tablet (particularly when compared to the surface pro 2 which felt cramped). This is probably helped by the new 3 by 2 ratio (so it feels less like a widescreen machine). If you undock the keyboard you still feel like you have a tablet.
I like the new larger form factor and it doesn't come at the cost of extra weight or thickness (in fact it is thinner and feels lighter). It feels really nice in the hand, with a solid build.
The new keyboard is an improvement on the old on in just about every respect. There is a surprising amount of travel and while an external keyboard is always going to be nicer, this will do well for on the go. The backlit keys are a nice touch and the trackpad is a bit larger. I actually prefer the keyboard to the "Chiclet" ones that are becoming standard on many laptops. It seems easier to hit the right keys on the this keyboard. It is also very useable on a lap and MUCH more so that the surface 2 or 1 was. The new attachment mechanism which relies on attaching at two points with magnets gives a lot more stability. My only gripe with this attachment mechanism is that it gets in the way of swiping up from the bottom of the screen (which is sometime useful, particularly for charm apps).
The pen feels MUCH nicer than the stylus that came with the surface 2 or surface 1. It has a good heft to it and feels solid and more "pen like". It is also much more accurate and this is particularly noticeable in the corners of the screen (which used to be very problematic to work with on the surface 1, which made hitting the correct option on menus tricky sometimes). It is also nice to have somewhere to stash it on the keyboard (they included a little loop that adheres to the keyboard, so you can slide your pen in for safe storage when it isn't in use. Overall the pen experience is a big improvement and I can see why they switched from the previous stylus (which was a Wacom one) to the new N-trig version. I am slightly concerned that the new one requires batteries and this needs to be kept in mind (you'll want a spare AAAA battery and a couple of 319 button batteries on hand in case they die during something important). The other thing I noticed is that the screen seems to be more slippery than on my older surface (I suspect this may change with use and could just be because the new unit is still pristine and extremely clean)
The sound is surprisingly punchy and there is no problem relying on the speakers if you are watching YouTube videos and the like. In fact you may even be reaching for the volume down button.
Overall first impressions are extremely positive. Microsoft seem to have got a lot right with this iteration.
Wednesday, 6 August 2014
Setting up surface pro 2 (and wishing it was a 3)
So the surface pro 3 is out and it looks fantastic. Microsoft have tweaked the design to add all the features I thought were missing from the 2 (in particular I love the look of the bigger screen, better "lapability" and improved stylus). I think the surface pro has really come of age. Unfortunately due to being at the ends of the earth and having to order through preferred supplies, rather than unboxing a 3, I'm opening up my new surface pro 2 (which took a VERY long time to acquire).
As I run through setup, I'm reminded of a few things I found tricky when setting up my initial surface pro and also just how many additional apps I install.
Here's a brief list of apps I think are worth having
Helping to get things done
- Classic shell (makes windows 8 MUCH more usable by creating a "start" button). Install this FIRST as it makes configuring windows to your liking much easier.
- Wunderlist is the software I use for tracking todos, which in the past has worked reasonably well across multiple platforms (I have used it on windows, osx, ios and android devices). The 3rd version just came out for several platforms but is not yet available for windows 8 so I'm making do with the chrome browser extension.
Web browsing
- Internet Explorer comes standard so you don't need to install it (you actually get two versions, as the one launched from the charms area is different and works better if navigating by finger)
- Chrome is worth installing as google stuff works better with it but be aware the fonts will look fuzzy on a surface. This is easy to fix if you find the right setting (which took me a LONG time to track down the first time). You have to disable display scaling on high DPI settings for chrome, the instructions on how to do this are here: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fonts-appear-blurred-windows-8
- Firefox is still a favourite and I find some sites just work better in firefox. If fonts look fuzzy try the same trick for fixing as described above for Chrome.
Mail
- Outlook (I've switched to the dark side) although I really miss some Thunderbird features, I've found Thunderbird buggy of late (but Outlook isn't much better)
Media
- itunes is particularly handy if you have an apple device but also helpful for managing media even if you don't
- doubleTwist is helpful for syncing music from an iTunes library to an android device
- Quicktime is handy for playing quick time movies and other media files
- VLC player is still the best free media player out there
- BBflashback player and recorder is the software I use this for screen capture (with audio) - Handbrake is great for optimising video files
- Dropbox is handy if you have a dropbox account
Office documents
- Open office if I'm looking for a free solution, otherwise the MS office suite
PDF creation
- pdf machine merge is handy for emailing personalised pdfs but it costs a bit of money, does a good job though and can save HEAPS of time.
- pdf annotator is very good but again costs money
- Adobe acrobat reader is an industry standard (although I find this can be a bit buggy)
- Cute pdf editor (I sometimes use this to create pdfs if adobe products fail to work)
Technical
- Matlab (ain't cheap)
- Octave (free!)
- Visual studio (for C++)
- Tex works
- Tex studio
Charms bar apps
Don't use these much as I tend to use other devices for touch based apps
- Kindle (for reading ebooks)
As I run through setup, I'm reminded of a few things I found tricky when setting up my initial surface pro and also just how many additional apps I install.
Here's a brief list of apps I think are worth having
Helping to get things done
- Classic shell (makes windows 8 MUCH more usable by creating a "start" button). Install this FIRST as it makes configuring windows to your liking much easier.
- Wunderlist is the software I use for tracking todos, which in the past has worked reasonably well across multiple platforms (I have used it on windows, osx, ios and android devices). The 3rd version just came out for several platforms but is not yet available for windows 8 so I'm making do with the chrome browser extension.
Web browsing
- Internet Explorer comes standard so you don't need to install it (you actually get two versions, as the one launched from the charms area is different and works better if navigating by finger)
- Chrome is worth installing as google stuff works better with it but be aware the fonts will look fuzzy on a surface. This is easy to fix if you find the right setting (which took me a LONG time to track down the first time). You have to disable display scaling on high DPI settings for chrome, the instructions on how to do this are here: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fonts-appear-blurred-windows-8
- Firefox is still a favourite and I find some sites just work better in firefox. If fonts look fuzzy try the same trick for fixing as described above for Chrome.
- Outlook (I've switched to the dark side) although I really miss some Thunderbird features, I've found Thunderbird buggy of late (but Outlook isn't much better)
Media
- itunes is particularly handy if you have an apple device but also helpful for managing media even if you don't
- doubleTwist is helpful for syncing music from an iTunes library to an android device
- Quicktime is handy for playing quick time movies and other media files
- VLC player is still the best free media player out there
- BBflashback player and recorder is the software I use this for screen capture (with audio) - Handbrake is great for optimising video files
- Dropbox is handy if you have a dropbox account
Office documents
- Open office if I'm looking for a free solution, otherwise the MS office suite
PDF creation
- pdf machine merge is handy for emailing personalised pdfs but it costs a bit of money, does a good job though and can save HEAPS of time.
- pdf annotator is very good but again costs money
- Adobe acrobat reader is an industry standard (although I find this can be a bit buggy)
- Cute pdf editor (I sometimes use this to create pdfs if adobe products fail to work)
Technical
- Matlab (ain't cheap)
- Octave (free!)
- Visual studio (for C++)
- Tex works
- Tex studio
Charms bar apps
Don't use these much as I tend to use other devices for touch based apps
- Kindle (for reading ebooks)
Friday, 9 May 2014
How to set up three monitors with a surface pro
It is possible to drive three external monitors from a surface pro. My surface is currently driving three Dell monitors (two 24" monitors and one 23" monitor). They are set up as shown below, with all three monitors extending from the surface screen (so I can drag and drop seamlessly).
As you can see, I have the 23" monitor set up in the middle, which allows my enough space to have the surface screen visible below while having the top still align nicely with the 24" monitors. I find it useful to have the surface centrally located, so that I can still use swipe gestures if needed. The 23" monitor is connected via a DVI to DVI cable which plugs into a small multipurpose adapter that connects to the mini display port on the surface. The adapter also has input ports for HDMI and display port (so is very handy to have around). I have another mini display port to VGA adapter for use on the go and these two adapters together allow you to connect to pretty much any monitor or projector you come across.
The other two monitors are both connected to the docking station (Targus USB 3.0 superspeed dual video docking station), which has one DVI input and one HDMI input.
The 24" monitor on the right hand side is connected to my docking station (Targus USB 3.0 superspeed dual video docking station) using a DVI to DVI cable.
The 24" monitor on the left hand side is connected using a DVI to HDMI cable (The DVI end is plugged into the monitor and the HDMI end goes into the back of the docking station). I had initially tried using the displayport on the monitor with a displayport to HDMI adapter and then a standard HDMI cable but this failed.
Prior to a three monitor setup I used a two monitor set up with the external monitors side by side and the surface below (in the middle) forming an inverted triangle. This also worked well.
Note if the mouse cursor ever disappears you can hit window+P to bring up the projection options. Select "PC screen only", then hit window+P again and select "extend". That should restore your mouse cursor.
As you can see, I have the 23" monitor set up in the middle, which allows my enough space to have the surface screen visible below while having the top still align nicely with the 24" monitors. I find it useful to have the surface centrally located, so that I can still use swipe gestures if needed. The 23" monitor is connected via a DVI to DVI cable which plugs into a small multipurpose adapter that connects to the mini display port on the surface. The adapter also has input ports for HDMI and display port (so is very handy to have around). I have another mini display port to VGA adapter for use on the go and these two adapters together allow you to connect to pretty much any monitor or projector you come across.
The other two monitors are both connected to the docking station (Targus USB 3.0 superspeed dual video docking station), which has one DVI input and one HDMI input.
The 24" monitor on the right hand side is connected to my docking station (Targus USB 3.0 superspeed dual video docking station) using a DVI to DVI cable.
The 24" monitor on the left hand side is connected using a DVI to HDMI cable (The DVI end is plugged into the monitor and the HDMI end goes into the back of the docking station). I had initially tried using the displayport on the monitor with a displayport to HDMI adapter and then a standard HDMI cable but this failed.
Prior to a three monitor setup I used a two monitor set up with the external monitors side by side and the surface below (in the middle) forming an inverted triangle. This also worked well.
Note if the mouse cursor ever disappears you can hit window+P to bring up the projection options. Select "PC screen only", then hit window+P again and select "extend". That should restore your mouse cursor.
Thursday, 8 May 2014
Targus docking station, for all your docking needs
The surface pro is extremely slim on ports (it only has thee - a minidisplay port, a USB 3.0 port and a 3.5mm jack for headphones). I find this is absolutely fine when you are on the go but if you want to use the surface pro as a desktop replacement, three ports doesn't cut it. At present there is not a surface pro specific docking station but there are a number of generic USB 3.0 docking stations out there. I have been using the Targus USB 3.0 Superspeed dual video docking station (with power). The results have been generally very good, although there have been a few glitches that I had to find fixes/workarounds for.
Note that if you go to the link above, the image doesn't quite match the product I received. The photo shows all the ports my version has but mine also has an on/off power switch. This on/off switch is missing from every product photo I have seen online. The power switch comes in very handy as you can use it as a "reboot" option in the event that things get glitch.
The idea behind this docking station is that it sits on your desk and can even be used as a stand to raise the back of a laptop (so that the screen is at a better viewing angle, although this wouldn't work for the surface pro). Once your laptop is on the desk all you need to plug in is a single USB 3.0 port plus a power cable. Then you should be good to go, connected to the myriad of devices plugged into the docking station. There are even power adapters for most major laptop brands hiding inside the unit (lift the lid to reveal them). These plug directly into the docking station, so if your laptop is supported you don't even need your usual power adapter. Unfortunately there isn't one included for the surface pro (but I get along fine with using my standard power adapter).
I am amazed at how much stuff can successfully flow through a single USB 3.0 port. Currently I can connect all the following:
- an external monitor via the DVI port
- another external monitor via the HDMI port (I am using an HDMI to DVI cable to connect this to a Dell monitor, more on this later).
- an audio interface (via usb) which is used for recording audio from a microphone
- a set of speakers (via 3.5mm jack)
- a usb mouse
- a usb keyboard
- an Ethernet cable
- an external usb hard drive
- an external usb bluray drive
This leaves me with one usb port spare, if I need to plug in a usb flash drive (although my monitors appear to have usb ports on them but I'm not sure if they work without additional cabling).
Installation wasn't too bad, although the drivers came on a CD which was a bit of a pain. To install them onto the surface pro you need either an external optical drive or another computer with an optical drive (so that you can transfer them over to usb). The driver file is tiny, so didn't require much space and I transferred it across on a usb flash drive. Alternatively you can just download the drivers direct from the targus website (and get the latest version to boot.
A word of caution if you've installed the drivers from the CD on windows 8 and then upgraded to windows 8.1. I found things stopped working (i.e. I couldn't use my monitor anymore). The solution (when I finally discovered it) was easy but not well documented. Don't just upgrade your drivers to the latest version, an upgrade won't fix things. To get things working with windows 8.1 you first have to UNINSTALL the drivers entirely and THEN install the latest drivers.
Occasionally things stop working (i.e. the monitor doesn't connect or the mouse won't react or the keyboard can't be use to input stuff). Usually switching the power off and on again on the docking station fixes any problem.
Another minor glitch is that sometimes the mouse cursor gets "stuck" in one place or disappears entirely but everything else still seems to work (so you can still type and the monitor is still displaying what you expect). I've found that toggling the display to "PC screen only" and then back to extend mode fixes this issue. To do this quickly hit the windows+P key, choose "PC screen only" and then repeat the process but this time choose extend.
Note that if you go to the link above, the image doesn't quite match the product I received. The photo shows all the ports my version has but mine also has an on/off power switch. This on/off switch is missing from every product photo I have seen online. The power switch comes in very handy as you can use it as a "reboot" option in the event that things get glitch.
The idea behind this docking station is that it sits on your desk and can even be used as a stand to raise the back of a laptop (so that the screen is at a better viewing angle, although this wouldn't work for the surface pro). Once your laptop is on the desk all you need to plug in is a single USB 3.0 port plus a power cable. Then you should be good to go, connected to the myriad of devices plugged into the docking station. There are even power adapters for most major laptop brands hiding inside the unit (lift the lid to reveal them). These plug directly into the docking station, so if your laptop is supported you don't even need your usual power adapter. Unfortunately there isn't one included for the surface pro (but I get along fine with using my standard power adapter).
I am amazed at how much stuff can successfully flow through a single USB 3.0 port. Currently I can connect all the following:
- an external monitor via the DVI port
- another external monitor via the HDMI port (I am using an HDMI to DVI cable to connect this to a Dell monitor, more on this later).
- an audio interface (via usb) which is used for recording audio from a microphone
- a set of speakers (via 3.5mm jack)
- a usb mouse
- a usb keyboard
- an Ethernet cable
- an external usb hard drive
- an external usb bluray drive
This leaves me with one usb port spare, if I need to plug in a usb flash drive (although my monitors appear to have usb ports on them but I'm not sure if they work without additional cabling).
Installation wasn't too bad, although the drivers came on a CD which was a bit of a pain. To install them onto the surface pro you need either an external optical drive or another computer with an optical drive (so that you can transfer them over to usb). The driver file is tiny, so didn't require much space and I transferred it across on a usb flash drive. Alternatively you can just download the drivers direct from the targus website (and get the latest version to boot.
A word of caution if you've installed the drivers from the CD on windows 8 and then upgraded to windows 8.1. I found things stopped working (i.e. I couldn't use my monitor anymore). The solution (when I finally discovered it) was easy but not well documented. Don't just upgrade your drivers to the latest version, an upgrade won't fix things. To get things working with windows 8.1 you first have to UNINSTALL the drivers entirely and THEN install the latest drivers.
Occasionally things stop working (i.e. the monitor doesn't connect or the mouse won't react or the keyboard can't be use to input stuff). Usually switching the power off and on again on the docking station fixes any problem.
Another minor glitch is that sometimes the mouse cursor gets "stuck" in one place or disappears entirely but everything else still seems to work (so you can still type and the monitor is still displaying what you expect). I've found that toggling the display to "PC screen only" and then back to extend mode fixes this issue. To do this quickly hit the windows+P key, choose "PC screen only" and then repeat the process but this time choose extend.
Monday, 31 March 2014
Audio success!
I finally bit the bullet and shelled out for a decent audio system. I got a Shure SM58 vocal mic (with foam wind shield) and hooked it up to the Onyx Mackie blackjack 2x2 audio interface. I've got the mic sitting on a cheap boom arm (think old school desk lamp with spring arm) so the mic can be easily positioned in front of me (i.e. a few inches from my mouth).
The results have been extremely gratifying so far. I'm still exploring the system but I have produced several video podcasts for classes now, ranging from 15 to 30 minutes in length. The audio is clear with next to no background noise (despite being in a room with a computer fan and air con).
I'm still finding that I need to bump up the audio levels in post processing to get something that sounds ok over the built-in external speakers (but for headphone listening that isn't required). I'm not sure how many people will be using external speakers rather than headphones but it isn't too tricky to increase the gain (I've just been using a normalisation filter in bbflashback to do the job).
The only downside is that it would be a pain to move the setup, so if I wanted to use it in a lecture I would be carting quite a bit of stuff down with me. Everything would pack down reasonably small though, so at a pinch I *could* take it all to a lecture theatre if I had to. It would not be convenient though.
The results have been extremely gratifying so far. I'm still exploring the system but I have produced several video podcasts for classes now, ranging from 15 to 30 minutes in length. The audio is clear with next to no background noise (despite being in a room with a computer fan and air con).
I'm still finding that I need to bump up the audio levels in post processing to get something that sounds ok over the built-in external speakers (but for headphone listening that isn't required). I'm not sure how many people will be using external speakers rather than headphones but it isn't too tricky to increase the gain (I've just been using a normalisation filter in bbflashback to do the job).
The only downside is that it would be a pain to move the setup, so if I wanted to use it in a lecture I would be carting quite a bit of stuff down with me. Everything would pack down reasonably small though, so at a pinch I *could* take it all to a lecture theatre if I had to. It would not be convenient though.
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Video conversion (so you need a smaller file...)
When recording lectures I use one of two tools:
1) The automated lecture recording software provided by the university
2) Bbflashback on my surface
The first option has the advantage everything is done for you and an email turns up in your inbox with links to whatever you might want (a low quality, high quality and audio only recording). The disadvantage is that even the low quality recording is pretty large, at around 100Mb for a 50 minute lecture. For students based on campus the large file size isn't a problem. For extramural students it is a different story, as their internet connection isn't necessarily reliable or fast.
The second option works well if you want a smaller recording and gives much more control (but I am having problems getting decent noise-free audio). As bbflashback records only changes to the screen (rather than multiple frames a second) you can end up with a much smaller file size (e.g. 15 Mb for a 50 minute lecture). This assumes you export with a very low frame rate and relatively low quality (but it makes for a perfectly viewable recording). It also assumes you are using something like power point or writing on the tablet, rather tha playing video footage.
For some courses I use both, using the automated recording as a backup. This was helpful this week when I accidentally hit the "discard" rather than "save" button after recording a bbflashback lecture.
All was not lost because of the automated recording but I really wanted to convert it from a 100Mb file to something smaller.
After a bit of research I settled on a video conversion tool called Handbrake: http://handbrake.fr/ (open source and available for free).
This read my mp4 recording in with no issues and then I set about to tweak settings to see if I could export it as a smaller file. Almost everything I tried in terms of optimisation resulted in an approximately 60Mb file. Tweaking different video settings didn't make much difference (I tried scaling the video size to half the original size, going to greyscale, using higher compression, longer encoding time, lower quality and nothing brought the size down by more than a Mb or two).
In the end I concluded that if altering the video didn't change things much then maybe I should play with the audio instead. After all, a 3 minute song can easily be 3Mb, so an hour of audio could account for a lot of that 60Mb file size. Turns out this hunch was right on the money. By dropping down from 128bps to 64bps I was able to reduce the file size to 33Mb.
The lesson is if you want to reduce your video recording file size, try downgrading the audio quality, you may be pleasantly surprised how much of a space saving that gives you (with no loss of intelligibility for spoken word)
1) The automated lecture recording software provided by the university
2) Bbflashback on my surface
The first option has the advantage everything is done for you and an email turns up in your inbox with links to whatever you might want (a low quality, high quality and audio only recording). The disadvantage is that even the low quality recording is pretty large, at around 100Mb for a 50 minute lecture. For students based on campus the large file size isn't a problem. For extramural students it is a different story, as their internet connection isn't necessarily reliable or fast.
The second option works well if you want a smaller recording and gives much more control (but I am having problems getting decent noise-free audio). As bbflashback records only changes to the screen (rather than multiple frames a second) you can end up with a much smaller file size (e.g. 15 Mb for a 50 minute lecture). This assumes you export with a very low frame rate and relatively low quality (but it makes for a perfectly viewable recording). It also assumes you are using something like power point or writing on the tablet, rather tha playing video footage.
For some courses I use both, using the automated recording as a backup. This was helpful this week when I accidentally hit the "discard" rather than "save" button after recording a bbflashback lecture.
All was not lost because of the automated recording but I really wanted to convert it from a 100Mb file to something smaller.
After a bit of research I settled on a video conversion tool called Handbrake: http://handbrake.fr/ (open source and available for free).
This read my mp4 recording in with no issues and then I set about to tweak settings to see if I could export it as a smaller file. Almost everything I tried in terms of optimisation resulted in an approximately 60Mb file. Tweaking different video settings didn't make much difference (I tried scaling the video size to half the original size, going to greyscale, using higher compression, longer encoding time, lower quality and nothing brought the size down by more than a Mb or two).
In the end I concluded that if altering the video didn't change things much then maybe I should play with the audio instead. After all, a 3 minute song can easily be 3Mb, so an hour of audio could account for a lot of that 60Mb file size. Turns out this hunch was right on the money. By dropping down from 128bps to 64bps I was able to reduce the file size to 33Mb.
The lesson is if you want to reduce your video recording file size, try downgrading the audio quality, you may be pleasantly surprised how much of a space saving that gives you (with no loss of intelligibility for spoken word)
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
In search of better screencasting audio
I have been using my surface pro for screen casting every now and then and am slightly frustrated with a few things. I'm after clear video, great audio and a small file size. Not much to ask :-)
On one course I use bb flashback to record live lectures (as opposed to our usual automated lecture recording system provided by the university). The audio gives me speech that is perfectly understandable but there is quite a bit of background noise and it isn't that pleasant to listen to. I noticed that even when recording in my office I still get a fair bit of background noise when using the built-in microphone. I suspect it is picking up my office air conditioning and it is definitely picking up the surface fan when it kicks in. This is a problem I want to solve. Initially I thought it would be as simple as shelling out $20-$50 for a decent external microphone. Turns out it isn't that simple.
I've been doing some reading around audio recording and after trialling a bunch of different microphones and audio interfaces have come to the following conclusions:
a) to avoid electronic noise, use usb
b) to avoid background noise from the environment use a good quality directional dynamic microphone (as opposed to a condenser)
c) microphones may need an amplifier to boost the signal
d) if you want really nice audio, expect to shell out a lot for it (e.g. around $500 NZ)
I'll deal with each conclusion in turn.
Cheap external computer microphones (or headset microphones) will often plug into the 3.5mm jack on a laptop. With the surface pro I have found that every microphone that I've plugged into a 3.5mm jack has had issues with noise. My brother who is an electrical engineer (and audiophile) told me that using the 3.5mm jack and onboard circuits for sound processing is likely to result in noise. The included soundcard on portable computers isn't going to be ideal for processing high quality audio. It is better to ditch the 3.5mm jack and get your audio in via the usb connection (so that the signal processing can be done externally). There are a number of well known microphone manufacturers who produce microphones that plug directly into a usb port. Here are a list of the ones I considered after extensive research: the Rode podcaster, the Blue Snowball, the Blue yeti, the Studio projects LSM, the Samson Go-mic and the Audio-Technica ATR2100 USB. You can find youtube reviews on all of these but the most useful site I found was Recording Hacks: http://recordinghacks.com/
All these microphones come highly recommending for podcasting.
Microphones fall into two main categories, condenser microphones (which use a capacitor) and dynamic microphones (which use a magnet and coil). Condenser microphones tend to be much more sensitive and also need to be powered. I tried out a few condenser mircophones (e.g. the Blue Snowball and Blue Yeti) and while the audio was very clear and electronic noise wasn't an issue, background noise was. Despite these microphones having cardiod pickup patterns (which means in theory they only pick up noise in front of them, rather than from all around) condensers are so sensitive that I as picking up noises from behind the microphone at the very far end of the shop I was in. Condensers would be great in a studio environment with sound proofing where background noise wasn't an issue. Since I have air conditioning on in my office, plus a computer fan and the sound of me writing on my surface with a stylus, condensers weren't going to work. By contrast the dynamic cardiod microphones I tried were MUCH better at picking up just my voice and no background noise. They are less sensitive so you have to position your mouth a lot closer to the microphone but this is a small price to pay for less noise. The Rode podcaster did a lot better job of isolating my voice, even though I was testing it in a relatively noisy shop.
Unfortunately the Rode podcaster didn't give me very high input levels so I had to post process the audio recordings and massively scale the gain. It appears that this is a common complaint with usb microphones and that it is often necessarily to increase the amplitude of the signal. While you can do this in software, increasing the signal via post processing can also introduce audible background noise (that wasn't noticeable until you increase the amplitude). A better solution is to use a pre-amp (pre-amplifier) to increase the signal.
If you are going the route of using a pre-amp, then you need an audio-interface, which does the job of both amplifying the microphone's signal and converting the signal to a digital format so that it can go in via usb. The nice thing about going with this route is you are no longer limited to usb microphones, you can use professional audio microphones which make use of the standard XLR connectors present on just about all mics used in the recording industry. I tried out The Shure SM57 instrument mic (an industry standard) with my brother's audio interface (a TASCAM audio interface ) and got fantastic quality. This may well be the way to go.
In summary, to get really good audio you will probably need a good audio interface (for around $200-$300) plus a good dynamic microphone (for around $150-$250) plus stand and cable.
I've been looking at the Shure SM58 or SM48 for the microphone and the Onyx Mackie blackjack as the interface.
My last hope at a cheaper solution is the Audio-technica AT2100USB microphone, which is currently out of stock, so I haven't been able to try it yet.
On one course I use bb flashback to record live lectures (as opposed to our usual automated lecture recording system provided by the university). The audio gives me speech that is perfectly understandable but there is quite a bit of background noise and it isn't that pleasant to listen to. I noticed that even when recording in my office I still get a fair bit of background noise when using the built-in microphone. I suspect it is picking up my office air conditioning and it is definitely picking up the surface fan when it kicks in. This is a problem I want to solve. Initially I thought it would be as simple as shelling out $20-$50 for a decent external microphone. Turns out it isn't that simple.
I've been doing some reading around audio recording and after trialling a bunch of different microphones and audio interfaces have come to the following conclusions:
a) to avoid electronic noise, use usb
b) to avoid background noise from the environment use a good quality directional dynamic microphone (as opposed to a condenser)
c) microphones may need an amplifier to boost the signal
d) if you want really nice audio, expect to shell out a lot for it (e.g. around $500 NZ)
I'll deal with each conclusion in turn.
Cheap external computer microphones (or headset microphones) will often plug into the 3.5mm jack on a laptop. With the surface pro I have found that every microphone that I've plugged into a 3.5mm jack has had issues with noise. My brother who is an electrical engineer (and audiophile) told me that using the 3.5mm jack and onboard circuits for sound processing is likely to result in noise. The included soundcard on portable computers isn't going to be ideal for processing high quality audio. It is better to ditch the 3.5mm jack and get your audio in via the usb connection (so that the signal processing can be done externally). There are a number of well known microphone manufacturers who produce microphones that plug directly into a usb port. Here are a list of the ones I considered after extensive research: the Rode podcaster, the Blue Snowball, the Blue yeti, the Studio projects LSM, the Samson Go-mic and the Audio-Technica ATR2100 USB. You can find youtube reviews on all of these but the most useful site I found was Recording Hacks: http://recordinghacks.com/
All these microphones come highly recommending for podcasting.
Microphones fall into two main categories, condenser microphones (which use a capacitor) and dynamic microphones (which use a magnet and coil). Condenser microphones tend to be much more sensitive and also need to be powered. I tried out a few condenser mircophones (e.g. the Blue Snowball and Blue Yeti) and while the audio was very clear and electronic noise wasn't an issue, background noise was. Despite these microphones having cardiod pickup patterns (which means in theory they only pick up noise in front of them, rather than from all around) condensers are so sensitive that I as picking up noises from behind the microphone at the very far end of the shop I was in. Condensers would be great in a studio environment with sound proofing where background noise wasn't an issue. Since I have air conditioning on in my office, plus a computer fan and the sound of me writing on my surface with a stylus, condensers weren't going to work. By contrast the dynamic cardiod microphones I tried were MUCH better at picking up just my voice and no background noise. They are less sensitive so you have to position your mouth a lot closer to the microphone but this is a small price to pay for less noise. The Rode podcaster did a lot better job of isolating my voice, even though I was testing it in a relatively noisy shop.
Unfortunately the Rode podcaster didn't give me very high input levels so I had to post process the audio recordings and massively scale the gain. It appears that this is a common complaint with usb microphones and that it is often necessarily to increase the amplitude of the signal. While you can do this in software, increasing the signal via post processing can also introduce audible background noise (that wasn't noticeable until you increase the amplitude). A better solution is to use a pre-amp (pre-amplifier) to increase the signal.
If you are going the route of using a pre-amp, then you need an audio-interface, which does the job of both amplifying the microphone's signal and converting the signal to a digital format so that it can go in via usb. The nice thing about going with this route is you are no longer limited to usb microphones, you can use professional audio microphones which make use of the standard XLR connectors present on just about all mics used in the recording industry. I tried out The Shure SM57 instrument mic (an industry standard) with my brother's audio interface (a TASCAM audio interface ) and got fantastic quality. This may well be the way to go.
In summary, to get really good audio you will probably need a good audio interface (for around $200-$300) plus a good dynamic microphone (for around $150-$250) plus stand and cable.
I've been looking at the Shure SM58 or SM48 for the microphone and the Onyx Mackie blackjack as the interface.
My last hope at a cheaper solution is the Audio-technica AT2100USB microphone, which is currently out of stock, so I haven't been able to try it yet.
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