Brian Dorey.com

BlackMagic Intensity Pro HDMI capture of Galaxy Nexus and iPad 2

Filed under Android , Apple , Photography , Projects

BlackMagic Intensity Pro HDMI capture of Galaxy Nexus and iPad 2

While working on a new project we needed to be able to send video of the mobile apps under development to the clients online. This is to save us all having to arrange meetings and lots of additional travel just to go over small parts of the project such as button clicks and actions on iPads and Android smartphones.

After a lot of research we decided to order a BlackMagic Intensity Pro PCIe internal card for my 2008 Mac Pro so the card could be used under Windows 7 for capture with Adobe Premier and also on OSX Lion and Final Cut Pro.

Installing the card and downloading the latest software was straightforward but getting the card to capture from the iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Nexus proved to be difficult due to lack of information on the correct settings to use. After a lot of trial and error we found that the Preferences for the supplied Media Express application needed to be set on:

Project Video Format: HD 720p 60
Capture Format: AVI 8-bit YUV (for best quality)

With these settings approx. 60 seconds of recording results in a 600Mb AVI file.

The screen shot below shows the Media Express application with the settings window open (click to open full size screen shot)

Recording the iPad 2 HDMI output works very well with no dropped frames or judder and the screen rotation is also supported but the Samsung Galaxy Nexus only seems to output when in Landscape mode and not Portrait which is disappointing. I haven’t found any work around for this yet so any videos captured will need to be rotated before they are sent to our clients or put online.

We also planned to also use this to capture the iPod Touch but this only supports video output when playing videos and photo slideshows and not the full screen output which is restricted to the iPhone 4s which is too expensive to buy just for testing. We will have to stick with using a camcorder to record the iPod Touch video demos for now.

The photo below shows the Samsung Galaxy Nexus connected to the Samsung HDMI adapter with USB power and HDMI cable attached.

The video below shows the recorded output from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus with no editing apart from recompressing to host online.

Or view on YouTube

iOS webView open a JavaScript link in Safari

Filed under Apple , Projects

After working on updates for our Virtual Swanage iOS app that uses a JavaScript based webview for information, I ran into a problem where by a JavaScript window.location event would only open up a page within an existing view and it was not possible to make a URL jump out of an application and into Safari without resorting to <a> links. I came up with the following solution to get around this problem.

The code below should be placed in your iOS application within the same class as your webview. When a link on a web page is selected the shouldStartLoadWithRequest method is called. The URL request is checked and if the URL contains safari:// or safaris:// instead of http:// or https:// the method overrides the default loading action and passes the URL to safari instead.

By using this method you only need to update any URLs on your website that you want to open in Safari with safari:// instead of http:// or safaris:// instead of https://.

Wiring Land Rover Defender Heated Seats

Filed under Projects , Land Rover

I found a pair of new and unused half leather TDCI/ PUMA Defender heated seats on ebay which I thought would be idea for the cold winter driving in my Defender.

As I have a 1999 Defender it doesn't have any of the wiring to connect to the new heated seats so after installing the seats I ran new power cables from the Raptor Dash Console to the battery box and then installed a pair of 12v relays where are protected via a 15amp fuse. On the Raptor Dash Console I had to mill two more spaces for the On-Off Carling Technologies Switches and then add new wires from an ignition controlled live to the new switches. The switches operate the new relays which in turn are connected to the heated seats via RC Traxxas TRX High-Current Connectors.

The seats installed which are a lot lower than the Cobra recliners which I had previously installed.

The relays and fuse where fitted in the back of the battery box and connected via 30amp cable to the battery and the two switch control wires connected to the relay coils.

The original seats had this connector fitted and I was unable to find a suitable connector to use with this so I replaced the with a pair of Traxxas TRX High Current connectors which I had previously purchased for use on my RC motorbikes More...

New TDCI/ PUMA Defender front seats and Exmoor Trim carpet set

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New TDCI/ PUMA Defender front seats and Exmoor Trim carpet set, a photo by brian-dorey on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
New TDCI/ PUMA Defender front seats with heater elements, XS black rack 1/2 leather trim. Also fitted new Exmoor Trim carpet set to the front installed in the Defender today.

New TDCI/ PUMA Defender front seats

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New TDCI/ PUMA Defender front seats, a photo by brian-dorey on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
New TDCI/ PUMA Defender front seats with heater elements, XS black rack 1/2 leather trim. Also fitted new Exmoor Trim carpet set to the front installed in the Defender today.

SOPA Blackout Day

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As several mainstream websites have blacked out their pages in protest of the SOPA and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) legislation which the US Senate is trying to pass today, I thought I would get some screen shots of the pages while they are blacked out.

	Boing Boing Their home page message: Boing Boing is offline today, because the US Senate is considering legislation that would certainly kill us forever. The legislation is called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), and would put us in legal jeopardy if we linked to a site anywhere online that had any links to copyright infringement. This would unmake the Web, just as proposed in the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). We don't want that world. If you don't want it either, visit AmericanCensorship.org for instructions on contacting your Senator. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has more information on this and other issues central to your freedom online. Thanks, The Boingers www.boingboing.net
	Mozilla Their home page message: Protect the Internet Help us stop Internet censorship legislation Today Mozilla joins with other sites in a virtual strike to protest two proposed laws in the United States, called SOPA and the PROTECT IP Act. On January 24th, the U.S. Senate will vote on the PROTECT IP Act to censor the Internet, despite opposition from the vast majority of Americans. Join us to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity. www.mozilla.com
	Reddit Their home page message: Dear reddit, Today, for 12 hours, reddit.com goes dark to raise awareness of two bills in congress: H.R.3261 "Stop Online Piracy Act" and S.968 "PROTECT IP", which could radically change the landscape of the Internet. These bills provide overly broad mechanisms for enforcement of copyright which would restrict innovation and threaten the existence of websites with user-submitted content, such as reddit. www.reddit.com
	Wikipedia Their home page message: For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Website Design, the day job update

Filed under Projects

I thought I should post an update to the About Me page on the site which hasn't been updated for a few years. Still building websites for my main business (www.apexweb.co.uk) and out taking photos for stock and clients websites. In 2011 started a side business with an old school friend Andy Farrer who is a professional photographer for taking interactive virtual tours of businesses and residential properties. The new business is apexviews (www.apexviews.co.uk) and its I am dealing with the virtual tour hosting and site management and Andy is taking the photos and dealing direct with the clients.

On the website design side of things, below are links to a few of the projects we have been working on in the past few months as apexweb.

	The Boat Café and Bar This site is for a new Boat café / Bar located on Weymouth seafront www.theboatweymouth.co.uk
	Polruan Dream Cottages This site is for a business who run four self catering cottages in Cornwall in the village of Polruan. www.polruandreamcottages.co.uk
	South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) This site is the latest project working for the NHS and is aimed at businesses and individuals who require medical training for home or work. www.ambulanceservicetraining.co.uk
	The Priory Hotel This site is a basic CMS site using our Atlas content management system to advertise the services of the historic hotel in Wareham on the river Frome. www.theprioryhotel.co.uk
	Wool and Bovington Motors Group Ltd This site was a custom build which includes automated site updates from Autotrader and several other bespoke sections. www.wbmgroup.co.uk
	WBM Cars This site runs from the same CMS system as the parent companies site Wool and Bovington Motors Group Ltd www.wbmcars.co.uk
	Events Essentials This site was made for a new business who offer online advertising for events based businesses. www.events-essentials.co.uk
	Angelic Hen This new ecommerce website was developed over several months and launched with over 600 stock items and new personalised design system. www.angelichen.com

Android Market -101 error downloading apps

Filed under Android

Since getting the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus I was not able to download apps to the phone via the Market app. Every time I would get an error -101 saying the app could not be downloaded.

Also on the Android Market website https://market.android.com/ my new phone would not appear in the list of my devices.

After spending  a lot of time searching for possible fixes, I noticed that my google account  which ended with @googlemail.com which I logged into on the phone was changing to @gmail.com when logging into the Android Market website.

I couldn’t see an easy way to change the logged in account on the phone so I removed all the accounts, and added the account back in using @gmail.com rather than @googlemail.com and I can now download the apps again.

You need to re-sync all your contacts and settings when doing this as it seems to remove all contact info from the phone.

On the Android Market website the new phone still didn’t appear in the list until I tried editing the Nickname associated with my old HTC Desire, after changing this the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus appeared on the list and I was able to edit the Nickname for this as well and it all is working ok now!

To change the Nickname

On the bottom of the market page click “My Market Account” https://market.android.com/account  then select the “Settings” tab which takes you to this screen:

(Click to view large version)

Press “Edit” next to your phone and  enter your phones nickname in the box and click “Update” to save your changes.