The Error

I’m not a huge fan of Games For Windows Live, though thank you to Microsoft for trying to merge their gaming into one place.  When I tried to start the game I received the following error.

“Games For Windows Live Failed To Initialize”

Oh error message, thanks for the symptom.   That’s real helpful.  So I took to the Internet to find out, fearless adventurer that I am.  (No kobolds were harmed in the solving of this problem.)

I ran across this post that fixed the issue.  If you’re lazy and don’t want to click the link here’s the gist of it.

Games For Windows Live Failed To Initialize – Section 8

This is an issue with the executable file protection aspect of Comodo Personal Firewall.  Oddly, in my case, I have Comodo’s “Defense+” feature disabled but it was still biting me.  Take note: even if you have it disabled this will still affect you.  One more time for those who don’t like to read: EVEN WITH COMODO DISABLED YOU WILL STILL HAVE THIS PROBLEM. Okay, I feel better now…

Here’s how we fix this problem:

EVEN WITH COMODO DISABLED YOU WILL STILL HAVE THIS PROBLEM

1. Open Comodo and click on the Defense+ Tab
2. Click on “Defense+ Settings”
3. Change to the “Execution Control Settings” Tab
4. Click the “Exclusions” button
5. Add the these two files “<Steam Directory>\Steamapps\common\section 8 prejudice\s9.exe” and “<Steam Directory>\Steamapps\common\section 8 prejudice\binaries\win32\s9-win32-F.exe”
6. Apply those and click “Okay” until you’re back to the main menu and then close Comodo’s settings panel

EVEN WITH COMODO DISABLED YOU WILL STILL HAVE THIS PROBLEM
I do feel better this time.  You’ve been warned.

You should be good-to-go. If you run across any issues drop me a line in the comments.

Jason

Google recently announced that you can port your current number to Google Voice for $20.  It was released to a select group of users and as of today, January 25th, 2011, to everyone.

I won’t be one of the people porting to Google Voice.  I like having my old cellphone number BE my number.  My close friends and family have it and it’s my primary texting device.  I have an iPhone, and yes, there’s a Google Voice app that I could use, but I like just using my Messaging button and not opening Google Voice on my phone.

Secondly, I don’t want to have to get a new number on my cell.  I can change my Google Voice number in the future, for $10.  If I move, I can just change my number.  It’s cheaper than the $20 porting cost.

Yes, I could port my number and get the same features, but I like the flexibility.  Everyone knows it is my cell.  I give my GV number to everyone else.   That gives me the ability to decide who I really want to talk to on my cell and forward calls to my Skype number or drop them to voicemail.

Google Voice is a great tool.  I really recommend using it for anyone who uses Gmail and has multiple phones they want to use.  It’s a great “central contact” number for managing your communications.

Jason

Configure PS3 Media Server Tutorial from Jason Likert on Vimeo.

Jason

PS3 Media Server will work for most people out-of-the box without any additional software.   If you plan on playing many different types of video and music files you’ll need to install a few other pieces of software.  For simplicity’s sake we’re going to assume you’re running Windows, though the installation process is similar on all supported operating systems (OSX, Linux, Windows).

Getting Started

To get started lets grab the software we will need.

• PS3 Media Installer
• AviSynth 2.5 (For frame-serving and video post-production, non-graphical utility used by PMS)
• Combined Community Codec Pack – CCCP (Codec Pack for DirectShow, MKV, DIVX, Xvid, H.264, many more)
• Video LAN Player (VLC) (can be used for video streaming)
• Latest version of Java Runtime

Installation

Install Java first (or update your current version) and then install PS3 Media Server, AviSynth, CCCP and VLC.  You can use all of the defaults or customize the installation directories to where they work for you.  I run PS3 Media Server from one partition and my codec packs and other software are installed on a separate physical disk.  I do not recommend running several codec packs, such as K-lite with CCCP as you could inadvertently be using different versions of stable codecs but still run across strange transcoding and muxing errors.

What Is Transcoding

Transcoding is digital-to-digital re-coding from one format to another, such as converting MKV to Divx.  Transcoding with PMS can be done on the fly while playing a video.  Transcoding can be processor intensive and I only recommend transcoding video if you have at minimum a dual-core processor.  Transcoding with PMS tends to lower overall quality on the desired video.

What Is Muxing

Muxing, better known as MUltipleXING, is combining separate files into one file for viewing.  In PMS, AC3 Audio and a video file can be combined, playing hi-definition audio with your video.  PMS utilizes mencoder and TSMuxer for multiplexing audio with video.  In my own experience with PMS, TSMuxer tends to present a smoother muxing process than mencoder with less stutter and buffering over 803.11N wireless networks.  G networks theoretically support it as well, but I’ve noticed severe degradation and stuttering when attempting to mux audio with a hi-def video (such as Blu Ray Disc rips) over less than an N-wireless network.

Java?

PS3 Media Server utilizes Java to run.  When you launch PS3 Media Server it is “wrapped” in Java, basically the PMS executable launches a file that calls Java with many different parameters.  If you view the running processes under Task Manager you’ll notice Java running and utilizing a large amount of RAM, up to 600+ MB.

Configuring PS3 Media Server

When you open PS3 Media Server after installing it, PMS.exe, you’ll experience a tabbed interface with a “Save,” “Restart HTTP Server,” and “Quit” buttons at the top, like so.

We’re primarily going to be concerned with the General Configuration, Navigation/Share Settings, and Transcoding Settings tabs.  These are the tabs that you’ll use the most.  The other tabs are more for your information, reviewing logs, the readme, FAQs, help and additional information.

Let’s start with the General Configuration Tab.

You’ll want to choose your language and decide if you want to run PMS as a service that automatically starts.  I’ve chosen that option so that it’s always running, especially if I restart my system.  I want it to always start with the computer.

If you have multiple network cards you’ll want to choose the interface you want PMS to use for the network.  I also force my IP Address on my computer to be the active IP address, to ensure that my Playstation can always access my system.  I use a static address on my system so that it doesn’t change.  You should also consider using the HTTP Engine V2 (which is the default) and selecting “Prevent OS from sleeping while streaming” so that your streaming isn’t interrupted by your computer going to sleep for not detecting any use.

The Navigation/Share Settings tab is where you configure your library that you want to watch or listen to.  PMS will also stream audio files (non-DRM), including your DRM-free iTunes files.

I select Thumbnails generation so I can see a video thumbnail of the show I’m playing, as well as generate DVD ISO thumbnails.  ”Thumbnail seeking position” defines at what second in the video will it generate a thumbnail and can be configured for any time period in the video.

PMS provides the functionality to change muxing and transcoding engines “on-the-fly” from your playback device, so I don’t select “Hide #Video Settings# folder and “Hide #Transcode# Folder.”  Play with these options as much as you wish until you find what makes you happy.

The bottom, under “Shared Folder” is where you’ll add the folders where your media resides at.  I have a hierarchy of folders I store my media at with it separated by TV shows, Movies, etc. You can add as many folders as you wish and switch between them easily on your playback device.

Now lets take a look at the Transcoding Settings tab, Common Transcoding settings options.

If you have more RAM (I’ve 4GB in my PS3 Media Server system) bump the buffer size up to 600 MB.  That’s the maximum it will use.  I’m hoping in the future that they allow more than this as a 32-bit application can support up to 3.2+ GB, I’d prefer to double the current maximum that the application supports.

PMS will detect how many cores you have, stick with what it finds.  If it doesn’t detect 2 or more cores, and you have a dual or quad core system, bump it up to the correct number.

I utilize 2 channel audio, as I am not running an audio/video receiver capable of surround sound.  If you do, select the audio output you desire that your system supports.  Select the Ac3 bit-rate as well.  If you’re using DTS audio or FLAC (lossless audio) feel free to convert it to LPCM if you have an HDMI receiver.

If you have AC3 audio you can also select to have it remux’d to work with your system.

Under video quality you can change the maximum bandwidth used.  This works well if you’re on a G wireless network or a 10Mb/s wired connection.  Hi-def audio and video are bandwidth intensive.  If you are brave at heart, you can define several transcoding variables, such as keyint, vqscale and vqmin to customize the quality of the video and help save on bandwidth.

Under transcoding you can also disable subtitles and skip or force transcoding on different file types.

On the left, you can re-order the way in which PMS will attempt to use transcoding, muxing and streaming engines.  Use the blue UP and DOWN arrows to find an order that works best for you.  The order you see is what I currently use.  If you find that you’re seeing choppy video, you can change transcoding and muxing options from the playback device #Transcode# folder you see while using PMS or reorder it in the configuration and restarting PS3 Media Server.

One caveat, if you decided to run PS3 Media Server as a service, you will have to use the Services Manager utility to restart PMS and the PMS.exe file to configure it.  The “Restart HTTP Server” button will not work when you run PMS as a service.  To open services manager you can click on Start > Run and type “services.msc” without quotes.  Hit enter.  It will open up the Services Manager program.  Find “PS3 Media Server,” select it, right-click on it and choose “Restart.”  It is more tedious but you won’t need to do that very often.

All of the configuration options in PS3 Media Server can also be adjusted by editing the PMS.conf file that is in the same directory as PMS.exe, where you installed PS3 Media Server.   All of the options in PMS can be configured via the text file and the text file is used by PS3 Media Server when you start it to ensure that it is configured properly.  If you edit the text file and restart PMS the UI will reflect any changes.

To end Part 2, here’s my configuration file.   Leave a comment if you have any questions!

thumbnails = true
alternativeffmpegpath = E:\\Program Files (x86)\\PS3 Media Server\\win32\\dvrms\\ffmpeg_MPGMUX.exe
mencoder_ass = true
engines = mencoder,tsmuxer,tsmuxeraudio,ffmpegaudio,mplayeraudio,mencoderwebvideo,mplayervideodump,vlcvideo,mplayerwebaudio,vlcaudio,ffmpegdvrmsremux,rawthumbs
folders = I:\\PS3_media,G:\\Archived TV And Movies
maxvideobuffer = 600
audiochannels = 2
network_interface = eth5
usecache = true
thumbnail_seek_pos = 3
tsmuxer_mux_all_audiotracks = false
skiploopfilter = false
mencoder_fontconfig = true
mencoder_disablesubs = true
mencoder_mt = true
avisynth_convertfps = true
mencoder_mux_compatible = false
codec_spec_script =
mencoder_encode = keyint=1:vqscale=1:vqmin=1
dvd_isos_thumbnails = true
ffmpeg = -threads 6 -g 1 -qscale 1 -qmin 2
mencoder_remux_ac3 = true
embed_dts_in_pcm = false
itunes = true
audiobitrate = 384
port = 5001
hostname = 192.168.0.197

Jason

My favorite application to do this is PS3 Media Server (PMS).  PMS is a free open source program that will mux and transcode non-compliant video and stream it across either a wired or wireless connection to your Playstation 3 or Xbox 360.

PMS plays many formats, and when configured will also play BRD rips, xvid, divx, DVD .iso files as well as MKV containers.  The Playstation  3 won’t natively play many of these formats and PMS will convert them on-the-fly into a PS3-capable format.

In my next article, I will review what other applications you can use with PMS and many of the configuration options you may need to tune to play your media properly.

Jason

Normally I’d care less about this but for some reason I really want to point out the inconsistency of the FTC. They worry about Twitter hacks but how often do you hear about the FTC jumping in and going toe-to-toe with other companies about their security? The FTC never got involved when it was possible to hack into Hotmail accounts by changing the URL. I didn’t hear about the FTC suing TJ Maxx when they were breached and thousands of credit card numbers were stolen.  Facebook suffers privacy issues and technical exploits and the FTC says nothing.

Could this be related to the government wanting to have an “internet kill-switch?” In the event of “cyber warfare” they want the ability to turn off the Internet (good luck on that champs). Ask yourself: why does the government want to have control of the most advanced communication tool in the existence of mankind?   I don’t think cyberwarfare (and if you use that term you need to kick your own ass) is a good excuse.

Get with the program, government agency, and have some consistency. Your intervention is costing me tax dollars that could be better spent.

Jason

Originally I thought maybe it was just the power supply unit that failed (PSU) so I bought a new one on Amazon.com and had it shipped overnight by the UPS elves.  Long gone are the days I have multiple spare computers laying around so I needed something to test.  I plugged the PSU in and still didn’t have power, so my motherboard or CPU were toast.  There were no tell-tale beep codes so it was a safer bet it was the mobo but you never know!  Without being able to tell which, I ordered replacements for each component from Newegg.com.

Yesterday I busted out my screwdriver and had my 8 year old daughter help me do the rebuild.  I swapped in the new motherboard and left all of my old parts in.  It booted right up without a hitch.  I opted to keep the new video card, a good bargain GeForce 220 GT which is a slight upgrade over my 8600 GTS that I’ve had since 2007.

The Asus P5Q SE Plus motherboard does everything my old Abit board at a smaller formfactor.  There’s still six SATA ports, front and rear USB expansion ports, and also includes SPDIF jacks with a high-definition audio chipset in the event I feel like plugging my PC into a receiver.  Windows 7 booted up like a dream and installed all of the proper drivers.  The only hitch was the “open box” motherboard, which didn’t have the software CD so I ended up going to Asus’ website and downloading the proper sound manager software.  Without it, Windows defaulted to the SPDIF outputs which did me no good and I didn’t have sound.

My current rig is not even close to “top-of-the-line” but it handles everything I do without issues.  I’m an avid computer gamer (my PS3 was used more as a Blu-Ray player and media center) and I hobby with photo-manipulation and graphics design.  I don’t need a rig with SLI and can’t justify spending thousands on a computer to eek out a higher frame rate.  As long as I can pull off 30+ FPS on high or medium settings with 2x AA I’m happy.

Current Specs (for those who wonder)

• 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo (soon to be overclocked to 3.2 GHz once more)
• 4 GB Corsair RAM
• Galaxy Geforce 220 GT (1GB DDR2 RAM)
• Lite-On Lightscribe DVD RW drive
• 2x320GB SATA drives (7200 RPM)

Jason

Recently I received a new MacBook for Christmas and I wanted to move all of my develpment stuff over to Mac OS X.  I am going to keep my Windows system as my gaming machine, since I love computer gaming.  It’s a hobby, and doesn’t take up as much time as it did years ago, but I want to move my “professional hobby” to my Mac and keep the Windows XP system as my gaming rig since it was built for that purpose.

I digress.

I started looking for solutions on how to run Apache and MySQL on OSX.  There are plenty of articles out on the Internet to do so but I didn’t want to run Apache natively.  Not really any particular reason, I just didn’t want to install it as a daemon.

First I ran across MAMP, which looked good, but they want you to PAY for MAMP Pro.  No thanks.  I’d rather not fork over money when I can save it for food.

XAMPP On Mac OS X

I decided to check if XAMPP works on OSX and it does!  Yes, yes, my precious, it does.  I downloaded the .dmg for XAMPP on Mac OSX and proceeded to mount the image and run the install.  In minutes I was up and running.  I copied my web folder over for my latest development WordPress blog, edited the wp-config.php file and fired up the install.php page.

Boom.  Error.  Gnashing of teeth, I hacked at it for a few minutes and realized that when I copied the files I didn’t do it as “nobody” of the “admin” group.

If you have this problem, simply go to the directory that has incorrect permissions and use the “chown” command to change the owner.

> chown -R nobody:admin “/Applications/xampp/xamppfiles/htdocs/website_folder”

Now, that issue was quickly fixed but when I would access the install.php URL (http://sitename/wp-admin/install.php) I still could not connect.  I searched for hours, reviewed the configuration in phpMyAdmin and got really frustrated.  I took an afternoon to think.

After looking at it again, I realized that it was properly database permissions still, so I fired up phpMyAdmin again and looked.  The user account for the database was allowed to connect from “%” which is a wildcard in MySQL that means any host can connect with the user ID.  On a whim I changed this to “localhost” and it worked like a champ.  I changed it back to “%” and failed.

Now maybe this is a bug, but I verified my Windows XAMPP load and it was setup using “%” for all of the test databases.  I’m chalking this up to a “feature” on Mac OSX for now.  Other than those issues, I’ve had no problems running XAMPP on OS X.  It works great.

Jason

My feeling is this: I want to brand myself as a technology professional who understands business, finance, web application, network and systems security, application security, network design and implementation as well as managing people.  You may think this to be a large and disparate amount of job duties but I’ve been doing all of them for many, many years, minus my time at Crowe where I focused primarily on security and penetration assessments.

Most of the things I want to write about that are technology driven and not really of a personal nature.  I’d still have my personal blog to attend to, with writings and musings of a personal nature about my love to dance, play games, work out, write, book reviews or whatever else I want to write about of a personal nature.

The other blog, the new blog, would be focused on technology, security, design and architecture and professional discussion.  I don’t want to mix the two or lose my subscribers here.  Not everyone loves the Tech articles and not every reads the life articles.

So let me know via the contact form, email or comments!

Happy New Year!

Jason

Jason

Unfortunately for me, Techvangelism is not that.  Apparently the Christian Mainstream has subjugated the two words to mean “using technology for evangelism.”  A much different meaning then my own personal assumptions.  In no way do I look down upon Christians for this, I completely understand their definition.  Sadly I missed the boat on this one.  It’s like my attempt to bring back “Right On” with a valiant fist pump in the air.

Oh well, time to keep searching for that perfect word.

Jason