Yearly Archives: 2018

Multi-Room Audio on Chromecast devices offer no Video

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I got excited when I learned that Chromecast devices (Generation 2 and above of video) will offer multi-room audio support. I already owned Chromecast Audio devices for a few years now, and enabled multi-room audio on those already. However, I have a Gen.  2 Chromecast on my patio which I wanted to pair with the Chromecast Audio device that connects to a receiver that feeds audio output to speakers already in that area. I thought it was going to be a fantastic option to stream from YouTube Music into My TV that is then simulcasted to my Chromecast Audio.

I tried yesterday, and found out that there is no video streaming available on my Gen. 2 Chromecast. Just Audio. Bummer!

So, at least for now, Multi-Room Audio will be for just that, just audio. Would have been great to see Video also streamed in simultaneous with Chromecast Audio.

Save Gmail Attachments Into Google Drive and Delete: CCTV Amcrest DVR Images

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Updated: 12/17/2018.

Recently I learned about the change of terms for Flickr, where I save all my CCTV snapshot images coming from my Amcrest 960H HVR. They are triggered when there is movement detected. Granted, not that effective by default, but at least provides me with indications or patterns of something abnormal happening, which can then allow me to search the video recordings (I shall run them against media analytics services at some point).

Point is that I needed to find out an alternative for hosting my images, and no better option than Google Drive. The system already sends out images via email, and I had to figure out how to land them into Google Drive. Luckily I found out this post from Andreas Gohr, where he provides a script that takes Gmail attachments and saves them into Google Drive.

On a high level, the solution relies on two processes:

  1. Rule within Gmail that treats the incoming email
  2. Script that runs asynchronously, finds emails and copies the attachment to Google Drive.

The processes are well documented in Gohr’s post.

I took the original code, and modified to suite my needs:

  1. Extract the DVR snapshot attachment image.
  2. Make a copy into a Google Drive sub-folder, using a sub-string. Used the camera number as folder name.
  3. Create subfolder names based on year, month and date provided by the filename (sample: 03_20181202010558.jpg). The folder name will be re-used if it already exists.
  4. Delete the email (as I no longer needed once copied).

My Gmail rule differs a bit from the original poster:

  1. Mute the Conversation (it does not appear in the inbox)
  2. Mark as read (this might be optional)

The script for my code is located here.

Feel free to create your own copy and modify to suite your needs. Just make sure to follow the instructions including the authorization step. This is important as the scripts requires access to Gmail. Google will be sending out an email with “possible risk” to the account, but you can instruct through console that you are OK with the script.

  • Script
  • Gmail Rule
  • Email
  • Google Drive
  • Google Drive

AT&T Fiber Gigapower 1 Gbps Internet Service

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It was unfortunate to learn that BeIN Sports was dropped by Xfinity, and I had to figure out a workaround. No other cable or dish operator provided the channel, and I did not want to install a dish on my roof either. I had to reuse the existing cabling at home. The only option was streaming (any service that provided BeIN Sports Connect).

I needed a service with no data transfer cap, and I had two options. AT&T Fiber 1000, and Xfinity Gigabit service.

The table below shows the pricing, contract and speed information.

ProviderPriceRebateSpeed (Mbps)
Down/Up		ContractETF***
AT&T$90$150**1000/10001-year$180
Xfinity$82*
None1000/352-years$240

* Included the price of leased equipment
** Engaged on a chat session and got offered an additional $100 
*** Reduced for every month of service

The information depicted is for South Florida, Broward county. It could vary be region.

It was an easy pick for me. AT&T offers a symmetrical service, with uploads maxing out at 1000 Mbps. And I am on the hook for just 1 year.

The AT&T technician ran fiber cable from the street all the way to my outside wall, installed a fiber to Ethernet box (which is located inside the house), and reused the phone cable that already ran to a junction box I had inside the house already (the phone cable was Cat 5e Ethernet).

Fortunately, my house is already pre-wired with Cat 5e network cables, and had already in place 2 wired access points with 802.11ac Wi-Fi. I swapped out my old Xfinity router with the new one AT&T provided, and plugged in 4 Ethernet cables to the network ports provided. The router serves also as DHCP server and as a 802.11ac access point. The network ports feed to the 2 additional access points (which also have 4 gigabit network ports, each), as well as the security camera system and my son’s gaming computer.

I changed the router internal IP address, and reconfigured the Wi-Fi SSIDs, to make the migration transparent. All 38 or so devices continued to work without any issues.

I was skeptical in the beginning, as I was not sure if the Cat 5e cables would sustain gigabit connectivity. To my surprise, they do, and it is consistent.

The 802.11 ac access points provide speeds that vary between 180 to 480 Mbps. They are just fine for streaming and laptop/smartphone connectivity. All heavy duty processing are performed at hard wired equipment, including my main desktop computer.

I am very happy with the service thus far, and having a symmetrical service is fantastic. The very first day I was able to upload 1 TB of video files to my Google Drive. Previously it would have taken me several days (capped at 10 Mbps upload speeds before).

If you are tempted to get AT&T fiber 1000, they are providing 2 additional access points that create a mesh network, for free. 802.11ac + 802.11n bands.

I do believe that streaming is the future of TV service, and cable has its days counted.

Happy streaming.

HTC 10 Wi-Fi Calling not enabled (T-Mobile) [Fixed]

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Updated: 2019.01.08

I am a long time HTC user, and still own an HTC 10 (a bit old for today’s’ standards). Upgraded to Oreo earlier this year, and lost a very nice feature; Wi-Fi Calling.

Wi-Fi calling helps on lowering costs when traveling overseas, as while on Wi-Fi, any calls to the US or received, do not incur any additional costs. It also allows to send/receive text messages when there is no service due to location (like inside basements).

I searched trying to find out how to solve the issue and found no answers. I had the option available and I ensured it was enabled, but had no luck. I also checked for power settings on Wi-Fi Calling to ensure that they are not optimized, but had no different experience.

A couple of days ago I decided to try a SIM card from a different provider. Used it for a few minutes, and then swapped it with my T-Mobile SIM. I realized that the Wi-FI calling icon fired up. I thought it was a glitch, but after 2 days of normal operation (e.g. going out and using LTE, then back to Wi-Fi), I still see the Wi-Fi calling service active.

Seems that the solution is to switch to a SIM card from a different operator, using it for a few minutes, and then inserting the T-Mobile SIM back. Of course, turning off the smartphone before ejecting and inserting the SIM cards.

Wi-Fi Calling is back!

Update:

Every 3 to 4 weeks, the Wi-Fi calling feature gets disabled. I am yet to discover why is this happening. The only way to revert the situation, is by swapping in a non T-Mobile SIM card, and then rebooting.