Reasons I Kept My ePhoto Light Kit

Recently, here at Nicolettecinemagraphics in Columbus, Ohio, I purchased the ePhoto 3800W Lighting Kit through Amazon. Amazon’s grey market goods are often sketchy and are lucky to function even at half of their intended capacity. But you get what you pay for, and often you should save your money and buy a better product.

Unboxing the ePhoto kit rendered me more than disappointed. The bag is cloth and has no bottom support, not even a cardboard attempt at support. The stands are shoddy and are lucky to hold the weight of the lights – tighten them once and you’ll never get them loose again. The boom is an instructionless joke of a puzzle. Once you actually balance out the light the boom bows from the weight. The soft boxes are impossible to attach and the sides do, indeed, touch the lights for that extra fire hazard fun. The base of the sockets are hard to position and utilize nothing but plastic parts.

All this… Yes all of this at once and I was infuriated, of course I was. I had just laid down… Oh, wait, it was only $130. But I’m enraged, this is sheer garbage – I’m sending it back, right? So I started to cobble together something similar, but nothing had a base that could control each individual bulb. None of the sockets looked any better in quality. Then there’s the bulbs, that’s over $100 worth of CFL power. So I kept it for the value of the bulbs and decided that the kit was only worth it for the bulbs. I can buy umbrellas or reflectors and c-stands instead of the soft boxes. I have different stands. I can get another boom. For now the lights work and I have a kit for basic video shoots – sort of.

Manfrotto 701HD Quick Fix

A few years back we bought a Manfrotto 701HD tripod head. It has been a decent purchase, well, once I realized how the handle was supposed to be positioned. After that I found no issues, the glide of the fluid head is nice. I know it does have some shortcomings, like it is meant for smaller cameras. I don't really mind that. I like small cameras, I've gravitated to DSLRs as of late. The design seems common enough that the parts should be readily available, even in Columbus. In fact a friend had borrowed my tripod and lost the quick release plate. She was able to find a replacement at local camera shop Midwest Photo Exchange at a reasonable price. The first major downfall appeared when I lost the knob that allowed you to adjust the arm position. Of course it was stuck down for transport. I called Midwest, they said they would try to figure out the part number - nothing. I went to Manfrotto's website and that particular parts list would not load. I could find the arm, the quick release and a few other random parts. Nothing seemed like it would be the right part. I called their repair number, they don't handle parts - they are just an outsourced company. They recommend the parts department. I called - no answer. Again - no answer. Three time and I just gave up. Time was getting short - I needed a functioning tripod, fast. Enter Lowe's bins o randomness. I still had the stud that held the arm in place, I just needed a way to adjust it. I found a screw that matched the inner threads of the stud. I added a wing nut and some washers. The result may not be pretty but it works again. This time there are no plastic parts to break off and loose.

Our Switch to HD

For many of us small videographers the switch to HD was like a death sentence. I drug my feet for as long as possible. Why; because the economy had just tanked and we all had to pinch to stay afloat. I noticed a huge drop in the competition in Columbus, Ohio. People couldn’t financially make the leap; I probably would have been among them, but for one of us attaining full-time employment. Think about it, people had just settled from the switch from analog (VHS and Beta) to digital equipment. If you have three cameras that equals three cameras that you have to replace. That was my problem, I had realized that two cameras were good, three better, and four awesome. I wasn’t working with the most high end equipment, so I decided to stay in a similar range for my first HD camera. I loved the 3 chip cameras and I thought that was the way to go for the future. It was not. It was my first and last JVC because it was ridiculously complicated. To capture the footage in HD you had to use proprietary software that could then compress it to be usable in an editor. If you used Premiere (or any NLE of choice) the footage was not HD. This was fine when I was using it with other standard definition footage, but when I wanted the clarity of HD it just didn’t deliver. Not long into the life of the camera it stopped taking a charge and is now a paper weight. The other caveat with the switch to HD was a shift from tape to hard drive and card formats. At first there were a few cameras with HDDV tapes, but that didn’t seem to last in anything but the professional market. The librarian/archivist in me cried a little with the loss of a permanent storage medium. Tape was nice and linear and recorded on the spot. Sure, there were instances in which you could lose a whole tape; please don’t play with magnets around tapes, but things were recorded as they happened. This is not the case with HD formats – files are written in chunks or blocks of data; one bad chunk could ruin the whole set of data. In fact we had an early nightmarish lesson in how the HD cameras handle data. We had decided to take afore mentioned JVC as a backup camera on a documentary shoot, with a borrowed Panasonic AG-HMC150 as the main shooter. The HMC150 had a beautiful image and seemed great until I had to turn off the camera and change the battery. I turned the camera back on and the card was unreadable – hours of footage, gone. We’re down to one card and not sure why. Hours later, we’re shooting the most important part of the documentary and the battery is running low. Stop. Plug in. Restart. No card. The problem was that the camera needed to write a lead out before it turned off, but it didn’t have a fail-safe if the battery died. If the camera was stopped while writing that lead out then it rendered the card useless and you lost everything on it. This meant that we had a documentary with no footage from the main camera, no cards to record more on, nothing. It was an interesting learning experience, one that I test for when I’ve purchased a new camera. I’d rather replace an empty card that errored than to not have the footage I set out to shoot. I finally decided to take a more serious leap into HD video, despite my experience with the HMC150. All the cool kids were hoping the DSLR train – beautiful image, interchangeable lenses, more control than a camcorder; what more could you want? The downfall is a time limit – depending on the camera it can range from 10-30 minutes. And lenses, oh the cost of lenses, yet like Pokemon you need them all. I had Nikon lenses and Nikon had just released the d5100 with the flip out screen and the impressive (at the time) 20 minute time limit. The time limit made events all but impossible and after about a year I was able to pick up a second. Still, staggering the stop/start times seemed daunting from across the room. I missed having a wide shot capturing the whole event. I recently added the Panasonic G5 to our arsenal. The G5 has no limit on the duration of a shot (when using AVCHD) and, with adaptors, will use my Nikon lenses if I really need it to. My only concern was mixing brands, which was previously a no-no, because they used to be hard to match color and contrast. DSLRs seem to match better than old camcorders did and as long as my white balance is set to match the difference is unnoticeable. I am certainly happy to be able to offer a three camera HD camera set-up – and just in time for 3D or 4k to take us all on a new ridiculous path.

Home Work

You wake up in your footie pj’s and you don’t have to exchange them for the good ol’ business casual. You can shuffle across the hardwood floors in your hot pink argyle socks, who cares that you’ve paired them with mint colored shorts? Don’t lie you even have Risky Business moments when your spouse is at work. Every day you save the planet by sparing the world from yet another commuter. Yep, these are the joys of working from home. You are a motivated self-starter; you have to be to get everything done to be able to pay the bills. Yet, there are always pit falls, you leave the house less than your peers. If you want an extra job outside of the house you’re always questioned about your ability to integrate back into society; as if staying in your house means that you have checked out of civilization and signed up for the hermit club. Ok, ok so you socialize and you know it, your income relies on it. But the rest of the world doesn’t believe it. There’s another problem; you live where you work and you work where you live, you have to either learn to turn off the job or you’ll find yourself working 24 hours a day. You know what it takes to balance life and work. I’ve been working at home for 4 years now, all that time in a small 700 sq ft house. There are comforts here, there are draw backs here, and some days I flee the space. My Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, and Openlibrary keep me company when social interactions are lacking. I can work on the floor, I can work in the hall, and when I’m sick – I can work from bed. My fridge is full-sized and holds a variety of choices for my lunch. My coffee pot is my friend, and when it stops being faithful I can end its contract. Most of all, my dog has constant company (because it is all about him), although I think he ignores me from 9-5. I’ve read about shared spaces, but I need solid internet and a customizable desk/chair setup. I need a powerful desktop because a laptop doesn’t always work for video. I’d be adding an extra expenditure for the space in addition to the commute and thus I’d contribute to the planet’s destruction. Now this isn’t to say that I’d avoid the commute if an office job found me. I mean, the stability of the 9-5 or comfortable warmth of lovely, lovely argyle socks… what’s a girl supposed to do?

August Columbus Digital Meeting

Columbus Digital meeting tonight 6-9 PM at Brothers Drake. 3D in After Effects & Setting Yourself Up For Success in Editing...

Summertime, Funtime

Summertime, Funtime

I know, I know we’ve been awol from our weekly blogging for a while now. I’m sorry, but it is summer and with summer comes all kinds of fun. Our fun began with volunteering to document ComFest. While I, personally, did not get to spend as much time at ComFest, Matt did spend three days running from stage to stage. In addition to the whole day at documenting, our CMIAR screenings have been added to the shelter house shows. This adds community exposure to some of the artists that have exhibited over the past year.

After ComFest we begin shifting our gears toward the Columbus International Film Festival. For the past three years we ‘ve been chairing the judging of the student division. And so now it begins – watching hours of films and rating them for the festival. This proves to be hours of fun, getting together with the jurors and spending hours enjoying snacks, discussion, and films.
During all these extra curriculur activities we have to keep up on our work for clients as well as our personal art work. While we’ve been a little lax in the latter this year, we did submit to the Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Film division. We both were awarded the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) Awards for our avant garde work. Matt, for his piece City Lights and me for my multi-screen version of my City Walks, which included New Orleans, Cedar Rapids, Columbus, and Allentown.
A busy summer of exciting things – and it’s only half over. Maybe we’ll be able to throw in a few City Walks and some other new work, find some more cool experiences, and maybe catch a summertime drive-in or two.

GoPro and its Additions Pt 1

GoPro and its Additions Pt 1

I’ve had my GoPro since November and I’ve struggled with what to write. I mean it is a GoPro – what is there left to write. Within the first day of owning it I submerged it and chased my fish around his tank. That worked, as I expected. I attached it to my scooter with an Electra handlebar mount (I only purchased the tripod adapter). At some point Matt even put it on his head and recorded his hacky sacking. It is a GoPro – that’s what it does, and these are things you do with it. I did struggle with trying to use it for my walking pieces. The open back did allow me to thread my leg/arm strap through it sideways. But that is sideways and I don’t want to have vertical video syndrome. I wanted full, uncropped resolution. Which is what I’d have to resort to if I did settle for that atrocity. Then I found the headstrap (thus the a fore mentioned hacky sack video). Oh, the headstrap! Maybe a few tweaks and… GoPro read my mind, as they seem to do, and made the strap 100% detachable – probably for the sake of head sweat and not for attaching it to my arm. The empty plate allows me to feed my strap into the slots and position my camera horizontally to my subject o movement. Magic! I have an instant leg/arm cam. We will see how well it actually works once I start walking again.

Columbus Moving Image Art Review ( CMIAR ) 15 Spring 2013

Columbus Moving Image Art Review ( CMIAR ) 15 Spring 2013

The Columbus Moving Image Art Review (CMIAR) will host its 15th quarterly local moving image screening event on Friday June 14th from 8pm to 9:30pm at the Ohio State University’s Hagerty Hall Theater room 180. CMIAR is a screening event for artist residing in Columbus, Ohio and surrounding areas. CMIAR was developed by two local moving image artists who wanted to create a way for the seventh art of film to return to the presentation medium of the cinema house. CMIAR 15 will be programmed with moving image work from Ohio State University Students, Staff and Alumni, CCAD Students and Faculty, and local Central Ohio filmmakers. Admission is free. Light food and drinks will be provided. CMIAR is sponsored by the OSU Film Studies Program and Nicolettecinemagraphics.

CMIAR 15 will begin with a special presentation from The Ohio State University Film Studies Program’s 16mm Collection

CMIAR 15 Artist List:
Matt Swift – Briefcase
Sam Javor – My Analog Life
Sakhile Vanqa – Self Portrait
Jamie Yuhasz – Entomophobia
Hannah Rivera – Chimera Phantasm
Sean McHenry – Last Stop
Tyler Dunlavy – Dream Sequence
Dan Riemen – Loquacious Miscellaneous
Chris Wittum – Number 2
Nicolette Swift – City Walk -171 Dayton
William Oglesby – Blackhand
Ruth Burke – Paedagogo
Matt Swift – City Lights – Columbus
Ruth Burke – Glitch Forest
Dan Riemen – Pogo
Kevin Harkness – Chocolate Lovely
Alan Becker – My Paper Crane Flew Away

Food Photography Blogging with the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Creative Studio

Food Photography Blogging with the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Creative Studio

Accounting Software for a Small Business Revisit

A few months after I decided to put all my bills in Manager and go with it for billing the software went cloud. Which was fine – I didn’t need to upgrade, that is until I reformatted and realized I didn’t have the installer. I caved and went with their cloud based service – uploaded everything. It errors. Always. I finally found the old installer and have been making due until I can find something new. Today, I decided I was done sulking – I was going to find something. Invoice Expert is free for limited features, which are fairly robust for a small business. I like it even more than Manager because I can build a quote and then convert it to an invoice. I’m not converting everything over just yet, but I am pretty impressed.

Laptop Battery

A few weeks ago I started noticing that my good ole Gateway laptop just wasn’t holding a charge like it should. Maybe it had been going on longer and I was in denial, it really didn’t hold much power to begin with. I decided I wanted something bigger if I had to purchase a new battery for an old laptop. Rich Battery had a 10400mah 12 cell battery for not much more than a replacement. The original battery was 4400mah 6 cell battery. The goal was to get my computer to last through a 2.5 hour movie – at least. That was the major downfall to this laptop – the luxuries of a bluray player and HDMI port, but the power wouldn’t make it through a short movie. I ordered my new battery on a Sunday and had it by Wednesday; no rush service, just standard – simple and fast.

It had a 50% charge and was ready to use in no time. The battery will last for about 3 hours, although I have not needed to run it that low yet. The battery is bigger in size and gives the back of my computer an inch lift. This gives a slight angle to my computer and it allows increased airflow under and around it. The only downfall is that the battery does not extend across the whole back of the machine, which could cause an imbalance when typing, but it does not seem to be that big of a deal.

Thanks Rich Battery for the quick service and the good product!

Media Center ala Ubuntu

I do such things as update and build my own computers and I end up with spare parts. Some of these parts work and others do not, but I have them. These parts even inspired my husband to take photographs of the boards, close-ups of the boards that looked similar to cities. He started collecting parts from others for these images. In this we somehow acquired a few old and tired, but mildly functional machines. Of course, I confiscated one that seemed to have failing usb and wifi under Windows XP. I installed Ubuntu and found that everything functions. I added all the media players possible and linked it to my TV. I had not wanted a Roku or other streaming box because I usually just watch Netflix on my Vizio Bluray player. But there were a few sites that I’d like to have access to that do not have apps on the player. My Ubuntu media center gives me access to Crunchyroll which runs fine, but it lags when I try to play Hulu. I can’t always get Hulu to work on a perfectly normal computer with a fast, campus internet connection and so it seems to be a moot point. I simply hook it to my TV with the VGA ports; the image is not too bad despite the low resolution.
My media Ubuntu is not without its flaws – I cannot get it to load such programs as RealPlayer negating some “protected” streaming services. For kicks I also tried to install an old web camera, but the suggested programs did not work with the camera that I had.
I know, I know: why, would I do this, you ask. Why bother? Why care? I have a perfectly functional laptop with HDMI. I have two custom desktop machines that would work better than an old failing machine. I’d like to answer that I did it because I can. Well, that is only partly true, usually I’m working on my laptop when I want to use it to watch something and my desktops live in my office. I could find wireless video transmitters, but there are times that I have video on one machine while my husband is working on the other. At the same time I’m building graphics or something on the laptop. This media center frees up all my working machines to do the work. I like that.

Cinemagraph App – A Revisit

I recently discovered that the Cinemagraph app had more to offer than I had previously noticed.  After you record with your camera you see a flawed video file.  You have to click through to get more options.  The still areas will be green tinted, while the motion will look normal.  You can then take your finger and “erase” the green to expand the motion.  It is a very flawed way of expanding your motion because you cannot possibly get as refined an area as you’d want by just using your finger.  Despite the shortcomings, the addition of some controls does help this software to look a little more natural.

DVD and Blu-Ray Dead?

It has come to my attention that professionals are considering delivering their wedding videos on flash media. This idea neglects the lack of a standardized codec that will play on any device. And in this oversight they prematurely report that optical media is dead. Thank you, Apple for creating delusion. I get it, really I do. The DVD will die someday and the Blu-ray market is stagnant. But, I do not see flash media as the answer, especially if your argument is that everything is going portable. I see two flash media options with the most compatibility: a USB fob or an SD card. Neither is going to be as fool proof as a disc. I have a phone that can play videos, but it lacks a card slot AND it does not have a full size USB. Even with an adaptor, I doubt that it has the ability to host a USB drive. Additionally, I have a tablet, which came with both USB and an SD slot; many are without one or both. The SD takes a micro and the USB is not full size. Yesterday,I loaded a card with an MPEG2 to show on the tablet. Nothing. I needed VLC to view the file and when it finally did work it stuttered. In order to access your videos you need more than a tablet and a phone (I know people that only own these). How about your entertainment system? That USB port on my TV is full sized, but it is only for service. My receiver has a media port, but that is not a standard household item. Many DVD/Bluray players do have a media port, but I have found this to be a very picky device. It fails to recognize my 320 GB passport drive. Many of the codecs are not available on the set top player and they cannot be added. The larger files that do work often stutter and freeze. We are left with a computer. Do you really want to relive your wedding on your computer? Can you and your spouse crowd around the screen and enjoy the memories in its 15 – 24” splendor? To have it on your phone or tablet you have to copy it over and trust that the files will scale properly. What about chapters or controls? Your video professional can create a web DVD and it offers the same functionality, but the web DVD is Flash encoded so the Mac users would be out of luck. The fragility of flash media is also a concern. My failure rate for SD and USB media is almost embarrassing; one bump and you break the stick.
After all this thought, I strongly advocate for supplying customer with either DVD or Blu-ray. The optical media is still the video answer for the time being. For the progressive client, offer a cloud download in a format compatible with their specific devices. The cloud is the future for video and offering any intermediary format is just going to inhibit future use and access. All this aside, I think we are forgetting the days when videographers had to include known working DVD players in their packages. We cannot offer known working phones and tablets as part of our packages and be cost effective. We have to be able to offer our clients an array of encoded files that fit their needs.

City Walks: 88 Chicago

I've talked about my little cameras for my walking pieces, but I haven't posted about the creation of the actual piece.  This past week I joined my husband at the SCMS Conference in Chicago.  While he worked I walked.  The weather during this trip actually worried me because I wasn't sure it was going to be warm enough for walking.  As it turned out only Friday was too cold to spend too much time outside; it wasn't temperature so much as the wind just cut right through me.  Here are the maps of the routes I walked:
 Day 1
 Day 2
 Day 3 Pt 1
 Day 3 Pt 2

 As always, my small cameras acted up and I was restricted to using only one of my two standard "walking" cameras.  I ended up making due with the HD camera that isn't quite the same in size or resolution. I still need to make a pouch so that I can continue to keep this extra camera in my arsenal.  I would also like to find a way to add straps to my GoPro so that I can use it during walks. For now I have to walk until one camera dies then use the HD camera until I can find a place to plug in. Not really efficient. The GoPro would add the ability to change the battery, but is not able to be attached in the same way as the smaller cameras. Luckily, for now, I have 180 cities remaining and each one is a learning experience.

When I started I didn't think about the rules that I later created. I also didn't know how the cameras would react. Now I have rules to not show people or cars and sometimes I choose to break those rules for the power of the image. Chicago may have to be one of those exceptions - so many people and cars that I don't know if I will be able to exclude them all. That will all be decided in the editing process.rocess.

Raw Footage

I guess instead of silly little reviews I'm going to talk about my method for once. I often get questions about handing over raw footage the day of the event. I don't like to do it. In fact I know very few who do. A finished product takes many man hours on top of many computer hours to create. This product consists of audio and color corrections that give a more finished feel to the video. I also like to use no less than two cameras and off camera sound. The bit of syncing that goes into each takes a professional editor to achieve. Now, why, you ask, would any one use off camera sound? I have multiple reasons, the most simple being an archival principle of multiple copies. By adding audio into my camera I am negating a potential backup and adding more variables to go wrong. I also like separating the mic from the camera. This means no camera noise, no cords to the camera. Just a mic and a recorder separate from the camera and possibly closer to the subject. As for the two camera setup. I love it. I feel that you get more coverage from more angles. The meshing of all of these materials takes a good editing software and a trained professional to make it all work. So, when hiring a professional videographer you should expect them to use all the skills available to create a professional product for you. Keep in mind that the workflow needed for that product does not lend itself to the idea of supplying raw footage to the client.

Cinemagraph App For Windows Phone

The cinemagraph app or rather the windows version of cinemagram is a software that makes a modern version of the animated GIF. I have yet to see it function in the way that I would like to think it should. Maybe I am choosing the wrong subjects. As of this writing I have attempted my dog panting and my husband flipping through a book. Both instances masked odd areas and gave a disjointed feel to the subject. My dog's ears "magically" disconnected from her head. It looks odd and nowhere near as cool as the retro GIFs. Maybe this is an effect of the software and looks better if you can use cinemagram. The concept of this app is to capture both a still and video. Then it combines the two and masks a portion of the image so that only part of it moves. Cool until the dog's ears disconnect from her head. But also, in a way cheesy. Have you seen those lighted pictures in the Chinese restaurants? The ones where the water is the only thing that moves? That's what I think of when I try to make these. So far I'm not impressed and would rather craft them the old fashioned way.

New Phone Blues

I am posting for the first time from my phone. Up until now I have found it counterintuitive to post from my phone. You see, I tend to pride myself on not being completely in step with the rest of the first world. While everyone was getting iPhones I was drooling over the Palm Pre. It was quite the little phone too. Alas, HP nixed its splendor and I was left with a new decision. The iPhone is still out. I’m an artist I’m supposed to be a free thinker. If we all join the same cult we’re doomed. Besides, I place functionality above beauty. The Droid was my runner up. The hip and trendy device for those too cool for an ianything. Again not my style. If I were a true underdog picker I’d choose blackberry. But they’re for a different set of people and their fan base has all but jumped ship for the itrend. That left me with one very different solution. I think I’ll call it the ifighter. The windows phone with all of its accessibility features won me over. Now why am I writing about a phone on a video blog? I know that an idevice has been used to make video that showed places. So I’m sure that I could use my windows phone if I wanted, but I am more interested in it as a business device for social networking, expense tracking, email – all my business on the go needs. And really, most importantly, a phone. Over the next few months I will discuss this phone in more detail.

Computer Fun

If you hadn’t guessed I’m one of those people that enjoys doing things myself. A tinkerer. In fact I’m often asked if I’m a Mac person. I scoff, explaining that I’m a control freak and I want complete control of my machine. My husband and I have been building our own machines since we got married. We only bought one Mac and were burned, bad. We promptly returned to building our own. I love it; I plan every detail of the build so that I can get the most out of my machines. If only I could build my own laptop… The last two machines I did build I planned for upgrades so that the machines would last for several years. But the thing I didn’t plan for was flashing my bios. I’ve never done it. In fact I’ve always avoided it because of the fear that my beloved computer would be turned into a paperweight. Even after reading that Asus, my motherboard of choice, had ways of making it a safe endeavor, I remained hesitant. I finally caved today. I wanted to upgrade my CPU before they stopped making them, thus making me buy a whole new machine. My planning was brilliant, really. In 2006 I bought a custom build in the early years of the multi-core processors. We shall call this computer Yellow. Specs: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe, AMD Athlon X2 3800, 8 GB DDR2 6400 (upgraded from 1 GB at purchase), 1 GB Nvidia video card of whatever generic variety but with HDMI (upgraded from 512 at purchase and still with room to upgrade to two cards). I planned for the board to be upgradable in every way. Then in 2009

I built a second machine with a processor that could be used in the older machine (with a bios flash). (We shall call this computer Black. Specs: Asus M4N72-E, AMD Phenom II X2 550, 8 GB DDR2 6400 (upgraded from 4 GB at build and still with some room to upgrade), 1 GB ASUS ATI video card (with room to upgrade to 2 cards)). I drug my feet on upgrading Black to a six-core until I realized that I would not be able to upgrade much longer. This weekend I bit the bullet and bought an AMD Phenom II X6 1045T. I flashed the bios in Black first. Amazingly it ran better before I even put in the new chip. Then I flashed the Yellow. Error. Great, I couldn’t even get it to let me into the bios to step back. I shut down to try again and it wouldn’t start up. The green light on the board was out and it was not getting power. Great! I killed Yellow and I wasn’t quite ready to part with it. Then I realized that the power supply had died. It was probably starting to fail and the bios update just put an end to it. But should I buy a new power supply just to find out that the machine is gone? Well I’ll need the machine and so I’ll need a new power supply. I can’t get a COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 unit locally. I so like the open airflow, the expandability of the cords, the energy efficiency, and the long warranty. Yet I needed it now so I went with a Thermaltake TR-700 TR2 700 Watt, it has all but the modular cords. It worked. The bios error was from the dying power supply. Now I have a new CPU in Black and am going to install Yellow’s tomorrow. I forgot to buy CPU thermal paste compound. Yellow could only be upgraded if I could find a quad core that no one seems to carry anymore. But it is all good. My plan was not to use that computer forever, but to make it upgradable and therefore extend its life. At this point I have maxed out my ram and can only add dual video cards with better memory. When I do upgrade, this machine will become the perfect media center. For now I use an old hand me down that has been installed with Ubuntu (but this should be another post for another time).