One such tool is DVRMSToolbox. Unlike other tools, it actually works on Windows 7, but it’s essentially a mish-mash of executables, with documentation for Windows Vista that’s hard to follow and to make matters worse, a web forum with loads of “me too, I can’t get this working either, please help” kind of replies instead of working solutions. I was able to get something working, though I could not figure how on earth to get it to work with .wtv files (it’s built for Vista which uses .dvr-ms files). Another issue I ran into is that it works on the recordings as they come in, which grinds the system down to a halt (even on a quad-core).

Fortunately, I was able to poke around and take a look at the package and figure out what’s going on, and how to write batch scripts to accomplish things, and wrote a nice batch file which I can trigger through the built-in Windows Scheduler at 4 am when I am sleeping and the system is idle:

@echo off
set mediafolder=%1
set wtvconverter=%systemdrive%\windows\ehome\wtvconverter.exe
set dvrmstool=%systemdrive%\Program Files (x86)\DVRMSToolbox\DVRMStoMPEG.exe

echo Usage: runcomskip.cmd [path/to/media/folder]
if mediafolder=="" goto:eof
for /r %mediafolder% %%a in (*.wtv) do call:do_conversion "%%a"
goto:eof

:do_conversion
rem do conversion here args = %~1 ...
set wtvfile=%~1
set dvrmsfile=%wtvfile%.dvr-ms
set mpegfile=%dvrmsfile%.mpeg
echo *** Begin processing file %~1 ***
echo Converting to dvr-ms %dvrmsfile%
%wtvconverter% "%wtvfile%" "%dvrmsfile%"
echo Running comskip and converting to mpeg %mpegfile%
"%dvrmstool%" /if="%dvrmsfile%" /of="%mpegfile%" /p=32 /act="converttompgwocommercials"
rem Rename the wtv file so we don't attempt to re-convert it if we run the script again.
rem I'll be changing this to delete the file when I'm sure my script works 100% of the time.
rename "%wtvfile%" "%wtvfile%.old"
echo *** End processing file %~1 ***

goto:eof

(to use, copy this into a text file and save it as runcomskip.cmd)

I’m using the WTV to DVR-MS converter that ships with Windows to convert the files to the older DVR-MS format. There are no tools (that I know of) that will work with WTV. Once the file has been converted, DVRMStoMPEG will run Comskip, a freeware tool included with DVRMSToolbox to find commercials in the video, and will output the stripped video to MPEG. I ouptut MPEG since it’s a lot  more portable than DVR-MS and WTV, and AFAIK there’s no transcoding involved, all it should be doing is changing the container. I’m a bit wary of deleting the original files just yet. I want to make sure that the tools work right before running it on my recordings. I rename it so that the same files don’t get processed twice. The next step is to find a good batch encoder for archival purposes before my 1 TB DVR disk fills up. Right now I’m thinking of writing a simple cmd line encoder using the Expression SDK.

The Device

The HTC HD7 is a nice phone overall. I love the size of the screen on it, and its slimness: it fits better in my pocket than my older, tiny-screen HTC Touch. The 5 MP camera is totally amazing, and the LEDs do a good job as a flash, or even as a flashlight. It would be nice if they’d have a Super AMOLED screen instead of an LCD. A few disappointments, however, it uses a micro-usb instead of a standard mini-usb to sync so I have to buy new cables, and I wish the battery could hold more power.

The Carrier

In the process, I switched from Sprint to T-Mobile because Sprint doesn’t yet have WP7 devices yet, and I’ve really had enough of my HTC Touch. I’m a quite disappointed at the coverage, and the data speed. Indeed, in spite of being practically non-existent outside North America, CDMA is a much, much better cell phone system!

WP7

Finally, let’s get to Windows Phone 7. Overall I think they’ve done a great job, and my assessment is that it’s at least the equivalent, or better than the iPhone, give or take a few features. And if the rumored “January update” is true (I don’t know, I don’t work on the WP7 team), WP7 really can kick some serious iPhone ass! Sure, I think Android is way ahead in the game, but if they keep a fast-paced update release schedule, and does a good job supporting developers as well as device makers, I think WP7 has lots of potential.

• The phone has a new UI. It works great after maybe 1-2 hours at the most of getting used to it. Perhaps a more complete setup wizard that does more than setup Hotmail would be nice.
• I like the way the facebook/outlook/contacts/hotmail/gmail contacts sync together in the people hub. They need to include Twitter, and Ideally have an API that social netwok sites themselves can maintain.
• It would be nice if calendar services like Google Calendar and Facebook’s events could also appear in the phone’s calendar.
• The folder list in Outlook e-mail gets the job done, but looks very, very, very bland.
• The marketplace is getting very crowded. That’s a good thing, but that will require at least organizing alphabetically.
• The lock screen and password input is really nice. If you’ve used Windows Mobile, you know what I mean!
• Internet Explorer sucks, but it’s way better than the one that shipped with Windows Mobile.
• No ability to map the address of a Facebook event, not even on the Facebook application.
• Bing search is quirky. Often, it will say Bing is not available after a long, long wait, even if I have a data and/or WiFi connection going on. If I try it a second later, the search results will show up quickly as expected.
• IE has Google search as default, due to the carrier customizing it. Why the hell do we allow this? BING is the proper search engine now :p

So, I Binged, Googled… nothing. So I started playing around, and I came up with something:

The live TV buffer is stored along with your TV recordings in the Recorded TV folder, which by default should be C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV. In that directory, there’s a hidden folder called TempRec\TempSBE. To see it, you must enable hidden folders. In that folder, there are a bunch of files with weird (GUID) file names with DBF extension. Use the date of the file to figure out which file is the one you want…

Copy that file somewhere else (you don’t want to muck with this folder-it’s probably hidden for a reason). Rename it with a WTV extension. Windows Media Player should be able to play it now. I tried with VLC and MPC, they both won’t play it. Using the built in converter to convert that file to DVRMS will also fail. I suspect this isn’t a true .WTV file and as such isn’t very portable.

Fortunately, you can use Microsoft Expression Encoder to make it into a WMV! Expression Encoder is the former Windows Media Encoder and the free version will do the job just fine. Once it installs, launch it, select “Transcoding Project”. Use File > Import and browse to the WTV file, set the desired WMV settings on the right pane, and when you’re done, select File > Encode.

You should now get the pause buffer in a nice small WMV file The default output location for Expression Encoder is “Expression\Expression Encoder” in your documents folder.

Again, I found this on my own, so of course this method is probably NOT supported by Microsoft.

So here’s the route to work:

bikeroute

So I made it, the only big surprise is how I was exhausted climbing the hill west of 405, and a strong southerly wind, which should both help me on the way back

I was reading some blogs and stumbled upon one that mentioned that 872 layoffs were coming in March. Intrigued by such an exact figure, I dug deeper.

There’s apparently a WARN act, which stands for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which obliges big companies to notify states, labor unions and cities of a big layoff coming. Turns out that Microsoft did file one of these which can be seen on the state’s web site.

The useful data from there is that there is to be 872 layoffs starting on March 23. So with January’s 1400 that would bring the total to 2272, with 2728 more to go. There are many other Seattle-area companies planning layoffs. Times are really bad…

So, here’s the three-part series:

Part 1 – The Interview With the Recruiter
Your first steps at Microsoft!

Part 2 – The Shuttle Ride
Update: Now they’ve gone green and drive Priuses…

Part 3 – The Famous Whiteboard Question
That’s what got us famous… :p

I am really excited to have found such a great job right after finishing school like that. It’s totally amazing. In the meantime, I’m actually taking it easy, getting some needed R&R after finishing school.

Well, this pretty much sums it up. Over the next months I should be planning my relocation to the Seattle area, so that should generate some interesting blog stories.

Not too long after my recruiting coordinator calls me to her office. She summarized how the day is going to work out for me, told me the teams I would be interviewing with that day, and with who my first interview will be with. She gave me an occasion to ask any questions that I may have and then asked me some questions, such as the famous “Why Microsoft?”. Then, she took me outside to the recruit shuttle and off I was to building 44.

After a quick shuttle ride, I enter the building, register with the receptionist, then sit down and wait. They have washrooms and water in the lobbies, though sometimes a little hidden, so you may have to ask. After awhile, my first interviewer came to pick me up to his office. We talked for awhile, then he gave me two simple programming questions, and then talked some more about me, the position and Microsoft. The second interview was lunch. The interviewer took me to lunch at the cafeteria, where we talked more about my projects, my education, etc.

The third interview was the most interesting one in my opinion. It began with questions about teamwork. The main question was how would I manage a situation where there’s a conflict over the way something should be done. Then, I was asked a whole bunch of questions on data structures (the interviewer used to be a data structures professor). I knew these fairly well Then the last question was a hypothetical three-dimensional database storage system (imagine a three-dimensional excel spreadsheet). What data structure would I use, how would things work, etc? So I throughly discussed pointer-based, array based solutions, thinking out loud, raising issues, then discussing how I would approach these.

At this point, I was really happy. I knew I did well, and I would proceed to the next interviewer. I waited long enough for that one, which was a step harder than the rest. I got two pointer-related/string questions, which I solved relatively well. I started getting a little bit worried that I might not make this one, since my interviewer was expecting me to zip through these faster than I did, but, I did get the last interview.

The last interview was where I was put on the spot to enumerate my areas of interest, something quite difficult for a recent graduate, since I have not had lots of time to deeply dive into something for several years. Then, I was asked a logic riddle: “M people are standing in line. At each pass, you eliminate every Nth person. Who will be the last one standing”. At first, I thought this was a simple math formula, but it became evident that I needed to work out an algorithm, so I sketched schemas and pseudocode on the board to visualize the problem, and described an algorithm, of course, with some steering of the interviewer.

Once that was over, the day was over. I chatted with the interviewer while waiting for the shuttle, then returned to the recruitment building, and then back to the hotel.

Some thoughts…

The interview experience itself at Microsoft is something quite valuable valuable. At this point, I was happy I made it through the day, which meant to me that whether I would be hired or not, I was at least worth their time, and that gave me confidence, that I would not only be getting a job, but a good job, somewhere.

To future interviewees, I’d tell them to feel confident. The fact that Microsoft has invited you for an interview means that they saw something in you they liked.

In this multi-part series, I will detail my interview process at Microsoft, following which, I got two offers from them, one was with the Operations and Services Management group and the other with Windows Terminal Services group. I have not made my choice yet at the time of this writing (flying back to Montreal at 10000 meters in the air), but I can assure you this is the most difficult part of the interview.

Also, I don’t intend to make this post a repository of Microsoft interview questions because all you have to do is google up a few keywords (there are a handful of sites listing these out – yeah, take a look at them). Also, merely knowing many interview questions won’t make you ace the interview, it will just make you look stupid when the interviewer will call you on a random problem he just thought of.

The reason for blogging it in installments is not to crave attention (personally I don’t quite like the kind of attention Digg provides). Rather, this story may get long, and I don’t want writing it to fall on the back burner. So, without further ado, here’s part one.

I guess by the time I finish writing this I will be back in Montreal. I just finished watching what I had of Heroes, and I’ve only got like 15 minutes of battery left.

I have submitted my CV to Microsoft several times over the last two years, once last year when they came over to CUSEC 2006, during last fall’s career fair at Concordia, and during Microsoft’s “meet the company” event hosted at Concordia last month. I had to skip geology class for that, but I really really don’t regret it.

Following the last event, I was called in the same night for an on-campus interview with a Microsoft employee the following morning. A couple of general questions, along with a whiteboard program. I didn’t think much of it: I had plenty of work to do around that time, it was in the morning, and I was totally unprepared.

About a week later, just before I finish school, I get invited to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond for a day of interviews in May. Since I have some friends there, I decided to make it a 1-week vacation (Microsoft pays for only 3 nights at the hotel)

So, I arrived in Seattle friday, that gave me a weekend before my interview to spend with my friends, so we went around on Saturday, then Kayaking/Picnic on Sunday. Monday was reserved for last-minute review (totally useless actually), moving into the hotel, and getting a good night’s sleep before the interview.

The interview morning, I go down to get breakfast and ask the front desk for a cab to Microsoft. I was actually quite surprised not to spot other candidates. The funny thing is that everybody around there knows that you are there for an MS interview, so they keep on asking you about it and try to put you at ease. Really nice people!

I promise, part 2 will detail the interview process! I should finish writing it over the next few days.