Messages

201

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is The Bat! e-mail app better than Mozilla Thunderbird (or other e-mail app)

« on: June 07, 2007, 04:20 AM »

LOL, I feel better that so so many other people didn't know of that hotkey... Wish I found out before full-on switching to Thunderbird, after using it for only about 1 week. I've moved e-mail accounts to TB Thunderbird that I never moved to TheBat!, even after more than a year of use.

202

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking to do high quality video conversion "the easy way"

« on: June 06, 2007, 03:31 PM »

I gave Gordian Knot a try...

-Hirudin (June 04, 2007, 12:24 PM)

Gordian Knot gives you 100% access to all the options a codec offers. :-)

See the three guides here: http://www.doom9.org/xvid-guides.htm

Gordian Knot is already a bit dated because all development went into AutoGK
...

-wr975 (June 06, 2007, 04:30 AM)

Ohhh... I see, I guess I was thinking AutoGK and Gordian Knot were the same thing, I actually tried AutoGK. I'll have to go give Gordian Knot (ManualGK as it were) a try.

DVD Plat looks like a good DVD compressing program, but it looks too DVD centric to me. Another one to check out is DVD RB Pro's mobile output:

203

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting from FLV to AVI

« on: June 06, 2007, 03:20 AM »

Last I saw; GSpot is a little program that will try to identify what codecs are inside video files. Since AVIs are containers, the file extension has little to do with what is actually needed to decode the file.

Using GSpot on a file that isn't working (or something) might help in finding a codec so you can watch it.

204

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting from FLV to AVI

« on: June 05, 2007, 11:14 PM »

You may find it interesting that the BaylieBrown video thumbnail on the far left, actually is a flash .FLV file! It was renamed to .avi, but not converted. A flash file should not display a thumbnail image, but renaming it to avi obviously makes this one do so anyway.

-Curt (June 05, 2007, 01:59 PM)

LOL, that's hilarious!

Does the AndyMckee Africa.FLV file display a thumbnail if you rename it to AVI? I mean, clearly the converted FLV doesn't, but does the same file, renamed, somehow work?

205

General Software Discussion / Re: Share Usb Devices

« on: June 05, 2007, 11:36 AM »

I get the impression Vista Business and Ultimate will let you share scanners just like printers, but I haven't tried it yet. I took my scanner apart, and for one reason or another it only worked once after I put it back together (I actually think it's a software problem though). Anyway, I can definitely see the point of a networked scanner...
1. Wait for the scanner... Scanning a full image in high resolution takes a long ass time. It you were able to use the scanner software you could do a test scan, find the area where you want detail so you only take the time to scan that.
2. Wait for the network... High resolution images are quite large, transferring them over a network could get annoying
3. No switching programs... Sometimes you don't want the scanned image for long, File > Import > TWAIN from within your graphics program is a lot more convenient than browsing to a folder and opening an image.
4. Obviously 2 computers that are next to eachother, with equal access to a shared scanner makes a lot of sense. I personally like to get my documents as close to square before scanning them which takes a lot of adjusting. If you had to do a full scan before every adjustment it would take many times longer.

I'm with Carol here, if all you need is "a scanner" than go for a cheap one. I used to have a Visioneer 9020, cost me something like $100 IIRC. By the time I bought my current scanner I could have bought it for like $20. My current scanner was $250 retail (Epson Perfection 4490) I didn't pay that much though. I think I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference in scan quality. But, if you need a large bed, or better negative scanning, you gotta get what you gotta get.


I wonder if a USB KVM switch (~$30) would work?
Or something like this thing

206

General Software Discussion / Re: Quick search text box for Windows Explorer [XP]

« on: June 05, 2007, 11:08 AM »

DirectoryOpus almost has the feature it looks like you're looking for. It doesn't seem to search within folders though. If you start typing it'll highlight the first matching file name. Actually, come to think of it, this is the same as explorer except they make a "Find" box pop up...



Maybe with some gentle persuasion they'd implement recursive search.

Hmmm... maybe a toolbar button could be (or has been) created that would allow a firefox-like search field... I bet someone on the Dopus forum would know.

207

Living Room / Re: The Truth About Lying and Laughing

« on: June 05, 2007, 02:37 AM »

Very fascinating article; Thanks!

208

General Software Discussion / Re: Quick search text box for Windows Explorer [XP]

« on: June 04, 2007, 10:09 PM »

I may have missed what you need, but if you hit "Ctrl+F" in an explorer window it'll initiate a search in the current folder.

209

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking to do high quality video conversion "the easy way"

« on: June 04, 2007, 06:13 PM »

Looks like you're forced to create image files with ImgBurn (which makes sense).

-Hirudin (June 04, 2007, 12:15 PM)

I had thought the same thing too for a while, but in fact when in the build mode you can set a writeable cd or dvd as a target device allowing you to skip the intermediate iso stage if you wish.

-Eóin (June 04, 2007, 05:10 PM)

I meant while ripping DVDs, looks like you have to make an image. Since I almost always process the DVD contents before burning I prefer to use the actual DVD files.

That Build mode works great as well! It was also a recent find for me.

210

General Software Discussion / Seadragon:AWESOME photo viewing & Photosynth:AWESOME community photo processing

« on: June 04, 2007, 01:45 PM »

This video blew my mind! I actually think Seadragon looks more useful, but Photosynth is just amazing!

Seadragon



Photosynth


Watch the whole video

By the way, I found this on Geekologie; probably a website we can all enjoy!

211

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking to do high quality video conversion "the easy way"

« on: June 04, 2007, 12:24 PM »

I gave Gordian Knot AutoGK a try last night, seemed to create a decent video. Very automated, but I didn't see many options... (I even tried right clicking on the program!). I have a suspicion maybe I have to change the options in the Xvid program, or in some .ini somewhere though.

Unlike some people, I'm not happy just letting a program "do it's thing" when I know there's a ton of options to be had. For instance live TV shows probably need different options than cartoons to create the highest quality video.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Looking to do high quality video conversion "the easy way"

« on: June 04, 2007, 12:15 PM »

Yeah, ImgBurn is awesome, I love it as a burner!

Looks like you're forced to create image files with ImgBurn (which makes sense). With AnyDVD you can just drag the DVD contents to a local folder. I find the DVD files (VOBs and whatnot) work in pretty much any DVD software while images sometimes cause problems.

I've been using DVDShrink to extract the individual episodes out of a DVD. Works very well, is easy, and free!

213

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting from FLV to AVI

« on: June 04, 2007, 12:07 PM »

I will relegate my off topic comments to spoilers

OK, I get it.

214

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting from FLV to AVI

« on: June 04, 2007, 03:34 AM »

I will relegate my off topic comments to spoilers

well, given the fact that this thread's title and the 1st product mentioned involves FLV, it's natural for responders to give pointers on FLV. anyway, good for you that you have decided to start a new thread..

-lanux128 (June 04, 2007, 02:31 AM)

Thank you for the kudos!

....AVI format...

-Curt (June 03, 2007, 05:38 PM)

PLEASE Curt: This is an FLV thread only! Please address non-FLV relateded comments Elsewhere

215

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking to do high quality video conversion "the easy way"

« on: June 04, 2007, 03:00 AM »

SUPER is a program I only became aware of from people talking about it here. I've found it to be excellent, it does almost everything you could need and I think it should meet your requirements.

-Eóin (June 03, 2007, 03:21 PM)

Eóin, take a look here before suggesting SUPER.. or Hirudin might bite your head off..

-lanux128 (June 04, 2007, 02:45 AM)

Yeah... And don't even THINK of mentioning FLV! Also, don't stray from the message and point of the original post. Consider it your GOD while you're here.

216

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking to do high quality video conversion "the easy way"

« on: June 04, 2007, 01:53 AM »

If you have ripped them using AnyDVD or DVDDecryptor, use AutoGK to encode them to 700MB Divx or Xvid.

http://www.autogk.me.uk/

-imtrobin (June 03, 2007, 11:11 PM)

Oh yeah! I remember hearing quite a bit about this back in the day,  I seem to remember it being just about as close to 'automated' as you could get at the time. But for one reason or another I didn't use it very much, or at all. I'm not sure why though, maybe I didn't have the system specs, maybe the download was too big, maybe it was too expensive (I'm only guessing, it's possible it's always been free), etc. BUT I think it's high time for another try! Thanks imtrobin! I'll report back...

217

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking to do high quality video conversion "the easy way"

« on: June 03, 2007, 10:31 PM »

I gave SUPER a quick try, I don't want to get into it but I didn't like the application and it didn't seem to work at all ta-boot. I'm on Vista 64, I figure SUPER doesn't like it...

It almost seemed like what I am looking for though...

218

General Software Discussion / Re: Semi-Automated file naming

« on: June 03, 2007, 03:11 PM »

A couple ideas:
You can use a form filler, like KeePass. Make a bunch of entries for the Save dialog window that you can use like templates. Make a new entry for each different type you want to have and name them accordingly.
"Complete Book Thesis" could auto-type: "CB-Th-Auth Name. Date. Doc-name"
"Partial Book Editorial" could auto-type: "PB-Ed-Auth Name. Date. Doc-name"
etc.
Then after it auto fills the template format you could manually go in and change the author's name, date, and whatnot.

You may also be able to make an AutoHotkey Auto-Replace script that would fill in the formatting for you. (I suppose this could save some time, but it seems that in the end you wouldn't save many keystrokes.) This would be better if you actually wanted to type "CB" but have the phrase "Complete Book" be transcribed.

219

General Software Discussion / Looking to do high quality video conversion

« on: June 03, 2007, 11:46 AM »

I've done it the hard way, it sucks, but you get high quality files. I actually wrote a tutorial type thing a few years ago for a flash class I was taking. Here it is if you wanna check it out DVD to Xvid.

Are there any programs out there that will let me take DVD content, manipulate it with AVISynth, convert the audio with LAME (-alt preset standard), and spit it out as an Xvid AVI (or even better MKV?). Something that'll convert the chapters, multiple audio streams, and subtitles to MKV would be good too! Maybe even be worth spending some money on.

Right now, here's the short version of what I do to convert an episode DVD (like a season disc of The Simpsons) to AVI...
0. use AnyDVD to decrypt my DVD 1. Rip the episodes out individually with DVDShrink 2. Use DVD2AVI to create a .d2v file that AVISynth can recognize 3. Use AVISynth to manipulate the video (deinterlace, decimate, run filters, crop, whatever) 4. Then put it into VirtualDUB to convert the video to Xvid (using 2 pass VBR) 5. Somewhere in there I also extract the audio 6. convert it to a wav, or normalize it in BeeSweet 7. If I'm going to use MP3 audio; use RazerLAME to make a VBR MP3 8. Use NanDUB to mux the audio and video into an AVI 8b. I might also use some other program to create an MKV with the DVD-like features (subs, multiple audio)

It's a little hard to keep track of, and quite time consuming, but you get good videos in the end.

Just to be clear, I'm not ONLY trying to use DVD a/v as the source, I just think that it's probably the most difficult and therefor anything that can handle DVDs can probably also handle MPGs, AVIs, and yes, even FLVs. For instance, I'd like to take the MKVs that I've already made and transcode them down into 320x240 Xvid AVI files for my Zen Vision:M, and probably some WMV files for a buddy of mine with a Zune.

[edit]I removed the phrase "the easy way" from the subject of this thread[/edit]

220

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting from FLV to AVI

« on: June 03, 2007, 11:18 AM »

I will relegate my off topic comments to spoilers

Thanks guys, I saw the links. I don't have FLVs though. I'm looking for a general video converter, I have little interest in web videos. I'm not willing to download and install "Riva FLV Encoder" in the hopes that it'll do other formats as well. To me, it looks like Riva has software that might do what I want, but it's shareware, which makes me want to look elsewhere.

I'll start a new topic without "FLV" in the title to be less confusing .

221

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting from FLV to AVI

« on: June 03, 2007, 12:32 AM »

I will relegate my off topic comments to spoilers

I've been thinking that may be especially true for video encoding, since there's SO many source formats, SO many video codecs, and SO many audio codecs... It's hard enough finding a dedicated MP3 encoder that will let me use LAME with custom arguments only, much less expect a video encoder to do it. It would be quite a feet to get all the options from all the popular A/V codecs into a single GUI, and still be user friendly, keep current with the new advancements, and actually work too.

I haven't tried the Riva encoder yet... I'm hesitant to get a shareware encoder since I can do it with free apps already. I'll grab the demo tomorrow though.

222

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting from FLV to AVI

« on: June 02, 2007, 10:09 PM »

I will relegate my off topic comments to spoilers

Yeah... I'm pretty sure that's how I did it... Maybe I'll have to install it again after all. I'm using Vista 64 ( &  ), that's likely to have something to do with it...

223

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting from FLV to AVI

« on: June 02, 2007, 04:02 PM »

I will relegate my off topic comments to spoilers

"A honest try", you say. Hmmm. Did you find the options?

Right-click anywhere in the program. No tooltips, if not wanted.

-Curt (June 02, 2007, 03:34 PM)

I probably would have looked at the options, but since the program disappeared when I hit the Encode button I figured looking at the options would be a waste of time. Unless of course there's a "Prevent Encode button from closing program" check box somewhere.

224

N.A.N.Y. Challenge 2007 / Re: SelectoSurf v1.0.2 - Dec 25,2006 - AutoHotkey Script for Plaintext URLs, etc.

« on: June 02, 2007, 03:44 PM »

i

is there an ahk option to not show an icon?

-mouser (January 01, 2007, 02:13 PM)

#NoTrayIcon

-TucknDar (January 01, 2007, 02:37 PM)

Hmm.. yeah but is there an easier way to do it?

-mouser (January 01, 2007, 02:39 PM)

HAHAH!!!

225

General Software Discussion / Re: Converting from FLV to AVI

« on: June 02, 2007, 02:53 PM »

I will relegate my off topic comments to spoilers

Well, I gave SUPER an honest try. Very poorly made UI, very un-user-friendly. I like tooltips and all, but I don't need them to pup up instantly every time I let my mouse stop for a split second.

Also, after trying to encode my first video the program just disappeared, no error, no nothing. It was as if I hit the X. That's enough for me.

I've used the AVISynth, NanDub, etc., etc, method a bunch, but I've found that I need to re-learn the process every time I haven't converted any videos for a while. I made a lil' tutorial thing which has helped me a number of times, check it out if you want... DVD to Xvid
It's pretty old (late '03 or older), don't follow it to the letter...

Anyone know of any 'tweaker' software for converting videos? I like tons of options, but am tired of using 6 different programs!