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1776

General Software Discussion / Re: Ripping My DVD Collection

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2012, 04:20 PM »

@superboyac:
The PC I use mainly, is an AMD64 3200+ single core that is 7 years old. The mainboard is an Asus K8N which is similar in age. Then it has a 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600 AGP videocard, a SATA2 320GB Seagate harddisk and 2Gigabyte of RAM...and guess what, it plays .mkv files just fine with a resolution of 1920x1080.

No hiccups whatsoever. I think it would be able to run Windows 7 (Aero-less) just fine as well. And I am planning to keep using it untill the hardware gods claim it for themselves.

-Shades (July 28, 2012, 03:54 PM)

That's very interesting.  I was going to start a thread last week about this issue.  I want to know, very exactly, what are the main factors in 1080p playback smoothness/responsiveness.  Is it the RAM?  GPU? CPU? And what are the most resource-intensive types of files to play back, because in building a system, you want that file to play very easily.  Over the years, I've found that mp4 is probably the most resource intensive, and after that it gets complicated because of all the formats, containers, etc.

Like, you can get a brand new laptop for $500 or less that seemingly has far more "specs" than SHades' old computer, and it won't really be able to play a 1080p video file in mp4 format.  Or an uncompressed 60GB mov file.  And I'm not just talking about simply playing it, that's just the first step.  Is the computer struggling with it?  Is it easy to seek back and forward?  Is it a decoder issues, sometimes there are third-party decoders that are better than others (coreavc comes to mind)?  How about solid-state drives vs. regular?

40, video stuff is very complex.  When I first started getting into it, I had no idea how difficult it would be to wrap my mind around these questions.  And it's become sort of a hobby of mine.  The end goal: I want to know how to build a desktop pc super cheap that can play the biggest files you can reasonably expect to throw at it.  I logically thought the GPU would be the main important piece, but it doesn't appear to be the case.  It would be a fun experiment to see on different hardware configurations how different files behave, and then make a matrix out of the results.  Then people would be able to really see which hardware components they would need for certain playback goals.

1777

General Software Discussion / Re: Ripping My DVD Collection

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2012, 12:28 PM »

Just out of curiosity, does anybody have a recommendation for what a very good (or hopefully best quality) procedure would be for ripping a commercial movie DVD for storage on a home media server to be played on a hi-def TV? I'm less concerned about file size than I am about picture and audio quality.

With audio files and media, I'm very comfortable with what I need to do. (In my case use EAC to rip to lossless FLAC for archive, and optionally "distill" down to MP3 if/when/as needed.)

But I'll be the first to admit I'm one step down from a total noob when it comes to video formats, containers, and codecs. And there seems to be a good deal of contradictory recommendations on how to best do things when I google the web.

So...anybody have a strong recommendation for what's optimal? It doesn't need to be product specific. As long as the "settings" are given I'm pretty sure I can figure out how to do them on whatever I end up using. (I generally do RTFM for most things if an FM is available.) And I'm also willing to try things out using different recommended products if I need to.

Any 'real world' feedback (or the title of a good book or a good website) would be greatly appreciated.

-40hz (July 27, 2012, 09:19 PM)

Makemkv:
http://makemkv.com/
one button solution.  Stick your dvd in, press the button, a couple of wizard nexts, and you're done.  Just be aware: there is no compression, no modifications at all.  fbi warnings are removed, advertisements are removed, you're just left with the movie in one mkv file.  Chapters, subtitles, and alternate audio streams are all maintained (beauty of the mkv format).

If that doesn't work, you'll have to consider the other more complicated options, of which I have recommendations also.  The only real issue with Make mkv is going to be file size and if you're computer is not powerful enough to handle the playback.  A bluray disc will become a 30-50GB mkv file, a dvd movie will become a 4-8GB file.  Any regular computer more that 3 years old will probably struggle with these.

1778

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for something close to Evernote Ver2.xx

« Last post by superboyac on July 24, 2012, 11:11 PM »

CintaNotes:
http://cintanotes.com/

It's pretty darn close.

1779

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 24, 2012, 07:20 PM »

So maybe the next video should be me exploring the different ways to install stuff.  I'd be interested in the one application that wasn't in the software manager, and then figuring out the different ways to get it to run.

1780

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 24, 2012, 05:31 PM »

Also, since I have some more time now, here's the two largest problems I believe stomped you:
1 - directories in unix are case sensitive ("Downloads" and not "downloads" )
2 - you were missing some dependencies. In particular, your distribution runs the Gnome^w window manager, and the program you tried to install needs KDE^w. This is a common problem, but had you used some package manager instead of installing from source and you wouldn't have this problem.

Also, there's a third way to install stuff (which is mostly painless) that you haven't tried (which is the one that is equivalent to installing stuff in Windows): downloading compiled binaries and installing them using a package manager ("apt-get" or "aptitude", for example). An example of this is Opera.

-jgpaiva (July 24, 2012, 04:56 PM)

Perhaps I'll have to explore these methods in the next video.  I want to learn how to install ANY Linux-comaptible program I come across into whatever distro I'm using.  I'm sure that means a fair amount of compiling and other stuff in the terminal, so that's the goal. 

1781

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 24, 2012, 02:53 PM »

^^Thanks 40, good stuff there.  I'll have to go through those eventually.  Maybe I'll do more videos like that showing me struggling through all this in real time!

PS: did you have anyone operating the camera or is it smart enough to follow you?

-jgpaiva (July 24, 2012, 09:54 AM)

It follows me automatically.  It's the new Logitech 920 webcam, I've really been digging it lately.

1782

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 24, 2012, 08:59 AM »

You can watch the screencast here:
http://minus.com/lbaph37Mp5JOcB

You can download it also.  It's about 29 minutes, 80 MB.  I go through attempting a command line installation on Linux Mint.  It's all done in real time, and it's my actual first time trying to do it.

1783

General Software Discussion / Re: Why Windows 8 Made Me Sell Microsoft (MSFT)

« Last post by superboyac on July 23, 2012, 01:16 PM »

^^Good sh--, 40.

1784

Living Room / 1080p playback: hardware discussion

« Last post by superboyac on July 23, 2012, 12:13 PM »

I'm about to purchase my new HTPC.  I was going to build it, but since it's only going to be used for watching media I don't really want to bother.  I've had a question about 1080p playback for a while that I'd like to discuss: which hardware components are most important for 1080p playback?  For example, if you had to give a percentage for each of the following items as far as how important it is to playing very large video files, what would it be?
--graphics card
--RAM
--CPU

I think those are the three guys to look at, right?  I don't know which is more important though.  Sometimes a new computer will choke on a 1080p mkv or mp4 file because it turns out that it has a cheapo graphics card.  i was thinking of using this ~$600 desktop as my new htpc:
http://www.newegg.co...Item=N82E16883229285

I know it's probably overkill, but with 1080p playback, I want it fast and smooth.  No struggling with it.  I want to throw a 50GB bluray rip mkv file at it and not have any problems.  I will build it with parts if necessary.  I don't want to buy a prefab htpc little box and have it be underpowered in any way.

1785

Living Room / esata vs. USB...fight!

« Last post by superboyac on July 22, 2012, 06:44 PM »

Now that USB 3.0 has arrived, I need to rekindle this battle of mine.  I want this discussion to be about the actual merits of each protocol, not the technical specs.  meaning, I don't care if usb 3.0 is technically capable of transferring 12 megabits per second, that's not what I'm after here.  I'm looking for people's actual experiences with these devices, in a practical way.  I think most of us are familiar with the technical merits of each device, that's not very interesting.  I mean, just to summarize: esata is not very common, but is the same technology used on hard drives.  usb is extremely common, usb 3.0 is backwards compatible, it's still new, not all motherboards support it, blah blah...

Now, I've been fortunate enough to get one of those new Sony Vaio Z laptops which does have a legit usb 3.0 connection.  The same USB 3.0 port also has a very clever customized by Sony Light Peak built into it, that is used with it's special docking system.  It's probably the only light peak/USB connector currently available on a commercial product right now.  I also got that really great HD enclosure by Dat Optics, that has esata and usb 3.0 connectors on it.  So I'm all set up to run all sorts of experiements.

eSATA:
I am personally a big fan of esata.  Why?  Reliability.  Unlike USB, normal use of esata gets really top notch speeds.  i don't know the numbers exactly, but it's faster than any other connection I've ever used.  And it's not flaky.  It works if other things are attached to the computer.  I like the physical connector also compared to usb.  It seems to be far more reliable than USB.  By reliable, I mean it's always going fast and during long transfers it doesn't dip down and up in speed.

USB 3.0:
I've now used usb 3.0 on the laptop and also with the HD enclosure.  Very flaky.  USB has always been a flaky experience for me, ever since the beginning.  I don't know why...perhaps drivers, hardware compatibilities, whatever.  No version of USB was even close to as fast as the speeds that they advertise on the boxes and specs.  We're now at usb 3.0, and it's actual experienced output could now possibly be as fast as what usb 2.0 promised in the specs?  So silly.  And again, I don't care what the reason is, that's what it is.  I'm just trying to cut through all the usb BS specs.

Also, can we talk about mega-BYTES, and not mega-bits?  megabits is some BS the hardware manufacturers picked up on long ago to inflate the numbers they get to plaster on all their boxes and ads.  Nobody thinks in terms of bits unless they are a modem engineer.  It's bytes folks.  But then they wouldn't be able to confuse people.

Anyway, so at one point I was getting 70-90 MBps on the laptop's usb 3.0 connection.  But when I used it on the light peak dock's usb 3.0 port, it went down to usb 2 speeds, like 30MBps.  So last week I spent 3 hours on the phone with Sony trying all sorts of stuff (I got elevated to level 5!  that's like calling in the general!).  We're going to continue next week, it's still not solved.  But as usual, the usb connection is as flaky as ever.

It's fine for non-essential activities, like transferring things to a thumbdrive, or using an external drive here and there, or the other peripheral devices.  It's a remarkable innovation for that stuff.  But for sustained file transfer operations and long term reliability and usage, I don't like it.  I use esata for that or anything else for that matter: IDE, pcie, sas, etc.  For some reason, all those are more reliable than usb.

That's it, rant over.  That's how I feel about esata and usb.  If anyone wants me to try out some stuff regarding usb 3.0, esata, or light peak, I'd be more than happy.

1786

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 21, 2012, 01:35 AM »

Hey!  I did the screencast!  It's rendering right now, it's about 28 minutes long.  I won't give away the ending, so that's all I'm gonna say.

1787

General Software Discussion / Re: SilverStripe - Easy to use open source CMS + Framework

« Last post by superboyac on July 20, 2012, 05:23 PM »

@nudone - make things easy for yourself. Just download a copy of AMPPS to use as your development environment. You can install Silverstripe (and about 270 other web apps) from inside AMPPS. AMPPS has them all scripted. It's click, answer a few questions, and go for most of the webapps in its catalog.

It's all free too.

Check out the two demo videos here.

Cool tool! 

-40hz (July 20, 2012, 01:45 PM)

I've been meaning to try this on my new webhost.  Just one question: it seems to be a one-off service.  As in, I use AMPPS to install silverstripe, and then I never use it again?  Do you use AMPPS again after setting up the initial website?

-superboyac (July 20, 2012, 03:57 PM)

Yes. It's your WAMP stack. You can also uninstall webapps using it. If you already have a webhost set up I'm not sure this is what you're looking for. I also don't know if you can use it with a hosting site. AFAICT it's designed to be your own Windows webserver.

To just install the scripts you'd use the Softaculous Auto Installer part which is either free or $12/$24 annually. But it's designed to replace something like Fantastico or cPanel. So I think you'd either need your host to install it, or you'd need to have a dedicated or virtual server that you have full administrative access to. (Note: you also need to have cPanel already installed on your server before you can  install Softaculous if I understand it correctly.)

Might want to contact them directly ([email protected]) if you want it to go on a server you can't sit down next to. I only use it to evaluate and experiment with - although you could do a test site and then migrate the directories over to a live site once you were happy with it. Some people are using it that way.

 

-40hz (July 20, 2012, 04:39 PM)

I see, thanks.  Then I don't think it's the tool for me.  Inmotion is really great with this kind of thing either with a call or event heir online help is awesome.  But it's something to consider for real independent type of work.

1788

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 20, 2012, 04:36 PM »

wanna see me on cam

-40hz (July 20, 2012, 04:21 PM)

??  I'm not getting this reference.  I just googled it and i still don't get it.  no big deal, doesn't sound terribly interesting anyway.

1789

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 20, 2012, 04:02 PM »

Ok folks!  I have the new Linux Mint 13 running on my vmware beautifully.  I have yawcam set up so you can see me.  I have the audio setup, although I'm going to have to use headphone/mic setup because this is the same computer i do my hardcore recording stuff on (particulars of the setup).  I need to install the screencast software, which is easy. I'll be rather busy this weekend with personal things, so maybe I'll be able to record everything next week.

mouser: can I have the resulting video hosted here directly, like your software screencasts?  I don't want to put it on youtube, I've been angry at them lately.  And it's likely to be a long and large video file.

This will be funny...I have zero idea what I'm doing.  If it's not a button and a wizard, it's going to get real comical real fast.

also, I can't promise there will be nor cursing.  I'll try to keep it under control, but it is a pastime I really enjoy.

1790

General Software Discussion / Re: SilverStripe - Easy to use open source CMS + Framework

« Last post by superboyac on July 20, 2012, 03:57 PM »

@nudone - make things easy for yourself. Just download a copy of AMPPS to use as your development environment. You can install Silverstripe (and about 270 other web apps) from inside AMPPS. AMPPS has them all scripted. It's click, answer a few questions, and go for most of the webapps in its catalog.

It's all free too.

Check out the two demo videos here.

Cool tool! 

-40hz (July 20, 2012, 01:45 PM)

I've been meaning to try this on my new webhost.  Just one question: it seems to be a one-off service.  As in, I use AMPPS to install silverstripe, and then I never use it again?  Do you use AMPPS again after setting up the initial website?

1791

Living Room / Re: Need Critique On This Image

« Last post by superboyac on July 20, 2012, 03:24 PM »

 
That was beautiful, man.

1792

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 19, 2012, 09:11 PM »

This thread certainly has taken a funny turn!
superboyac: I'm looking forward to that screencast. I'm actually curious about how complicated that can get. Have you selected the program yet? That makes all the difference, I guess (especially if you select one that isn't in the repositories). I suggest something simple such as rythmbox (if that's installed already, then try banshee). Then maybe you can try something that is not in the repositories, such as Opera. I'm pretty sure you'll be surprised how the first one is so simple, and YMMV for the second one

app: actually that's a good question, can linux's taskbar be that scary?  I don't think it can get that large (why would anyone want it like that?  ), but I may be wrong.

-jgpaiva (July 19, 2012, 07:17 PM)

No I haven't picked a program.  I'm going to do it all in realtime, everything.  Just so everyone can see how easy or difficult it will be for me.  I was just playing with yawcam, a free webcam software.  Very nice!

1793

Living Room / Re: Need Critique On This Image

« Last post by superboyac on July 19, 2012, 05:58 PM »

I feel like something more interesting can be happening in that relatively blank upper-right corner.


My other comment is that there is a lot of texture going on in a small amount of space.  Perhaps it would be better to fine-tune the texture so the main essence of it is immediately felt with less texture.

1794

Living Room / Re: Need Critique On This Image

« Last post by superboyac on July 19, 2012, 05:46 PM »

I think it looks great!  A mix of nature and fantasy art.

1795

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Ad Muncher - half off

« Last post by superboyac on July 19, 2012, 05:27 PM »

I love this program.  I'll probably get a spare lifetime license or two at this price.

1796

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 19, 2012, 05:24 PM »

Ok...one more thing I'm going to do in the spirit of experimentation, I'm going to do one command line install on linux mint this weekend.  That's all, carry on everyone!
[edit] actually, this will be more fun.  I'll try to do a screencast of it and post it so we can all see how i like to overcomplicate things.

1797

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 19, 2012, 04:33 PM »

* wraith808 munches popcorn and watches the train quickly derail

Can we make it go down in flames?  I want some roasted marshmallows to go with my popcorn...

-wraith808 (July 19, 2012, 04:20 PM)

1798

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 19, 2012, 03:07 PM »

I am not a part of "the Linux community".

"The Linux community" mainly consists of "I am too stupid to make my Windows work right" Dumbuntu/openSUSE users. I don't want to be a part of that. After all, if I want UNIX, I'll always choose BSD.

-Tuxman (July 19, 2012, 11:29 AM)

I've actually never heard of it that way!  It's usually the Linux people saying that about Windows.  Good stuff.

1799

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 19, 2012, 12:31 AM »

Do anything well enough and it all starts to seem like music to me.

-40hz (July 18, 2012, 11:29 PM)

Gold!

1800

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by superboyac on July 18, 2012, 09:38 PM »

Truthfully, I'm a little envious of the Linux users.  because like you said, there is so much flexibility with the command line.  You don't have to go to mouser or whatever to request every little feature!

For me it's a decision I've made to not dive into something that is not going to be a major part of my life.  And Linux is not in my plans right now.  I'm even avoiding learning any more nonsense career stuff at this point.  I'm in a sense saving my brain for music.  I only want music "memorized" if I can help it.  I can deal with most other things as they come up, you know?  Like Oscar Peterson said when he was asked why he didn't try his hand at other instruments..."I have a hard enough time trying to play this thing! [the piano]"