Recent Posts

551

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 25, 2009, 08:57 PM »

MilesAhead, you likely already know this but I'll mention it anyways-- there is a HC .pdf in the HC miscellaneous sub-folder (though apparently not with the Oct. HC?) which provides info regarding parameters like bias, lumgain, adaptive quantization, etc.

From a logical point of view, I don't get why I should use a high bias value (say greater than 50) when performing a VBR encode. I think the free version of DVD-RB uses a value of 20--seems more logical to me. I searched a while back and saw iirc where jdobbs (DVD-RB developer) recommended a bias value of 20.

FYI when I remarked earlier about my "seriously screwy results" with the September HC 024, I was referring to something I'd never seen before--on the 2nd pass HC was dropping bitrate like crazy (15-20% less than the 1st pass) rendering significant undersizing. I'd never seen more than a 1-2% variation between passes before, so something? was very clearly wrong. My guess is that my experience was related to the new "deadzone quantization" parameter which is now adaptive with Oct. HC, but until I have time to run multiple trials that's all it is-- a guess.

552

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 25, 2009, 04:26 PM »

AVStoDVD updated.

-MilesAhead (October 25, 2009, 03:15 PM)

Cripes, both hank315 (HC encoder developer) and MrC (AVStoDVD developer) seem to have kicked it into high gear lately. Usually many months go by without any updates whatsoever, but now we have multiple updates in just the last couple months. Many thanks to these incredible guys! Only problem is I need more spare time to keep up.
 

553

General Software Discussion / Re: Cyclic Redundancy Error on CD/DVD

« Last post by sajman99 on October 25, 2009, 11:32 AM »

FWIW another media recovery option is CD Recovery Toolbox Free which trumpets its ability to recover info from any CD or DVD.

Mind you, I haven't had the time to test it extensively so I cannot say how it compares to more well-known tools like IsoBuster.

554

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free WinX DVD Author for download

« Last post by sajman99 on October 24, 2009, 12:28 AM »

@Shades: Thanks for the info, mate. I will rely on your experience and not even bother with the download.

@lanux128: Agreed, I'm getting very decent results with free tools like DVD Flick, FAVC, and AVStoDVD.

@MilesAhead: Holy crap, a new HC version. 

555

General Software Discussion / Re: Best free firewall for Windows?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 24, 2009, 12:16 AM »

The free version of Online Armor Personal Firewall suits my limited budget very well. OA offers excellent protection and solid customer support.

Hurry to their site before Oct. 31st for a 40% discount on their paid versions.

556

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free 1 Year Security Suite Subscription for your Windows 7 PC

« Last post by sajman99 on October 23, 2009, 03:50 PM »

+1 for a-squared anti-malware free 1 year license= 4 security offers

See this blog for details regarding the a-squared offer.

557

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free WinX DVD Author for download

« Last post by sajman99 on October 23, 2009, 01:58 PM »

Thanks- as usual, I'm a sucker for these giveaways despite the fact I'm usually disappointed and rarely keep 'em.

If somebody has time to check it out, please post your impressions.

558

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 23, 2009, 01:49 PM »

...It appears the September has enough of a speed advantage to make it worth the substitutions...

-MilesAhead (October 19, 2009, 07:48 PM)

MilesAhead, I see here at DC and at Doom9 you've been quite busy lately checking out new HC builds.   With the September beta I had significant undersizing but perhaps that issue has been fixed now.

For the next several weeks I will have very little spare time to check any new HC builds so please allow me to say thanks for sharing your encoding trials.

559

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: One year of IObit's malware protection for free

« Last post by sajman99 on October 19, 2009, 02:59 PM »

http://db.iobit.com/...n7-special-offer.php
Thanks for the notice, Shades. Seems the only advantage to the Pro version is auto-scanning and auto-updating.

With continued development, this program could become a serious contender in the war against malware. In additon to the malware protection, IObit Security 360 has a tools section which emulates HijackThis, SpywareBlaster, etc.

The Security Holes section is still in beta, and I get some questionable info regarding missing patches.

560

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 13, 2009, 05:52 PM »

@y0himba:
I agree DVD Flick is an amazing free tool, perhaps the easiest to use with its drag and drop interface. I just wish the developer still used the HC encoder like in early DVD Flick versions, but at some point he decided to switch to ffmpeg. 

@MilesAhead: No idea about QuEnc--HCenc is fast enough now so I haven't played around with QuEnc at all. On my dual core machine each pass took about 25 minutes encoding a 1 hour 45 minute DivX movie. So 50 minutes plus about another 15 minutes for additional muxing to generate a fully compliant DVD in 1 hour and 5 minutes. Amazing--older versions of HC were apparently much slower.

561

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 13, 2009, 04:19 PM »

Hmmmmm, I'm trying the 0.24 May beta in FAVC 1.07.  The speed of FAVC is seductive but it looks like AVStoDVD is better at producing a VIDEO_TS folder with at least 4 GB in it. It may be worth sacrificing a little speed if I get consistently good output.

-MilesAhead (October 12, 2009, 10:02 PM)

OK, hope you share more of your findings. I did the same DivX movie with 0.24 HC in FAVC and yielded decent results. On my dual core the speed difference was insignificant (maybe 1-3 minutes faster with FAVC), but AVStoDVD yielded a more precise output. I'm sure FAVC's custom disc size could be tweaked to avoid undersizing; it's just a matter of patience to run multiple trials and determine a consistent value.

Anyways, looks like I'll be using AVStoDVD as my first option now, but if FAVC gets updated...

562

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 12, 2009, 08:10 PM »

btw I'm curious.  Did you have to mess around with HCenc 0.24 to use it with AVStoDVD or just copy with name change?

-MilesAhead (October 12, 2009, 06:22 PM)

Simply rename the new HCenc_024.exe to HCenc.exe for use in AVStoDVD's HCenc folder. AFAIK the HC.ini is completely irrelevant as AVStoDVD seems to completely ignore it and implement its own values. For example, the program uses a bias value of 60 which seems too high to me, but whatever--as long as the target output is close and looks as fantastic as it does, I'm a happy camper.

btw--I do a 2-pass VBR on pretty much everything by overriding the "auto video setup"; those are just profiles/recommedations which can be ignored per preference.

563

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 12, 2009, 02:23 PM »

I'm going to mess around with a few conversions and see how it does...I'm starting to like this app. 

-MilesAhead (October 10, 2009, 04:06 PM)

I agree AVStoDVD has become a reliable freeware solution. I've just played around with the newest version for more hours than I care to admit, and I finally got excellent output with the HC encoder. I initially tried with the latest HC and got some seriously screwy results--very significant undersizing (and no idea why). In contrast, the earlier HC version from May rendered accurate output size and very nice visual results.

btw-- the HC encoder really has improved speed with the latest versions.

564

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by sajman99 on October 12, 2009, 01:53 PM »

Sheesh--60 hours? When Steve Gibson said (in that Security Now episode mentioned earlier) that MSE's full scan speed was slower than SpinRite, I just kinda figured he was exaggerating for effect (he loves to mention his software every chance he gets, anyways ). I mean, I ran SpinRite a few years ago for days on end.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, many folks will hear about this abysmal full scan speed and simply say...moving on.

565

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 10, 2009, 01:39 PM »

My results with ZC DVD Creator Platinum weren't very impressive. While it's a very simple one-click solution with impressive speed, there were very few customizable settings-- no encoder choices, profiles, etc. Presumably, you're supposed to sit back and trust this app to make all the critical decisions for you. Uh...in my case the output was seriously undersized resulting in noticeably sub-par video quality. Hope others had better luck with this--but I'm not keeping it.

566

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 08, 2009, 04:58 PM »

I just got this DVD Creator giveaway...

-MilesAhead (October 08, 2009, 04:02 PM)

Thanks for the notice. Any impressions on the software--particularly regarding their self-proclaimed "world-class video encoder"-- would be greatly appreciated.

567

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by sajman99 on October 06, 2009, 06:35 PM »

http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-216.htm
In Steve Gibson's Security Now podcast (with Leo Laporte) he takes a generally optimistic viewpoint on MSE. Among his comments he says... it's small and lightweight, it has thorough scanning which isn't prone to fps, it's as good as anything else he's seen, and he plans to recommend it to his friends.

While Gibson does acknowledge that MSE's full scan mode is very slow, he apparently sees that problem as a necessary byproduct of a thorough and effective scan. Patience is a virtue, it seems.

To me, reading the transcript was a bit like watching a movie trailer (ie. designed to evoke a "can't wait for it" type of feeling). Without a doubt, the Microsoft bandwagon is rolling--among the questions are "who's gonna jump aboard?" and "who's gonna get run over?".

568

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by sajman99 on October 06, 2009, 01:02 PM »

Before you install Microsoft Security Essentials, you should disable or uninstall other security-related programs.

from the mse site

That's the dead-end for me with windows security essentials.
What if MSE is a security threat?

-cmpm (October 06, 2009, 12:18 PM)

Microsoft has never annoyed me or given me any reason to distrust them before (he said with uncontrollable laughter). 

569

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm tired of being told.

« Last post by sajman99 on October 05, 2009, 10:47 AM »

Ouch. I think my jealousy impaired my brain function, mate.

570

General Software Discussion / Re: Any freeware alternatives to Faststone MaxView?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 05, 2009, 10:41 AM »

I think MaxView 2.2 is also still freeware.

-lothark (May 06, 2009, 08:16 AM)

Yes, I think you're correct. Although trying out all these neat apps is certainly fun, there is no reason you have to stop using MaxView because the last freeware version is still "out there".
http://www.321downlo...Freeware/page35.html
EDIT: Ah for use at work, you say. I got it, I got it...now where's my coffee?

571

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm tired of being told.

« Last post by sajman99 on October 04, 2009, 07:23 PM »

I've really liked a-squared (free version) for at least the last few years, but "holy crap" is exactly my reaction of late.

-sajman99 (October 04, 2009, 04:03 PM)

I wasn't too concerned. I'm lucky enough to have a 10 meg connection so I wasn't too inconvenienced by the download, but I think this is the first program I have ever downloaded where the updates were significantly larger than the initial download.

-Innuendo (October 04, 2009, 07:12 PM)

I wish I could brag about my incredible connection too, but 'nuff said about that. Likewise, I haven't encountered another security program (or any program as you say) that required such huge updates. Does anybody know if the update now includes the Ikarus AV updates as well. In the past, I think the malware sigs and the AV sigs were distinct downloads, but now I'm not sure. Regardless, "holy crap" remains my mantra because I'm unlucky enough to not have a 10 meg connection.

572

What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 04, 2009, 07:06 PM »

For free converters going to standard DVD I recommend HC encoder and Guis that use it, and DVD Flick.

-MilesAhead (October 03, 2009, 07:18 PM)

Couldn't agree more with that. DVD Flick for ease-of-use and acceptable quality (ffmpeg encoder) and FAVC, AVStoDVD, DVD-RB etc. with HC Encoder for best quality--all for $0.00.

573

General Software Discussion / Re: Returnil free home edition with 64 bit support

« Last post by sajman99 on October 04, 2009, 06:59 PM »

Thanks for the notice. I recall there was some considerable skepticism regarding Returnil's supposed 64-bit support (due to PatchGuard). Somebody please verify the 64-bit "claim" and let us know. I use Returnil (but an older version) all the time to test software.

574

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by sajman99 on October 04, 2009, 04:09 PM »

Bamse, all I meant with the comment about Innuendo's "standing" is that although his "email from a friend" is highly anecdotal evidence, I completely believe it and regard it as reliable info based upon his reputation here at DC. It's enough for me (I'm certainly not speaking for anybody else) to resist the software junkie urge to rush out and install Essentials since I am presently content with Avira AntiVir Personal.

I realize this is a judgment call, and others may wish to subpoena his email records or ransack his home. Just kidding, folks.

575

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm tired of being told.

« Last post by sajman99 on October 04, 2009, 04:03 PM »

I've really liked a-squared (free version) for at least the last few years, but "holy crap" is exactly my reaction of late. While I realize you're supposed to update often to avoid large sig packages, who can remember to do that? I have an irregular work schedule, and I always forget despite best intentions. Life is too darn short to spend all your time updating security apps.

Bamse, unfortunately you are correct about the false postives with a-squared. Still though-I've really like it until this update avalanche lately.