Recent Posts

5926

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Buzz Folders - Open/Save Dialog Box Extender ( + Free Version )

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 07, 2010, 07:57 PM »

Nice to see some stuff done in AutoIt3.   

I'm just trying out the free version now.  One thing I do notice, if you click on Remove Missing Links before you've done anything with the program, it pops up an error message(mentions AutoIt3 in the MsgBox.)

I tried it after doing a couple of saves and it popped up a progress bar. I guess it doesn't like to be run dry.  If I had to make a wild guess I'd look for an array that's checked for the number of entries but hasn't yet been dimed since it prolly gets initialized in the open/save dialog calls.  That used to always burn me with _Singleton()

Looks interesting though.  I'll try it out for a bit.

5927

Living Room / Re: More ammunition why patents are EVIL

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 07, 2010, 04:08 PM »

At some point the insanity really needs to end. But when will that be?

I still want to patent breathing...

-Renegade (July 07, 2010, 07:20 AM)

Reminds me of a stand-up routine I saw. I can't remember the name of the comic.  But the premise was, imagine if they charged for air like they do for water and electric... "I'd be standing on the street corner gasping..  hey buddy, I'm a month behind.. wheez wheez, on my air payment... got any spare change so I can catch my breath?"

5928

Living Room / Re: More ammunition why patents are EVIL

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 06, 2010, 05:45 PM »

I knew a guy who was a welder.  He paid an attorney to attempt to patent welding bicycle hand brakes onto wheel chairs.  Apparently other than those stupid lever things that wedge the wheel, and a "parking brake" with 106 moving parts that engages when the person gets out of the chair, there's no brakes that can be applied.  His idea was that the person wheeling the patient should have hand brakes on the chair handles to slow down going down ramps etc..

I suggested he just open a side business welding the things on instead of trying to patent it.  But he didn't want anyone to steal his idea!!!

5929

Living Room / Re: Question about video codecs/containers and playback differences.

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 06, 2010, 05:29 PM »

It's only the stand-alone player that has the limitation on .avi playback resolution.  I have Philips upscaling .divx Ultra certified DVD players.  They can play back both NTSC and PAL format.  For that reason, they must have limited the resolution to 720x576.  So if you have a 720P .avi you are out of luck.  I was in the ridiculous position of downsizing .avi files so that I could then put them in my upscaling player.

That's one of the reasons I bought WD set top box. It can play 720P and 1080P .avi files.  The main problem with .divx on it, it doesn't know anything about xsubs.  So even though I have embedded xsubs added with AviAddXSubs, I have to include an .srt file if I want subs.  You can have the .srt as a stream in the video file for .mkv but it can be set to automatically load external .srt files so it's just easier to include them that way.  Plus the more streams you have in the file the greater the chances for going out of sync.  Biggest pain of WD player is often if you have .srt subs you can't even use Stop without risking the subs going out of sync. All you can use is Pause.
That, and processing speed is why I'm hoping jdobbs will update BD Rebuilder so I can just burn in the subs and not have to worry about timing and all the rest of it. Once they are burned in they can't go out of sync.

The nicest part of my setup is I have USB 3.0 docks on my PCs and a USB 2.0 dock connected to the WD player.  Although I don't have network support it's not so bad as I can just pull out a HD from one of the USB 3.0 docks and insert it into the USB 2.0 dock next to the set top box.  Pretty convenient that way. Plus by using BD Rebuilder or Quick AVI Creator I can fit a lot more movies on a HD.

In fact I just ordered a WD Caviar Black 1 TB 6 Gb/sec HD to store more flicks. This latest generation of WD drives are nice!! I have a 640 GB version of the same drive. I can read from it with USB 3.0 @138 MB/sec.  This TB drive has the same spec.

5930

Living Room / Re: Question about video codecs/containers and playback differences.

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 06, 2010, 01:33 PM »

For mkv playback, the new VLC player has improved somewhat. It now has support for PGS subs, the kind that are in BluRay movies.  Also this surprised me. It can now display xsubs in .divx files. The kind you add with AviAddXSubs.  Before that the only player that could display them afaik was DivxPlayer, which is not smooth.

If you don't have to worry about subtitles the best playback on the PC I've found for .mkv is Splash Lite.  Even the new VLC will stutter and pause when you move the slider.  Splash goes right to the spot in the movie.  Also it supports video hw acceleration depending on your video card.

The biggest weakness in stand-alone .avi/.divx players is they are limited to standard DVD resolution.  You couldn't play HD avi or divx files.  But the new Divx Plus they are coming out with is all .mkv now.  The .mkv is going to be the new wave.  Looks like they will support HD .mkv and .avi/.divx and probably .mp4 on the new Divx Plus players.

Set top box seems the most versatile. I have WD HDTV player for USB.  The main hassle for me is subtitle support.  But it plays a variety of HD format files.. .avi .mkv .divx .mp4 and they look good.  Eventually they should support PGS and a lot more subtitle formats.  Unfortunately I have the 1st generation of the player so there will be no more firmware updates afaik. If you get the "live" player with the networking support you'll probably have the most options and they will keep updating it.  Gen1 is hosed.  I have to live with it as it is. It does have its good points though. It supports USB 2.0 docking stations without doing anything. Just leave the dock plugged in and swap hard drives to change the movies.

5931

General Software Discussion / Re: File Managers! Windows Explorer replacement! Come one, come all...

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 04, 2010, 05:52 PM »

I have a license for several file managers, but the one I keep actually using besides Explorer is Q-Dir (the Unicode version). Now at version 4.28

Read: http://www.softwareo...seite=Freeware/Q-Dir
Get: http://www.softwareo....com/?Download=Q-Dir

Steady as a rock, and with this oh so useful "Quadruped-View" window ;-)

-Curt (June 24, 2010, 05:43 PM)

For awhile I kept trying this one.  Looks like the author tries to perfect it. But it seems like every time I try to do something while something else is happening, the window goes white and it stop responding(well, not "every time" but a high enough percentage that I gave up on it.)

I like the idea of it.  Just seems like the threading is too fragile.

edit: this may be exacerbated by large files.  I tend to move around multi-GB files. If all the drag & drop are trivial files then it handles it. It just seems like once you put a load on it by having a long file copy in the background, it can't deal with it unless you just leave it sit 'til completion.

5932

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommend disk imaging software?

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 04, 2010, 05:40 PM »

@cmpm the Linux CD should work is most cases.  Here's a few links that may be helpful.  btw the macrium forum seems to have changed registration to pain users only. I don't know why unless maybe they thought they were getting trolls spamming for competing products or something.

http://www.macrium.com/support.asp

Some WinPE stuff

http://technet.micro...cc766093(WS.10).aspx

edit:

I would say also look at:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/
which is a great site for everything PC bootable, but in the last few days the server doesn't seem to respond. When I google it seems to have a history of just going away.  I don't know what's going on with it.

5933

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommend disk imaging software?

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 03, 2010, 07:05 PM »

The boot cd didn't work for some reason.

-cmpm (June 30, 2010, 05:02 PM)

I'm just curious what type of disk controller you have.  Anything unusual? The reason I went from Paragon to Macrium is Paragon didn't handle my Raid controller. One of the advantages of the paid version is you get a licensed copy of WinPE.  If you need to use the Windows driver to see the HD controller because the other boot CDs don't have the right driver, you can embed it in the boot image of the CD.  When the CD boots it autoloads the driver and you can see your Windows HD.

5934

General Software Discussion / Re: Entering Windows 7 password after machine it is idle annoyance

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 01, 2010, 10:48 PM »

I don't know the answer but it sounds like the type of thing that would be on:
http://annoyances.org/

5935

Living Room / Re: How can we fix government? (U.S.)

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 30, 2010, 08:46 PM »

btw reading the subject line it occurs to me the fix was in a long time ago.  For a few laughs read this book:

http://www.amazon.co...277948748&sr=1-1

I got a big kick out of it.  "Hi, I'm Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and they tell me you know where all the bodies are buried!!"

5936

General Software Discussion / Re: VLC 1.1.0 stable release works with .divx XSubs!!

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 30, 2010, 02:22 PM »

Videohelp always has links to the source page.  Also, along with checking out the developer page for each software, it's a good idea to use Videohelp as a junction point because they maintain old versions for download and even software that's no longer developed or maintained.

You can still download stuff like RipIt4Me, DVD Decrypter, etc..

It's a good resource say if you updated to the latest which broke something and you didn't save the older installer.  Chances are you can back off from a list of previous versions for most programs.

5937

General Software Discussion / VLC 1.1.0 stable release works with .divx XSubs!!

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 30, 2010, 01:10 AM »

Since VLC 1.1.0 works with PGS subtitles I tried a .divx where I added XSubs from .srt using AviAddXSubs.  It displayed 'em!!!  What a relief!! No more messing with DivxPlayer.

Looks like VLC is coming together again!!  It's been my favorite player for a long time but was having trouble with .mkv video and various subtitle formats.  Looks like they are getting the bugs out!!

http://www.videohelp...ols/VLC_media_player

5938

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of JavaScript book(s) for a kinda novice ...

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 29, 2010, 11:03 PM »

If the person has broadband you can find the function definitions online and also help forums where you can as "how can I do this in JS?" ...  you might suggest messing around a bit before buying a book.  What looks really good because it starts bare bones might seem nearly useless once you've gotten the basic idea.

Kind of like those super basic computer books that show you how to open the menu in the program and what to click on, with all screen shots, but never get into any concepts.  Fine for 10 minutes .. better to rent rather than buy.

5939

Living Room / Re: How can we fix government? (U.S.)

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 29, 2010, 05:40 PM »

Government Reform, if not already in the list of oxymorons, is my candidate.

-MilesAhead (June 27, 2010, 05:57 PM)

Something with "morons" is my first thought, too, when thinking about the U.S. politics.

-Tuxman (June 28, 2010, 10:59 PM)

morons think they'll get smarter by taking lessons.

5940

Living Room / Re: How can we fix government? (U.S.)

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 27, 2010, 05:57 PM »

Government Reform, if not already in the list of oxymorons, is my candidate.

5941

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: SIIG usb 3.0 Superspeed $24.99 Egg promo ends 6/28

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 27, 2010, 04:38 PM »

No BlacX ever on the market.  But Sharkoon brand comes out with USB 3.0 where it's the BlacX with a differently shaped eject button.  The unit must be licensed from Thermaltake.

-MilesAhead (June 27, 2010, 03:02 PM)

I'm not sure Thermaltake originated the design, though. A quick search on eBay results in a handful of different vendors all with very similar designs.

-Innuendo (June 27, 2010, 04:20 PM)

The Sharkoon isn't similar.  It's the same base with a different logo printed in just about the same spot with button in the exact location, just shaped a bit differently.  If you check the patent for USB 2.0 docks then you could satisfy your curiosity. The USB 3.0 Sharkoon dock is a BlacX USB 2.0 dock with different innards.

Whereas if you look at the SIIG USB 3.0 dock it's not the same base at all.

5942

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: SIIG usb 3.0 Superspeed $24.99 Egg promo ends 6/28

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 27, 2010, 03:02 PM »

It seems with this USB 3.0 they are licensing this stuff off, then the originator doesn't produce anything you can buy with their own name on it.  I'm not a hw aficionado but so far I've noticed trade show demo with Thermaltake BlacX showing the increased speed of USB 3.0 with large file transfers.  No BlacX ever on the market.  But Sharkoon brand comes out with USB 3.0 where it's the BlacX with a differently shaped eject button.  The unit must be licensed from Thermaltake.

Seems to be the same thing with NEC, at least in the US. I haven't found any way to purchase a single NEC USB 3.0 superspeed card.  But there is Bytecc and SIIG.   They seem to be telling me I can't get there from here.

But if this SIIG card works in the dual core like it does in the quad I'll be very happy.  The Sharkoon docks I consider a mistake.  With USB 2.0 the cooling doesn't matter but with 3.0 you can run drives at their capacity and they get awfully warm.  I'm going to use the Sharkoon dock on the dual core since I don't use that system as much and it will spin down when idle.  It will vastly increase the speed of my image backups without having to lob over the network.

5943

Found Deals and Discounts / SIIG usb 3.0 Superspeed $24.99 Egg promo ends 6/28

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 26, 2010, 06:21 PM »

I edited the post where I mentioned this card but I guess because of that it didn't pop up as new.  Since the promo only lasts a couple of days I thought I'd post this heads up.  NewEgg USB 3.0 card for $24.99 US shipping included.  More details in this thread:

https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=22848.0

5944

Living Room / Re: Format Converter

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 26, 2010, 01:39 PM »

My first home internet account was console based. I used pine until I switched to ppp.  Very easy to use program.

5945

Living Room / Re: Format Converter

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 25, 2010, 10:03 PM »

I only read text-only email, anything else gets deleted - not my problem if I never received it.

-4wd (June 25, 2010, 07:20 PM)

You wouldn't be a Pegasus Client, client by any chance? I used that email client for many years.

5946

Living Room / Re: Format Converter

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 25, 2010, 10:01 PM »

  What a super tool source. Half of what's there I never heard about before. My video conversion worries are over. Thanks a bunch

-telephonics (June 25, 2010, 07:14 PM)

You're welcome.  Many of the free tools on that site are actually superior to much of the paid software of the type. Also you'll find very knowledgeable people on the forums there.  It's a great starting point for just about anything video.

5947

Post New Requests Here / Re: All AutoHotkey (AHK) coders read: No more upx packing of compiled ahk utils

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 25, 2010, 09:57 PM »

That does sound weird.

Did you happen to try sending various things to virustotal?

-ewemoa (June 25, 2010, 09:37 PM)

Nope.  What I think it is, when I get the false positives in Malwarebytes and it's just the AutoIt or ahk program, I add it to the ignore list.  I probably forgot that I already added them on the Vista machine earlier. When I did a full scan on the Windows7 machine it found the files without UPX compression so it probably disregarded the ignore list since they were so much bigger.  At least that's my theory.


Does make you wonder what it finds that triggers it off though.

5948

Find And Run Robot / Re: What hotkey(s) do *you* use to trigger FARR?

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 25, 2010, 06:03 PM »

One nice thing about the common heritage of ahk/AutoIt3 is compatible format for hotkey strings.  ahk handles Mouse hotkeys while AutoIt3 is weak in that area.

I use this ahk script to catch Shift-MiddleMouseClick and send the hotkey string passed in on the command line:

[Select]

#NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
SendMode Input  ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.
#NoTrayIcon
#SingleInstance force
If 0 < 1
{
Exit
}
Else
{
hkey = %1%
}
+MButton::
GoSub,DoClick
Return

DoClick:
Send %hkey%
Return

It should be portable to servicing non-AutoIt3 programs.  You would just have to put the appropriate string as command line param.  Also it's easy to read the mouse hotkey from an .ini file to make it "adjustable" to different programs.  Not many programming languages handle mouse hotkeys as easily as ahk.  So this is a nice simple adapter.

Note, by using #SingleInstance force
you can change the hotkey sent by just launching the program again using a different param.

Here's an example of testing for mouse hotkey in .ini file. If not present it sets it to the default. It should work in both script(.ahk) and compiled script(.exe) cases:

[Select]

IniFile = %A_ScriptDir%\%A_ScriptName%
IniFile := RegExReplace(IniFile,"i)ahk$","ini")
IniFile := RegExReplace(IniFile,"i)exe$","ini")
IniRead,MouseHotkey,%IniFile%,Settings,MouseHotkey,%A_Space%
If MouseHotkey =
{
MouseHotkey := "!MButton"
}


Hotkey,%MouseHotkey%,DoClick,UseErrorLevel
If ErrorLevel
{
  MsgBox, 4112, PromptHere, %MouseHotkey% is not a valid Hotkey
  ExitApp
}
Return

edit: btw I use the default Pause key.  For those who don't like to let go of the mouse to hit a hotkey, you should be able to modify the scripts to produce something that sends "{Pause}" when you click middle mouse button, as example, to open FARR. (Although, since I'm going to type into the search box anyway, keyboard-only hotkey is not detrimental to me in FARR.  Just an example since the topic came up.)

5949

Living Room / Re: Optimal mp3 quality/filesize for voice recordings?

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 25, 2010, 05:42 PM »

Sounds almost like he's having some kind of clipping problem.

I think I might try scatter shot approach and just pick 3 free audio tools at random from Softpedia and see if any produce clear output.

5950

Living Room / Re: Format Converter

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 25, 2010, 05:40 PM »

I would look here:

http://www.videohelp.com/tools

go down the list and find matches for source and destination video formats and it will pull up all the matching tools.  Some have tutorials or guides.

The email, I only do plain vanilla. For a long time I used text-only email(no html) until I had to give in because everyone else was sending non-compliant crap so I had to be able to read it.   So I'm not the one to ask on that score.