Recent Posts

9251

Living Room / I'm ready to join the HTPC (home theater pc) revolution - what to get?

« Last post by mouser on July 09, 2013, 06:33 AM »

I've resisted this for a while but i'm really interested in adding a home theater pc (HTPC) device to my stereo system.

But I have no idea where to start regarding hardware or software.

What's most important to me:

• I will want to use it to browse and play from my music collection; so i want very good software for music browse/search; I'm more interested in good solid reliable software vs cutting edge super customizable stuff.  This will be my primary use of this device, playing music from a large collection of mp3 directories, so that's what i want it to do well.
• I want this to replace my DVD player; so it should be able to play dvd (or better yet blu-ray) discs well.
• Ideally it should have same wide form factor as a dvd player -- though this is not mandatory; fine if its as large as a full size receiver.
• I don't need tv tuner functionality.
• I would like to be able to watch youtube/live streaming.
• Always on or quick-on functionality is important -- I don't want to have to wait more than 30-60 seconds for startup.
• Cheaper is better -- don't want to pay more than a couple hundred.
• Being able to upgrade HD in it would be nice (as opposed to a closed box); but i'm not obsessed about being able to customize/replace all of the hardware in it.
• It should run quiet and cool -- it can get hot where this will be located.
• Do not need to worry about multi-room streaming, etc.; I already have a stereo system and hdtv, this will be one component feeding into the receiver.

Suggestions?

9252

Screenshot Captor / Re: searching function -delete selection-

« Last post by mouser on July 09, 2013, 04:17 AM »

Can you elaborate a little more on what you mean by "deleting a selection"?

There are various things you *might* mean:

• You might mean "how do I make an arbitrary rectangular region on an image black or white or covered up in some way"; for that you would select the region and choose one of the items at the bottom of the SpecialFX1 or SpecialFX2 menus.  The "Patch text/contents" item will try to replace the selected region with the best color automatically.
• You might mean "how do I CROP an image to remove the area OUTSIDE of a selected rectangle"; for that you would use the CROP button on the toolbar (or Ctrl+R hotkey or item from Edit menu).
• You might mean "how do I remove a vertical or horizontal STRIP from the middle of an image"; for that you would use the SPLICE menu items under the SpecialFX2 menu, which will let you remove interior sections of the image and is sort of the opposite of using crop.

9253

LaunchBar Commander / Re: LATEST LaunchBar Commander VERSION INFO THREAD - v1.135.01 - July 8, 2013

« Last post by mouser on July 08, 2013, 07:51 PM »

v1.135.01 - July 8, 2013

• [Feature] LBC will now try to load launchbar files (.mcf) relative to the project file (.mcp), and try to load the project file relative to the application exe.  This is useful when using LBC portably or when using LBC on a multi-account system.

9254

Screenshot Captor / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - ScreenshotCaptor - v4.5 - July 8, 2013

« Last post by mouser on July 08, 2013, 04:49 PM »

Thanks to all of the beta testers and those who pushed for these new features.  Keep the requests coming

9255

Screenshot Captor / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - ScreenshotCaptor - v4.5 - July 8, 2013

« Last post by mouser on July 08, 2013, 03:22 PM »

New version has mostly minor improvements, but the ability to quickly specify a custom filename from the post-capture dialog can be quite useful.

v4.5.0 - July 8, 2013

• [Feature] Post-capture dialog now has a field where you can specify an optional quick custom filename.
• [MinorFeature] New option to open windows explorer file browser to location of SaveAs image after a SaveAs.
• [MinorFeature] New option to not uniquify filenames when launching the SaveAs dialog.
• [MinorFeature] The file template field now has some suggestions in a drop down combo box.
• [Feature] New options to customize the post-capture dialog to use it in faster one-key dismissal mode and with one key copy-to-clipboard action.
• [BugFix] Minor UI fixes.
• [BugFix] Attempting to fix brief appearance of Screenshot Captor taskbar button at windows startup.
• [MinorFeature] You can now set auto-print option from tray menu.
• [Improvement] Copy to clipboard after capture was not copying any automatically added shadow.

9256

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Dock should not 'land grab'

« Last post by mouser on July 08, 2013, 10:31 AM »

took me a while to get it minimized to the Tray.

Thanks for reminding me to point that out -- LBC actually can be used in many ways, depending on your preferences:

• You can have docks reserve space docked to the site of a monitor, so that it's always visible and no maximized apps will overlap it.
• You can have docks autohide off the side of the screen and slide into view on top of maximized apps which have normal full monitor size.
• You can minimize a "dock" into the system tray so that it's available as a menu in the system tray.
• You can have a dock pop-up as a menu at the current cursor location when triggered via a customizable hotkey.

9257

Living Room / Re: Your thoughts wanted: The right way to honor the passing of a DC forum member

« Last post by mouser on July 08, 2013, 12:12 AM »

I exchanged many emails with Thunder7 (Paul Pannell), from the time he joined the site in 2005 to a few weeks before his passing.  Usually brief exchanges where he sent me an interesting link he had found or just the kind of casual hellos that you exchange with acquaintances.  I didn't know him well, but well enough to see he was one of those kind, unusual souls, who was suffering from ailments that would test the strongest of men, and yet still managed to find good in this world.

It's impossible not to be sad at the passing of a kind soul, but now at least his suffering is over.  May he rest in peace.  He will be remembered here.

9258

Living Room / What is safer for data -- a hard disk or a blue ray disc?

« Last post by mouser on July 07, 2013, 09:12 PM »

Say I want to archive a couple hundred gigabytes of data -- would i be better of burning it to a writable blu-ray disc or copying it to a hard drive placed on a shelf for long term storage?

I think the obvious answer, for important data, is probably: both.

But the question remains -- what would be the best media for storing terrabytes of data long term?

9259

Screenshot Captor / Re: SSC doesn't capture scrolling in Chrome

« Last post by mouser on July 07, 2013, 03:37 PM »

Thanks for the posts and suggestions from Ath.

To repeat what Ath but to put a different spin on thigns:

No idea how to solve that, other than using a manual capture (tip: set 'Scroll by:' to 'By Pages (Default)') and the number of pages to 4 or 5 depending on screen-size and resolution.

This is exactly the kind of situation that SC's Scrolling Capture is designed to be able to handle using manual overides.  If there is content on the page that makes it impossible for SC to automatically detect page boundaries, etc., don't be scared to simply set the # of pages to scroll and turn off auto detection, and then adjust stitching overlaps manually.

9260

General Software Discussion / MOVED: Run two instances of desktop coral?

« Last post by mouser on July 07, 2013, 02:24 PM »

This topic has been moved to DesktopCoral.

https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=35354.0

9261

DesktopCoral / Re: Run two instances of desktop coral?

« Last post by mouser on July 07, 2013, 02:23 PM »

You should be able to run two instances IF you get the portable version and run the two copies from two different directories.
I believe there is at least one other post from someone who has done this.

ps.
I will move this to this DesktopCoral section of the forum.

9262

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Dock should not 'land grab'

« Last post by mouser on July 07, 2013, 04:56 AM »

Hi Rob,

It's traditional to have an "always visible" dock "reserve" the space at the side of the screen, so that other applications do not maximize on top of the dock.  The alternative would simply not be usable.

HOWEVER,

It sounds like the option you are wanting is the "AutoHide" or "AutoSlide" option, which is available if you click on the Dock node.

When you set a dock to be "AutoHide" or "AutoSlide" it will do as you request, and NOT reserve any space on the side of the screen -- instead it will simply show up on top of any maximized application when the cursor hovers over that area.

I think that's what you were wanting.

9263

Screenshot Captor / Re: How to Download Previous Version - Want old Post-capture dialog back

« Last post by mouser on July 07, 2013, 04:51 AM »

I'm glad to hear the new changes have solved the issue people had with the new post-capture dialog.

It's another case where the users have made the program better. 

9264

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: DC Mug/TShirt Designs that would be nice to have an artist for..

« Last post by mouser on July 06, 2013, 07:42 PM »

Fun

9265

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: OpenDNS + DNSCrypt - Mini-Review

« Last post by mouser on July 06, 2013, 12:33 PM »

I overlooked this post originally -- just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to post it.  Much appreciated 

9266

Screenshot Captor / Re: How to activate hyperlinks, in ScreenCaptor v4.3 ?

« Last post by mouser on July 06, 2013, 10:05 AM »

To be clear: you CAN embed information like links inside an image file as part of the file COMMENTS.

Screenshot Captor does this automatically and any comments you write in the bottom memo/notes area of a screenshot are stored within the file comments, and you are of course free to add hyperlinks there.

In fact, Screenshot Captor has an option that will AUTOMATICALLY capture the URL of the webpage you are capturing and embed it in the file comments/note field to help you keep track of where the screenshot came from.

BUT, as Ath says, you can't have those links *DO* anything -- they are just embedded comments in the file and are only really useful for keeping track of notes about the screenshot.

9267

Screenshot Captor / Re: How to activate hyperlinks, in ScreenCaptor v4.3 ?

« Last post by mouser on July 05, 2013, 04:53 PM »

Can you elaborate what you mean by activating hyperlinks?

9268

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« Last post by mouser on July 05, 2013, 10:02 AM »

I don't think anyone has yet posted about a pod/k-cup style coffee brewer.  The cost-per-cup of these things is expensive, BUT if you have guests over who like coffee, it's impossible to deny the convenience and flexibility and fun of these appliances.



http://www.amazon.co...4054011%2Ck%3Akeurig

9269

Coding Snacks / Re: re-map capslock function

« Last post by mouser on July 05, 2013, 07:44 AM »

To do pure remapping I can recommend SharpKeys: https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=9930.0

9270

Screenshot Captor / Re: Open screenshot in the editor

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2013, 10:56 PM »

I guess the other thing to realize about SC is that it always makes all of your screenshots available in the thumbnail panel and you can always view/edit/upload/send screenshots easily by just selecting them from the main window -- you don't ever really have to "DO" anything to get a screenshot loaded into the editor, other than select the screenshot from the main window.

It's just a matter of, as you say, deciding which "After capture do.." option you like best..

9271

Screenshot Captor / Re: Open screenshot in the editor

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2013, 10:51 PM »

Welcome to the site, wreckage, and thank you for taking the time to post 

Screenshot Captor (much like the rest of our site) can take some getting used to, and i'm quite sure the issue you have raised is one that has confused others.

Hopefully though, after a few uses it will start to make sense.. I guess the best way to think of it is that SC has lots of options to try to make it possible to use in different ways -- some people like to be able to take lots of screenshots with minimal interaction, and only later come back and edit them -- while others like to work on one screenshot at a time.

Maybe a good place to start is by watching the videos on this page:
https://www.donation...r.com/screencasts/sc

Start with the first video, the whirlwind tour.

9272

Living Room / Re: Sci-fi novel due on Amazon and B&N in August or September

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2013, 09:33 PM »

What's the goal in terms of length? How much more is left to write?

9273

General Software Discussion / Re: Cut and paste list of files ?

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2013, 01:38 PM »

Quick reply but not complete answer:

You can paste a list of files like that into my Drag+Drop Robot:
https://www.donation.../dragdrop/index.html

Once you do that though, you'll have to have it invoke a commandline file mover/copier to actually DO something with those files.

9274

Webcam Video Diary / Re: Recording and post-processing problems

« Last post by mouser on July 04, 2013, 07:13 AM »

I have to say that I find getting the compression settings correct in any video recording program is a frustrating and confusing process, and Webcam Video Diary is no exception.

It's also not a program that very many people use so it has some rough edges.

So i'm afraid the best advice i can give you is to experiment and let us know when you find some good settings that result in small but good quality files.  mpg might be best for youtube uploading.

9275

Living Room / Re: Sci-fi novel due on Amazon and B&N in August or September

« Last post by mouser on July 03, 2013, 07:22 AM »

I just want to say how much I love seeing the people here on this forum help each other with projects and encourage each other, and share their experiences.  I hope we can continue to see more of it