6.29.2006

New Sites

www.mobuzztv.com; some short tech videos that are usually delivered with a funny twist
new www.digg.com website format
the new www.tikibartv.com video is up; it is ok, but nothing all that great...

Replacemnet program (wow- that was quick)

Ok, it looks like there is no way to set Dobly Digital 5.1 (or EX) in CloneDVD Mobile, so that program has fallen to the way-side. I have found Auto Gordian Knot and this seem to do just about everything. It is a little slower (about 2 horus vs. 1 hour) but it supports the digital multi-chanel audio (make sure your settings are correct in the AC3 codec on the system you are plaing the video on!) and the video quality is MUCH better!

I have been setting sizes of about 2GB for the output file and I cannot really tell the difference between the orignal DVD and the DiVX5 version.

The only issue I have is multi-angle shots are merged together- like the differnet language versions of the introduction scroll on the start of the Star Wars movies.

6.26.2006

New Proggie for DVD -> DivX

Ok, I FINALLY found a DVD to DivX conversion program that doesn't lose sync, skip or have other agrivating-ass problems: CloneDVD mobile from SlySoft.

It is a simple interface, but it allows me to select the output resolution (appears to be based on the input source), runs fairly quiclky (30-70 minutes for a whole DVD) and doesn't look like complete crap when it is done! I have converted about 7 movies so far (Blade Runner, Logan's Run, StarGate, GhostBusters, Total Recall, Episode III and Tomb Raider 2) and no real issues.

The one problem I am having is that the audio output does not seem to be DD5.1- but I am not sure if that is an issue with MCE2005 or the encoding of the program...

New Crazy Theory for the Day...

One theory that time travel will never be possible is that we have never met anyone from the future, so it will never be possible. Is this statement true- has no one in history ever met anyone from another time- or is this a common occurrence that no one has really related to time travel, but rather to something more 'believable' such as aliens or government conspiracies or lost civilizations?

I chose/want to believe in life outside of Earth, but if we have been visited by beings from many light years away, then the technology used to travel these distances is incredible- maybe something equivalent to a wormhole tat can create a 'hole' in time/space and allow matter to pass through to any other point in our 3D universe (and I am sure there are many more dimensions than 3- but that is another theory for another day).  So what limits these visits to existing in our time and not thousands/millions/billions of years in the past/future?

What if all of the UFOs we have seen are actually visits from different versions of genetically evolved/modified humans from the future?  Most of them seem to interested in collecting DNA or something- perhaps they are just anthropologists of the future studying the primitive evolution of mankind? 

Future visitors really would only be able to go back an watch/study the past as if they did interfere in any of history (say going back and killing Hitler before he came into power) as they would risk changing the path of human interaction and possibly cause themselves to never exist (creating a paradox that should correct itself?).

So are aliens actually archaeologists from the year 2750?  Perhaps the pyramids and Stonehenge were created by these visitors as fixed calendars from which to determine the exact coordinates in space/time for travelers?  Maybe Atlantis was a city-sized research vessel that was stationed in the Atlantic and was returned to its own time after it was discovered by too many of the primitive humans from that time?

Just some ADD ramblings...

6.02.2006

Home Alone!

The girls are gone to San Francisco for a few days; Madonna concert was Wednesday night and now they are enjoying a few days on the West coast.  I am enjoying a few days of peace with no one else around...

I am beta testing all kinda good things:  Office 2007, Windows Media Player 11 and IE 7- and all of them are awesome.  I am also beta testing a phone, but I had to sign a NDA to get that, so I cannot say more except that the phone is awesome and I want one!  :o)

My media center project is almost done- but I think I may have screwed up putting media player 11 on Windows Media Center Edition 2005.  I changed the chipset fan today so it is in stealth mode, and I wired the LED to the mobo connection so I can tell when it is on standby . The next step may be to get a case to enable some of my drives to be NAS devices so I can move the movies from my main PC...

I have been going to the gym a lot more over the past few weeks- and I am starting to see more muscle mass in my shoulders and triceps.  I am also taking Hydroxycut to work on my Buddha belly...

PocketCaster Test

Found a new service called PocketCaster that lets me stream live video from my phone to the web- pretty neat...

I have uploaded a sample video here