I'm a big girl. Just tell me.

Inara ,'Objects In Space'


Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."

Got a question about technology? Ask it here. Discussion of hardware, software, TiVos, multi-region DVDs, Windows, Macs, LINUX, hand-helds, iPods, anything tech related. Better than any helpdesk!


DCJensen - Dec 04, 2008 7:03:23 pm PST #8268 of 25501
All is well that ends in pizza.

I wish I knew the exact codecs that people who *ahem* tv shows and other media do to compress an hour very clearly and smoothly into 350MB.

That and the tools to do the same to my parent's home movies on my Mac.


omnis_audis - Dec 04, 2008 8:43:57 pm PST #8269 of 25501
omnis, pursue. That's an order from a shy woman who can use M-16. - Shir

The insane troll logic sounded quite familiar to me. In more than one place I worked, we couldn't get more powerful computers for graphic artists because then everyone else would have to get them, even though everyone else was typing reports and running the occasional spreadsheet.
ND was witness to this at my old job. Here I was pushing the processor on my old iBook to the max, HD all but full, and slowing down tech rehearsals, while some office monkey who sits on the net and taps out word doc's all day get's a quad core computer with maxed memory and a DVD burner. I wasn't eligible for a new laptop, because I was the last to get in the first round, so I had to be the last to get in the 2nd round. Or some crazy bs.


Jessica - Dec 05, 2008 3:39:07 am PST #8270 of 25501
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

I wish I knew the exact codecs that people who *ahem* tv shows and other media do to compress an hour very clearly and smoothly into 350MB.

From what I recall, mostly Divx and Xvid.

New question - a client is requesting their digital masters in H.265. I can safely assume that's a typo, right? (My extremely cursory Google search indicates that H.265 hasn't been released yet. If that's wrong, does anyone have a link to where I can download it?)

[eta: I found this post from July suggesting a 2009 release date and nothing has jumped out to contradict it [link] ]


Gudanov - Dec 05, 2008 5:19:09 am PST #8271 of 25501
Coding and Sleeping

From what I recall, mostly Divx and Xvid.

Xvid for video, MP3 for sound ought to do the trick. I compress an hour show sans commercials (for personal use) to about 500MB, but that is at higher resolution than the 350MB people. I can't remember what the bit rate I use is off the top of my head.


Gudanov - Dec 05, 2008 5:34:30 am PST #8272 of 25501
Coding and Sleeping

I sorta want one of these...

[link]

About $20 for 2GB of RAM, a spare hard drive, load on Mythbuntu and it would be a very nice frontend for the living room TV.


javachik - Dec 05, 2008 8:02:13 am PST #8273 of 25501
Our wings are not tired.

I was stupid and ordered a Roku a few months ago and have never even opened the box. I think I was influenced by Buffista conversation.

Any of you use a Roku? Should I open the box one of these days?

And thank you for the answers about the pdas and alerts for email. The Treo needs to get thrown out the window soon and the phone I am seriously thinking about is the Fuze..


Jessica - Dec 05, 2008 8:13:18 am PST #8274 of 25501
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Java, I think you should send it to me.


Ginger - Dec 05, 2008 8:16:05 am PST #8275 of 25501
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda

Or me. I'll use it and tell you all about it.


Jessica - Dec 05, 2008 8:16:23 am PST #8276 of 25501
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Google Reader users - is there a way to tell it not to include friends' shared items in the Unread count?


Jon B. - Dec 05, 2008 11:16:52 am PST #8277 of 25501
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!

I use Google Reader, but I have no friends. :(

My computer parts arrived today! Sadly, I will have no time to assemble them until next week. A quick question while I'm thinking of it: Thermal paste... Should I use it? My last processor came with a small tube, but this one did not. Should I try and find the three year old tube and use what's leftover?