Then I started looking at ways to transfer my media from the various formats I've collected it in. Getting DVDs onto the hard drive was not a great challenge. We found several ways to do it. One way was by using DVD Shrink to remove unwanted content like other languages and previews before saving the DVD to a folder on the hard drive. DVD Shrink can save the files as DVD-format .vob files or as .iso image files for burning to DVD.
I've long been a fan of Microsoft's Media Center application. We found that the handy "My Movies" plug-in for Media Center lets the user turn his PC into a DVD jukebox. This is a great experience both on the PC and at ten feet with the remote, and it's fast and convenient to add movies.
Feeling that I had the DVD problem well in hand, I next looked at converting some VHS tapes to DVD. The easiest method seemed to be to plug a VCR into the front panel jacks on my HP Media Center PC. To my surprise, this did not work. After digging around in Vista Help and the HP website, I found that only digital sources could be input from the front jacks. Since I've used the front jacks on previous HP PCs to record from an ancient VHS camera (that refuses to die), and since decoding and encoding inputs is a function of the TV tuner card, this made no sense at all to me. In the end, I found that there is no support for analog input in Vista, but the capability is still there in the tuner. A simple download from the manufacturer's website enabled it. The article is entitled "How to Use the Front Panel Inputs on an HP Media Center PC for Analog Recording."
I also did a couple of reviews. I found that Tunebite Platinum by RapidSolution Software, AG is a multi-purpose tool with many media-related features. It can rapidly convert iTunes tracks and videos into other formats and screen sizes to play on other non-Apple devices like Windows Mobile Smartphones and Palm OS Treos. It also includes a ringtone creator and YouTube video downloader and converter. Tunebite Platinum is all about taking purchased and downloaded video and audio in the formats that you have now and converting them to some other useful format.
And if there's a useful counterpart to Tunebite Platinum, it has to be Replay Video Capture by Applian Technologies. This is an application that only does one thing, but it does it well. Its sole mission is recording what's displayed in an area of the PC screen while capturing audio playing through the sound card. It really doesn't care what it's recording. It can be a video playing in your web browser, a DVD playing in Power DVD, your own software application that you want to add voice notes to, or anything else on your screen that you want it to peer at and record. Besides being a great business application for product demonstrations, it can also record movies playing in Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player, iTunes video player, or any other application and convert them to different formats and screen sizes.
With Windows 7 coming, I've written about my experiences with Windows XP and Vista. It's a tale of three media center PCs and three notebooks, told in a more personal style than I usually employ.
Recently many laptop manufacturers have started leaving out the stereo mix feature. If you're not familiar with what stereo mix does, you may be surprised. It allows you to plug in a microphone and do a voice-over while music is playing, such as doing karaoke and voice overlays for advertising. It lets you record any audio playing on the laptop, including from music applications and from online streaming music. It allows you to record from two music sources at once. This has caused a lot of controversy in the last year or so, and when I found out it was disabled on my own ThinkPad T61p, I was none-too-pleased.
Fortunately, there's help for the problem, and it's in the form of Eugene Muzychenko's $30 "Virtual Audio Cable" application. This program has a reputation for being difficult to learn and use, but if you approach it methodically, it's not so bad. Find the step-by-step explanation in How to Fix Crippled Stereo Mix on Your Vista Laptop.
Part of being a technology writer at Bright Hub is keeping up with developments. In 2009, big content has reluctantly been moving to other delivery models.Flycast is one application that changed delivery, but not so drastically. Previously known as an aplication for smart phones, they now offer Flycast Desktop for Windows. I downloaded it, installed it, and wrote about it. What is Flycast? In a word, it's nothing but radio!
Hulu, the online web-browser based purveyor of TV episodes and movies, also released a desktop version that runs outside the web browser. It's works with a Windows Media Center remotes and play full screen on the PC. I determined that the application exposes a few rough edges, but it's trying to be better TV than TV. Find out how it does here: Review of Hulu Desktop.
I also joined a new channel here at Bright Hub - Home Theater. It's already becoming popular with our writers and readers. Here's my first effort there: Understanding Home Theater A/V Receivers Specifications and Terminology
(Please see the last page for articles added to Home Theater.)
And there you have it - the story behind my Windows Media and entertainment-related articles on Bright Hub. I usually end my articles by thanking the reader, so here's thanks again. As long as you continue reading what I post, I’ll keep looking for interesting and useful topics.
On the following two pages, you'll find the descriptions and links to all the articles mentioned here (and a few more).
