logo Sign In

Doctor M

User Group
Members
Join date
1-Feb-2005
Last activity
15-Jan-2026
Posts
2,553

Post History

Post
#340144
Topic
Need advice -- Anything but TiVo
Time

Next time I'll hopefully have a bigger budget.  For now this will do the job.

What's hilarious is people have been building HTPC for the last 5 years, starting with single core 3ghz cpus, but everyone keeps recommending faster and faster chips for them.

The cap cards do the encoding, the vid cards do the decoding, and the hard drives don't really use the cpu either.  It's just everyone wants a muscle-system.

I'll just build mine out of whatever old parts I have left over next time I upgrade my computer.  Stuffed in a HTPC case and with a cap card or two will do just fine.

 

Post
#340054
Topic
Song Of The South - many projects, much info & discussion thread (Released)
Time

Well, yes and no.

Both discs are finished and have been released, but I'm (supposed to be) in the process of making some tweaks.

Disc 1's English subtitles need lots of work (and I'm down to the last 20 minutes), and disc 2 needs an aspect ratio fix (which is already done).

If I stop putting it off, v2 will be released before the year is out (maybe).

Post
#339911
Topic
Need advice -- Anything but TiVo
Time

I noticed Haupage makes a weird TiVo like device... it's HD, but recodes everything into H.264... and is tunerless.

I can't believe TiVo owns the market.  Heck more than half of all VCR/DVD recorders are tunerless now.

It's like everyone said VHS is dead, TiVo wins, let's go home, and build BluRay players.  You'd think no one else wanted a piece of the market that lets people record a program to watch later.

I'll probably pick up one of those Philips units, fast, since they look to be discontinued with no replacement model on the way.

Shame they're not HD, or lossless, or, well, better.

TiVos recode all programs as well, don't they?

Post
#339829
Topic
Need advice -- Anything but TiVo
Time

One of my 2 VCR's is now a lost cause and I can't see replacing it with another one.

TiVo is the first thought, but I am morally opposed to their invasive data collecting, and monthly fee. There use to be good DVR alternatives out there but that has all but dried up.

Comcast's DVRs are $14/mo which is ridiculous and I hear their interface is obnoxious. The ability to dump the raw data streams to a PC is possible, desirable, but not necessarily guaranteed.

I had always considered that on my next PC upgrade, I would build my old one into a media center... but I currently don't have the funds to go that far.

The best answer I've found so far is Philips DVDR3576H/37 (which is slowly disappearing in availability). On the plus side it's a DVR/DVDr without a monthly fee. It can record to either DVD or HDD and you can watch something else while that's going on.

It also has a high quality mpeg encoder that can encode at multiple quality settings up to 9500kbps vbr (which provides better quality than a DVD recorder which has to record at preset cbr settings). It can also rapidly burn HDD recorded programs right to DVD without re-encoding.

It isn't HD, but has 1080p upscaling, and can record HDTV shows downscaled to 480p. So all ATSC and QAM channels are pretty much fair game. Shows can be saved in their original anamorphic aspect ratios. It's also suppose to make some really nice captures from VHS input.

My real misgivings are that even though it can dump HDD programs unrecoded to DVD it IS re-encoding the broadcast when it first records: HDTV or SDTV. It does not save the raw streams.

The other serious drawback is that it downmixes/reencodes recordings to DD2.0 (it won't save a 5.1 stream). It also loses closed captioning from any digital broadcast (which is everything come February).

Anyone have a suggestion or is this one of those "it's the best of what there is, live with it" deals.

Post
#339288
Topic
DTS audio?
Time

What you need to do is decode it to 6 wave channels, slow it down (of course), and then re-encode back to DTS.

Mind you, there are those that say 640kbps DD is pretty much sonically equivalent to 768kbps DTS, so if the source isn't full 1536kbps, it's a good alternative.

For DTS to AC3, here is a nice guide: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=91239

If you really want to keep with DTS, here's all the info you need on working with it: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68300#post424069

Post
#338131
Topic
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Edit Suggestions
Time

EXCELLENT cemetery scene.

A few stupid nitpicks... the gun seems to shoot a little early (while he's still raising it, but I think you did that to give the impression of a recoil(?)), the flash should probably be at least 1 or 2 frames after the muzzle flash (for dramatic effect, even though in reality it probably wouldn't be that late.)

Finally: better gunshot sound. This one might be a bit weak considering the POV looks like it's being fired right beside your ear.

But on the whole: beautifully seamless, and a huge improvement. Indy has a gun and isn't afraid to use it on South American monkey ninjas or whatever those things were.

Edit:

As for the fridge scene, like I was saying before, if you cut all of the bounces, it lands and seems to roll/slide to a stop. It's more convincing that the occupant might live.

I did a quick re-edit of your clip (removing the audio since it was already out of sync): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KBQ0WMJG

Mind you if I wasn't just tossing this together, I'd make one other change: The shot of the fridge as it falls from the sky and just touches the ground should be flipped left/right. It would provide continuity with the final shot which makes the fridge seem to come from the other direction (and the fridge would be standing on the same corner between those two shots).

Post
#336320
Topic
RELEASED: "Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Special Longer Version)"
Time

My gut says this is the plain release, and the double dip will come a few years from now as the re-restore them one film at a time.  It's what they did for the DVDs.

I can't believe they opted to save money and do the new fx for TMP in 480p.  They had do know sooner or later they were going to need a high def transfer of it.

So what now, they re-redo the effects?  Nitwits.