I like it.
However, I have been experiencing some trouble with the files downloaded. Emily, do you ever have trouble with files? I FINALLY got the DCFC Austin City Limits, and went to play it and couldn't. I found that I might have to get a codec. I took it to Laura and Michael's, and it worked fine on Michael's computer without doing anything! That was frustrating for me.
I downloaded 3 torrents of Battlestar Galactica. One was an AVI file which turned out just to be audio (at least on my computer). One was another MP4 file (like the Death Cab one) so wouldn't play. One was a bunch of AVI files that just wouldn't play. Were they all corrupt? Do I need something for my computer? I noticed later on that some of them were XVid encoded so that could be something. I thought I had XVid for my DVR, though. I tried the DVR program and it just sort of hung up, but it's a crappy program anyway.
So far the SG-1s I've downloaded are good. However, I'm pissed because I've been trying to burn them to DVD and the programs I have are boiling cauldrons of crap. For one thing, the DVD+Rs I got, which are, I'm assuming, normal, are 4.7GB and they hold up to 4 hours in EP mode. I figured, hey. 4 episodes, because they're about 45 minutes each. However, the program that came with my DVR will not record to it. The options I have are 2 hour DVD and 1 hour DVD. So I just picked 2 and went to record and it went all the way through and did nothing. It did the whole entire process, which takes forever, and the DVD has nothing on it. I tried twice.
So then I tried the program that came with my computer. Already crap, because you can't edit the video, which I need to do for my DVR-recorded programs, to get the commercials out. At least this one will let you record in EP mode, so you can get more crap on (for some reason it only let me put 3 episodes on though). Data and how it corresponds to time is weird. I don't understand it. Is the program degrading the quality of the video so it fits? How much?
I finally thought to myself that I need Adobe Premiere. Where would I get this priceless program that is really hard to use? Aha, download it!!! So now, I'm doing a highly illegal process without much firewall protection (which I will explain in a minute). This is also how I got Photoshop and Flash back in the day.
I got McAfee anti-virus when I ordered the computer and I HATED it. The subscription just ran out (what kind of subscription lasts for like 3 months?). I was getting extremely annoyed because it popped up a warning literally every 10 minutes saying it was expired, blah blah blah. And the choices are: Renew or Continue what I was doing. No options for Cancel, remind me in 2,000 days, fuck off, etc. Just Renew or Continue what I was doing. So finally I just uninstalled it, and now I have no anti-virus. I do have the Windows firewall on. That makes me feel better (HA). What makes me the most uneasy is that the computer was having trouble with the router, so I have it directly plugged in to the modem, with a cable. No third party. :/ I found some spyware yesterday and was shocked. A cleanup is in order.
I am generally a proponent of software downloading, I think. Adobe makes a lot of money by licensing the products to companies and schools, etc. I'd like to see what percentage of their profit is made by individuals paying $600 for a single copy of Photoshop. Premiere is probably the same way. That program is very difficult, but from what I've seen it at least does what it's supposed to do. There is no way a person like me can pay for these programs, but we a lot of times need them. Photoshop is, at least, something I literally need. For survival. I will die if I don't have it. So I thank the gods that we have a way to get it, illegally. I get that we're "ripping people off," but I'd argue that most people aren't going to download this stuff. Is the average Joe going to download Adobe Photoshop or Premiere or Macromedia Flash? No. I don't know. I can't explain it but I've always felt it was sort of ok in a way, in the big picture.
The DVD program that came with my DVR is so bad. Why did they even think it was distributable? The worst thing about it is that you have to choose a "theme" for your menus. And they are all bad. Mostly you can pick a different picture, but the buttons you have to choose are horrible. Further, I've noticed that if you at all change the timeline of the project, it freaks out. I had 4 SG-1 episodes in a project recently and noticed as I was setting up the menu that they were out of order. So I went back into the timeline and fixed it. Not only did it not refresh the chapter menu (who knows what it would have done on the actual DVD if you had tried to skip/search chapters), but it actually cut off a whole bunch of all of the episodes, and replaced an entire episode with another one. So all of the episodes started in the middle of the beginning credits, and two of them were the same episode. Huh?????? What a piece of crap.
For good measure, here's a pic of Daniel. Sarah, like it? He looks like your type in this one. It's from an episode called "2010" which portrays the team as they might be in 2010. Mrowr!
5 comments:
Ok, let's see if I can remember all I was going to say.
1) Currently I usually never have problems with files. I think that, initially, I had a lot of problems. Many shows you download are DivX or whatever the hell (I have no idea what any of that means) and I believe that I did have to download 1 or 2 codexi early on, but that seemed to take care of everything. What do you try to play them in? When I go to play them in Windows Media (what I use) it usually tells me what the problem is (if there is one) and gives me a link to fix it (I think).
I like it when the files are .avi files, because it's kind of annoying when they're .rar files, which a lot of them are, actually. Because then I had to download another program to mesh them into an .avi file and it's just an annoying unnecessary extra step.
I've downloaded a few movies that are in some format that I can't remember the extension of, but they were dvd type formats. Which confused the bejeesus out of me initally, but then I figured out how to burn it and they're kinda nice because it burns it in a nice dvd format and not just a list of .avi files to play (an .iso file, perhaps?).
Which brings me to burning files: I just burn .avi files directly onto a dvd+r. This is fine for me b/c they play in my computer and (usually) also play in my dvd player (although sometimes for whatever reason an episode is all screwed up, I don't know why). Also, then I can get about 12 hours on one dvd+r...depending on the original file size, that is. And I use DeepBurner (which I downloaded), which is fine for my needs.
However, you mentioned editing shit and I have no knowledge at all on how to do that. Also, if you take issue with burning .avi files onto a dvd+r wihtout it looking all fancy, etc, then I also can't help you.
Oh, do you have QuickTime? Because you should be able to play .m4p files in Quicktime. I can, anyway. Again, I don't know what the deal is with burning them, however.
I think that's all. Now on to another (seperate) comment regarding downloading things.
Haha, I labeled the first thing I said 1), but then never numbered anything else.
I don't feel bad about downloading stuff.
Music-wise: MOST of the things I download are a few songs from artists, not entire albums. Therefore, I don't feel bad b/c let's say I didn't download them: I also wouldn't go out and buy the album for 2 songs. So either way they're not getting any money out of me. It's just that one extra person is enjoying a few of their songs.
Also, I have a feeling that the most-downloaded songs are by artists with a lot of money. So yeah, they're losing out on some money but it's not like they have to just scrape by. They still make a lot more money than most other people who arguably have to work a lot harder than they do doing jobs they don't even like.
Also, I'm just cheap and don't have a conscience. And I don't even know where to buy cds in Pyeongtaek.
Software-wise: I REALLY don't feel bad about this. If there's a program I want but it's really expensive (such as Photoshop) there's no way I'm going to go out and buy it. I just don't need it that much. Yes, I'd like to have it, but I don't NEED it...and when we're talking that much money, I better NEED it before I buy it.
2) Software comes from friggin' corporations. Corporations have a friggin' lot of money (generally speaking). They can deal with a few people (a LOT more than a few people) downloading their shit for free.
Ok, in the last post I never labeled a 1), but then I randomly stuck in a 2). what is wrong with me???
Also, I realize I prob sound like a moron in my first comment b/c I really have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to BitTorrent/burning...I randomly find out how to get things to work for me, but I don't actually understand anything.
Yeah, he´s hot.
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