D.S の Space

Playing video on 60 FPS (Update 2)

2012-01-28T13:07:00.000+08:00

So you had played games on your PC on 60 FPS, your eyes had been used to it and you are sick of the console frame rate that capped on 30 FPS. And on top of it, you got yourself a 60 Hz capable monitor yet you are playing your HD video collection on the native NTSC (23.976) or PAL (25.000) frame rate. However, not all of us are financial capable enough to purchase a 120Hz HDTV. If you ever had question on whether it is possible to play those HD videos that you treasured so much on your beloved 60 Hz monitor, ask no further as it is possible, provided that you have a decent processor (Core 2 Duo and above).

Changes:

Added some screenshots in the steps.
Added additional step (step 4) to configure MPC-HC video player.
Consolidate the AviSynth script into a single script.
Explain some bits of details about the scripts.
Added the third alternative approach to achieve the same result using Smooth Video Project (SVP).

The following guides had been compiled for general audience.

Step 1: Download and install

1. Download and install K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 8.1.0 and above. When prompted, just select FULL installation.

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack.htm

2. Download and install Avisynth 2.5.8.

http://www.free-codecs.com/avisynth_download.htm

3. Download the Avisynth MT (Multi-threating pack)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/nnbngfccnj2/avisynth258MT.7z

Or http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/MT

This will allow multi-threading. Extract the archive and put the avisynth.dll in your C:\Windows\system32 (for 32-bit OS) folder or SysWOW64 (for 64-bit OS). You should be prompted to replace the existing file if you had placed it in the correct folder.

4. Download the MvTools2 (version 2.5.11.3 as of current).

http://avisynth.org.ru/mvtools/mvtools2.html#download

The link is at the bottom of the page. Place it in your AviSynth plugin directory, e.g: C:\Program Files\AviSynth 2.5\plugins or C:\Program Files (x86)\AviSynth 2.5\plugins (for 64 bit OS).

Step 2: Customizing ffdshow Avisynth plugin

a) Go to ffdshow video decoder configuration window (Start > Program Files > K-Lite Codec Pack > Configuration)

b) Under the Codec tab on the left column and then the Decoder column, make sure AviSynth format is using 'AviSynth' (default is disabled) and Raw video is set as 'all supported'.

Codecs settings

c) Next go to AviSynth tab and ONLY tick the following settings:

- AviSynth

- 3:2 Pulldown: Ignore pulldown

- Input colorspaces: YV12

- Buffer back/ahead: 0 10 (the first value is the number of used frames to keep in buffer and the second value is the number of used frames to buffer ahead). Note that the first value must be greater or equal to the second value, not vice versa.

AviSynth settings

d) Go to the Output tab and verify that 'High quality YV12 to RGB conversion' is ticked. Verify the same setting also in the RGB conversion tab just below the Output tab.

RGB conversion settings

Output settings

Step 3: Inserting AviSynth script

Go to the AviSynth tab page in ffdshow video decoder setting and copy and paste the AviSynth script below.

E.g.

AviSynth Script

SetMTMode(1,0)

ffdShow_source()

SetMTMode(2)

super=MSuper(pel=1, hpad=0, vpad=0, rfilter=4)

backward_1=MAnalyse(super, chroma=false, isb=true, blksize=16, searchparam=3, plevel=0, search=3, badrange=(-24))

forward_1=MAnalyse(super, chroma=false, isb=false, blksize=16, searchparam=3, plevel=0, search=3, badrange=(-24))

backward_2 = MRecalculate(super, chroma=false, backward_1, blksize=8, searchparam=1, search=3)

forward_2 = MRecalculate(super, chroma=false, forward_1, blksize=8, searchparam=1, search=3)

backward_3 = MRecalculate(super, chroma=false, backward_2, blksize=8, searchparam=0, search=3)

forward_3 = MRecalculate(super, chroma=false, forward_2, blksize=8, searchparam=0, search=3)

MBlockFps(super, backward_3, forward_3, num=60, den=1, mode=0)

SetMTMode(1)

GetMTMode(false) > 0 ? distributor() : last

Some explanations about the script:
Line 1
SetMTMode(1,0)

This line is used to set the multithreading (MT) mode. The number '1' denotes the MT mode (there are a total of 6 modes which will explained below) and the number '0' means to use all available cores. If you would like to use only x number of cores, just changed the number 0 to x. For example, if I wanted to use 2 cores, this line would be SetMTMode(1,2)

Listed below is the description for each mode. Normally mode 2 and mode 3 works just fine.

Mode 1 is the fastest but only works with a few filter.
Mode 2 should work with most filters but uses more memory.
Mode 3 should work with some of the filters that doesn't work with mode 2 but is slower.
Mode 4 is a combination of mode 2 and 3 and should work with even more filter but is both slower and uses more memory
Mode 5 is slowest but should work with all filters that don't require linear frameserving (that is the frames come in order (frame 0,1,2 ... last).
Mode 6 is a modified mode 5 that might be slightly faster.

Source: http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Internal_functions/Multithreading_functions

Line 4
super=MSuper(pel=1, hpad=0, vpad=0, rfilter=4)

The pel=x number dictates the accuracy of the estimation values being 1, 2 and 4. If you have less than 60% cpu usage, you might consider increasing the pel value. Vice versa for freeing up some cpu without changing scripts. Overall, cpu usage should not go over 80~85% otherwise frames will get dropped. To cut things short, the higher the value of pel, hpad, and vpad, the greater the quality of the outputted frames. Typically the following settings should work just fine.

super=MSuper(pel=2, hpad=4, vpad=4, rfilter=4)

You might notice a considerable high CPU load when changing the pel value to 4 when playing 1080p videos.What this means is that you will notice a huge number of frames that are being dropped, hence lagging frames. However, 720p videos works fine under the same settings.

Third line from last line
MBlockFps(super, backward_3, forward_3, num=60, den=1, mode=0)

The num=xx value is the outputed framerate. Since our desired framerate is 60 FPS, it is common sense to change this num to 60.

Step 4: Configuring Media Player Classic-Home Theater (MPC-HC)
Since this guide is created to use MPC-HC as the default media player, it is essential to configure it properly so that it uses ffdshowvideo decoder instead of the internal filter.

a) Configure MPC-HC to use Haali Video Renderer.

Go to View > Options. Under the output tab and in the DirectShow Video section, select Haali Renderer.

MPC-HC output settings

b) Now configure MPC-HC to bypass all internal and external filters.

Go to both Internal Filters and External filters settings and untick all options.

MPC-HC internal filters settings

Step 5: Verify that the video is playing @ 60 FPS.

a) Go to View > Statistic under Media Player Classic (or press Ctrl+4). Desired result is the frame rate
shows 60 and the number of frames dropped is 0 or very minimal.

Alternative solution 1: using the framedouble plugin (48 FPS instead of 60 FPS)
*Note that the effects might not be so prominent compared to the AviSynth, it's purely subjective.

1) Go to ffdshow video encoder configuration page and then navigate to Deinterlacing tab.

2) On the right pane window, tick 'Deinterlacing', 'Process whole image', and 'Process frames tagged as progressive'. Under the 'Method' drop down menu, select Framerate double.

Deinterlacing settings

3) Hit Apply and OK.

Alternative solution 2: use Splash Pro media player.

You can try out this media player that uses their own proprietary technique to render the smooth image. The PRO version is trial though.

http://mirillis.com/en/downloads/downloads_splashpro.html

Alternative solution 3: Smooth Video Project (SVP)

I will not cover this topic as it deviates from the intent of this post. In short, SVP achieve the same results with AviSynth without using AviSynth.

http://www.svp-team.com/wiki/Main_Page

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The guide is compiled from the following source. All credits goes to the author:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=288017

HTPC setup - XBMC vs Plex

2011-12-11T18:28:00.001+08:00

When it comes in the scene of HTPC, two software often sprung to our mind: XBMC and Plex.

Before you read on further, let me clarify one thing first. I had been using XBMC (in Windows) for several years now and had just fully started to understand and use Plex (in Mac) several days ago. The following review is based on such experience.

Simply put, comparing XBMC to Plex is like comparing Windows to Mac. I found Plex to be much more user friendly. Yes, you heard it right. I personally think that XBMC is more catered to power user who wants the maximum customization possible whereby Plex is more for user that just wants to get things done as fast as possible and in the neat way if possible.

More after the break.

Differences

XBMC is basically a server and client all under one roof ; Plex separate the server and client. The good thing about the separation is that any update to the library can be done directly via the server without interrupting the client. You can even manage the server via HTTP interface!

Scraper
If one wanted to compare the built-in scraper between XBMC and Plex, I like XBMC better as you can easily install additional scrapers via the Add-On submenu. On Plex, however, the scraper are quite limited and you would have to browse through their forum for them. Also, if you had scrape your video files using EMM (Ember Media Manager) like myself, you might hesitate to try Plex as it is unable to read local .nfo files (as far as I know). XBMC, on the other hand, is able to read those .nfo files just fine. In other words, prepare to spent some time when you first add your library into Plex as it will need to download those information from the Internet, ignoring those nicely resided .nfo files even though they are within reach.

Background Theme Song
For TV Series only. Wouldn't it be nice if you can hear the TV theme song being played while you navigating through it and searching for the episode to watch? Plex support such feature natively without additional add-on. However, only selected TV series support the theme song. Adding custom one is impossible by this stage.

Here is the currently supported TV Series that has the theme song.

*You might have read their wiki mentioning a guideline to adding own custom background theme song here. However it only works in Plex 0.8 and below and does not work on Plex 0.9+. The main reason being that starting from Plex 0.9 onwards, the theme song is bundled together as a metadata. I had tried to refresh the metadata and even remove and re-add the same series again to the library, but the client just won't detect the file. Hence the only way to add one is to submit your own theme song to the developers. Do note that the submission might take some time (and I mean it) to be approved and put on the official list. Leave a comment if you know any workaround.

For XBMC, you will need additional add on such as this TVTunes Addon here.

Background Music
Plex, by default, also support background music when you first launch the client. You could any any number of musics (.mp3 only) and the client will just playback them in random order. I never heard of such feature in XBMC though. Perhaps a tweak is needed.

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Additional Tips & Guides on Plex
How to install additional skin on Plex
There are two ways to do this. The first way is to go through their forum and search for specific skin. Most skins, however, require you to install them using Preen, which is the second method. Preen is basically a skin manager that searches the repository for any skins.

Software Link

The current button is used to set the skin to be used by the client. You can only change it when Plex client is not running. You can also switch the skin within the client itself.

The Update checkbox will download the skin. Skins are downloaded as .zip and automatically extracted to /Users//Library/Application Support/Plex/skin. You can see the downloading progress by firing up Console and then search for preen.

Here's how to intepret it.

Download percentage | Total zip file size | Downloaded size | estimated download time | elapsed time | remaining download time

How to I access/control my Plex Server via Web Browser?
Type the following in your browser address: http://localhost:32400/manage/index.html#home. Using browser such as Safari and Firefox is recommended. Browser such as Camino had problem loading the page.

Where is the file location for Plex Server and client?
Both of them can be found under /Users//Library/Application Support/Plex (for client) or /Users//Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server (for server).

How to export Plex library to HTML?
Plex Web Export easily does that.

Example of the result:

Link

How do I add background music that will be played back when I first launch the Plex client?
Background musics can be added to the following path /Users//Library/Application Support/Plex/Background Music/main. The theme folder is supposed to allow you to add custom TV theme song. But as I mentioned above, it DOES NOT work for Plex 0.9+.

I have tons of anime series that are numbered in absolute order (which is a standard means of ordering for anime series). Is there any scraper that will scan these files in such order?
As you would have probably noticed, the default scraper is only able to scan files that are named in standard convention, e.g. Detective Conan S01 E01. However some anime might have hundreds of episodes and are mostly numbered in absolute order. Luckily there is a scraper for it, called AbsTVDB (Absolute Order TV Agent).

As quoted from the discussion site:

To install, AbsTVDB, go to the (/var/lib/plexmediaserver/ [for Linux] ) or Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins (for Mac) directory and unzip the file. It should create an AbsTVDB.bundle folder with the agent in it. You may need to stop and start plexmediaserver to get PMS to recognize AbsTVDB. Give it time to come up fully. You should see AbsTVDB as an option for your section's metadata agent in the Web Manager section configuration popup (click the Advanced button).

You should see it in your Agent if done properly.

To use the agent, right click on the Anime that uses Absolute ordering, then select Match Using > AbsoluteOrdering.

Link

--------

Additional tips will be added as I navigate through Plex over time. Hope reading this will make you give Plex a try, if you haven't do so already :)

Useful Links
TelevisionTunes - Search and download TV Series and game tunes here. A must visit site to download theme song for TV Series.

Getting Started Wiki Guide to using Plex

[Guide] How to play paid songs on Guitar Hero for iPhone/iPod Touch

2011-11-24T22:30:00.001+08:00

If you had played Guitar Hero for iPhone/iPod Touch before, then you would have noticed that it only came pre-installed with 6 tracks. The rest of the tracks are purchasable via the in-game store which will sucks your wallet dry.

So now here's the guide to download and play those paid songs. Of course you would need to jailbreak your iDevice as we will need to transfer those song pack files via SSH.

Link to download all the song packs HERE.

Once you had downloaded the song packs on the site above, follow this guide to SSH into your iDevice. All that is remaining is to copy those song pack files that you had downloaded into /private/var/mobile/Applications/[GuitarHero] folder.

Note: One thing that you would have noticed is that you will see many folders with weird names like dd3344sdfsdf... Just go inside the folder one by one until you see there is a file named GuitarHero.app and you would have known that you are in the right folder. To make things easier, just delete the Guitar Hero app from your iDevice then resync it back via iTunes. After that go to the Application folder again and sort those folders by 'Date'. The most recent one (topmost) would be the Guitar Hero app.

uCertify - Both studying and test preparation under one hood

2011-09-29T23:19:00.001+08:00

Today I'll make a full review on a software that integrates both study and test preparation in a way that I am impressed with - uCertify. Although there are other softwares available out there, there are several distinctive features offered by uCertify that set it apart from others. This review is solely my own personal opinions and after several hours of usage.

Simple and clean User Interface
When I opened up uCertify for the first time, I am really impressed with the total integration between the study material and the test. Each of them are nicely presented and arranged in sections. There are no unnecessary buttons or stack of menus that I need to click to launch a task. In fact, I began to familiarize myself with the software in the matter of seconds even without reading the documentation prior to that!

Wide variety of professional certificates tests
Ranged from A to Z (well perhaps not Z but you know what I meant.). If there is a professional certificate, uCertify has it. So far I had tested out with Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle tests and they had provided me with a better understanding and confidence when I shall take the exam in the future.

Studying Material
This is the first time that I had used a software that has a study material that integrates with a test preparation software. It is indeed a useful features as I can study existing material about a topic or even add my own study notes. No more opening up Microsoft Word or Notepad just to refer to the notes as I can just add it directly in the software.

Below are the features related to the test preparation section that I think is notable:

Inserting own notes or custom tag at each question for future references
Adding custom notes when stumbled across a question that need further explanation is definitely useful. Think this question is for a particular interested topic? Tag it for future searches.

Learn mode vs Exam mode
If you are those kind of people who wants to get immediate result after answering a question, then Learn mode is for you. Otherwise exam mode lets you know the answer only at the end of the test.

Setting up a custom exam environment
This feature is definitely useful for different kinds of scenario.

For me, whenever I am in a quick or high tea, I just create a smaller number of questions (in the range of 10 to 15) and shorter time (e.g. 10 minutes) to breeze through the exam. And when I'm free during the weekends, I just allocate the time for myself to setup a testing environment similar to the real examinations.

Adding own question to the pool
There are cases when I feel that the questions are just not enough or too easy (due to the fact that I had undergoes the same question set every time). In that case I just add the questions that I found on the Internet to the question pool and setup a test based on those questions.

Resuming the test
I hate it when I need to start over the test again and abort the test when I decided to shut down my computer or close the program. Thankfully uCertify have the feature to let me resume the previous questions that I had answered.

Tracking my progress
Every now and then I can see how have I progress over time every time I had finished a test so that I can better know my weaknesses.

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uCertify Official Link: http://www.ucertify.com

Research on rating music

2011-09-22T18:20:00.003+08:00

Think rating your music library manually is tiring? Want to discover your music style? Guess what, there's a research for it.

http://www.giantpygmy.net/sections/pause/archive/dada_autorating_dar_v162.html

[Guide] How to enable co-op in Dead Island (PC)

2011-09-15T23:45:00.003+08:00

From what I have read in the forum so far, many players are having trouble trying to enable co-op mode for Dead Island. This guide is created just for that purpose.

What you need to do?

Prerequisite:
1) Installed all 3 updates (RELOADED).
2) Installed SmartSteam 1.41-fix.
3) Installed Tunngle.
4) Added DeadIslandGame.exe in Steam via 'Add a non Steam game' option.

2) Open steam_appid.txt under your Dead Island game directory. If the content is a number 91310, change it to 57940 (which is the game id for Dead Island). Afterward right click on the files > properties > tick on the 'read only' mode. This is to prevent Steam from changing the content back to the original one.

NOTE: This will solve the problem in which the Game Lobby is being greyed out in the main menu.

3) Launch Tunngle and type Dead Island in the search box. Select any room to join. Click the 'Forward' button then double click on any server to join.

4) Launch the game. In 'Online Option', make sure that LAN mode is selected instead of Internet.

5) Play your game and open up the main menu (Esc), the Game Lobby option should be active now.

Video Guides:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe0Vminw4X4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5RFNrC0oWs

DSP_LLE for Dolphin Wii Emulator

2011-09-08T21:38:00.002+08:00

Below is the files necessary to enable LLE (Low Level Emulation) DSP for Dolphin Wii emulator. One reason to use it instad of HLE is that you can now listen to the BGM in games such as Super Mario Galaxy 2! Be careful though if your CPU is not powerful enough there will causes major slowdown in the game. You might even heard audio cracking but it's fine.

Extract and place them under your Dolphin Path\User\GC.

http://www.filesonic.com/file/1903722551

Essential plugins for foobar2k user

2011-08-22T18:40:00.001+08:00

Being an all-time foobar2k (foobar2000) fans, I had decided to list out some of the useful plugins for any newbie who had finally ditched . Many people often turned away from foobar just because it is 'ugly' when launching it for the first time. What they DIDN'T know is that it is simply the most advanced media player ever built. Period. Almost every audiophiles on the planet uses it. I didn't bluff you, go to the forum which hosted foobar2k (www.hydrogenaudio.org) and see for yourself.

Among the features of foobar2k are:

Tight integration with last.fm via plugin. Audio scrobbing supported via foo_audioscrobber plugin.
Control your foobar instance via the internet, anywhere in the world.
Endless customization at user part. Your imagination is the limit here.
Various user-made skins can be found on the Internet, e.g. DeviantArt.
freedb tagger support. E.g. Tag your VGM music from vgmdb.net.
and many more which are up to you to discover...

Anyway, here goes the list.

foo_preview
For someone like me who owns over 1500 albums in my library, it would be impossible to play through each and every single track on my library. This plugin definitely helps to preview some portion of the tracks. Think of this as the ~1 minute preview music you heard on iTunes.

Activate it under: File Menu > Playback > Preview Mode

Found under: Playback > Preview

foo_scheduler
I use this plugin to playback songs as my morning call. Yeah you could have your smartphone or traditional alarm clock that could achieve the same purpose, but could they:
1) fit all the music from your library?
2) playback at a specific time then stop at a specific time without your intervention?
3) and any other stuffs which you think a scheduler should do.

Customize it under: Playback > Scheduler

foo_customdb (lastest ver. 0.1.0beta-1)
Whenever a song is played, you could have information such as last_played, play_count, etc. stored as tag directly into the song. But it would consume a little bit of your CPU cycle. What is better than storing it inside a database?

Customize it under: Tools > Custom Database

foo_playback_custom (latest ver. 1.5.1)
Wiki
Can be used in conjunction with foo_customdb to store custom tags.

foo_audioscrobber (latest ver. 1.4.7)
Scrobe currently playing tracks to last.fm

Found under: Tools > Audioscrobber

foo_talktome
Ever wished your computer could tell you what song is currently playing? This plugin does the job. You could even customize your own sentence and TTS engine, e.g. 'Now playing %title% by %artist% from %album%'

Customize it under: Tools > TalkToMe

foo_vorbisstream
Host your own shoutcast station with this plugin.

foo_channel_mixer (latest ver. 0.9.6.5)
Wiki

As the name implies, can upmix stereo audio into 5.1 channel. Great if you would like to have a surround listening experience.

foo_uie_lyrics3
Search online for lyrics automatically by checking the tags.

More information and plugins can be found at HydrogenAudio.

Hackintosh Build.. Success

2011-08-21T15:28:00.006+08:00

Since last night I had been toying around with my PC to install hackintosh. After 5 hours of work I had successfully installed it. Every component is working as it should be. However, I just couldn't launch FCP X and Motion 5. Launching them always result in ".. cannot be opened because of a problem.." blah blah blah.

Update: Finally got both FCPX and Motion 5 to work after performing Software Update. I think ProRes Kit is the needed things here. Now all runs well :-D

I had posted a thread here on tonymac here in hope that someone will shed a light to me.

This guide by Jeff works as charm. Just follow it if you have similar build as his. The only thing different between my build and his is my graphic card and I'm using TP Link wireless USB dongle. Took me quite a while to find the proper kext for the dongle. Glad that the effort of searching prove to be worthwhile.

Screenshots:

It should be 1600 MHz, well I guess losing 80Mhz wouldn't hurt the performance.

Hehe, Mac Pro, or Hack Pro?

Graphic card detected alright. Too bad I still can't output audio via HDMI interface.

Ralink (TP-WN321G) Airport Interface

---

The following links should guide you on how to install the Ralink kext on your hackintosh.

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=163067
http://www.projectosx.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=390&mode=threaded&pid=4230
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=170442

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Additional Info
How to Remove Kext File

[Project] Karaoke Lyric Animation Video (Day 3)

2011-08-18T23:37:00.006+08:00

For the past 3 days I had starting to learn about creating karaoke style lyrics for movies just out of curiosity. The effort had not gone wasted as I had successfully created 3 clips which I had uploaded on YT. The learning curve had been well thanks to the Internet :-)

Clip #1 - Scandal - Namida no Regret
*First attempt. Forgot to break down the english translation. AR is a bit offset.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_zRSeD3tbE

Clip #2 - Shiroku Hirata - Never More (Persona 4 ED)

Clip #3 - Kawamura Yumi - Kimi no Kioku (Persona 3 ED)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmHmj1rJ6Q4

Preparing video files for YouTube in HD quality

2011-07-31T20:24:00.006+08:00

My previous post is about recording video game. This post will be mentioning about ways to prepare those raw video files for publishing on the Internet, e.g. YouTube.

The following methods is solely based on my own preference and might differ from others.

Tools used:
Mediacoder - to convert the raw video into a editing-friendly format. (e.g. Final Cut Pro (FCP) doesn't accept the native .AVI format).
Editing software - Final Cut Studio Pro X (Requires Mac OS 10.6.7 or above), Sony Vegas Studio Platinum v10 (Windows).

First things first:

YouTube criteria for HD video must meet the following requirements:
FPS: <= 30 FPS (23, 25, 29.976, 30 should be fine) Sound sample rate: 44,100 Hz Codec: H.264 Container: MP4 * If your uploaded video does not meet these requirements, there will be extra transcoding done on YouTube server on your video, which might degrade the overall quality. This explains why some of the video you uploaded previously resulted in poor quality than it should be.

Step 1 - Convert the raw video (.avi) into FCP friendly format.
I use the following settings on MediaCoder.
Video Bitrate: 10,000 kbps
Rate Mode:Constant Bitrate
Format: H.264

Container: MP4

Audio:
Format: HE-AAC
Resample: 44100Hz
Rate Mode: Target Bitrate
Bitrate Quality: 256 kbps

You should be able to import the output file successfully without any additional trans-coding part when importing it to FCP.

Step 2 - Using FCP to edit the imported video
When exporting the video, make sure that H.264 is chosen. The output should be in .mov format.

Step 3 - Prepare the video to publish on YouTube
Convert the project output (.mov) using the same settings as step 1, but this time set the video bitrate to 2,000 kbps (3-pass). Resize the video to 1280x720 if you plan to upload to YouTube as 720p video. In my experience, a 2 minutes long 1080p video (1.0GB) is compressed into ~90 MB (720p) with decent quality.

Now sit back and watch your uploaded video in HD!

Optimal way to capture game video (FRAPS vs Bandicam)

2011-07-31T19:35:00.004+08:00

It is no doubt that FRAPS is the reigning software that sprung into most people's mind in their first venture into the world of capturing precious gaming moment. However, after using it for some time, one might start to wonder the limitations of the software, among those are:

1) File size limiation of 3.9GB per video recording because FRAPS is still using the older standard of AVI, which is openDML v1.

2) Game lagging during recording via Full Size (1920x1080).

Unfortunately, there is still no way to overcome the aforementioned limiations. This is when another software, Badicam came into mind.

With my experience of using Bandicam thus far, there is no impact on the FPS whatsoever when capturing the video in full-size. I am not implying that FRAPS causes a huge dip in FPS, but I would like to record the entire session of the game in single file instead of multiple split files, even if the problem can be solved by merging those files. The reason is because it uses compression technique to keep the file small. Below is the setting which I set for recording session:

"It is always better to record in the highest possible quality for later post-processing purpose."

Bluetooth PS3 DS3 with motioninJoy (Pairing success)

2011-07-27T20:07:00.003+08:00

The Bluetooth Dongle USB v2.0+EDR which I ordered online yesterday had reached my doorstep today. It is a lucky purchase as the device is compatible with the current version of MotionInJoy. I can finally get rid of the USB cable when I use my beloved PS3 DualShock3 controller. It is simply the best controller ever made, period. No more hassle for tripping over wire :)

Completed Persona 4

2011-07-27T13:33:00.006+08:00

Completed Persona 4 after roughly 68 hours of game play.

To tell the truth, I'm not so satisfied with the ending compared with P3 though. There is a turning point whereby I am given the choice to push the killer into the TV or spare it. Regardless of whichever choice I do, there is no further gameplay unlike P3 whereby you get extra one month (January) to prepare and defeat Nyx (if you choose not to kill Ryoko). Besides, Social Links doesn't seemed to have much meaning that contributed towards the ending unlike P3.

Well back to the ending, there are two different ending depending on my choices at the scene whether to spare or push the killer into the TV world.

First route: Sparing him
If I chose to spare him, you will be glad to hear when the doctor told you that Nanako didn't died after all. The next Spring you will see on the news that the guy will be held on trial. But he denied the first two mystery murders. Nanako couldn't see you off as she is still recuperating at the hospital.

Second route: Push him into the TV world
In this case, you will found that Nanako died when you and your friends are back to her ward. The next Spring you will see on the news reporting that he committed suicide and police still couldn't find the case of his death.

In both route, you will notice that Teddie had left the world. Regardless, the mystery still shrouds on why he left as well as the existence of the Midnight Channel.

Case closed... Eh?

Guides referred:
Quests
Skills
Max Social Links Guide

Comparisons between Persona 3 (FES) and Persona 4

2011-07-25T18:55:00.010+08:00

Looking back at what I had accomplished thus far. I had finished playing Persona 3: FES one week ago and has since started playing P4. After playing P4 for roughly a week now (now on mid September), it had sprung to my mind to mention the changes for this awesome RPG in comparison with P3 or P3:FES, just for the sake of memory refreshment and ways to kill time aside from indulging myself in P4.

Story / Plot
- Moon cycle (Full Moon) in P3 is replaced by weather (Fog) in P4. For each Full Moon in P3, you will fight each Shadow correspond to the twelve major arcana. Not much curiosity involved as you are only expected to fight each shadow by every Full Moon. In P4, when the fog is the heaviest, that is when someone will be killed. Here you are presented with much curiosity as you are trying to figure out who is going to be killed next.

Dungeon Exploration:
- Your party HP and SP are no longer restored to maximum. In P3, every time you return to 1F in Tartarus, all your HP and SP will be restored to their maximum points. I used to exploit this mechanic by returning to 1F after activating the beacon before fighting the floor boss. However, in P4, the only way to restore SP is by using the Fox service (which healed your SP for a price) or SP recovery item.

- Instead of one single dungeon, Tartarus to explore in P3, there are now multiple dungeons to explore in P4, each of which caters to the character traits. The most memorable ones are the retro game dungeon which looks like 3D Dot Games Heroes.

- There are no more floor beacon to activate in the dungeons in P4. This makes sense as the number of floors is small, but seemingly increasing with each new dungeons. The highest floors I reached thus far is not more than 15F. In other words, the only way to return to the entrance now is by using skill ( ), item ( ) or the Glittering butterfly savepoint at the highest floor of each dungeon (before fighting the dungeon boss).

- Before fighting the dungeon final / true boss, there are now an intermediary boss that you will need to fight.

- In P3, you visit Tartarus in every Evening; In P4, you can only gather your party for dungeon exploration during After School.

- While exploring Tartarus with your party, your teammates as well as yourself might get tired after battling a certain number of Shadows. When this happens, the character is more prone to critical attack (hence knock down status), getting more damage from Shadow, lower hitting rate, etc. If prolonged, the character might be getting sick after returning to the reality. You wouldn't want this to happen as it takes much more days for the sickened character to become healthly again. In P4, however, this mechanic had removed altogether. Your character will not have tired/sickness status and you can explore the dungeon for all the time you want.

Battle / Game Mechanic
- In P3, you cannot issue command directly to your teammates, which frustrated many players as the AI is not intelligence enough. In my experience, during my final fight with Nyx, even when I set Akihiko on Support/Healing, he still attack Nyx when it use Moonlight Wailing. This causes the attack to deflect on himself and KO'ed. Many players had then requested such feature to be implemented in P4. Lucky for us that Atlus listen to their request and thus in P4, you can now direct command your party members.

- In P3, if you hit an enemy with its weakness, and exploit the same weakness again, that shadow will recover from knockdown status. However, if you do the same in P4, the shadow will not recover from the knockdown status, instead, it will get a dizzy status which makes it longer to recover from the status. Hence it is good to hit it with the same weakness again and again without worrying that it will recover any time soon.

- In P3, if you use a skill that struck one or more shadows (not all) that is weak towards it, you will not have a 1-more chance. 1-More chance is always granted if you managed to use a skill that all shadows in that battle is weak against. However, this had changed in P4 as you will always have a 1-More chance as long as you use an area skill that hit the weakness of a/some/all shadow in a battle.

- There are three types of Physical attack in P3, namely Strike (fist), Slash (sword), and Pierce (bow, pistol). In P4, they are all combined as simple Phy attack.

- The weakness for the same shadow in P3 might be differ from those in P4.

- Shadows in P4 are having lesser weaknesses than those of P3. Many of these shadows will not have weakness at all! E.g. Champion Knight had no weakness at all in P4. There are also shadow that had only one weakness and you can only defeat it by exploiting this one weakness. Attacks other than this weakness will not work as it will block/repel it.

- In P3, a single analysis on a shadow (other than floor boss or shadow that you fought during Full Moon) will always reveal its full weaknesses. It is much harder to know the shadow weakness in P4 as you will no longer be able to perform a full analysis on the enemies to know all their weaknesses at one scan. Instead, you can only tell after you hit it with a particular skill. Pretty much trial and error here if you are new to the game.

- Shadow is much easier to strike from behind and thus easier to enter preemtpive strike or Player Advantage in P3. Things has changed in P4 and it is much harder to do so. Shadows will always noticed your presence (shown by !) when you are near them, even when attacking from behind. There are times though that you will enter the Advantage by really striking them from behind.

- In P3, shadows will only drop quest item, which has a low selling value and really serves no point aside from completing Elizabeth quest. However, in P4, each shadow now drop much more items and at a higher rate. You can then sell these items in the Shop to unlock certain equipments. These materials sell at a higher rate too. So it's a win-win situation. Be careful not to sell those items that are required for the quest though.

Quest
- In P3, the only way to do or obtain quest is through Elizabeth. In P4, you may obtain quests from various people from various places. Many of which requires you to bring them some items obtained from enemies in Dungeon.

Cosmetic Changes:
- For somewhat reason the font in P4 is much nice looking in P4.

- The environment is much more colorful in P4.

- The circular command interface in P3 had been replaced by a typical interface, as shown below.

- Calendar transition from day to day is much faster in P4. In P3, the loading screen (shown by a rotating card at the bottom right of the screen) will show first, then only the calendar screen in which the day will shift. In P4, both the rotating card and the day transition is being shown in one screen instead. It is noticably faster.

- Social Link leveling screen is changed entirely. In P3, the only thing involved each time you rank up a social link is a bunch of words. In P4, there is a screen that shows the progressive rank bar at the bottom of the screen as well as the level.

Persona Fusion
- All fused Personas are now automatically registered without the need to register it manually in P4.

Misc.
- Elizabeth in Velvet Room in P3 had been replaced with Margeret in P4.

- Velvet room in P3 is a moving elevator whereas it is a moving limousin in P4.

- The lessons that took place in P3 is much longer than P4. I really mean it. You may be glad that Mr. Edokawa doesn't realocated to Yasogami High School.

- In P3, you stay in a dorm with your fellow party members. In P4, you stay in a house with a young girl and a detective.

- You are greeted by a random dorm members in P3 every day you returned there. In P4, you will always greeted by the little girl called Nanako. I loves the way she call me 'Big Brother'.

- In P3, you only have 3 Social Stats, namely Academics, Courage, and . These Social Stats had been increased to 5, which are Courage, Diligence, Knowledge, Understanding, and Expression.

Characters
Below is a list of characters which I think is almost similar in terms of their traits/personality.
- Chie in P4 is like Yukari in P3, not the tomboyish personality of Chie but her cheerful attitute.

- In P3, you have Junpei ; In P4, you have Yousuke.

- Koromaru (white dog) in P3 ; Teddie (Stuffed Bear) in P4.

- Akihiko in P3 ; Kanji in P4 (white hair)

Social Links
- You will no longer need to bring a matching Persona when maxing a Social Link. E.g. From rank 9 to rank 10.

Common elements between P3 / P3:FES / P4
- You are still the main silent protagonist who doesn't speak.

- You are the high school student.

- You still need to initiate Social Links with various people.

- You can still date girl. You cannot gives them gifts in P4 to increase the S.Link score points as you could in P3.

- There is a Social Link that you can only engage in every Sunday. In P3, there is a young male who is having an uncurable genetic disease and eventually died (Sun Social Link). In P4, it is an old lady dressed in black who lost her husband and thinks that you look similar to him (Death Social Link).

- The shrine in P4 looks similar to the one in P3. Perhaps all the shrine in Japan look like this?

- Humor elements are still there.

- You are still a guy.

Elements that are only available in P4
- In P4, for each certain Social Link ranks that you achieved with your teammates, you might unlock certain feature for him/her, such as assisting knock down member, ailment recovering, enduring mortal blow, etc. No effect on P3.

- You can now fish at the lake for fish, in which you can trade for various items.

- There are much more activites that you can do in your room aside from study or playing MMORPG (Maya Social Link) as in P3. In P4, you can read books on Sofa (gain various Social Stats), craft model (gain Diligence) which can then be displayed on shelf, or doing translation/etc. job on the desk.

- You can accept job offer via the notice board on Central Shopping District (North) to gain additional income, social stats. There are some Social Links that are triggered via the jobs too, e.g. Temperance, Devil, and Death as you progress.

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*** SPOILER ***
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If you had played P3: FES and is now playing P4, you will be able to recall some of the memories back in P3: FES. Among them are:
#Summer School Trip
- During the school trip in September, both first and second year classmates are making the trip to Gekikoukan High School, which is the highschool where the story took place in P3.

- Both the headmaster (still the same one as in P3 and like giving speeches that make people yawns) and Chihiro welcomed your class in the entrance of Gekikoukan High School. The way that Chihiro presented her welcoming invitation speech is so flawless that you wouldn't actually think that she was once a timid person and always struggling with words. Here you will see that Chihiro had become a much more matured and are not the timid person anymore. Guess what, she is now the President of the student council. During the conversation when she was handling the school trip schedule flyers to you, she did mentioned that she was once a timid person and was afraid to talk to guys. However, she managed to overcome it (thanks to the protagonist in P3 in which you will know more details when you had maxed the Social Links with her in P3). She also mentioned that the speech was actually prepared by the former president of the student council, which is undoubtedly Michiru Kirijo.

- On the first day of the school trip, your class attended a lecture taught by Mr. Edokawa. In P3, this is the lecturer who gives long speeches and dragged a stretch of words about myth, sorcery, magic, witch, fortune telling, ancient magical history, etc. In P4, he mentioned about the past history of Japan. The dialog, however, had been cut short. Still, it still feels long to me.

- In the second night, your party spent their night in Escapade Club in Port Island. You could actually hear the ending theme song for P3 playing behind the background.

- At their final day of the school trip, your party visited Hagakure Ramen shop. The ramen master and the TV are still there, as it is in P3.

#Pink Aligator
- This is actually the story written by a dying young man (teenager which is around the age of the protagonist that had an uncurrable genetic disease in P3: FES). The story is written to reflect his own life. While engaging the Social Links with the guy in P3: FES on every Sunday, he will mention the story bit by bit until he left the entire storybook to you upon maxing his Social Links. As you had guess, he died eventually. Below is a summary of his story that I managed to recall.

As most story begins, "Once upon a time, there was a aligator. However, that aligator has a distinctive pink skin. It was very hard for him to go hunting for food because his prey would have seen him from a distance far away due to the color. Meanwhile, there was also a bird who can't fly. One day, both of them met and eventually they become close friends. The bird will always perched at the back of the pink aligator. In one fine day, the pink aligator was so hungry and fell asleep. While asleeping, he accidentally ate the bird. As soon as he realized this when he woke up, he tried hard to spit it out but it was all too late. From that day onwards, the pink aligator always cried and eventually he died. As a result of the amount of tears shed for that bird, the area soon becomes a lake in which all animals in the forest will hang around after he died. However, no one knows what makes the lake as it is today". The sorrowful music along with this compelling story really make this scene memorable.

#Tanaka, the Businessman
You might recall him as the one that you initiate the Devil Social Link with. He is typically known as a selfish businessman. In P4, he is on a television show every Sunday and you can buy products from him.

Mass Effect 2 Post-Completion Thought

2011-07-10T18:00:00.004+08:00

Alas, finally completed Mass Effect 2 (PC) on Hardcore mode after 31 hours of playing. It had been a while, heck, perhaps years since I played a decent FPS+RPG kind of game. My first playthrough was with a Paragon build male John Shepard.

While reading through the game forum for my second playthough, I found out something interesting that determines the mortality rate of my teammates on the Suicide Mission. Heck I never thought that there is a way to keep all members alive! I lost 3 members, Legion, Thane, and Jacob during the mission. I'd like Jack to trade places with Thane though for certain reasons (You'd know her well if you played the game). Losing Jacob didn't really concern me much. In fact, he is the first member I would like to get rid of before the mission even get started. Perhaps he is just too normal and being the only black guy in the game XD (just joking, I'm not a racist).

http://media1.gameinformer.com/images/features/flowcharts/206-flowchart-poster-low.jpg

I guess BioWare really knows how to design a game with player decision in mind. After completing my first playthrough I now understand why ME2 is highly acclaimed among PC gamers. Great voice acting, facial expression, and the plot really make me forget how time flies. Glad I had played it.

Now that I had looked at it, I will continue my second playthrough, this time with an ultimate bad-ass female Jane Shepard. I wonder what kind of bad-ass responses will she give.

Off to save the universe.

P/S: Intimacy scene with Tali is the most rewarding part. /gg Too bad I can't see her real face. Hope this will get revealed in ME3.

Using PS3 controller in Dead Rising 2

2011-05-27T00:31:00.001+08:00

Steps to follow in order to use PS3 DualShock3 controller in Dead Rising 2 (PC). By default the game can only detect the original XBox controller. Using such method will fake the DS3 into a XBox controller.

http://techiestalk.com/how-to-repair-xbox-360-wireless-controller-not-work-when-playing-dead-rising-2.html

Random Links

2011-05-26T14:59:00.002+08:00

Just found an interesting blog that share various software.
http://gnrsu.com/

Activate Windows 7 in the most easiest way with WIN7-A
http://gnrsu.com/win7-activation-win7-a.html

SweetHome 3D - Free Interior Architecture Design (Online)
http://gnrsu.com/sweet-home-3d-sh3d.html

[Guide] Pairing SonyPlaystation 3 Dualshock 3 controller with Macbook Pro (Mac OS X)

2011-05-25T12:57:00.003+08:00

My previous article is on how to pair a DualShock 3 controller with MBP running Windows. Now this article is trying to achieving the same purpose, but on Mac OS X.

Great news if you are running Snow Leopard because SL is now natively support Sony PS3 controller. Which means that if you had enabled the Bluetooth on your Mac OS X and press the PS logo on your PS3 controller, the OS will be able to detect it correctly. Previous OS build requires user to install a custom small-file sized driver in order for it to be detected.

Now after you had paired it with your OS, another problem exist. How to map the key? Unlike windows which has a Game Controller panel which enable user to calibrate and confirm the controller had been detected and mapped correctly, there is no way to do it on Mac OS.

There are several third party software available but I would highly recommend GameCompanion, which is available on Mac App Store here.

In short, GameCompanion enable you to map your PS3 controller button to a certain keystroke. Now you can use the controller and test it on your favorite emulator.

[Guide] Pairing SonyPlaystation 3 Dualshock 3 controller with Macbook Pro (Windows)

2011-05-25T12:06:00.005+08:00

Abstract
This guide is about how to pair a SonyPlaystation 3 Dualshock 3 controller on Apple Macbook Pro / iMac which has an integrated bluetooth module and running Windows (either bootcamp or VMWare Fusion / Parallels)

I had been searching all over the Internet for guide on pairing up my beloved Sony Playstation 3 DualShock3 controller with Windows 7 x64 running on VMWare Fusion on my Macbook Pro 13' 2011. The obvious answer to do so is of course by using motioninjoy. However, using it is only possible on USB cable, bluetooth, uh-huh. Since it doesn't support MBP integrated bluetooth chipset, which means that I couldn't use the DS3 via bluetooth.

So I thought, is there any other ways to pairing my DS3 with Windows 7 via bluetooth? Well I had finally managed to find a way to do so without using motioninjoy but it might requires additional steps.

Prerequisite
Before you proceed to the rest of the guide, make sure you had enabled the bluetooth on your bootcamp or virtualized Windows. To verify, go to Device Manager and see whether there is a bluetooth item header there. Alternatively, you should see a bluetooth icon in the taskbar. FYI, my test setup was on a 2011 Macbook Pro 13' i5 and VMWare Fusion.

Preparing the installation
Now that you had the bluetooth working on your Windows, the next step is to download the following files.

BTsix 1.5c : http://bqron.free.fr/PS3/BT/
Usb Sixaxis Driver Filter (Make sure its the filter) : http://sourceforge.net/projects/libusb-win32/
PPJOY : http://ppjoy.blogspot.com/
FreeBT Drivers : http://code.google.com/p/bthmsdevemul/

Installation
1. Connect your DS3 to your MBP using USB cable.
2. Go to Device Manager, right click on Apple Bluetooth then choose Update Driver Software.
3. Click the second option and then 'Let me pick ...', click the Have Disk button.
4. Select the FreeBT USB Driver > Windows 7 > amd64 (if you're using 64 bit) > fbtusb.inf

* You will need to perform the following steps to let Windows install the driver.
4a. Find out the hardware ID of your Bluetooth module by double clicking on the Apple Bluetooth, go to Details tab, under Property drop down menu select hardware id. Note down the Value, which in my case is:
USB\VID_05AC&PID_821A

4b. Open fbtusb.inf, uncomment the following line and edit the VID and PID value according to your own. Remember to save it.

Example:

; If you want to attach to a specific device, add it's vendor and product id here
; eg. CSR:
%BTUSB.DeviceDesc%=FreeBT.Dev, USB\VID_05ac&PID_821a ; CSR USB

4c. Now try to install the FreeBT USB driver again and Windows should be able to install the driver as the hardware ID is now recognizable.
4d. After installation you should notice that the bluetooth item under Device Manager has now dissapeared. Don't panic as it has been replaced by FreeBT USB Driver under USB Controllers. Your bluetooth has now 'become' a bluetooth USB dongle.

5. Install libusb.
5a. Run Enable Filter under Start Menu > libUSB-32 > Enable Filter.
6. Install ppjoy.
6a. After installating ppjoy, go to Configure Joystick and add a new virtual joysticks.

7. Run btsix and you should see the following screenshot.

7a. Click the Address button to pair the DS3 with your MBP.
8. Now unplug the USB cable and you should be able to use your DS3 wirelessly via bluetooth.

Credits to:

http://www.squidoo.com/using-ps3-controller-in-windows-wireless

http://www.davieslim.com/ps3/use-ps3-controller-in-windows-wireless-bluetooth/

http://forums.motioninjoy.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=819&sid=b41cfc44336e26a82d91cbd39997fc56

Guide to install Wine on Mac OS X

2011-04-23T00:35:00.004+08:00

Links below are regarding Wine for Mac OS X:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Wine Wiki

List of applications compatible with Wine

WineSkin - Play Windows Game without using Windows

[Troubleshooting] Folder in pendrive changed into shortcut

2011-04-18T20:46:00.008+08:00

Have you encountered a situation in which all the folders in your pendrive suddenly changed into shortcuts? Upon double clicking them it links you to another folder path instead? At this point you might be thinking, oh no, all my university assignments is stored inside!!! And I didn't have any backup!!

If so, do not panic yet as following the steps below will solve it. The reason is because some kind of script or virus has changes the folder attribute into hidden.

1. Go to Command Prompt (Win + Run -> Type cmd)

2. Type the following command to remove the hidden attribute
cd H:\ attrib -H -S "foldername" /D /S

* Assume that H:\ is your removable disk drive.
* To list which hidden folders are inside your drive. Type: dir /A:h
* Replace foldername with the folder name listed.
* Repeat this command until all the folders are cleared of hidden attribute.

The Perfect CHM to PDF Converter... FOUND!

2011-04-18T20:33:00.006+08:00

Since yesterday I had been searching for the CHM to PDF converter because I wanted to read on my iPad. I managed to find iChm and Chmate, which are the apps for iPad, but the former doesn't support highlight feature and the later requires iOS4.0. As a sidenote I'm still using iOS 3.2.2. To add, I have been an avid user of GoodReader which I used to read all my ebooks except comics, which I prefer to use Bookman. I still prefer to highlight stuff using GoodReader, hence the purpose of this post, which is to introduce the best CHM to PDF converter out there. I had tried out various software such as belows:

ABC Amber CHM Converter

Atop CHM to PDF Converter

calibre

iCHM (Mac OS X)

... but none of them are able to convert the CHM to PDF without flaw. Many pages are missing. The searching ends when I found Softany CHM to PDF Converter v2.02. Softwares aside from Softany is only able to convert some parts of the CHM while missing a total of 202. For example, when converting Oracle 10g: A Beginners Guide.chm, other converter is only able to convert the final PDF into 202 pages while Softany is able to convert it perfectly without any missing parts with a total pages of 405! That's a 50% pages missing! So I would definitely recommend Softany CHM to PDF Converter to convert your CHM into PDF.

Link to Softany CHM to PDF Converter - http://d01.megashares.com/dl/PveQdao/Softany.CHM.to.PDF.Converter.v2.02.Incl.Keygen-TCi.rar

Reopen your running applications or files after restart/shutdown

2011-04-08T23:45:00.004+08:00

Have you been in a situation whereby you are so reluctant to update any drivers or programs because you just have a lot of active program running and installing those might restart your PC, afterwhich you will need to re-open those programs again?

Fret not as the following marvellous freeware (yes you heard me alright, it's F-R-E-E! CacheMyWork will solve your worries. Not sure on how it works but it just works. All you need to do is tick on a list of active programs that are running that you would like to restore/reopen after restart. It does not just open the programs, but the last opened files as well, such as the powerpoint slide that you had been working on or the numerous tabs that you keep running on your browser.

Previously I had been putting my PC to sleep whenever I wanted to go to sleep because I don't want to keep track on the programs that I am currently running and need to reopen them upon booting my PC up. With CacheMyWork, I can now put my PC to shutdown with ease of mind.

Links : http://cachemywork.codeplex.com/

Beginners Guide to C Programming

2011-04-07T17:08:00.001+08:00

Here's an interesting guide to share with those of you who wanted to learn on C Language Programming but don't have any prior programming language.

http://masters-of-the-void.com/home.htm