LostInTechnology

How To Rip and Catalog Your DVDs for Free

Brian.Ross — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:00:42 +0000

Ripping a DVD to your computer and cataloging your movie collection can be easy and cheap, provided that you have the right tools. Today, we’re going to help make things a bit easier on you by telling you about two totally free programs that will help you get the job done right. And, since I’m on the path of generosity, I might as well show you how to use them, too.

To begin, you’ll need get your DVD(s) ready and then download and install Free DVD Ripper 2.25 and Ant Movie Catalog.

Ripping a DVD

Insert your DVD into you disk drive (discontinue any auto play you may have set) and open Free DVD Ripper 2.25. Once open, you’ll need to click on the Open DVD button and browse for your movie’s location, as indicated in the screen shots below

After the program has read the contents of the disk, a window will appear that will show you all of the titles available on the disk. By default, the longest one will be displayed at the top of the window, and in the vast majority of cases, this will be the main movie and the one that you want to select.

Click on settings in the menu bar, then click Input Settings. You can pretty much leave most of these settings alone, but I do want to point out a few to you. The Output Frame Rate can be set for whatever you prefer. In computer playback, this setting will not matter much. However, if you plan to burn the movie to disk at a later point in time, you may wan to consider using a rate that is compatible you TV or other video equipment.

The next thing to look at is how you want your computer to store the temporary information. In the Save your DVD drive section, not only can you set the amount of space you like you computer to use in the encoding process, but you can also set whether you’d like RAM to be used or your hard drive. This is a nice feature to have, especially if your system is low on memory, or if you’d like to have it available for something else.

Note, that you can also select the audio you’d like to use, as well as whether or not you want the subtitles. Excluding features that you will/do not use will help to save space on your hard drive. The last feature I’d like to point out is DeCSS, or decrypting Content-Scrambling System. Without going into to much detail about this, CSS is a program that is encoded into some DVD’s to prevent you from copying them. This is an added bonus, because you won’t often find this feature available in free software. Return to settings in the menu bar, this time click output settings. In the upper left corner of this window, you have the ability to control what format you want to convert your DVD to (VCD, SVCD, DivX, MPEG1, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, AVI). Most people use AVI due to the small space it uses. Each format has it’s own default audio settings which will change in the box below as you change the format, but you can adjust them if you prefer something else.

In the export sttings section you can adjust the resolution output. Again, it had preset selections, or you can choose your own. I suggest playing the movie in the application and pausing it on a frame with a full picture, then adjusting these settings to see what suits you best. Finally, we have the Volume don’t exceed section, which allows you to restrict the amount of space the video will use on your computer. Once you’re finished click apply.Now that you’ve got everything set the way that you want it, simply select where you want your rip to go by clicking the output folder button and browsing to that location. Then, click the Start Encoding button. As the DVD is getting ripped, look at the bottom of the window and you will see the fps rate, how far encoding has progressed, how much time is left to complete the encoding, and how much space it is consuming. Encoding time will vary depending on the format and resolution that you’ve chosen. While we wait for that to finish, let me show you how to keep track of all theses great movies you’ve got.

Catalog Your Movie Collection

Ant Movie Catalog (AMC), in it’s 3rd edition, is distributed under the GNU General Public License and holds a number of awards. What it lacks in fancy UI, it more than makes up for in features. This thing comes in a multitude of languages, can store your catalog in XML or binary formats, has customizable information imports from the internet (including IMDB), can manage your DVD loans, show you statistics on just about everything involved and generate reports and print lists. According to the website, it work on Window 95 to Windows XP, but I know from first hand knowledge that it also work with Windows Vista & 7.

First thing you’ll want to do is decide where you want to store your catalog data and create a folder there. AMC uses a relatively small amount of space; for example, I have a little over 1500 movies and my database is 11MB. Once you do that, it’s time to open the application and get all your preferences set. You can open the preferences window by pressing F10, going tools in the menu bar, or by clicking on the wench icon on the toolbar. From here, you can adjust a number of features. For now, I’m just going to address a few to get you started.

First, you’ll want to click on files and check the top two boxes on that page. Under the At startup, automatically… you’ll find an empty box, click on the folder icon to the right and navigate to the folder in which you previously designated to store your catalog data. Once this is set, it will automatically open and save your information here.

Next, move down to the movie information and check the boxes indicated below. What this will do is automatically assign the next available number to your entry and open a box to to enter the DVD title so that it can retrieve the information from the internet.

Finally, click on search on internet and choose a service (I recommend IMDb), then click scripting and check the Auto-run last script… box. This will set the default place to retrieve your movie information, and each time you go to add another title it will return to that service unless told otherwise. Click save and you’re all set to go.

Now, go to movie in the menu bar and click add… A window similar to the one below will appear. It may or may not have the import box already open. If not, scroll to the service that you’d like to use and double click it. The next time you open this window it should automatically appear. Enter your movie title and hit enter.

Sometimes the result will show many movies that are somehow related to what you typed in, however, 99% of the time the one you want is at the top. Select the movie you’re looking for, click save and you’re done. A page will open with everything from what actors are in it, who produces it, what it’s about, and even a picture of the movie cover!

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Weekly Links: July 3, 2009

Kyle Judkins — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:15:43 +0000

This is my weekly round up of the links I have followed over the past week. You can get this list every week by subscribing to my RSS feed or subscribing through email. You may also follow me on Twitter or FriendFeed to get some of these links throughout the week. As usual, catch the links after the break.

Software

6 Microsoft freebies I actually love to use

Free Microsoft tools worth using.

How To

Easing the Pain of Moving to a New Windows PC

Easily move to a new Windows PC.

How to use Google Reader to manage RSS feeds

Google Reader is amazing. Use it!

Internet

Top Three Web RSS Readers to Manage Your RSS Feeds - Make Tech Easier

Find the feed reader you like.

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How to Schedule a Meeting Using Microsoft Outlook

Prasanth Chandra — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:00:24 +0000

To schedule a meeting at work is not very difficult, provided it’s at your workplace. All you have to do is pick up the phone and pass on the message, right? You could also send an internal mail or message and walk up to the people for a confirmation.

But, what if you have to schedule a meeting where associates from all over the country are required to meet at a particular date? The task gets daunting, doesn’t it? People might not be available when you call them up, your message might end up in a voice-mail box, and even if you do get them, verbal communication is not considered the most effective medium.

So you fall back on your trusted e-mail client to push the message across. But then, there is more to Microsoft Outlook than just Send/Receive. There are tons of features built into this nifty utility, which can help you manage your work-related tasks.

Thankfully, there’s a way to reach out to multiple recipients and schedule meetings. You can also keep a tab on the run-up to the meeting, and make changes, either in the agenda or the timing.

How To Get There

To schedule a meeting using Microsoft Outlook,

Click on the Calendar tab.
Select the date when you want the meeting scheduled.
Right-click to open up the dialog box with options such as ‘New Appointment’, ‘New Recurring Meeting’, ‘New Meeting Request’, etc.
Click on ‘New Appointment’ and a new window will open.
In this window, you will be presented with options such as Appointment, Schedule, Reminder, etc.

Enter Names

Now, let’s get the names of people from the Address Book. Click on ‘Address Book’; this will open it up. Double-click on each of the contacts to add them to the recipient list. Click ‘OK’ once you are done. Selected contacts will be displayed beside the ‘To…’ tab. Clicking the ‘To’ tab also brings up the Address Book.

Where And Why?

Write the ‘Subject’ and ‘Location’ in their respective fields. This gives the recipients the purpose of the meeting and the location of the meeting at a glance.

What Time?

To assign the ‘Start’ and ‘End’ times for the meeting, click on the drop- down menu, or click on the Schedule’tab, and then set the time. This will reflect in the Start/End Time drop-down menu.

The agenda for the meeting can be described in detail later, while you are drafting the mail, which will get sent to everyone. But once you are through with the above settings, you don’t have to worry about the scheduled time, place, and recipients.

Hit The Send Button

When you mail this schedule to the recipients, the task will get added to their calendar. They, however, must accept the schedule. If any of the recipients declines the request, he/she will be out of the loop. You can also make this a recurring task, if the meeting takes place at regular intervals. When this is enabled, the recipient will be reminded in advance every time the meeting is due.

By Prasanth Chandra from PCs Place.com

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LostInTechnology Welcomes Alex Braz

Kyle Judkins — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:33:39 +0000

Here at LostInTechnology we just keep finding great writers and just keep having to hire them. Our newest in the bunch is Alex Braz. His first article,Top 5 Video Applications You Have to Know is a fantastic article that taught me a few things. Here is what he had to say about himself.

I’m a student of English Literature and Philosophy from Slovenia, but that does not mean I can’t be obsessed with the Net. I like technology as a whole, but mostly I am occupied with the Internet. My soft spot are also gadgets and contraptions.

You can find Alex in the following places:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sasobraz
Blog: http://www.rentonblog.net
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rentonblog

Help me welcome Alex to the family!

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Browzar: Portable Browser for Private Browsing

Prasanth Chandra — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:00:53 +0000

Browzar is a free web browser that uses the IE shell. It lets you surf with all the privacy you want by having no cache, history, cookies, or auto-complete. Browzar also comes as an extremely small executable. This allows you to put it on your thumb drive and take it with you to have private browsing anywhere you go.

Lets see what else Browzar has to offer.

Why Browzar?

There are several reasons why you will want to give Browzar a shot. Here are a few of the top reasons.

This is the lightest browser as far as size is concerned ( 222KB ) .
Low system and CPU resource utilization. This makes your system not lag while browsing multiple sites, and it also runs on most PCs today without any special hardware requirements.
Plug and play. You can carry it around in a thumb drive and use it with just a click and a split second on any system.
Completely FREE! to use and redistribute.

Browse with Privacy

Are you worried about your Internet privacy? Want to keep yourself safe with what you browse and use on the Internet? Browzar is a simple solution for this. You need not worry about deleting your cache, cookies, saved passwords, web history or anything else for that matter. No data is saved in your PC and surfing any sites you like is completely risk free even on a shared system.

Features

Some of the great features that are inbuilt in this browser without any add on modules are

Home page customization
Crash protection
History deletion
Browser skins – Three color variants are available for download: Black, White and Silver.
Privacy protection
Boss button – If you need to shut down the browser in a hurry then one click on this ‘boss’ button or a ctrl+spacebar hit would halt the running of this program immediately.

Conclusion

Browzar isn’t, of course, meant to be a replacement for the standard browsers, but it is great when it comes to portability and privacy. If you are looking for a small and quick browser that gives you the privacy you want, Browzar is definitely worth looking into.

Download Browzar

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Peek Pronto Giveaway!

Kyle Judkins — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:08:00 +0000

Yes, that is TWO Peek Prontos sitting on my couch. One was the test unit which, of course, is basically brand new. The other Peek Pronto is brand new and waiting to be held in your hands.

You only have to do three very simple things to enter the contest. They are as follows:

Subscribe to LostInTechnology
ReTweet, Stumble, Blog or use any type of social network to share this or any previous article on LostInTechnology.
Leave a comment on this post showing your social sharing and desire to enter the contest.

The two Peeks will be given away at random to two people that comment on this post. You can enter as many times as you like, but you must complete steps two and three to enter additional times. The contest ends July 15th.

Good Luck to everyone and make sure to check out my Peek Pronto review from yesterday!

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Peek Pronto Review

Kyle Judkins — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:56:30 +0000

A month or so ago, I was selected to participate in a Peek Pronto review program. I was sent two Peek Prontos to review and test out for a month. Well, that month is over and now I’m going to tell you about my experience with this little device.

You may have caught in the opening paragraph that I received TWO Peeks. Why would I need two? Well, to give one away of course! And if you’re me, to give BOTH away!! Look for details on how to enter the giveaway tomorrow.

The Device

Let’s start out with just the overall look and feel of the device. The Peek Pronto is a very slim and sleek device. It feels very sturdy and high quality. In my opinion, the reason for this was the inclusion of a metal back instead of the typical all plastic look that most mobile devices go for.

The keyboard is also a huge selling point. It is bigger than your average mobile keyboard, and it works fantastic. I was able to quickly pick up the device and start to type at a blistering speed without much previous mobile keyboarding experience. Overall, the look and feel of the device is great.

Usability

The Peek is a fairly intuitive device for anyone that has ever used a Blackberry or anything similar. The device comes with a quick guide to get started, and the Peek website provides great support if you have more questions than the small manual can answer.

Upon opening the Peek, I had it up and receiving emails within just a matter of minutes. It also was able to quickly import my contacts from my Gmail account. All of this was done without really looking into any instructions, since I don’t really like instructions.

Cost

The Peek Pronto retails for $59.95. This seems to be a reasonable price for all the things the device does. The data plan starts at $14.99 per month. This isn’t too bad if you consider some unlimited texting plans cost $20 or more per month. Plus, you would need a data plan to receive email. You also need to factor in that there is no contract attached to the device or data plan. This makes the pricing much more appealing.

Downside

The biggest negative I see is having to carry two devices in order to receive calls and emails on the go. I like the idea of having just one device, but if you need to stay connected and save money, the Peek really is the best option around.

Conclusion

I recommend the Peek Pronto to anyone that wants to stay connected and save a little money while doing it. It performs as good if not better than other mobile email devices that I’ve used, and it comes in at a fraction of the price and with no contract. The downside of having to carry two devices is mitigated if you always carry a briefcase, a backpack or a purse, since you have plenty of space for it.

Go check out the Peek website and let me know what you think about the device.

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LostInTechnology Welcomes Brian Ross

Kyle Judkins — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:41:08 +0000

LostInTechnology is happy to introduce you to Brian Ross, our newest writer. He has already contributed a great article,How To Dual Boot Windows 7 and Windows XP. Here is what he had to say about himself.

I am a technology enthusiast with a small PC repair & brokerage company in Ohio, United States of America. I am fascinated with computers and the Internet, with a particular interest in the open-source movement.

You can find Brian at Google, Facebook and his business. Help me welcome Brian to the LostInTechnology family!

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Weekly Links: June 26, 2009

Kyle Judkins — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:08:14 +0000

Software

4 Apps for Crazy-Awesome Screenshots - The 2.0 Life

Easily take screenshots with these apps.

Most Useful Opera Widgets

Great list of Opera widgets.

Free PDF to Word Converter Beta

Convert from PDF.

6 free Windows programs to fix and prevent PC problems on your own

Fix up your busted computer.

5 things I wish some people wouldn’t install on their PCs

Don’t install these programs.

4 portable app suites to power up your USB flash drive

One of these portable app suites will suit your needs.

10 impressive Adobe AIR apps | Webware - CNET

Breathe in some fresh AIR. Too much?

How To

Remove Custom about:config Entries the Easy Way :: the How-To Geek

Guide to remove about:confit entries.

Install Extensions in Google Chrome :: the How-To Geek

Extensions make Crhome better.

Internet

BitBlinder allows Anonymous BitTorrent and Browsing

Stay anonymous.

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Schedule Hard Drives to Defragment Automatically

Brian.Ross — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:00:08 +0000

Have you ever noticed that the more you add and subtract videos, documents, MP3s, pictures, games, and so on to your computer the slower it gets? This is partly due to what known as fragmentation of your data. Windows does a few funny things with your files when you uninstall and install programs all the time.

The easiest way to get your computer back up to speed is to defrag it. Performing regular defragmentation of your hard drive will certainly improve your file and application load time. However, in the hurry of our daily tasks we often forget about doing this, so here is a way to schedule your PC to do do it for you.

WARNING: It is not recommend, nor is it necessary to defragment solid state drives, which includes flash drives. Doing so may cause damage to the drive.

Scheduling an Auto Defrag in Windows XP

Open the Control Panel from the Start Menu, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click Scheduled Tasks.

Double click Add Scheduled Tasks to open the Schedules Task Wizard, and then click Next.Click Browse, navigate to the Windows folder, then the system32 folder, then double click on the defrag.exe file. Use the wizard to set a schedule for when to run the defragmentation program.Check the box for Open advanced properties for this tasks when I click finish. On the run line, add the drive letter for the drive to be defragged. This will already be set to defrag drive c: by default. Add others if necessary. Click ok.

Scheduling an Auto Defrag in Windows Vista & Windows 7

Open the Start Menu and in the white search box at the bottom type taskschd.msc and hit enter. In the left pane expand the Task Scheduler Library, then expand Microsoft, then Windows, and finally click on the Defrag folder.

In the middle pane right click on ScheduledDefrag, then click Properties. In the General tab check the Run with highest privileges box.Click the triggers tab, select the task and click the edit button to set the schedule time.Click the action tab to select more than the default C: dirve. Click ok.

(By) Brian Ross is technology enthusiast that can be found on Google and at his PC repair business.

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