Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bulsajo]

I've posted links from this site here at various times in the past, as I believe have others. While this isn't the only pc info site I've found it to be one of the most useful, and answers for many of the questions raised on this forum can be found there. Now that we have our own tech forum here this link deserves its own post. If others can contribute their favorite useful thread links then I'll change the thread title and perhaps this thread will eventually become a tech forum sticky.

Here's the link:

http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto.html

Topics covered there:

[Bulsajo]

Another extremely useful website that I've posted here in the past is:

http://www.pcpitstop.com

Here you can run diagnostic tests online. The diagnostic summary will help you fix the things it finds wrong with your system.

Not as good as downloading Sisoft's Sandra, but still pretty good, especially for those with technophobia.

One thing you do have to be a little bit careful of- over the years more and more ads have become embedded in the pages- sometimes it's a little hard to tell what are parts of the diagnotic menus and what are diagnostic ads (the site is not full of spyware or anything so if you accidentally click on an ad the worst that will happen is you'll get a pop-up window, and the benefits of this site far outweigh any annoyances you might experience). As long as you read everything relatively carefully and avoid 'skimming and clicking' you'll have no problems with the ads.

[Dalton]

I would like to add a couple sites I found useful:

This one helped me backup and make DVD's.
They have sortware links, ratings, a forum and an endless list of HOwTo's.
Videohelp.com

This site I stumbled on has great info, a forum, links and advice to get rid of or prevent viruses, spyware etc.
cexx.org

This is a site for XP users:
Windows XP Tips and Tricks

[Bulsajo]

Just bought OEM ver of one of those LG super-multi drives- I'm definitely going to put your video link to work!

[Dalton]

I got that. I love yongsan.

DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink are programs I got from that site.

Decrypter just rips and copies anything (so far) onto the hdd. The last Harry Potter DVD required that. I think you can use any dvd writing software to put it on disc after that. 40 min ave time for the whole process I think. The I watch the rip to be sure it went ok.(see cheap disks)

The links on that site for how-to's seem endless. Not to mention all the software reviews. Along with the forums it is a superior site in any field. It also had threads and help for a video conversion (I think) problem you had asked about a few months ago. Lot's of stuff for making your own DVD's too.

DVD Shrink, I don't know. I tried to shrink a long movie onto 1 DVD and it had some bad spots on it. Huge 6 inch square pixels in a couple important scenes. Maybe I didn't use it correctly. I use two dvd's now.

Don't buy cheap DVD discs. I found LG DVD-R worked great but they seem to recommend Maxell. 2,000 won per disk (10 pack), 1500 won for the rental . What's a rental in Ottawa(?) now?

Alcohol 120% is a great program that I have started using to burn DVD's and it's excellent. If you don't know AL120% creates a virtual cd rom which allows you to play game cd's without puting the disc in you drive. You need hdd space since you have to put a copy of the cd onto your hdd. Great program. Got it from Lunatic.org.

I am waiting for the new dual layer dvd writers coming out just before x-mas. Backing up DVDs will be just like backing up cd's now. 1 disk. Then they'll start the law suits .

[Demophobe]

The only problem being that some forms of copy protection won't even let a program install if ANY virtual drives are found on the computer.

Daemon tools does this virtual drive thing as well, with a success rate depending on the protection.

SECUROM is a real bugger for this.

Also, the uninstall of these programs can be tricky, and if not completely gone, some CDs will NEVER install, meaning a format.

Of course, image files shouldn't have this problem, so if all you do is mount image files in the virtual drive, there should be no hangups.

If you do decide to go legit and buy a game, for example, the virtual drive may then stop you from installing the game at all.

I know this sounds a bit confuddled, but the world of CD copy protection is quite intricate.

Alcohol is a great prog, as is Daemon tools, CloneCD, Blindwrite...

[Dalton]

Nice avatar. Good tip, thanks.

[Demophobe]

Also, Dalton...the problem with "glitches" in the scene is rarely a software program issue....more than likely, it's the codec used. Multiple codecs on a mchine can make this a real bandit to track down and eliminate.

Try the "Aceman Codec Megapack"...do a Google for it. This lets you choose from a very long list of codecs, ensuring you only get the ones you want on your machine.

The program itself may be fine, but often these legit progs use some kind of "hacked" codec (often a version of an MPEG4 codec) to achieve the desired shrink.

I have downloaded countless DVD rips for one CD that have this issue.

I could also be the playback codec, which are also often some kind of altered codec.

I would advise you to live with the problem, although a re-encoding might move the glitch to a less-impotant scene.

[Dalton]

That's good to know. Thanks again Demophobe. I saw a program (linked) on the videohelp site I linked that is supposed to be able tell you what the movie is encoded with. If the that's the correct phrase. There is a lot of 'ink' devoted to codec mystery's on that site.

But like you said I'll live with it for now because it was so cheap to make. That disc is now a coaster. I've put off copying for the time being until the new dual layer writers come out. Movies seem to be very long now and I don't like changing discs in the middle of one.

I copied 'Once Upon A Time In Mexico' without the subtitles that appear when everyone is speaking Mexican. Not too important since 'How are you', 'I'm dead', 'Hows the girl' etc is pretty easy to remember. There's info about that on Videohelp too.

[Demophobe]