pkiley
26th August 2003, 05:18
Alternatives to use till standards are made
If any of you are like me you want to use the best bleeding edge technology, come up with the most cost effective solutions, and be satisfied that your final product wont be outdated technology anytime soon because of the countless hours of encoding, reading, theorizing, arguing, waiting, and whatever else makes or projects all to time consuming. I find myself in situations spending tons of money on a DVD burner when they first hit the market and then found myself so disappointed with the technology available to make my back ups. Every time something new develops I jump on it thinking this is my new God send only for it to be taken over by another format or process in a few months. All in all what I'm trying to convey here is, perhaps we shouldn’t spend all this time encoding and re encoding every time something new comes out. I've thought of this long and hard over time. I am a media nut and want to continuously want to expand my media collection, without spending a lot of money. I think I may have a solution for these purposes and I would love feedback from anyone that has similar thoughts on this issue and developed ideas that we can share.
THE SOLUTION:
The solution I found for the TYPE A personality I have about efficiency and building within my media schemes involves storing the original complete media source. What solutions I came up with are as follows.
DVD SOLUTION:
I started searching for ways to retain full DVD’s till I had decided that technology has been developed enough to justify my time encoding again. I started checking out compression tools as a way to shrink full movies on my hardrive till I want to watch them, then I just unzip them to the original iso and mount it with Nero or whatever and watch it.
I realized through some testing that trying to compress an ISO in something like winrar didn’t really shrink it much. So I looked to alternatives of removing the files from the ISO and compressing them that way, and finding a way to recreate the ISO when I wanted to use it to watch the full DVD.
Using some search engines I found out that we can use Nero DVD Maker to recreate DVD's if you have ALL of the original files to do it with.
I checked out DVD Decrypter setting and realized that I had a choice to decrypt all the files in a file folder setup.
Great, I'm getting somewhere with this. I now have a way to shrink the DVD and a way to reconstruct it when I want to watch it.
I started searching for comparison charts to figure out what format I wanted to compress with to save the most hardrive space. I found that UHARC seemed to be the best new tool on the block for media compression in an archiving fashion. All too soon I found out that it had file size limitations around 2 Gig.
On to the open source 7-Zip. Apparently this has some damn great compression for archiving. Great I'll use this for archiving my movies on my hardrive. But wait
after reading around on some other formats I soon noticed that some formats support disk spanning. Hmmmm, that means I can use my CDR's to store as many of my DVD's as I want since I can get them for 10 cents a piece after rebates. Oh wow, I think I'm on to something here. Winrar seems to have this capability and it has great compression ratios as well.
MY FINALL SOLUTION:*********************************************
So as of now, till I figure what standard I want to encode in or what is going to be the future formats supported by hardware I'm going to store a full 8 Gig on around 4 cdr's with its new file size around 2.8 Gig. Costing me only .40 cents for my Perfect DVD back up, requiring no technical tweaking or know-how.
I KNOW ITS NOT A PERFECT SOLUTION:
It takes quite a bit of time to restore the DVD movie to its original ISO status for DVD viewing, but look at it like this. With hardrives tech people like us are getting bigger and bigger we can afford to leave quite a few of our most likely to watch DVD's on our hardrives mounted in ISO form, ready for immediate viewing. And because of this solution we have an endless supply of movies ready for implementation anytime we are ready for a change. We have full functionality of our DVD's, Perfect picture and sound quality will never be compromised, and running out of storage isn't an issue anymore. Hell, you don't have to spend money on expensive DVD burners till they really come down in price.
If anyone can enlighten me on any variants on this type of solution please let me know. I also would love for you to flame the hell out of me if you think it’s a dumb idea. I'm not proud; I'm just looking for the best answers and solutions. Anytime there is one better that what I thought, I'm ready to switch. Just try to be a little nice when you tear my idea a new asshole.
Help Me Choose the best tools for this:
Right now since I've only been working on this since this morning, these are the best tools I can think of for implementing this idea best.
DVD'S:
Winrar for compression and spanning
cdr's for placement of the files
If you can think of a way I can compress DVD'S in 7-Zip using solid state compression, and be able to span let me know. I know Norton ghost can span the data, but I’m guessing it make f*** up a large 7-zip archive. And although I have not been able to find any info on it, I don’t think I can put my 7-zip archive inside of a zip non-compressed archive and set the zip to span. I don’t they they have that capabilities yet. If I'm wrong, let me know.
MUSIC CD'S:
as for this, I think I’m going to start encoding in .APE for archiving purposes, till I know of a lossy format that I'm unlikely to switch from. Right now I think MPEG+ is in the lead if I want to encode over 160 kbs and OGG if below.
HARDWARE IMPLIMENTATION OF OUR FUTURE TECHNOLOGY:
This is the most frustrating thing here. Are they going to ever support ogg? Is ogg even going to be our codec of choice when and if it does? All of these questions.
Why don't we start looking at it the same way we look at open source software development. Take it into our own hands. It's not always pretty, but in the end we will get what makes us most happy.
What I mean by this is working together with all our heads together to build the best home DVD Player that we can decide how it works on an individualistic basis. I don't know much in this area, but I know Xboxes are moded with chips to alter their internal software, can this be done with commercial DVD players so that they would play whatever codec we flash at it??? IF that’s not the answer how about trying to find the most streamline CPU case and throw a hardrive into it, with a DVD rom, remote interface, custom media playing OS, or windows media XP, whatever. Make it with whatever quality would be acceptable to give similar results as a commercial product and add whatever you want for your own taste
Personally I would love to build one with a 250 Gig hardrive and some kind of FREE-VO television recording software, Wireless LAN Access, My 25 ISO mounts, and whatever. Help me brainstorm here. I’m just a dreamer not a tech genius like most of you on here.
So yes this has been a long brainstorm here, but hell, let’s get the ball rolling and come up with the best solutions we can, till technology catches up with our high quality media urges.
I'm not sure if this is the best forum for this, but I wanted to reach the people that are like me, those that are always trying to use the latest technology, and are constantly frustrated with wasted time spent when we decide that we rather go about it another way, and start all over again. Over and over and over again.
If you read this far, I thank you but need you input on one last thing. When trying to build a useful database for my media I'm thinking about using these media organizers/ displayers. Let me know what you think of them, or if you know of any that are better.
DVD Movies
http://www.intervocative.com/dvdpro/index.html
Music
http://www.mp3cdsoftware.com/playsa.../apejukebox.htm
Regards.
If any of you are like me you want to use the best bleeding edge technology, come up with the most cost effective solutions, and be satisfied that your final product wont be outdated technology anytime soon because of the countless hours of encoding, reading, theorizing, arguing, waiting, and whatever else makes or projects all to time consuming. I find myself in situations spending tons of money on a DVD burner when they first hit the market and then found myself so disappointed with the technology available to make my back ups. Every time something new develops I jump on it thinking this is my new God send only for it to be taken over by another format or process in a few months. All in all what I'm trying to convey here is, perhaps we shouldn’t spend all this time encoding and re encoding every time something new comes out. I've thought of this long and hard over time. I am a media nut and want to continuously want to expand my media collection, without spending a lot of money. I think I may have a solution for these purposes and I would love feedback from anyone that has similar thoughts on this issue and developed ideas that we can share.
THE SOLUTION:
The solution I found for the TYPE A personality I have about efficiency and building within my media schemes involves storing the original complete media source. What solutions I came up with are as follows.
DVD SOLUTION:
I started searching for ways to retain full DVD’s till I had decided that technology has been developed enough to justify my time encoding again. I started checking out compression tools as a way to shrink full movies on my hardrive till I want to watch them, then I just unzip them to the original iso and mount it with Nero or whatever and watch it.
I realized through some testing that trying to compress an ISO in something like winrar didn’t really shrink it much. So I looked to alternatives of removing the files from the ISO and compressing them that way, and finding a way to recreate the ISO when I wanted to use it to watch the full DVD.
Using some search engines I found out that we can use Nero DVD Maker to recreate DVD's if you have ALL of the original files to do it with.
I checked out DVD Decrypter setting and realized that I had a choice to decrypt all the files in a file folder setup.
Great, I'm getting somewhere with this. I now have a way to shrink the DVD and a way to reconstruct it when I want to watch it.
I started searching for comparison charts to figure out what format I wanted to compress with to save the most hardrive space. I found that UHARC seemed to be the best new tool on the block for media compression in an archiving fashion. All too soon I found out that it had file size limitations around 2 Gig.
On to the open source 7-Zip. Apparently this has some damn great compression for archiving. Great I'll use this for archiving my movies on my hardrive. But wait
after reading around on some other formats I soon noticed that some formats support disk spanning. Hmmmm, that means I can use my CDR's to store as many of my DVD's as I want since I can get them for 10 cents a piece after rebates. Oh wow, I think I'm on to something here. Winrar seems to have this capability and it has great compression ratios as well.
MY FINALL SOLUTION:*********************************************
So as of now, till I figure what standard I want to encode in or what is going to be the future formats supported by hardware I'm going to store a full 8 Gig on around 4 cdr's with its new file size around 2.8 Gig. Costing me only .40 cents for my Perfect DVD back up, requiring no technical tweaking or know-how.
I KNOW ITS NOT A PERFECT SOLUTION:
It takes quite a bit of time to restore the DVD movie to its original ISO status for DVD viewing, but look at it like this. With hardrives tech people like us are getting bigger and bigger we can afford to leave quite a few of our most likely to watch DVD's on our hardrives mounted in ISO form, ready for immediate viewing. And because of this solution we have an endless supply of movies ready for implementation anytime we are ready for a change. We have full functionality of our DVD's, Perfect picture and sound quality will never be compromised, and running out of storage isn't an issue anymore. Hell, you don't have to spend money on expensive DVD burners till they really come down in price.
If anyone can enlighten me on any variants on this type of solution please let me know. I also would love for you to flame the hell out of me if you think it’s a dumb idea. I'm not proud; I'm just looking for the best answers and solutions. Anytime there is one better that what I thought, I'm ready to switch. Just try to be a little nice when you tear my idea a new asshole.
Help Me Choose the best tools for this:
Right now since I've only been working on this since this morning, these are the best tools I can think of for implementing this idea best.
DVD'S:
Winrar for compression and spanning
cdr's for placement of the files
If you can think of a way I can compress DVD'S in 7-Zip using solid state compression, and be able to span let me know. I know Norton ghost can span the data, but I’m guessing it make f*** up a large 7-zip archive. And although I have not been able to find any info on it, I don’t think I can put my 7-zip archive inside of a zip non-compressed archive and set the zip to span. I don’t they they have that capabilities yet. If I'm wrong, let me know.
MUSIC CD'S:
as for this, I think I’m going to start encoding in .APE for archiving purposes, till I know of a lossy format that I'm unlikely to switch from. Right now I think MPEG+ is in the lead if I want to encode over 160 kbs and OGG if below.
HARDWARE IMPLIMENTATION OF OUR FUTURE TECHNOLOGY:
This is the most frustrating thing here. Are they going to ever support ogg? Is ogg even going to be our codec of choice when and if it does? All of these questions.
Why don't we start looking at it the same way we look at open source software development. Take it into our own hands. It's not always pretty, but in the end we will get what makes us most happy.
What I mean by this is working together with all our heads together to build the best home DVD Player that we can decide how it works on an individualistic basis. I don't know much in this area, but I know Xboxes are moded with chips to alter their internal software, can this be done with commercial DVD players so that they would play whatever codec we flash at it??? IF that’s not the answer how about trying to find the most streamline CPU case and throw a hardrive into it, with a DVD rom, remote interface, custom media playing OS, or windows media XP, whatever. Make it with whatever quality would be acceptable to give similar results as a commercial product and add whatever you want for your own taste
Personally I would love to build one with a 250 Gig hardrive and some kind of FREE-VO television recording software, Wireless LAN Access, My 25 ISO mounts, and whatever. Help me brainstorm here. I’m just a dreamer not a tech genius like most of you on here.
So yes this has been a long brainstorm here, but hell, let’s get the ball rolling and come up with the best solutions we can, till technology catches up with our high quality media urges.
I'm not sure if this is the best forum for this, but I wanted to reach the people that are like me, those that are always trying to use the latest technology, and are constantly frustrated with wasted time spent when we decide that we rather go about it another way, and start all over again. Over and over and over again.
If you read this far, I thank you but need you input on one last thing. When trying to build a useful database for my media I'm thinking about using these media organizers/ displayers. Let me know what you think of them, or if you know of any that are better.
DVD Movies
http://www.intervocative.com/dvdpro/index.html
Music
http://www.mp3cdsoftware.com/playsa.../apejukebox.htm
Regards.