video

Continuing on from our previous discussions with regard to converting VHS video and archiving to DVD or CD, Infopackets Reader Jim L. wrote in with the proceeding follow-up question: " Dear Dennis, First, in reference to the program 'DVDSqueeze' ... that I spoke of previously: now that I think about it, I believe the program was linked from your newsletter through the Google ads. I didn't see the ad in January 20th's newsletter [regarding the conversion of 8MM film to DVD / CD ]; however, I did read the comments you recently made concerning Movie Shrink and Burn (MSaB). Although MSaB sounds ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Han L. from Denmark writes: " Dear Dennis, First of all, thank you for an extremely informative newsletter. I just finished reading yesterday's issue of the Gazette and have a related question about converting VHS video to DVD or ... CD format. Could you possibly enlighten me on how to convert my old 8MM film productions into digital format (such as DVD or CD)? " My response: I get asked this question frequently. I don't own an 8MM film projector, so I can only speculate on how to go about doing this. Basically: in order to convert the 8MM film, you'll need a way to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John L. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently used Windows Movie Maker to create a video compilation. When I was finished editing the project, I clicked the 'send to CD' button, which then launched a Movie Maker Wizard. The wizard ... took me step by step and explained how to convert my project into a Windows Media Audio/Video file and ultimately burn it to CD. I chose to burn the file to CD-R so that I could play it in my DVD player; however, near the end of the burn, Windows Media Maker reported that the project "did not save successfully". After I clicked OK, I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jim L. writes: " Dear Dennis, You have helped me in the past numerous times and for that I'm thankful. I read all issues and sometimes save those articles that I have a current or potential future need for. In a recent news ... article, I noticed an ad for 'DVDSqueeze', which copies and compresses VHS/DVD video to a CD. Even though they advertise in your newsletter, I haven't seen a review from you on their software. I have quite a few old VHS tapes of miscellaneous TV programs of yesteryear. They are not valuable enough to copy to DVD, but it would be nice if I could put ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Don R. writes: " Dear Dennis, Continuing on with your recent discussion on video transfer to computer (and to CD): I've heard that there are ways to set up my PC to record TV shows on an automated schedule (similar to " Tivo "). I ... have a newer system with Windows XP and two DVD burners. Is this difficult to do? " My response: No, it's not difficult to do; at the minimum requirement, you would need a video capture card (or a video card with an input port), software to schedule when to record your shows, a sound card, and enough hard drive space to store ... (view more)

It's been a rough couple of weeks: it seems like every time I try to take a step forward, I end up taking 3 steps backward. After I got home from visiting Frank in Toronto, my main computer (the one that I use to write the newsletters) kept crashing ... with repeated Blue Screens of Death (BSOD). The BSOD's gave me some clue as to why my system was crashing, as the .DLL file responsible for the crash appeared to be related to my video card driver. Strange, I thought. I didn't upgrade my video card driver recently, but opted to do so as I hadn't upgraded my driver in over a year. Video card ... (view more)

Have you ever stopped to read the headlines that make news on the Internet? Fact: Almost one in every three Internet users in the United States has been hit by either a computer virus or a hacker in the past two years.(1) Fact: In just 24 hours, the ... 'MSBlast' Internet worm exploded onto some 120,000 Windows computers around the world.(2) Overall, MSBlast has infected an estimated 8 million PCs,(3) while damage from the worm is about $525 million USD.(4) Fact: Internet security and privacy issues frequently dominate news headlines as hackers repeatedly infiltrate computers connected to the ... (view more)

Yesterday's newsletter took quite a while to put together, so I'm going to relax a bit and get into some news about some recent changes to our web site. RE: new eBook and video due next week I am working on a new eBook and video dedicated to PC and ... Internet security. I plan to have this completed by the end of this weekend and hope to release it by next week. In short, the eBook will accent previous discussions from our newsletters, while detailing the necessary steps to secure any Windows PC. Freeware software solutions will be reviewed in the eBook, whereas the video portion of the tutorial ... (view more)

On October 2nd, 2003, I asked Infopackets Readers for some Freeware Picture viewers: Missing Picture Viewer for Windows 98? I am happy to say that I received many responses. In fact, a great deal of readers highly recommended a program called ... IrfanView. From the web site: " IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative freeware (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP. It is ... simple [enough] for beginners, and [yet] powerful [enough] for professionals ... Some IrfanView features: Many supported file formats, Multi language support, Thumbnail/ ... (view more)

Side note: Because this Visitor Feedback section deals with computer hardware, both the question and answer are somewhat technical. Even if you're a newbie, you should take the time to read this article: I've done my best to outline and explain the ... techy-terms in simple English. Infopackets Reader John T. writes: " Hi, Dennis! I'm sure hoping for your help, if you have the time and are up for a challenge. When I turned my computer on after the recent massive power outage ... I discovered I no longer had D (CD ROM) drive -- it disappeared from My Computer under Windows ... The rest of the ... (view more)