Techy advice needed

[meinster]

Typical MKV video format is h264/x264. Typical AVI format is divx/xvid. The former is a much better compression technique (more detail per megabit). Whilst it's usually larger, that's because it's of better quality. However, you can typically download a 42min TV show as a 350MB xvid, or as a ~280MB x264. So MKV being a bigger download has a lot more to do with it being better quality (more pixels, higher bit-rate), than meer download size. x264 beats xvid for SD or HD. A lot of newer TV shows are now going to x264 (.mp4) in SD.

Now, I know I've failed to clarify what I set out to!!

[johng]

Typical MKV video format is h264/x264. Typical AVI format is divx/xvid. The former is a much better compression technique (more detail per megabit). Whilst it's usually larger, that's because it's of better quality. However, you can typically download a 42min TV show as a 350MB xvid, or as a ~280MB x264. So MKV being a bigger download has a lot more to do with it being better quality (more pixels, higher bit-rate), than meer download size. x264 beats xvid for SD or HD. A lot of newer TV shows are now going to x264 (.mp4) in SD.

Now, I know I've failed to clarify what I set out to!!

Possibly more useful to Jim, who started this off, might be a list of stuff that will play on his playstation (I think it was) without having to fock about with it.

Then he could just download the formats he could play.

I suppose he could experiment. He could also spend 50 bucks on a yoke that would play all the formats through a hdmi cable.

[TerenureJim]

Typical MKV video format is h264/x264. Typical AVI format is divx/xvid. The former is a much better compression technique (more detail per megabit). Whilst it's usually larger, that's because it's of better quality. However, you can typically download a 42min TV show as a 350MB xvid, or as a ~280MB x264. So MKV being a bigger download has a lot more to do with it being better quality (more pixels, higher bit-rate), than meer download size. x264 beats xvid for SD or HD. A lot of newer TV shows are now going to x264 (.mp4) in SD.

Now, I know I've failed to clarify what I set out to!!

Possibly more useful to Jim, who started this off, might be a list of stuff that will play on his playstation (I think it was) without having to fock about with it.

Then he could just download the formats he could play.

I suppose he could experiment. He could also spend 50 bucks on a yoke that would play all the formats through a hdmi cable.

Thanks John, yeah doing a bit of research on picking up a decent multimedia hdd that'll just plug & play but for the moment I'm sticking with the cheap and easy data disc on the PS3

[Amz]

Stocked up on some winter cycling gear today, in Aldi. They're probably running low on a lot of sizes. Thankfully not too many women in buying so got quite lucky in that everything I went in to get they had in my size!

http://aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/offers_we ... z_src=main

[TerenureJim]

Does anyone know where one could purchase a decent secondhand iPhone 4 or 4S, I know some posters on here work in techy stores and do refurbished items from time to time, I'm trying to price up some for a friend who's little sister needs an upgrade to her current phone but obviously a new iPhone 4s or 5 is completely out of the question budgetwise.

[meinster]

Does anyone know where one could purchase a decent secondhand iPhone 4 or 4S, I know some posters on here work in techy stores and do refurbished items from time to time, I'm trying to price up some for a friend who's little sister needs an upgrade to her current phone but obviously a new iPhone 4s or 5 is completely out of the question budgetwise.

Officially? Don't think you'll get a warranty-backed 4 now, but you can still get 4s refurbs (from time to time) from Apple. Or, obviously on contract, now that they're a bit cheaper.
Second hand? You can pick 'em up for ~€250+ in decent nick. Things to watch for include dodgy 'home' button, and battery; along with the usual caveat emptor when dealing with 2nd hand sales. (Disclaimer, I'm selling one).

The 4 has iOS6 (and will probably not get the next major update). The 4S has Siri & turn-by-turn nav, if funds stretch that far?

[nc6000]

I see there is a quite a bit of discussion on here regarding video file types etc so maybe some of you can help with my query?

I've a Sony DCR-DVD91 DVD Camcorder I bought ages ago and have quite a few of the 8cm DVDs which I'd like to backup or convert and store together. The file types are .VOB and I'd like to maybe convert them to DIVX and either store them on the home PC or maybe put them all together on a USB drive which I can plug into the TV and play files from.

Can anyone recommend a piece of software which will convert from the files on the DVDs to DIVX format or similar?

[dave13]

if you want something simple you could use handbrake.Download, install and its pretty simple to open the files and pick the format you want, going forward an MP4 format is probably best.
There are better, more complicated tools but handbrake does the job pretty well and is free.

[meinster]

+1 for Handbrake (especially given your DVDs shouldn't be encrypted).

[nc6000]

Thanks for the advice on Handbrake. I'll give it a go later on.

[sheepshagger]

Does anyone know where one could purchase a decent secondhand iPhone 4 or 4S, I know some posters on here work in techy stores and do refurbished items from time to time, I'm trying to price up some for a friend who's little sister needs an upgrade to her current phone but obviously a new iPhone 4s or 5 is completely out of the question budgetwise.

Have a 6 month old unlocked iphone 4 to sell (once I get screen replaced after dropping it yesterday!)

[TerenureJim]

Does anyone have one of these (or similar)

http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/10823523/a ... media.html

[johng]

.3G2 (.3GPP2) .FLV .MOD .VOB
.3GP (.3GPP) H.264 .MOV
.ASF .ISO .M4V .MP4 .TP
.AVI .MKV .MPEG .TRP
.DAT .M2TS .MPG .TS

Plays all these. That's all you need to know. Take that Apple!

[TheBear]

Anyone know if there's such a thing as an S-video to ethernet connecting gadget/cable? Need one to connect two devices in work.

[waterboy]

Oh yeah, the NAS I'm looking at is 2 bay so I can slot the second one in down the road when funds allow. Thanks for the pointers.

These puppies are the ones for video and multimedia http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-dr ... peline-hd/

Adding a 2nd drive to the nas at a later stage will mean having to wipe it and start again to mirror the drives. Not the end of the world but defo a hassle.

Finally got around to sorting this last week and picked up the drive you suggested. Everything working like a dream, tv watching has never been so easy!

[Peg Leg]

Anyone know if there's such a thing as an S-video to ethernet connecting gadget/cable? Need one to connect two devices in work.

There is, Peats may be able to sort you out. You're looking for an S-Video to RJ45 Ballun.
Think I've gotten them from Blue Delta before (gonzo unfortunately).

In fact : Try this

[All the way back logue]

Hi guys - saw mention of Handbrake above - is the site handbrake.fr? I have some old hi8 digital tapes from a sony camcorder that i want to save to dvd. Is this the best way of doing it?

I had a go using standard windows application (movie maker or something like that) which worked ok but extremely slow.

[meinster]

Is this the best way of doing it?

Very subjective. To be technical about it, not it's not the best way of doing it. Dedicated professional hardware is the best way. Hardware encoders in your PC probably the next best thing. But they cost money. Handbrake strikes a good balance between ease-of-use, cost, and speed. However it does require a bit of reading up to see what encoder settings best suit what you need; so it's not "the best" for, say, beginner level. It will, once set up correctly, encode your Hi8 (Digital8?) video to DVD (MP2), or low/high quality MP4, if that's what you want; just as long as you have the means to import the video to your PC (firewire, etc.), it'll do it quickly and it'll do it for free!

[TerenureJim]

Can anyone recommend a tech shop that can repair an external hard drive, dont want to loose/have to re-download content, seems to be a hardware issue as it works for a few minutes and then there's a loud(ish) click noise and the drive stops working. Even if it can be fixed to run for a day or two to transfer content (approx 300GB) I'd be laughing.

[Dave Cahill]

Can anyone recommend a tech shop that can repair an external hard drive, dont want to loose/have to re-download content, seems to be a hardware issue as it works for a few minutes and then there's a loud(ish) click noise and the drive stops working. Even if it can be fixed to run for a day or two to transfer content (approx 300GB) I'd be laughing.

This might sound odd, but have you tried giving it a slap? 'The Click of Death' can mean any number of things, including that the R/W heads are sticking and a slap might free things up a bit to give you some time to transfer stuff.