It sure didn't feel like a Monday...
Mar. 3rd, 2003 08:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpA couple of quarterly checks from FedEx and UPS made today's deposit look healthy, which made the store account look even healthier. I even got a client check in the mail, mirabile dictu.
The rest of the day consisted of chasing paper, except for the preparations for dinner (Drew, Shannon, and Huntur came over).
Dinner was mashed yams with those Omaha Steaks filet mignons, which turned out very well. Thinking back, these steaks are only the second most-expensive cuts of meat that I've bought outside of a restaurant (the most expensive cuts were steaks bought at a Houston natural foods store, for $32 a pound, if memory serves).
While cost cannot be ignored, it cannot be used as the measure of quality. However, in these two cases (Omaha and Houston), the meat was worth the money.
The other highlight of the day was the arrival of more digital pictures for the ATA SLD web site. I've got the procedure for creating thumbnails, editing the link page, and uploading the whole business almost down pat.
* * * Recently, I bought one of those software packages for copying DVDs onto CD-Rs (from Office Depot in Durango). The idea was to see what is involved in the process, and whether it makes sense to copy DVDs that get lent out from my personal collection (a couple have come back scratched, which annoys me).
Apparently, the process involves three major phases. The first is to "rip" the DVD, or extract the information and save it into files on one's hard disk. A 1:40 movie requires about 6 GB of space for this. Next, this information is processed by a freeware program called DVDx, with the result saved in one or more MPEG files that are appropriately sized for a CD-R.
On my VAIO, this process would have taken around 12 hours, except for the fact that the program hung 96.4% of the way through the process (and unfortunately, the remaining 3.6% of the film still had some "story" left in it). I am so thrilled.
The third step, which I have not yet performed, is to burn the MPEG files onto CD platters. So far, though, the fact that a 100 minute film takes around 14-15 hours to process on my setup (I'm sure I could speed things up if I really tried, but (a) I don't feel like it, and (b) it's not like I'm going to do this for a living... I may not do it again, in fact) is not heartening.
Ah, well... live and learn. OTOH, it may just make sense for transferring shorter, personal videos to CD.
Cheers...
The rest of the day consisted of chasing paper, except for the preparations for dinner (Drew, Shannon, and Huntur came over).
Dinner was mashed yams with those Omaha Steaks filet mignons, which turned out very well. Thinking back, these steaks are only the second most-expensive cuts of meat that I've bought outside of a restaurant (the most expensive cuts were steaks bought at a Houston natural foods store, for $32 a pound, if memory serves).
While cost cannot be ignored, it cannot be used as the measure of quality. However, in these two cases (Omaha and Houston), the meat was worth the money.
The other highlight of the day was the arrival of more digital pictures for the ATA SLD web site. I've got the procedure for creating thumbnails, editing the link page, and uploading the whole business almost down pat.
Apparently, the process involves three major phases. The first is to "rip" the DVD, or extract the information and save it into files on one's hard disk. A 1:40 movie requires about 6 GB of space for this. Next, this information is processed by a freeware program called DVDx, with the result saved in one or more MPEG files that are appropriately sized for a CD-R.
On my VAIO, this process would have taken around 12 hours, except for the fact that the program hung 96.4% of the way through the process (and unfortunately, the remaining 3.6% of the film still had some "story" left in it). I am so thrilled.
The third step, which I have not yet performed, is to burn the MPEG files onto CD platters. So far, though, the fact that a 100 minute film takes around 14-15 hours to process on my setup (I'm sure I could speed things up if I really tried, but (a) I don't feel like it, and (b) it's not like I'm going to do this for a living... I may not do it again, in fact) is not heartening.
Ah, well... live and learn. OTOH, it may just make sense for transferring shorter, personal videos to CD.
Cheers...
