Convert a DVD Movie Directly to AVI with FairUse Wizard 2.9
Mar/100
Are you looking for a way to backup your DVD movie collection to AVI?? Today we’ll show you how to rip a DVD movie directly to AVI with FairUse Wizard.
About FairUse Wizard
FairUse Wizard 2.9 uses the DivX, Xvid, or h.264 codec to convert DVD to an AVI file. It comes in both a free version and commercial version. The free, or “Light” version, can create files up 700MB while the commercial version can output a 1400MB file. This will allow you to back up your movies to CD, or even multiple movies on a single DVD.
FairUse Wizard states that it does not work on copy protected discs, but we’ve seen it work on all but some of the most recent copy protection. For this tutorial we’re using the free Light Edition to convert a DVD to AVI. They also offer a commercial version that you can get for $29.99 and it offers even more encoding possibilities for converting video to you portable digital devices.
Installation and Configuration
Download and install FairUse Wizard. (Download link below). Once the install is complete, open FairUse Wizard by going to Start > All Programs >? FairUse Wizard 2 >? FairUse Wizard 2.
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FairUse Wizard will open on the new project screen.
Select “Create a new project” and type a project name into the text box. This will be used as the file output name.? Ex: A project name of Simpsons Movie will give you an output file of Simpsons Movie.avi.
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Next, browse for a destination folder for the output file and temp files. Note that you will need a minimum of 6 GB of free disk space for the conversion process. Note: Much of that 6 GB will be used for temporary files that we will delete after the conversion process.
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Click on the Options button at the bottom.
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Under Preferences, choose your preferred video codec and file output size. XviD and x264 are installed by default. If you prefer to use DivX, you will have to install it separately. Also note the “Two pass” option. Checking the “Two pass” box will encode your video twice for higher quality, but will take more time. Un-checking the box will speed up the conversion process.
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Under Audio track, note that English subtitles are enabled by default, so to remove the subtitles, you will need to change the dropdown list so it shows only a dash (-). You can also select “Use TV Mode” if your primary playback will be on a 4:3 TV screen.
Click “Next.”
Full Auto Mode vs. Manual Mode
You should now be back to the initial screen. Next, we’ll need to determine whether or not we can use “Full Auto Mode” to convert the movie. The difference is that “Full Auto Mode” will automatically perform a few steps that you will otherwise have to do manually. If you choose the “Full Auto Mode” option, FairUse Wizard will look for the video on the DVD with the longest duration and assume it is the chain that it should convert to AVI. It’s possible, however, your disc may contain a few chains of similar size, such as a theatrical cut and director’s cut, and the longest chain may not be the one you wish to convert.
Make sure that “Full auto mode” is not checked yet, and click “Next.”
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FairUse Wizard will parse the IFO files and display all video chains longer than 60? seconds. In most cases, you will only find that the largest chain is the one closely matching the duration of the movie. In these instances, you can use “Full Auto Mode.”
If you find more than one chain that are close in duration to the length of the movie, consult the literature on the DVD case, or search online, to find the actual running time of the movie. If the proper file chain is not the longest chain, you won’t be able to use “Full Auto Mode.”
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Full Auto Mode
To use “Full Auto Mode,” simply click the “Back” button to return to the initial screen
Now, place a check in the “Full auto mode” check box. Click “Next.”
You will then be prompted to chose your DVD drive, then click “OK.”
FairUse Wizard will parse the IFO files…
… and then prompt you to Select your drive that contains the DVD one more time before beginning the conversion process. Click “OK.”
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Manual Mode
If you cannot (or don’t wish to) use Full Auto Mode, choose the appropriate video chain and click “Next.”
FairUse Wizard will first go through the process of indexing the video.
Note: If you get a runtime error during this portion of the process, it likely means that FairUse Wizard cannot handle the copy protection, and thus cannot convert the DVD.
FairUse Wizard will automatically detect a cropping region. If necessary, you can edit the cropping region by adjusting the cropping region settings to the left. Click “Next.”
Next, click “Auto Detect” to choose the proper field combination.
Click “OK” on the pop up window that displays your Field Mode.
Then click “Next.”
This next screen is mainly comprised of settings from the Options screen. You can make changes at this point such as codec or output size. Click “Next” when ready.
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Video Conversion
Now the video conversion process will begin. This may take a few hours depending on your system’s hardware. Note: There is a check box to “Shutdown computer when done” if you choose to run the conversion overnight or before leaving for work.
The first phase will be video encoding…
Then the audio…
If you chose the “Two Pass” option, your video video will be encoded again on 2nd pass.
Then you’re finished.
Unfortunately, FairUse Wizard doesn’t clean up after itself very well. After the process is complete, you’ll want to browse to your output directory and delete all the temporary files as they take up a considerable amount of hard drive space.
Now you’re ready to enjoy your movie.
Conclusion
FairUse Wizard is a nice way to backup your DVD movies to good quality .avi files. You can store them on your hard drive, watch them on a media PC, or burn them to disc. Many DVD players even allow for playback of DivX or XviD encoded video from a CD or DVD. For those of you with children, you can burn that AVI file to CD for your kids, and keep your original DVDs stored safely out of harms way.
Download
Download FairUse Wizard 2.9 LE
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Convert a DVD Movie Directly to AVI with FairUse Wizard 2.9
How To Fix Sound Issues in Ubuntu 9.10
Feb/100
Many users have had problems with audio upon upgrading from Ubuntu 9.04 to 9.10. This How-To will show you how to fix some of those audio issues, including:
- No audio in Flash videos.
- Audio stops entirely after opening a Flash video.
- No audio at all.
- Audio plays out of speakers but not headphones plugged into the front of the computer (go to step 5).
Quick Ubuntu Audio Primer
By default, Ubuntu 9.10 uses two complementary programs to pump sound through your speakers or headphones.
- ALSA
The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) provides direct access to your sound card.
One issue with ALSA is that only one program can output sound to ALSA at one time. Because of this, Ubuntu includes a second program called… - PulseAudio
PulseAudio is a sound server that takes audio data from all of your applications and passes it onto ALSA.
PulseAudio lets you do some cool things like control the volume level of each application separately, and stream audio to another computer over a network.
A common problem in Ubuntu 9.10 occurs when an application attempts to use ALSA directly, instead of going through PulseAudio as it should. The following steps will solve that problem.
Step 1: Install some utilities
In this step, we will install the Gnome ALSA Mixer and the Default Sound Chooser.
To install the Gnome ALSA Mixer, open a terminal and type in:
sudo apt-get install gnome-alsamixer
Installing the Default Sound Chooser is a bit more complicated. It used to be in the alsa-utils package, but it was removed in Ubuntu 9.10. Luckily, a helpful Ubuntu forum user has provided directions to install this utility.
- Download an old version of alsa-utils (make sure you choose the correct architecture: i386 for a 32-bit system and amd64 for a 64-bit system).
- Open a terminal window.
- Navigate to the directory that you saved the .deb file in.
- Perform the following commands:
# Install the .deb
sudo dpkg -i alsa-utils_1.0.18-1ubuntu11*.deb
# Copy asoundconf
sudo cp /usr/bin/asoundconf /usr/
# Install the graphical front-end to the Default Sound Card chooser
sudo apt-get install asoundconf-gtk
# Update alsa-utils now that you have asoundconf copied
sudo apt-get upgrade alsa-utils
# Move asoundconf to the right place
sudo mv /usr/asoundconf /usr/bin/
At this point you should now have a utility called Default Sound Card in System > Preferences.
Step 2: Update PulseAudio and ALSA
To ensure that you have the latest versions of PulseAudio and ALSA, open a terminal and perform the following commands.
sudo apt-get upgrade pulseaudio gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio
sudo apt-get upgrade alsa-base alsa-utils
If these packages are not yet installed, then replace “upgrade” in the above commands with “install” and run them again.
If your packages are already updated, you will see something like this.
Step 3: Choose PulseAudio as your default sound card
Open up the Default Sound Card utility you installed in Step 1. It will be in System > Preferences.
Choose PulseAudio. Click Quit.
Step 4: Reboot
Save anything you have open and reboot your computer.
Step 5: Set the volume
Open the Gnome ALSA Mixer, which is in Applications > Sound & Video.
Ensure that nothing is muted and set the volume at a comfortable level. In most cases, you can put it at the maximum, as most applications that play audio have their own volume controls. In particular, ensure that the Master and PCM volumes are not muted.
Note that there are separate volume controls for the audio plugs in the back and front of your computer, if your motherboard has both. Having one muted but not the other may be why audio will play out of the speakers, but not out of headphones plugged into the front of the computer.
Step 6: Test the audio
Open up your favorite music playing application (we’re partial to RhythmBox). Make sure the volume control is at a reasonable level. Play a song. Do you hear it? If not, proceed to step 7.
Open up your favorite web browser. Open up a Youtube video. Do you hear both the Youtube video and your music? If so, then audio is working properly!
If not, proceed to step 7.
Step 7: Get the latest version of ALSA
If audio is still not working, or not working for multiple applications, then you may need to update to the latest version of ALSA.
Again, a helpful Ubuntu forum user provides an easy method to do this.
- Download the ALSA upgrade script (requires forum registration).
- Open a terminal.
- Navigate to the directory that you saved the .tar file in.
- Perform the following commands:
tar xvf AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.tar
sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh –d
sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh –c
sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh -i
Step 8: Reboot and test
Save anything you have open and reboot your computer.
Once you’re back into Ubuntu, test out your audio as described in step 6. If your audio still doesn’t work, there’s still one last resort…
Step 9: Switch to the Open Sound System
ALSA was designed as a replacement to a similar program called the Open Sound System (OSS). Even though many distributions adopted ALSA, development of OSS continued, and current versions are perfectly capable of delivering high-quality sound in Ubuntu.
Switching to OSS is an article in itself. Fortunately, the Ubuntu community maintains just such an article.
Conclusion
Hopefully by following these steps you’ve been able to get sound working properly in Ubuntu 9.10. Let us know if these steps worked for you in the comments!
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Free Resident Evil 5 DLC hits Xbox Live Marketplace
Feb/100
Capcom isn’t exactly known for its generous support of DLC. But with the impending release of the very first Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition DLC this week, Capcom is giving everyone a free surprise on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Available for download now, the “Extra Figures” pack will add figures like Barry and Rebecca to your in-game statue collection … “all for the affordable price of a free download!”
We’ve learned from plenty of schoolyard beatings that the only thing worse than being caught playing with action figures … is being caught playing with action figures that aren’t even real. We’ll be doing this discreetly.
Download: Resident Evil 5: Extra Figures
[Thanks, Cj! Via Hell Descent]
Free Resident Evil 5 DLC hits Xbox Live Marketplace originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Free Resident Evil 5 DLC hits Xbox Live Marketplace
Interview: Remedy’s Matias Myllyrinne on Alan Wake
Feb/100
Joystiq: It was announced earlier that there would be episodes of Alan Wake.
Matias Myllyrinne: It was just announced in CES by Robbie Bach.
Did you guys take a look at the experiment with Fable 2? That was surprising. What are your thoughts on that?
I think it’s interesting to see how those new forms of enjoying entertainment — how to distribute that, and get through to people in the way they want to enjoy it. I think it’ll be really cool to see what happens with the Fable episodic delivery stuff. I think the jury’s still out on how people want to consume media such as games. I think it’s also an evolving thing, as well. If you think back to music, it’s not that long ago that we all bought CDs. That changed. I thought it would happen like in two years, but it actually took more like seven for the music industry to shift and tilt.
Continue reading Interview: Remedy’s Matias Myllyrinne on Alan Wake
Interview: Remedy’s Matias Myllyrinne on Alan Wake originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Octavia Butler’s Prescient “Parable of the Sower”
Feb/100
This is a letter that I wrote to my local Bayview librarian to promote Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower as a book that the our entire city reads together:
Dear Linda Brooks Burton,
I wish to recommend Octavia Butler’s brilliant Parable of the Sower as a selection for San Francisco’s “One City One Book” project. Butler’s prescient fictional tale, set in the urban dystopia of a permanently drought-stricken California in the year 2024, reflects many of the pressing issues that face our city and community. She deftly weaves topics concerning water scarcity, local food production, books, race, religion, politics and sustainability into her gripping story, and depicts a dysfunctional world not all that different from our own.
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Octavia Butler’s Prescient “Parable of the Sower”
Friday Fun: Fat Slice
Feb/100
We finally made it through another grueling week at the office, unfortunately the boss is never satisfied. Oh well, time to forget about it an relax playing a fun flash game to ease you into the weekend. Today we look at the fun flash game Fat Slice.
Fat Slice
This is a game where you take virtual scissors and cut through shapes to minimize the area to a certain point without touching balls that are bouncing around.
The controls are simple…just use your mouse to cut the shapes… and a meter shows you the amount of area left to be cut.
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As you progress through the levels, more balls are in the shapes and obstacles are added.
From the main menu you can select the next level or go back and play others.
This is a perfect mellow and challenging game to pass the time on Friday afternoon while you’re waiting for the bell to ring.
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Friday Fun: Fat Slice
Record revenue for Microsoft after selling 60 million copies of Windows 7 – High Tech Lounge
Feb/100
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Record revenue for Microsoft after selling 60 million copies of Windows 7
High Tech Lounge The number of Zune HD players sold is not known, but the fall has been the first full quarter of sales for the device. The sales of Windows 7 do not reflect … |
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Record revenue for Microsoft after selling 60 million copies of Windows 7 – High Tech Lounge
Microsoft Drops Price Of Zune HD Player – ITProPortal
Feb/100
 Joy Online |
Microsoft Drops Price Of Zune HD Player
ITProPortal In what could be seen as a promotional move, Microsoft Corp. has quietly slashed prices of its popular Zune HD portable media players (PMPs) though it's … Microsoft tries cutting Zune HD prices to fight rivals Microsoft drops Zune HD price, others follow Microsoft Quietly Lowers Zune Prices |
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Microsoft Drops Price Of Zune HD Player – ITProPortal
Microsoft Drops Price Of Zune HD Player – ITProPortal
Feb/100
Joy Online |
Microsoft Drops Price Of Zune HD Player
ITProPortal In what could be seen as a promotional move, Microsoft Corp. has quietly slashed prices of its popular Zune HD portable media players (PMPs) though it's … Microsoft tries cutting Zune HD prices to fight rivals Microsoft drops Zune HD price, others follow Microsoft Quietly Lowers Zune Prices |
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Microsoft Drops Price Of Zune HD Player – ITProPortal
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Semi-stars fight it out in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 charity event
Feb/100
Imagine you told us that Dr. Chad Ocho Cinco (Hon.) and Olivia Munn intended to throw a Battlefield: Bad Company 2 party and invite all their pseudo-celebrity pals to play for charity. If you asked us to dream up a guest list, we doubt we would be physically capable of coming up with a more ill-suited and uninspiring crew than the one that will actually be in Hollywood tonight for the Battlefield Celebrity Bracket Challenge.
We understand Hal Sparks and Perez Hilton are there, that’s just the law, but the rest of the NFL players and 90210 and CSI:NY stars that fill out the list so strain and pervert the word “celebrity” that it can now be accurately applied to karaoke DJs and birthday party illusionists. The sole exception here is Heroes star Greg Grunberg, who’s a totally decent guy that just seems to have fallen in with the wrong crowd. Bad company indeed, Greg. Bad company indeed.
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Semi-stars fight it out in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 charity event