Happy New Year Gang
First, thanks to all of you who so graciously help out us Noobs, we're so grateful for your help. I'm getting ready to do some heavy duty ripping and burning and was wondering if any of you keep a small TV to preview your work at your "work station" I have a desktop PC to play on while I rip and burn with a laptop on my desk, a dvd/vhs combo for transferring tapes with an easycap and I was wondering if any of you keep a small TV to check your work before burning, or is there a better way? I'm sick of wasting DVD-R learning what I've done wrong and it can be time-consuming to burn to rewriteables to check each attempt. I did search for the info first on the site, this is more a "how do you do it" so I can try your way, mine sucks. Besides, not all my players seem rewriteable-friendly. I'm sure there's a better method than rewriteables, ruining discs or buying another darn TV, would you offer your knowledge? Even playing back the files doesn't show if you ripped it with unwanted subtitles etc.
Thanks gang Drive safe tonight
Hey Scum (just feels wrong to call a nice guy scum!) I'd never come across VLC, so thank you, I'll read up now. Appreciate all the help. Yeah, time to improve the media, I don't buy junk (Sony, Memorex, Verbatim is the best I've used) but haven't tried the good stuff you guys speak of either (Ritek TY etc)and user errors as I learn is a certainty. I have the full version of Convertxtodvd4 (purchased), and I think I'm doing an extra step to boot! I rip DVD's to my HP laptop via an Easycap from a separate DVD/VCR combo. Seems to do some light decrypting too, then I run it through my convertxtodvd, apppears to complete decrypting and allows me menu options, but looks liike I'm ripping twice, then run through DVDShrink and I end up with a .99 GB file I burn with Convertxtodvd.
This is the point where you tell me which 35 minutes I'm wasting! I have no trouble with my original desire which was converting all 200 of my VHS tapes (though my burns of VHS look like someone turned the brightness up on my TV to 85%!), but my disc burning as you can see has been hit or miss, mostly misses. I've read several of the A-Z guides, but none I've found incorporate Convertxtodvd so I've had to experiment, with a frustrating and expensive waste of discs. If it wouldn't be a great inconvenience and you have a spare moment, would you kindly tell me in laymans terms how to rip and burn using Convertxtodvd and DVDShrink or DVD43, whatever you do is good enough. Of course, the first question is can't I simply rip straight from my laptop instead of washing it through my Easycap via a second dvd player? I know this is easy for you guys, but it's only easy when you know what the hell you're doing. I frequent Afterdawn specifically because folks here don't make you feel like a moron, by the time we toss 20 discs in the trash, we already feel that way! On most other sites, the seniors are condescending and arrogant, advice like "read the directions" is not helpful when there are 50 different products, with an endless combination possibilities to rip, shrink, burn, decrypt etc. and 5000 guys telling you how they do it. The help is only valuable if we know how to do it with our software, the proggies we're running and the equipment we're doing it with. I'm ex Air Force, Internal Navigation Systems of the F16 Falcon so I'm no dummy with electronics, just a "burning dummy", so thank you kindly for treating us Noobs like people my friend. I think the next guy who tells me to read the directions I'll just hand him a voltmeter, a manual and an F16 and say "try not to kill the pilot!" Hee Hee
Happy New Year
