Only watch videos on HTPC, no need for this feature! You shouldn't need this feature either because you should also have a computer connected to a TV just like I told you. Also, if a video is worth watching, it's worth giving it your full attention. Even on desktop video watching, no need for this feature.
Actually, I watch on my laptop quite a bit even though I can also watch on my TV. This is because sometimes my spousal overunit (better known as my wife) wants to watch something that I don't care to watch. The compromise is she watches her junk on the TV and I watch some anime or something on my laptop while sitting on the couch next to her.
Lou, can you tell me where to find the "On top only when playing" feature in VLC?
I'll look it up when I get home (I don't have it on my work machine). It's possible I misparsed your description as "always on top" instead of "on top only when playing." If so, my apologies.
Incidentally, I messed around with VLC a bit and found that the audio stutter on pausing goes away if I switch the audio output module to the Win32 waveOut extension, but in this case instead of stuttering the audio simply keeps going for a quarter of a second or so after I pause it, which is still pretty annoying.
I have had the stuttering issue on three different computers and it has been around for several years; I suspect it's probably due to VLC not properly interacting with Microsoft's DirectX API, and my suspicions are supported by this ticket.
I will grant that VLC has come a long way in the past couple of years, but even now it still isn't quite up to scratch on Windows.
VLC does have one feature that I think other players ought to have, though - the ability of the volume slider to go past 100%. While MPC-HC does have the capability to boost the audio, it's definitely less user-friendly. Unfortunately, though, it appears this feature currently causes severe distortion.
I've seen other people complain about this, and I've also seen it first hand when watching anime with Prof Pangloss. My recommendation was to get a better video player.
Trufax. Happened a solid 5+ times per episode when we were watching Madoka. Switched to SMplayer, same video files, no issues. Fuck (old) VLC.
I find it amusing that most of the computer professionals have had such poor arguments that they haven't convinced me at all.
Okay, fine, have a broken down argument from me:
VLC used to be really shitty, now it's slightly less shit. SMplayer is pretty great. CCCP comes from a sketchy looking website, which may or may not be run by a group with possibly questionable procedures. Furthermore, because we really don't know what's going on in the minds of the CCCP guys (closed-source, for one), even if they themselves aren't evil, we don't know whether or not they're smart enough to keep their own software secure.
As for the sketchy sites = viruses point, it's not uncommon knowledge that by and large, most sketchy software comes from sketchy sites. Your definition of "sketchy" may vary, I don't give a shit. Point being, if someone doesn't know how to design a website, then even if they're 100% legit, how are we supposed to know their software isn't full of holes? Maybe they don't know shit about security. At any rate, I'm not suggesting that downloading Joy2Key on its own is going to fuck your computer up, but it's a bad mindset to assume that the larger population knows what's good for them.
Well, I don't really see how the CCCP website is "sketchy", and your other point was already made in a better way by Dragonmaster Lou.
However, I do agree with the point that installing it as a bundle is unnecessary vs a minimalistic install of the components you actually need (namely, MPC-HC and LAV), though I maintain the security risk of using CCCP is negligible.
As for the sketchy sites = viruses point, it's not uncommon knowledge that by and large, most sketchy software comes from sketchy sites. Your definition of "sketchy" may vary, I don't give a shit. Point being, if someone doesn't know how to design a website, then even if they're 100% legit, how are we supposed to know their software isn't full of holes? Maybe they don't know shit about security. At any rate, I'm not suggesting that downloading Joy2Key on its own is going to fuck your computer up, but it's a bad mindset to assume that the larger population knows what's good for them.
Even legit software can be "virused," so to speak, so you just have to always be careful. Back in the days before the internet, one of the most common sources of computer viral infections were from the duplication houses that copied and boxed up legitimate commercial software such that most viruses were spread by legitimate commercial software. Even nowadays, you hear stories about Dell/HP/etc. laptops and such that come with viruses pre-installed for your convenience.
For that matter, I don't trust the quality/sketchiness of a software package on the nature of its website. For one thing, if I was a hard core virus peddler, you'd better believe I'd tried to make my website as slick as possible to try to get more people to download my malware. For another thing, I'm not a web designer/programmer (most of my professional programming is closer to the kernel and sometimes in the kernel itself), so if I put up a website for my own software, it probably won't look that slick (and trust me, I won't put malware on it... unless I decide to do the CCCP exploit thing ).
The one safe bet is proper vetting and trying to eliminate as many paths to malware infection as possible. Try not to download anything from any site, no matter how slick it looks, unless you're sure the site/software can be trusted by getting trustworthy recommendations. Try to download software from the original author/publisher/etc. whenever possible. Try not to install software unless you truly need/want it. Never install more than what you need/want.
Also, since this is an important point and bears repeating - MPC-HC, FFDShow, the LAV filters and VSFilter are ALL open-source software, despite Rym's assertions. The only piece of software included in the CCCP that is not open-source is the Haali media splitter.
The CCCP installer and configuration tool (and Insurgent but that's separate) aren't open source either, to my knowledge.
I find it amusing that the non-computer-professionals are arguing against the computer professionals in this thread on a computer issue.
Argument from Authority? C'mon Rym, you should know better.
It's the only argument he's been trying to make all week.
Okay, everything works fine with MPC-HC and the LAV filters. Does anyone want to level a hyperbolic argument against MPC-HC + LAV now?
I dare take a bet that the computer professionals in this thread never heard about LAV before it was mentioned in this thread. So obviously they will have to uphold the status quo and bring their arguments.
Just for some laughs:
While Nineless presented the argument in the worst possible way...
If you install VLC, you have made a mistake. There's no good reason to install it. Period.
Don't conflate my opinion with Nineless's presentation, nor his conflated points, nor his judgement or any perceived judgement on my part. I simply state my professional opinon.
No one should install VLC. There is no good reason to do so.
Point being, if someone doesn't know how to design a website, then even if they're 100% legit, how are we supposed to know their software isn't full of holes? Maybe they don't know shit about security.
You know, I still don't get this argument. You don't need to be a graphical designer to write secure software, and you don't need to know a thing about security to design a website. Hell, you can even argue that it's a deliberate choice to keeping shit plain and simple from a security perspective. It also ignores the fact that web design has abso-fucking-lutely nothing to do with whether a site is sketchy or not. As often as not the site is very well presented and even emulates well known sites of other software to trick people into thinking it's a safe site. There is no such thing as sketchy website design, just simple and non-simple.
unless I decide to do the CCCP exploit thing
Do it, or at least, look to see if you can find time to poke at it. All you'll have to do is preface the download with an explanation that it is for educational purposes, what it does, and give the source only to the relevant parties at first (CCCP devs or the devs of the component that allowed things getting fucked up).
The one safe bet is proper vetting and trying to eliminate as many paths to malware infection as possible. Try not to download anything from any site, no matter how slick it looks, unless you're sure the site/software can be trusted by getting trustworthy recommendations. Try to download software from the original author/publisher/etc. whenever possible. Try not to install software unless you truly need/want it. Never install more than what you need/want.
I haven't really used it much, but is the K-lite codec pack any less shady than CCCP?
On the contrary. It used to be wide-spread that it was packaged with some malware (no clue whether that was true or not), created problems due to overlapping settings/codecs or no settings at all require configuration after installation, and some of the codecs packaged weren't that good to even bad/old. No clue if any of that holds up, but it would probably say enough if you try to find the place of origin and see whether it's still being maintained or not. Tell me if you get anywhere on that road.
My car mechanic gave me a laptop today and asked me if I could fix it. One of those "I'll rub your back if you rub mine" kind of situations. Fair enough. Apparently it has a virus. One of those "We are from the government. We locked your computer because you were doing shady shit. You now can't possibly use it. Pay us a "fine" to this bank account and we will unlock it" kind of deals. Worse than the one I had, since it doesn't allow you to use the task manager or MSConfig, and blocks out your entire screen with a giant banner add describing the above. Funny thing is, if you have no internet connection, it's just a blanked out screen with a message a la "Please wait while the connection is beeing established", typo included.
I can hardly get into the thing, and I'm too lazy to try really. Only tried to get in with a bootdisc which ended in blue screen failures, and a couple of starts in safe mode which didn't have much success. Anyway, looks like a reinstall and a stern warning to not visit any shady sites. Except the guy didn't give me his Windows installation disc and I'm not going to share mine. It's a crappy old laptop anyway, with the right touchpad mouse key busted.
Use an Ubuntu USB stick. Format all drives. Also, be aware. That particular kind of virus is often used by vigilantes who sick it on people who were in fact doing shady shit, so wonder what the mechanic was doing.
I'm not sure what computers you've been fixing, but, from my experience, masquerade viruses get onto anyone's machine they can by any means possible.
If you can find a way to get into safe mode, look up a program called rkill which stops programs that do their hardest to keep other programs from running. That's one use only so a program to root it out will be needed. I've also had luck with the built in system restore, it may not be zeroing out the whole machine and starting from scratch, but I've not often come across people getting recurring problems and it takes a whole lot less time.
Use an Ubuntu USB stick. Format all drives. Also, be aware. That particular kind of virus is often used by vigilantes who sick it on people who were in fact doing shady shit, so wonder what the mechanic was doing.
Mechanic guy doesn't seem like the guy to do shady shit. Probably caught it by his son trying to get some free software or something. At least that was what my impression of what his son was doing with the laptop. Random games, IE cluttered with toolbars, random software suddenly starting to run (which I then deinstalled after asking) the usual.
This whole thread is going to be moot when the only software you can download will be from a App Marketplace/Store/World/Bodega unless you root your PC or give up and run Linux.
What websites would be useful for those of us who aren't yet super IT or programming pros use to check whether a potentially useful program is safe or not?
What websites would be useful for those of us who aren't yet super IT or programming pros use to check whether a potentially useful program is safe or not?
What websites would be useful for those of us who aren't yet super IT or programming pros use to check whether a potentially useful program is safe or not?
Google.
Google what, exactly? "program x" shady? "program x" vulnerabilities?
What websites would be useful for those of us who aren't yet super IT or programming pros use to check whether a potentially useful program is safe or not?
Google.
Google what, exactly? "program x" shady? "program x" vulnerabilities?
In general, your first step is "I want to do X. What is the best program for doing X?" That's the most important step, since it filters out a lot of dodgy software straight off the bat. From that point, you can do more Googling to check its safety.
What websites would be useful for those of us who aren't yet super IT or programming pros use to check whether a potentially useful program is safe or not?
Google.
Google what, exactly? "program x" shady? "program x" vulnerabilities?
Yeah, stuff like that.
I usually don't even Google. If I need to Google to see if something is shady, then it probably is, so I don't install it. The default answer is no.
Sometimes, though, you run into a situation where you need to find out because you have no knowledge of the software possibilities. For example, for video conversion the obvious answer is Handbrake, but what if you want formats other than .mp4 or .mkv? I found something that works well, Freemake Video Converter, but now I want to do a bit more research on it. Thanks.
For example, for video conversion the obvious answer is Handbrake, but what if you want formats other than .mp4 or .mkv?
Why?
Also, the answer is MEncoder or FFmpeg.
As for how I arrived at that conclusion, that too is pretty simple. First I went to Wikipedia's comparison article, and from there MEncoder was an obvious choice due to being free and open-source and associated with MPlayer, which is also a pretty good project. FFmpeg is also an obvious choice because just about every encoder / decoder worth a damn is based on FFmpeg.
Out of the two, I suspect MEncoder would be easier to use.
Sometimes, though, you run into a situation where you need to find out because you have no knowledge of the software possibilities. For example, for video conversion the obvious answer is Handbrake, but what if you want formats other than .mp4 or .mkv? I found something that works well, Freemake Video Converter, but now I want to do a bit more research on it. Thanks.
The real question here, why do you want another format?
Also, a lot of people have computer problems, and the answer is not always to install an application. In fact, most of the time that is not the answer. You should just say what your real problem is. Don't even say you are trying to convert a video. Maybe converting isn't even the thing you need to do. Tell us what your actual problem is.
Sometimes, though, you run into a situation where you need to find out because you have no knowledge of the software possibilities. For example, for video conversion the obvious answer is Handbrake, but what if you want formats other than .mp4 or .mkv? I found something that works well, Freemake Video Converter, but now I want to do a bit more research on it. Thanks.
The real question here, why do you want another format?
Also, a lot of people have computer problems, and the answer is not always to install an application. In fact, most of the time that is not the answer. You should just say what your real problem is. Don't even say you are trying to convert a video. Maybe converting isn't even the thing you need to do. Tell us what your actual problem is.
Zune 30 by default only natively plays wmv and maybe mov. The Zune software can convert most files, but not all of them. Handbrake can help with this by making a Zune friendly mp4, but going straight to a wmv can mean no further conversion necessary, less time wasted. This will be less of an issue once they send me my replacement Incredible 2, for the weekend I am stuck with a dumb phone. Also, occasionally I see interviews/podcasts I want in audio form posted on youtube or such, being able to rip the video is nice. Freemake also has some basic video editing tools. Freemake also has more useful presets for me than Handbrake does.
Comments
I have had the stuttering issue on three different computers and it has been around for several years; I suspect it's probably due to VLC not properly interacting with Microsoft's DirectX API, and my suspicions are supported by this ticket.
I will grant that VLC has come a long way in the past couple of years, but even now it still isn't quite up to scratch on Windows.
VLC does have one feature that I think other players ought to have, though - the ability of the volume slider to go past 100%. While MPC-HC does have the capability to boost the audio, it's definitely less user-friendly. Unfortunately, though, it appears this feature currently causes severe distortion.
VLC used to be really shitty, now it's slightly less shit. SMplayer is pretty great. CCCP comes from a sketchy looking website, which may or may not be run by a group with possibly questionable procedures. Furthermore, because we really don't know what's going on in the minds of the CCCP guys (closed-source, for one), even if they themselves aren't evil, we don't know whether or not they're smart enough to keep their own software secure.
As for the sketchy sites = viruses point, it's not uncommon knowledge that by and large, most sketchy software comes from sketchy sites. Your definition of "sketchy" may vary, I don't give a shit. Point being, if someone doesn't know how to design a website, then even if they're 100% legit, how are we supposed to know their software isn't full of holes? Maybe they don't know shit about security. At any rate, I'm not suggesting that downloading Joy2Key on its own is going to fuck your computer up, but it's a bad mindset to assume that the larger population knows what's good for them.
However, I do agree with the point that installing it as a bundle is unnecessary vs a minimalistic install of the components you actually need (namely, MPC-HC and LAV), though I maintain the security risk of using CCCP is negligible.
For that matter, I don't trust the quality/sketchiness of a software package on the nature of its website. For one thing, if I was a hard core virus peddler, you'd better believe I'd tried to make my website as slick as possible to try to get more people to download my malware. For another thing, I'm not a web designer/programmer (most of my professional programming is closer to the kernel and sometimes in the kernel itself), so if I put up a website for my own software, it probably won't look that slick (and trust me, I won't put malware on it... unless I decide to do the CCCP exploit thing
The one safe bet is proper vetting and trying to eliminate as many paths to malware infection as possible. Try not to download anything from any site, no matter how slick it looks, unless you're sure the site/software can be trusted by getting trustworthy recommendations. Try to download software from the original author/publisher/etc. whenever possible. Try not to install software unless you truly need/want it. Never install more than what you need/want.
I can hardly get into the thing, and I'm too lazy to try really. Only tried to get in with a bootdisc which ended in blue screen failures, and a couple of starts in safe mode which didn't have much success. Anyway, looks like a reinstall and a stern warning to not visit any shady sites. Except the guy didn't give me his Windows installation disc and I'm not going to share mine. It's a crappy old laptop anyway, with the right touchpad mouse key busted.
If you can find a way to get into safe mode, look up a program called rkill which stops programs that do their hardest to keep other programs from running. That's one use only so a program to root it out will be needed.
I've also had luck with the built in system restore, it may not be zeroing out the whole machine and starting from scratch, but I've not often come across people getting recurring problems and it takes a whole lot less time.
Also, I am claiming ownership of App Bodega.
"program x" shady?
"program x" vulnerabilities?
From that point, you can do more Googling to check its safety.
I usually don't even Google. If I need to Google to see if something is shady, then it probably is, so I don't install it. The default answer is no.
Also, the answer is MEncoder or FFmpeg.
As for how I arrived at that conclusion, that too is pretty simple. First I went to Wikipedia's comparison article, and from there MEncoder was an obvious choice due to being free and open-source and associated with MPlayer, which is also a pretty good project. FFmpeg is also an obvious choice because just about every encoder / decoder worth a damn is based on FFmpeg.
Out of the two, I suspect MEncoder would be easier to use.
Also, a lot of people have computer problems, and the answer is not always to install an application. In fact, most of the time that is not the answer. You should just say what your real problem is. Don't even say you are trying to convert a video. Maybe converting isn't even the thing you need to do. Tell us what your actual problem is.