Video Conversion / Converting Tool

Sorry for the delay, been busy for the past few weeks. Ok, lets proceed.

I'll introduce you to one of the best video conversion tool. Based on my opinion and review, this is simply the best so far... the ImTOO MPEG Encoder Platinum. What i like about it is that it's user-friendly, easy to use and it support wide variety of video and audio file-types. You can convert any video optimized for your DVD/VCD player, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, Mobile Phone, PS3, PSP, Windows Mobile, HD Video, Xbox/Xbox360, Portable Media (Zune, Creative Zen Vision, iRiver PMP-100, Archos) even Pictures and Animation. You can easily select what type of video output and for what player (see image below).

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This Software also support multi-Core CPU which makes the video conversion much quicker. In my case, I have a Dual-Core CPU (see image below).

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You can even set how many CORE/s you want to use. Lets assume that you have a Quad-Core CPU and you only want to utilize 3 of them so you can use the remaining 1 to another application you are running. Go to "Tools" button, select "Preferences" then choose "Convert" tab. Set the CORE value to 3 (see image below).

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Another good feature of ImTOO MPEG Encoder Platinum is the clip tool... you can choose one or more segments, or even several crossed segments, and then convert them to individual file respectively, or merge them to one file. Moreover, you can also convert video file to various audio formats. You can convert a portion/video to any of the ff:

---------------------------------------------
***General Video***
ASF - Advanced Streaming Format
AVI - Audio-Video Interleaved
DivX Movie
DVD - MPEG2 PS Format
DV - Digital Video Format
MOV - QuickTime
MP4 - MPEG-4 Video
MPEG-1 Movie
MPEG-2 Movie
MPEG-4 AVC Video Format
RM - RealVideo
Super VideoCD - MPEG2 PS Format
Video CD - MPEG2 PS Format
VOB - MPEG2 PS Format
XviD Movie

***General Audio***
AAC - Advanced Audio Coding
AC3 - Dolby Digital AC-3
SUN AU Format
M4A - MPEG-4 Audio
MP2 - MPEG Layer-2 Audio
MP3 - MPEG Layer-3 Audio
OGG - Ogg Vorbis Audio
RA - RealAudio
WAV - Waveform Audio
WMA - Windows Media Audio
AIFF - Audio Interchange File Format

***iPod***
iPod (320x240) MPEG-4 Excellent
iPod (320x240) MPEG-4 Mini
iPod (320x240) MPEG-4 Normal
iPod touch MPEG-4
iPod touch MPEG-4 480P
iPod touch MPEG-4 Extra
iPod touch MPEG-4 Wide Screen
iPod touch MPEG-4 (320x240)
iPod touch MPEG-4 (480x320)
iPod Video2 for TV
iPod Video2 (640x480) MPEG-4 Normal
iPod Video2 (640x480) MPEG-4 Mini
iPod Video2 (640x480) MPEG-4 Excellent

***iPhone***
iPhone MPEG-4 480P
iPhone MPEG-4 Extra
iPhone MPEG-4 Video
iPhone MPEG-4 Wide Screen
iPhone MPEG-4 (320x240)
iPhone MPEG-4 (480x320)

***Apple TV***
Apple TV h264 (320x240)
Apple TV h264 480P (640x480)
Apple TV h264 720P (1280x720)
Apple TV MPEG-4 High 480P (640x480)
Apple TV MPEG-4 Normal 480P (640x480)
Apple TV MPEG-4 Low 480P (640x480)

***Mobile Phone***
3GPP - 3rd Generation Partnership Project
3GPP2 - 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2
BlackBerry AMR Audio
BlackBerry 3GP Video
BlackBerry AVI Video
BlackBerry MPEG-4 Video

***PS3***
PS3 Video 1080P MPEG-4
PS3 Video 720P MPEG-4
PS3 Video 480P Excellent MPEG-4
PS3 Video 480P MPEG-4

***PSP***
PSP - PSP MPEG-4 Video
PSP AVC Video Format
PSP AVC Video (480x720)
PSP MPEG-4 Video - Excellent Quality
PSP MPEG-4 Video - Minimal Size
PSP Video(480P) MPEG-4

***Portable Media***
Zune MPEG-4 Video
Zune MPEG-4 AVC Video Format
Zune WMV - Windows Media Video
Creative Zen Vision Video
iRiver PMP-100 Video
Archos AV500/GMini402 Video
Archos AV700 Video

***Windows Mobile***
Dell Axim X51 Video
Dell Axim X51v Video
General Pocket PC Video
General Pocket PC-Excellent Quality Video
General Pocket PC-Minimal Size Video
HP iPAQ hw6500 series Video
HP iPAQ hx2000/rx3000/rx1900 series Video
HP iPAQ hx4700 series Video

***Picture and Animation***
FLV - Flash Video Format
Picture - BMP Format
Picture - GIF Animation Format
Picture - JPEG Format
Picture - PNG Format
SWF - SWF Format

***HD Video***
HD ASF Video
HD AVI Video
HD H.264 Video
HD Quick Time Video
HD MPEG2 Video(*.mpeg)
HD MPEG2 Video(*.mpg)
HD MPEG2 TS Video
HD MPEG4 Video
HD H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
HD MPEG4 TS Video
HD VOB Video
HD WMV Video

***Xbox Video***
Xbox MCE HD WMV Video
Xbox360 HD H.264 Video
Xbox360 HD MPEG4 Video
Xbox360 HD VOB Video
Xbox360 MCE HD ASF Video
Xbox360 MCE HD AVI Video
Xbox360 MCE HD MPEG2 Video(*.mpeg)
Xbox360 MCE HD MPEG2 Video(*.mpg)
Xbox360 MPEG2 1080pTV Movie
Xbox360 WMV 1080pTV Movie
Xbox360 MPEG4 Video
Xbox360 WMV Movie
Xbox360 H.264 Video
Xbox360 MCE AVI Video
---------------------------------------------

For advance users, you can set more video properties like interlace (see below). Otherwise, leave it on default settings.

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Antivirus for USB flash drive/disk or thumb drive/disk on the go

Did some research and found this ClamWin Portable Antivirus that can be included/extracted/installed to your USB flash drive/disk... you can scan your USB flash drive/disk anywhere even the PC you plugged into. What makes this ClamWin Portable Antivirus stand-out is that it is FREE and updatable anytime. ClamWinPortable is a stand-alone program that can be saved to your USB flash/thumb drive without installing it to your PC also.


ClamWin Portable Additional Description: (from www.portableapps.com)
ClamWin Portable is the popular ClamWin antivirus packaged as a portable app, so you can take your antivirus with you to scan files on the go. You can place it on your USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive or a CD and use it on any computer, without leaving any personal information behind.

Features:
ClamWin is a Free Antivirus for Microsoft Windows. It provides a graphical user interface to the Clam AntiVirus engine. It features:
--- High detection rates for viruses and spyware --- Regular virus database updates. ClamAV team regularly updates virus databases to include a new virus/variant immediately after it appears --- Standalone Virus Scanner
Please note that ClamWin Free Antivirus does not include an on-access real-time scanner, that is, you need to manually scan a file in order to detect a virus or spyware. Also, ClamWin Portable has scheduled scans and updates disabled as they are not used in a portable scenario.

How to install ClamWin Portable on your Portable Drive:
Just download the portable package at the top or click HERE, then double-click it. Select the location or the portable drive/USB drive you wish to install to and click OK. A PortableClamWin directory will be created there and all the necessary files installed are inside it.

I tried it on my USB flash disk and it works great on any PC, i was able to update it as well. Launch the ClamWinPortable.exe inside the PortableClamWin folder then click the update button to have the latest updates and virus definition/library.

Scanned it with Bitdefender Total Security '09, Superantispyware Pro, Trojan Remover and Spyware Doctor with Anti-Virus... it's 100% clean, nice work ClamWin ^_^

I also added autorun features on my USB flash drive with ClamWin Portable Antivirus so I can scan immediately once my USB flash/thumb drive is connected to any PC. (See image below)

Enjoy a Clean and Portable Antivirus on the go!
Visit PortableApps.com for more info

What kind of memory do i have in my computer / pc?

If you are looking to upgrade the memory in your computer, you are probably wondering what type of memory is already installed, and what you need to buy for an upgrade...

Here’s an option for detecting the type/size of memory already installed in your system without having to open your computer. This Tool is also helpful so you can easily check other specification on your system.

Download "System Information for Windows Tool" HERE... or visit their site.

This useful free application/tool should be a standard in any geek’s toolkit. It comes bundled as a single file, no installation required.

Once you open it up, navigate to Hardware and then Memory on the left-side panel, you’ll see what type of memory is already installed in your computer.

See pic below, looks like my DESKTOP system can support up to 4GB of memory and I got a total of 1.5GB memory already installed. I have two memory module... on the first slot, I have 1GB DDR2-667 module and 512MB DDR2-667 module on the second slot.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

This tool also lets you know that you need the SODIMM form factor memory if you run it on LAPTOP...it shows 1GB DDR2-533 SODIMM memory module.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

DirectX9, DirectX10 and DirectX11

Microsoft already released directx10 but only for WindowsVISTA since DirectX10 is built from ground up, on a totally different architecture. They started with a clean slate which means that more than half of the games and applications you used to run under XP with good old DirectX9 simply don’t work anymore with DirectX10 installed.

Directx is a collective name for a programming interface, Direct3D, Direct Draw, DirectSound etc, and is used to handle tasks in multimedia applications. Mainly used with video games, basically how well a video game looks.

If you want to fully utilize the power of directx10...you need to buy a new graphic card that support directx10 (as far as i know Nvidia 8800 series/ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT or higher) and obviously, you also need to buy a new OS "windowsVISTA" if your still using windowsXP. Oh and by the way...buy new games and applications that already support/utilize directx10. Sounds like we're going to spend a lot of cash just to catch up with directx10.


Here's some pictures taken from games regarding the difference of Dx9 and Dx10...

FLIGHT SIMULATOR X
with DirectX9












with DirectX10












AGE OF CONAN
with DirectX9















with DirectX10















Sample Videos from games:
CRYSIS with DirectX9 vs DirectX10


COMPANY OF HEROES with DirectX9 vs DirectX10


If you have windowsXP it stops at DirectX9.0c. DirectX10 is NOT backwards compatible as they claim at Microsoft. People call it "artificially" backwards compatible which means it will only "emulate" DirectX9, but that’s not the real step back since it’s built on a totally different architecture.
It will take years for most gamers to catch up and take advantage of DirectX10 since Microsoft excluded XP and Xbox360. Bad move for their marketing strategy and I hope Microsoft will realize that they needs to work on the backward compatibility issue since its a big deal especially with end-users.

Here's some benchmark from the game ‘Lost Planet’ DirectX9 vs DirectX10



























































More info about DirectX10



There is an on-going project for DirectX10 to run on WindowsXP which is called ALKY PROJECT by an independent group. Its already on ALPHA version and it is said to be working for some users. So if this group pull this one out for XP, then we can use those money to upgrade videocard instead of buying a new Operating System...hahaha!

About DirectX11, Microsoft will release it for Windows7...hopefully this one will have better review when it comes to backward compatibility. For more info about DirectX11, click here.

Batch conversion of audio files MP3, WMA, OGG, and WAV

I found this software that converts/support multiple audio format like MP3, WMA, OGG and even WAV files. What makes it different is that it can support BATCH conversion even if you're going to convert multiple file-types together. So it means you can convert MP3 to WMA, OGG to WAV and WMA to MP3 at the same time... you can just sit and relax while this software converts all your audio files :)

Its "Advance WMA workshop" by LITEXMEDIA

this converts...
MP3 to WMA
MP3 to WAV
WMA to MP3
WMA to WAV
OGG to WMA
OGG to WAV

it also support the ff Bit Rate, and Sample Rate with added features...
FOR MP3
- bit rate: 32kbps, 40kbps, 48kbps, 56kbps, 64kbps, 80kbps, 96kbps, 112kbps, 128kbps, 160kbps, 192kbps, 224kbps, 256kbps, and 320kbps (can also convert to VBR "variable bitrate")
- sample rate: 32000hz, 44100hz and 48000hz
- Channel mode: choose between joint-stereo, mono or dual-channel mode
- with options like: enable ID3 tag, automatically load ID3 tag from source, delete source file after processing

FOR WMA
- bit rate: 5kbps, 6kbps, 8kbps, 10kbps, 12kbps, 16kbps, 20kbps, 22kbps, 32kbps, 40kbps, 48kbps, 56kbps, 64kbps, 80kbps, 96kbps, 112kbps, 128kbps, 160kbps, 192kbps, 224kbps, 256kbps, and 320kbps
- sample rate: 44100hz and 48000hz
- with options like: enable digital rights management, enable ID3 tag, automatically load ID3 tag from source, delete source file after processing

FOR OGG
- bit rate: 32kbps, 40kbps, 48kbps, 56kbps, 64kbps, 80kbps, 96kbps, 112kbps, 128kbps, 160kbps, 192kbps, 224kbps, 256kbps, and 320kbps (can also convert to VBR "variable bitrate")
- with options like: enable ID3 tag, automatically load ID3 tag from source, delete source file after processing


This software helps me to organize my audio files in a fast and easy way...if you want to know more about Advance WMA workshop, click here.