take away my freedom to choose / vid file format / comix

[oiran]

So, there's this newish thing our cable provider (comcast) is benevolently providing for us: On Demand, which is basically faux-TiVo with pathetically limited options. We do not have real TiVo because Mr. Glove harbors a deep desire to make his own. I am suspicious of this, not because I don't think he can do it (I'm sure he can), but that if it ever happens, it will not be for a very long time because he is even more overextended than I am.

One day, I turned on the TV and there was the new option onscreen. It was duly noted, but I wasn't really interested, as I am kind of used to watching the very few things I watch within their actual broadcast schedule. However, we were visiting Kicky and her husband and they turned on the TV to entertain their very small daughter with Blue's Clues via On Demand and proceeded to tell us how great it was to watch whatever whenever, etc., etc.

So, about a week ago, I click the On Demand button. And I get an error message. I click again, and I have a "connection failure." Random tries, random days, never anything remotely resembling an actual hope of using this stupid new feature. I have called customer service twice and they have "reset the box" with only the faint progress of crashing menus and annoying theme music. I once got through enough menus to find what I wanted (and I didn't even want it very much) only to have it crash when I made my choice.

Hateful, half-assed technology.

This faux-TiVo wasn't even something I particularly wanted, but now that I cannot have it, I am frantic with rageful entitlement. I want my fucking On Demand!! Because it's not enough to have ~100 channels that I don't watch, apparently.

for people who know about video formats: What program(s) does a person use to change a file from, say, .avi format to something smaller? I'm fiddling around with a DVD-maker program that came with my burner (which, for all I know, converts formats) hoping to make my to Cowboy Bebop files into disks I can watch on the nice, big TV instead of the laptop, but they're .avi files and I can only fit two-and-a-half eps on a disk. I'd like that to be otherwise.

comix & manga: Reading The Losers, Y - The Last Man, and various permutations of Sin City. Downloading Hellblazer in huge quantity. I have no commentary yet, but I'm enjoying myself. Wondering if anyone has seen the first volume of YnM, AKA Descendants of Darkness on sale. I feel I have been very patient (purported release date 08/18/04), and I want a copy NOW. The only CLAMP title I am interested in Gohou Drug is supposed to be released soonish, too, I think.

Comments

[jetis.livejournal.com]

That's actually what I'm doing right now. I've got ep. 1-25 in .avi format on my hard drive. I wasw told that I needed to convert them to .mpeg2, which I used TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator to do, but I may be wrong. I'm going to my other computer (where a friend much more knowledgeable than I will meet me) to work everything out.

[lexcorp-hope.livejournal.com]

That's the program! Mpeg2 version only works for 30 days if you don't buy it, but the free version lets you continue to convert into Mpeg1 forever, and that's what I tend to use in Premiere.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice. I suppose I really ought to learn a little bit about file formats, no matter how much I don't actually want to. However, since my existing software did some sort of conversion for me before burning the disk, it's possible I can convert files without burninging them, I would think.

It takes too long. I'm impatient!

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Thank you - that's good to know. I really don't want to know very much about video file formats. There seem to be way more options than necessary.

I should probably look closer at the software I've got, though. It did do some sort of conversion for me before burning the files, so maybe I could use that to convert everything first...

*sighs*

I just want to watch TV. Is that so terrible?

[stone-princess.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, Sin City.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

It's one of those books that, like Strangers in Paradise, I know I'd probably like, but I never got into it because I couldn't tell where I was supposed to start. And I'm weird about starting at the beginning.

Except even now I'm still missing the beginning of the series. I think I have everything else...

[stone-princess.livejournal.com]

I didn't like Strangers in Paradise as much as everyone who recced it to me seemed to think I would.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Actually, when I think about it, the recommendations have been along the lines of: "two chicks!"

While I like "two chicks!" very much, it's not really a premise for a zillion-book series...

[talitha78.livejournal.com]

Because of a post of yours a couple of days ago, I went and downloaded the first volume of Sakende Yaruze. This is my first manga scanlation download ever, and I'm a bit confused. What's the best of way of reading these things? Do you print them all out? Do you put them into powerpoint and do a slide show? Is there some piece of software that makes it easier? Any help you can provide would be much appreciated. :)

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

You don't need to do much, actually ;) Assuming you use Windows:

• Download zip.


• Unzip file into a directory for that manga. I also make subdirectories for each vol/chapter. Usually, the people doing the scanlations name and number the files with the vol and chapter information, but if they didn't for some reason, you can end up with a bunch of files called "02" that overwrite each other, so it's easier to keep them separated from the beginning.


• In the Explorer/file manager, I go to the directory I've just made, make sure the files are sorted sequentially, and double-click the initial image file.


• The Windows file viewer opens the page and I can read it right there! There are navigation buttons, zoom, etc. as part of the file viewer.

You probably already know this, but you read them from right to left.

There's a mangaviewer out there somewhere (Bonibaru knows where to get it, I think) that allows you to read directly from .zip files without unzipping them, if you prefer to do that.

[talitha78.livejournal.com]

You are so good to answer my fannish plea for help. Thank you. And go you! with the pimping of manga. The only one I've read and really enjoyed so far was Gravitation. So cute and fluffy. I tried to get into Tokyo Babylon and X/1999, but there is just too much plot going on in those. Is there such a thing as too much plot? My poor little brain thinks so. Anyway, I'll be offloading those in a future "freebie post," if you are at all interested. Thanks again!

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

You are welcome! And I don't mind lots of plot, so long as I can follow it. With some manga, even in the official translations to English, it seems that some ideas or concepts just can't make the journey...or maybe the plots don't make sense in Japanese, either. I am interested in both TB and X/1999 if only because Boni squees so hard about them ;) I'll be keeping a lookout for your post.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I added you to the filter for Sakende Yaruze if you find yourself wanting to read the whole thing ;)

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

It's incredibly annoying! And it's even more upsetting that I know that only six or seven blocks away, my friends are enjoying a bounty of choices that I CAN'T HAVE. It matters not that I might not want to watch anything after all because I CAN'T, which makes me absolutely mental.

I love The Wire. I am very, very excited about the new season starting in...17 days!