VideoRedo slices and dices

I ran into some problems using Nero when I tried to cut sections out of video files. There seems to be a bug that prevents you from exporting a section out of the middle of a video. I had to go looking for an alternative solution. Luckly, I came across a program called VideoRedo. It comes highly recommended for anyone who wants to edit files generated on a video recorder. The program allows you to accurately export video, removing any unwanted sections. I still need a faster way to brighten dark segments. It takes Nero 4 hours to brighten a 40 minute video. That isn't going to work for me. I guess Nero isn't that great after all. I'll probably have to dig out TMPGEnc or something similar to get the job done. I'm doing three 6 hour seminar videos and this DVD project is going to run about 12 hours. But I'm always looking forward to the next project.

Nero does it all

The solution to my video transfer problem was already on my computer. The latest version of Nero came with my new HP DVD burner and it does much more than just burn data. It comes with a complete suite of utilities for creating, editing, and managing multimedia files. Although the video editing tools are lacking compared to even Windows Movie Maker, there is a DVD import feature that allowed me to quickly transfer all of the video that I dubbed from VHS to DVD onto the computer. The format is Mpeg2, which takes up a lot less space than AVI. The Nero DVD authoring software will also come in handy for placing chapters and menus on the finished DVDs. Quite impressive functionality for software included with a DVD drive.

VHS to DVD Project

This week I started a VHS to DVD conversion project for a client. There are 23 VHS tapes that need to be converted to DVD. I was going to use my DVD recorder to do the job. DVD-VR mode allows you to edit right on the DVD recorder. The only problem is that most DVD players can not read DVD-VR format. I need to find a program that will convert DVD-VR into DVD-Video format. There are a few out there, but none that are free. So, it's either buy the software to make the conversion, or buy a large hard drive and edit all the video on the computer. I may still use the DVD recorder in DVD-Video mode and then transfer the files to the computer for final editing and arrangement. But those extra steps may be a waste of time compared to running the VHS through my video camera and saving the files directly to the computer in a compressed format.

Credit Card Fraud

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but this week someone at a high school in Beaverhead Idaho started making online charges using my girlfriend's credit card number. No sign of a virus on the computer she was using. But she did have a problem trying to make an online purchase last week. She typed in all of her info and hit the submit button, but she never got a confirmation screen that said the transaction was completed successfully. Needless to say, I went into panic mode and took all of my computers offline and scanned them for anything that looked unusual. Then I went and put fraud alerts on all of my accounts. Despite the use of security software and multiple firewalls, careless operation can still put you at risk. If we followed all of CERT's recommendations for browser security, half of the web sites you visit would not work properly.

Computer Building 101

I finally placed the order and received all the parts to build my new computer this week. I completed the project in about six hours. I took my time to make sure I had everything connected properly and I still missed one power connector. Once the connector was in place, the system started properly. The Raidmax Sagitta case is quite impressive looking, although the SATA power connector is barely long enough to reach the hard drive. I still have a lot of software to install and data to transfer from my old computer, but so far it seems to run fairly well. The abit motherboard comes with a lot of nice features to make sure your system is running properly. Hopefully the new machine will last a few years, until it's time to upgrage again.