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FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Sarah on June 06, 2010, 10:31:27 AM

Title: tech help
Post by: Sarah on June 06, 2010, 10:31:27 AM

So I've bought this new computer, and I have a feeling I'm going to need to get speakers for it.  I have never bought speakers before (I got the speakers now attached to my ancient turntable and receiver from a friend years ago) and know nothing.  Here are some variables that will affect my choice:

* I'll be using the computer both to play music and to watch television.
* I have noticed recently that I often have trouble hearing dialogue, likely because of a combination of hearing loss and the modern trend of making music and special effects really loud.
* I don't care about having bass that shakes the room and in general am somewhat ape-eared.
* I do want to be able to turn up music really loud when I feel like it (which isn't too often).
* I'll be listening both from my office chair and from a recliner that will be set a few feet back from the desk.
* I don't care about surround sound (although I would consider such a system if it would help out with the hearing difficulties mentioned above). 
* As long as I'll be able to control the volume on whatever player I'm using to watch movies/TV--and as far as I know, I will--I don't need a remote.
* I don't want to spend much more than a hundred bucks.

So far, the Harman Kardon SoundSticks II (http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/23115/review/soundsticks_ii.html) 2.1 Plug and Play Multimedia Speaker System is appealing to me the most.  It looks sort of ridiculous, but it seems to be a tried-and-true, well-liked setup, and I can get it for around $105 from Amazon.  It doesn't have an off button, oddly enough, but I imagine I'd be able to plug it into a power strip.

Any advice?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Paul DePhiladelphia on June 06, 2010, 10:51:08 AM

Sarah now is the time to invest in two speakers and a receiver. If you are watching movies and TV on this you need stereo quality audio. Do you have a stereo? See if there is and input. If so pick up an Audio LR to Headphone chord and your problems will be over.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on June 06, 2010, 01:00:15 PM

I have a 1992 Sony receiver.  Told you it was ancient.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Paul DePhiladelphia on June 06, 2010, 02:04:50 PM

All of my equipment is from the 70s and 80s and it sounds great.Try fiddling with things and see what it sounds like.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on June 06, 2010, 02:15:05 PM

Thank you, harris/Paul.  I never even knew I had this option (I truly am an ignoramus about these matters).  Does this mean I might finally be able to copy vinyl onto my computer?  Hell, I have old cassettes I'd like to save if possible.

I think I may need new speakers, regardless, though.  My old Jensens sound pretty lousy.  Any recommendations?  That don't cost an arm and a leg?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Martin on June 06, 2010, 02:25:22 PM

Those Harman Kardon look pretty good. The design doesn't really appeal to me, but that's besides the point. I have a Logitech Z4 setup which is basically the same thing as the HK - 2 speakers and a sub-woofer - but is not as space-agey. Watch lots of TV/movies on it, and play 100% of all my digital music on it. It's good.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Gilly on June 06, 2010, 02:32:17 PM

Pawn shops and garage sales are great for upgrading your speakers. You should be able to get a nice pair for under 100 bucks probably under 50. If you are ok with spending a little more, go the online route and just do a google search for budget speakers and take a look through all the the AV and audiophile forums. Right now I'm using Utah speakers which are really cheap and sound pretty great but are kind of hard to find. Plus I wouldn't recommend them for movies, only music.

Quote

* I have noticed recently that I often have trouble hearing dialogue, likely because of a combination of hearing loss and the modern trend of making music and special effects really loud.

This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Even if I didn't live in an apartment I still would be upset with the levels on movies these days. I bought a sound level meter to try to fix it but you can't. You have two choices with movies now: Get blown away by the special effects so you can hear the dialogue or keep the remote close and keep turning it up and down throughout the entire movie. One of the biggest drawbacks of Bluray for me is that most movies have DTS audio which is unable to have the dynamic range minimized.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: cavorting with nudists on June 06, 2010, 03:09:26 PM

I have those Soundsticks on my computer and they sound acceptable and have worked well for something like seven years.  But I wouldn't settle for them as the sound for my television or main stereo system.

If you're really on a restricted budget, it is possible to get away without a receiver if you buy a pair of powered speakers.  I use a pair of Polk Audio powered speakers in my kitchen, connected to my Mac via AirTunes.  The sound isn't totally awesome, but it's decent for around $100 and can be cranked much louder than the Soundsticks.  Unfortunately, Amazon says they aren't currently available, but other manufacturers make something similar.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: yesno on June 06, 2010, 03:13:07 PM

I have a stereo receiver that I got pretty cheap at a Goodwill, as well as speakers therefrom.  (Careful with used speakers; they're often blown out.)

I use it for my TV, which I have a computer hooked up to.

Thing is, I have that same annoyance with uneven dialog levels.  So it may be worthwhile to make sure you have some kind of remote control for your volume level.  I usually have everything that feeds into the receiver at a set level, so I don't use the computer's volume settings, but it's annoying 'cause this means I'm up to fiddle with the volume on the receiver too much.  It's also annoying that my high-tech TV outright disables volume because I have it hooked up to external speakers.  

At the same time, I keep thinking about getting one of those kits where you can build your own tube amp for cheap.  There's no way that would have a remote.

Oh yes.  Is the idea that you're watching TV on the computer directly or hooking up the computer to a TV?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on June 07, 2010, 06:56:03 AM

Quote from: cavorting with nudists on June 06, 2010, 03:09:26 PM

I use a pair of Polk Audio powered speakers in my kitchen, connected to my Mac via AirTunes. 

So you're talking about the Polk Audio Atrium 45p 50-Watt Powered Indoor Speakers?  They don't seem to be available anywhere online, and other Polk models are too rich for my blood.

Quote from: yesno on June 06, 2010, 03:13:07 PM

So it may be worthwhile to make sure you have some kind of remote control for your volume level. 

. . .  Is the idea that you're watching TV on the computer directly or hooking up the computer to a TV?

Yes, I'll be watching on the computer directly, hence my thought that a wireless keyboard and mouse near my comfy chair could serve as the remote.  Would they?

Quote from: Martin on June 06, 2010, 02:25:22 PM

Those Harman Kardon look pretty good. The design doesn't really appeal to me . . .

Yeah, it's pretty awful.  But I'm not too attentive to interior decor, so I'd get used to 'em.

Quote from: Gilly on June 06, 2010, 02:32:17 PM

Pawn shops and garage sales are great for upgrading your speakers.

Being carless and lethargic, this option isn't really open to me.  Besides, I'd be scared of getting lemons.

At this point, I'm thinking I'll see if my receiver will work with the computer and then take it from there.  If it does, as I said, I'll need to get new speakers anyway, since at least one of mine is iffy.  I was thinking of Sonys, which get good reviews and are cheap enough.  If the receiver doesn't work, I'll have to decide whether to replace it.  There seem to be some cheap ones that get decent ratings (but any suggestions here would be appreciated), but the thought of spending only a hundred or so dollars instead of at least twice that may make me settle for computer speakers.  I listen to less and less music these days, anyway.

Isn't it ridiculous that so many of us can't stand the uneven volume in modern movies yet the contrasts between dialogue and sound effects/music seem to be getting more and more marked?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: yesno on June 07, 2010, 07:29:14 AM

Yes, you can use a wireless keyboard and mouse--a friend of mine does this with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and it works well.

But it only works because of his setup; I found that one of these is essential for a living room computer:

(http://origin.arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.media/slimtouch01.jpg)

..because I don't have a table right there in front of me.  And it's less cluttered. Also, wireless mice eat batteries, I guess because of the laser.

I like the Kylo browser very much.  It is good for lean-back use.  I mostly use it for Netflix and such.  The same company (http://hillcrestlabs.com/) makes a remote called the Loop that I may look at.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Paul DePhiladelphia on June 07, 2010, 10:31:42 AM

Having a wireless mouse is very beneficial. I use it when I watch computer on my tv. My chair it 8 feet across the room and it works perfectly. Its nice and easy to control VLC volume by the scroll button in the middle of the mouse. Def worth it.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Gilly on June 07, 2010, 03:50:01 PM

Quote from: Sarah on June 07, 2010, 06:56:03 AM

Isn't it ridiculous that so many of us can't stand the uneven volume in modern movies yet the contrasts between dialogue and sound effects/music seem to be getting more and more marked?

It's not just modern movies, I bought The Godfather on Bluray and while the new True HD soundtrack isn't as extreme as a modern movie the dynamic range is pretty large causing vocals to be quiet and music and action to be very loud. People with isolated home theaters love it, but for the other 95 percent of the world that watch movies in a living room it's a pain in the butt.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: cavorting with nudists on June 07, 2010, 04:07:23 PM

I have taken to listening to DVD sound over headphones for basically this reason. Especially late at night, I fear sudden swellings of music and FX on the soundtrack will annoy my neighbors if I have the speakers up loud enough to hear the dialogue.  Of course it's not so practiceable if you're watching with other people.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Gilly on June 07, 2010, 04:09:21 PM

Quote from: cavorting with nudists on June 07, 2010, 04:07:23 PM

I have taken to listening to DVD sound over headphones for basically this reason. Especially late at night, I fear sudden swellings of music and FX on the soundtrack will annoy my neighbors if I have the speakers up loud enough to hear the dialogue.  Of course it's not so practiceable if you're watching with other people.

I bought a headphone splitter and if we are watching a movie after midnight we wear headphones. It's ridiculous.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Kim Kelly on June 07, 2010, 04:45:48 PM

Sarah, I've had those soundsticks for a couple of years now. I mostly use it for listening to mp3s and stuff. It does turn up pretty darn loud without distorting the music, and I think it sounds pretty good.

I kind of wish they didn't block the headphone input and connected via USB instead, but it's not that big a deal. It also took me a few minutes to figure out the touch-sensitive volume control. These are kind of nitpicky complaints though.

If this system ever conks out, I'm considering upgrading to these things (http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/promedia-2-1-overview/) by Klipsch, which are a tad more expensive (by about 40 bucks, compared to the HK Soundsticks).

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on July 15, 2010, 04:39:00 PM

Okay, I'm a booby.  A lazy one whose brain can't handle modern devices as well as it used to.  So, as usual, I turn to you.

First question:  I just switched over to my new computer.  How do I get on my existing Thunderbird account?  I've downloaded the latest version of Thunderbird but can't figure out how to get to all my old messages.  There's important stuff there, like recipes and chat transcripts.  I'm talking vital material here. 

Note:  I'm glad I resisted the temptation to ask why the new forum was behaving so badly for me on the old computer.  It's working just fine on this one.  One stupid question avoided!

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Martin on July 15, 2010, 04:59:54 PM

There's a very good backup software for the Mozilla-developed Firefox and Thunderbird called MozBackup. With it you can backup as much or as little as you want from either FF, TB or both - only settings, all the email, etc. You'll end up with a backup file (which can be huge depending on what you back up) which you then can import into the new version of Thunderbird. Hope that makes sense.

http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on July 15, 2010, 05:11:09 PM

Hm.  The problem is that I think I'd need to run that on the old computer and then move the backup file to the new computer, and I now can't go online on the old computer.   Maybe when I transfer the contents of the old computer to this new one, I'll magically be able to access the account? 

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Martin on July 15, 2010, 05:25:53 PM

I'm not sure what you mean by "transfer the contents of the old computer to this new one", but yes, if you indeed transfer every file from the old computer to the new, the files should all be there. They might be 'hidden' in some way, or just buried deep in the hard drive (it won't be enough just to transfer the Documents, for instance), like:

C:\Users\Martin Degrell\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles

Are you not able to download the MozBackup tool to a USB drive or CDR, install it on the old computer, make the backup, but the backup on the USB/CDR, and transfer it to the new computer? Seems a bit easier than to lug the entire contents of the old machine onto the new - though I'm guessing you have other stuff that needs transferin'.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: yesno on July 15, 2010, 06:31:31 PM

Is your email stored online somewhere, and you just keep a local copy?

I might need to fly up to Maine to take care of this.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on July 15, 2010, 07:22:19 PM

Quote from: Martin on July 15, 2010, 05:25:53 PM

Are you not able to download the MozBackup tool to a USB drive or CDR, install it on the old computer, make the backup, but the backup on the USB/CDR, and transfer it to the new computer? Seems a bit easier than to lug the entire contents of the old machine onto the new - though I'm guessing you have other stuff that needs transferin'.

I have something called a Belkin Easy Transfer cable that is supposed to let me move everything from the old machine onto the new one.  In fact, it works both ways, so I could probably download this magic tool of which you speak onto the new computer and use the cable to transfer it to the old one.  But I'm betting the files will turn up when I make the big move.

I did figure out how to get my email working, at least.

And, yesno, you may have to.  You can help me move furniture while you're at it.  And rent a car so that my old computer can be driven to the recycling center in Machias.  Doesn't all that sound like fun?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on July 16, 2010, 05:59:48 PM

Today's problems:

1.  Couldn't send emails.  After much faffing about (during which I discovered that many another user of Thunderbird has faced this difficulty), I figured out what box to uncheck in order to get things moving.  So far, so good.

2.  Trying to remove the black border that appears around the display on my monitor, I downloaded the Catalyst Control Center from ATI/AMD (I knew when I bought the monitor that this border was going to appear and that the CCC could get rid of it).  After installing the CCC, however, I cannot get it to run.  Googling informs me that many others have enjoyed this delightful experience.  Apparently once the CCC actually starts working, it's a thing of beauty, but till then it's an evil monster from hell that wants to drive me insane.  I'm done trying to find out what to do for the day.

Unrelated fun fact:  Did you know that MSNBC's Contessa Brewer is from western Maine?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on July 16, 2010, 06:36:58 PM

I lied; here is a straightforward question:  How do I "go into the graphic card properties and click on configure display and change the bordering percent to 0"?  (This is a solution from another source.)  I guess what I'm really asking is, where are these "graphic card properties" I'm supposed to "go into"?  I've gone to device manager > display adapters > ATI Radeon HD 5450, which gets me to something labeled "ATI Radeon HD 5450 Properties," but I find no "configure display" on which to click. 

I have to stop this.  I'm driving myself nuts.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Gilly on July 16, 2010, 08:51:29 PM

A lot of times with graphic cards that aren't onboard, you can right click the desktop and then bring up display properties and there will be a tab that shows your graphic card and you should be able to configure in there.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on July 17, 2010, 10:08:18 AM

Thanks, Gilly.  Sadly, when I do that, I bring up what I've been able to bring up before, which allows me to change the resolution but not to scale the display to fill the full screen.  Everything I've read so far tells me I need this Catalyst Control Center thingamabob to solve my problem--a thingamabob that, unfortunately, is incredibly difficult to get to work (I am by no means alone in having this trouble). 

Oh well.  The quest continues.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on July 17, 2010, 06:48:23 PM

SUCCESS!  Why?  Who knows?  After attempting to solve my problem by installing older versions of CCC, I decided, on a whim, to try the most recent version--the one that was so intransigent yesterday.  For some reason, this time, it installed.  It then opened.  And I found the slider I needed to set to 0% and did so.  The black border disappeared.  It was a little gift from the tech gods.  And, I suspect, Martin, who supplied me with a link to CCleaner, which program allowed me to scrub my infernal box of all traces of the offending earlier versions, thus opening the way for a successful installation to occur.

Thanks to all who came to my aid.  I can but hope that you will be as generous when the next tempest begins to blow in my teapot.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: fonpr on July 17, 2010, 07:18:26 PM

On a whim, on a whirl
Thanks to Martin,
Sarah's a happy girl.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on July 17, 2010, 07:27:10 PM

Egads, the shame . . . "on a whim" paired with "on a whirl"?  Thus spake Allan's Coffee Brandy (its garbling influence now eradicated from the post, it will live on, a ghost, in Frederix's doggerel). 

And let's not get ahead of ourselves here:  happier, at best.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: fonpr on July 17, 2010, 08:12:59 PM

Quote from: fonpr on July 17, 2010, 07:18:26 PM

On a whim, on a whirl
Thanks to Martin,
Sarah's a happy girl.

On a whim, On a whirl
Thanks, Martin
She's a happier
Pearl.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on July 17, 2010, 08:27:13 PM

Aw.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Martin on July 18, 2010, 04:44:32 PM

Glad to have helped, Sarah.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on July 30, 2010, 10:48:37 AM

Quote from: Paul DePhiladelphia on June 06, 2010, 10:51:08 AM

Sarah now is the time to invest in two speakers and a receiver. If you are watching movies and TV on this you need stereo quality audio. Do you have a stereo? See if there is and input. If so pick up an Audio LR to Headphone chord and your problems will be over.

Am I right in thinking I need two such cords, one to hear what's on my computer through my speakers and another to record tapes and records onto my hard drive?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Josh on August 04, 2010, 06:05:00 PM

An external hard drive flaked out on me (some files ended up in a folder called "lost+found"). Disk Utility's "Verify Disk" and "Repair Disk" instructed me to back up the files from that disk and reformat, which is what I did. Now it looks like it's working fine.

Is it safe to continue using this hard drive or should I replace it?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Bryan on August 04, 2010, 06:13:52 PM

All hard drives will fail after an unpredictable amount of time. You should replace it while it's still working (and, in general, use Time Machine to keep a backup of your whole hard drive on an ongoing basis).

yesno is usually the evangelist for this cause, and I agree with him. Time Machine is a really useful feature of OS X.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Josh on August 04, 2010, 06:32:47 PM

Thanks, Bryan. I use Time Machine as well as iBackup (http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/) on the reg so I was covered as far as data loss is concerned (though I did run another full backup when this happened). I guess I was hoping that it just went on a temporary flight of foncy and would be back to normal. This hard drive has served me well over the years and I harbor no ill will towards it or its manufacturers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VastXQ_hPb0

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: yesno on August 04, 2010, 10:30:02 PM

Glad I'm known for my extreme backing up views.  I wouldn't trust a drive like that on, Josh--I've had drives from everyone shit out on me.  Maybe you could use it as "storage for stuff I don't care too much about" or something.

I now recommend a three-pronged backup strategy, since you can't use Time Machine to back up network attached storage drives (only *to* said drives).

1) Time Machine or equivalent for local files

2) Dropbox for your "documents" if you are a writer of any kind.  If you work from a laptop this ensures your shit is backed up from anywhere you have a network connection.  (My Dropbox syncs from my work laptop to my home computer and the Dropbox folder is also backed up through Time Machine)

3) For NAS, I use rsync from a command line.  This is a bit techy, and I'm sure there's a way to automate this, but I don't because I also physically unattach my drives from my Airport Extreme (where they're made available, read-only, to things such as the tiny PC running XBMC that attaches to my living room TV) and attach them to a regular computer.  This is because running backup over a network is dicey, maybe not if you have a gigabit ethernet connection or something.  Anyway, rsync is the best; a quick "sudo rsync -a --delete  /Volumes/music/ /Volumes/backup" from the terminal is the most efficient way to mirror a media collection computerly possible.  The point is, make sure that you run backups even of drives that Time Machine might not capture.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on August 05, 2010, 09:02:42 AM

Quote from: Sarah on July 30, 2010, 10:48:37 AM

Quote from: Paul DePhiladelphia on June 06, 2010, 10:51:08 AM

Sarah now is the time to invest in two speakers and a receiver. If you are watching movies and TV on this you need stereo quality audio. Do you have a stereo? See if there is and input. If so pick up an Audio LR to Headphone chord and your problems will be over.

Am I right in thinking I need two such cords, one to hear what's on my computer through my speakers and another to record tapes and records onto my hard drive?

Nu?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: yesno on August 05, 2010, 10:26:25 AM

The answer is "it depends."  Sometimes you can use the same plug on your computer for both input and output.  But you just need to figure out what's the input, what's the output, of each device in your setup and arrange things accordingly.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Bryan on August 05, 2010, 12:22:22 PM

Probably you do need a pair of cords to do both in & out of your computer. They'll look something like this:
(http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTms1fKYZ3dcwJA6qCSKBVr-xCmstlm7S5AhgGJ-pL0Kwi7Jpc&t=1&usg=__U9ueXaZWT-3_4lomuMWTeicxYQk=)

So you'll go from your PC headphones out (typically the green one) to your stereo's input and the other cord will go from your stereo's tape out (or whatever) to your PC's input (the blue one).
(http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSDe4e-NcrNCcTnCxHa721YCv4vyjuPjJrkQGRifhXU5RBx8oQ&t=1&usg=__5rAIjSePXaDJO6ROR7Zg3u_U8AE=)

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on August 05, 2010, 12:32:42 PM

Thank you, lads.  Now all I need to do is buy another cord.  Oh, and figure out whether the receiver and/or speaker(s) work.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on August 08, 2010, 01:48:00 PM

Can now play what's on the computer through the receiver/speakers.  The right speaker buzzes.  Someday I'll get a new set.

Can't wait for the second cable so I can start recording records.  Just think--if I go really nuts and copy all 500 or so, I can get these eight crates out of my (small) living room.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Gilly on August 08, 2010, 03:03:31 PM

Now all you need to do is download Foobar2000 and Asio4All to get those rips sounding even better.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on August 08, 2010, 03:38:50 PM

Oh god . . .

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on August 24, 2010, 09:46:52 PM

What do I have to buy to put tapes/vinyl on my computair?  Is Acoustica's Spin It Again okay? 

Please be aware I'm not interested in working hard or learning a lot of stuff.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Gilly on August 24, 2010, 11:23:17 PM

You probably don't need to buy anything. Exact Audio Copy should do the job. I've never used it for that, but EAC is a great program and should work.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on August 25, 2010, 12:27:02 AM

Peachy.  Thanks, Gilly.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: dave from knoxville on August 25, 2010, 05:52:09 AM

Quote from: Gilly on August 24, 2010, 11:23:17 PM

You probably don't need to buy anything. Exact Audio Copy should do the job. I've never used it for that, but EAC is a great program and should work.

I am dumb, and my smarter technology oriented son is not speaking to me, but I don't understand how that software helps with non-CDs. Got a thumbnail explanation?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Bryan on August 25, 2010, 07:49:04 AM

I use Audacity for ripping vinyl. It's also free, and very easy to use.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: yesno on August 25, 2010, 09:03:28 AM

I usually scan a record optically, and then I use a program that reads the grooves off the image.

Or: you could just find some digital packrat online who has already done a needledrop of everything you could imagine.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Bryan on August 25, 2010, 09:49:45 AM

Quote from: yesno on August 25, 2010, 09:03:28 AM

Or: you could just find some digital packrat online who has already done a needledrop of everything you could imagine.

This is good advice, unless you particularly enjoy geeking out with this kind of thing.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on August 25, 2010, 10:05:17 AM

I doubt if anyone has already made a copy of a radio show I did back in 1992.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: fonpr on August 25, 2010, 10:19:52 AM

Quote from: Sarah on August 25, 2010, 10:05:17 AM

I doubt if anyone has already made a copy of a radio show I did back in 1992.

Send me the tape. 

I'll take care of it, if you trust the USPS.

Parts might end up on my podcast.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: cavorting with nudists on August 25, 2010, 10:39:35 AM

Sarah, about that buzzing speaker: It probably isn't the speaker's problem.  First, see that the cable to that speaker is isolated from any other nearby power cables.  Other than that it's probably a grounding problem.  Google "speaker hum" and you'll find a lot of instructions on how to deal with it, but if you find them a bit technical, it might be best to ask around among your electronic geek friends.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on August 25, 2010, 11:23:17 AM

I have only virtual geek electronic friends.

Quote from: fonpr on August 25, 2010, 10:19:52 AM

Quote from: Sarah on August 25, 2010, 10:05:17 AM

I doubt if anyone has already made a copy of a radio show I did back in 1992.

Send me the tape. 

I'll take care of it, if you trust the USPS.

Parts might end up on my podcast.

I may take you up on that offer, S.

Quote from: dave from knoxville on August 25, 2010, 05:52:09 AM

Quote from: Gilly on August 24, 2010, 11:23:17 PM

You probably don't need to buy anything. Exact Audio Copy should do the job. I've never used it for that, but EAC is a great program and should work.

I am dumb, and my smarter technology oriented son is not speaking to me, but I don't understand how that software helps with non-CDs. Got a thumbnail explanation?

I'm with Peaches on this one, Gilly.  I just installed EAC, and it seems to be interested only in CDs.

Quote from: Bryan on August 25, 2010, 07:49:04 AM

I use Audacity for ripping vinyl. It's also free, and very easy to use.

I'll check it out.  I'm in Luddite mode this morning, though, so I feel like I'm going end up with fifty programs of this kind on my machine and probably still end up sending the three tapes that make up the show to Fredericks.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: dave from knoxville on August 25, 2010, 02:50:21 PM

Quote from: Bryan on August 25, 2010, 09:49:45 AM

Quote from: yesno on August 25, 2010, 09:03:28 AM

Or: you could just find some digital packrat online who has already done a needledrop of everything you could imagine.

This is good advice, unless you particularly enjoy geeking out with this kind of thing.

Pointers?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: fonpr on August 25, 2010, 02:56:13 PM

Quote from: dave from knoxville on August 25, 2010, 02:50:21 PM

Quote from: Bryan on August 25, 2010, 09:49:45 AM

Quote from: yesno on August 25, 2010, 09:03:28 AM

Or: you could just find some digital packrat online who has already done a needledrop of everything you could imagine.

This is good advice, unless you particularly enjoy geeking out with this kind of thing.

Pointers?

http://sophisticatedsquaw.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=12 (http://sophisticatedsquaw.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=12)

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: cavorting with nudists on August 25, 2010, 04:14:00 PM

Captain Crawl is a music-site search engine that will point you to a whole lot of music downloads, mostly illegal.  But personally, I don't feel that bad about downloading a digitized version of something I've already paid for in LP form, and I've found a lot of things through it that I could cross off my gotta-get-around-to-digitizing-that-someday list.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: yesno on August 25, 2010, 04:18:20 PM

honestly, the best site I know is an annoying torrent site with impossible ratio demands.  so I don't bother much. I'd bet than almost everything released on a major label since the 1960s, but hasn't been released on CD, has been needledropped.  I have no evidence for this.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on August 25, 2010, 04:36:36 PM

Maybe I'll just go back to humming.  And occasionally whistling.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Gilly on August 25, 2010, 05:29:27 PM

Quote from: dave from knoxville on August 25, 2010, 05:52:09 AM

Quote from: Gilly on August 24, 2010, 11:23:17 PM

You probably don't need to buy anything. Exact Audio Copy should do the job. I've never used it for that, but EAC is a great program and should work.

I am dumb, and my smarter technology oriented son is not speaking to me, but I don't understand how that software helps with non-CDs. Got a thumbnail explanation?

You just go to tools and record wav. That's the thumbnail version, here's a link to show how to do it.

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/9/13/11498/3759 (http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/9/13/11498/3759)

But, Audacity might be easier and that is also a good program. I just have used EAC a lot in the past and knew it was capable.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 02, 2010, 06:24:48 PM

Anyone have a clue why my screensaver (a series of photos) should suddenly have grown about four times bigger than it used/is supposed to be?  Everything else (icons, desktop) is the same size it was before.  (Please don't suggest I change the resolutiion: it's as it has been from the beginning and is correct for my monitor.  Besides, as I said, only one component is suffering from gigantism.)

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: fonpr on September 02, 2010, 07:04:38 PM

Virus?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 02, 2010, 11:25:31 PM

Not as far as I can suss.  AVG says I'm clean, anyway.  And the only other problem I have been having is an exception error balloon that appears every time I start up. Come to think of it, that may have begun when the screensaver got huge.  If I knew how to fix it, maybe the other would be cured as well.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Bryan on September 03, 2010, 11:02:59 AM

So, visually the pictures look bigger? It's not that the folder containing the files went from being 2 MB to 8 MB?

I'm assuming that this is not a special piece of software you're running - it's the "My Pictures" slideshow in the screensaver menu, correct? If you go to the "settings" for that option, there's a scroll bar that dictates how big you want the pictures to be. You could try playing with that. There's also a check box to "stretch small pictures". See if that's on or not.

If that stuff doesn't make a difference, try changing your screensaver to something else, and rebooting. If that gets rid of the warning at startup, change your screensaver back to the slideshow, and see if it's fixed or if it causes the error message to appear again.

That should at least help you figure out what, exactly, the problem is.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 03, 2010, 01:33:01 PM

 Thanks, Bryan.  A few things:

* I've already tried using a different set of pictures, with the same result.

* I'm using the Windows Live Photo Gallery option in the Screensaver section.  There is no slider or "stretch small pictures" box in the settings.

* The screensaver looks fine when I'm in the settings window; it's when I preview it or it starts up naturally that it's wrong.

* I'm not sure the error message is connected to the screensaver mystery.  It's just the only other anomaly that's plaguing me at the moment.

I'll continue exploring when the mood strikes me.  It's more annoying than anything else. 

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: fonpr on September 03, 2010, 01:36:20 PM

Quote from: Sarah on September 03, 2010, 01:33:01 PM

* I'm using the Windows   

It's more annoying than anything else.

I've identified your problem.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 03, 2010, 01:39:18 PM

Yet you offer me no solutions.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Bryan on September 03, 2010, 03:57:34 PM

Quote from: Sarah on September 03, 2010, 01:33:01 PM

* I'm using the Windows Live Photo Gallery option in the Screensaver section.  There is no slider or "stretch small pictures" box in the settings.
* I'm not sure the error message is connected to the screensaver mystery.  It's just the only other anomaly that's plaguing me at the moment.

Oh yeah, I was looking at XP. You're probably running Windows 7 if you're using your new computer.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 03, 2010, 04:00:22 PM

Yup.

I switched over to bubbles for the time being.  Maybe I'll have a brainstorm overnight and think of something else to try.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Bryan on September 03, 2010, 04:13:28 PM

Does this help?

Quote

There is no need to worry if the Windows 7 screensaver is stretching photos. Simply follow the steps given below:
Download Windows Live Photo Gallery.
Install the same in your system that is running Windows 7.
After that, you need to right-click on the desktop, where you will get an option called as Personalization.
Here, select Windows Live Photo Gallery for the screensaver.
With this setting done, the stretching of the photos will be avoided.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 03, 2010, 04:22:08 PM

Hmm.  I'll give it a try.  The computer arrived with Windows Live Photo Gallery installed, but maybe downloading a fresh version will clear things up.

I will report later.  And thanks, Bryan.  You must be bored or desperate to avoid some other chore to be spending so much time on this.  Whatever the reason, I'm grateful.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 03, 2010, 04:54:55 PM

No joy.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 11, 2010, 09:25:03 PM

Never did solve that screensaver mystery, so I just switched to Mystify (aptly), which is more entertaining anyway.

New request:  What video-splitting program do the FOT recommend?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Andy on September 11, 2010, 10:53:29 PM

I'm going to risk getting screamed at by suggesting simple things that you've probably already eliminated:

you don't have it set to stretch small pictures, do you?
or the percentage of screeen slider?

both of these are under the settings option of the screensaver.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 11, 2010, 11:51:29 PM

I would never bother to scream about such small stuff, especially when the intentions behind the suggestion are helpful.  But, sadly, to no avail:  I haven't set anything to stretch small pictures, and this slider that you mention--of which others before you have spoken--does not appear in the settings option of my (Windows 7) screensaver (unless, of course, it is cleverly concealed someplace just to make the average computer user's life more challenging).  In any case, I've grown quite fond of the Mystify light show, and I was getting sick of the photos, anyway.  At least the pretty colored lights are ever-changing and seemingly infinitely variable.

Thank you, Andy, for this rare nonwithering response.  I shall treasure it.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: fonpr on September 12, 2010, 08:55:58 AM

Quote from: Sarah on September 11, 2010, 11:51:29 PM

Thank you, Andy, for this rare nonwithering response.  I shall treasure it.

You feeling alright, Andy?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Bryan on September 12, 2010, 09:23:15 AM

Quote from: Sarah on September 11, 2010, 09:25:03 PM

New request:  What video-splitting program do the FOT recommend?

I guess it depends what you're trying to do, but I've found virtualdub useful for simple splitting and encoding tasks. It's free, and a bit fussy to figure out, but it works well.

You could probably use Windows Movie Maker as well, but I've avoided that one (for no particular reason.)

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 12, 2010, 11:41:45 AM

I'm just looking for something that will let me break larger avi and other video files into two or more chunks so I can upload them to Megaupload, which has a 1024 megabyte limit per file.  It's so I can send longer movies to my mummy.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Bryan on September 12, 2010, 02:00:00 PM

Then yes, virtualdub is what I'd use. Just make sure you use the "direct stream copy" option, otherwise it'll re-encode the thing, which will take much longer and possibly actually make the divided parts larger than the original file.

I'm sure there are other tools out there, too, but I've used this one successfully for years.

You could also just burn stuff to a DVD and mail it to your mummy. You can get a lot of videos on a DVD or two.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 12, 2010, 08:03:04 PM

Nah.  It's way faster to upload things, and I begrudge postage.

Thank you.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Martin on September 12, 2010, 08:14:25 PM

A decent guide for editing (cutting) AVI with Virtualdub (http://www.videohelp.com/oldguides/virtualdubedit)

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on September 12, 2010, 09:08:01 PM

I'm not too proud to say it:  FOT am aces.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on March 18, 2011, 05:33:45 PM

A belated thank you to yesno: the Adesso keyboard works like a dream.  Thank you.

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: yesno on March 18, 2011, 09:18:21 PM

If your dreams are like mine, I guess that means the keyboard is always anxious and bizarre?

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on March 18, 2011, 09:27:41 PM

Nay nay.  Mine suffers only from mild, predictable PMS.  Once a month, I switch out the (rechargeable) batteries, and its fretfulness calms right down.   

Title: Re: tech help
Post by: Sarah on March 30, 2011, 08:25:32 AM

How do I make the stupid buttons and the stupid text in the stupid dialog boxes bigger in Firefox 4?*

Thanks.

*Re all these "stupids":  Obviously, what we have here is a rank case of projection, because I'm the big fat dummy in the equation.