Archived CalgaryPuck Computer Help Thread

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

My laptop has an open port has a symbol underneath it that looks mostly like this: {.....} (the dots are a little higher -- in the middle).

Does anyone know what that symbol means? All the other ports are obvious -- monitor, printer, headphones et cetera but this one is a mystery. I'd like to plug a keyboard into it but it doesn't have a port for that. Just this mysterious thing that will not accomodate a keyboard wire.

A serial port perhaps?

-Scott

[JohnnyO]

Anyone know of some good software to capture video from MiniDV camcorder and then burn it on to a DVD?

I Also want to create a DVD (playable in a TV DVD player) from several MPEG, AVI files.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by JohnnyO

Anyone know of some good software to capture video from MiniDV camcorder and then burn it on to a DVD?

I Also want to create a DVD (playable in a TV DVD player) from several MPEG, AVI files.

Adobe Premiere is my favorite. Forget what the latest version of it is.

Most MiniDV camcorders come with -something- that will do also, just not nearly as well as Premiere.

[habernac]

having a few problems with my PC. Can't run some mpgs as I'm missign a codec (doesn't happen to mention which one). And I think not so coincidentally, my CD burner is not working for the same reason. Anyone know a quick way to figure out if my hypothesis is correct?

[STeeLy]

Which program are you using to run those mpgs?

And second, what do you mean your CD burner is not working for the same reason?

[STeeLy]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Adobe Premiere is my favorite. Forget what the latest version of it is.

Most MiniDV camcorders come with -something- that will do also, just not nearly as well as Premiere.

I know sony has this program that come with their mini DV camcorders called Picture perfect... I strongly suggest you DO NOT use that, just install the driver from their CD.

Adobe Premiere Pro or Elements is pretty good. Also with Premiere you can add titles, credits, Bloopers during credits (PIP) and stuff like that.

As for myself, I do use a very complicated method of putting Video onto DVD, but it works very well for me, I have never ran into any problems so far.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by habernac

having a few problems with my PC. Can't run some mpgs as I'm missign a codec (doesn't happen to mention which one). And I think not so coincidentally, my CD burner is not working for the same reason. Anyone know a quick way to figure out if my hypothesis is correct?

99% of codec problems are fixed by saying goodbye to the fat & bloated Windows Media Player and switching to VLC
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

VLC comes packaged with almost any codec you could want and plays all but a few formats of audio & video. Plus its free!

I doubt that is related to your burning problems though. Have you tried burning with different software? "Not working" is pretty vague, what's the specific error message?

[oddsrule]

*** New problem ***

I'm hoping you guys can help me, I can't find what I need elsewhere, although I am sure I'm not the first person with this problem. For a few weeks now my computer has been unable to run iTunes for any length of time without the CPU usage ramping up gradually to 100% and causing everything to freeze up. A similar problem was occuring with IE while reading this site, I have since switched to firefox which seems help. While spending so much time staring at windows task manager I noticed that I routinely have around 7 applications called svchost.exe running at once, one of which typically is the 2nd or 3rd biggest drain on the systems memory.

I've run numerous virus/spyware scans, including Trent after reading tips already in this thread, nothing has been found anywhere.

I'm running XP Home
P4 3.06GHz
448 MB RAM
Also 60GB HD with between 20-25% free space

Just to clarify, the problems listed aren't happening because I'm running insane amounts of programs, they'll occur if only iTunes is running.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[cSpooge]

what version of iTunes are you running?... What you're describing is called a memory leak and its usually the programs fault but i haven't heard about any problems in iTunes with that.

[oddsrule]

iTunes 6.0.3.5

and thanks for the term, now at least my google searches will be more technical than "itunes cpu usage"

[sebbie]

edit: oops

[InSutterWeTrust]

Ok I have a question for all the computer people. I just purchased a new pc, I want to transfer some of the files from my old pc to my new one. Can I just simply connect an ethernet cable between the two? Or would it just be easier to burn things to a dvd and transfer them over that way? Thanks for the help

[T I M]

To transfer directly to the new pc you would require a cross over cable, if you had a router/switch/hub you could transfer through them with regular ethernet cables. As for a choice between dvds and ethernet, I suppose it depends on how many dvd's worth of data you need to transfer.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by T I M

To transfer directly to the new pc you would require a cross over cable, if you had a router/switch/hub you could transfer through them with regular ethernet cables. As for a choice between dvds and ethernet, I suppose it depends on how many dvd's worth of data you need to transfer.

it would be easy if he has a DVD RW burner so he just has to use one disc.

[T I M]

Originally Posted by cSpooge

it would be easy if he has a DVD RW burner so he just has to use one disc.

I would tend to agree with that

[CalgaryCowboy]

Originally Posted by T I M

I would tend to agree with that

I have found it easy to this by just temporarly install in the hard drive into the new computer or the new one has a non-system drive that you want to transfer to install it on the old comp.

[T I M]

Originally Posted by CalgaryCowboy

I have found it easy to this by just temporarly install in the hard drive into the new computer or the new one has a non-system drive that you want to transfer to install it on the old comp.

That would work to.

[nfotiu]

Okay, anyone have an answer to this one.

Somehow, after some amount of time, I am not able to connect to the http port on web servers.

I am using wireless. It doesn't seem to matter if I connect at home, or elsewhere.

When it happens, https sites still work, I can still use apps that don't connect to the web.

The big pain is the only way to fix it is to reboot. Disabling/enabling the network connection doesn't work.

any ideas?

[gottabekd]

So after being on the net for a while...all of a sudden you cannot connect to any http servers?

That sounds quite strange. The only thing I can think of is some sort of problem with your router config. When did you first start noticing this problem? Had you recently changed some router configuration settings?

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Okay, anyone have an answer to this one.

Somehow, after some amount of time, I am not able to connect to the http port on web servers.

I am using wireless. It doesn't seem to matter if I connect at home, or elsewhere.

When it happens, https sites still work, I can still use apps that don't connect to the web.

The big pain is the only way to fix it is to reboot. Disabling/enabling the network connection doesn't work.

any ideas?

Https connections typically use port 443 instead of 80 for Http. If you've got a firewall it could be blocking port 80 but I've never heard of a firewall that could accidentally block traffic on port 80. Try disabling your firewall and see if that does anything.

What about apps that DO use the internet? Do you have any FTP programs? Peer to peer apps (i.e. BitTorrent, Limewire, Kazaa, etc.)? MSN Messenger? Outlook? All of these apps use the internet but on various different ports.

Have virus scan software? Some scanners filter all traffic on certain ports to scan for viruses. It's possible that a malfunctioning virus scanner could be grabbing anything on port 80, scanning it, then not returning it to your browser.