I could not be more excited about these movies. 2011 is already shaping up to be amazing.
Cowboys vs Aliens (Yahoo Movies):
Green Lantern (YouTube):
Enjoy!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Review: ImTOO DVD Ripper
Something that has been bothering me lately is, what happened to simple ripping of DVDs? I know that I used to do this without too much complication years ago, but my last few attempts have not gone well. So, I have been in search of a solution. My latest attempt? ImTOO DVD Ripper. Although I evaluated the Windows version, I give them credit for also making a Mac version. ImTOO is better known for their video and audio converters, which they've also ported to Mac.
For now, I stuck with the evaluation version, until I am convinced it will work. The price is steeper than I would normally pay for software like this ($40-60), but if it works, it would be worth it. The interface is definitely impressive. It's very clean. The basic buttons for the main functions are clear and obvious, but there are many places to easily access more advanced customization options.
A major win for it is its long list of conversion profiles. I like having the option to specify custom destination formats, but most of the time I'd prefer to just pick the target format I want and hit "rip". There are actually profiles for multiple specific Android phones! Most of my video watching is over the lan to my Xbox360, so I picked XBox360 - WMV Video for my testing.
The evaluation version will only rip the first three minutes, but that's more than enough to analyze quality. I wanted the test to be more real-world, so I used a very average desktop computer to do the rip. I was hopeful that the stuttering problems I've had with previous applications wouldn't plague me here, as the app had a real-time CPU usage meter that was running even when it wasn't ripping...that indicated to me some optimization. The results were mixed, however. The speed of the rip was impressive...unfortunately, the final product had some stuttering. I'd have preferred if the rip took a little longer, but worked smoothly.
To be fair, the PC I ran this on is rather long in the tooth. I have a brand new Core i7 machine arriving tomorrow. At that point, I will test on it and update the post. However, due to the power of that machine, I will be trying to rip to an even higher-bitrate profile. I will update this post when I have completed the new tests.
In conclusion, I see a lot of potential in ImTOO DVD Ripper. The interface is cleaner than the competition, and it's profiles are phenomenal. But, like all modern encoders, it looks like it wants a good amount of horsepower to produce good results.
For now, I stuck with the evaluation version, until I am convinced it will work. The price is steeper than I would normally pay for software like this ($40-60), but if it works, it would be worth it. The interface is definitely impressive. It's very clean. The basic buttons for the main functions are clear and obvious, but there are many places to easily access more advanced customization options.
A major win for it is its long list of conversion profiles. I like having the option to specify custom destination formats, but most of the time I'd prefer to just pick the target format I want and hit "rip". There are actually profiles for multiple specific Android phones! Most of my video watching is over the lan to my Xbox360, so I picked XBox360 - WMV Video for my testing.
The evaluation version will only rip the first three minutes, but that's more than enough to analyze quality. I wanted the test to be more real-world, so I used a very average desktop computer to do the rip. I was hopeful that the stuttering problems I've had with previous applications wouldn't plague me here, as the app had a real-time CPU usage meter that was running even when it wasn't ripping...that indicated to me some optimization. The results were mixed, however. The speed of the rip was impressive...unfortunately, the final product had some stuttering. I'd have preferred if the rip took a little longer, but worked smoothly.
To be fair, the PC I ran this on is rather long in the tooth. I have a brand new Core i7 machine arriving tomorrow. At that point, I will test on it and update the post. However, due to the power of that machine, I will be trying to rip to an even higher-bitrate profile. I will update this post when I have completed the new tests.
In conclusion, I see a lot of potential in ImTOO DVD Ripper. The interface is cleaner than the competition, and it's profiles are phenomenal. But, like all modern encoders, it looks like it wants a good amount of horsepower to produce good results.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Another Reboot
A tweet from @GaryVee has me listening to him talking on an internet radio show about, what else, his personal branding and all that he has done. His passion and sincerity is infectious. So, I'm back here again, trying to kick this in gear again. I've had a lot of upheaval and change in my life, and have settled on "temet nosce" from The Matrix as my view of life. You have to know yourself, and be true to yourself, and everything else will come easily.
Expect more articles, and hopefully a restart of the radio show idea. Thank you for keeping this site bookmarked, or the rss in your reader. I'll do my best to make it pay dividends.
Expect more articles, and hopefully a restart of the radio show idea. Thank you for keeping this site bookmarked, or the rss in your reader. I'll do my best to make it pay dividends.
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