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8.07.2011

Ripping DVD to Harddisk

Playing DVD is something that always anonys me, most probably because I am so used to having everything I need to use/watch/play on the home network.  The idea of yanking out a disc from the binder in the bookshelf, put it in the DVD slot of my computer, wait for the disc to spin up, for an application to play the disc, navigate the DVD menu, and finally got to see the content ....  that process was so brizzare to me since the playback experience of most of video files on my network is something like this: search the file, and the play.

So today I finally decided that it's time to rip all my DVDs and put them all on the hard disk on my network. For non-protected DVD disc, I simply use the free ISO Recorder 3.1 x64 bit edition to rip DVD disc to ISO file.  For copy protected disc, I use DVDFab.  For playback, I use XBMC on my Netbook or my MacMini (running Windows 7).  Everything work great so far.

Notice a few things though:
  • You cannot use Remote Desktop Connection to conduct ripping on a remote computer.  I found out that I have to explictly go to that physical machine to rip the file, or those ripping program will not recognize the physical DVD drive.
  • It takes about 30 to 35 minutes to rip a copy protected D9 DVD Video disc.

8.06.2011

Now I understand why I sholuldn't have brought the miniHDMI adapter

Today I experience flicky connection problem when using the mini HDMI to HDMI adapter with my EeeSlate.  That's when I realized that the adapter doesn't work for one important reason: it makes the connection too heavy.  It might work if I kept the connection stay plugged forever, but for my case I have to plug and unplug it all the time.  And that's why I should use the super long HDMI to mini HDMI cable in the office instead.  Glad that I got both so that I have this plan B wih me.

8.05.2011

Lenovo X60T Tablet battery dead

Just found out that the battery of my Lenovo X60T is dead.  So now this laptop will be left in my car as "emergency computer" (allow me to have a computer to use in those just-in-case situation).  First EeePC, and now this.  This is why I am not too crazy about laptop.  Maybe eventually I need one of those universal battery.

Problem of Office Communicator 2007 R2 integrate with Outlook 2010, and solution

After I freshly installed Office 2011 Plus 64 bit on my office machine, I found that there's an exclamation mark on the Communicator icon.  Turns out it was reporting that there's an integrate problem with Outlook 2010, so that the converstation history of the IM didn't save conversation to the conversation history of Outlook 2010.  I found the solution here (Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 Hotfix KB 2549042) and after I applied it, everything went normal.

8.04.2011

Terrible gaming device

So I tried to play Space Channel 5 Part 2 on the EeeSlate (Windows 7 Tablet), and the result was terrible.  Music was frequently dropped, and the game is basically unplayable.  Similar problem happened to the game Limbo.  It was kind of playable but definitely not enjoyable.  I should totally forget about using EeeSlate as a gaming device.  My late 2009 MacMini, on the other hand, is pretty awesome for playing games.  Loving it.

Now it's about gaming

I tried out Limbo and Space Channel 5 Part 2 on various of my Windows machine, and I found that my MacMini Late 2009 edition is actually pretty capable to handle these 2 games flawlessly.  I used the XBox360 wired joypad and the experience was pretty nice.  On the other hand, playing these 2 games on my Netbook Lenovo S12 was pretty lame an experience.  Once again, Netbook is joke.

And now I am trying to put these games on Asus Slate Windows tablet.  Let's see how good the gaming experience will be.