Jimmalenko's Rant (Come 1, Come all)

[jimmalenko]

If you’ve got a minute or 20, make yourself a coffee, relax, and read on.

I’ve always tried to make a habit of making my milestone posts “special” and meaningful, and I hope that this one will be no exception to that. I am led to believe that shadowmistress thinks I need a dedicated topic to rant and rave, and we don’t want to upset the little lady now, do we, so this thread can double as that too!

Anyway, in all seriousness, periodically I think we all need to take stock of why we’re here and reflect on what it is about this site that makes it so attractive to hang out at, and I plan to elaborate on this later in this post. This post is intended to be a bit of a retrospective into how I came to educate myself on all video matters, as well as an insight for newbies who are just getting into this hobby, but don’t know where to start, or think that at times it is just all too much. I’m sure there’ll be quite a few moments where “regulars” nod their heads and know exactly where I’m coming from on quite a number of different issues, but you’ll have to read the whole thing to find out more

A little information about me: I’m 26, and I’m currently living in and paying off the house I built 3 years ago with my fiancé. I am proud to be an Australian also. I work as an IT Systems Officer in a bank, and I deal with a total of 100 people (and PCs) every day. I am responsible for maintaining our intranet and internet sites (and creating ASP/Access DB solutions for both), performing network and PC maintenance and upgrades, Direct Entry (Direct Debits and Credits) and provide generic telephone support (we have 10 branches). I deal with many varying levels of user PC intelligence, from those who need a post-it of their passwords on their monitor, to those who maintain their own websites at home as a hobby, so I’m used to dealing with the dumbest of the dumb, as well as what I would call “equals”. I’ve learnt most of what I know on the job, having gained my degree at university with a major in programming.


Where did I come from?
The first topic I’ll address is how I came to be a member of this wonderful site. I lurked for nearly two years before I joined, reading up and following guides on converting everything under the sun to VCD. I was experiencing problems with my Pinnacle DC10+ (particularly dropped frames) also, so I registered in the hope of posting some questions and (hopefully) getting some meaningful responses. Alas, not much information was forthcoming. After extensive troubleshooting, and reading the “How to avoid dropped frames” sticky many times over, I decided that I probably had it configured as good as I ever would, and that if I wanted better results, I would need to look elsewhere. Enter the forum. I wanted analog capture of VHS and TV caps, so based on the glowing reviews all over the site, I purchased an ADVC-100 – best decision I ever made. I still have the DC10+ - it makes for an interesting mantle ornament

So once I had registered and posted my questions, I found quite a few questions that I could answer, be it from my own experiences, or from what I had read. So, like most newbies, I started off slowly and only answered what I would now class as the “typical NOOB” questions, such as “What program can I use to do this”. I found that I wasn’t posting much, mainly due to not knowing a hell of a lot. I spent plenty of time reading a whole range of different guides, some of which I knew I’d never use, just to boost my own knowledge base. I recall going into the guides section, seeing about 100 guides and wondering “What the hell have I got myself into?” on quite a few occasions

Over time, I was able to spend more and more time here, and as my reading developed, so did my experimentation. These two operations enabled me to be much more proficient at answering queries, as more and more problems related to areas I was interested in, such as DVD Backup. I first learnt DVD Backup techniques when my boss decided to purchase a Pioneer 104 (for work purposes, of course ). After reading some of Derrow’s guides, and armed with a DVD-RW, I went about learning the art of DVD Backup. Then I hit my first snag – when using IFOEdit, one particular DVD was oversized, even after removing all unwanted audio streams, so I had to teach myself how to split to two discs using IFOEdit.

I seem to remember that IFOEdit was the only free way (don't know when DVDShrink first came onto the scene), so that’s why I persisted with it. So after learning the ropes of main movie only backups on one or two discs, as well as the purpose of IFOs, BUPs and VOBs with IFOEdit, I happened to stumble across DVDShrink – version 2.3 if I’m not mistaken. Well, no more IFOEdit! The first DVD I backed up with DVDShrink was Ned Kelly, and I was absolutely amazed at how this wonderful tool could shrink it to fit on one DVDR. To cut what is going to be a massively-long story anyway short, I updated DVDShrink every time a new version came out and later integrated DVDecrypter into my DVD Backup method.

My other pet project at the time was the capture of TV and VHS, as well as the occasional download. I started with TMPGEnc Free, as it did all I needed to do since I was only making VCDs at the time. Many, many hours were spent experimenting with TMPGEnc based on a number of guides I found here, or on other sites. I’ve stuck with TMPGEnc all the way through, and even upgraded to TMPGEnc Plus once DVD Burners became affordable.

I still find myself perusing all the guides, and experimenting with doing different things – I’m one of those people that likes to test out software to see if it might be useful for me somewhere down the line. I’ve also dabbled in automating a number of frequently-used processes by way of VB GUIs and CLI-accepting freeware. So that is a brief overview of where I have got my knowledge from.


Free help is good help
One thing I’ve noticed (and got very agitated about too ), is the number of people that come here and expect service. That is, they seem to think that everyone here has an obligation to help them. You know the type – a very, very general “open” question, indicating no signs of research beforehand, and with no apparent desire to learn “on the job” so to speak. Here’s a tip: Everyone is here either because they have a video problem, or because they like to help to solve video problems. The people that are here to help donate what little time they have, in order to give a helping hand to those in a similar position to them when they were newbies, as well as to repay Baldrick for providing the information from which they learnt all they know. No-one is paid to be here, and you don't pay for the privilege of being here either, so if you don't get any help at all, don't get upset. No-one "owes" you anything. If you do get assistance, consider it a bonus

The thing that everyone (I even have to remind myself from time to time) needs to remember is that without Baldrick, this site would not exist as we know it. His tireless work, in combination with his money is what keeps this site afloat. I believe that he does not run this site to make a living out of it, he runs it because it is a hobby of his. We all need to remember this when posting – Baldrick has provided a portal for everyone to interact with everyone else, and it doesn’t cost any of us 1 brass razoo to do so. You only have to look as far as KVCD.net to see that you must pay $2.99 upfront to even browse the forums, let alone become a member!

So the moral here is to remember that when you post a question, any responses you get at all are better than no help at all. What you get here is personal experience, and there are a lot of people who have a lot of knowledge that are willing to share it. The key is to help others help you – if you start a new thread, post as many details about your problem in the first post, including all specs regarding your source (a screen dump from GSpot is normally sufficient), detailed description of the method your using and what you hope to achieve in the end (or alternatively, link to the guide that your following), and screen dumps of any error messages you’re getting. As mentioned, those that are here to help shouldn’t have to chase those who require help for information. If you don’t give enough information, the experts won’t help (and are under no obligation to, either, I might add ) So the moral is to look after us and we’ll look after you.


The purpose of guides/stickies
Guides and stickies are here to compliment the FAQ and the forums. Guides are created because so many people ask the exact same question, and it would not be practical to respond to every single question with pictures and step-by-step instructions of every minute detail. A guide is one central place where absolutely all the information regarding a certain process can be stored (including detailed instructions and illustrations), and then any suitable posts can just link to this common store. While there is not one single guide for every single process under the sun (and the permutations of all the different combinations of programs that effectively do the same thing is responsible for this), quite a lot of processes are covered in the guides. It may be that to do what you want to do, you have to follow steps 1 & 2 from one guide, and step 6 from another. That’s just the way it is, and after all, it’s free, remember?

Stickies are the moderators’ tools for putting answers to the very frequently-asked-questions right at the very top of each applicable forum. So when you abide by the AUP and browse the forum before posting, the stickies are the first topics you should see. This of course is intended to result in you reading the sticky, instead of creating the 2693954868th post regarding the process in question.

As you spend more and more time here, you can almost reel off what stickies are in what forums - for example, whenever I see a question regarding putting VCD onto DVD, I immediately think of the “Can I burn VCD or SVCD on DVD±R/W?” sticky in the DVD Authoring forum.

While I can appreciate that for a newbie starting out, there seems to be an over-abundance of information here, a lot of the RTFM responses from frustrated regulars could be eliminated had you had a bit of a look yourself. That said, if you’ve had a look and can’t find what you’re looking for, mention that in your post. A little bit of effort goes a long way, and if you’re willing to help yourself, then we’re more than willing to help you. Most people will be only too happy to provide a link to a sticky or guide, but then it’s up to you to read, read, read, read, read, …… oh and by the way …. read some more.


Value of forum/google search
Probably seems like I’m in reverse order a bit here, as one would probably expect you to do a forum or google search first, then look through the guides and stickies. I actually think it should be the other way around – look through the guides and stickies for what you want to do, then if you don’t find anything, do a forum or google search. Baldrick has coded a number of great features in the guides section, such as search by conversion, and search by tool, to name but two. These are here for a reason!

… On to forum and google searches … chances are, if you’re experiencing a problem, someone else has experienced it before. This can be a basic windows error message, to not being able to decrypt certain DVDs. In my experience, google searches bring up 100’s, if not 1,000’s of results (admittedly most of which are irrelevant). The point is, that by taking 3 seconds to google or do a forum search, you just might find the answer you were looking for, instead of posting it as a new thread, and then waiting possibly up to days before someone responds. What makes it really bad is when you start a new thread, then the first respondent does a google or forum search and finds exactly what you were looking for. This generally results in a bit of attitude and some choice words being exchanged, all of which could have been avoided had you done a google search before posting.


Why no-warez rules exist
Baldrick runs this site out of his own good-will, and as it is a private site, he is ultimately responsible for any repercussions of anything discussed here. As we’ve all seen with the crackdown on torrent and other P2P sites in the recent weeks, any assistance given on possible pirating of copyrighted movies or software attracts the powers-that-be to this site with a lot of unwanted attention. Your faux pas in mentioning “the-latest-film-in-the-cinema.cam.dvdrip.avi” as your source is what I’m talking about here. Regardless of where you live, or if you like it or not, they’re Baldrick’s rules, and if you want to stay welcome around here, respect his rules and obey them. Flaming over warez material occurs because you are threatening the very existence of this site. No-one wants to see this invaluable resource taken off the airwaves, so this is where the negative energy stems from. Again, it comes back to "we're in Baldrick's house now, so we must play by his rules". You wouldn't take a dump without flushing at your neighbor's house, so don't do it here!

If the truth be known, video is video. There’s different formats, but at the end of the day, there is a video stream and an audio stream. That’s all we’re concerned with here. Basically, a GSpot or AVICodec screen dump contains almost all the information we need in one hit. We don’t need to know filenames If you’re posting a GSpot image, use Windows Paint where appropriate …or better yet, rename the file. It’s really not that hard, yet so many people seem to disregard a number of Baldrick’s directives, which are aimed at protecting himself (and to a lesser extent, all of us) should shit hit the fan.


Why do I stick around?
I value the information and learning that I have obtained from this site so much that I wish to give something back – to make a difference to the newbie who is now exactly where I was some years ago now. It is in my nature to help, given my occupation, and I get a buzz out of someone benefiting from my advice. I like to think that I’ve got a reasonable grasp on a lot of different video-related topics, and I’m happy to share my knowledge and experiences with those who share the same interests as me. That said, I’m only human as much as the next man. I get stressed from work or personal issues and unfortunately, this sometimes translates into my forum responses. So if I’m overreacting, give me a dose of STFU


Now just to tie up a few loose ends:

The first being post count and joined date. These two numbers mean exactly diddly-squat in judging someone’s experience. It may well be that the guru of all things video has only just joined, and doesn’t have many posts to his/her name. On the other hand, it could also mean that someone has been here a long time, but has spent the bulk of their time whoring it up in OT, and may not know much about video at all. Whatever the case, we’re all here for the same common interest, and a lot of what is said is just based on our own experiences (or what we’ve read), so we should all read each post “with a grain of salt”.

The second being OT – to all my fellow OTPW, I salute you You brighten my day, no matter what is happening “in the real world”. OT has been likened to the local pub on a Friday night – somewhere you can go to forget about all that’s wrong with the world and shoot the breeze amongst friends. I find it truly wonderful to be able to tune out and have a laugh in there.

Last but certainly not least, I extend my most sincerest of thanks to Baldrick (and to a lesser yet equally-important extent, the Moderators) for making and maintaining this site as THE site for all things video. Merci! Danke! Mahalo! Dhanyawaad! Grazie! Arigato! Xièxie! Spasibo! Gracias! Thank You!


Well, if you’ve got this far, you’ve either read the whole thing, or are very adept at using the scroll button Either way, thanks for taking the time, effort and energy to read my rant. If this makes a difference to just one person, then I have achieved my goal

</End Rant>


Phewwwwww…… and I AM SPENT !

[SLICK RICK]

I bet you were glad when you finished typing all of that Jim. I can relate to many things that you have written in that post.

[Capmaster]

Good post, Jimm

You summed it up nicely

[Shadowmistress]

Here, here! Well said. Very eloquent.



Now don't you feel better?



8)

[yoda313]

Hello,

DITTO

See you in OT

Kevin

[RDS1955]

A very well thought out explanatory reverberating throught the hallways of Baldricks domicile...I nominate it for the next episode of Biography...beside being a dedicated Lurking novice/newbie myself, I can absolutley relate to "What the hell have I got myself into?” on quite a few occasions"..... Especially now since taking an inventory of my two PC's, My Laptop, and my home theater system with satellite TV, a Panasonic DMR E80H, a 61 " Front Projection HiDef TV, 3 DL Burners, one regular Burner, a Hi Pix 200 Hi Def Capture Card, a a Subscription to Columbiahouse DVD club, DVD Empire,, Tons of Video Editing Software, Both Free & Bought, (Although I am Partial to DVDShrink, DVD Decrypter, IntervideoDVD Copy 3, Nero Burning Rom, and Auto Gordian Knot), and an ADV DVD Burner system... I can relate....All this informationin here is freely available only for the price of searching and reading and studying...It amazes me each and everytime I poke around on the website that I see "How can I burn a DVD?" when the guides are for the taking on the left side of the screen...So my Aussie Brother, Rant and Rave right on.....(nope not Aussie, a US'er...)And I do think you made this one Meaningful and special....


PARANOID?!?!?!? Who's PAranoid?!!?!?!?!?

[Captain315]

Yep... Kinda liked it myself. I could see myself in part of your post. I'm not paranoid, but were you referring to me? )

By the way. What in the world does OTPW mean. I think I've gotten a brain hernia from straining on that one.

[yoda313]

Hello,

What in the world does OTPW mean

Off Topic Post Whore

A name giving to the likes of us who excessively post in the off topic forum of this wonderful website

Kevin

[Capmaster]

Yep... Kinda liked it myself. I could see myself in part of your post. I'm not paranoid, but were you referring to me? )

By the way. What in the world does OTPW mean. I think I've gotten a brain hernia from straining on that one.

OTPW = Off Topic Post Whore A loose collection of forum regulars who can be found hanging around in the off-topic forum when not in the other fora posting about video

[tekkieman]

Great post! I probably should have expected this after last night (this morning for you). I am shocked you still had the mental stability to post such a calm well thought out novel.

One question....what is the U.S. currency equivilent of 1 brass razoo?

[tmh]

...snsnsnsnsnoooorrrrrreeeeee.......HUH!.....what. ...where am I?......oh.......I tried reading that post and fell asleep. I got as far as the part where he says he lurked for 2 years.

Oh well, I'm sure the rest of it was very well written.

What is warez anyhow? I've figued out that it has something to do with copyrighted stufff, but I don't know what it encompasses. I know, I know, do a search on it! Nope, I have a job to get to right away so I'll have to do it the lazy way.

On the notion that it is somehow "bad" to ask a question that could have been researched, what is with some of you people? IF YOU DON'T WANT TO ANSWER, THEN DON'T! No one's forcing you to help the helpless. I think you have to step back and realize that for some people THIS isn't their life's hobby. You KNOW how long it can take to learn this stuff and if someone is just trying to make a video or 2 from their home movies, give them a break! Now, I personally always try and find the answer first, but that's 'cause I'm making a bit of a hobbyout of it.

As I learn more, when I see a question I can answer, I will either : a. Answer it; b. provide a link to the answer if I know where it's been answered; or c. not answer it. Is THAT too hard? Also, from time to time I think all us "question askers" ought to put a little $ into the donation bucket here. NO, they are not obligated to do it but where else can you get this kind of help.

Thanks to all that have willingly helped me learn this crazy hobby. I absolutely would have given up without you. More specifically, thanks for the help WITHOUT the lecture on how I wasted your time with simple answers.

To those who help ONLY AFTER a lecture on how stupid the rest of us are, just feel free to ignore my questions!

[SuprIndoCapmYodaWill]

What is warez anyhow? I've figued out that it has something to do with copyrighted stufff, but I don't know what it encompasses. I know, I know, do a search on it! Nope, I have a job to get to right away so I'll have to do it the lazy way.

On the notion that it is somehow "bad" to ask a question that could have been researched, what is with some of you people?

I thought you fell asleep well before that part ?

[ZippyP.]

I work as an IT Systems Officer in a bank, and I deal with a total of 100 people (and PCs) every day.

That explains a lot. You really go the extra mile to help a noob when most of us would have given up in frustration.

Keep up the good work and nice post!

[daamon]

******* whinging (descendent of a) POM!!!

Nice one - A very admirable 7000th post. Whatever that's worth...

Now just to tie up a few loose ends:

The first being post count and joined date. These two numbers mean exactly diddly-squat in judging someone’s experience.

P.S. Nice tank top, and do you know about the milkman while you're at work?

[bazooka]

From one sledgehammer to another, great job Jim.

[cal_tony]

Jim, better than excellent.
It may be a long post, but it's worth the time to read and reflect on every word of it.
A nice note to end the year on.

[RottenFoxBreath]

have to agree,nice post,well thought out and written.and i do see myself there too.being a lurker for a while,before joining.
the other post kinds that get to me are the ones that ask for advice,then dont act on maybe 3 or 4 similar lines of action,they just keep at it,no,dont want to do that,anyone else suggest something?-they piss me off.

[stiltman]

Hmmmmm.....I read the first sentence of each paragraph....now I have eye strain

[Paul_G]

Very well put.

Regarding warez. i will not be a hypocrite and slam people for pirating x, but i find it disgusting when people (ab)use a forum and ask openly for help on warez related matters.

FFS if you need help just think before typing.

[mats.hogberg]

I'll just add my voice to the "excellent", "exactly", "my thoughts", "couldn't have phrased it better myself" choire.

/Mats

[Epicurus8a]

Very well stated, and I've seen this coming for days. (Due to Christmas.)

Even though I only recently joined I've been a video professional for years and share your pain. There is a wealth of information here - people just need to take a little time to search for it.

BTW has anyone cliked on the STATISTICS link at the bottom of the page? If not, check it out sometime. There are some amazing numbers....

[lordsmurf]

A large problem I know is when you say "1+1=2" some dumbass comes along and insists the sum is 3 .... AND... AND.... will argue it until politics/cussing and finally thread locking is required to end the topic.

In the past couple of days, I've had people e-mail me insist DVD-R is "DVD minus R" (dumbass!) and that "math is an exact science and cannot be spun" (dumbass!). Of course, both are incorrect.

The clueless newbie invasion has begun, and will last a couple of months. I just post links for them to read (of course, that's been too hard for some of them too , eh Jim? ).

Helping people is great, but I'm just going to hand them the TP and give some quick instructions, I won't help them wipe (not here, not for free). This is all you can expect from a free forum.

I suggest everybody be nice. Give them links and some good quick direction. If a newbie acts up, use the "report this post" link and mods will take care of it. If they are lazy, just ignore them, as they will then be forced to either read or quit.

[ZAPPER]

AHhhhhh, it does feel good to vent. Wether burping, farting or typing out a little something special.

[DVDDave]

Jim, I don't know you, and you don't know me, but that was a most excellent post!!!!! I have seen you around the forum, and we have even answered each others questions a few times.

Everything you said was great. Looking forward to post # 10000---you will probably write a novel!!

Dave

ps--I am coming up on post # 300, a major milestone for me---i must go find a way to celebrate!!!

[lordsmurf]

I figure a small push in the right direction is better than nothing. If it's not enough, ask for more. Easy as that. Do not confuse "short and to the point" with "rude". That is not the case.

[scottie78]

Do you not see how very foolish this is? If you know how to do all this stuff then there would be no need for a help forum! If you are offended by folks who know less than you (on THIS subject ONLY, I'd suspect) then post only in the advanced forum.

You, LS REGULARILY post answers in the "NEWBIE" form with condesending, know-it-all one or two word answers then cry if anyone dares question you as to "why" or "is there another way". I'd find some examples of this buit I'm too lazt to search for them!

Dude, this thread isn't about you, so don't try to make it that way. If you've got gripes, either take it up with the member(s) in question via PM or start a new thread - don't hijack this one - it's Jim's glory, so if you wouldn't mind, for the time-being, please take your dose.

TIA

[canadateck]

Thanks

[reboot]

First, a most excellent post Jim.
Second, what goes around, comes around. If you've ever garnered the least little bit of help from a post here, then it's only fitting that you should ante up and payback.
Yes it's my time, and I do it for free (what little I know about, I try to pass on to others). I have a regular job that pays me far more in stress and aggravation. I come here to relax and enjoy, and learning new stuff whilst helping others is my way of doing that.
Happy New Year

[Richard_G]

Excellent post Jim, worth the read (even if I did have to change screen resolution so as not to get eyestrain). I too get annoyed with the pathetic bleatings of those that are asking such a basic question that they deserve a condescending answer. 5 minutes search and they would find everything they need to know, and probably find out far more that they didn't think they needed to know but will do one day.

Can I throw in my pet gripe? Will people fill in their computer details and profile? I appreciate that we are all individuals and often show this by some smartarse location, but it's no bloody good if someone is asking about video and you don't even know if they are in an NTSC or PAL country! The same goes for the 'Where can I get blank media at a good price?' questions. I know where I can get it in UK but that's no good to someone on the other side of the world (and for the benefit of our cousins in the US, yes, there is another side of the world....).

[daamon]

Can I throw in my pet gripe? Will people fill in their computer details and profile? I appreciate that we are all individuals and often show this by some smartarse location, but it's no bloody good if someone is asking about video and you don't even know if they are in an NTSC or PAL country! The same goes for the 'Where can I get blank media at a good price?' questions. I know where I can get it in UK but that's no good to someone on the other side of the world (and for the benefit of our cousins in the US, yes, there is another side of the world....).

Here, here...!!!

I wholeheartedly second that motion... It REALLY gets on my tits when simple info like that is left out.

I couldn't have put it better myself...