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Audio and Video Questions and Answers

Top 10 How-To Articles

Play RMVB Files
Easy DivX to Xbox 360 Streaming
Auto-start YouTube Video Playback
Virtual Villagers Tips and Tricks
How to Sync Google Calendar & Outlook
How to convert RMVB Files
How to Change Windows XP Boot Screen
How to Download Movies from YouTube
Virtual Villagers 2 Tips
GarageBand for Windows
How to Close Outlook when Outlook is already closed

"I am trying to install Google Calendar Sync, but when it begins to install, a message pops up that I must close Outlook first. I do not have Outlook open. Any suggestions?"

There are many instances where you will have closed the Outlook application window without Outlook actually being closed. I'm not sure if this is a problem with Outlook or a feature designed to make it load faster when you re-open it later, but I find it frustrating on a regular basis. Some manual intervention is required to fix the problem.

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Make Windows Media Player Ignore Files

"I have ripped albums into Windows Media Player and have downloaded podcasts into iTunes and would like to keep the two separate, but WMP keeps picking up podcasts which makes streaming through my albums a pain, b/c all of a sudden Ira Glass is talking to me when I was in the groove doing homework to some good jazz music. Is there a way I can keep WMP from picking up my podcasts?"

There's two ways you could go about solving this problem. One way would be to create an Auto Playlist starting at Library - Create Auto Playlist in Windows Media Player. You'd then select only tracks you want to hear by genre or other meaningful details about the songs. This first method doesn't get Windows Media Player to ignore you podcasts. If you really want to eliminate the podcast files from being exposed to Windows Media Player, you need to have the software ignore the folder where the podcasts are downloaded.

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Taskkill Replacement for Windows XP Home

"taskkill works great in XP Pro, but how do you accomplish the same thing on XP Home system?"

If you want to quickly kill off running processes from the command line in Windows XP Professional, taskkill.exe is a great way to get the job done. XP Home does not include this utility, only including the more limited tkill.exe instead. Microsoft does provide a free solution to this via their acquisition of the Sysinternals team.

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Sound but no Picture in Windows Media Player

"A friend downloaded some television programmes for me. When I try to play them with Windows Media Player I only get the sound and no pics. What do I need to do to watch these programmes?"

Video files that play the sound but don't play the video are more common than you might realize. This problem is almost always caused by one of two problems. Either you don't have the required codec installed on your system to decode the video portion of the file you downloaded or Windows Media Player isn't properly associating the correct codec on your system in a way that makes viewing video possible. This is complicated by a huge volume of codecs out there. Here's how to get the file to play:

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Convert Digital8 Tapes to Files

"What program converts Sony Digital8 Handycam tapes to digital files?"

Many programs will capture the footage of Digital8 (and MiniDV) tapes allowing you to convert them to digital files. One of the easiest to use is Windows Movie Maker, which is included with both Windows XP and Windows Vista. If you have minimal editing to do to the files, my favorite solution is to capture Digital8 tapes with WinDV and then save out the files to a smaller format using VirtualDub. No matter what method you use, make sure your computer has a FireWire port for capturing from the camcorder.

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Computer to HDTV Sound Options

"I have read your guide on how to use an HDTV as a computer monitor and found it to be very informative. There is however one detail I am unsure of. This is Sound. If I were to plug my PC video card to my HDTV via a DVI/HDMI cable I would get pure digital visual but no audio correct? But if I were to plug it in via HDMI/HDMI from video card to HDTV would I get audio? Or do i have to buy a sound card with HDMI out to get surround sound?"

There are a several different ways to get audio passed from your PC to your HDTV. Depending on what hardware you have available, you may be limited to stereo audio, with a few cases where you can also get surround sound.

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Play Xbox 360 on a Computer Monitor

"I want to use my Xbox with my computer, but I don't want to use the TV screen. I want to use the computer screen instead. Is there anything that I need to get to enable this?"

Xbox 360 VGA cable As long as your computer monitor has at least one VGA connection, you'll need to things to have a great Xbox 360 gaming experience. First you need an Xbox 360 VGA cable. Microsoft makes the Xbox 360 VGA HD AV Cable, which sells for about $40. There are also 3rd-party Xbox VGA cables for about $20. The other thing you need is a stereo female RCA to mini-plug adapter, for connecting the audio out on your Xbox 360 to your computer speakers. If you have computer speakers with support for ToS Link you can use that for audio instead.

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Recent Articles and Reviews

Digital Video Hacks

muvee autoProducer - Automatic movie making
Download muvee autoProducer If you like showing off your home videos, but dread the process

Letterboxing Video for DVD Authoring
Chris writes, "We have tried Sonic and Roxio to transfer our digital camera movies to

HD-DVD Authoring for Home Movies
How to make an HD-DVD using standard 4.7GB DVD media or 8.5GB dual layer disks.

Playing Video Backwards with Pinnacle
Peter writes, "I have captured some video and now I would like to play it

Reverse a Video Clip and Play it Backwards
Many of the popular consumer video editing apps lack an effect for playing video in

Digital Photography

Digital Camera Drop Protection
Scott writes, "I've dropped my digicam (Casio EX-V7) one too many times, and so I'm

Photoshop Express - Online Photo Editing
Adobe officially joined the world of online photo editing with Adobe Photoshop Express. This online

Digital Photography Success - Training Guide
Taking pictures with a digital camera is a piece of cake. Just point the camera

FastStone Photo Resizer
Download FastStone Resizer FastStone Photo Resizer is a handy tool if you take lots of

Buying an Underwater Digital Camera
One common thread at CES 2008 was a number of new underwater cameras. A few

Podcasting

DIY Portable Recording Studio
As someone who travels regularly, I'm always looking for creative ways to get better

How to Get Your Own YouTube RSS Feed
"Is there an RSS feed with my YouTube videos people can subscribe to?" YouTube recently

Kindle's Secret Podcasting Feature
Amazon didn't officially include podcasting support when they shipped the first Kindle devices, but

mp3DirectCut
Download mp3DirectCut MP3 files recorded directly with a voice recorder often require some editing. Many

How to Record Nature Sounds
Recording environmental sounds like singing birds, wild animal calls, water running through a streambed, or

Software Downloads

Desktops - Virtual Desktop Manager
Download Desktops When Sysinternals first became part of Microsoft, I was concerned their regular release

EASUS Partion Manager Home Edition
Download EASEUS Partion Manager Partitioning software is something that's largely never had a free option.

PDF Split and Merge
Download PDF Split and Merge There are many occasions where I want to combine a

Rapid Resizer - Enlarge Designs and Patterns
I don't have any immediate use for a pattern resizing application, but I can definitely

Noteworthy Free Software from the Reader's Survey
I'm still finalizing the second half of the data collection from the reader's survey (read

DVD Hacks

How to Play VIDEO_TS Files
Marquis writes, "I downloaded a file from a torrent and it has 5 files in

Burn RealMedia RMVB Movies to DVD
Richie asks, "How do I convert RealPlayer files to whatever so I can put them

SoThink Movie DVD Maker
Download SoThink Movie DVD Maker Free DVD authoring software is hard to come by. Many

Letterboxing Video for DVD Authoring
Chris writes, "We have tried Sonic and Roxio to transfer our digital camera movies to

HD-DVD Authoring for Home Movies
How to make an HD-DVD using standard 4.7GB DVD media or 8.5GB dual layer disks.

Voice over IP

Vonage Introduces 3 New Handset Solutions
Vonage is aiming to make it easier for people to convert from traditional landline phone

Callwave Mobile Visual Voicemail
The name Callwave brings me fond memories of desktop software for managing phone calls through

VoIP Disaster Recovery Planning
Len asks, I have just converted to cable phone service : Is there away to

SightSpeed
Download SightSpeed Cross-platform video conferencing is one of those things that never worked well outside

Skype Cordless Phones
Pete writes, Is there any way of making Skype into a cordless phone? Specifically, the

Camcorders

Tips for Shooting Video in the Snow
"Everytime I record videos of my dog playing in the snow, they come out looking

Capture HDV Direct to Hard Drive
"I don't like spending time capturing high definition video from tapes I record with my

Editing DVD Camcorder Movies with Easy Media Creator
Chris writes, "I have a Sony DCR DVD403. I purchased the camcorder with the understanding

Editing Sony AVCHD Files in Pinnacle Studio
Steve writes, "I have recently purchased a Sony HDR-SR8E with USB2 input/output. I have just

Flip Video Camera
If you're in the market for an ultra-portable, highly affordable camcorder, the Flip Video

Arcade Games

Virtual Villagers Discount Coupon Code
Save money with a discount coupon code good for 40% off Virtual Villagers: A New

Azada - Puzzle Game of 2007 for under $1
I realize that 2007 is long gone by now, but if you haven't tried

10 Days Under the Sea
The hidden object game goes underwater for a deep sea adventure in 10 Days

Hell's Kitchen with Gordon Ramsay Game
Want the thrill of Gordon Ramsay pushing you to the limits of your culinary

Virtual Villagers 3 Puzzle Walkthrough (1-11)
Solutions for the first 11 puzzles range from straightforward to fairly complex. They start off

Digital Media News

Upgrade Windows Media Player - Download Zune Software
With the release of the Zune 2.5 desktop software, I'm officially declaring Windows Media Player

Windows Secrets Lists Best Free Software
Scott Dunn over at Windows Secrets provides a list of the nine must-have freeware apps,

Best Ways to Protect Yourself From Phishing
If you've had an email account for longer than 5 minutes, you've likely encountered at

Time Saving Tips
Like most other people, I suffer from information overload. Instead of using some kind of

Roxio BackOnTrack Online - Unlimited Automatic Offsite Backup
I get emails from people trying to recover files from a computer crash several times

 

Featured Software Downloads

Edit and Convert Movies and Music
All-in-one app edits, converts, rips, and burns audio and video files.

Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra
How to watch Blu-ray movies on your PC
Instantly Fix Driver Problems
Find missing drivers on your XP or Vista PC.
Back up your iPod
iPod Access backs up your iPod music library and transfer songs to a new computer.

Spin It Again
Convert Vinyl LPs and Cassettes to CD or MP3

Camcorder Help

Is Medion`s Traveler DV 5070 pocket video camera a cool product?

Samsung SCD305 Camcorder troubleshoot?

Can I edit a digital video and then transfer it back to the memory card?

Camcorder only works when plugged in

Editing sound

Sony HandyCam HDR-SR5 File Handeling Problems

Canon HG10 Video question/error

how can i hear the audio of the videoshots i took with the genius g shot p611?

Alright. I'm really new with recording devices and such. Can someone help me?

Sony Camcorder!?

Aiptek Camcorder Problem.

video capture using mini dvd


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