Lessfeet » media

H.264 The Winner

Mark — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 04:08:46 +0000

Today MPEG LA announced that the H.264 CODEC will be royalty-free in perpetuity.

What does this mean?

The new HTML5 needs a standard for playing video. Mozilla wants the open-source Ogg Theora. Apple wants H.264. Google wanted H.264 and change to VP8 their own CODEC because of H.264s encumbrances. Now that MPEG LA has made H.264 free there are no impediments to using it for HTML5.

Why should we care?

We are talking about standards here. Without standards you would not know which wrench to use on your car. There would be no number 2 pencils to use when you take a test. We need to finish work on this standard so the Internet can move forward.

Lets hope all the parties agree and this is the last word on this subject.

Beginner’s Podcasting

Mark — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:06:41 +0000

Seems like everyone is getting in on the podcasting act. Tom and Veronica go over the basics of the tools, services and things you need to do required for any successful podcast.

Watch Video

Podcasting Audio Software. The stuff you need to record, edit and normalize your recorded audio.

Audacity. Great free audio recorder and editor.
Levelator. What you’ll want to use to normalize your podcast’s audio.
Skype. If you need to record a podcast with someone who’s in a different location.
Audio Hijack. Let’s you record audio from multiple sources like Skype. Free to try $32 to keep.
WireTap Studio. Similar in function to Audio Hijack. Free trial and costs $69 to keep.

Uploading/Hosting Service. The location online that will be hosting your podcast.
- Archive.org. Great free hosting service that Tom and Veronica both use.

RSS Feed – Distribution/Syndication. How you’re going to distribute your podcast.
- Feedburner
- LibSyn. Combines storage and feed management and cost varies with usage. Also features advanced features like QuickCast and FutureCast.

Tracking Tools. To see how many people are listening/watching your podcast.
- Podtrac

Copy DVDs To Your Harddrive

Mark — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:26:00 +0000

I should say “Copy Your DVDs To Your Hardrive” with Handbrake. I downloaded Handbreak to copy a non-commercial DVD to my harddrive. You can copy protected DVDs to your harddrive as well with a little extra effort. I can’t tell you how to do this because the “Digital Millenium Copyright Act” make telling you illegal because your going to copy your DVDs and sell them on a blanket in your yard. Anyway Handbrake really works well to put a video file on your computer.

Play Any Media

Mark — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:55:50 +0000

Yes, you can play any type of media file (MP3, Quicktime, MPEG4, Real) with “Windows Media Player“. All you need is a CODEC. The “K-Lite Mega Codec Pack ” installs pretty much all of the known CODECs, even the one’s that most of us are not familiar.

Sometimes a file will not open but if you save it to your desktop and then open it should work. (You may have to choose WMP to open it.) If it isn’t in this CODEC pack (CAUTION) do not download one from the site that is suggesting it. It may be malware.

This does not include server-side applications like “Flash” and “Silverlight“

Note: Do not install “Media Player Classic” that is included in CODEC Pack. If you do it will be the default player and you want WMP.