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Upgraded My 14 Month Old PC! :) (Yepee!)

 
Desperado
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I have upgraded my 14 month old PC! (Yepee!)

1) From original 512 MB (RDRAM PC800 - bus is 400Mhz) to 1Gig.

2) Finally installed a FireWire card with two external ports (for future external hard drive; see below).

and (drum roll...)

3) The Sony DRU-500A disc writer! I say disc writer because it can write any kind of disc. At least any kind of disc that matters to me:
  • 1) CD-R / CD-RW faster than the one that came with the PC
  • 2) DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD-R (4x!)

  • Oops! I forgot to say that just before that (last week!) I bought my first (another drum roll!) home DVD player! (Sony, $200).

    The joke that I tell at work is that I was waiting to see if the DVD format was going to catch on or what That finally (last week) I was convinced that it was here to stay so I decided to buy one for the home

    Of course that immediately implied that I must also have a DVD writer to er..., make backup copies of Blockbusters movies in case their store burns down...

    And now, the project is to familiarize myself with video production software so that I can immortalize in digital video format the last rock concert I played in, which was in April 1991 at the University of Puerto Rico. I have the video tape which BTW was shown on local TV about a year after it happened.

    About the external FireWire (I don't have USB2 in this 14 month old PC): I decided that an external 200 GB hard drive could ally my fears and sing my tune My internal hard drive is 80GB but my digital music library is taking about 15 gigs and I don't want to have all that stuff in my main drive since the more full your main drive is the slower your system becomes. So I figure that if I can off load my digital music library which is growing (I'll tell you why), and the future upcoming video library, then it makes sense to have an external FireWire drive that I can also connect to my relatively new (from last July) laptop which already has a FireWire port (but USB 1.1 only).

    I have a lot of audio CDs with music from the 1960s that I want to digitize (MP3, of course!) at 160Kbps, 44.1 Khz STEREO (not Joint Stereo).

    Why? Because I love it! Oh! I forgot to say, a producer friend of mine (17 gold records, modern) sent me a list of songs from the 1960s (will never tell you the titles ) to see if I could help him find excellent quality recordings of said songs: He came to the right place: I just sent him an audio CD (playable in any device that plays audio CD no matter how old it may be) of said songs. I understand he wants to make arrangements to them for his business. Hmmm, he also asked me if I was available to play a chord or ten in one of his productions (he's in Miami and I am only 45 miles north...)

    I hope it's not illegal in my country (the USA) to feel young at my age; I wouldn't want to be arrested for feeling that way!
    [ December 30, 2005: Message edited by: Tony Alicea ]
 
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Originally posted by Tony Alicea:
Oops! I forgot to say that just before that (last week!) I bought my first (another drum roll!) home DVD player! (Sony, $200).


The most important that you shd note before buying a DVD player is =(Universal code or code free), DTS and Dolby digital output with optical or co-axial


Of course that immediately implied that I must also have a DVD writer to er..., make backup copies of Blockbusters movies in case their store burns down...


Knock!.. Knock!.. hey someone is knocking is ur door.. is that FBI?
 
Tony Alicea
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No, it was the CIA...
I'm late with my report again
But they can't live w/o me!
 
Tony Alicea
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It has both digital output with optical and co-axial. I don't know about DTS. I draw the line somewhere around there.
I don't want a "Home Theater" I'd never be alone, ha ha!
The DVD player has progressive scan for when and if I decide to go into HDTV.
And I don't work for the CIA
If I did, I wouldn't even be allowed to joke about it (I think).
[ January 20, 2003: Message edited by: Tony Alicea ]
 
Balaji Loganathan
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Sony DVD player will obvisously have the DTS decoder, you can check it by looking at the symbol over the DVD case,
Try to rent a DVD with both Dolby & DTS effect, once u started watching the movie with DTS effect u won't go for Dolby option.
 
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Originally posted by Tony Alicea:

3) The Sony DRU-500A disc writer!


That is so cool! Is there a laptop version (modular) of this disk writer? Something that will fit in my Dell Inspiron?
I am tired of ... err backing up DVDs to DivX, mpeg and what not..!! It takes about 3 hours to decode a film to DivX format! I need that disc writer NOW!!
 
Tony Alicea
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Hmmm... something tells me that although eventually there will be a laptop internal equivalent, it won't be next month
Although if you get an external (FireWire? USB-2?), you may be able to share it between a desktop and laptop.
Except that I don't know it they have that right now.
On the mpeg divx thing... I recently spent about $50 (321Studios.com) for a program that does that, copy-convert DVDs to Video CD format (which uses regular CD-R/Ws). Don't ask me why; I was just curious. I also don't like to pirate SW (unless they leave me no choice )
Probably won't use it much...
 
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Hi! Guys,
Have a Question?
I have a Dell Laptop with
256MB Ram,want to increase the Ram
atleast to 512 or if possible to
more(Depending on Budget-Feasibilty)
Can u guide??
--Praveen
 
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Originally posted by Tony Alicea:
Of course that immediately implied that I must also have a DVD writer to er..., make backup copies of Blockbusters movies in case their store burns down...


Keep in mind that the process you are eluding to is not efficient and not really any cheaper than just buying a new DVD movie to watch. The "cheap" blank DVD-R's are only about 4.5 GIG. Any DVD movie is right around 7 GIG's. You can buy a blank DVD-R 7 GIG Capacity, but they are still about as much as buying the movie.
There are processes to get the DVD movie down to 4 GIG's (and even less) however you forfeit a LOT of quality.
Just and FYI.
BTW - Ripping/Copying DVD's is not illegal if you own the DVD and need to backup your DVD.
 
Ashok Mash
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Originally posted by Tony Alicea:

copy-convert DVDs to Video CD format (which uses regular CD-R/Ws).


Well, I didn't like the quality of mpg compressed to fit in Video CD format. To rip and compress I use a combination of DVDDecryptor (to rip) and Vidomi (to encode) and it takes about 4 hours of processing to get an average length movie (like 110 mins?) into a decent, high quality, DivX file (around 750MB). I should say, its far better than the mpg quality - almost like playing the DVD itself. I normally burn this DivX into a CD and keep it for future use (Its Okay because my home-theatre is built around my laptop).
Well, I do copy DVDs, but I don't share them on Kazaa. That is I rent/buy, and copy DVDs for my own use.
It would be really nice to have 7/9 GB blank DVDs and a tool that reads 'Copy DVD-X to DVD-Y, no more questions!'
 
Ashok Mash
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Originally posted by Pravin Palia:
Dell Laptop with
256MB Ram,want to increase the Ram
atleast to 512 or if possible to
more(Depending on Budget-Feasibilty)


What model is it? Inspiron? Latitude? If its Inspiron 8200 (P4s), it will take two 512 MB DDR SODIMM PCI2100 sticks. Crucial.com has this listed for around $200 a piece.
 
Tony Alicea
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Gregg:
Indeed most (but not all) of the few DVDs that I have duplicated necessitate two 4.7 blank DVDs (the program prompts me to insert next blank disc). But I pay only around $1.15 for each blank DVD. And that's 2x speed.
Where did you see 7GB blank DVDs?
Thanks,
Tony
 
Navi Singh
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Originally Posted By:Ashok Krishnan
What model is it? Inspiron? Latitude? If its Inspiron 8200 (P4s), it will take two 512 MB DDR SODIMM PCI2100 sticks. Crucial.com has this listed for around $200 a piece.
------
Hi! Ashok ,Thanks for the valuable info.
I have 8100(p3).I went to the site ,it says
2-256MB ram possible as per model.
Does it mean i can't increase to more than 512MB.??
Also i have never opened my laptop,how do i put the parts myself??
--Thank's Once again.
--Praveen
[ January 22, 2003: Message edited by: Pravin Palia ]
 
Ashok Mash
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Crucial.com has details on how to install those modules. Their information is mostly accurate, and if it says 2 x 256MB, unfortunately thats what the limit is, I guess. Also cross check with what it says in your manual, or ask at DellTalk forum (its in support.dell.com).
Ashok.
PS: I know Tony 'Desperado' Alicia is going to kick my b*tt for aiding this thread hijack!
 
Gregg Bolinger
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Originally posted by Tony Alicea:
Gregg:
Indeed most (but not all) of the few DVDs that I have duplicated necessitate two 4.7 blank DVDs (the program prompts me to insert next blank disc). But I pay only around $1.15 for each blank DVD. And that's 2x speed.
Where did you see 7GB blank DVDs?
Thanks,
Tony



Here is a link to purchase Authoring DVD-Rs. However, you have to have an Authoring DVD Burner to use them. And they are not cheap either.
 
Tony Alicea
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Thanks Gregg...
More homework for me ...
 
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Tony
I've also recently ventured in this video production stuff. Lots of fun, but I suspect not a highly reliable or concrete art just yet (ie. lots of things that can go wrong, such as many DVD players that can't play SVCD formats, etc)
Thought I'd just let you know about a really good website where you can find answers to the many questions you may have. Its called VCD Help, you may know about it already.
Happy authoring!
 
Ashok Mash
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A spindle of 50 blank CD-Rs costs me ?49 in here (~ $50) in Ireland. And look at that, you can buy DVD blanks for a dollar or two!!
I am jealous! and mad!
 
Tony Alicea
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Thanks Mark, I didn't know of that site and it's very good.
I just received and tested my first 4x DVD-Rs and they are, well, twice as fast as 2Xs for recording
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