Handbrake – 0.9.4 – New Video Conversion

For those of you who rip their DVD’s to a hard drive or just want to do some video conversion to a different form. Handbrake 0.9.3 has worked well in the past. With the new version – Handbrake 0.9.4, they add 64 bit capability which should speed up things for some people with 64 bit systems. Check out the main page for a list of the major changes.

TEST NOTES -

1. When I tried to play my 094 file as an MP4 in QuickTime I get this error message, “An invalid sample description was found in the movie.” When I change the extension to M4V it plays fine. I didn’t have this problem with 093.

2. The 094 file is 16% larger than the 093 version.

3. Watching both versions on my TV, the picture seems identical.

4. M4V files still don’t Fast Forward on my WD TV.

Conclusion – I’m going back to version 0.9.3

MP4 or M4V

If you’ve ever used Handbrake to rip a video, one of the options in the iTouch/iPhone format is MP4 or M4V. Which should you use?

In my experience, the files are exactly the same except that the iTouch needs the .M4V extension, while my WD Media Player needs the MP4 extension if you want to Fast Forward through a video. To play videos in my iTouch I use Better File Rename to rename all my videos with a M4V extension. If I want to play them on my TV using my WD Media Player, I change the files extensions back to MP4.  Weird – but it works.

Free Basic Movie Editor

Windows Live Movie Maker is a free download for Windows 7 or Windows Vista. It appears to be a nice option for people that just want to do basic movies. It uploads to YouTube and Facebook and allows you to make your own DVDs. The limitations are that it only will save in a WMV format and won’t allow you to do picture in picture or add a voice over.

VLC – Watch Any Video

VLC 1.0 is a great program to watch just about any video. It’s open source and free, but donations are welcome. Give it a try – I think you’ll like it.

Green Screen – Be Anywhere You Want

If you’d like to try some green screen video, I’m all set up. It’s fun and easy.

Record Web Video – WMRecorder

An easy way to capture web video is with a product call WMRecorder. It captures video in its native format and faster than real time. They also offer WMCapture which just captures the screen, but creates larger files. Try the Demo mode first to make sure it works on your system.

Cartoonr – Free Video Plugin

If you’d like to spice up some of your video with weird effects, give Cartoonr a try. Right now, it’s a FREE plugin for Adobe Premiere, Pinnacle, Sony and Ulead.
http://www.newbluefx.com/cartoonr/

I’ve posted a short video which shows the basic effects on YouTube.