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[sparktech]

Coming Soon!

Hi-def/hi-res screens from trailers.

Trailers will be 10bit sources so the images will be highest quality (definitely higher than youtube).

[sparktech]

Java SE 6u38/7u10 Runtime Environments Released! (2012-12-11)

Just today, another Java update for the many Runtime Environments and Development Kits for Java Standard Edition (SE).

Update applies to the following Standard Editions (6u38/7u10): JRE (Java Runtime Environment) JDK (Java Development Kit) Embedded

Java SE Runtime Environment 7 Update 10 (Windows, OSx, Other)

Java SE Runtime Environment 6 Update 38 (Windows, OSx, Other)

Oracle Java SE JRE/JDK Downloads (6/7) (Windows, OSx, Other)

Oracle Java SE Embedded Downloads

Don't forget if you're on a 64 bit Operating System to install BOTH the x86 and x64 versions.

Don't forget to uninstall the older versions.

Not sure which one to install?

JRE 7u10 should do you well enough.

If you have older programs that give you issues and warnings about "Java not installed" when you have 7 installed, install 6 for maximum compatibility.

6 is generally for really old programs where developers have stopped updating their code to meet requirements of JRE 7.

Also, remember that Java 6 will no longer be releasing any updates as of February 2013!

[sparktech]

[sparktech]

Adobe, Java, and Microsoft, oh my!

Today 3 of the major headaches in updating software has released a series of onslaught updates: Adobe, Oracle, and Microsoft.

Like a sticky band-aid, it's best to get it over with quickly and immediately.

Adobe released updates for nearly all their usual free, user-end products:

Adobe Reader X 10.1.4

(Select your OS, language and version 10.1.4)

Adobe Shockwave Player 11.6.5.636 (Select your OS and version) Adobe Flash Player 11.3.300.271 (Select your OS and version)

Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller 11.3.300.271 (Hosted at Majorgeeks.com)

Oracle has released updates for their Java products.

JRE (Java Runtime Environment) JDK (Java Development Kit) SE (Standard Edition) updates.

Java SE Runtime Environment 7u6 (x86 & x64) (You must accept the Oracle Binary Code License Agreement for Java SE to download this software.)

Java SE Development Kit 7u6 (x86 & x64) (You must accept the Oracle Binary Code License Agreement for Java SE to download this software.) Looking for JavaFX SDK? JavaFX SDK is now included in the Java SE JDK 7 updates for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux x86/x64.

Java SE Runtime Environment 6u34 (x86 & x64) (You must accept the Oracle Binary Code License Agreement for Java SE to download this software.)

Java SE Development Kit 6u34 (x86 & x64) (You must accept the Oracle Binary Code License Agreement for Java SE to download this software.) Standalone downloads are available for JavaFX 2.2 for Java SE 6 users (Windows only)

And a friendly reminder to anyone still using JDK 6, that there has been an update on the official Oracle blog:

Java 6 End of Public Updates extended to February 2013

the last publicly available release of Oracle JDK 6 is to be released in February, 2013...Previously available versions of JDK 6 will remain available to the public through the Java Archive for debugging and testing purposes but Oracle no longer recommends using those in production.

Lastly, Microsoft has released a number of updates today.

36 to be exact!

You can read about it on this site that has listed the updates plus information. Links provided to each update, plus a single ISO-image file for all security updates released in August-only. (Only ISO-image for updating multiple computers with different languages; For English-only updates, use Automatic Updates!!!) 

Run MS Updates, either in your control panel or in your Internet Explorer.

Sites mentioned today (don't forget to bookmark)

Adobe

MajorGeeks

Oracle Technology Network > Java

Oracle Blogs

NT Compatible (News and Updates on all things NT)

[sparktech]

[sparktech]

Outlined Text and Command Prompt Help

So two things have been bothering me lately.

I like to make photoshops of pics and add silly little captions to them. However, it was very difficult to figure out how to make the text outlined so as to read them better.

I was also peeved how the Command Prompt window had only so much space to work with, making the [-help][/?] functions very difficult to read. Some applications have so much help for you to read but when you run the -help command, the screen only displays the last half if it exceeds the available space. Whatever was in the first half is gone and there's no way to scroll or recover the lost text.

These bothered me a lot. Until I got off my ass and decided to turn to one of my best friends: Google. :)

Got the answers I was looking for very quickly and shamefully admitted that I should have searched when the issues first became apparent.

Outlined Text in Adobe Photoshop CS5

To add outlined text to your pictures, a second layer had to be created. Layer 1: Your picture. Layer 2: Your outlined text. Blending options for Layer 2 involved:  "Color Overlay" and "Stroke" modifications.

Here's the YouTube video from AlecReach that's short and precise.

Photoshop CS5 Tutorial - Easy Text Outline

Create a Text File with Full Results from Command Window Operations

Open your Command Window ("Open Command Window Here" on your source/target directory helps a lot if you know how) and begin to type in the program name (with or without the file extension, it virtually makes no difference) followed by the [-help][/?] functions. If there is no help function available (it happens), simply just run the program once without any options or other functions listed. This will usually give you an error followed by its own help or a list of commands that should give you an idea of what to do.

If it lists a complete Help list that fills your screen and continues onward to fill the screen, you'll notice that when it ends, you'll be at the end of the Help document but cannot go back to the beginning to read from the start.

This isn't exactly rare, but it's very annoying when you want to learn everything your program can do.

A quick Google search reveals a simplistic approach that should be compatible with most Dos/CMD applications. It should work most of the time.

To quote Brian Fantana...

To get a full text file printed out of any results for anything you've done in the CMD, you can simply add a command at the very end.

Input your program, the options and any other function you wish to do. (In this case -help)

Then add at the very end (before pressing enter to execute),

Add >"[drive:\destination\][filename].txt" Don't forget to add "quotes" if the destination contains any spaces. 

E.G.:

encoder >"A:\Bin Documents\encoder help.txt"

Also make sure that if you use "quotes", that the first quotation mark goes after the 'smaller than' sign (>); and, not before it, otherwise you'll get a huge error list and no text file printed out.

Hope that has helped make things easier. Furthermore, I hope it was easy enough to understand lol. 

[sparktech]

Pulfrich Effect

Diclaimer: I do not fully state that the follwing is neither 100% true nor accurate. I state the following to be my perception on the subject matter and all views are subject to the reader. I may or may not use some words that make complete sense, as I just thought them to be fancy words. Sorry for any future confusion.

Proceed...

The Magic of the Pulfrich Effect:

Although, most 3D movies require a 3D-TV, shutter glasses, etc. Some you can find in anaglyph (red/cyan, amber/blue, pink/mangenta) from people who took the 3D blu-ray and converted it to proper 3D anaglyph. Or if the movie is initially released as anaglyph on DVD (My Bloody Valentine, Coraline, Amityville 3D, Jaws 3D, Freddy's Dead, Final Destination 5). I'm more than willing to buy some glasses for anyone who wants to take on this feat :joker lightning: I have: anaglyph: red/cyan and amber/blue. shutter glasses (came with Monsters VS Aliens blu-ray promo). and Pulfrich (2D-to-3D on the fly). My favorite is using the Pulfrich Effect, as it requires no conversion or extra hardware (like a 3D-TV or a 3D-DVD/BD).

You can achieve the Pulfrich Effect by simply buying a cheap pair of sunglasses from the dollar store and popping out one of the lenses. Watch a movie with those glasses and you will perceive a 3D effect. What happens is that the darker content of the image is received last, while the brighter contents are received first. Your brain converts this into a 3D effect, since light travels faster than dark, your eyes will see the difference, or "lag" of the two fields of contrast. It's ideal if you give your pre-dominant eye the dark lense. You can always reverse the glasses to see which one gives you optimal effect. The best scenes that work best with Pulfrich Effect are slow, panoramic scenes. Anything where objects move across the screen. Scenes that move in slow motion. Where shadows play a significant role. If the camera rotates around the object of focus. Granted that the entire movie will not be in 3D, but the best scenes will definitely make their presence known to your brain.  Most websites selling Pulfrich glasses (paper, plastic or metal framed if you're fancy-shmancy) will often say that these glasses are best for viewing sports events, as most sports programs have cameras in a stationary place while it pans from side to side. Whether it's football, soccer, hockey or tennis, you will definitely see the Pulfrich Effect as intended. Other points of interest: Some directors are extremely noteable in their directing techniques, how they love to move the camera. Peter Jackson is one such. JJ Abhrams is another. You get the idea. Movies, especially older ones, where the CG is very discernible on-screen often tend to be slightly less noticeable through Pulfrich glasses. The CG edges are somewhat smoothed out as the animation occurs from frame to frame and the time-dilation of the Pulfrich Effect. Of course, movies intended to be 3D in nature are always going to deliver satisfactory results.

Well, this has been another SparkTech article, brought to you by: Carl Pulfrich, bringing 2D environments into your 3D world since 1922.

[sparktech]

Internet and Searches...

So here's the situation: I dropped my 2tb external a few weeks ago.

I have done nothing to it so far.

I've ran several scans with it using EASEus Partition Recovery, EASEus Data Recovery, HDD Regenerator and avoided anything else so far.

It's not easy trying to find the right data recovery software.

So many opinions. And the internet sucks for opinions (^___^ even though I have a blog LOL).

However, HDD Regenerator seems to show much promise in the ways of losslessly recovering data, its only drawback is that it works much more efficiently only when and if the drive in question is an internal drive.

Now the site and everything else advertising says it works on external drives, but that's just hubaballoo~

Try google "HDD Regenerator external hard drive" and you'll see a lot of the support forums keep saying "unplug your external and install it as an internal hard drive".

That can be easily done, if you have the tools and patience for it.

I'm not really going to crack open the SeaGate external for this major recovery. Last thing I want to do is make a mistake and damage the case. If it all possible, I'd rather not tamper with the drive physically. Ugly, broken shells are not easy to deal with (I presume).

So, I'm basically stuck still searching for something noteworthy in hopes to recover data. Mostly concerned about documents, music and some videos.

The rest can be counted as losses.

I'm really concerned about accuracy, as I've had nothing but false hopes with so many "acclaimed" software in the past.

Recuva, Recover My Files, R-Data, and virtually any other "undelete" software has really returned nothing to me.

I know the general rule of thumb with data recovery is to not do anything else to the drive (save, create, modify or delete any other files) in order to preserve the MFT (Master File Table). Chances of recovering data in good working order is substantially greater if nothing is changed since the deletion.

However, in all cases where I have done exactly that and immediately began to recover data, most positive results of regaining a fully-working file has always been very slim. In most cases, I've only gotten just garbage back. Useless pictures and documents.

I've never been fond of using any sort of "undelete" software as I've never had any real success.

And I'm dealing with only one level deletion (the initial deletion) and no extra security wipes.

It doesn't matter if it's Windows XP, Vista, 7, 32-bit, 64-bit, very large data files (like a DVD-9 ISO image) always tend to end up being unrecoverable.

Sure, I can always get a list of stuff I lost.

But that's it.

It's no good having a list if some of the material lost were converted videos which took about 12 hours to convert.

Given the pessimistic forecast of this endeavor leaves me to believe that making a list of lost data and doing my best to recover it. If the sources still exist.

Some of it is rare music, rare movies, discs I no longer have, or stuff that just doesn't really exist anymore.

Reformatting the entire drive is easy.

I might even do a nice 7-pass/35-pass on the whole thing to start anew.

Completely fresh.

But, first thing's first: disappointing lists of things I lost.

*lamenting bagpipe music starts playing*

[sparktech]

Obsoletism

So as we observe in the removal of obsolete programs, there must also be the destruction of its registry pointer: this is where Revo (Uninstaller) steps in.

Obsoletism: not just a safety protocol; It's a life style~

While Revo can work wonders, there is a difference in the free version and paid version. (See Revo Uninstaller Official Site for more info on the free VS paid versions)

Free is decent for most jobs. But for the absolutely finicky uninstalls, the paid version more than makes up for it in one go.

The free version only offers a standard scan in left over files. The paid, extended scan finds so much more.

While I've tried the 30-day trial, I've found it to be beautifully simple and addicting.

I just may have to venture into this buy.

One thing to take into consideration, that while Revo is extremely powerful and accurate, it still may not be able to uninstall the nastiest of uninstalls.

Whether it's a driver for a printer, mobile phone, or what have you, there's still going to be something, somewhere out there that. just. doesn't. want. to. leave.

:/

I've been in those shoes before. The only thing to do is jump right in and wade through the shit and stench that mocks you...

I find for the extreme situations that cause complete system instability and functionality, I do a system restore or a complete reformat.

And, no, I don't use that System Restore. I use a separate partition that's already pre-configured (it's a store-bought laptop and not a custom build).

However, there's still the issue of the original factory state having Norton Antivirus installed. And a few other things.

But that's easy to fix. Symantecs offers a utility tool to completely remove all Norton products, files and registry. A very clean swipe.

You can find it on their official website or on mirror hosts like MajorGeeks.

Sites of interest:

Revo Uninstaller Official Site

MajorGeeks Official Site

Symantec's Norton Removal Tool Official Site

MajorGeek's Mirror for Norton Removal Tool

[sparktech]

CCEnhancer Update

For those who use CCleaner as their junk file remover, there's a little extra you can always add, if you're up to it.

http://singularlabs.com/software/ccenhancer/

Singularlabs developed a neat little add-on, which is just an .ini file that provides more options, in cleaning junk and garbage files.

Extremely handy for those who really with to conserve as much space as possible on their OS partition.

I've just discovered this neat little utility last month and have been using it on all three of my systems (2 laptops; 1 desktop).

You can download the .ini file from the official website to update CCleaner manually on computers that don't have internet access.

Otherwise, the general installer program can update to the latest .ini file with customized options* for cleaning.

*All customized options for cleaning can be noted an asterisk.

Really great for finding install locations and other areas of interest for cleaning.

Caution: Used at your own discretion. Check the locations you really want to clean, if you know what you are doing and that the programs of interest involved are, indeed, working correctly.

Highly recommended, at any rate.

[sparktech]

K-Lite Codec Pack... Beta?

Well this is new.

I've been using K-Lite Codec Pack (Mega) for years and have never really seen them deploy a BETA version for testing.

Anyone familiar with K-Lite will also notice the same strange behavior. And will know the following site to be the number one to check for official releases. Codec Guide.

MajorGeeks is also another site to check for official releases/updates.

Although... If you follow the Doom 9 forums, you will constantly see that avid followers of the provided codecs (yes, each codec is developed by different people). Following Doom 9 forums on a relatively daily basis, I sort of pick up when Codec Guide is going to make an update release of their K-Lite Codec Pack. It's usually after 4 or more codecs have had major releases.

Following the Doom 9 forums, it's quite easy to keep up to date and generally know when a K-Lite release is to be expected. Each codec has it's own topic in the forum, and avid followers will always report conditions or scenarios where the codec seems to have problems. Of course, these are not common to the average end-user. But still worth a look, just in case. Different people, different needs.

It's quite normal to see beta testing in Doom 9. As well as quick patches for the codec/program in general concern. After all, there's only one way for the devs to find out if an update is needed: testing.

This can be Alpha, Beta or Release Candidate testing. This is very crucial for devs to keep their work going and pushing for more major releases with updates, new features and bug fixes. Without these testings, the devs have no idea if anything works. If they get no feedback, they assume that anyone who uses the program is happy with the current release, abandon it and move on to their next project. This is also quite common in the Doom 9 forums.

As most end-users generally are quite happy with anything that works, they're not too focused on the potential of the program they're using. So no reports are made, no gratification, no suggestions for extra features. No future for the program.

I strongly recommend that each person gets involved with the programs they're using, whether it be freeware, shareware or paid programs. Any type of involvement is enough for a dev to feel compelled to keep up with standards.

After all, they are doing this mostly for your benefit, the end-user.

Which brings me to question why Codec Guide is posting a BETA testing of K-Lite Codec Pack. It's quite unusual. The most popular codecs involved (LAV Filters, FFDShow, 

I understand the need for BETA testing, but usually KLCP waits until the official codecs pass the BETA testing.

In the most recent release of KLCP (8.5.6 BETA) there is one new feature added to the pack, which is my guess why they pushed for a BETA release:

Added Icaros 1.3.2Icaros is an Explorer shell extension for video thumbnails. It should provide better thumbnailing functionality than Microsoft's shell extensions.Icaros requires Microsoft .NET Framework 4. This is part of Windows 7/8 by default. Vista users can install it through Windows Update. Icaros is not available on Windows XP.

I suppose, before they make it part of the official stable packs, they want to know if anyone who uses it... well, uses it.

Not quite sure I've seen this as part of a topic on the Doom 9 forums, but devs don't always have to participate in there. Some have their own websites for their updates, news and support forums.

One in particular that comes across my mind is the Sharpya updates of the ffmpeg binaries that are used in MrC's "AVStoDVD" freeware program.

Sharpya has an independent site with updates and news for custom binaries.

The current state seems to be a recovering state of a major hard disk failure...

[02/24/2012] Slowly reconstructing setup (yes I'm almost ignoring tracker reports for now, sorry), github repository of FFmpeg with my patches

[08/01/2012] Sorry guys, I lost the whole content of my hard disk, so I need some time to setup again my build scripts

This news saddens me, as I use AVStoDVD a lot. But, there is still hope :)

Well that's all for now, that's on my mind.

Who uses K-Lite Codec Pack (any version, including x64)?

What are you opinions/thoughts on the Codec Pack?

Do you prefer another Codec Pack over KLCP? (CCCP, Shark007's packs, WinXP/Vista/7/8 Codec Packs, etc)

Are you also interested in the sudden BETA release?

Related Sites: Codec Guide Website: http://www.codecguide.com/  Forum: http://codecs.forumotion.net/

Sharpya ffmpeg http://oss.netfarm.it/mplayer-win32.php  Doom 9 Forum http://forum.doom9.org/ 

VideoHelp (for updates on a lot of programs for Audio/Video needs) http://www.videohelp.com/tools

[sparktech]

Starting up slowly.

Very slowly. Soon there will be posts about my favorite programs and why I like them.

More like a mini-review.

That being said, I'm a Windows user.

Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7.

Primarily on Vista and XP.

Generally a lot of freeware, usually the best and most updated by your favorite devs.

[sparktech]

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?

A Joker card. thanks tumblrbot!