Downloading, streaming, or encoding music and movies.
Media
How can I capture my old Super 8 movies?
Episode 1533
Kevin fromKevin wants to know how to DIY capture his home super 8 movies. Leo says he'll need a projector. Then he can use a camcorder to record the image on the wall. That's the easiest. But there's also devices that will allow him to capture directly and digitize it, like the Wolverine. It's $300 and is highly reviewed. Kodak has a cheaper version, but it's not the Kodak everyone remembers, the name had been sold. He can also use a service like ScanCafe.
How can I watch movies from my phone while traveling?
Episode 1532
Dave fromDave travels to Mexico every year for a vacation but Vudu doesn't work overseas anymore. Leo says that Movies Anywhere will let him download his movies and he can just put them on his phone or tablet. That makes it a lot easier to travel. Netflix and Amazon Prime also will let him download movies to watch offline.
How can I remove distortion from an audio recording?
Episode 1527
Josh fromJosh has an audio recording that has a lot of distortion. How can he fix it? Leo says he can't, really. Distortion usually means the top end of the audio recording has "clipped" causing the audio to lose the upper end. But the chatroom says that Izotope is a plugin that can repair it somewhat. Since the caller is blind, however, Leo recommends a service called Auphonic. They have professional audio restoration tools that can do the job. There's a free tier and a pay tier.
Why won't my audio play on my other computer?
Episode 1525
Carl fromCarl transferred some podcast audio from one computer to another and it won't play on the other computer hard drive, just on the USB drive. Rich suspects a format issue. It sounds like it isn't a standard MP3 file, and as such, his Windows mp3 player is having issues playing it. Rich also says he may want to try converting the audio using VLC or Handbrake. Another possibility is that it requires some sort of "key" to play the audio. Or additional components.
Why is AirPlay stalling in AppleTV?
Episode 1522
Brian fromBrian has two Apple TVs that stream music from his computer and iTunes, but lately it just stops after a few minutes. Apple says that it's a corrupted library, but Leo disagrees since it doesn't happen when he streams music on his computer directly. Leo has a hunch it's the router. Using AirPlay, he could be dealing with buffering issues. He also should make sure nothing else is connected to his AirPlay device. It could also be an issue with home sharing and his router configuration. It could be a blocked port issue.
Why can't I open my files?
Episode 1519
Bill fromBill is building a computer system using an Arduino. Leo says that Arduino's are a fun project. But when he connects his data drive, he can't open any of his data files. Leo says that it could be a permissions issue on the old Windows account. Go into file explorer, right click on a file, select properties, and see what's going on under the security tab. Also check there file permissions. It may not be listed as giving you the right to read or write to that file.
How can I watch PAL DVDs on my TV?
Episode 1519
Paul fromPaul would like to rip DVDs and then put it on a 128GB thumbdrive so that his kids don't trash his DVDs. Leo says that's a great idea and you can use both Handbrake and VLC Media Client to do it. But how does he convert a DVD that's PAL? Leo says that the DVD is probably region coded to prevent you from watching a DVD from another country here in the US. The first time you play the DVD, it sets the Region code. But there are DVD players that don't do it. There's also a few back doors that respond to a certain number of remote button presses to unlock them.
Why can't I read my thumb drive?
Episode 1518
Jim fromJim wants to know why his computer can't read his USB thumb drive. Leo says it's probably formatted wrong. If he formats it NTFS, he should be able to read it.
How can I make a copy of my DVDs onto my computer?
Episode 1517
Rolland fromRolland wants to make hard drive copies of his DVDs. Leo says you need two programs ... Handbrake (which does the re-encoding) and VLC Media Client (which does the playback to bypass the copy protection). If you want the full thing. Image Burn is very popular for Windows. If you're on Mac, then Disco. The chatroom says DVDFab.CN is another option. But Leo says that's probably illegal, technically.
Can I get my old programs off my DVR?
Episode 1514
Eric fromEric cut the cable and wants to know if he can get programs off his old TiVo. Leo says in the first generation TiVos, he would be able to. But copy protection has locked down and encrypted that data. TIVO to Go was an option, but it was a very poor solution. There is one way to do it still, and that's the analog hole. Eric can connect his TIVO using the analog component jacks (red, white and yellow), but it will be standard definition.
