Comments for Frozen Pixels

Comment on Quality – DivX vs Xvid by ultimatehuman

ultimatehuman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:30:41 +0000

I’m afraid I’m not buying your argument here turok. First, if you really prefer using H.264, that’s your business but I find you annoying. Second, somethings wrong if your encoding XviD and get a file size 20 times larger than your original. You cite video scale and fps but that has little to do with your file size. I wonder what your bitrates are? That would have the most impact on file size. Usually a bitrate of 1000 to 1200 kbps produces an image that has near dvd quality and still looks pretty good on 1080i screen.

As someone who often re-encodes DviX to Xvid, using slightly higher bitrates that the original, I often wind up with slightly smaller file sizes with no loss of quality I can detect. I don’t have a Wii, so I can’t speak to your problems with that, but I’m still inclined to suspect there is a problem with the encoding. I occasionally do get files that just won’t encode properly and have playback issues.

Comment on Quality – DivX vs Xvid by turok

turok — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:41:48 +0000

Well save yer breath. DivX is superior to Xvid. As an experienced encoder (Usually prefer H.264 but sometimes if I wanna fast one and for weaker pcs then DivX) I prefer Quality and DivX delivers. I cannot say the same for Xvid I’m Afirad I was largely Disappointed of the filesize for the same quality (encoded a video twice using Xvid and DivX for ax quality as possible the original video was 100mb H.264. divx propped up a 148mb whilst Xvid came up with a 1902mb which I found utterly ridiculous, on a 640×480p@23.976) and as DivX is ALOT less resources for playback capability I endorse DivX over Xvid. (Nintendo Wii console can play a 1280×720 DivX with NO LAG but can’t do the same with Xvid it just freezes instead.) That and Constant Quality Divx actually does come out good in comparison to xvid (xvid sometimes dropes frames or that may have been bad settings.)

I am normally use H.264 for encoding but when I am not. I use DivX. Xvid is open source? Then why does it still pale in comparison to Divx then? lol open source got pwned this day.

Comment on Quality – DivX vs Xvid by airjrdn

airjrdn — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:31:39 +0000

The images are from the original post date. I’ve not updated anything.

Comment on Quality – DivX vs Xvid by GG

GG — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:14:04 +0000

Is this the lastest comparison? The first post is in 2007.

Comment on Backups – Part 1 by airjrdn

airjrdn — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:11:44 +0000

Joe – thanks for the post, it’ll no doubt help someone else.

Richard – If the drive is already producing bad sectors, just backup your data, and borrow a CD from someone and reinstall using your key. Magic Jelly Bean keyfinder will get your key for you.

If the drive is still working ok for the time being, download & install Macrium Reflect free, make an image, writing it to your USB drive. Create the restore disk from within Macrium Reflect. Take the bad drive out, put the new one in, and restore the image to the new drive.

Comment on Backups – Part 1 by Richard

Richard — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:20:30 +0000

I have a PC with an unreliable disk drive, and no Windows CD”s.

I want to buy another disk drive to replace it.

Is it possible to:
-clone the current drive to an external (USB) hard drive
-remove the old disk drive & install a new drive
-boot from the cloned USB drive
-copy the clone from the USB to the new C: Drive
-remove the USB and boot from the new C:

Richard

Comment on Backups – Part 1 by Joe

Joe — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:11:00 +0000

OK, I found the answer. Windows XP and Server 2003 share the same COM+ algorythms – and it causes problems. Here is the simple and easy fix for getting swprv.dll to register. Go to the Windows\System32 folder, and create a new folder under it named Dtclog. Open Notepad and save an empty file as %Systemroot%\System32\Dtclog\Msdtc.log. Now open a command prompt and type: msdtc -resetlog and press enter.
Now, if you run the command (must be from the %SystemRoot%\system32 prompt) “regsvr32 /i swprv.dll” – it will register.
This will also fix a problem you had in your COM+ applications that you never even knew existed. I won’t go into that here……
Thank Microsoft for this wonderful error, and, BTW, just for info purposes, if Shadow Copy refuses to work trying to run DriveImage XML, it is because your OS has been restored previously from a backup – which leaves that info in your boot record, and Microsoft’s programming will not allow Shadow Copy to work normally if your boot record has been altered in any way other than from an original full install of the OS………. I assume other Backup Program Authors know this and have figured out a way to force the Shadow Copy to work with their Programs under this Microsoft fluke……….
There are times when “Smarts” turn into “Stupids” – these Microsoft programmers don’t think far enough in advance to see these type of errors forthcoming – and screwing up the works……

Comment on Backups – Part 1 by Joe

Joe — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:40:57 +0000

I tried Macrium, and it worked fine. However, I do not understand why that DLL (swprv.dll) will not register. I even ran a Repair on two machines’s OS – and it did not change anything – even with all new DLL’s and installs of the OS – which I am sure included the Shadow Copy Service.

Now I need to find some others that are running XP and see it their machines say it registers, or if it bombs out with the same error – 0×8000ffff.

VSS shows as being started, it is active in Task Manager, plus I can shadow copy successfully with the Macrium program suggested, also Acronis works fine – and it also uses shadow copy and locking – so, I am at a loss about this situation.

Anyone else happen to have any suggestions……..

Thanks

Comment on Backups – Part 1 by airjrdn

airjrdn — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:25:35 +0000

Macrium Reflect Free also uses VSS to create images. See if you can get it to successfully build an image on one of those machines. Also, make sure the VSS service is started and set to Automatic.

Comment on Backups – Part 1 by Joe

Joe — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:20:07 +0000

Ok, i went thru this article slowly and carefully, and did everything (took some time to do), and I still have the same problem – DllInstall in swprv.dll failed. Return code was: 0×8000ffff

Also noticed that I have this SAME Identical problem on 4 Different Machines, the only commonality is that they are all DELL machines – and all are Windows XP SP3.

Am trying to get the DriveImage XML Program to run properly, but it cannot get the Shadow Copy Service to work properly.

So, something is very wrong here, and am at wits end.

Sorry for the 2 day late posting, but, I was doing all I could to get all this stuff done to see if any of it made a difference.