Sink O' de Mayo and Mustard!

So I got the computer home last night and spent several hours working with it to get it up to par. However, I did find a couple of glitches. The first one happened when I installed Sony Vegas 8.0c. The moment I loaded it and opened it up to test it out, I immediately noticed that none of my Quicktime files worked with it at all. I get audio, but only black screen for video. Everything else in the program works great so far as I can tell. It’ll read MP4, WMV, MPG, etc., but not MOV files. So, short of scouring the internet for a cure, I went ahead and said “forget it” and moved on to installing Adobe’s Master Collection CS4.

I was particularly impressed with how fast this new machine is. Of course, the Master Collection has upwards of 10+ programs to install, and hefty programs at that, but it loaded them up and began asking for registration and serial information a lot quicker than I’ve experienced it to do so on my Toshiba Satellite laptop. This package even has some 64-bit versions of some of the software, such as Photoshop. The 2^nd glitch I was referring to regards this version, but the regular version works great, so this is a glitch worth ignoring for the time being. This was my main reason for purchasing a new machine in the first place: I need to be able to work with the RAW files from my Canon EOS 550D, and Photoshop CS4 is the earliest version set to work with the RAW plug-in that is compatible with that camera’s files. My Toshiba just didn’t have enough “I think I can” to run CS4. So, while I was at it, I figured I’d add some muscle to the machine when I ordered it so it could also work with the HD clips generated by the 550D as well.

However, I’m still having problems with Sony Vegas not reading MOV files correctly. So, in an attempt to correct the issue, I hunted down clues online to see if anyone else was having the same problem. Well, as it turned out, there were a lot of similar problems, but nothing dead-on exactly the same as mine. So, having gone to http://dvinfo.net/forum, I posted a thread asking if anyone had advice for me. The first answer I got was pretty close to what I expected: I need either a newer version of Vegas, or an OLDER version of Quicktime. Obviously, since I just got this brand new machine and this brand new camera, why would I want to take a step back in software? So….new version of Vegas it is. I’m running 8.0c Corp edition right now, and I just got my hands on Vegas 9.0d to try out when I get home. I really hope this fixes the problem because I’m inevitably going to have a HDD loaded with new video content from this camera that’ll need editing.

If it comes down to it, though, I do have a workaround in the meantime, so I’m certainly not in any urgent hurry to get this working. In Adobe’s CS4 Master Collection, there’s a kickass little program called Media Encoder, which works alongside most of the programs in the collection. You just drag in media files, pick a profile with the settings you want to use to convert the files, hit “Go”, and it converts each file you have in the list, one by one, and saves the converted files into a folder you designate. I did this last night before I went to bed, in fact. I loaded 60 video files into it, picked the H.264 MP4 format and chose my resolution, framerate, and quality settings and hit Go. When I woke up, they were finished. I was amazed. I didn’t get that kind of performance out of any computer that wasn’t supplied by an employer. LoL

So, for now, it looks like my hopes rest with this CD I just burned which contains Vegas 9.0d. I’ll give it a shot and report back to share the results.

Oh, and Happy Sink O’ the Mayo & Mustard w/Cheese!

New Computer

Listening To:

Groove Salad on SOMA.FM

http://scfire-dtc-aa07.stream.aol.com/stream/1018/listen.pls

So I finally got my new computer today! I've been waiting about a week or so to get it, but I was originally told I wouldn't get it until 5/14. Either way, I'm psyched. :-D

It's a Dell Studio XPS 8100 with the following specs:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Intel Core i7-860 (8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)
AMD Radeon 5450 (1GB)
500GB SATA HDD 7,200RPM
4GB DDR3 SDRAM @ 1333MHz
16x DVD+/-RW

This thing is going to grow wings and fly when I turn it on. No joke.
I've been in desperate need of a new system like this to handle the HD footage I've begun shooting, and I heard the i7's are exactly what I need. I've still got a buncha crap I need to clear out of my laptop before I completely remove it from the equation, but once I'm done with that, I'll load a fresh install of Windows XP on it and sell it. Might even include some software to kinda sweeten the deal. ;-)

My girlfriend, Amy, is probably going to be hating me for the next few days while I get this thing up to par with my work and whatnot, but it has to be done, so.....sorry in advance, babe!

My biggest concern is that the Adobe CS4 Master Collection may not run properly (or at all) on it because this is the 64-bit version of Windows 7. We'll see, but I'm almost half expecting to run into problems with both that and Sony Vegas. It seems relatively hit/miss on finding any info about what will and won't work on 64, so it's just a matter of giving it a shot and seeing how far I get. My biggest strength in my photography, for example, comes with using the RAW editor of Photoshop. Well, the new camera calls for an updated version of the RAW plug-in that Adobe uses, but it's not compatible with my version of Photoshop (CS3). So, in an attempt to update Photoshop, I discovered that CS4 does not like my laptop. I'm assuming this is a resource issue, because once it boots the program, it just shuts right back off. All the other programs in the bundle do this, so I'm not sure what else to think.
Tonight, we find out. I'll be loading that and Vegas and Sound Forge on there, and we'll just have to see how far we get. To be honest, I probably need to upgrade all those anyway, but if I can get away with installing and running what I have, I'll just use that.

Back later to update and explain what I discovered.

First Post

I probably won't have a lot to say in this first entry, but I will say that it's been a nasty Monday. Not because of work, though. That's been pretty smooth today, actually. However, to be dealing with BS from so many other angles...I can do without that. Got into it with Amy (my gf), got chastised by a friend, and now FedEx decided to make my delivery a day late, which is causing complications for me because it's my new computer. I've been preparing since before the weekend to get this thing. I've been moving around TONS of files, sometimes up to 200GB at a time, which takes hours upon hours, so that when I get this thing, I'll be ready to do all the photo and video editing I need to do, and with ease. The machine I'm using now simply will not handle the amount of data coming from my new camera, which is all Full HD video and 18MP stills. It's giving the thing a coronary. LoL

Anyway, the thought keeps crossing my mind that this blog is going to end up going the way of most other stuff I try. Well, writing-type of stuff anyway. I usually just get to a point where I think to myself, "Why am I doing this? What purpose will it serve, and will it even  be worth the effort?" The problem I keep running into is that I don't know what to say. I end up talking about geeky, techy crap. Nothing of any real substance. Of course, I bet this will depend more on who's reading it. With as many millions of blogs online, how can my little pebble in the ocean create noticeable waves? Bottom line: It probably won't.
How's THAT for positive thinking! LoL No, I dunno...I just don't want to put effort into something like this (like I'm doing right now. Oh, the irony!), and turn into one of those people who say "You can find it on my blog." or "for those of you who have read my blog", as if I were expecting to have followers or people who actually make a point to see what I have to say. I'm just a plain guy, with plain ambitions, and with a pretty plain life. Not to say I'm unhappy. That's not the case at all. But at 30 years old, I'm not nearly as far along with living as I thought I would be by now.

Maybe I can turn this into a how-to for photography. That's possible. I will probably do that from time to time, in fact.
Maybe I can turn it into a sort of journal or diary, documenting my day-to-day activities. Oh wait....I live a plain life. Hm....sounds like that could lead to more of a loss of readers than a gain.
Maybe I can express my opinions about current political/religious/scientific events. Eh...there's a sure-fire way of blending in with all the other same-level tripe. I may refer to some scientific ones from time to time, however.

Oh well, who knows? We'll just have to wait and see where this goes.
Hey, that rhymed.

4:29pm now...got about half an hour before I get outta here and go home. Catch all you guys on the flipside.