Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Joel T. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thank you for the wonderfully helpful articles on VCR to DVD / CD transfers [ article 1 / article 2 ], but I am still left with one point of confusion. I had read so much about using a Firewire port ... to stream video to the PC, that I ordered a Firewire port with my new computer. I did not, however, specifically order a video capture card (I got a Dell with an Nvidia 6800 GTO card). Does this mean that the Firewire port on my new PC is not adequate for streaming video from a VCR or video camera? Am I still short a special capture card? ... (view more)

It's been one heck of an enduring battle, but after waging war with the new web server gremlins -- and after standing vigilantly for the last 5 days in hopes that the hosting company could resolve a number of outstanding issues -- I finally decided ... that "enough was enough" and had the system re-imaged [formatted] all over again. Of course, this meant that I had to reinstate all the dedicated web server software and web pages by remote command-line. Not fun. It was a royal pain in the neck, but it appears that the second walk-thru has cleared the path and things *seem* to be much ... (view more)

Continuing on from our previous discussions with regard to converting VHS video and archiving to DVD or CD, Infopackets Reader Jim L. wrote in with the proceeding follow-up question: " Dear Dennis, First, in reference to the program 'DVDSqueeze' ... that I spoke of previously: now that I think about it, I believe the program was linked from your newsletter through the Google ads. I didn't see the ad in January 20th's newsletter [regarding the conversion of 8MM film to DVD / CD ]; however, I did read the comments you recently made concerning Movie Shrink and Burn (MSaB). Although MSaB sounds ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Barbo214' writes: " Dear Dennis, I don't know how to explain the noise that comes from my computer speakers -- but it almost like wires are trying to connect. I've heard the same sound sometimes from my car radio speakers. Do you ... know what could be causing this and how I can resolve the issue? " My response: I'm not quite sure what sound you are referring to, but if it's a constant buzz (like feedback in a microphone), it's probably because your computer speakers aren't plugged in all the way in the back of your computer. If this is the case, make sure it's ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Han L. from Denmark writes: " Dear Dennis, First of all, thank you for an extremely informative newsletter. I just finished reading yesterday's issue of the Gazette and have a related question about converting VHS video to DVD or ... CD format. Could you possibly enlighten me on how to convert my old 8MM film productions into digital format (such as DVD or CD)? " My response: I get asked this question frequently. I don't own an 8MM film projector, so I can only speculate on how to go about doing this. Basically: in order to convert the 8MM film, you'll need a way to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John L. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently used Windows Movie Maker to create a video compilation. When I was finished editing the project, I clicked the 'send to CD' button, which then launched a Movie Maker Wizard. The wizard ... took me step by step and explained how to convert my project into a Windows Media Audio/Video file and ultimately burn it to CD. I chose to burn the file to CD-R so that I could play it in my DVD player; however, near the end of the burn, Windows Media Maker reported that the project "did not save successfully". After I clicked OK, I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jim L. writes: " Dear Dennis, You have helped me in the past numerous times and for that I'm thankful. I read all issues and sometimes save those articles that I have a current or potential future need for. In a recent news ... article, I noticed an ad for 'DVDSqueeze', which copies and compresses VHS/DVD video to a CD. Even though they advertise in your newsletter, I haven't seen a review from you on their software. I have quite a few old VHS tapes of miscellaneous TV programs of yesteryear. They are not valuable enough to copy to DVD, but it would be nice if I could put ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John W. writes: " I have a Dell PC and it came with Jasc Paint Shop Pro [picture editor software] installed. After a few months of operation, a screen came up and told me that the trial period for Paint Shop Pro (PSP) had expired. ... I had never used it, so I uninstalled it as PSP cost over $100 to buy the program. After doing this I could no longer open attachments in my Outlook Express. I guess that part of Paint Shop Pro was used to view my email image attachments for Outlook Express. I went searching for a viewer to install and came across a page on the Internet that ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Lynn H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read your article on CD Mastering Software. I do not know that much about computers, so I am a bit confused as to what I need. Here is my problem: I have 2 Hewlett-Packard (HP) computers. The CD-RW ... drive died on one of them, and was replaced with a DVD Burner, which came bundled with Nero Burning ROM CD Recording Software. The other still uses DirectCD to record CDs. The problem is that discs I create using DirectCD cannot be read in the DVD Burner drive on the other computer. Is there a program out there that will allow both DirectCD ... (view more)

I have been *extremely* busy as of late and am having a hard time keeping up with my regular schedule (and subsequently, the regular newsletter schedule). Just before the holiday break, I mentioned that the newsletter layout would be changing. Well ... -- no surprise -- it looks like I jumped the gun again. As I was adding the finishing touches to the new article format, I decided that it would be extremely beneficial to include links to related articles [previously posted in our newsletter], immediately following the feature article. So, for an example: if I wrote a new article on XP Service ... (view more)