Cool Video Converters

I like making videos. No, not those kind of videos you perv! No, I mean random videos. Video of my family, videos for the blog, and just fun videos in general. I like it so much that I set up a second blog just for those random videos here: (My Random Videos)

My video editor of choice? Windows Movie Maker! Why not? It’s free, and built into Windows right? The only problem is that it only accepts certain formats. One of the formats it doesn’t accept is MOV format. Well, my little Kodak Easy Share only records in MOV format. So how am I supposed to edit it with Movie Maker? That is where a good video converter comes in.

My favorite free converters of choice come from Pazera Software. They have almost any type of video converter you would ever need. Here is a list of some of their conversion tools:

• FLV to AVI
• AVI to FLV
• 3GP to AVI
• AVI to 3GP
• MP4 to AVI
• AVI to MP4
• MOV to AVI
• AVI to MOV
• AVI to WMV
• AVI to MP3

Another cool thing about Pazera’s converters is that they do not require installation. They are self running packages, so you could throw them on a USB stick, and take them wherever you need videos converted!

The one I use, obviously, is the MOV to AVI converter so I can edit my videos in Windows Movie Maker. The conversion is quick, and flawless. You can even customize the output settings for resolution, audio, and video encoding, etc. You can even do batches of videos all at once!

In conclusion, if you are looking for a tool to convert your videos from one format to another, check out Pazera’s tools. They are free, they are intuitive and they simply work!

Technorati Tags: flv,avi,3gp,mp4,movie,wmv,mp3,converter,pazera,free

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Create HD Videos in Windows Movie Maker For Windows XP

As you all know, I like to dabble in video making. Well, if you have seen a Bauer-Power episode or two you would. Or perhaps you have dropped by my random video site. Anyhoo, long story short, I like videos!
For Christmas (Actually, a little after Christmas) my wife let me buy an el cheapo HD video camera. It was pretty cool, and would shoot videos in 1280x720 resolution in .mov format. The problem I had though, was that I like to edit all my movies in Windows Movie Maker. I just feel that for a free video editor, it can do quite a bit. So what’s the problem? Well, my computer at home was running Windows XP, and the Movie Maker that is installed on Windows XP doesn’t handle HD format. Windows Vista Ultimate does, but not Windows XP Professional.

Well I happened upon a couple of plugin’s that will allow you to output your Movie Maker files in HD WMV format!

I have packaged them all up in a convenient ZIP Package here:

(WMM HD DOWNLOAD)

The resolutions available in the package are:

• 1280x720
• 1440x1080
• 1920x1080
• 960x720

To use them, make sure Movie Maker is not running, then copy the *.prx files from my zip file to:

C:\program files\Movie Maker\shared\profiles

Now don’t get too excited. There are some requirements to use these resolutions.

• Windows Movie Maker 2 for Windows XP
• High End GPU
• Windows Media 9 or Later
• 1GB of RAM or more

If your PC meets these requirements you are good to go!
Please note that if your camera doesn’t shoot in HD, you can still output in the higher resolutions, however it will not magically make your video “High Definition.” Crappy quality video in will produce crappy video out.
Now that you found out about this, I am sure all of you will start editing your HD movies in Movie Maker now right? Of course you will!
I’m curious to know what software you normally use to edit your HD videos if it isn’t Movie Maker. Let me hear your favorites in the comments!

Technorati Tags: windows,xp,movie,maker,hd,plugin

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Secret Santa - Watch Santa PWN This Holiday Weekend!

On Tuesday while at work I was whiling away the hours counting down until my shift was over so I could leave for the Holiday weekend. Most office folk were on vacation, and that means a slow time for the I.T. professional. So where does one turn to while at the office and bored out of their gourd? Why Youtube of course!

I found this funny little Holiday gem where Santa is our only hope against an evil monster known as "The Warlock" who is threatening to cast the world into a nuclear Winter.

Check out this Holiday spoof:



What did you think about it? Sort of reminds me of, "The Night The Reindeer Died" from Scrooged.



I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I want to hear about what Santa brought you in the comments!

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Think Twice Before Playing D&D

Its a fact of life. Geeks and Nerds love fantasy and playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Personally I never got into playing D&D or other gmaes like Magic The Gathering. Not to say that I wasn't into fantasy books though, so I can certainly see the geeky appeal.

Bauer-Power contributor Sundance however is a huge D&D nerd, which is what prompted me to post this video. I mentioned yesterday how The Onion Movie did a spoof on D&D types, and I promised you that video. Check it out:



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Have you seen The Onion Movie? What was your favorite sketch? Hit me up in the comments!

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What Will Happen If The Pirate Bay Falls?

I just spent the last few minutes browsing the technology section of Digg and noticed that Bittorrents, and news of The Pirate Bay's pending prosecution have almost completely dominated the stories. It would certainly seem that the pirate community must be a little bit worried.

It got me thinking, what if the Pirate Bay was taken down for good? Kind of like Demonoid did, where will people turn? I think, if they are smart, they will turn to online streaming movie sites.

I already mentioned two free streaming movie sites in previous posts, but just to be nice I will mention them again along with a couple of new ones. These sites will get you through the tough times if The Pirate Bay's ship sinks:

1. Joox
2. WizMovies
3. QuickSilverScreen
4. Movies-On-Demand

These sites always have some of the latest, still in the theater movies, as well as classics that are out on DVD. I always like to give you some links to their movies to give you a taste, so here you go:

• Rambo (Still in theaters)
• Elizabeth, The Golden Age
• Next
• Cloverfield

Do you have any other free streaming movie sites you like? Do you have any Pirate Bay Alternatives you want to share? Hit me up in the comments!

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Do You Fancy Yourself a Pirate?

Nobody can argue that there is a unique fascination lately about pirates. No doubt this fascination is propagated by the popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Of course there are no more swashbucklers out there, but there are still pirates. These bad boys sail on the high seas of the internet, and hoist their jolly rogers over their computer monitors.

So how does one join these new cyber-buckineers? Is the process hard? Where does one turn for the latest software to wield like their shiny cutlass? You can turn here of course ;-)

I'm going to specifically write about software for copying DVD's. I want to make it clear that I do not condone video piracy, and I only recommend the use of these tools for legitimate purposes such as to make legal copies of your family reunion video. I personally have only tested this software and do not regularly use it. However, these tools can and are often used for video, or more specifically DVD piracy.

The tool I'm talking about is called RipIt4Me. It uses DVD Decrypter as it's DVD ripping engine, then goes through and cleans up any DVD encryption that DVD Decrypter couldn't take care of itself (After all DVD Decrypter is no longer being updated since the developer who wrote the program got busted.) Once the files are clean, the DVD is ready to be shrunk. You see, many DVD's that you buy are pressed onto a dual layer DVD, which means the DVD can hold about 9GB of data. The problem is, that DVD-R's or DVD+R's out there only hold 4.5GB of data. In order to fit it in, you need a tool like DVD Shrink to shrink it down. RipIt4Me automatically hands off the cleaned files to DVD Shrink to be shrunk down to fit on a 4.5GB disk.

Most people worry about loss of quality when performing this process. That is a legitimate concern. Anytime you shrink the data, there will be some loss in quality, but there are options in DVD Shrink to minimize the loss.

In order for it to work, you will need all three programs installed. Infact, DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter must be installed first before you install RipIt4Me. You can do the process yourself with just DVD Decrypter, and DVD Shrink, but the problem is that since DVD Decrypter isn't updated anymore, it has a problem breaking the encryption on the new DVD's. Also, RipIt4Me provides a "one-click" process that you won't be able to get by manually running the programs yourself.

If you want to wave your DVD Copying sabre, and shoot a cannonball at copyright laws, then check out RipIt4Me. Parrot not included.

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