Monday
Oct122009
October 12, 2009 Light & quick
A few notes since I’ve been offline for a while:
- The Forum has been very active. Thanks to OBOW readers for being so helpful to like-minded travelers.
- I was without my netbook 10 days or so. The bad news is my display developed a defect. The good news is that Samsung fixed it promptly and free of charge.
- Once you go with a netbook you’ll have a tough time going back. Using my wife and son’s Macs in the meantime was brutal. They seemed to have doubled in weight.
- Don’t fear the loss of the CD/DVD drives with the netbook. I haven’t missed them yet. OK, I’m not a big movie watcher.
Reader Comments (8)
Interesting. I have a Mac desktop, but for travel, I have been contemplating getting a netbook, or an ipod Touch. Sadly, they are practically the same cost! Heh.
Do netbooks have hardline ethernet cable capability? Or is it wireless only? I don't think I'd miss the absence of DVD drives, as I hardly use them on my home machine, either.
Mine has ethernet connection and I think they all do.
Both mine and my wife's have ethernet connections. The newer ones are even more capable than the ones out just a year ago, and there even better ones coming out just in time for Christmas. I have an external DVD drive for those times when I need to download something that is not from the internet. It gets the most use when downloading the digital copy of new DVDs that we buy. Other then those times, don't miss it, and my wife and I can share it.
I can easily get by with a netbook for trips to SE Asia, where I mainly want to check my email and read the NY Times. The budget hotels over there (at least in Bangkok) have free wi-fi now, which is a kick in the teeth to the big US hotel chains that want to charge for it. So pretty soon overseas "internet cafes" will go the way of traveler's checks (well maybe not completely, if they let users bring in their own netbooks and hook up to their wi-fi - the main issue I have with internet cafes are the risks of using a compromised terminal to log onto my checking etc.).
That having been said, I WOULD like the ability to view video (Hulu or its overseas equivalent, etc.) on my netbook, which is going to depend on the convergence of the following technological upgrades:
1. Roll out of higher clocked Atoms with dual cores. My little single core Atom is strained to the max when it runs current Flash videos which are heavily processor, not video card, dependent (Flash is the "guts" of most online video).
Right now the support chips are consuming most of the power in netbooks, not the Atom processor itselt, so if they get more efficient support chips they'll save enough juice to clock the Atom faster and support a dual core.
There is no reason to make single core Atoms except possibly for smartphone use, but even then video is the coming thing even on smart phones, so Intel needs to bite the bullet, discontinue the single core Atom, and just sell dual cores.
Their failure to do so is more political than economical - they reluctant to poach on traditional ultralight laptop territory.
That "cripple your entry machine" philosophy didn't work well for IBM with the horrid PC Junior and its a mistake now.
2. Widespread acceptance of Flash 10, just released, which CAN use video cards (and built in video chips) with hardware acceleration to off-load some of the strain on the processor. Unfortunately, just downloading Flash 10 won't speed up Hulu and other Flash video sources, at least not until Hulu converts their files to Flash 10 format, which isn't likely to happen soon.
Hardware acceleration is neat. I have a modest little netbook with an Intel GMA 500 graphics chip, a chip way down on the Intel totem pole. BUT it has hardware acceleration for the h.264 video code that is the coming thing. Apple uses that codec. So that means I can watch 480p high def movie trailers on the little netbook (Apple trailers are coded to h.264 in high def) but CAN'T watch Hulu television other than at low res in the tiny box (not full screen).
So Flash 10 needs to get spiffed up and content providers need to adopt it. Then most netbooks will be able to handle video just fine.
3. I need a way to "convert" my DVD content to e-files so I can watch it on my netbook. For example, I have instructional DVDs, some with DRM (copy protected) and some not. I need a program that can convert these DVD's so I can watch them while I am on the road. And the program needs to convert to h.264 so my netbook's modest hardware can handle them.
You mentioned that you install the digital copies on your computer. You may be referring to the "digital copies" that come on some Blu-Ray discs that allow you to watch the movie on your netbook, laptop, or desktop. If you don't have source material like that, you have to find a third party program, usually costly, to convert the DVD to something watchable on the computer. It's not a cheap or user friendly process.
RealPlayer actually came out with a program that IS user friendly and DOES work around copy protection. Free, too (ad supported). BUT they are being sued by the content owners. RealPlayer claims their program is "fair use" since it has stringent limits on what I can do when I convert the DVD - can't send it to others on the internet, can't start grinding out DVD copies. All it really does is let me leave the DVD at home and take the e-copy on the road to watch.
Having gotten hooked on video content via the internet (why is music so well supported, and video not?), I am almost tempted to buy a MacBook (the "white" one or the lower priced "pro" one" which would cost me 2 more pounds, at least, but allow me to bring a few DVD's along to watch, to watch "street" DVD's sold in BKK, and of course to watch Hulu without having to wait for technology to uncork the genie that is the netbook.
I shouldn't be ungrateful; the netbook has kind of snuck in under all our radar, it's done what so-called ultralight laptops were never able to do, open up an entirely new class of portable computing. Who would have though an 8" underpowered toy from an unknown Taiwanese company would create a new model for computing?
Most of the new release movies can be bought in a "SPECIAL 2 DISC EDITION" of the non-BluRay edition that has a digital copy compatible with either iTunes or Windows Media Player on the second disc. That edition is usually $25 compared to the $20 dollars of a regular new release. Since I also have an iPhone as well, I download it to iTunes and then I can watch it on either. during a flight, I will usually use my iPhone to watch the movie, and use the netbook when i can plug it into power. i have found a couple of freeware DVD rippers that work pretty well with non-DRM titles, and can also format the movie correctly for my iPhone. For the new movies that I don't want to buy on DVD, but want to watch on travel, I'll either rent or buy them from the iTunes store. I haven't looked at the other forms of digital video yet (Netflix, Amazon) becouse they don't have the iTunes compatibility.
Thanks! Which freeware ripper works? Hadn't noticed the digital copy option for DVD's yet - now I'll keep my eyes open!
WInX works for ripping DVDs for iPhone. I know that it works forthe older stuff. I don't know about anything newer.
Ripping DVDs for Apple format is easy - DVD43 unlocks them, and you can use Handbrake to encode them for anything Apple - from Apple TV to iPod. If you have iTunes the videos will them play through iTunes on your netbook. The ONLY problem with Handbrake is this: you'll need to have a larger monitor hooked up while ripping, as the netbook-sized screens are too small for the software to handle. Once the DVDs are ripped, though, they play with no problem on any size screen.
Other small difficulty: if you rip to iPod quality, it will take 1 1/2 times as long as the length of the video. If you rip to Apple TV quality (and that means you can play your iPod on any TV in the world, if you have the Apple composite video cable, about $50.) it will take FOUR TIMES as long as the DVD being ripped. A 2 hour video will take all day. Literally. But it's worth it, if I can leave my DVD drive at home.
The quality is excellent - I played my original workout DVD through my TV, then hooked up my iPod to play my ripped version theough the Apple composite cable. As long as the format is Apple TV, you probably won't notice the difference. This, of course, does not apply to Hi-def lovers.
Handbrake and DVD43 are both free; still, shareware donations are always welcome! You can pay for other programs (and I have, for wasted money IMHO) but these two do the job faster, easier, and well.
As far as the 'digital copy included' you may see on many new DVD boxes, beware! The copies are often for very limited times - you may buy a copy of a DVD expecting to get the digital copy and buy the DVD, only to find the download is no longer available after the studio decided to cut it off. Boo on Warner and Fox (and others) - I've been burned on three DVDs now, and I won't buy a DVD unless I am ABSOLUTELY sure that digital copy can still be downloaded! Read the box, and if the date is expired, they mean it - you have been warned. Now I just no longer buy those titles. My library has them for free and that's $$$ the studios won't get from me. I watch them at home before I leave.
Don't get me wrong - I'm all for stopping piracy - but if I buy a copy of the DVD, I expect that digital copy to be there once I buy it. Some of the boxes state 'see details inside.' No way. I found out the Star Wars - Clone Wars digital copy was expired only AFTER I opened the box, which of course meant I couldn't return it. If the outside of the box had stated the limits on the download, I wouldn't have bought it at all. I only wanted to watch the digital copy on a long trip (without the DVD drive). To find out it was only available for 6 months or so from the release date made me burn.
FYI: that's when I discovered DVD43 and Handbrake....