IT Werkz Sometimes

Had another go at the AnyDVD trial software on the Vista machine and it still didn’t kick start itself ripping the DVD. Seems to have a bit of a built in ‘no can do’ facility.

Tried the CloneDVD trial and that did jack shit. Convinced myself that though it was labelled a trial version it was the kind of trial version that started OK but wouldn’t then proceed to actually do anything. OK, I’ll pay for the full version in a desperate attempt at getting some functionality working. Tried using a couple of those pay-as-you-go credit cards, where I had convinced myself that as I had only loaded them with $100 then I couldn’t be skimmed for any more than that. Great in principal except that neither credit card worked. Took my life in my hands and used a beefier credit card which did work.

I  downloaded the full versions of both AnyDVD and DVDClone. I got some kind of downloaded registration files, which I applied, and only the AnyDVD one worked. The other file is unknown to Windows and anything else as far as I am concerned. Rebooted the Vista PC to finalise the AnyDVD full installation and stuck a DVD in the drive. Result: nada.

Copied the two registration files to a CD and tried to run them on the XP PC so that I could upgrade the trial versions of AnyDVD and CloneDVD on that PC and they weren’t recognised. Stuck that CD back in the Vista DVD drive, for secondary verification purposes, and they are recognised. What gives?

So now all I have to do is figure out how to get AnyDVD working, and how to get the DVDClone application correctly registered and then working. Time to hit Google for an AnyDVD FAQ.

Just checked my blog hit counts and the Sitemeter count is a lot higher than the WordPress count. This just about proves that the WordPress count is not reliable at the moment as the one reliable counter statistic I know is that the Sitemeter count is always reliably at least 10% lower than the normally reliable WordPress count. So the unreliable Sitemeter, even factoring in its unreliableness is proving that the WordPress hit count is sometimes unreliable (Can you rely on these numbers? Ed).

I have emailed WordPress about this before and they always confirm that there counter is working fine even when it obviously isn’t. Terrific. 

Quote of the day

‘A word to the wise ain’t necessary – it’s the stupid ones who need the advice’ Bill Cosby

I heard about AnyDVD the other day so downloaded the trial version to see how well it worked. Its supposed to be able to copy both HD and Blu Ray disks.

It’s a DVD ripper in that it’ll extract a DVD for you to use another application to write it back to another DVD. The usual justification for this is it will enable you to make a backup of a DVD you already own. Yeah right. Backing up your hard drive is one of the most tedious but necessary things to do on a PC, why anybody in their right mind would want to make a backup of their own DVD beats the hell out of me (unless of course they are backing up copies of their children’s DVD’s who can be a little clumsy with them). Let’s face it you use this kind of software to do something else entirely.

AnyDVD removes region codes and you can also get rid of the adverts and copyright infringement warnings and jump straight to the film. Sounds like a better version of DVDShrink. To record the ripped files back to a DVD they recommend something called CloneDVD, which can also clone a complete DVD by itself. Apparently this software isn’t sold in Europe it’s so illegal. They won’t even sell you the software on CD, you have to download it. Slysoft, the company that wrote it, is based in Antigua. You can also download a trial version of DVD Clone.  

This software could be useful. Tried it last night on Vista where it did install OK. Did it work? No. When you stick a DVD in the drive, provided it’s a film, AnyDVD is supposed to haul itself into action and rip the DVD in the background. Didn’t seem to do much. The film started playing using one of the media players in Vista but I couldn’t see any evidence of ripping. And there was nothing, hours later, in the folders it says it uses. Trouble is there is no start button that I could see. More to follow.

Quote of the day

‘Winners never quit and quitters never win’ Anon