The Technology Troubleshooting Thread

[Freddy4190]

I have a Sony Walkman MP3 player. E-Series. 8gb. it plays videos, but I can't get the videos to play. it says the formats it takes are MPEG-4, and WMA or something. Is there a good way to convert video files? There has to be something i'm doing wrong.

 

[proofinlife]

I have a Sony Walkman MP3 player. E-Series. 8gb. it plays videos, but I can't get the videos to play. it says the formats it takes are MPEG-4, and WMA or something. Is there a good way to convert video files? There has to be something i'm doing wrong.

There are plenty of ways to convert to the format desired.

Xilisoft's DVD to Ipod Converter works likes a charm for various devices such as Ipods, Generic portable Video Players, and Car dvd players that have USB ports. The same will go for Sony's Walkman.

http://www.xilisoft.com/dvd-to-ipod-converter.html

I'm pretty sure it's only a time trial and won't throw a watermark up, but if I am wrong, google "DVD to Ipod Converter" or "DVD to MP4 Converter".

You can also use free suites like TMPGEnc, but you need a little more knowledge such as Bitrate and resolution to compress the video to a useable size, and have a resolution the player will support, so if you're not too familiar with Video editing suites, I'd say stick with the free converters, communities of MP4 users all swear by them.

 

[The Phenomenal One]

I apologize if this, some kind of way, is considered spam.

Now nothings broken or anything like but, I do have a problem. OK, right now I'm trying to decide what smartphone to get. Right now, it's out of the the iPhone 3GS and the Droid. Any pointers on which to get? I've researched both. And both seem pretty badass. Has anybody had any actual history with either phone?

 

[Slyfox696]

I apologize if this, some kind of way, is considered spam.

Now nothings broken or anything like but, I do have a problem. OK, right now I'm trying to decide what smartphone to get. Right now, it's out of the the iPhone 3GS and the Droid. Any pointers on which to get? I've researched both. And both seem pretty badass. Has anybody had any actual history with either phone?

I have had an iPhone for years, and in my history with them, they're pretty hardcore. Not just for what they can do, but how much pain they can withstand. While a washing machine is a little too much for any phone to take, which is why I am using my old one, I am currently using my first generation iPhone, which has a cracked screen because I dropped it 25 feet onto a stadium seat corner. It still works wonderfully though. And when you jailbreak your iPhone, the things you can do with it is nothing short of astounding.

I recommend the iPhone, HOWEVER....in a couple of months, the new iPhone is supposed to be coming out. If you can wait, it'll be worth it.

 

[The Phenomenal One]

I have had an iPhone for years, and in my history with them, they're pretty hardcore. Not just for what they can do, but how much pain they can withstand. While a washing machine is a little too much for any phone to take, which is why I am using my old one, I am currently using my first generation iPhone, which has a cracked screen because I dropped it 25 feet onto a stadium seat corner. It still works wonderfully though. And when you jailbreak your iPhone, the things you can do with it is nothing short of astounding.

I recommend the iPhone, HOWEVER....in a couple of months, the new iPhone is supposed to be coming out. If you can wait, it'll be worth it.

Thanks for the help. I think what I may do, is go ahead and get the iPhone. 16 gig. I don't plan on using for a music player. I already have a ZuneHD, which is awesome btw. Btw with the 16gig iPhone, would that be able to hold alot of apps? About how much space do the apps take up?

 

[ABMorales787]

I am assuming this is the right thread but anyway here it goes. I have an older Ipod, shits like 3 years old and now you can only hear out of the one side of the headphones. It also isn't the headphones because they're brand new and they work with everything but the ipod. I was wondering if there's a way to fix it, or should I just give up and get a new one?

It can be the headphone jack. Perhaps a cable is loose or maybe the jack has some damage. This happened to an MP3 player I had once and I had no choice but to to scrap it. However, since what you have is an iPod, maybe someone who specializes in working with them might be able to at least take a look at it. Radio Shack comes to mind, but I can't be sure it'll be cheap. My suggestion is to have someone who knows to work with it examine it and depending on what he/she says, buy or fix.

 

[proofinlife]

It can be the headphone jack. Perhaps a cable is loose or maybe the jack has some damage. This happened to an MP3 player I had once and I had no choice but to to scrap it. However, since what you have is an iPod, maybe someone who specializes in working with them might be able to at least take a look at it. Radio Shack comes to mind, but I can't be sure it'll be cheap. My suggestion is to have someone who knows to work with it examine it and depending on what he/she says, buy or fix.

Agreed. Most likely what happened was either the positive or ground cable for the left/right speaker ring on the jack terminal overheated or got snapped from a fall.

It's an easy fix, and if you know someone who is an experienced solder man, you can get them to either re-solder the wire back in place, or cannibalize a jack from another device (such as a friends dead mp3 player) or even something you can find at an electronics store. It'll work good as new.

Another more simpler thing to check would be to spray some compressed air into the jack hole, a piece of dirt might be sitting at the very end, not allowing the jack to push all the way in, so it's only getting a partial ring connection

 

[ServantofTwilight]

I have a question, just not sure if this is were to ask. I have recently been watching older matches on youtube, mainly Jack Brisco matches since he recently passed away. However, many of his matches come in two or three parts. so I was kicking around downloading all three parts and putting them one after another onto a dvd. My wife thinks it is a mistake because she heard that many videos on youtube were uploaded with viruses and if you download them you will get one. So...

Would my plan work? Can you download the videos to say Realplayer and burn then back to back to a disc to watch uninterupted?

And is my wife right? If someone uploads an infected video onto youtube will you get the virus if you download it? seems to me youtube would crash or something with the amount of potential viruses we would be talking here.

 

[Slyfox696]

I have a question, just not sure if this is were to ask. I have recently been watching older matches on youtube, mainly Jack Brisco matches since he recently passed away. However, many of his matches come in two or three parts. so I was kicking around downloading all three parts and putting them one after another onto a dvd. My wife thinks it is a mistake because she heard that many videos on youtube were uploaded with viruses and if you download them you will get one. So...

Would my plan work? Can you download the videos to say Realplayer and burn then back to back to a disc to watch uninterupted?

And is my wife right? If someone uploads an infected video onto youtube will you get the virus if you download it? seems to me youtube would crash or something with the amount of potential viruses we would be talking here.

First of all, I'm sure you don't really mean trademarked WWE videos, as that would, of course, be illegal. What I'm sure you meant were home videos put up by random users you want to combine.

With that said, yes, you can burn them to DVD (assuming you burn to a readable DVD image file), and get uninterrupted playback (possibly a slight hiccup as the video transfers from one to the next, but certainly better than loading three videos separately. However, I don't see why you would need to burn them to DVD, as Windows Media Player will just play one video after another without interruption as well.

And your wife is not correct. I suggest beating her for trying to tell a man he was wrong. Okay, that was just a joke, but she is not correct.

 

[ABMorales787]

I have a question, just not sure if this is were to ask. I have recently been watching older matches on youtube, mainly Jack Brisco matches since he recently passed away. However, many of his matches come in two or three parts. so I was kicking around downloading all three parts and putting them one after another onto a dvd. My wife thinks it is a mistake because she heard that many videos on youtube were uploaded with viruses and if you download them you will get one. So...

Would my plan work? Can you download the videos to say Realplayer and burn then back to back to a disc to watch uninterupted?

And is my wife right? If someone uploads an infected video onto youtube will you get the virus if you download it? seems to me youtube would crash or something with the amount of potential viruses we would be talking here.

Videos are always inspected upon uploading for its material and and its programming. Although I didn't know you could latch a virus to a video.

As for playing uninterrupted, seeing as how you have Realplayer, use the converter to convert to Windows format and then paste the parts together with Windows Movie Maker. It saves you a few discs, time and space.

Actually, the Brisco matches I found were from AJPW vs Giant Baba and Dory Funk Jr so I would be stealing from the Japanese, which isn't really stealing...

Thank you for the info, now i have to go beat my wife.

* Calls the FBI. *

 

[ServantofTwilight]

First of all, I'm sure you don't really mean trademarked WWE videos, as that would, of course, be illegal. What I'm sure you meant were home videos put up by random users you want to combine.

i have another question based off of this. while i understand trademarks and such, how is it that youtube can show these videos without getting shut down? Go on now and you can find any number of WWE matches and segments. And in the upper corner of each is a download button. If it was illegal to download these off of youtube( or even watch them ) wouldn't the WWE sue and stop youtube from providing them?

 

[Slyfox696]

i have another question based off of this. while i understand trademarks and such, how is it that youtube can show these videos without getting shut down? Go on now and you can find any number of WWE matches and segments. And in the upper corner of each is a download button. If it was illegal to download these off of youtube( or even watch them ) wouldn't the WWE sue and stop youtube from providing them?

Because the WWE doesn't want to wage a legal war with Google. As wealthy as the WWE is, and as good of a legal team they have, Google is far more wealthy and, I'm sure, has a far better superior legal team. When you factor in that Youtube doesn't actually upload the videos, and works with the WWE to take down any user who does upload a lot of WWE videos, it really would not be smart of the WWE to sue Google.

Google, by the way, is the company that owns Youtube.

 

[The Doctor]

What is the easiest way to burn an AVI file to a blank DVD? I don't care about menus or anything (though maybe if it would split into separate scenes that would be nice), I just want to be able to pop this DVD into my DVD player and watch it while lying on the couch.

I only have a few blank DVDs so I want to know the correct way to do this so I don't mess anything up and waste a DVD.

 

[Slyfox696]

What is the easiest way to burn an AVI file to a blank DVD? I don't care about menus or anything (though maybe if it would split into separate scenes that would be nice), I just want to be able to pop this DVD into my DVD player and watch it while lying on the couch.

I only have a few blank DVDs so I want to know the correct way to do this so I don't mess anything up and waste a DVD.

Windows DVD Maker, if you have Vista or higher.

If you don't have that program, just do a google search, there are plenty of free options out there.

 

[ABMorales787]

My problem is with my Blackberry's Pandora Radio app. Every time I hit the thumbs down button, it instead skips the song and it doesn't save the rating. I tend to make new stations to search for new bands but because I can't rate the bad ones, they keep popping up in no time. I've tried upgrading it twice alreafy and it leads to the same thing. Is it the app or the phone itself?

 

[Slyfox696]

Sounds like the app. When you give a thumbsdown, Pandora always skips the song though, so that action itself is not unusual.

 

[ABMorales787]

I guess. But the problem is that it doesn't give the rating. It just skips it like if I was hitting the forward button. Sometimes the screen freezes for a bit.

 

[Shocky]

Question for all of the PS3 owners out there.

Has anyone personally upgraded their own PS3 hard drive? I'm talking about sticking a whole new thing in there and moving on along?

If you have, is it as simple as it sounds? How was the transferring of data?

 

[Slyfox696]

Question for all of the PS3 owners out there.

Has anyone personally upgraded their own PS3 hard drive? I'm talking about sticking a whole new thing in there and moving on along?

If you have, is it as simple as it sounds? How was the transferring of data?

I have not personally, nor have I seen anyone do it. I have seriously considered doing it though. But, it can't be too hard, just make sure you don't strip the screws. But, it can't be too difficult, just a simple HDD exchange.

 

[Ferbian]

Don't really know if it goes here, but I give it a shot.

Anyway, I'm trying to sign up for the Online Pay Per View of Wrestlemania XXVI since I cannot get it on the television version in Denmark.
I tried to add my payment methods after my sign-up in order to progress the finalizing of the payment and ordering.
Problem is, I keep getting told my credit card is being declined, and I have tried with numerous different cards, a few Visa cards and one Mastercard.
I contacted WWE support, who told me to send a screen shot of the problem, and to run a diagnostic tool, apparently it didn't fix much because they told me something I already know, that they use a commercial transaction company in order to make paying work and that it could either be a security problem, or a technical error on the site, and if it was a technical error, I should try again (has been done)
On the other hand, their help side says that it could have problems authenticating international card holders, but that possibility I have also ruled out by using numerous authenticated cards that has been used to purchase stuff on other online sites, all gets declined with WWE.

Any suggestions what I could do to fix this so I can watch Wrestlemania live on Sunday?

 

[ABMorales787]

I'm having a problem with my computer and its disturbing my college work. For a while now it keeps turning off after a few seconds. The battery is charged and its plugged but the computer just abruptly shuts off like if you yank out the battery. My question is if it could be related to the battery itself. The computer has been prompting me to replace for a few weeks now. Is it possible that its so wasted that moving the charger cable shuts it off?

 

[Slyfox696]

I'm having a problem with my computer and its disturbing my college work. For a while now it keeps turning off after a few seconds. The battery is charged and its plugged but the computer just abruptly shuts off like if you yank out the battery. My question is if it could be related to the battery itself. The computer has been prompting me to replace for a few weeks now. Is it possible that its so wasted that moving the charger cable shuts it off?

What happens if you run the laptop just off battery power? Does it do the same thing?

 

[ABMorales787]

What happens if you run the laptop just off battery power? Does it do the same thing?

Yes. It does the same thing.

 

[Slyfox696]

It could be the battery, it could be the memory failing, it could be settings in Windows, it could be the laptop is over heating...a lot of possibilities.

The first thing I'd recommend is to make sure the laptop is not overheating. Does it feel hot when it shuts down? You might try and find a cpu temperature checker online somewhere.

That would be where I would start, if it were me.

 

[ABMorales787]

It could be the battery, it could be the memory failing, it could be settings in Windows, it could be the laptop is over heating...a lot of possibilities.

The first thing I'd recommend is to make sure the laptop is not overheating. Does it feel hot when it shuts down? You might try and find a cpu temperature checker online somewhere.

That would be where I would start, if it were me.

It wasn't overheated at the time, however it could be the problem. I tend to get blue screens if the computer is on for too long. I did manage to perform a system restore while keeping the computer completely still. However what you said about the temperature checker will help a lot with the blue screens. Hopefully this problem was memory related, it hasn't shut down again and its on battery power.