Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 4th February 2025.

4th February, 2025.

Ah … 

That’s handy … !

I’ve been transcoding a blu-ray copy of 1982 film, Bladerunner.

As you know, I use a mix of MakeMKV and Handbrake to turn a given blue-ray into a digital video I can then stream to my AppleTV 4k.

Software I’ve used to copy the versions of the film on the disc, to my computer, and then transcode.

Whilst I’ve been tinkering?

I’ve discovered that you can tweak the settings in the version of MakeMKV I have, to let VLC play a protected blu-ray, directly.

As all three apps are, effectively, free?

This means I can play optical discs on my computer, at no cost.

Without having to pay for expensive disc playing software, or a blu-ray player.

That’s handy … 

~≈📀≈~

Doctor Who — The Abominable Snowmen — Episode 5 — A Review

5th December, 2022: Episode 5.

Right … It’s Monday, again.

As anyone who read today’s Teaser will realise.

They will possibly also realise it’s Little Richard’s birthday.

Which is possibly an excuse for a song … !

I’ve just seen the lyrics, by the way.   

I always wondered where William Gibson got the name of the brothel in Burning Chrome.

At any rate … ?

That’s going slightly sideways.

It’s Monday.

And … ?

Dinner’s cooking.

Stew, baked spud … and maybe some vegetables.

Once that’s done?

I’ll be watching episode five of … The Abominable Snowmen.

~≈🩺≈~

The Man in the High Castle — Series 2 — Episode 5: Duck and Cover

25th March, 2018.

No, really … 

I have with my normal breakfast — usually a bowl of cornflakes — for something else.

As you might know, if you’ve read this morning’s Daily Teaser, I’ve come down with what’s called Bell’s Palsy: a type of facial paralysis caused by a trapped nerve, after an infection.

One I think I caught, after having a tooth out, a while back.

At any rate?   I’ve a course of steroids to take: and some eyepatches to wear over night: to stop my left eye drying out.

Although I had to buy my own surgical tape to stick them on.

Which possibly says a lot about the hospital, or the mood I was in, when I got this lot.

At any rate?   I’m going to have to try and have a word with my GP, I think.

I think something like that could well be … … 

Useful.

~≈§≈~

There’s something else I meant To tell you, as well.

I mentioned — the last time I wrote about a TV show — that’s I’d been half lucking: when installing popular DVD transcoding, HandBrake onto my new iMac: the current version of the operating system, High Sierra, doesn’t allow you too.

I’ve done a little experimenting: and found a workaround for this.

The original one I found?   Was to install MakeMKV: which will turn the contents of a DVD or bluray into a series of .mkv files: which you can then rip as normal with HandBrake.

The OTHER workaround?

Out there— very much not on Apple’s App Store — is an app called RipIt which can copy a DVD: and store the contents where you want to put them … 

MINUS the copy protection.

The resulting DVD media … ?

Can be transcoded with HandBrake, as per normal.

~≈§≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 20th March, 2018

20th March, 2018.

I have to admit, I had an … issue … last night: believe it or not, whilst writing up the post about another episode of The Man in the High Castle.

Some of my media files?

Wouldn’t open with the version of QuickTime Player that cam with High Sierra – given me a rather long error code, ‘1718449215.’

I had to admit, I got a relatively late night: tinkering around, trying to see what I could do to solve the issue.

And realised that the files causing issues had extra audio tracks — commentary, remixed audio tracks, what-have-you — as opposed to the ones that weren’t causing problems.

Which had just the one.

The simplest fix I found for this?

Is simply to re-rip the file with HandBrake.

~≈§≈~

In other (ish) news?

I’ve now managed to connect the new blu-ray drive I bough to my new iMac.

It works: and happily shows up.

Unfortunately?

I can’t use the current version of HandBrake without using a hack: which, in theory lets me install libdvdcss, the library that lets me get around DVD’s copy protection.

Not, at least, without being asked to a root password in Terminal.

However, there’s a work around, there.

I can still MakeMKV* to turn the contents of a DVD or bluray into .mkv files: which can then be ripped by HandBrake, as usual.

There’s always a way … 

~≈§≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 19-5-2017

That’s a worry.

I’m something of a Mac fan.

Part of the appeal?   Is simply the fact the Mac platform is rarely hit by malicious software.

The recent ransomware attack that hit many Windows machines?

Would have slid off my Mac.

There’s been a few though.   I can still remember the Inqtana, a few years ago: ad that was a relatively innocuous proof-of-concept virus.

There’s been a few more serious ones doing the rounds.

A while ago, Transmission, the BitTorrent client, had issues: when a spiked version of the application was issued … from Transmission’s own sites.

Something similar’s recently happened: with popular video transcoder, HandBrake: someone’s sneaked a spiked copy of the installer onto one of HandBrake’s own mirrors, that installs a back door, allowing passwords to be harvested from one’s Mac.

I’ve made sure my system’s OK: there’s no trace of the malware, here.

I’ve also quietly advised others to do likewise, if they’ve downloaded HandBrake during the relevant period.

But I can’t help but think a few things.

The one thing I notice from the HandBrake and Transmission attacks?

Is that the attacks happened in a similar way.

In other words, the infected installers were sneaked onto the app’s legitimate download sites.

People were tricked into downloading them, because they thought they were the legitimate apps.

I think we are going to have to be more careful about downloading things: even from the genuine sites.

I ALSO think app developers are going to need to hike up their security, in order to stop this sort of thing.

Or, at least, keep it to a bare minimum.

I also think the trick’s going to catch on.

Next time?

Some-one could well be downloading a spiked copy of Microsoft’s Office suite: from Microsoft’s own site.

Nasty idea, that …

~≈∑≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 21-1-2017

Hmmm … 

Did I mention I’d watched Conspiracy, the other night?

I watched Conspiracy, the other night.

So you know.

Good little film, that.

The problem I had was with the updated version of Handbrake.

Or possibly with the DVD I ripped.

Either way, the film I ended up watching was in old fashioned 4:3 aspect ratio.

Rather than the 16:9 I’d’ve preferred.

Rather frustrating, I thought.

Still … 

I’ve now managed to flag it up on HandBrake’s forums.

I’ll hopefully have some sort of suggestion on how to deal with the problem.

~≈†≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 29-5-2016

Ye GODS … 

That was a late night!

I have to admit, I was working, yesterday.

12 ’til 9, so you know.

So, yesterday, as you can possibly imagine, I got home: feeling just a touch tired … 

But knowing, perfectly well, I’d have the day off, today.

At ANY rate … ?

At any rate, I actually managed to stay up later than I meant to … 

But?   Well, remember, a week or two ago, I bought the box set of Battlestar Galactica: most of which I’d ripped by yesterday.

Except for the last two discs: which mostly consisted of extras and deleted scenes.

Cataloguing that lot — so that I knew, when I opened Handbrake, which files were which — was a job and a half!

The actual ripping procedure?   I did over night … 

Just indexing those, though?   Didn’t half make my eyes ache!

~≈®≈~

DVD Back-ups

You know, I’ve not written much about the technology I’ve got.

Much as I’d LOVE to be working for MacWorld … ?   Frankly, I don’t the technology know-how.

But … ?

I DO know that I write well: and that, when I feel I have something to write about, I try to: as clearly and as distinctly, as possibly.

This post is — hopefully — going to be one of those occasions.

It’s about … 

Backing up … 

~≈†≈~

Blu-ray Discs: Ripping Movies and Avoiding a Bag Of Hurt.

18th January, 2015.

I’ve occasionally written pieces, here, about DVDs.

DVDs, movies, TV series, all sorts of media.

Occasionally?

Occasionally, I’ve written about how to use a programme called HandBrake to rip DVDs.

In other words, to re-code the contents of a DVD — whether those contents are TV shows or movies — into a form that can be played on a computer, iPod or other media player, or tablet.

Partly as back-up.

Partly because I feel if I’ve bought a copy of a film, it’s my copy of the film: and I should be able to watch that film on whatever device I own.

Whatever that device happens to be.

~≈®≈~

HandBrake Get’s an Update

Oh, now that’s just silly … !

I’ve got to admit, JUST before I got home … ?

I got asked for directions from three rather glamourous women.

To Brentwood High Street.

I, of course, drew the obvious conclusion — they were The Only Way Is Essex fans looking for the Sugar Hut —, and, immediately after telling them how to get there, said “If you’re looking for the Sugar Hut … … ”

“It’s ok”, the eldest of the three replied, “we went there, last night.”

I had to gently tell them that it was in the middle of Brentwood High Street.

But somewhere … ?

A little part of me has ducked, in order to avoid the low-flying irony …

‹‹•››

At ANY rate … ?

What I WAS going to tell you was that HandBrake* — ever reliable open source DVD and BluRay ripper — has now been updated to it’s 0.9.6 version.

All to the good: I’ve just download the 64 bit version, along with the libdvdcss that it now uses, instead of the relevant VLC codecs.

Go get, folks: it’s STILL rather good!

Now …

Can anyone tell me the phone number for Angry Birds Anonymous … ?

* Just so you know, I’ve also managed to find out how to use my TV’s record function, that let’s me record a given programme as an mp2 transport stream. It took me a while and a lot of askingº to find out how to convert that to a smaller file I can use on my Mac. Basically … ? I then had to use VLC to change the mp2 transport stream (or .ts file ) into a programme stream. I then had to buy — and install — the QuickTime mp2 playback component from Apple: a one off purchase, so you know. Once that was done, it allowed me to use MPEG Streamclip to edit and export the programme stream, into whatever I happened to prefer: about the only thing it hasn’t worked on was something I recorded for a friend of mine: but I have a feeling there were timecode issues with the broadcast, as trying to edit the transport file — from a stick — AND the version I’d ripped from a DVD had timecode problems.

º I owe a big thank you to Jon Walker, who worked out how to do the change with VLC, and posted it onto the relevant forum for me. Jon … ? Thanking you, sir.

Copyright, and the Hargreves Report.

Well, finally … !

Someone seems to be talking sense … !

You’ve probably realised, haven’t you, that I’ve long been dubious — if not critical — of the UK’s copyright laws.

After all, in this digital age, we expect to be able to transfer our music and movies to our computers — and then to whatever media we choose — purely and simply for our own personal use.

Notice I stress that last part, there … !

But, at any rate, here in the UK, the various bits of copyright law mean it’s a criminal offence to put the songs and films you’ve bought on CD or DVD — and then ripped or copied with something like HandBrake, iTunes or whatever else you prefer — despite the fact that that you’ve already paid for them.

It still is …

However … ?

However, today’s seen the publication of the Hargreaves Report into copyright law.

Several of the recommendations deal with several areas: parody, review, what have you.

But one paragraph did catch me attention.

Chapter 5, Paragraph 14, specifically says

“By contrast many submissions also recognise that copyright needs to accommodate some unlicensed copying that is considered to be fair, in the ordinary sense of the word: whether that involves transferring CD files to a laptop and MP3 player or sharing a family home movie on your Facebook page which makes incidental use of copyright material.”

Paragraphs 24 goes on to say

“We therefore recommend below that the Government should press at EU level for the introduction of an exception allowing uses of a work enabled by technology which do not directly trade on the underlying creative and expressive purpose of the work (this has been referred to as “non-consumptive” use). The idea is to encompass the uses of copyright works where copying is really only carried out as part of the way the technology works. For instance, in data mining or search engine indexing, copies need to be created for the computer to be able to analyse; the technology provides a substitute for someone reading all the documents. This is not about overriding the aim of copyright – these uses do not compete with the normal exploitation of the work itself – indeed, they may facilitate it. Nor is copyright intended to restrict use of facts. That these new uses happen to fall within the scope of copyright regulation is essentially a side effect of how copyright has been defined, rather than being directly relevant to what copyright is supposed to protect.”

The key part, I think, are the parts I’ve italicised …

I think they finally allow us to potentially — and legally — allow us to do what we’ve all BEEN doing for years … !

Copyright, and Back-ups.

You know, you wouldn’t believe the amount of discussion a simple mention of something can cause.

Or possibly you would …

But I mentioned, the other day, that I have a new exterior drive.

Mostly to store backed up video files on.

And I’ve had a few people quietly mention that iffy legality of the practise.

Hmmmm …

Let me try and briefly summarise here, for you.

I’ve quite a few TV series and films on DVD.

And I keep back-up copies — mostly done with HandBrake, MacTheRipper or Fairmount — in case any of them get damaged: I should also add that none of them leave my exterior drive, for love nor money.

But from what I’ve been told, or able to find out … ?

That — with-in the UK — is illegal.

As is — as I and many others have sone — using iTunes to copy music from my CD collection to my iPod.

Although I believe there’s a set of government guidelines that allow for this.

However, those regulations don’t cover DVDs.

||⋘•⋙||

Now here’s where I’m possibly going to be contentious.

The law that states this is bloody stupid!

As I see it, I’ve paid you, the artist, some of my hard earned cash for a film, song or album you’ve made.

I believe that I, as the owner of that copy, have the moral — if not legal — right to watch or listen to that copy when I want, and how I want.

And more to the point, where I want.

I like to watch Dr Who when I’m writing the Teasers, for example: I find it a lot easier to do this with QuickTime, rather than on the TV.

I can also see myself upgrading to a video capable iPod, at some point: I’d like to watch them on that, and don’t see why I should pay double — by buying the episodes from the iTunes Store — for the privilege, when I’ve already bought the DVD versions.

||⋘•⋙||

Now, if you’re in the States, things are slightly easier: you can copy DVDs for personal use, so long as those don’t come from copy-protected DVDs.

Which sounds just as arse-about-tit, from where I’m sitting, given the amount of copy-protected DVDs there are, out there. Spain, as a counter example, allows you to back up any DVD you own, regardless of whether it’s copy-protected. Or even a legal copy.

||⋘•⋙||

So I’m hoping that those creatives out there won’t be annoyed — too much — if I put their work on my external drive, so I can watch it at my leisure.

The way I see it … ?

I’ve paid the piper.

I get to call the tunes …

Just a quickie ‘How To’ type thingie … !

Woooah! Don’t you just hate quiet days?

Don’t you?

I do! I mean, nowt to do, but watch telly?

Oy!

But let’s move on, shall we? Yes, let’s!!

Phew!

Something I know is it’s still surprising that bright people still can’t work out what, to me, are basic bits of software; it shouldn’t be, but it is*.

At any rate, Tim, bless him, pointed out that he’d find it handy to know how to back up a DVD to either the hard drive of either his desktop or laptop.

He’d not, up until then, heard of HandBrake.

HandBrake is an open source application that’s been doing the rounds, now, for some time; and it’s something I’ve used to to back up many of my DVD’s to both the Mini, and my long since gone G4.

In point of fact, I’ve most of the backed up video files on the Maxtor exterior drive, tucked just behind the monitor, as I write this.

Hmmm …

I’m digressing, there, aren’t I? Mildly, at any rate.

My point is that the cross-platform HandBrake is very simple to explain, and even simpler to use.

Your computer’s probably got an optical drive capable of at least reading a dvd sized disc; at least, if nothing else, you’ll have an exterior optical drive capable of reading one.

Put a DVD in there; I used a copy of “Hellraiser”, shown on the first picture as VCD0005W.

Then activate HandBrake.

Now, this’ll hold good for the current version of HandBrake, running under Mac OS X 10.5.x, by the way; as far as I know, it works pretty much the same way under Windows and Linux.

What’ll happen next is that HandBrake will scan the DVD you’ve inserted.

Once it’s done that, the next screen will have a drop down menu, so you can pick what you want HandBrake to rip.

And — on the OS X version, at any rate — has a slide out drawer where you can put pick some of the preselected settings. (You can pick your own, as well.)

After that, all you’ve got to do is hit the Start button.

And make sure you’ve told HandBrake where to put the results … !!

•••••

Now, there’s implications, and applications, here.

I’ve — occasionally — been known to use it to rip TV shows I’ve recorded, and transfer to my hard-drive.

Just until I can afford to get the boxed sets, you understand.

But some of the implications of this sort of software raise … issues …

After all, I’m thinking that a clever hacker could probably modify things like HandBrake, to work around any copy protection.

Probably already has, in factº.

After all, to an extent, that’s kind of the point with much open source software; “How can we get this piece of software to do that?”. It’s a scientific experiment, in other words.

But when you consider that — even without taking the professional DVD authoring software into account — that there’s a lot of DVD authoring software, out there …

Well, it’s a Pirates Market …

•••••

Phew!

Oh, just as another point, the last two pictures, on here, are of Blogspot’s ‘Share’ button.

Like you hadn’t worked that out!

Feel free to use them, folks!

* Adrian’s got a very good point that I should be a little more tolerant; I’ve got to admit — and apologise — for making a rather offensive post, a couple of day’s ago, on the Rollason Way Forum. He had a very good point, that, having had a dyslexic ex-girlfriend, I should be a touch more tolerant of people’s spelling.

º Actually, already does; I’ve just re-read the Wikipedia entry …