Sanctuary Discussion (Spoilers for the most recent episode)

[samcarterrules]

That would be a bad idea. Because if everyone just sended each other DVDs then the show would not last outside of the 4 free episodes they will put online. If that happened we would be lucky to see all 4 of the free episodes. Its a good gesture but this show will need 100 % of its fan base to continue

I wasn't suggesting we DL illegal copies honest just that if someone wanted to watch but was unable to DL if they paid their subscription and the have someone who can DL do it for them then either send the file(if that can be done?) or send on a DVD or like Eve said help with the buying if we can I am a big fan already so would never suggest illegal DL, I'm sorry maybe I didn't explain what I meant properly

Julia(samcarterrules)

[jckfan55]

From the technologically challenged corner:
What kind of program is needed on your computer to make your own personal disk that can play on a dvd player? I experimented with burning the trailer onto a CD but that's not the right format to play on my dvd player. I'd love to be able to watch the show on my tv, which has a bigger screen than my small computer monitor. Assuming I like the free episode, I do plan to buy the rest.

As far as the "scholarship" fund & being fair to the Sanctuary folks in terms of sharing disks. I wonder if there is a way to have a fund to buy a few subscriptions to compensate for the sharing of disks? Say a fund pays for 3 episodes and person x makes 3 copies to share? Just thinking out loud, so to speak.

[BruTak]

You need a DVD Re-Writer drive and a program such as Power2Go to make your own DVDs for use in a regular DVD player.

[MerRu]

From the technologically challenged corner:
What kind of program is needed on your computer to make your own personal disk that can play on a dvd player? I experimented with burning the trailer onto a CD but that's not the right format to play on my dvd player. I'd love to be able to watch the show on my tv, which has a bigger screen than my small computer monitor. Assuming I like the free episode, I do plan to buy the rest.

As far as the "scholarship" fund & being fair to the Sanctuary folks in terms of sharing disks. I wonder if there is a way to have a fund to buy a few subscriptions to compensate for the sharing of disks? Say a fund pays for 3 episodes and person x makes 3 copies to share? Just thinking out loud, so to speak.

Weeellll... first one needs a drive that's capable of burning DVD's.

To make sure of that, if one is using Windows, click Start, then Control Panel. In Control Panel, what we're interested in is Device Manager. Depending on your version of Windows, and how one has it configured, one may just look for an icon named System, open that, and click on the Device Manager tab, or one might open Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click either "See basic information about your computer" or click System under "or pick a Control Panel icon."

In either case, when one opens System, it should produce a window named System Properties, and it should have lots of tabs in it. Look for a tab named Hardware, and click that open. In Hardware, open Device Manager.

Device Manager will give a list of all the devices ones computer knows it has. Look for an entry in the list with a name approximating "DVD/CD-ROM drives" and open it. The make / model of ones DVD / CD drive(s) should appear. One wants to use the drive whose name includes a designation like DVDRW (DVD Read/Write). CDRW won't burn a DVD.

If one's not using Windows - I'm no use whatsoever.

Then, with the appropriate drive chosen, one needs software that burns DVD's. I think Windows XP just... comes with that software. Otherwise, there are lots of programs out there that do the job, ranging in price from about $9.99 US to ~ $70 US, depending on what's included in the way of functionality and extras, and a real instruction manual, as well as one on disk is always a plus. (How the dickens do they expect one to look up something off the disk when the program decides to ask questions in the middle of burning a disk, in the drive where the manual needs to go in order for one to figure out the answer to the question????) Pick a format for the disk that one's DVD player likes (the manual for the burning software and/or the DVD player ought to say what the most common format(s) is/are, and what the player can play) and burn the disk in that format. If required by the software/format, finalize the disk in the burning software, and try it in the player.

As for the "Scholarship" I'm buying two subscriptions, one for myself, and, one for my luddite sister, who likes entertainment in the genre of Sanctuary, but considers computers to be utterly beneath her contempt because her little sister is a computer geek. It's the only honorable way of doing this in real time (as opposed to waiting for the 'season' DVD's) that I've figured.

[tagger]

I'm going to do that as well, buy several "bundles", keep one, and give the rest away. Gotta love Christmas in May!

And MerRu thanks for DVD explanation, I will have to "practice" this week, so I'm good to go next week - never did this before.

Jckfan - are you burning one of the downloads? I haven't downloaded one yet (just watched it from the site a few times)- which one is best?

YAY!!!!!

Only a week to go!!

[jckfan55]

And MerRu thanks for DVD explanation, I will have to "practice" this week, so I'm good to go next week - never did this before.

Yes, thanks. As I suspected, I don't have a DVD capable computer.

Jckfan - are you burning one of the downloads? I haven't downloaded one yet (just watched it from the site a few times)- which one is best?

I still can't watch the 5 minute clip online without the lip sync problem. But I did find a link on the Sanctuary forum to a low res? version that you could download and did that as a test. It seemed to play fine on my computer after I downloaded it. No lip sync problem Haven't burned that one onto a CD. I had burned the trailer a couple of weeks ago as a test after downloading it to my hard drive.

[Agent_Dark]

If your Internet connection can't handle the streaming, then it may well end up out of sync (does the video pause often so it can buffer the video while its streaming?).
Also, just because your TV is bigger doesn't mean it will look better on it A computer monitor is essentially a HD screen so you can display far higher resolutions on it than you can on a normal TV. Different story if you own an HD TV of course.

And how old/new is your DVD player? It might be capable of playing VCD's or even divx encoded avi's straight of the disc. You wouldn't have to convert the file to a DVD format and burn to a DVD then.

[antoa]

If your Internet connection can't handle the streaming, then it may well end up out of sync (does the video pause often so it can buffer the video while its streaming?).

Actually the videos are not streamed, they are progressive downloads. There is a difference, but most don't know that, so the term 'streaming' is used. There is no buffer associated with a progressive download.

Originally they had the entire vid download before it even began playing (which is why it took so long to start). Now they have worked out an algorithm that will download a portion of it and then begin playing it as the rest downloads. If your connection is not fast enough, it will stop completely until more of the video is downloaded. If this is the case, choose a lower quality (or size if they offer different sized for the episodes) or simply pause it and wait for more of it to download.

I can explain things further if anyone wants me too.

[scarimor]

I'm going to do that as well, buy several "bundles", keep one, and give the rest away. Gotta love Christmas in May!

Now what a great idea. Presents! I know a quite a few people who enjoy this kind of genre TV but might not have the PC hardware to watch. Taking out a few subs and making disc packages of the series accordingly to wrap up with a bow and a ribbon... sweet!

*goes off to check out burning software and check out bulk disc prices from dabs.com* (thanks MerRu for tips )

[samcarterrules]

Well I know people probably already know this but, I find when I watch the sneak peak it works better if I close other stuff like MSN, YIM, Skype and my iTunes which for me all these programs usually sit active but minimised on my desktop, so I make sure I exit everything that I don't need then when I watch there's no lip-sink problems. Don't know if this will help anyone else but...there's my useless info anyway lol

Julia(samcarterrules)

[Uber]

Hey all...check out the Sanctuaryfans.com home page for a special message from Amanda.

[Tracy Jane]

Hey all...check out the Sanctuaryfans.com home page for a special message from Amanda.

I had JUST spotted that but wanted to head over to the blog section. Am going to see now! Thanks, Ooobs.

ETA: There seems to be a problem. When I click on play, it just goes black and the flv logo flashes at me. Any ieas?

[Skydiver]

there's a program called 'super' it's a free download. you can use it to convert the .flv files to mpeg....which is more dvd like.

i have used Toast - an apple cd/dvd burning program to make dvd's

there's other more expensive programs but Nero might work, or Sonic My DVD

i made a video CD of the first 3 parts - amanda's welcome, the trailer and the preview and it was ok. little out of sync and little artifacting but watchable

i'll need to look at the mpeg adn see if the cd program messed it up or if Super messed up on the conversion

as to subscriptions, that could be a way for those of us that don't download to see it. perhaps we work out a network where we pay for our right to view, then have a 'download buddy' to get it and burns it to cd/dvd for us, and gets reimbursed for the material and postage

[RealmOfX]

there's a program called 'super' it's a free download. you can use it to convert the .flv files to mpeg....which is more dvd like.

i have used Toast - an apple cd/dvd burning program to make dvd's

there's other more expensive programs but Nero might work, or Sonic My DVD

i made a video CD of the first 3 parts - amanda's welcome, the trailer and the preview and it was ok. little out of sync and little artifacting but watchable

i'll need to look at the mpeg adn see if the cd program messed it up or if Super messed up on the conversion

as to subscriptions, that could be a way for those of us that don't download to see it. perhaps we work out a network where we pay for our right to view, then have a 'download buddy' to get it and burns it to cd/dvd for us, and gets reimbursed for the material and postage

Another way to do it is if you have a laptop with an AV out port then hook it into your TV. Switch your computer screen to 800X600 and the output to TV and hey presto!! video without conversion.

[scarimor]

Hey all...check out the Sanctuaryfans.com home page for a special message from Amanda.

lol! She funny

(she wearing t-shirt! and gangsta-style )

ETA: I've had to play that clip 12 times now. My little-un is besotted. She keeps shouting, "'Again!" And she keeps waving and saying, "Hello!"