DL.TV

episode 164 (1x164)

Air date: May 10, 2007

• Backing up your DVDs? We gave you a fast server of the tools we use on Windows (RipIt4Me, DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink 3.2) and OS X (HandBrake and MacTheRipper) to back up DVDs we own. • Why? So we can protect them from theft, loss, rampaging toddlers, travel damage, or simply watch movies on an iPod or HTPC or media extender or AppleTV. Yes, circumventing copy protection is illegal in the US of A under the DMCA. Don't back up DVDs you don't own! • Want us to explain how exactly to get a DVD into your iPod or on a home server so you can browse it from your home theater? Kick an email to dl.tv@ziffdavis.com and if there's enough interest, we'll get all step by step. • HD Update: HDTV Overscan stinks. Robert explains why overscan wastes good HD content, can make your desktop toolbars disappear, and why he wants HDTV makers to stop using overscan. (They're learning!) • Viewer Pic Of The Week: the dashboard on Raymond's big rig, a Freightliner Century Class, sports XM Radio, a 30GB iPod and an ICOM-706MKIIG so he can get his ham radio on... he's also got a Macbook running Parallels stashed in the cab of his truck. Sweet! Got a picture of you getting your geek on? Email it to us at dl.tv@ziffdavis.com and put Tech Picture in the subject. • Is my DVD drive dying? It might be dying, Richard, but it's worth trying a firmware upgrade before you replace it. Four years isn't -that- old for a DVD drive. Fortunately, an easy (and cheap) upgrade. Just unplug your machine, open the case, unplug the cables from your old drive, undo the screws or clips holding it in, slide the old drive out the front of the machine, slide in the new drive... you get the idea. • If you're buying a new DVD drive, you should make it a DVD burner. For less than $40, you can pick up a LiteOn DVD burner in most shops. For a little bit more, say, $10, a Pioneer DVD burner will make less noise. As far as we're concerned, Plextor is the Cadillac of DVD drives, but they cost a bit more.