Authoring DVD's on Windows

Kevin brought over some edited video footage on his laptop. Our goal was to put that on a DVD so that he can just pop it into anyone's DVD player. Since my computer has a DVD burner, this should be a piece of cake, right?

Apparently not. Even though my machine came with Roxio Creator Plus (Dell Edition), it only allowed me to make data and audio discs. Windows XP comes with Movie Maker, but that only does video editing. To get that video onto a DVD, put in chapters, make DVD menus, and so on, I need DVD authoring software. This is probably where Mac owners laugh and point to the iDVD that comes with their computer.

After a lot of searching, I came across DVD Styler. You can drag-and-drop your video clips (MPEG or VOB) into it, then slap some text buttons onto the main menu page and assign them to play the different clips. I followed the PDF guide and quickly created a simple DVD.

When you're ready to make the final DVD, the tool creates an ISO file. This is an image file which Roxio (and probably most programs that come with your burner) can burn to a disc. I popped that into my DVD player and it worked!

So far, I've only played with short low-res video clips, so I'm not sure whether there's anything to watch out for when working on bigger projects with this tool. When I have the chance later, I'll definitely try it out.

ThoughtBoarder Kicking Horse

ThoughtWorks had its annual snowboarding trip at Kicking Horse again this year. We had four condo units for three nights. It was great to sleep in, play Xbox 360, and spend some time on the hills with my co-workers.





There were so many cameras around this time that I barely took any pictures. Check out these huge icicles just outside the front door of our "party house"!



Or how about this amazing view from the top -- mountain peaks jutting out of a sea of clouds!

Photos from Johnson's Birthday

Johnson and Erin celebrated their birthdays at the Toad and Turtle. Here're some pictures from that night!

Zoolights

Every year, the Calgary Zoo is decorated with Christmas lights. This year, Kevin invited me to check them out with his family and Sylvia, and I got to take some photos. Since they're all night shots, lots of them turned out too fuzzy, but one of them turned out pretty well.

Nutella Hot Chocolate

I have half a tub of Nutella left and wanted to make something with it (other than eating it straight... yum!). A quick recipe search turned up instructions for making hot chocolate out of it (recipes like this one).

Finally tried out the recipe today. It isn't bad at all, but is somewhat too sweet (or maybe I just prefer a Mocha to hot chocolate now). Actually, it reminded me of the hot chocolate I had at Max Brenner back in New York.

BlockBuster Not Renting Out New Gaming Systems

While renting a couple of movies from BlockBuster, I asked the clerk when the Nintendo Wii would be available for rental. He told me that because many people don't treat rental systems well, BlockBuster is not going to make the new generation of systems (I guess that means Wii, PS3, Xbox 360) available for rental.

This is bad news for me. As gaming systems get more expensive, renting a system would be a great way to do a test-drive before making a big investment. That's how I decided to get a PlayStation way back when (rented the system and Final Fantasy VII from BlockBuster).

What does that mean? I guess you better make sure you have friends who are willing to splurge on new systems when they come out! :-)

Stumbling Across Music

It's strange -- I don't have a favourite artist or genre. It's pretty rare when I hear music that I actually like. That's probably why I only own 15 or so music CD's, which I've been told, is a low number.

It's not all one type either -- I've got lounge, ballads, soundtracks, ambience, etc...

It's also interesting how I stumble across music. Just a few weeks ago, my friends mentioned a new game coming out called Gears of War. I watched the TV commercial and got hooked on the song that plays throughout (seriously, it played in my head any chance it got during the day). I found out that it's a version of Mad World featuring Gary Jules, so I now have a copy of the Donnie Darko soundtrack, a movie which I haven't even seen yet.