Technodorm » Multimedia

How to Play MKV Files in Windows 7

Fahad — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:26:19 +0000

If you download a lot of video files then you will probably encounter MKV files at sometime. MKV stands for Matroska Video and has been increasing in popularity in recent times. The MKV container format is seen as being a pioneering development of open source in multimedia. Many encoders are beginning to shift to MKV files due to the ongoing development of the MKV format. It is able to support high quality video and audio at low file sizes which saves a considerable amount of money, in terms of bandwidth, for companies all over the world.

To play MKV files, your favorite media player will essentially need to have the required media codec. By default, Windows Media Player does not contain the necessary codec required to play mkv files in Windows 7. Thus, you will not be able to play your downloaded mkv file without installing additional media codecs or a new media player.

How to Play MKV Files in Windows 7

To Play MKV Files in Windows 7, I would suggest using K-Lite Codec which will not only let you play MKV files but many other multimedia formats such as MKV, MP4, MOV, HDMOV, TS, FLV, OGM, MPEG, M2TS, and OGG files. I have been using this codec pack for the last 4 years and being an avid downloader, I have come across many(and I mean many!) multimedia formats but every one of them worked flawlessly. You could also download the Mega Codec Pack(the one I use), which supports RealMedia (rm, rmvb) format as well and includes Media Player Classic.

An MKV file being played in Media Player Classic

To download the K-Lite Codec pack, head over to their website by clicking here. To Play MKV files in Windows 7, you could download any of the codec packs (from Basic to Mega) and be able to play MKV files flawlessly. The K-Lite Codec pack can be used with Windows XP and Windows Vista as well to achieve the same results and be able to play MKV files.

How to Transfer DVD Movies to your iPod

Fahad — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:58:10 +0000

If you have an iPod Video device, then you know how exciting it can be when you are able to store your favourite music and movies on this powerful piece of technology. Having a selection of movies on your iPod provides you with quick access to them wherever you are and whenever you want. The reasons for wanting to have DVD movies on your iPod may differ but many of us don’t know how to make this possible. If you are one of these unsuspecting individuals, then below is a small guide on how to transfer your beloved movies to your iPod with ease.

I bought an iPod Touch recently and was able to put some DVD movies in it for my own entertainment. Believe me when I say that you would be surprised to know the amount of people (including total strangers) who are curious to know how I succeeded in getting movies onto my IPOD. So let me tell you “the secret”. The process simply involves converting a movie from the DVD format to the video format suitable for iPod’s. As you may know, iPods use MPEG-4 video format along with H.264 codec – so this is the video format that you need for your DVD movies. Also, you will need a good converting program (from DVD to iPod) to guarantee that the conversion process goes as it should.

You can be playing the movie on your iPod after completing the following two steps:

Convert the DVD to MPEG-4 format using Free DVD to iPod
Upload the videos on your iPod by utilizing iTUNES

There are some important aspects that you should look out for when you choose a DVD converting program. They are: speed, audio and video quality, that the software installation process is straightforward, etc. You should make sure that the program converts ALL types of DVD formats and if you can convert other format types so that you can make full use of it with other converting tasks that you may want to do. It is beneficial to download movies in other formats from P2P networks or YouTube for the purpose of uploading movies to your iPod. You are allowed to download various programs for free but be sure to check if they work for your particular converting needs.

To accomplish our task of converting a DVD movie to iPod format, we will be using Free DVD to iPod, which is an easy to use program that will handle our task easily. Following is a screenshot for this software. You can view the authors website by clicking here and you can download the software by clicking here.

After you convert the DVD format into the iPod format, you should then select and add the video to your iTUNES Library. From here, simply upload it on your iPod. The next thing you need to do is get ready to watch your favourite movies! The notion of uploading your DVD movies on to an iPod is just the process of converting them into the iPod format and that’s all it takes. Once completed, you will be able to enjoy movies on your iPod, wherever you go!

Download Imeem Music MP3 and Video Files

Fahad — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:41:44 +0000

Imeem is a popular online site which hosts music mp3 and videos just like youtube and megavideo. Launched in October 2004, Imeem has seen colossal growth and according to imeem executives, the site averages 25 million visitors per month and 65000 new visitors every day. Imeem has one of the most vast collections of music in their database making it a haven for music lovers. There is also a great amount of video content available as well. You can listen to all songs that are on their website for free but you are not able to download any music mp3 or video files whatsoever. I will be giving you a heads up on a couple of ways that will enable you to download imeem music mp3 and video files for free.

First Method to Download Imeem Music MP3

Note: This first method only works for downloading imeem music. You cannot download video files using this method. This method only works with Mozilla Firefox.

1. Go to File2HD.com

2. Input the URL of the song you want to download. For example:
http://www.imeem.com/neyo/music/Yp5LGwXJ/neyo_mad

3. Check the agreement box and hit the “Get Files” button.

4. Wait for the website to fetch the download link. You will see one media file listed on the page. I have attached an image so you can see how it is listed.

5. As instructed, right click on the url and choose the “Save Link As…” option. Wait a while for the download to begin. It may begin within a few seconds or it may take up to a couple of minutes.

Second Method to Download Imeem Video and Music Files

This is an unreliable method to download imeem video and music files. You will be required to use Internet Explorer and you will be locating the video file among your temporary internet files. You can use this method to download both imeem music and video files although I would highly recommend you to use the first method to download Imeem Music.

1. Go to the imeem video page and let it load to 100%.

2. Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\*USERNAME*\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files. This may be different then your temporary file folder so just open the folder by opening Internet Explorer and going to “Tools -> Internet Options -> Settings -> View Files”.

3. You will now locate the temporary file for your video. Sort the folder into descending order by size. Your desired file will have a huge filename and will most likely be in “.gif” extension. It will have one of the largest size and the “Internet Address” column will have a link containing the phrase “imeem”. Locate your file and copy it somewhere else. Rename the extension to “.flv”.
Here is a a screenshot of one such file(click for full-size view).

5. You will need a FLV player to play the file. VLC Media Player is also able to play FLV files. To convert the file into another format like AVI, you will need a converter. SUPER is a free converter which you can use.

Third Method to Download Imeem Music or Video

This method involves Internet Download Manager(IDM). It is a world class software and can be helpful to do many tasks easily. Newer versions of IDM enable you to download any streaming content and a button is shown above the video or audio player. IDM has a 30 day fully functioning trial version so you can use it for free for 30 days. You can use this method on either Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.

1. Go to the IDM download page and start downloading IDM.

2. Install IDM to your computer and be sure to have it integrated into your browsers.

3. Open up any video or music at Imeem.

4. Let the Video or Audio load to 100%. This is very important!

5. Once it is loaded 100%, you can click the “Download this Video” button for IDM, specify your desired location to save the file, and your video will be saved there instantly. If you see more then one file when you click “Download this video”, just try each one in turn and bear in mind that only one of those files will work, the other will give an error.

You can use SUPER(free program) to convert any audio FLV file to MP3. You can also convert it to any other format you want, such as iPod compatible, mp4, .3gp, etc. You can also convert your downloaded video file to several different video formats such as avi, wav, etc.

So that’s a solid list of three ways for you to download imeem music and video files. If you have any trouble, just leave a comment below and I will help you out!

Download and Install Windows Media Player 12 on Windows Vista

Fahad — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:09:40 +0000

Windows Media Player 12 is the next version to be released in the windows media player series. It is currently in beta mode and is planned to be released for only Windows 7. Although, Misaki2009 from deviantART has come up with a trick that will let windows vista users install windows media player 12 on their computers.

You only need 2 core files from the Windows Media Player 12 12.0.7000.7000 for Windows 7 Build 7000 and copy those to your windows vista system folders. You need to do the following two steps to install Windows Media Player 12 on Windows Vista.

Copy wmploc.dll in C:\Windows\System32
Copy Windows Media Player folder to C:\Program Files

You can get the files by downloading the rar package from here.

Windows Media Player 12 has many new features that are not found in Windows Media Player 11. WMP12 is brighter and lighter then WMP11. One of the many new features is Auto Previewing which lets you listen to a 15 second preview of a song when you hover over it in WMP12. Windows Media Player 12 also adds supports for new formats including H.264 video, AAC audio, and both Xvid and DivX video. This will enable WMP12 to play most of the stuff that you are able to download from the internet.

There are also many more new features in WMP12. For a more detailed analysis, head on over to arstechnica.com where they have explained most of the new features in Windows Media Player 12.

I am interested to see if this trick works, so please share your experiences in the comments.

Download Megavideo Videos using 3 Different Methods

Fahad — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 09:15:04 +0000

Launched as a rival to youtube, megavideo has seen immense growth since its birth. Megavideo was officially launched on August 10th, 2007 to directly compete with youtube. You may remember my last post about downloading megavideo videos back on 13th november(one of my first posts on this blog). I talked about a site called clipnabber which allowed you to download flv files from a number of video streaming sites such as megavideo, youtube, dailymotion, metacafe, google videos, etc. They were a solid site and one of the first to integrate megavideo into the mix but their service has declined in recent months and you can no longer download videos from megavideo. Good news for you megavideo fans is that there are a number of other methods by which you can download megavideo videos. I will be mentioning three such methods today which are guaranteed to work at the time of writing this post and due to their timeless nature, should probably work for many many more months to come.

First Method to Download Videos from Megavideo
Install the popular firefox extension called Downloadhelper. It is able to download any streaming content running in your firefox browser, so you can easily download videos from ANY video streaming sites with a single click. I personally use this method for downloading megavideo videos and it hasn’t let me down so far. It is simple to use and you can find all instructions at their FAQ page. If you are not able to understand their FAQ to learn how to use the extension, then no worries, I will give you a short step-by-step manual to download videos from megavideo.

1. Install Extension.

2. You will notice a small icon () in the top right hand side of your browser window. If it is not there then right-click on the toolbar and click “customize”. You will certainly see the downloadhelper icon there. Just drag it where you want it to be on your toolbar.

3. Now, whenever you are on a site with streaming content, the downloadhelper button will animate and become coloured. Just click on the button and you will see the link to the different streaming files. Most likely there will only be one file when surfing sites likes megavideo, youtube, dailymotion, etc. Just click the file and the download will begin.

Second Method to Download Megavideo Videos

Although I recommend everyone to use the above method of downloading megavideo videos, I understand that not everyone may have access to firefox. This method is a simple one by which you will locate the temporary video file that is stored on your hard drive. I will only be explaining how to use this method with internet explorer because if you have firefox, then using the first method should be enough.

1. Go to your video on any streaming site and let it load to 100%.

2. Next, you will locate the temporary file in the temporary files folder. To view it you should go to C:\Documents and Settings\*USERNAME*\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files. You will need to have the “Show hidden files and folders” option enabled in your folder options to be able to get there. You could also view your hidden files and folders by going to “Tools -> Internet Options -> Settings -> View Files” in your internet explorer browser.

3. Once you have the temporary files folder opened, sort it in descending order by size. Your video file will most probably be one of the biggest on the list. It will be a random long-string of characters. A couple of things you could do to identify your specific file:

Check the “Internet Address” column. Your file should have something like “megavideo” in there.
Check the “Last Accessed: column. Your file should have the same exact date and time when you first viewed the video in your browser.

4. Once you have found your file, just copy and paste it to your desired location. Rename the file to your liking and include “.flv” at the end.

5. You will need a FLV player to play the file. VLC Media Player is also able to play FLV files. You could also use a converting software to convert the file to your desired format.

Third Method to Download Megavideo Videos

I have covered two ways to download videos from megavideo using both firefox and internet explorer. The third method works on both of these browsers. Internet Download Manager is a popular download manager used by thousands of people worldwide. In the newer versions of IDM, support for downloading streaming flv files has been added which means you can download videos from all of your favorite streaming websites. IDM has a 30 day trial version which you can use but after the 30 days are over, you will need to either register your IDM or uninstall it.

1. First, download IDM from their download page.

2. Install IDM.

3. Go to any streaming page and view a video.

4. You will notice a “Download this video” button on the top right corner of the video. Click it.

5. Your download will begin. The file will be saved in FLV format.

Here are a couple of screens to help you with downloading megavideo videos:

So there you have it, 3 ways to download videos from megavideo. If you have any trouble with any of these methods or any suggestion for me, just comment below.

Convert Video to GIF or AVI to GIF

Fahad — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 10:43:34 +0000

Have you ever wondered how to convert a video to gif in a matter of seconds? No, you dont have to download any software at all. I have been able to find two free online video to gif converters which do the job just fine. You can convert avi to gif, wmv to gif, asf to gif, 3gp to gif, flv to gif, mpg to gif, and more! You can use this service to make avatars for forums in a matter of seconds.

The first site is called gifninja. You can use it to convert your video to gif or your avi to gif. It has a limitation though that it will only convert the first 4 seconds of your video to gif only. If your video is greater then 4 seconds, you should look at this tutorial to help you crop your video down to 4 seconds. You do not need to register to convert a video. Although if you are hesitant of having your image being shown on gifninja homepage, then be sure to select the “No, don’t allow my picture to be rated” radio button. A lot of file formats are supported by gifninja and the output quality is of good quality.

Below is a video that I converted to gif using gifninja. I downloaded the video from youtube so its of low quality.

The second online video to gif converter is called Blibs. Just like gifninja, you dont need to register to use this tool. It supports the major video file formats but not as many as gifninja. It is a good alternate if for whatever reason you cannot use gifninja. Have fun and enjoy!

Acess Veoh and Watch Veoh Videos even if your Country is Blocked

Fahad — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:03:28 +0000

Although it is kind of an old story, but you must have heard the censorship that Veoh has placed on some countries. They have banned a number of people in some specific countries from accessing Veoh and watching videos. So if you are one of those unlucky people in a blocked country, you cannot access veoh. I too, am one of those unlucky ones as Pakistan is one of the countries to be blocked by veoh. I feel this is harsh behaviour from veoh to censor internet for users in the blocked countries. Internet should not be like this.

Anyways, I am about to help all of you people who have veoh blocked as I will help you to access veoh videos again. The simplest way of accessing veoh is to use a proxy. Although well-known proxies have been blocked by veoh so you should use less popular web proxies, in which case you will be able to access veoh. This would be the easiest way but as is the case with proxies, the speeds will be very slow which makes this option not viable. The second option would be to use a proxy server, keeping in mind that it needs to be located in a country that is not blocked by veoh. Proxy servers will also have the same slow speeds like web proxies do. The third option is to use a VPN.

I personally use Hotspot Shield as it is free and fairly decent in speeds. You can use it to bypass veoh blocking system and access and watch veoh videos again. You can download hotspot shield by clicking here. Once you install the software, just enable it and let it connect. After it connects, you can try to access veoh and it should work just fine.

Keep in mind though, hotspot shield offers only 3GB of bandwidth in a 30 day rolling window meaning for any 30 days, you are only allowed 3GB of bandwidth. This should be enough for accessing and watching veoh videos.

If you have any questions or comments, you can comment here or contact me through the contact page.

Orkut Themes – Download now

Fahad — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:51:27 +0000

A lot of you people must use orkut and must be wondering how to change the default boring orkut theme. Well, your search is over. I have personally made 20 brand new orkut themes that you wont find anywhere else on the net. Everything from NBA to Cricket to Firefox !

I would like to point out though, that these orkut themes will only be shown to yourself when YOU are browsing orkut. So lets get started. First I will list the requirements that you need to fulfill in order to install these orkut themes.

Mozilla Firefox Browser (Download it from here)
Greasemonkey (Download it from here)

Installation Procedure for these Orkut Themes

Once you have installed mozilla firefox and the greasemonkey addon then all you need to do is install any one of the following orkut themes. Below every theme image is a link to the script for that specific orkut theme. Just click on any one and you will be prompted to install it. Click install and it will be installed in a jiffy! You can then go to browse orkut with your new theme. If you want to change a theme then you will first install the new theme from this page. Then you have to right-click on the little “monkey” face in the status bar below. From there, you will see a list of your installed scripts which will have the different orkut themes. Just uncheck any theme you do not want to use and check any orkut theme that you do want to use. Its just that simple!

Uninstall Procedure for these Orkut Themes

If you want to completely remove any of these orkut themes then right-click the monkey face and click Manage User Scripts. You will see a list of your installed scripts. Just select any script that you want to remove and click the Uninstall button at the bottom. Its just that simple!

Note: Click image to see a higher resolution image of that orkut theme