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From: za kAT on 14 Mar 2010 10:28 On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:25:32 GMT, Bear Bottoms wrote: > and continued to use my computer normally Don't make I laugh... <chuckle> -- zakAT(a)pooh.the.cat - www.zakATsKopterChat.com
From: VanguardLH on 14 Mar 2010 15:12 Bear Bottoms wrote: Are you even awake when you respond, Bear? > VanguardLH wrote: > >> this program has no automatic resume feature (along with an configurable >> polling interval to resume). It has a manual resume but I really didn't >> want to sit at my computer the whole time this product downloads the >> video stream - and which is slow because it does it in real-time. > > Once you start the download, you can navigate away from the movie and > start another one. Irrelevant. Doing other tasks while waiting for a download to complete doesn't alter the fact that the download is SLOW. Gee, a long time ago I used to have a dial-up connection and also had to wait around for a long time for downloads to complete. Yes, you could do other tasks while waiting but that doesn't change that I had to wait. You doing other stuff while waiting does not alter the fact that this product is slow to do its downloads. Try to ignore that fact all you like but no one else is going to wear blinders because you chose to do so. >> A 1 hour 57 minute video takes 1 hour 57 minutes for this program to >> capture. With this slow a capture rate, the product screams for a >> scheduler where you can pick a detected stream source and decide when to >> capture it. Trying to start the captures for all streams would result >> in choking your bandwidth to be unusable for your own other Internet >> use. > > I have downloaded about 20 movies thus far. I had four going at one time > and continued to use my computer normally. Still doesn't alter that this product has no QoS control over maximum bandwidth consumption or a means of spreading the load over time. Even the authors recognize this missing feature if you read their forums. I said nothing about an impact to using the computer during the downloads. I remarked about the unregulated consumption of bandwidth. That WILL affect your use of the *Internet*. You don't suddenly get extra bandwidth from your ISP because you are doing stream downloads separate from your web browsing or file downloads. Focus, Bear. >> So that looks good. I'd still like this program to not phone-home, >> though. >> > Write your own or find another Hulu downloader that doesn't. Oh, gee, what a marvelous comeback. Such wit, such genius. You are more interested in qualifying your choice to use this product and to stroke your ego than to objectively evaluate it. Again your solution is irrelevant since it still does not alter the reported behavior. THIS product phones home. Telling me to roll my own or find another doesn't change the behavior of THIS product. >> To see why the Download, Delete, and Clear buttons were missing under >> the real OS but appeared in the guest OS (in the VM), I decided to try >> to test for the obvious differences between the host and guest OS'es: >> DPI setting (affects text size in all applications) and using IE8 >> instead of IE7 (because this program appears to be an HTA - HTML >> Application). > > It uses it's own built in Browser though I'm not sure what it is. Sheesh. Again irrelevant. The missing buttons have nothing to do with which web browsers are installed on your host or which web browser they incorporate into their product to provide a viewing pane. The buttons were missing because of a poorly coded and designed UI that cannot position objects within a window when the DPI is changed from the default. >> - In the guest OS (the VM), I upped the DPI from the default of 96 to >> 120 (to match the DPI setting in my host OS). Yep, that was it. A >> larger DPI setting means those buttons disappear. Going fullscreen >> for the program's window did not let me see those buttons. >> - I didn't have to install IE8 (the guest OS had IE7) because the DPI >> setting already exposed the defect in their design of their UI. > > It uses it's own browser. Still irrelevant, Bear. It's not your or their web browser that causes the problem of the disappearing buttons. That it uses its "own web browser" to provide a viewing pane does not prove or disprove what they use to code the REST of their user interface. Since I don't have their code and since they are not open source, I cannot tell (and neither can you) if they used, say, a form in VisualBasic to layout their UI or wrote it as an HTA. If it is an HTA then it *would* be dependent on which IE libraries were installed on your host. But you seemed to somehow miss that the second point became moot regarding web browser version because the fault was already discovered by the first point. >> Well, sorry guys, but I'm not squinting at my high-resolution screen >> (which makes all text smaller) just to get this program to be >> functional. I am also not going to change the screen resolution. LCD >> monitors are best viewed at their native resolution to eliminate >> jaggies, fuzziness, and color tinge that is typical when you use a >> screen resolution different than the monitor's native resolution. > > I use a high screen resolution and it has no effect on the program or the > playback of the downloaded video. And your point was? So what if you use a high screen resolution. That says NOTHING about what is your DPI setting, does it? "High" resolution has nothing to do with the DPI setting which is independent. Do you even know that you have a DPI setting in Windows? Doesn't look like it. Do you even know about native resolution for LCD monitors and why it is not recommended to use a different (lower or higher) resolution? >> I could probably use the rules in my firewall to restrict >> StreamTransport from phoning-home (and make sure I didn't lose any >> functionality). I've done that with other apps, like Replay Media >> Catcher (payware). Not being to do an actual capture because the >> buttons are missing when the DPI setting is increased is a deal >> breaker for me. Otherwise, it looked like a doable product. I would >> have to find a utility that lets me run a program at a different DPI >> setting than all other windows for other programs currently open on >> the screen. Don't know if that's even possible. > > You do not have to do any of that. Simply install the program and it > works perfectly out of the box. As has been proven, this product does not work perfectly. It has no means to auto-resume a download if it fails to connect to the stream server or later loses that connection. It has not bandwidth control. It has no scheduling. It phones home (yes, we know you don't care about your privacy but others do care, and this isn't a product written for your sole use). And it becomes unusable for users that change their DPI setting. Oh yeah, that's a perfect product, uh huh. > Find us another Hulu downloader with all the features you want. I evaluated the freeware that YOU brought to the table. Someone notes problems with it. So you become all defensive to assuage your ego regarding what you brought to the table. You thought no one would investigate your suggestion regarding the use of this freeware? Oh yes, Bear says it is good so it must not just be good but also perfect. Yeah, right. > With this one, you simply navigate to and play the movie you want to > record. When it starts, the program places the movie file and ad files in > the bottom pane. You select the movie file and start the download. How to use the product was not an issue. It works (provided you use the default DPI so you can get at the buttons since there are no context menus to provide the same functions). > There is also the prospect that hulu will change it's encryption and an > immediate update to StreamTransport may not be available thus making it > unusable, at least for a while. This is why I also gave up on using YahooPOPs to access my freebie Yahoo account. Any change to Yahoo's webmail pages meant the YPOPs screen/URL scraper would cease to function and we users had to wait until the author got around to fixing and testing a new version of YPOPs. The outages were for too long that I gave up on using YPOPs. However, while you won't tolerate an outage for e-mail service, you will probably tolerate an outage to downloading videos. Of more concern is whether or not Huludownload.com can retain RTMPE support in their StreamTransport program. Both Applian (Replay Media Catcher) and Jaksta were forced to remove support for RTMPE. Adobe states that RTMPE is *not* a copy protection scheme and merely to provide a secure channel to view content. SWF verification is supposed to be used over RTMPE to protect content. Yet most content vendors that expend the resources to encrypt their content see it as protecting it whether they use SWF verification or not. If larger software vendors were forced to remove RTMPE support, you really think it won't disappear in StreamTransport? http://www.jaksta.com/faq/What-is-RTMPE.htm http://www.jaksta.com/faq/What-is-SWF-Verification.htm http://www.applian.com/replay-media-catcher/support/secure-rtmp-measures.php > Do you have a link to another program that will do this as well and > easily as it does VanguardLH? Please share it. Perhaps some day I might but I certainly won't claim that faults found by other users don't exist. You were the one that brought your gem here. I found flaw in it. That doesn't change that it is still a gem but it is not the perfect gem that you would like it to be. From what I see in their forums, this is a new product. It's a baby so hopefully it will get nutured and grow with changes feed to it by its author. To that end, I have reported the DPI bug and submitted other comments in their forum hoping that the author acknowledges them (despite you ability to do so). I tried to be fair in my comments in my posts submitted to their forum (you can go there to check if I accurately detailed my complaints, concerns, and bug report). Despite your strong bias for this product, should you find traits that you would like to see added or changed or find bugs, please do go there to note them. Since this is a new product, user input is probably more important now than as the product matures. Catch 'em young.
From: VanguardLH on 14 Mar 2010 15:17 Bear Bottoms wrote: > VanguardLH <V(a)nguard.LH> wrote in news:hnhu35$svv$1(a)news.albasani.net: > >> I don't think there is content at Hulu that >> anyone would be embarassed about but does this program only work with >> Hulu? >> > > You wrote all of that and don't know the answer to this question?ch > Hulu.com > Youtube.com > Google video > Myspace > Yahoo! video > CBS > MTV > Megavideo > Photobucket > Dailymotion > Veoh > Demand Five > and others... > > I'll be trying other sites today...some that TubeMaster++ didn't work > on...Hulu being one of them. I still prefer TubeMaster++ as it is the > best song downloader I have come across yet and does a good job on many > video sites. But...the not the heavily encrypted sites. The quality of > the download by StreamTransport is top notch. I tried StreamTransport with YouTube (just a one-time quick and dirty test) but it didn't detect any video streams for the example video on which I tested, which was (cute kitten): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8 It was getting too late for me to do more testing. Since the product seems oriented to Hulu, and because huludownload.com is the parent or associate site for this program's author, I wondered if it was designed only for use with Hulu. You and another user in their forum said it works elsewhere so I will have to wait until I get around to doing more testing of this product to check.
From: za kAT on 14 Mar 2010 16:13 On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:07:46 -0800, Lewlew wrote: > "za kAT" <zakAT(a)super-secret-IPaddress.invalid> wrote in message > news:hnhaft$54m$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... >> On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:22:16 GMT, Bear Bottoms wrote: >> >>> though your hate >> >> Ever consider you shoulder some responsibility here? >> >> -- >> zakAT(a)pooh.the.cat - www.zakATsKopterChat.com > > No he/her/it never considers that the fault my lie within. > > Lew > > PS > Maybe we should start a fund to help pay for the hospitalization that Bear B > Doll needs in order to overcome his severe emotional illness. > This is a serious matter. I believe that he has a severe personality > disorder mixed with paranoia. He may even be suffering from severe > psychosis. > In a conversation with his wife I was told that he is so ill that he doesnt > even talk back to Bill O'Reilly while watching TV. > > Lew (not a member of the Bear B Doll Cult) OK, so I found this and this and this here: http://androidcommunity.com/forums/members/bearbottoms-71403.html and dat there: http://moourl.com/LotsaBearBottoms Sorry, I want definitive, absolute proof that the Bear Bottoms mentioned in all those links and lives in Southern Louisiana is the Bear Bottoms who posts here and lives in Southern Louisiana. Because they post and talk alike means nothing to me. There are thousands of Bear Bottoms in Southern Louisiana, Gordon. I bet. You do all the work, I'll stay safe, head buried into the sand. Otherwise, you're a liar like Ari. Btw, don't type too fast, things fly right by me thousands a time a year. I also invoke the Secret Squirrel for things that are far too sophisticated for me to imagine much less understand. -- zakAT(a)pooh.the.cat - www.zakATsKopterChat.com
From: VanguardLH on 14 Mar 2010 18:15
Bear Bottoms wrote: > VanguardLH <V(a)nguard.LH> wrote in news:hnjcep$h5d$1(a)news.albasani.net: > >> long time ago I used to have a dial-up connection and also had to wait >> around for a long time for downloads to complete. Yes, you could do >> other tasks while waiting but that doesn't change that I had to wait. > > Aw, that is terrible that YOU had to wait. Use another program to > download Hulu. Oh, a better alternative doesn't exist...so sorry. I'm not downloading Hulu videos to steal them and/or redistribute them. I only want a downloader that lets me get rid of any jerkiness in playback by playing them locally instead of streaming them to my host. There are also limited-time movies that I may not get to before the movie is gone. I don't sit around watching television hour after hour (I dust my TV more often than I watch it, and I haven't used my stereo system in maybe 10 years), so I also record shows to watch later. It's called time shifting your viewing of a movie. Your purpose for downloading the movie might be different than mine, so our needs also differ, like I would like minimal impact to my Internet connection for a non-critical process or move that impact to a time when I'm not even at my host. As you remark later, even you noted that downloads using THIS product were slow. So why all the resistance to my repeating the same comment? >> Still doesn't alter that this product has no QoS control over maximum >> bandwidth consumption or a means of spreading the load over time. >> Even the authors recognize this missing feature if you read their >> forums. > > There are freeware programs that can do this if you need it. Again, post > a better alternative. You seem to be missing that fact...completely goes > over your head. There are freeware QoS utilities that can throttle bandwidth for a SPECIFIC process rather than all of them? I've seen products that throttle bandwidth on a computer boundary but not on a per-application basis. I can go search but do you happen to know of some? If they exist then perhaps I could wrap them around StreamTransport to manage its bandwidth consumption. >> I said nothing about an impact to using the computer during the >> downloads. I remarked about the unregulated consumption of bandwidth. >> That WILL affect your use of the *Internet*. > > I have had any noticable issues using the Internet while downloading as > many as six movies at once. Have you even tried it? Apparently you have a magical broadband connection that expands its bandwidth upon demand or perhaps you are using fiber optic (but then copper still comes into the house). Disregarding StreamTransport and Hulu altogether, ANYTHING that consumes bandwidth will impact your other use of that same network connection. If you are downloading a dozen 600MB files for some Microsoft product (say VisualStudio Express) along with an FTP download, along with a dozen HTTP downloads of various files, you really think your web browsing won't be noticeably affected? All those downloads are competing for and conflicting over the same limited bandwidth. If you're using up some bandwidth then less of it remains for other use. Since the author of StreamTransport has acknowledged in the forums that there is no bandwidth management or other QoS control, this product will generate traffic as fast as the stream server, your host, or your ISP will allow, whichever is less. I guess you don't understand network contention. > That you want more in freeware...doesn't exist. This is the part that > goes over your head and why the comeback is Marvelous. Actually I was impressed this much functionality was available in a freeware product since similar features required me to look at payware. That doesn't mean that I'm going to ignore the chips in the gem just because it is a gem that I'd want to keep. I said it is a doable product. It is freeware. It isn't perfect and I noted the flaws. You can go with what the author gives you. Me? I'd rather flesh out the issues here and then congeal them into some messages sent to the author to help identify user concerns or problems. When I build a new computer, I burn it in. That's because I *do* want to use it afterward and enjoy using it. I do burn-in for software. I wouldn't be wasting this much time testing and noting behavior on this product if I weren't interested in using it. Just one fix for the DPI bug would mean that I would be using this program. > It doesn't have any missing buttons that were designed into it. Oh, I see, that I don't see the buttons must be because Santa Claus is holding his magical carry-all bag across the right-side of my monitor. You say you see them. I say I don't. So sometimes and maybe most times users will see the buttons but not all users will. I showed the condition under which users will not see the buttons, a condition that is absent on your host. I was surprised at the lack of context menues on objects (the items added the grid object that you see a list of detected stream sources). Besides my DPI issue with the missing buttons, users may also have to position windows such that part of an app's window is covered (say, by an always-on-top app) or is offscreen. Right-clicking the item to select Download, Delete, and Clear List is logical and typical of well constructed GUI applications. That context menus are missing is something to note to other users along with recommending a change to the software author. You really want a product that is hard to use? Or do you appreciate programmers that have an eye towards ease of use? > Why are you even mentioning other web browsers...they are irrelevant...it > uses it's own. It has become apparent that you do not understand how HTA (HTML Apps) rely on the libraries available for the current installed version of IE. If this had been an HTA coded app, the web browser version would have been important. I didn't mention other web browsers. I mentioned the *version* of the web browser (IE) since HTAs are dependent on it. The issue of the version of IE was brought up only *if* this program were an HTA. It doesn't appear to be an HTA but I wouldn't know that at the start of testing or when first noticing the defect of missing buttons. I do not have the gift of travelling into the future to use hindsight and come back to the past to report on what I found in the future. > I changed my screen resolution from minimum to maximum and > the program viewed without those errors you mention. You keep talking about screen resolution. The bug that I reported has to do with DPI (dots per inch) for font scaling. I'm not talking about changing from 1600x800 to 1024x768 or other screen resolutions. To see what I'm talking about, go to: - Right-click on desktop and select Properties (or use the Display applet in Control Panel). - Select the Settings panel. - Click on the Advanced button. - On the General tab is the DPI option. - The default is 96 DPI. I choose 120 DPI (for 125% scaling). Some programs lets you change which font size to use within them to allow users to make the text larger or smaller; however, many if not most apps have no such user configurable option. Setting the Windows theme to use large fonts does NOT change the size of fonts that are hardcoded inside applications (only some monitor what theme is employed and what font size was selected for that theme). I scale up the text to make it easier to read without having to squint. All the time that I am changing the DPI setting, the screen resolution never changes. The screen resolution was 1680x1050 at the default 96 DPI and it is still 1680x1050 after changing to 120 DPI. LCD monitors (which is what I use since my CRT died 3 years ago after 8 years of good service) need to run at their native resolution to eliminate artifacts in their display (e.g., fuzziness and color tinge due to interpolation). So I leave the LCD monitor at its native screen resolution of 1680x1050 but I scale up the text everywhere by upping the DPI by 125%. Many applications will still paint their UI correctly with an increased DPI. Perhaps they use proportional spacing, maybe by checking the object's size and reposition if its boundary traverses a margin, or whatever. This product doesn't handle when boundaries of objects painted inside the frame holding those objects exceed or extend beyond the size of the window. >> If it is an HTA then it *would* be dependent on which IE libraries were >> installed on your host. But you seemed to somehow miss that the second >> point became moot regarding web browser version because the fault was >> already discovered by the first point. > > Good grief. This argument is utterly stupid. I care less what they used. Yes, we got it that you have no concept of how HTAs are dependent upon the version of IE libraries available on the host. > Full screen viewing in VLC is perfect HD. Windows 2000 and XP do not > support high DPI screens. What you are doing is tweaking yourself into > your own problems...there is no problem with the program. How did viewing the downloaded video get into this discussion? I never went off on a tangent regarding the playback of the movie which is completely outside the function of StreamTransport. I don't care if you use WMP, VLC, Irfanview, or whatever viewer/player app you chose to use. I only addressed the UI bug with regards to positioning of the button objects not checking their boundaries placed in the frame to see if they happen to be outside the window's dimensions. That has nothing to do with playing the video. It has all to do about GETTING the video in the first place because the only way to get the video stream is to click on the Download button. There is no other way to start the download within StreamTransport. If the button object is outside the window boundary, you cannot click on it which means you cannot download the video which means the product is unusable. I found the condition why the button objects were mis-positioned outside the window boundary. Deny it all you want but my testing shows the buttons become unavailable if the DPI setting is not at its default value - and which has nothing to do with screen resolution. > That it doesn't have a feature you would like to have does not equate to > the product not working properly. *IF* you can get it to work. I can get it to work if I change the DPI setting to 96, the default. At 120 DPI, the product becomes unusable because of the loss of the only control that can get the product to initiate a download of the stream. > I care about malicious outbound calls, none of those exist in this > program. You are blowing smoke. What is the content of the packets sent to StreamTransport.com when you first load this program? What is the content of the packets when you are downloading a video stream and it phones home to eigbox.net? Or when it phones home to huludownload.com? I merely said that the product phones home. I also stated that I do not know why but do get suspicious when I see this behavior. So far, you can't say what is the content that is being phoned home. So I can't yet prove the content is malicous (or rather unwanted since you used the term malicious as I was proposing a privacy issue) and you can't prove the content is benign (or wanted). Neither of us yet know what is the *content* of that phone-home connection. That the behavior exists was noted despite your pooh-poohing of it. I remarked on it phoning home, not what data was actual getting transferred. I didn't feel like I had go farther than to note the behavior and wonder about the authors need for it. I didn't go sending packets through Wireshark or Smartsniff to see what data was inside those packets. I might should I choose to use this product (once the author addresses the DPI issue with the missing buttons so I can use the product). > You haven't noted any problems with the program as it exists. - You noted the product's downloads were slow. I confirmed that. Then you began arguing about my confirmation of your statement. - Users that scale up the DPI (regardless of the screen resolution) will lose the only objects (the buttons) that are required to actually initiate a download of the video stream, delete the item, or clear the list. - I would *like* the product to incorporate some QoS management of bandwidth consumption. Gee, Bear, even the payware video capture programs that I have don't have it but that doesn't mean I still don't want it. I do have some apps that generate network traffic and which do have bandwidth management and I do appreciate the availability of that feature. Some of them don't have bandwidth management but let me schedule when to perform the download so I can select a non-critical or away-time schedule for those downloads. It's a feature that I would *like* to see in the program, a feature that can be seen in many file downloaders, and seems almost a natural migratory feature that should be present in video downloaders, too. - Considering that this video downloader is slow (and even YOU said that) which means users are likely to go off doing something else or leave their computer, and considering the size of videos, not having graceful recovery when a server connect fails initially or later is a gaping hole in functionality. Yes, many and maybe perhaps most video downloaders don't have an auto-resume feature. Perhaps because they are immature products. File downloaders have had an auto-resume feature for a long time (but, I believe is dependent on the file server supporting resume). I believe Flash servers also have resume; otherwise, any disruption in the connection to your client would result in having to start all over from the beginning of the stream's download (and you know that you have seen jerkiness and stoppages in playback of a stream but then it recovered and you resumed from where you stopped). There is already a Resume button for manual operation. Considering how large and long are these downloads with this product, an auto-resume seems quite logical so the user doesn't have to dangle off a nipple to monitor their downloads to perform manual resumes when there is a server connect failure. There wouldn't be a Resume button if the author didn't recognize there can be server connect failures. > It is also the best freeware hulu downloader I've found. And I would agree. Looks very good. Doesn't look perfect, though, or even mature. > Why do you want to change it's default DPI? See above on what and where is the DPI setting in *WINDOWS* which has nothing to do with playback of the video and is separate of screen resolution. >> Of more concern is whether or not Huludownload.com can retain RTMPE >> support in their StreamTransport program. Both Applian (Replay Media >> Catcher) and Jaksta were forced to remove support for RTMPE. Adobe >> states that RTMPE is *not* a copy protection scheme and merely to >> provide a secure channel to view content. SWF verification is >> supposed to be used over RTMPE to protect content. Yet most content >> vendors that expend the resources to encrypt their content see it as >> protecting it whether they use SWF verification or not. If larger >> software vendors were forced to remove RTMPE support, you really think >> it won't disappear in StreamTransport? > > It may or may not. This is merely smokescreen argument. Right now it > works. Like I said...provide a link to such a tool that is better. You > can't. This is where it goes over your head...did I say that already? Yes, the future should never concern you. It does the rest of us. That it can record videos from Hulu is entirely reliant on the fact that it supports RTMPE. Other video downloaders that used to work at Hulu stopped working when they were forced to drop support for RTMPE. If you're driving along the road and you start noticing dead bodies on the road, wouldn't you get a little suspicious that something nasty is happening and you might become cautious because you were worried about your own life? Well, when I see victims made of video downloaders that have lost their RTMPE support, I start to ponder the survivability of RTMPE support that exists in any other product. The victims are piling up. It's a clue to a trend that has a result, Bear. You are content with using a product that works now. Yeah, that's nice but I'd also like to expend the resources in hard disk space, user training, and investment into using this product with a more comfortable expectation that it will CONTINUE to work in the future. Hulu became a sore point for other video downloaders that were forced to lose their RMTPE support. I was glad when you found a video downloader that still worked with Hulu, and it was free, too. That doesn't mean I'm blinded to a trend that indicates this free product could also become another victim and lose its RTMPE support. I don't just install software for now. I usually want and expect to use it later. You do a lot of downloading and installing of software to review and post here your results. That's not what I do. It's not my thing. I'm more like the typical user that is looking for a solution that remains a solution than someone eager to constantly keep discovering and experimenting with new software. Your goals appear to be short-term. Mine are longer term. While I might spend more time on testing one program in which I'm interested, you might not have that luxury with all the software that you go through. |