Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Recording Netflix movies with Ubuntu

As I am testing different recording scenarios with ScreenStudio, I often try stuff that I cannot share on the web as it is illegal.

Tonight, I was able to record some Netflix movies using my Ubuntu computer and ScreenStudio.

WARNING:  DO NOT RIP NETFLIX MOVIES!  It's illegal.  YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

Now that we have settled the legality issue, here's how I did it...

  1. Install the Chrome browser if not already done.  You'll need it to access Netflix and play it's content.
  2. Start ScreenStudio and add your desktop to the sources
  3. Select the "Option" tab to select the proper audio system source, often you'll have only one to select.
  4. Adjust the audio volume using "pavucontrol" or the default audio settings
  5. Adjust quality and video format to your liking in the first tab
  6. Start playing the movie in full screen in Chrome.
  7. Press: CTRL-SHIFT-R to start ScreenStudio's recording
  8. Wait until the end of the movie...
  9. Press again CTRL-SHIFT-R to stop the recording

And that's it.  You can even recording a smaller version by resizing the capture area of the desktop (double-click on the desktop source to set the area...)

The faster the computer, the better the quality as playing Netflix inside Chrome does use a lot of CPU on less powerful computer.

WARNING: This was only for testing purpose and curiosity.  Do not rip movies. It's illegal and I do not endorse any issues you may encounter if you do so.  You've been warned.

 The scenario will also work with Skype if you want to record a video session.  Basically, ScreenStudio will record whatever is on your display and audio playing on your speakers.

Have fun and remember,  do not engage in illegal activies!


Sunday, February 8, 2015

Alien abductions: things to consider

The other night, I was having a discussion with my girlfriend about alien abductions.  We had watched the movie Dark Skies (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2387433), thus the source of our discussion.


As we were talking about the plot of the movie, it came to my mind that many "facts" surrounding alien abductions simply do not make any sense.  As a software developer, I see things logically in their simplest forms.  This is quite mandatory when designing a new software architecture that will mimic a real life process...  But let's get back to our little friends.

From my point of view, aliens coming from another world, located at 65 light-years away, making experiments on some innocent people doesn't work.  I may be wrong, I may be right.

If they are more advanced than us, how do they lack the same progress in morality and ethics?   Even our savage human race has come to realized that experimenting on animals is cruel and immoral.  There is still a long way to go on this subject but things have changed for the better in the last 50 years.  Why would they lack at this level while outperforming us on everything else?

Assuming that any resources is limited (fuel, minerals, raw material) anywhere in the universe, what is the benefit of traveling 65 light-years, abduct a few people, and travel back.  Even worse, some do get back to earth after a few days...  Do researchers go in the woods, find a few rats, experiments on them and bring them back to their natural habitat?  The cost (in resources) would be astronomical just to do a few experiments...  

Another thing... The alien abductors would be far more advanced than us AND relying on a physical examination with knives and scissors?  Ever heard of X-ray, MRI?  It simply does not make any sense.  

And the morphology of the aliens...  They have big black eyes suggesting that they live somewhere in the shadows where light is scarce.  I wonder how big their eyes are... They must be huge!  If what is depicted as "black" is the iris of their eyes, how do they adjust to different level of lights?  They must be easily blinded by any source of light like the sun, a lightbulb or even a candle.  


Also, their head is so huge, how can they stand up at all?  They are described as being small in height. That would mean that the mass of their head could be half the mass of their entire body.  They would have to constantly struggle to keep their balance.  Let's not forget the impact of gravity.  A higher gravity force would prevent them from just waking around and a lower gravity force would have them swinging around like drunk aliens.  Their morphology would simply prevent them to wander around on our home planet, at least, easily.

Some will argue that they are the result of living in deep space without gravity.  That would explain part of the problem.  If their body has adapted to living in space, without gravity, there would be other visible adaptations.  Their head should be round like a ball.  Their legs would have transformed into arms loosing their primary function to walk.  Their eyes would have moved to the top of their heads as moving in 3D space, instead of just moving in a 2D space, would be more efficient.

Maybe something is going on, I don't know...  But the story of aliens, traveling back and forth to earth just to put some probe into our butt, doesn't fit.  

The universe is build around the same idea:  take simple stuff, put them together to create a more complex one.  The alien abductions stories are doing it wrong: making a simple story from a series of complex theories.

I feel better, now! ;)

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Watch movies for free with PopcornTime

Ubuntu users are looking for the Netflix killer since Netflix service does not really work well on Ubuntu computers.

Here's an alternative that may answer your prayers: PopcornTime