Orangeinks

Make Low Resolution Videos Look Better with Fix My Movie

Fix My Movie is a free service that enhances low videos taken using mobile phones, webcams or digicams. The service offers to fix dark grainy videos by automatically adjusting contrast and uncovering hidden details in dark areas. An overall improvement in the resolution is expected after undergoing the healing process which is said to be four times better than the original resolution.

In order to get started, just signup for a free account and start uploading your video file and start processing the video. Just make sure that the video you are going to upload does not exceed 15Mb 352×288 CIF (Common Immediate Format) maximum resolution. After the enhancement is finished, you can preview the video and compare it with the original low quality video.

The service also have an email feature where you can just mail them the video at upload@fixmymovie.com. If you are a registered user, they will match your email address and will automatically add your video to their collection. If you are a non member, and want to use this service, just email them the video and they will create a new account for you and email you back the with the details. You can also take advantage of this feature through your phones. Just email the videos from your phone or register your phone number with them to) and have your videos added to your collection /gallery which will be available for sharing after the enhancement.

You can download your enhanced video in Windows Media , iPod ( Quicktime), and Flash video format. An embed code is also available for sharing in blogs and social sites.  You can also grab a high resolution snap shot JPEG picture from any video. Just click pause and hit the capture button and a JPEG image will be created from the frame of the said video.

Tags: digicam, enhancement, fix, fixmyvideo, grainy, low, Phone, quality, webcam

You Suck At Photoshop Video 2

This is funny lesson two from Donnie Hoyle of You Suck at Photoshop. He will teach us how to fix mistakes.

Tags: fix, lesson, mistakes, Photoshop

Fix a Defective Pixel on your LCD monitor

The Liquid Crystal Display [LCD] technology in a monitor uses a liquid crystal solution between two sheets of polarizing material, which align the crystals when an electric current is passed. Pixels are the vertical and horizontal dots that form the images displayed on an LCD monitor. Each pixel is further divided into three sub-pixels for red, green and blue light. A 1280 x1024 resolution LCD monitor typically has approximately 3.9 million sub-pixels.

Now, there are three different types of defective pixels.

1. Hot pixels: is a permanently lit (white) pixel. This type of defective pixel is best seen in dark background.

2. Dead Pixel: is the opposite of a Hot Pixel. This type remains unlit and is best seen In a white background.

3. Stuck Pixel: is usually visible against a black background. It will appear red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, or yellow although stuck red, green, or blue pixels are most common. As mentioned above, each pixel is composed of three subpixels, one red, one green, and one blue, which produce the visible color of the pixel by their relative brightness. A stuck pixel results from a manufacturing defect, which leaves one or more of these sub-pixels permanently turned on or off.

How to fix:

I found a couple of tools that you can use and might help you fix these stuck or defective pixels. One is from JScreen Fix which runs a java applet that helps fix stuck pixels and image persistence on LCD screens and reduces burn-in on plasma screens. It randomly turns on and off each pixel at up to 60 times a second to fix stuck pixels. Another is from Killdeadpixel that will try to fix the defective pixels by using this graphic.

The graphic will try to massage the dead pixel back alive again by getting it to change rapidly.
It has been reported to work many times.
But it doesn’t work for all dead pixels… Still it’s a good try.
If after 1 hour it doesn’t work, please use the full screen version below and try for about 12hours.

These tools may not always work, but before sending your LCD Monitor back to the manufacturer, you might want to give them a try.

Tags: dead, fix, hot, LCD, pixel, stuck

Fixing Your “Disabled” Task Manager

Did you know that your Task Manager can be disabled without you having noticed it? Check it by right clicking the clock on the Windows taskbar, if the Task Manager option is being grayed out, that practically means that it has been disabled for some reasons. Another way is by typing taskmgr.exe on the Run Command, if you got a message telling you that your “Task Manager has been disabled by the administrator,” and you haven’t done it intentionally, then that’s not a good news at all. That could probably be caused by some unwanted viruses. Viruses tend to disable the task manager making it harder for you to deal with their infections. Then that is the time you should be ready with your up-to-date Anti-Virus softwares, run a complete scan and thus eliminate the unwanted pest. Once you got your machine virus-free, you can proceed with the fix.

One way is executing gpedit.msc on the Run command, this runs the Group Policy Editor. Once inside, expand the following folders:

• User Configuration
• Administrative Templates
• System
• Ctrl+Alt+Del Options

Then from the options, double click Remove Task Manager to change its setting. Click on Not Configured and then OK and Task Manager is available once again.

Remember that this option runs only on Windows XP Pro, nevertheless, if your running a different Windows OS, you will need to fix it manually by editing the registry. This is done by executing regedit on the Run Command, once inside, expand the following folders:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER
• Software
• Microsoft
• Windows
• CurrentVersion
• Policies
• System

Under the System folder, right click on the DisableTaskMgr item, click on Delete, confirm the task, right there and then, Task Manager will be available once again.

Tags: fix, fix-disabled-task-manager, Windows, XP