Like the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer found in Windows XP, Vista’s own Windows Photo Gallery application is not easy to get rid of. You can install a new application that makes itself the default for your image files, and in some cases, the Windows Photo Gallery will still appear when you double-click image files.
If you want to use another image viewer without making any changes to your system, there are ways to open images other than double-clicking. For instance, you can drag-drop an image file onto the window of any viewer to open it, or even right-click an image file and select Open With to choose another program.
To choose a different application as the default for photos, you may have to disable the Windows Photo Gallery:
Open the Registry Editor (described in Chapter 3).
Expand the branches toHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\ .ico\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\ ShellImagePreview.
Highlight theShellImagePreviewkey, select File ➝ Export, type a filename, and click Save to back up this Registry key. (See Chapter 3 for details.)
Delete theShellImagePreviewkey and close the Registry Editor when you’re done.
If you don’t want to mess around in the Registry, you can also do this with Creative Element Power Tools (http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/):
Open the Creative Element Power Tools Control Panel, turn on the Edit file type associations option, click Accept, and then close the Control Panel.
Right-click any image file and select Edit File Type.
On the right side, right-click Windows Photo Gallery Viewer Image Verbs, and select Open Registry Editor here.
In the Registry Editor, select File ➝ Export, type a filename, and then click Save to back up this Registry key. Close the Registry Editor to return to File Type Doctor.
With Windows Photo Gallery Viewer Image Verbs still highlighted, click the Remove button.
To re-enable the Windows Photo Gallery at any time, just double-click the Registry patch you created.
Microsoft in its infinite wisdom created a new image file format to be released along with Windows Vista, called HD Photo. (I think that makes about 60 formats we now get to deal with.) Unfortunately, very few applications support this format, so if you need to routinely view these files (with the .hdp filename extension), you may want to keep Windows Photo Gallery intact for this purpose. Of course, you could always manually edit the .hdp file type and add theShellImagePreviewkey to itsContextMenuHandlerskey, allowing you to freely disable Windows Photo Gallery for all other formats. See Chapter 3 for details on the structure of file types.
Ever notice that the colors in digital photos you view on your PC don’t quite match the real thing, or even the colors on the little screen on the back of your digital camera? Or, have you noticed that the colors your printer reproduces don’t match those on your monitor?
This is a common problem, and one, unfortunately, without a clear-cut, foolproof solution. The problem is that your monitor, printer, scanner, and digital camera all handle color a little differently. It’s up to you to calibrate Windows so that all of these devices know what subtle adjustments they need to make to preserve your colors without botching your photos too badly.
Before you do anything, make sure your display adapter (video card) is set to the highest color depth it supports. Right-click an empty portion of the desktop, select Personalize, and then click Display Settings. From the Colors drop-down list, select Highest (32 bit). If the Resolution slider to the left drops when you do this, see Chapter 5.
First, you’ll need to gamma-correct your monitor, which helps ensure that its brightness and color balance are optimized for your setup. Many higherend monitors have gamma adjustment features, but barring that, you can use the free QuickGamma utility (Figure 4-16), available at http://quickgamma.de/indexen.html. (A similar utility also comes with Adobe Photo-shop, although the author of QuickGamma claims that it’s more accurate.) The process essentially involves adjusting a few controls until two different grayish regions appear indistinguishable when you squint. If you’re a perfectionist, you should elect to adjust red, green, and blue values independently.
Next, open Control Panel and then Color Management. Each imaging device on your system should be accompanied by a matching International Color Consortium (ICC) profile, and the Color Management window, shown in Figure 4-17, is where you manage these files.
Start with your monitor; select it from the Device list, and then click Add. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a matching profile in the list (having been installed with your driver); otherwise, you’ll have to dig up the correct ICC profile from the manufacturer of your monitor and then install it by clicking the Browse button here.
If you have trouble finding ICC profiles from the manufacturers of your monitor, scanner, printer, or camera, try a site like Chromix (http://www.chromix.com) or IPhotoICC (http://www.littlecms.com/iphoto/profiles.htm). Of course, you can also search Google for your specific product and model, like this:Epson 1520 ICC.
Figure 4-16. Use QuickGamma to adjust your monitor so colors are displayed more accurately
In some cases, you may find more than one ICC profile for your device, each differentiated with a numeric code likeD93or6500K. These numbers indicate the color temperature, a number that describes the color of light emitted by the light source, specifically a theoretical object called a blackbody radiator. (In the real world, the closest analog is the sun.) TheKnumbers indicate temperatures in degrees Kelvin (e.g.,5000K,6500K,9300K) while theDnumbers indicate standard illuminants (colors of light) corresponding to
Figure 4-17.The Color Management window is a new, central interface for installing and configuring ICC profiles in Windows Vista
specific correlated color temperatures (CCT). If in doubt, choose5000KorD50, both of which correspond to “soft daylight.”
When the new ICC profile shows up in the Profiles associated with this device list, highlight it and click Set as Default Profile.
When you’re done with your monitor, repeat the process for your printer(s) and scanner(s). In most cases, you’ll want to use the same color temperature (D orK value) for each ICC profile you use.
Now, your digital camera does things a little differently. If it’s like most cameras, it should store the appropriate ICC information in the EXIF data (discussed in the next section) embedded into each photo file you shoot. And most high-end applications, such as modern versions of Adobe Photoshop, should be capable of reading these tags and putting them to use. But in the unlikely event that your camera is included in the Device list, and you have an ICC profile provided by your camera’s manufacturer, then you can go ahead and install it just like the others.
Now, playing with gamma correction and color profiles will only take you so far. Variations in ink or toner, as well as paper, can all affect color reproduction on a printer, and the lighting in your room can affect how color looks on your monitor, so you’ll have to employ a little trial and error to get the desired results. Professionals use more sophisticated tools, such as colorimeters, to get better color matching, not to mention higher-quality monitors, printers, and scanners. So, don’t be surprised if you don’t get perfect color every time.
Let me guess. You just had this big party (say, a wedding or commitment ceremony), and you’ve gotten hundreds of photos from a dozen different people. But when you stick them all in the same folder and sort them by date, they’re all out of order.
The Date Modified column in Windows Explorer (go to View ➝ Details if you don’t see it) probably won’t reliably sort your photos. If the photographer did any post-processing (e.g., color correction, cropping, retouching) in a program like Photoshop, the file’s date will reflect the last time the file was saved, not when the photo was originally shot. Also, file dates and times are typically set when a digital camera saves photos to its memory card, not necessarily when the photos are taken. (The discrepancy occurs because many high-end cameras hold the shots in memory before saving them.)
But aren’t you lucky you live in an enlightened age of obsessive photographers and feature-laden gadgets? Embedded in each digital photo is a goldmine of information stored by the camera as part of the EXIF (EXchangeable Image File) format used in .jpg files, .tif files, and raw formats like Nikon’s .nef files. EXIF data includes the date and time the photo was taken, the camera settings used (f-stop, exposure, metering mode), the photographer’s name (sometimes), and the dimensions of the image. If the camera supports it, even GPS data indicating the exact geographical location of the camera when the photo was shot can be included.
To view EXIF data for a single photo, highlight the image file in Windows Explorer, and then stretch the Details pane until it looks like Figure 4-18. If you don’t see a Details pane, click the Organize drop-down and select Layout ➝ Details Pane.
Figure 4-18.Windows Explorer shows all the EXIF information embedded in your digital photos, if you know where to look
Of course, you won’t find EXIF data in scans of film, nor in digital photos that were modified by software that doesn’t support the format. For the record, recent versions of Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, and even Vista’s measly little Paint program, retain all EXIF data in most circumstances, but many older programs and image converters do not. If in doubt, run a little test before you modify any precious photos: open a photo in your program and save it to a new filename. If the information shows up in Windows Explorer when you highlight the new file, then your software is safe to use.
If you select more than one file, Explorer will only show the data the selected files have in common in the Details pane. To view selective EXIF data for a bunch of photos at once, right-click the column header bar in Windows Explorer and select More. Place a checkmark next to any new details you’d like to display, and click OK. Unfortunately, the details aren’t organized at all here; the EXIF data is mixed in with MP3 tags, and other things like Search ranking and Parental rating reason. But with a little digging, you should be able to find the relevant bits, like Dimensions, Camera model, and, thankfully, Date Picture Taken.
Now, sort the photos chronologically by clicking the Date Picture Taken column header. Voilà!
But what if you want to make this sorting more permanent? Use the free Stamp utility (http://www.snapfiles.com/get/stamp.html) to rename your files with their EXIF dates. After you do this, your photos will appear in chronological order even when sorted alphabetically.
What Stamp doesn’t do, unfortunately, is allow you to compensate for the differences among the various cameras’ internal clocks. The discrepancies might be as small as three or four minutes among your local guests, or several hours for the party guest who last set up his or her camera in a different time zone. As a result, your photos won’t sort properly even after you use Stamp, a problem requiring the following three-part fix:
First, download the free trial of Creative Element Power Tools (available at http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/), and turn on the Change file dates and Rename files with ease options.
Highlight all the photos you want to fix, right-click, and select Change Date.
Choose the Date/Time from file metadata option, select Date & time photo taken by digital camera from the list, and then click Accept. This will change all the file dates so they exactly match the dates and times the photos were taken.
Next, you’ll need to determine the discrepancies among your photographers. Pick one photographer to use as the baseline, and then figure out how far off every other photographer is from that baseline. To do this, you’ll need to find common points of reference: one or two representative photos of the same instant by each of your photographers. (The more photos you have, the easier this will be.) After a minute or so of studying, you might find that, say, Kathryn’s camera was about 3 hours faster than the baseline, while Henry’s camera was 6 minutes, 11 seconds slower. (If you’re not as compulsive as I am, you don’t necessarily need to get it down to the exact second.)
To fix the dates, pick a photographer (other than the baseline you chose in step 4), and highlight all of that person’s photos. Right-click the files and select Change Date.
This time, choose the Relative Date/Time option and then make your adjustments with the controls below, like the example in Figure 4-19. Click Accept when you’re done.
Figure 4-19. Use the Change Date tool to fix discrepancies among the times of different photographers’ digital photos
Repeat steps 5 and 6 for everyone else’s photos. When you’re done, the photos should be in perfect order when sorted by Modified Date (but not Date Taken, at least not yet).
To update the EXIF data with your new dates, use AttributeMagic Pro (http://www.attributemagic.com/). Select the recently modified files in the main window, use the Change Dates feature, and instruct it to set “date taken” (exif) to “modified” (file system). If you don’t feel comfortable messing with your photos’ valuable EXIF tags, you can alternatively change only the filenames, as described next.
At this point, all your photos should appear in chronological order when sorted by modified date or date taken, but depending on what you plan to do with your pictures, this may not be enough.
Are you uploading your photos to an online photo sharing/printing service? Or perhaps you’re handing them off to someone else to sift through and possibly modify them? If you want to make sure your careful date manipulations remain intact, you may want to tag your filenames as well.
You can do this with Stamp, as described earlier, but only if you’ve updated the EXIF dates as described in step 8, previously. But if you want to rename your photos without changing any EXIF data, you’ll need Power Rename (also part of Creative Element Power Tools) to tag the filenames with their modified dates. To do this, highlight all the photos, right-click, and select Power Rename.
If you’ve already renamed the photos with Stamp, place a checkmark next to Power Rename’s Crop option, select from beginning, and type a number representing the amount of text to remove. This will get rid of Stamp’s addition to the filename and make room for Power Rename’s own Add stamp feature.
In Power Rename, place a checkmark next to the Add stamp option, select file date & time, and then click the Format button. From the Choose a format list, select Custom format and then use the date/time placeholders from the list to assemble a date format conducive to sorting. Your best bet is to start with the year (yy oryyyy), followed by the month, day, hour, minute, and finally, the second, like this:
yyyy-mm-dd_hh-mm-ss
For example, Power Rename would take a file with the date August 28, 2005 at 4:53:06 pm and add this to the beginning of the filename:
2005-08-28_16-53-06
Click OK and then the Accept button to rename the files. With all your photos date- and time-corrected and renamed accordingly, they’ll appear in chronological order in almost any circumstance.
If you have the Home Premium or Ultimate edition of Windows Vista, then you also have the Windows Media Center component, which allows you to use your PC and some sort of TV tuner card as a DVR (Digital Video Recorder). Commonly known as a TiVo™ (just as a novelty flying disc is commonly known as a Frisbee™), a DVR lets you pause, rewind, and record live television broadcasts.
Of course, you don’t have to stick with Media Center. If you don’t like the program, if it crashes too often, or if you have only the Home Basic, Business, or Enterprise edition of Vista, you can try any of several alternatives.
Free DVR software includes GB-PVR (http://www.gbpvr.com) and MediaPortal (http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net). Commercial products, while not necessarily better than their free counterparts, include Meedio (http://www.meedio.com), SnapStream BeyondTV (http://www.snapstream.com), and SageTV (http://www.sage.tv).
Each product has its advantages and disadvantages. When choosing a media center application, the most important consideration is an on-screen interface you like. Aside from that, it should support HD programming and DVD burning, work with a wide variety of remote controls, accept plug-ins or extensions that add functionality (such as news readers and weather forecasters), and not crash.
Watch TV on Your TV
Unless you like watching TV on a 16-inch screen while sitting at your desk, you probably want to hook up your Media Center PC to a real television set. Unfortunately, this is not always as easy as it sounds.
When you connect a TV to your computer (or is it the other way around?), you should see your entire desktop, Start menu, et al., on the big screen. If you see nothing at all, your video card’s TV port may be disabled. If you’re using a laptop, you may have to press a special keystroke combination to “activate” the TV-out and external VGA ports. On some Dell laptops, for instance, hold the Fn key while pressing F8 to switch between the internal display, the external display, and both; consult your computer’s documentation for details. Press these keys repeatedly until you see a picture.
If you see everything except the video rectangle on the big screen, then you have a video overlay problem. See “Fix Other Playback Problems,” earlier in this chapter, for details.
Next, make sure you’re using the right kind of cable, and with cabling, there’s certainly no shortage of possibilities.
The first rule of mating a PC to a TV is to keep it all digital, if you can. If your PC has a DVI port (standard on all new desktop PCs and upscale laptops) and you have a high-definition television set, you can do precisely that.
If your computer doesn’t have a DVI port, you’ll need to replace your video card with one that does. If you’re using a laptop, you’ll need a DVI-equipped video card for your ExpressCard slot (or PC Card, if it’s an older model), and these can be very spendy.
Now, any modern HD television set will either have a DVI or HDMI plug (tired of acronyms yet?). If it’s DVI, then it’s a simple matter of connecting your PC to your TV with an ordinary DVI monitor cable. HDMI, luckily, is basically the same thing as DVI, albeit with audio, and you can get HDMI-to-DVI adapters readily from small, mom-and-pop computer stores or on eBay.
As you’re setting up your nifty, all-digital home theater PC system, you may hit a roadblock in the form of HDCP (High-bandwith Digital Content Protection). HDCP is a nasty form of copy protection imposed upon high-definition content, such as that from an HD DVD or Blu-Ray drive, or HD cable signal. (For those interested, there’s a rant about this in the preface.) An in-depth discussion of HDCP is beyond the scope of this book, but suffice it to say, it may be the reason you’re getting a black screen instead of the movie you’re trying to play.
If your TV has no digital video inputs—or if they’re already being used—your next-best option is to use a DVI-to-composite adapter (also available on eBay). Although your TV’s composite inputs are analog (not digital), they do support 16:9 wide format and progressive-scan video, which will still look a lot better than S-Video or (gasp) RCA connectors.
Many HDTVs have only a single digital (HDMI or DVI) input, which may already be occupied (if you’re lucky) by a DVD player with a digital output. If you don’t want to settle for an analog connection between your PC and TV, you’ll need a HDMI or DVI switch, the best examples of which can be found in some high-end digital home theater receivers.
If your TV is not high-def, or if for whatever reason digital just isn’t going to work, then you’ve got to go analog.
If your PC has a TV-out port, it might accept a standard S-Video plug, or barring that, an ordinary RCA plug. (If it has a proprietary connector, you may need a special adapter from your PC manufacturer—at extra cost, of course.)
If your computer lacks a dedicated TV-out port, see whether your TV has a 15-pin analog VGA port, in which case you can simply use a VGA-to-VGA cable and connect your TV like a monitor. Otherwise, your PC may support TV-out directly through its VGA port (an admittedly uncommon feature), in which case you can get a VGA-to-RCA or VGA-to-S-Video adapter pretty cheaply on eBay.
So, to sum up, here are the connection methods you can try, in order from best to worst.
Computer side
Television side
Signal
16:9 supported?
DVI
DVI or HDMI
Digital
Yes
DVI
composite
Analog
Yes
VGA or DVI-to-VGA
VGA
Analog
Maybe
S-Video
S-Video
Analog
No
RCA
RCA
Analog
No
Once you’ve got the cabling in order, the next step is to set the resolution on your PC to optimize the picture quality. Set it too low, and it’ll look pixelated; set it too high, and you might have overscanning problems (where the video runs off the screen). If in doubt, try a few standard resolutions until you have one that looks good; 1024 × 768 usually works pretty well. If you still have trouble, use PowerStrip (http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm) to find the optimal resolution and timing settings for your TV.
A DVR without up-to-date TV listings is nothing more than a playback device; to record your favorite programs, your PC needs to download program data at least once a day. Windows Media Center and other DVR applications do this automatically, but only after you’ve set them up properly. If you’re not getting updated listings, or if your listings are wrong, here are some things you can do to fix the problem.
First, make sure your PC’s clock is set correctly: open Control Panel ➝ Date and Time, and set the clock if needed. Click Apply and then choose the Internet Time tab, click Change settings, and make sure the Synchronize with an Internet time server option is turned on.
Next, your zip code in Media Center might be wrong, thus the program data you’re receiving is intended for a different region. Or you may be using an antenna, yet downloading programming data intended for cable or satellite broadcasts. In Media Center, choose Settings ➝ General ➝ Media Center Setup ➝ Set Up TV Signal, and follow the prompts. When asked whether you’d like to configure your TV signal automatically, select the I will manually configure my TV signal option. On the next page, choose whether your signal comes from cable, satellite, or antenna (terrestrial broadcast), after which you’ll be prompted to set up your TV Program Guide. When prompted, type your zip code, and then click Next to confirm your choices and download the programming data for your area.
Capture HDTV Programming
So, you’ve managed to cobble together a pure digital video signal from your PC to your high-definition television, but your broadcast programming still looks like a 20-year-old VHS recording.
Most TV tuners can only receive standard-definition signals. If you want high-def programming, you’ll need a few things, starting with a true HDTV tuner card.
In North America, you’ll need an ATSC tuner; in Japan, the standard is ARIB, and in Europe, it’s DVB. These HD tuner cards will receive terrestrial (over the air) broadcasts, but not necessarily cable or satellite broadcasts. For that, you’ll likely need an HD tuner with a cable card slot or a QAM tuner; contact your cable/satellite provider for details.
While the tuner is the most important component, there are other pieces of the HD puzzle. For instance, HD broadcasts use a lot more data, which means you’ll need a fast processor (at least 2.4 Ghz or equivalent) for simultaneous capture and playback, required for basic timeshifting of HD programming. And you’ll need a larger hard disk, too; while an hour of standard definition (SD) programming typically consumes 1 GB of disk space, that same hour of HD programming will eat up about 10 times as much space. Thus that shiny new 300 GB hard disk will only get you about 25–30 hours of HD storage.
Finally, don’t expect just any video card to be capable of displaying high-definition, full-motion video on a high-resolution display. If your HD video plays smoothly in a video, but is jerky when shown full-screen, it’s time for a display adapter upgrade.
Of course, it’s possible that all your settings are correct, but you’re still getting bad data. In this case, you’ll need to determine the severity of the problem. If only a single program or a single channel is off, it could be a temporary glitch or last-minute programming change. Try manually downloading the latest programming data to iron out any such discrepancies. From the main Media Center menu, choose Settings ➝ TV ➝ Guide ➝ Get Latest Guide Listings.
But if all your program data is off, you’ll have to be a bit sneaky about it. The simplest solution is to spoof a different location by entering an adjacent zip code to your own; you may have to try a few different codes to find the one that delivers the data you need. If all else fails, try different DVR software (listed at the beginning of this section), which may get its data from a different source.
The first CD burner I ever saw was the size of a small microwave oven. It took 68 minutes to fill a 68-minute CD, and it produced more coasters than Six Flags. Suffice it to say, things have improved, although after a few minutes of trying to burn a disc in Vista, you’d be hard pressed to tell.
I’ll just come out and say it: the CD/DVD burning feature built into Windows Vista just doesn’t work. Sure, I’ll get some bafflingly defensive emails from a handful of readers, but if you can show me a CD-R with readable data created by Windows Vista, I’ll eat my hat.
In theory, it goes like this:
Open Windows Explorer.
Place a blank disc in your burner, and close the drawer.
Highlight your CD/DVD drive in the tree, and the Burn a Disc window appears. Click Show formatting options to show the expanded window in Figure 4-20.
Figure 4-20. Open this window each and every time you make a CD in Vista, or the disc you make may not be readable
Select the Mastered option and click Next to make the Burn a Disc window go away.
Unless you’re absolutely certain you’re only going to be using this disc on Vista PCs, don’t ever use the Live File System. Despite Microsoft’s overly optimistic language here, discs formatted with the “Live” filesystem (also known as UDF) won’t be readable on older PCs, Macs, or just about anything else. And if you skip steps 3 and 4 here, and instead just start dragging files onto your disc, Windows will use the Live File System without asking. (Naturally, there’s no way to change the default.)
Drag some files or folders onto your CD/DVD drive.
When you’re done dragging files, click the Burn to disc button (or right-click the CD/DVD drive and select Burn to disc), and then follow the prompts.
At this point, Windows Explorer will crash. Or, maybe you’ll get lucky, and nothing at all will happen (no CD, no messages, nothing).
If this is happening to you, do yourself a favor and skip the part where you try to diagnose the problem. Instead, just use any other CD/DVD burning software to make your discs, and you’ll never look back:
You can burn ordinary data CDs and data DVDs with Express Burn, available for free from http://www.nch.com.au/. If you want more pizzazz, try a commercial solution, such as Roxio Easy Media Creator (http:// www.roxio.com/), Ashampoo Burning Studio (http://www.ashampoo. com/), or Nero (http://www.nero.com/).
You can make audio CDs right in Windows Media Player, as well as Apple iTunes, by creating a custom playlist, and then burning the playlist to a disc.
You can make DVD movies from your TV recordings from within Windows Media Center.
To burn discs from ISO image files, as well as create ISO files from discs, use ISO Recorder (free; http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com).
With the proper disc burning software, now all that can go wrong is everything else.
Not getting the quality and reliability you expect from your audio CDs and video DVDs? Here are some common problems and possible solutions:
Poor audio CD quality
If you hear pops, squeaks, or clicks in your audio CDs, check your source music files to make sure they sound OK. If the tracks are originally from a CD, re-rip any songs that have pops, squeaks, or any quality problems.
Another cause of poor sound quality on audio CDs is a mismatch between the rated speed of your discs and the actual speed at which you burned your music. If you’re using 4X-rated CDs in an 24X burner, or vice-versa, you could have problems. Again, higher-quality media is less likely to suffer from this problem, but if all else fails, get slower CDs or a faster burner.
Volume inconsistencies
If your audio CD plays, but the songs all seem to be different volumes, there’s not necessarily anything wrong. This is merely a fact of life when you mix audio files from different sources; some songs will naturally be louder than others. The best solution is to use the volume-leveling feature in your media player software.
In Windows Media Player, press the Alt key, select Tools ➝ Options, choose the Burn tab, and turn on the Apply volume leveling across tracks on the CD option. Or, in iTunes, select Edit ➝ Preferences, choose the Advanced tab and then the Burning subtab, and turn on the Use Sound Check option.
Smudged DVD subtitles
Illegible subtitles on video DVDs (even store-bought discs) are usually caused by a video resolution that is set too low. If your display is set to 640 × 480 or 800 × 600, raise the display resolution to at least 1024 × 768.
Disc won’t play in standalone player
Low-quality discs commonly cause playback problems in standalone CD and DVD players. If the disc won’t play, or if the audio quality is bad, try a different brand of disc. Avoid the el-cheapo blank discs in the bargain bin at your local computer store, and instead spend the extra nickel on some brand-name discs (I’ve found Verbatim discs to be consistently reliable).
Another problem that affects standalone DVD players is that of incompatible disc formats. Some older players can’t read movies burned to DVD+R/RW or DVD-R/RW discs, so you may need to buy a new player, or settle for movies played through your PC. (The format that seems to be the most widely supported is DVD+R, although your mileage may vary.)
PC can’t read disc
Does Windows Explorer hang when you try to copy files off an old disc? The most common cause of this is simply dust. Try gently wiping the disc with a clean, soft, dry cloth, or barring that, your shirt. (Wipe in a straight line, from the center of the disc out to the edge; don’t rub in a circular motion.)
Files missing on a data disc
Can’t see all the files you burned to a disc, particularly if you’ve burned the disc more than once? You may’ve deleted the old files when you added the latest batch of files. The good news is that—unless you erased a rewritable disc—the “deleted” files are still there, only hidden. To retrieve them, you’ll need an application that can create a disk image from a single track, such as ISO Recorder (free, http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com). Once you’ve created the disc image file, you can either burn it to another disc (by itself), or you can open it with Iso-Buster (http://www.isobuster.com) and extract the files by dragging and dropping.
The other possibility is that you’re reading the disc with an old CD drive that doesn’t support multisession CDs. (Each time you burn files to a disc, you’re creating another “session,” or track, on that disc.) In this case, there’s little you can do to make the earlier sessions readable, short of replacing the drive. Luckily, brand-new CD/DVD readers are cheap and plentiful!
Windows Media Player complains about insufficient space
Assuming your arithmetic skills are up to par, and the total length of all the tracks you’re trying to burn to an audio CD doesn’t exceed the capacity of the disc, it’s possible that it’s a hardware problem. If you have more than one CD or DVD drive connected to the same IDE controller, they can fight for system resources. To fix the problem, make sure that your burner is the only CD or DVD writer on the chain; if one drive is connected to the primary IDE controller, make sure the other one is plugged into the secondary controller, and that neither is in conflict with another device (such as the hard disk, usually occupying the primary master slot).
None of your discs are readable anywhere
Visit your CD/DVD burner manufacturer’s web site and see whether there’s a firmware update. Sometimes, a firmware bug will prevent otherwise good discs, written with a good burner, from playing on a perfectly good player. And that’s not good.
* I would’ve also accepted Billy Wilder’s Stalag 17 (1953).
* Note that it’s no longer sndvol32.exe, as it was in earlier versions of Windows.
Handling Audio with Windows Vista
