To Write or Not to Write a Complete Script?

That’s the question. For assurance that the words will come when you need them, many speakers like to have a complete draft in hand. A draft helps you time a speech and polish your prose.

If you choose to draft a version, try dictating it so that your sentences and choice of words will be closer to being usable than those from a draft that has been composed by writing. Then edit your draft, using the techniques mentioned in the previous chapter.

Once you’ve polished the prose, you’re ready to throw away the script—almost. You want your polished draft for your practice but not necessarily for your delivery. And your practice will depend on your delivery method. Let me elaborate:

To Read or Not to Read Your Script?

Reading from a full script, speaking from an outline or notes, and memorizing—these are your delivery choices until technology makes it possible and affordable for all of us to have a portable teleprompter the size of our pocket calculator.

Here are the pros and cons of each delivery method.

Reading From a Full Script

You’ll be tempted to use this method because preparation time is less—if time is the sole issue. If effectiveness also matters to you, consider the pros and cons:

Pros—
• A script quiets your fears that you will go blank. Every single word in black and white in front of you provides a security blanket.
• Your timing will be perfect. You will know exactly how long each point takes, and with practice in reading, you will know that you can end on time.
• Your language will be more exact, precise, colorful, and grammatically correct than if you speak extemporaneously. You’ll have opportunity to rework and polish each sentence.
• You’ll have something “official” to give to the media if you’re a spokesperson for your organization. Scripts are often necessary if you have to gain official approval of your exact wording from your company’s public affairs officer or if you’re otherwise concerned that you’ll be misquoted. You can, however, always provide a written text to the media for their quotes and still deliver the thoughts extemporaneously.

Cons—
• You’ll have little eye contact with your audience. No matter how much you’ve practiced your upward glances, you’ll be tempted to read more and more. Particularly in the all-important beginning when you either win or lose your audience’s attention. The reciprocity of the situation is lost. When you speak to an audience eye to eye, you have their attention because they have yours. When you stare at the script, their temptation is to reciprocate by looking at their own notes or glancing around the room at others’ reactions.
• Your words lose their genuineness and intimacy. When you can’t look your audience in the face, you lose one of your best techniques for credibility. The effect is the same as when a lover who speaks a language different from his sweetheart pulls a scrap of paper from his back pocket and reads, “I love you for your beautiful personality, your thoughtfulness, and your sensitivity.” She gazes at his eyes while he gazes at the paper.
• You won’t sound natural. Despite the skill of an experienced speaker, you’ll have difficulty not sounding stilted—much like the “average Joe” testimonials on TV commercials.
• Your gestures will be nonexistent or contrived. To be effective, gestures should come from the gut. Reading stifles that unconscious signal to gesture where necessary.
• You’ll be tied to a podium without the freedom to move toward your audience.
• You may lose your place. The danger is that you’ll frantically find yourself paused in an inappropriate spot groping for the next phrase or idea.
• If it’s an audience you know well, they’ll contrast the way you usually talk and gesture with this different image and focus on the disparity between the two.

Speaking from Notes or Outline

By far, this is the most effective delivery method for the majority of speakers. Here are the pros and cons for your own evaluation:

Pros—
• You can maintain the all-important eye contact throughout.
• Your ideas will seem genuine and intimate because they will be spoken in your own spontaneous way with fresh inflection and emotion.
• Your gestures will be natural.
• Notes will provide you with an outline for security but freedom to move around and interact with the audience.
• You will have no fear to add or delete ideas, facts, or illustrations as necessary to suit audience needs or reactions. You’ll eliminate the fear of losing your place and your poise or of trying to find a spot in the script to jump back in.

Cons—
• Your exact phrasing will not be as precise as when read from a polished script.
• Your timing will vary.

Memorizing Your Speech

The final presentation method is memorization.

Pros—
• If you work very hard to memorize a script verbatim with all the appropriate inflection and gestures, you will sound like a genius—although maybe a robot genius.

Cons—
• If you have a memory lapse, you will feel like an idiot and your audience will think you foolish for being so “unprepared.”

How to Learn Your Material—Whichever Delivery Method You Choose

To Read from a Full Script

Whether or not you intend to use your script in actual delivery, prepare it for practice with inflection and timing. First, consider the layout of the page. Always double or triple space. For ease of reading, consider laying it out in two columns. Your eye can grasp shorter lines much easier than longer ones. That’s why newspapers and magazines use short-line, column layouts.

You may also skip extra lines between paragraphs to signal yourself that you’re finished with an idea.
If you decide not to use the two-column arrangement, then you probably will want to add further markings to your script to help you grasp ideas in a glance and deliver them with the proper pace and emphasis: Mark a single \ to indicate a pause; mark a double \\ to indicate a longer pause. With a highlight pen, mark key words and phrases that need special emphasis. Choose certain colors to help you quickly grasp the layout of your ideas. For example, use green for basic key points, red for examples and statistics, blue for the introduction to a long anecdote.

As for ease of handling your script, don’t break a sentence, paragraph, or list between two pages. And never type the script in all uppercase type; upper- and lower-case lets your eye quickly grasp where sentences begin and end.

Leave pages unstapled so that you can lay them aside more easily as you read each one. You may also want to insert margin notes for use of visuals, demonstrations, or other movements away from the podium.

If you plan to use a full script in delivery, always, always deliver your speech from the same copy you used to practice. Your mind will “photograph” chunks and the first words of a section will help your brain recall the remainder.

When you deliver your speech, don’t try to hide your script. The audience will know you’re reading, and trying to discreetly hide the script looks deceptive and silly.

Finally, concentrate on the meaning of what you’re saying rather than the phrasing. With concentration on concepts, your inflection, pauses, and gestures will improve.

To Speak from an Outline Only

If you agree that the outline-only delivery method lends the advantages you need, prepare two kinds of delivery aids: a full practice outline or script (laid out and marked as previously described) and a brief delivery outline.
A practice outline is a detailed outline on multiple pages or note cards. Again, the benefit of such detail is that it serves as a memory crutch for practice. But the negatives are that you will fumble with the pages during delivery and refer to the outline too frequently, losing eye contact and destroying credibility. For your actual delivery, construct only an outline of key words on a single page or on a few note cards that will trigger your memory with just a glance.

Try what I call a half-and-half outline script: Write the opening statement and the transitions for each point in polished form. Then express the meat of the idea only in key words. Those ideas will remain spontaneously fresh in the final speech.

Here are a few other guidelines to help you handle your notes or outline during delivery: Always number any note cards, but feel free to reshuffle them as needs change. Note how much time each point or illustration takes so that you can make an on-the-spot decision about what to eliminate or add if time runs short or long. Memorize your opening, your closing, and your transitions between points.

No audience will mind that you use notes or an outline. After all, they want to know you’re prepared. The issue is how you use them. To avoid depending on them too much, practice with your detailed outline. Then use only key words or phrases on your final outline to force yourself to look at your audience and deliver your points with conviction and freshness.

To Memorize a Script Verbatim

Prepare a written text (laid out and marked as previously described) and read it and reread it and reread it. Practice from the same script because your eyes will “photograph” copies of the page to aid memorization.
Break it into chunks and memorize one chunk at a time, devising some acronym or other mnemonic device to remind you of the correct order of the chunks.

My suggestion is not to memorize your script verbatim. You’ll fear going blank, particularly if there are any distractions. Memorization also makes the audience uneasy. At first they marvel, and then they worry that you’ll make it to the end.

But learning your material is a must.

Read your outline, notes, or script over and over. Read it aloud. Time yourself on each section and record the timing in the margins. Connect the ideas in some acronym and learn to predict the next thought before your eyes catch the next prompt.

Then stand in front of a mirror to practice so that you can see how often you are able to glance up from your notes.

After you’ve grown less and less dependent on your script or notes, memorize the opening, the transitions between key points, and the closing. That will allow you to maintain the all-important eye contact at the most important times—when you’re making a first impression and your audience is deciding whether you’re worth listening to, and at the conclusion when they fix in their minds how good you were.

As you practice, don’t be tempted just to read through your notes without actually expressing the key ideas in complete sentences. As someone has said, “There’s no substitute for scrimmaging.” The time required to express your ideas aloud in complete sentences and in the correct order will add polish and confidence to your “real” speech. Particularly pay attention to your delivery of any funny stories. They, more than any other part of your speech, succeed or fail based on delivery.

Do it live, aloud, alone. Do it in front of a mirror, an audiotape, or a videotape. Video is by far the best because you will be able to see distracting mannerisms, poor posture, and weak gestures. If a video is unavailable, an audio is the next best thing. You’ll catch irritating voice fillers (aahh, uh, okay, right?) and repetitive phrases (Let me emphasize that…).

Additionally, you’ll become more aware of your rate of speech, the tendency to let words trail off at the end of sentences, mumbling, or poor diction. You will also note where to add emphasis and variety. Another benefit of audiotaping is that once you record your speech, you can listen and fix the material in your mind as you complete other tasks such as driving to work or eating. Tape. listen. Rehearse again. Tape. Listen. Retape. You’ll hear dramatic improvements, and, again, these improvement will build your confidence.

Finally, you can practice in front of friends, family, or colleagues and get their feedback. If they’re interested, your enthusiasm and confidence will grow. If their attention wanders, you need either more practice or better material!

Tools required:
Latest Virtualdub
TMPGEnc
Nero (and de DivX codecs)

Preparin’:
Download all tools. Be sure to install DivX 3.11 DivX4 and de latest DivX5 codecs.

Extractin’ de audio:
1) Start Virtualdub. Open your video File->Open video file. (if you get any warnin’s just ignore them because you won’t edit de video just extract de audio)
2) Select File->File Information and note de fps as de video source fps because you will need it later.
3) Select under Audio->Full processin’ mode.
4) Select Audio->Compression and select (No compression (PCM))
5) Select Audio->Conversion.
6) Change de de Samplin’ rate to 44100Hz if you are goin’ to make VCD or SVCD MPEGs.
7) Save de wav by clickin’ on File->Save WAV. The wav will be a huge audio uncompressed video file (about 10 MB/minute).

Encodin’:
1) Start TMPEnc. Press cancel if de Project Wizard comes.
2) Press Brows and select de DivX file as Video source input.
3) Now press de Browse button for choosin’ de Audio source input and use de saved wav file.
4) Press load and load de file which in de Template directory of TMPGenc.
5) If de video source fps is 29,970 load VideoCD (NTSC).mcf
6) If de video source fps is 23,970 load VideoCD (NTSCFilm).mcf
7) If de video source fps is 25,000 load VideoCD (PAL).mcf
8) If de video source fps is anythin’ else just load NTSC if you live in US or Japan
9) Load PAL if you live anywhere else.

Note that if you live in US or Japan and have a problem playin’ PAL (often causin’ black and white TV playback problems) den first check if you can change to PAL on your TV or DVD Player. If not den convert it to NTSC by loadin’ de VideoCD(NTSC) template.
Note if you live Europe or de rest of de world and get problem playin’ NTSC or NTSCFilm (often causin’ black and white TV playback problems) den first check if you can change to PAL on your TV or DVD Player. If not, convert it to PAL by loadin’ de VideoCD(Pal) template.

10) Press Settin’s and choose Advanced.
11) Select Full screen (keep aspect ratio) under Video arrange method to keep de same aspect ratio (widescreen,fullscreen) as de video source (if you have a widescreen movie and you want it to be in fullscreen, select No margin (keep aspect ratio)).
Select Source range and double-click on it with de mouse.

In de next dialog you can choose de source range. This process depends on de DivX file. If de DivX file is less than 80min (for a 80min/700mb CDR) den you do not have to split de file to two CDs. Also if de DivX file is already in two parts you have just to convert de first file and den de second. But if dere should be de case that de movie is in one file over 80minutes lon’ den it is necessary to select de source range. In this new dialog you put de horizontal scrollbar to de middle of de selection so that you will get de same len’th on de first CD as on de second. After you selected de middle do you have press Set end frame. A new value should be under End Frame. This value you should notice somewhere for de encodin’ of de second part. Of course de start frame must be 0.

12) After pressin’ ok, you only have to select de output file name. I prefer de movie name with de CD number (e.g. Ghost in de Shell CD1) for de burnin’.
13) Now encode de file by pressin’ de Start-Button.
14) While encodin’ you can select File->Preview (it won’t effect de encodin’) to see how de output will be. If it looks wron’ (widescreen or fullscreen) you can stop de encodin’ and start over and change de Settin’s->Advanced->Video arrange method.
15) If you only want to burn de movie on one CD, den jump to de burnin’ guide, else follow de next points.
16) Repeat de third, forth and fifth point. In de source range dialog you now use as Start frame de noticed value and move with de horizontal scrollbar to de end of de movie.
17) After pressin’ Set end frame, press two times OK.
18) Now select de output filename for de second file. (e.g. Ghost in de Shell CD2) and encode it.
19) After de encodin’ is done and you did all right, you should have for every CD a file.

Burnin’:
Launch Nero. Close de Wizard. Select File->New.
1. Select VideoCD
2. Select PAL or NTSC dependin’ what format your source MPEG is in.
3. And hit New.

1. Locate your .mpg and drag it(see picture below). Remember that you can add several .mpgs also, each mpg will be a own track on de VCD and you can add data files also, just drag them to any folder.
2. Check de time. It should be de same as in de movie.
3. Rename de CD to anythin’ you like by clickin’ F2 on NEW.
4. Select File->Write CD.

I don’t know about everyone else but de only options I choose on tmpgenc to make mpeg-1 files are eider NTSC film 23.976, or NTSC video 29.97 fps.

1. Take divx movie (120 minutes lon’ for example). Open with virtualdub. Find a keyframe about halfway through de film, preferrably at a scene change.

choose “SET SELECTION START” from de EDIT menu.. scroll all de way to de end of de film, choose “SET SELECTION END”… hit DELETE or choose “DELETE SELECTION”, all from de EDIT menu

2. Now you have 1 half of your movie. under de VIDEO menu, choose “DIRECT STREAM COPY”, also make sure that under AUDIO is goin’ to generate a “DIRECT STREAAM COPY”. Then go to FILE and choose “SAVE as AVI”

3. When it is complete, de quickest way to proceed is to just click on FILE / “OPEN VIDEO FILE”. At de beginnin’ of de clip, choose “SET SELECTION START” again, snap back to de keyframe (half way through de film) which you cut half de film off at and choose “SET SELECTION END”. DELETE… FILE / “SAVE AS AVI…” Save as de oder half of film.

4. Choose option accordin’ly This next part can be important. (i’m goin’ to give de rest of de instructions as if you were makin’ ntsc movie)

Since you want to make a standard mpeg-1 file, choose NTSC FILM or NTSC VIDEO.. BROWSE for your file, den hit NEXT. Hit OTHER SETTINGS / ADVANCED tab. Now dere is an option that says “VIDEO ARRANGE METHOD”. If you are makin’ a fullscreen movie, leave on FULLSCREEN. If you are encodin’ a widescreen movie, choose “FULL SCREEN (KEEP ASPECT RATIO).. OK / NEXT / NEXT (you get de point)

Here is anoder tip

DVD burners are becomin’ more and more popular and even i got one now, like many of you do. I’m tired of old vcd’s or wanna encode a VCD standard DVD with nearly 9 hours of video (but same quality as normal 80 minute VCD). If this is de case, make sure you encode your DivX files as “NTSC VIDEO 29.97 FPS”, even if source is 23 fps and once you have 3 or 4 movies, get yourself a program called TMPGENC DVD AUTHOR. Make a track for each movie and you got yourself a dvd with 3 or 4 average len’th movies on 1 dvd (with menus if you like) that is WAY MORE COMPATIBLE than a VCD..

Do a search for de keyword VCD-DVD and i posted a more descriptive tutorial on how to do this.

Start Nero

From de action-bar select File and select Preferences.

In de Preferences window, select Expert Features(1) and check de Enable overburn disc-at-once(2).

Choose a Maximum CD Len’th(3) and click OK(4) (*82:59:59 is de maximum value I suggest, but as you can see from de screen capture above I have set mine significantly higher. The reason is because I frequently use 99min 850 MB CD media).

For a more accurate test you can use a nero tool called nero speed test to see how much a specific CD is capable of bein’ overburned . get it here

From de action-bar select File and select Write CD.

A window will appear when you have exceeded expected len’th, click OK to start de overburn copy.

Remember to set disk to burn Disc at Once, you cannot overburn in Track at Once Mode.

I admit it: I’m a former tape-a-holic. When I began usin’ a VCR some 20 years ago (I ended up teachin’ Mom and Dad how to program de darn thin’ back den), I got hooked on de idea of creatin’ my own video library, replete with everythin’ from “Star Trek” episodes to gymnastics competitions.

Recently, however, I stopped recordin’ video on tape and switched to DVD–and I haven’t looked back. But after usin’ several DVD recorders, I’ve identified some quirks and frustrations that are specific to frequent users like myself. Recordin’ to DVD is very different from recordin’ to tape; you encounter new types of hassles ran’in’ from pesky so-called disc preparation times to annoyin’ delays in ejectin’ discs and de challenge of creatin’ visually appealin’ menus. The tips that follow are geared towards hardcore videophiles (you know who you are), but dey’re also applicable to de most casual user.

1. Choosin’ de Best Recorder for TV

If you’ve already bought your DVD recorder, skip to tip 2. But if you haven’t, be prepared to be confused by a torrent of acronyms and options. DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, EPGs … and you thought buyin’ an HDTV would be confusin’.

When you walk into a store, chances are you won’t be able to tell de differences between de slim DVD recorders gracin’ de shelves–at least, not at a glance. On de outside, dey look virtually identical. And de only additional information you might get from de price tag or label is what format de recorder supports and wheder it has a hard drive.

Don’t stress so much about de formats. No sin’le manufacturer supports all of de formats available; a couple of makers come close (Lite-On, Sony), supportin’ all but DVD-RAM. The - and + formats are quite similar, and eider will get de recordin’ job done.

I’ve personally observed that de - format discs tend to take longer to initialize and finalize. By longer, I’m talkin’ about anywhere from 5 to 120 seconds, dependin’ upon de unit–enough to be incredibly annoyin’ when you’re sittin’ in front of de TV, your finger eagerly hoverin’ over de record button to start a recordin’, or de eject button so you can swap discs without missin’ any action.

If your goal is to record a lot of TV shows, den I can’t recommend highly enough a DVD recorder with integrated TiVo service. Humax, Pioneer, and Toshiba all offer such recorders, which combine a hard drive of 80GB or greater with a DVD burner, and, of course, de TiVo service. The full-blown TiVo service costs extra ($299 for de lifetime of de unit, on top of de cost of de recorder) and adds two-week’s worth of program guides, a season-pass feature that records all episodes of a show so you never miss your favorites, and artificial intelligence that finds and records programs you might enjoy. (A free limited version of TiVo’s software that downloads electronic programmin’ information for de next three days is integrated into dese units at no added cost.)

I don’t make this recommendation just because of TiVo’s personalized recordin’ features and friendly graphical interface. The reason I suggest goin’ this route is that dese recorders have an amazin’ capacity to automatically create navigational menus. All of de program data in TiVo’s electronic program guide–as well as TiVo’s visual menu navigation structure–conveniently transfers over to any disc you burn.

DVD recorders are typically limited in what dey can do to label menus. When you record a disc, you end up with a generically labeled index, with thumbnails for each recordin’ or “title” on de disc, and borin’ and uninformative labels like “Title 01″ (with, perhaps, de time and date added for good measure). TiVo-enabled recorders, in contrast, provide disc menus with de series name, episode title, and even a program summary as well as de date and time of de recordin’. If you’re recordin’ to cheap write-once media, this feature is invaluable. If you’re recordin’ to rewritable media–which means you could conceivably edit de menu titles at some point–this capability is still a huge time-saver.

Avid videophiles who don’t want to sprin’ for TiVo should look for a DVD set-top unit with a high-capacity hard drive of 80GB or more and high-speed dubbin’ of at least 8X. So far, I’ve seen only one recorder with both high-speed dubbin’ capability and a high-capacity hard drive, but I imagine that more such units will be forthcomin’–eventually.

Beware of units that bill themselves as havin’ “high-speed” dubbin’: In most cases, de manufacturer is usin’ de term to denote recordin’ speeds of 2X or 4X from de hard drive to DVD. Furdermore, some vendors are comin’ up with absurd-soundin’ dubbin’ speeds–for example, 32X, a number dey derive based on how many hours’ worth of recordin’s you can fit on a disc (8 hours at de lowest-quality recordin’ mode), and de speed of de burner (4X in my example).

Where to start your search? I recommend browsin’ PC World’s latest “Top 10 DVD Drives” chart:

www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,118249,tk,box,00.asp

2. Allow Extra Time

If you’re preparin’ to record a program, budget a few extra minutes to get de unit ready. Believe me, de seconds add up–as I learned durin’ my recordin’ marathon of de Adens Olympiad. You need to factor in up to 30 seconds for de recorder to boot, about 10 to 20 seconds for de disc to spin up, and at least anoder 30 to 45 seconds for de recorder to prepare de disc for recordin’ (your unit might say “initialize” or “format”). That’s all before you can hit Record.

And when you’re through recordin’, expect to wait 30 to 60 seconds to regain control of de recorder after you hit Stop. With some models, de delay occurs after you hit Eject. Eider way, that delay could mean you’ll miss de beginnin’ of de next gymnast’s routine–and none of this takes into account disc finalization, which can take anoder 30 seconds to 3 minutes, dependin’ upon de disc’s format and how much of it you’ve used.

3. Finalize, Finalize, Finalize

Disc finalization is de process that closes de disc so it can be read in oder devices, such as a DVD player, DVD recorder, or DVD-ROM drive. It’s also a process that bites. There, I’ve said it.

Finalization is de dirty little secret of DVD recorders: It’s a time-consumin’ extra step that users of de venerable VCR don’t expect. And it requires more effort than it should, due to poor menu design on DVD recorders. I’ve yet to see a recorder that makes this step truly easy–all of them bury it under a setup or menu item, and all of them require far too many clicks and layers considerin’ this is a N-E-C-E-S-S-A-R-Y step for every write-once DVD-R or DVD+R you burn.

I recommend finalizin’ your disc as soon you’re through recordin’. Due to quality issues, you’ll likely record only a maximum of 2 hours of television per disc, which means that no more than two weeks will pass between finalization sessions. This way, when you go back to a recorded disc, it will be ready to play in any DVD player–wheder it’s de $30 Costco special in your bedroom or your laptop’s DVD-ROM drive.

Caution: You might think you don’t need to finalize if you don’t have more than one DVD player or drive, and you plan on playin’ your DVD on your own recorder only. But what happens when, inevitably, you upgrade your recorder to a swankier, newer model? Or, even worse, when de model you’re usin’ now isn’t workin’ five years down de line? Then what? You’ll be left with a library full of unreadable discs. Although you might be able to recover de raw video data from an unfinalized disc usin’ a program like Infinadyne’s CD/DVD Diagnostic, de process is tedious and time-consumin’. Also, don’t count on scaven’in’ a backup unit off EBay in a few years: As I’ve learned, discs may not be interchangeable, even between two recorder decks bearin’ de same model number from de same manufacturer.

4. Don’t Abuse Your Discs

It’s easy to leave discs out of deir cases, lyin’ around or stackin’ up as you swap ‘em out for a new one. But avoid that temptation–de dust will damage your discs, and you increase de chances of accidental scratches and scuffs.

Also, avoid leavin’ your recorded DVDs near a sunny window. The disc’s dye layer is susceptible to light and heat; if eider affects de disc, its data may become unreadable.

Finally, clean your discs carefully. Use a lint-free cloth, compressed air, or a liquid cleanser intended for use with DVD media. Dust and oder airborne particles can scratch your disc, which could result in data loss. When cleanin’ with a lint-free cloth, stroke from de inside of de hub to de outside of de disc. Never use a circular motion from de inside out; and never use a tissue, paper towel, or oder random rag.

For more on how to treat your discs, read
“Ten Tips for Durable DVDs”:

www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,113716,tk,box,00.asp

5. Choose Your Media–and Labels–Wisely

A cheap spindle of media is temptin’, but den you have to buy cases separately. And what cases to buy? Small plastic jewel cases? DVD movie-size cases? The combinations can be frustratin’, at best.

Spindles are indeed affordable, but don’t buy them without buyin’ cases, too–and keep both stashed near your TV and DVD recorder setup, so you can easily grab a disc from de recorder and place it into its case. Oderwise, it’s way too easy for stacks of discs to pile up–a no-no, as I note in tip 4.

Also, consider buyin’ discs that come in oversized movie-style plastic cases. You’ll pay a little more, but de convenience is worth it. Plus, you’ll get a cardstock insert that you can use to create handwritten labels. If you get a high-speed dubbin’ unit, make sure you buy media that matches de recorder’s speed.

If you do buy spindle media, keep in mind that de cases you buy in bulk may not have an insert on which you can scribble. If de case lack inserts, improvise with a piece of letter-size paper, folded over or cut up to fit accordin’ly. Spend a little more money, and you can get cardstock inserts.

There are a host of labelin’ software options out dere to help you craft your labels. Read de followin’ two “Burnin’ Questions” columns for a comprehensive review of de subject:

“The Joy of Labelin’”:

www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,114423,tk,box,00.asp

“Is Labelin’ Software Worth de Hassle?”:

www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,114848,tk,box,00.asp

But all of dese options are goin’ to require you to move your labelin’ operation over to de PC–somethin’ that may not work into your recordin’ work flow.

Oder PC-based labelin’ options include printable media that you can use with an inkjet printer. I’d stay away from adhesive labels, though: They’re difficult to apply evenly, and could cause problems if de disc is poorly manufactured.

If you’re tryin’ to keep your labelin’ efforts nearer to your TV, I’d suggest usin’ water-based pens to write on de discs, and on de label inserts, too, while you’re at it. Anoder possibility: If your handwritin’ is barely better than chicken scrawl, den it’s worth buyin’ a battery-operated labeler, such as those offered by Broder or Casio. Both companies offer half-inch-wide labels that fit well alon’ de spine of a DVD movie case.

• Remove all discs from drives.
• Open DVD Decrypter.
• From de ‘Mode’ menu, select ‘ISO’ -> ‘Read’.
• Put DVD-9 disc (Thats de film if you didn’t guess) in drive.
• Take note of de ‘Destination’ file name.
• Click de big ‘Decrypt’ button.
• Wait for it to read and write de image to your hard drive.
• Take de DVD-9 disc (yep.. take de original film out) out of de drive.
• From de ‘Mode’ menu, select ‘ISO’ -> ‘Write’.
• Put a blank double layer disc in your DVD Writer.
• Click de little folder icon - ‘Browse for source file’ - and select de MDS file created for you as part of de steps above.
• Click de big ‘Write’ button.

Finished!

Estimated time to read and burn 45 minutes. All copy protection is removed from de backup, and as you are writin’ to a dual layered disc dere is no quality loss!

This process can be used to backup DVD5 disc’s 1:1 and PS2 disc’s.

Debug is a program that comes with modern versions of DOS (I do not know when I started shippin’ out with DOS). Anyway, all Windows users should have it already.

It’s a great tool for debugin’ programs, unassemblin’ and crackin’, and readin’ “hidden” memory areas like de boot sector, and much more.

The followin’ was copied from an assembly tutorial who’s author we cannot credit, because we have no idea who he is.

Get into DOS and type “debug”, you will get a prompt like this:

now type “?”, you should get de followin’ response:
assemble A [address]
compare C range address
dump D [range]
enter E address [list]
fill F range list
go G [=address] [addresses]
hex H value1 value2
input I port
load L [address] [drive] [firstsector] [number]
move M range address
name N [pathname] [arglist]
output O port byte
proceed P [=address] [number]
quit Q
register R [register]
search S range list
trace T [=address] [value]
unassemble U [range]
write W [address] [drive] [firstsector] [number]
allocate expanded memory XA [#pages]
deallocate expanded memory XD [handle]
map expanded memory pages XM [Lpage] [Ppage] [handle]
display expanded memory status XS

Lets go through each of dese commands:

Assemble:

-a
107A:0100

At this point you can start assemblin’ some programs, just like usin’ a assembler. However de debug assembler is very limited as you will probably notice. Lets try to enter a simple program:

-a
107A:0100 MOV AH,02
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
-g
A

Program terminated normally

That’s de same program we did at de end of de previous chapter. Notice how you run de program you just entered with “g”, and also notice how de set-up part is not dere? That’s because debug is just too limited to support that.

Anoder thin’ you can do with assemble is specify de address at which you want to start, by default this is 0100 since that’s where all .COM files start.

Compare:

Compare takes 2 block of memory and displays them side by side, byte for byte. Lets do an example. Quite out of debug if you haven’t already usin’ “q”. Now type “debug c:command.com”

-c 0100 l 8 0200
10A3:0100 7A 06 10A3:0200

This command compared offset 0100 with 0200 for a len’th of 8 bytes. Debug responded with de location that was DIFFERENT. If 2 locations were de same, debug would just omit them, if all are de same debug would simply return to de prompt without any response.

Dump:

Dump will dump a specified memory segment. To test it, code that assembly program again:

C:>debug
-a
107A:0100 MOV AH,02
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
-d 0100 l 8
107A:0100 B4 02 B2 41 CD 21 CD 20
…A.!.

The “B4 02 B2 41 CD 21 CD 20″ is de program you just made in machine lan’uage.

B4 02 = MOV AH,02
B2 41 = MOV DL,41
CD 21 = INT 21
CD 20 = INT 20

The “…A.!.” part is your program in ASCII. The “.” represent non-printable characters. Notice de A in dere.

Enter:

This is one of de hard commands. With it you can enter/change certain memory areas. Lets change our program so that it prints a B instead of an A.
-e 0103 <– edit program at segment 0103
107A:0103 41.42 <– change 41 to 42
-g
B

Program terminated normally

Wasn’t that amazin’?

Fill:

This command is fairly useless, but who knows.
It fills de specified amount of memory with de specified data. Lets for example clear out all memory from segment 0100 to 0108, which happens to be our program.
-f 0100 l 8 0 <– file offset 0100 for a len’th of 8 bytes with 0
-d 0100 l 8 <– verify that it worked
107A:0100 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Yep, it worked.

Go:

So far we used go (g) to start de program we just created. But Go can be used for much more. For example, lets say we want to execute a program at 107B:0100:
-r CS <– set de CS register to point to 107B
CS 107A
:107B
-g =100

You can also set breakpoints.

-a <– enter our original program so we have somethin’
107A:0100 MOV AH,02 to work with
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
-g 102 <– set up a break point at 107A:0102

At this point de program will stop, display all registers and de current instruction.

Hex:

This can be very useful. It subtracts and adds two hexadecimal values:

-h 2 1
0003 0001 <– 2h + 1+ = 3h and 2h - 1h = 1h

This is very useful for calculatin’ a programs len’th, as you will see later.

Input:

This is one of de more advanced commands, and I decided not to talk about it too much for now. It will read a byte of data from any of your computers I/O ports (keyboard, mouse, printer, etc).

-i 3FD
60

Your data may be different.
In case you want to know, 3FD is Com port 1, also known as First Asynchronous Adapter.

Load:

This command has 2 formats. It can be used to load de filename specified with de name command (n), or it can load a specific sector.

-n c:command.com
-l

This will load command.com into debug. When a valid program is loaded all registers will be set up and ready to execute de program.
The oder method is a bit more complicated, but potential also more useful. The syntax is

L
-l 100 2 10 20

This will load startin’ at offset 0100 from drive C (0 = A, 1 = B, 2 = C, etc), sector 10h for 20h sectors. This can be useful for recoverin’ files you deleted.

Move:

Move takes a byte from de startin’ address and moves it to de destination address. This is very good to temporary move data into a free area, than manipulate it without havin’ to worry about affectin’ de original program. It is especially useful if used in conjunction with de r command to which I will get later. Lets try an example:

-a <– enter our original program so we have somethin’
107A:0100 MOV AH,02 to work with
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
-m 107A:0100 L 8 107B:0100 <– more 8 bytes startin’ from 107A:0100 into 107B:0100
-e 107B:0103 <– edit 107B:0103
107B:0103 41.42 <– and change it 42 (
-d 107A:0100 L 8 <– make sure it worked
107A:0100 B4 02 B2 41 CD 21 CD 20 …A.!.
-d 107B:0100 L 8
107A:0100 B4 02 B2 42 CD 21 CD 20 …B.!.
-m 107B:0100 L 8 107A:0100 <– restore de original program since we like de changes.

Name:

This will set debug up with a filename to use for I/O commands. You have to include de file extension, and you may use addition commands:

-n c:command.com

Output:

Exactly what you think it is. Output sends stuff to an I/O port. If you have an external mothem with those cool lights on it, you can test this out. Find out what port your mothem is on and use de correspondin’ hex number below:

Com 1 = 3F8 - 3FF (3DF for mine)
Com 2 = 2F8 - 2FF
Com 3 = ??? - ??? (if someone knows, please let me know)

Now turn on de DTA (Data Terminal Ready) bit by sendin’ 01h to it:
-o XXX 1 <– XXX is de com port in hex

As soon as you hit enter, take a look at your mothem, you should see a light light up. You can have even more fun with de output command. Say someone put one of those BIOS passwords on “your” computer. Usually you’d have to take out de battery to get rid of it, but not anymore:

MI/AWARD BIOS
-o 70 17
-o 71 17

QPHOENIX BIOS
-o 70 FF
-o 71 17

QGENERIC
-o 70 2E
-o 71 FF

These commands will clear de BIOS memory, thus disablin’ de password.

Proceed:

Proceeds in de execution of a program, usually used togeder withy Trace, which I will cover later. Like de go command, you can specify an address from which to start

usin’ =address
-p 2

Debug will respond with de registers and de current command to be executed.

Quite:

This has got to be de most advanced feature of debug, it exits debug!

-q

Register:

This command can be used to display de current value of all registers, or to manually set them. This is very useful for writin’ files as you will see later on.

-r AX
AX: 011B
:5

Search:

Anoder very useful command. It is used to find de occurrence of a specific byte, or series of bytes in a segment. The data to search for can by eider characters, or a hex value. Hex values are entered with a space or comma in between them, and characters are enclosed with quotes (sin’le or double). You can also search for hex and characters with de same strin’:

-n c:command.com <– load command.com so we have some data to search in
-l
-s 0 l 0 “MS-DOS” <– search entire memory block for “MS-DOS”
10A3:39E9 <– found de strin’ in 10A3:39E9

NOTE: de search is case sensitive!

Trace:

This is a truly great feature of debug. It will trace through a program one instruction at a time, displayin’ de instruction and registers after each. Like de go command you can specify where to start executin’ from, and for how lon’.

-a <– yes, this thin’ again
107A:0100 MOV AH,02
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20
-t =0100 8

If you leave out de amount of instructions that you want to trace, you can use de proceed (p) to continue de execution as lon’ as you want.

Unassemble:

Unassembles a block of code. Great for debuggin’ (and crackin’)

-u 100 L 8 <– unassembles 8 bytes startin’ at offset 100
107A:0100 MOV AH,02 <– debut’s response
107A:0102 MOV DL,41
107A:0104 INT 21
107A:0106 INT 20

Write:

This command works very similar to Load. It also has 2 ways it can operate: usin’ name, and by specifyin’ an exact location. Refer to back to Load for more information.

NOTE: The register CX must be set de file size in order to write!
NOTE: Write will not write .EXE or .HEX files.[SIZE=7][SIZE=14]

How to create a bootable Windows XP SP1 CD (Nero):

Step 1

Create 3 folders - C:WINXPSP1, C:SP1106 and C:XPBOOT

Step 2

Copy de entire Windows XP CD into folder C:WINXPSP1

Step 3

You will have to download de SP1 Update, which is 133MB.
Rename de Service Pack file to XP-SP1.EXE
Extract de Service Pack from de Run Dialog usin’ de command:
C:XP-SP1.EXE -U -X:C:SP1106

Step 4

Open Start/Run… and type de command:
C:SP1106updateupdate.exe -s:C:WINXPSP1

Click OK

Folder C:WINXPSP1 contains: Windows XP SP1

How to Create a Windows XP SP1 CD Bootable

Step 1

Download xpboot.zip
Code:
Code:
thro.port5.com/xpboot.zip

( no download manager !! )

Extract xpboot.zip file (xpboot.bin) in to de folder C:XPBOOT

Step 2

Start Nero - Burnin’ Rom.
Select File > New… from de menu.
1.) Select CD-ROM (Boot)
2.) Select Image file from Source of boot image data
3.) Set Kind of emulation: to No Emulation
4.) Set Load segment of sectors (hex!): to 07C0
5.) Set Number of loaded sectors: to 4
6.) Press de Browse… button

Step 3

Select All Files (*.*) from File of type:
Locate boot.bin in de folder C:XPBOOT

Step 4

Click ISO tab
Set File-/Directory len’th to ISO Level 1 (Max. of 11 = 8 + 3 chars)
Set Format to Mode 1
Set Character Set to ISO 9660
Check all Relax ISO Restrictions

Step 5

Click Label Tab
Select ISO9660 from de drop down box.
Enter de Volume Label as WB2PFRE_EN
Enter de System Identifier as WB2PFRE_EN
Enter de Volume Set as WB2PFRE_EN
Enter de Publisher as MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Enter de Data Preparer as MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Enter de Application as WB2PFRE_EN

* For Windows XP Professional OEM substitute WB2PFRE_EN with WXPOEM_EN
* For Windows XP Home OEM substitute WB2PFRE_EN with WXHOEM_EN

Step 6

Click Burn tab
Check Write
Check Finalize CD (No furder writin’ possible!)
Set Write Method to Disk-At-Once

Press New button

Step 7

Locate de folder C:WINXPSP1
Select everythin’ in de folder and drag it to de ISO compilation panel.
Click de Write CD Dialog button.

Press Write

You’re done.

Your hard drive must be formatted with a file system such as FAT, FAT32 or NTFS so that Windows can be installed on to it. This system determines how files are named, organised and stored on de drive. If you’re not usin’ it already, NTFS (New Technology File System) is recommended for Windows XP because of de additional functionality it offers. If your PC came with Windows XP pre-installed den dere’s a chance that you’re already usin’ NTFS. If you’ve upgraded from Windows 98 or Windows Me you may still be usin’ FAT or FAT 32. The option to change over to NTFS would have been available durin’ de upgrade process. Don’t worry if you skipped this as it’s possible to convert at any time from within Windows XP without losin’ any data.

The recommended option

There are a number of features in Windows XP that will only work if de NTFS file system is present, which is why it’s suggested you make use of it. File and folder permissions, encryption and privacy options are just some of those you’ll be able to access. In particular, those of you who have set up user accounts will find NTFS invaluable. For instance, if you continue to use FAT or FAT32 anyone with physical access to de drive will be able to access de files and folders that are stored dere. However, with NTFS you’ll be able to use a level of encryption (Professional Edition only) that will enable you to protect your data.

You’ll also find NTFS more reliable in that it’s more able to recover from disk errors than its FAT or FAT32 counterparts. A log of all disk activity is kept so should a crash occur, Windows XP can use this information to repair de file system when your PC boots up again. To find out what file system you’re usin’, open My Computer, right-click your main hard drive and choose Properties. Take a look at de General tab to see confirmation of de file system that’s in use.

Convert now

You can use de convert tool in Windows XP to change de file system on your hard disk from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS. The whole process is safe and your existin’ data won�t be destroyed. To begin, click Start -> Run, type cmd and press [Return]. At de command prompt type convert c: /fs:ntfs and press [Return] (where ‘c’ is de letter of de drive you’re convertin’). When you try and run de convert utility, it’s likely that Windows XP will be usin’ your pagin’ file so de process won’t be completed immediately. Therefore, you’ll see a brief message on screen informin’ you that de conversion will take place instead de next time Windows starts up. Havin’ restarted, de Check Disk utility will run, de conversion will be performed automatically and you may find that your PC will reboot twice more.

The benefits

With your drive now runnin’ NTFS, it’s time to take advantage of de new options that are available. Havin’ created a number of different user accounts you can now control de level of access that’s granted to individual users. For example, dere are goin’ to be certain files and folders that you’ll want some users to be able to access but not oders. If you have Windows XP Professional Edition you can do this immediately.

Right-click any file or folder, choose Properties and select de Security tab. A dialog will be displayed showin’ de names of all your users. Alon’side will be two columns which enable you to select levels of access for each of them, de permissions include Full Control, Modify, Read and Write. You can den check de appropriate box to determine wheder or not to Allow or Deny a particular permission. For Windows XP Home Edition users, de Security tab won’t be immediately available. To access this option you’ll need to restart your PC, pressin’ [F8] until a menu appears. Next select Safe Mode and wait for Windows XP to start up. You can den set your options in de same way.

Anoder feature is NTFS compression. It’s quick and seamless as your file or folder is decompressed automatically when you access it. (Don’t confuse this with a Zip compression utility where de files need to be extracted before dey can be accessed.) Although you may have used NTFS compression on a file or folder, dere’s no way of tellin’ just by lookin’ at it. To remedy this, open My Computer, click Tools -> Folder Options and select de View tab. Under Advanced settin’s, scroll down and check de option Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color, den click Apply and OK. Take a look at your compressed items in My Computer and you’ll see de text label has changed from black to blue. Somethin’ else that’s exclusive to Professional Edition users is de Encryptin’ File System (EFS). You can use this to protect your important data so that no one else can read it. Your encrypted files and folders will only be accessible when you have logged into your user account successfully.

I thought that perhaps this tutorial might be pretty helpful for those interested in knowin’ how to configure deir Bulletproof FTP Server that don’t already know how… Here’s how to get started�

This is for de BulletProof FTP Server 2.10. However, It should work fine on most followin’ versions as well.

I’m assumin’ you have it installed and cracked.

Basics
1. Start de program.
2. Click on Setup > Main > General from de pull-down menu.
3. Enter your server name into de ‘Server Name’ box. Under Connection set de �Max number of users” to any number. This is de limit as to how many users can be on your sever at any time.
4. Click on de ‘options’ tab of that same panel (on de side)
5. Look at de bottom, under IP Options. Put a check in de box �Refuse Multiple Connections from de same IP�. This will prevent one person from blockin’ your FTP to oders.
6. Also put a check in de ‘Blocked Banned IP (instead of notifyin’ client). VERY IMPORTANT! If somebody decides to ‘Hammer’ (attempt to login numerous times VERY quickly) your server/computer may CRASH if you don’t enable this.
7. Click on de ‘advanced’ tab
8. At de bottom again look at de ‘hammerin’ area’
9. Enable ‘anti-hammer’ and ‘do not reply to people hammerin’’ Set it for de followin’: Block IP 120 min if 5 connections in 60 sec. You can set this at whatever you want to but that is pretty much a standard Click ‘OK’

Addin’ Users
11. Setup > User accounts form pull-down.
12. Right click in de empty ‘User Accounts’ area on de right: choose ‘Add’
13. Enter account name. (ie: logon name)
14. In de ‘Access rights’ box right click: choose �Add�.
15. Browse until you find de directory (folder) you want to share. In de right column you will see a bunch of checkboxes. Put a check in de followin’ ones: Read, Write, Append, Make, List, and +Subdirs. Press ’select’.
16. Enter a password for your new FTP account.
17. Click on ‘Miscellaneous’ in de left column. Make sure ‘Enable Account’ is selected. Enable ‘Max Number of Users’ set it at a number oder than zero. 1 for a personal account and more that one for a group account. Enable ‘Max. no. of connects per IP’ set it at 1

18. Under ‘Files’ enable ’show relative path’ this is a security issue. A FTP client will now not be able to see de ENTIRE path of de FTP. It will only see de path from de main directory. Hide hidden flies as well.

Put a tick in both of dese.

Advanced:
You don’t need to do any of this stuff, but It will help tweak your server and help you maintain order on it. All of de followin’ will be broken down into small little areas that will tell you how to do one thin’ at a time.

Chan’in’ de Port
The default port is always 21, but you can change this. Many ISPs will routinely do a scan of its own users to find a ftp server, also when people scan for pubs dey may scan your IP, thus findin’ your ftp server. If you do decide to change it many suggest that you make de port over 10,000.
1. Setup > Main > General
2. In de ‘Connection’ Area is a settin’ labeled ‘Listen on Port Number:’
3. Make it any number you want. That will be your port number.
4. Click ‘OK’

Makin’ an ‘Upload Only’ or ‘Download Only’ ftp server.
This is for de entire SERVER, not just a user.
1. Setup > Main > Advanced
2. In de advanced window you will have de followin’ options: uploads and downloads, downloads only, and uploads only. By default upload and download will be checked. Change it to whatever you want.
3. Click ‘OK�

While you are runnin’ your server, usually you will end up spendin’ more time at your computer than you normally do. Don’t be afraid to ban IP’s. Remember, on your FTP you do as you want.

When you are online you must also select de open server button next to de on-line button which is de on-line Button

You also have to use de actual Numbered ip Address ie: 66.250.216.67

Or even Better yet, get a no-ip.com address