I spent the whole morning the other day trying to get the best sound from my entertainment equipment. By the time I'd done and not without a little trial and error I had it, super-sound entertainment with no extra expense whatsoever.
So what did I do?
I already had a bog-standard TV with 2 scart sockets on the back, a standard 'Sky' receiver/digibox, a combined mini hi-fi cd/radio with built-in DVD player, and 4 speakers.
The most favourable piece of equipment which made it all eventually come together nicely was the mini hi-fi, which I purchased from the local 'Aldi' store last Autumn for the paltry sum of just £54. On first apperance it looks like a standard black-fronted mini hi-fi but the built-in disc player will play mp3 discs, DVDs, Xvid discs, and of course standard audio CDs, has a built-in radio, and will accept a USB connection and SD/MMC cards - plus it's remote control also. It also has a host of connections on the back to input external sources, and believe it or not it came with not a one year, but a three year warranty as standard; quite a lot of kit for the low price tag. It is by 'Tevion' - no, I've never heard of them either - but with a 3-year warranty who cares what it's called!
Up until now I only used it as a CD and radio player.
But regardless of any of this, almost any standard hi-fi can be used to get the desired results, as long as it will allow external connections so it can operate as an amplifier; and of course a normal amplifier will do the same job.
OK, here goes!
On the back of the 'Sky' receiver/digibox can be found two audio output connectors - left & right, usually coloured red & white - on the back of the hi-fi or amplifier can be found two connectors the same as on the receiver/digibox - a straight coupled standard audio connecting lead can be used to connect all four together - Voila! job done! - now whenever the TV is watched via the receiver/digibox the sound comes through the hi-fi or amplifier speakers - spread the speakers a distance apart and there you have it, wide supersound that you can adjust through the hi-fi or amplifier controls. Don't worry about the TV as it is already connected through the system via the scart which is needed to watch programs from the receiver/digibox on it.
That's just the basic set up. However I went a little over the top and I can now watch TV through 'Sky' and hear it on the hi-fi speakers (of which I have four in the four opposite corners of the room to simulate a surround-sound effect), of course I can play any audio or mp3 CD and hear it through all the speakers, watch a DVD and hear it all around the room, and I can also run the sound from my PC through the same kit. Awesome!
What's more it didn't cost me a penny as the 'Tevion' hi-fi/radio/DVD came with all the connecting leads.
This basic method can be applied to almost any digital receiver or TV as long as an audio output is available on it. You can also connect games consoles like our 'Nintendo WII' using a similar method which merely requires a fairly modern TV that has the audi out connectors (most HD, LCD and digital TVs have this). The majority of today's standard DVD players also have the audio out connectors.
To connect a PC using this method you will need a 3.5mm stereo jack to 2 x audios lead; you plug the 3.5mm stereo jack into your speaker output on the sound card of your PC or the headphone socket, and the audio connectors on the other end of the lead into the audi inputs on the hi-fi or amplifier. Please note however that you may need to switch your hi-fi control to auxiliary (aux) for it to work. You can pick one of these leads up from any decent supplier for a few quid, they're not expensive at all; fortunately for me I already had one spare as this is the one lead that didn't come with the hi-fi.
On a similar note: If your TV doesn't have any audio out connectors you can still connect up as above through the headphone socket, if it has one of course. However with the impending national analogue signal shutdown if you don't have at least a digital TV or some other digital receiver connected to the TV through scart you're doomed, because soon you will get no signal on the TV without the right equipment. A digital television or a television with a scart socket will be the minimum requirement, so you will be able to use the methods above anyway.
Who needs to buy a fancy telly when you can get great sound without the expense, just a simple hi-fi or amplifier and a connecting lead or two?
Go for it!
Let me know how you get on.
Thanks for reading!
Showing posts with label mp3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mp3. Show all posts
Monday, 8 August 2011
Friday, 8 July 2011
A brief description of how to make your own karaoke video
By utilising your previously downloaded or created instrumental audio file in a standard (freely available download of course) video creator or editor it is possible to make your own simple karaoke version of the tune.
To make karaoke however you should be sure to only use an instrumental version of the song. To get your instrumental song file you can either use one you already have on your hard-drive or an audio CD, download one from the internet, or use a midi file.
A good and safe way to get a good quality audio mp3 or wav file to use I suggest you take the audio from an online music video; download the selected music video using SpeedBit Video Downloader and then convert or extract the audio section of the video using a suitable converter such as Any Video Converter or Freez flv to mp3 converter, all available as totally free downloads – exactly what you expect from ‘Media Bandit’, free stuff! My 1st media ebook explains exactly how to do this.
Alternatively use a free midi file or one you’ve created yourself using perhaps the method explained briefly in a couple of earlier blog posts (see here and here).
To get free midi files my favourite method is to use VanBasco which gives you access to thousands of totally free midi downloads – they also have a very user-friendly kar player you can grab for free. Once at their site just type the name of the tune you want into the search bar and you will be confronted with a list of available versions of your desired tune, click on the one you want and once directed to the source just right click and select ‘save target as’ to download the midi song to your hard-drive, it only takes a second or so.
Alternatively search for the title of your desired midi tune followed by the suffix mid or midi using a good search engine. Once found right click and ‘save target as’ as mentioned before, or click the download button in some cases.
If your instrumental audio is not already in wav or mp3 format but is in midi format you will in most cases need to convert it to use it with a video creator or editor. To do this I recommend using ‘Switch Audio File converter’, go to http://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html and click on ‘Download the free version’. This will easily convert your midi file to an mp3, wav or almost any format you like.
A good free video editor or creator can easily be found on all recent ‘Windows’ platforms – I think it’s available with ‘Windows XP’ and later versions and is simply called ‘Windows Movie Maker’.
If however you would rather try a different editor or creator or you don’t have ‘Windows Movie Maker’ on your PC then I suggest VideoPad Video Editor from ‘NCH software’, this is actually a free trial version that I have found to be the easiest to use in my opinion and I highly recommend it. The only drawback with this however is that after the trial period it locks you out if you don’t pay for the full version, but you can get around this but I don’t think it is wise to explain how here; please email me at prenterprises2010@gmail.com if you would like to know.
Once you have your video creator or editor and your instrumental audi file you can add background images or video clips, add sequenced lyrics so as the performer knows what to sing, then save it all as a video file on your PC. You can then convert it if you wish to an alternative format for use in your playback equipment, Any Video Converter as mentioned earlier will do this for you.
The basic step-by-step process involves:
Finding or creating your own background images or video clips
Inserting your clips or images into the video creator or editor in the right sequence
Removing or muting any audio in the video clips and then adding your own audio file
Changing the duration of the images or clips to appear in sequence at the right time with the music
Adding the lyrics into the visual part of your video; if you don’t know the lyrics then do a lyric search in Google
Previewing and saving your completed masterpiece karaoke video for later use
Of course you could also record your own singing voice into it if you think you are talented enough. One distinct advantage of a decent free video editor/creator is that if your singing is a bit rough you can always mute or remove it from the finished video.
To make karaoke however you should be sure to only use an instrumental version of the song. To get your instrumental song file you can either use one you already have on your hard-drive or an audio CD, download one from the internet, or use a midi file.
A good and safe way to get a good quality audio mp3 or wav file to use I suggest you take the audio from an online music video; download the selected music video using SpeedBit Video Downloader and then convert or extract the audio section of the video using a suitable converter such as Any Video Converter or Freez flv to mp3 converter, all available as totally free downloads – exactly what you expect from ‘Media Bandit’, free stuff! My 1st media ebook explains exactly how to do this.
Alternatively use a free midi file or one you’ve created yourself using perhaps the method explained briefly in a couple of earlier blog posts (see here and here).
To get free midi files my favourite method is to use VanBasco which gives you access to thousands of totally free midi downloads – they also have a very user-friendly kar player you can grab for free. Once at their site just type the name of the tune you want into the search bar and you will be confronted with a list of available versions of your desired tune, click on the one you want and once directed to the source just right click and select ‘save target as’ to download the midi song to your hard-drive, it only takes a second or so.
Alternatively search for the title of your desired midi tune followed by the suffix mid or midi using a good search engine. Once found right click and ‘save target as’ as mentioned before, or click the download button in some cases.
If your instrumental audio is not already in wav or mp3 format but is in midi format you will in most cases need to convert it to use it with a video creator or editor. To do this I recommend using ‘Switch Audio File converter’, go to http://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html and click on ‘Download the free version’. This will easily convert your midi file to an mp3, wav or almost any format you like.
A good free video editor or creator can easily be found on all recent ‘Windows’ platforms – I think it’s available with ‘Windows XP’ and later versions and is simply called ‘Windows Movie Maker’.
 |
| VideoPad video editor |
Once you have your video creator or editor and your instrumental audi file you can add background images or video clips, add sequenced lyrics so as the performer knows what to sing, then save it all as a video file on your PC. You can then convert it if you wish to an alternative format for use in your playback equipment, Any Video Converter as mentioned earlier will do this for you.
The basic step-by-step process involves:
Inserting your clips or images into the video creator or editor in the right sequence
Removing or muting any audio in the video clips and then adding your own audio file
Changing the duration of the images or clips to appear in sequence at the right time with the music
Adding the lyrics into the visual part of your video; if you don’t know the lyrics then do a lyric search in Google
Previewing and saving your completed masterpiece karaoke video for later use
Of course you could also record your own singing voice into it if you think you are talented enough. One distinct advantage of a decent free video editor/creator is that if your singing is a bit rough you can always mute or remove it from the finished video.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
A suitable alternative method to p2p file sharing, but with less risk
I'm sure you know that you’re at risk from viruses if you use p2p programs for getting hold of your videos, music, pictures, and other files, and although modern anti-virus protection goes a long way to help stop malicious files and programs getting into your system nothing is 100% guaranteed.
So what is the best way to get around the problem? Well here’s one way you can avoid risking it but still get the free music and videos you desire.
I remember spending hours in front of the PC years ago slowly downloading mp3 music (and several viruses also) from ‘Napster’ through a dial up connection.
Thankfully nowadays things have changed for the better; with super fast broadband connection and mega efficient anti-virus software downloading anything has become commonplace because it’s now easier, quicker, and safer.
First though let me briefly explain what p2p is about (just in case you don’t know).
P2p is short for ‘peer to peer’ and basically this means a software program that allows you to connect directly with other p2p users and download or upload files direct from and to the other user without the need of a middle-man, so to speak (for example: ‘winmx‘, ‘limewire‘ etc. but there are many others). It can be likened to having a connection direct to your friends computer without nothing in between, then you can access each others files without anything else getting involved. So effectively if you or the other user have any virus files on their system there’s nothing in between to stop them.
As I mentioned earlier, modern anti-virus protection will in most cases stop any virus entering your system, or
at the very least they can warrn you about any impending viral issues, but like most contraception methods nothing is 100% guaranteed.
So what’s another way?
How about using internet video sites. The biggest and most famous of course is ‘YouTube’ which is owned by ‘Google’ so you know you’re dealing with the big guys; but there are lots of others out there, you just need to sign up (or if for example the site is adult orientated, you just need to confirm you’re over 18 years of age) and you have access to thousands or even millions of free streamed flash videos (known as flv. files). The big advantage for us is that with these sites files are automatically checked for virus before they are permitted on the site (just what we need, safe files).
As a general rule, yes you have to watch these vids on the net, that’s what you’re meant to do! But do you know that with the right software - available totally free through the internet - you can download these videos to your computer, convert them to almost any format (such as ‘mpg’, ‘avi‘, ‘mp4’, ‘3g’ for example), copy only the audio part of the video to use as ‘wav’ or ‘mp3’ music/sound file, or even get a ‘codec’ to use with ‘windows media player’ so that you can actually watch the flash (flv.) streamed video through ‘media player’.
So there you have it, though only briefly; download the vid and save it on your computer, watch it whenever you want (with help from the codec) through ‘media player’, perhaps convert it to dvd or mpg or whatever, or if you like, copy the audio from it and use it as a music file.
Just type: ‘free video downloader’, ‘free flv codec for media player’, ‘free video converter’, ‘free video audio extractor’ or similar into a good search engine.
Alternatively you could purchase my new ebook in which I take you by the hand and guide you through the process one step at a time.
RECENT FOOTNOTE
Unfortunately, due to several reasons it is now not possible to download from 'YouTube' using this method. But if it's music you're after then nowadays it's perhaps best to record from 'Spotify' using any of the FREE audio editing software programs on the net, such as 'Audacity'.
So what is the best way to get around the problem? Well here’s one way you can avoid risking it but still get the free music and videos you desire.
I remember spending hours in front of the PC years ago slowly downloading mp3 music (and several viruses also) from ‘Napster’ through a dial up connection.
Thankfully nowadays things have changed for the better; with super fast broadband connection and mega efficient anti-virus software downloading anything has become commonplace because it’s now easier, quicker, and safer.
First though let me briefly explain what p2p is about (just in case you don’t know).
P2p is short for ‘peer to peer’ and basically this means a software program that allows you to connect directly with other p2p users and download or upload files direct from and to the other user without the need of a middle-man, so to speak (for example: ‘winmx‘, ‘limewire‘ etc. but there are many others). It can be likened to having a connection direct to your friends computer without nothing in between, then you can access each others files without anything else getting involved. So effectively if you or the other user have any virus files on their system there’s nothing in between to stop them.
As I mentioned earlier, modern anti-virus protection will in most cases stop any virus entering your system, or
at the very least they can warrn you about any impending viral issues, but like most contraception methods nothing is 100% guaranteed.
So what’s another way?
How about using internet video sites. The biggest and most famous of course is ‘YouTube’ which is owned by ‘Google’ so you know you’re dealing with the big guys; but there are lots of others out there, you just need to sign up (or if for example the site is adult orientated, you just need to confirm you’re over 18 years of age) and you have access to thousands or even millions of free streamed flash videos (known as flv. files). The big advantage for us is that with these sites files are automatically checked for virus before they are permitted on the site (just what we need, safe files).
As a general rule, yes you have to watch these vids on the net, that’s what you’re meant to do! But do you know that with the right software - available totally free through the internet - you can download these videos to your computer, convert them to almost any format (such as ‘mpg’, ‘avi‘, ‘mp4’, ‘3g’ for example), copy only the audio part of the video to use as ‘wav’ or ‘mp3’ music/sound file, or even get a ‘codec’ to use with ‘windows media player’ so that you can actually watch the flash (flv.) streamed video through ‘media player’.
So there you have it, though only briefly; download the vid and save it on your computer, watch it whenever you want (with help from the codec) through ‘media player’, perhaps convert it to dvd or mpg or whatever, or if you like, copy the audio from it and use it as a music file.
Just type: ‘free video downloader’, ‘free flv codec for media player’, ‘free video converter’, ‘free video audio extractor’ or similar into a good search engine.
Alternatively you could purchase my new ebook in which I take you by the hand and guide you through the process one step at a time.
RECENT FOOTNOTE
Unfortunately, due to several reasons it is now not possible to download from 'YouTube' using this method. But if it's music you're after then nowadays it's perhaps best to record from 'Spotify' using any of the FREE audio editing software programs on the net, such as 'Audacity'.
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