Okay, well, one problem... two maybe... sorted.

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Sometimes someone lands a notion on my desk that looks really good.  And, it is a great notion.  The thing is, once you have a way to fix something, you then have to dig into what all else is around the problem(s) and solution(s) and hope you have the knowledge, skill, ability (for me a very deep thing but something that can be incredible or nonexistent), whether your tech will hold, you have enough tools or money, etc.  Nothing is as easy as giving men fire, then saying 'good luck with that'.  Heh.  Still, sometimes I can make it through.

This time the notion regarded downloading videos.  Oh, pulling the program down, installing it, and such, was a breeze.  I then went to download a test video and...  the program went Greek on me.  No, I am familiar with some of the terms.  Not familiar with what they mean, some of them are branded such as with Apple video and audio formats, others are things I have seen.  None of it made sense.  So, just figuring out what format to pull something down and then store it into was... quite a shock.

After a bit of looking around, reading here and there (often reading writers who ramble more than even I do!), I found a couple of pages of information that was laid out as if it was meant to actually guide.  The one that keeps popping as the preferred general use format, for me, is MKV.  While I do have an Apple Ipod, a small waterproof one for swimming, first I have never been able to get the Apple Store to work on this particular computer, second I wouldn't go with Apple generally, and finally that Ipod doesn't support video.  No, for pc use, MKV makes sense for me. 

Okay, that bad hair day figured out, I went to play the thing.  What do you mean I have to... prove the legitimacy of the OS to get a player?  Fine.  So I do that, then get the player, then...  For only $40, this will play even (probably) the format you wish to view?  So, after all that, the machine still won't play.  Bullocks on $40 though.  So I begin my search for a player that will play the video (which I pulled down in mp4, since I didn't know and wanted to at least test).

After a bit of searching, I landed on the downloader for PotPlayer.  No, I don't like the name.  Still, this software device has some serious bona fides.  After making snap decisions, while downloading, about things not in my area of knowledge, I got the thing up and... It played the download with nary a hitch.  I'll have to pull somethings down in the MKV format, and check that.  There is still a ways to go.  I couldn't easily find how to put the video onto full screen, and there are some other things I would like to figure out, but... not bad for a non-on-day.

I have more tinkering to do.  I will probably want to buy memory cards, too, as I don't trust this machine I am using, at all.  Days or weeks of downloads could be disappeared on it, one way or another, in moments or less.  This is NOT my machine, it is not secure, and it doesn't function well.  But it is what I have.  So I use it.  Never mind, at least I got something done today.

Later.