I have a large amount of TV recordings made with a DVB tv-card. The files are .mpg and in most cases 2+ GB in size. The collection is large enough for me to need a good catalog system. I have a text index but recently got the idea of also making a contact sheet image for each video. By contact sheet I mean one image which contains a mosaic of many small thumbnail images from different parts of the video file. That provides a quick visual overview of the video.

I've recently made a few such contact sheets through a many-steps-process: I manually make screenshots in the application I use to also trim the video (commercial breaks and so on) before archiving it. After that, I use ACDSee to create a contact sheet out of the images.

Now I'm searching for a way to automate contact sheet creation from videos into a simple batch process.

So I want an application with these features:

1. read a video file and make screencaps
 - formats to handle: .mpg and ideally other formats like xvid .avi, .wmv ...
 - interval screencaps: I want a coherent contact sheet format and so want a sure way to get at least X number of screencaps (let's say 30) from any video regardless of it's length. So a "screencap every N seconds" setting might need to be complemented by a "screencap at every 1/N time segment of video".
 - timestamped screencaps: add a (customizable) timestamp to each screencap
(I understand that many automatic screenshots will be less useful than those taken manually but if I make many screencaps some of them will probably still give a good overview of the video.)

2. make contact sheet from screencaps
 - add a user customizable title/header for the contact sheet. Allow variables in header. Example: "$filename -- $year-$month-$day"
 - customizability for the amount of thumbnails, number os rows/lines, size of thumbnails, borders, background ...

3. saving
 - automatically save the generated contact sheet to some preset folder. Allow variables in filename just like for header/title above.
 
4. batch capabilities
 - run 1-3 over a set files/folders.
 - Or at the very least, allow complete command line control so that users can make external scripts to get such batch capabilities.
4 is important for me since I don't have the time to manually or even semi-manually make contact sheets for all older videos.

Can anyone recommend a tool that does all that? Or something that comes close? All suggestions are welcome!

Some people love physics-based games.. They don't do anything special for me, but here's a really nice simple one that's quite enjoyable:

http://armorgames.co...1871/totem-destroyer

A very interesting article on bit-tech.net on using more and more memory on one's system.

• http://www.bit-tech....more-memory-better/1

Well, it seems that CamSpace, http://www.camspace.com, is in Beta3 mode and they sent out invites to the people that signed up (I never got mine, though. Anyone got theirs?).  Here's three videos of someone trying to use CamSpace to emulate a mouse: http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=0AYnNzr_uO4, http://www.youtube.c...jlrA&feature=related, http://www.youtube.c...HUEI&feature=related and here is a video of someone using it on Google Earth type application: http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=9xoSS5QiyX4. Note that these videos appear to be from people who have actually gotten copies of the program and are not promotional videos.

Some of you may remember the WebCam Signature program I submitted for the DC Programming Contest that contained an experimental webcam mouse mode (http://webcamsignature.wikidot.com). From coding that program and watching these videos, I feel that I can provide some useful information for people that haven't gotten an invite yet.

One of the best security applications just got better. And it's still free!

Notable changes include support for multicore processors, full system drive encryption and the ability to run a hidden operating system. The mind boggles...

From the website:

We are pleased to announce that TrueCrypt 6.0 has been released.

This version introduces parallelized encryption and decryption on multi-core processors (or multi-processor systems). Increase in encryption/decryption speed is directly proportional to the number of cores and/or processors. For example, on a quad-core processor, encryption and decryption is four times faster than on a single-core processor with equivalent specifications [view benchmark results].

This version also introduces the ability to create and run an encrypted hidden operating system whose existence is impossible to prove (provided that certain guidelines are followed), the ability to encrypt an entire system drive even if it contains extended partitions, a new volume format that increases reliability, performance and expandability, and more.
For more information, please see: http://www.truecrypt...s/?s=version-history

http://www.truecrypt.org

Espresso is a powerful permissions-based email client designed to completely eliminate spam as you define it from your Inbox.

Espresso's unique email filtering system is based on common sense. Everyone knows from whom they want to receive email. Anyone else who sends you messages is sending you junk, otherwise known as spam. Espresso does not filter junk. It only looks for messages you want to receive based on simple, yet powerful rules. Using a number of options available, you decide how to handle messages from unknown senders.