AnotherWorld - View topic - The Birthday Surprise, For You From Me - The *Fans* Board - Free Message Board Hosting by FreePowerBoards.com

And now, the birthday surprise!

Well, here we are: February 27, 2009...also known as my 32nd birthday. The day that I promised to unveil, announce, whatever you want to call it, the surprise that I've been working on all month.

Since it *is* my birthday, I hope you'll indulge me and let me get a little bit sappy and sentimental here, because as always, there's a story here. (Occupational hazard of someone who loves writing as much as I do: I literally do see a story in everything.)

A few of you have asked, "It's YOUR birthday, Amy, so why are YOU giving US the gifts?"

The answer is simple and complex all at the same time.

I love birthdays. Always have. And the birthday wish is very important to me, and always has been. Every year, from the age of 5 to the age of 16 as I recall, my birthday wish was the same: I wish I could make some real, true friends that I could share everything about my life with, and that I'd be enough for exactly the way that I am, without having to try to be someone I'm not and never could be.,I didn't put it in those exact words as I was growing up, but every year, my wish was for real, true friends...and every year, that wish didn't come true. So as the years went by, I resigned myself to getting through life without ever knowing what it would be like to really have friends, or to really be a friend, to be someone that people wanted around, to have people that thought I was nice or funny or sweet or anything good. I was a painfully shy child and teenager, and my shyness was always mistaken for arrogance, and when people think you're arrogant, at least where I'm from, they don't treat you very nicely.

By the time I was in my 20s, and I lost the best and only true friend I'd ever had, my grandma, who passed away four years ago last December, I figured I was destined for the life of a loner. What I had to give, no one here wanted. What I enjoy, no one else thought was interesting or fun.

And then I met all of you (except Sue), because of AW. While that remains, to this day, the primary interest we all share, I have found that, contrary to what I was told all my life, there ARE other people out there who like the things that I like, who appreciate a funny episode of Wings, Everybody Loves Raymond, or The Dick Van Dyke Show, or other, similar shows, and a good song by Nickelback, Lifehouse, Michael Buble, Josh Groban, or any of dozens of other artists or groups; who still love the Muppets and OLD SCHOOL (pre-Elmo) Sesame Street, and the REAL Disney, like Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid; who good-naturedly put up with me when I cannot stop myself from raving about my celebrity crush, Jason Segel, best known for his role as Marshall Eriksen on CBS's How I Met Your Mother; and who encourage me to be exactly who I am, and who like me just for being that person.

And so, although I am the birthday girl, you all get the surprise because you, my real, true friends, are a gift to me every single day, with your friendship, your encouragement, being able to laugh with you and cry with you and get ticked off with you or vent about certain pug-nosed interlopers who tried to destroy Cass and Frankie in 1991 and who, at the mere mention of the name of said pug-nosed interloper, my back teeth start grinding of their own accord. You let me share the things that are going on in my life, in my world, whether it's something as wonderful as a birthday, something as frustrating as the job roller coaster I've been on for the past year, or something that fills me with as much disbelief as the parade of Jerry Springer show contenders my youngest brother has dated. (It's been three months since the last one. He's actually with a nice girl now. It's been great not having that particular drama going on, let me tell you!) And in return, you lift me up when I'm down, you listen when I'm frustrated or upset, and you let me into your lives and let me know what's going on in your worlds, and let me share in your joys and try to lift your spirits when you're down. Thanks to you, I not only know what it really means to HAVE friends, but I know what it really means to BE a friend...and for most of my life, I thought I'd never know what either of those experiences were like. I am so incredibly blessed to have each of you in my life, and I am thankful for you and for your friendship every single day. And I just wanted you all to know that.

Now for the surprise, which is in three parts.

I didn't do this by myself. The majority of the credit actually belongs to my friend Sue, my computer guru and guide, mistress (as in the female form of "master") of all things computer-related and technical.

When HULU gave us back the 1991 episodes, I said that I would figure out a way to save the HULU episodes, like we were able to save the AOL episodes before AOL pulled a SoapNOT. I haven't mentioned it in quite a while, because Sue and I have been working on it for almost a month.

And what spurred us into action was you, Nettie--specifically, your announcement that the HULU episodes have expiration dates. As soon as I saw you had posted that, my first thought was, "Oh, man, I gotta get crackin' here, or else they'll delete the end of Anne's run as Vicky and Marley, and Jenna's graduation party, and the rest of the stuff that I would want to see from then!"

The day that I found out about the expiration dates from Nettie's post at the board, I IM'ed Sue and told her, "We have a deadline now," and explained what the deadline was for and when it was.

I think it took about...probably three weeks altogether, because we had technical difficulties, but Sue kept at it, and I'll never be able to thank you enough for that, Sue, because I know that AW is not your show, but you helped crack the mysteries of Replay Media Catcher, you explained them to me in a form that I was finally able to understand, AND you even wrote instructions on how to download it for free, and then how to use it to save the full episodes. And when my head was about to explode and I said that I needed to step back for a day and regroup because it was starting to remind me of every math class I ever took, you never once lost patience with me even when I lost patience with myself. We muddled through it, and by the next night, we had it figured out. And by the time we figured it out, we were into early February, so after I was sure that I was doing it right, I decided to share this with everyone on my birthday as a way of celebrating the day.

So that's part 1 of the surprise: at the bottom of this e-mail will be the step-by-step installation instructions AND the step-by-step usage instructions for Replay Media Catcher (RMC), which records the full episodes of AW from HULU, without commercials, and you don't even have to let the episode play out in order for the recording to take. Just let it get started, and you can close out that window before the opening theme song plays. So anyone who wants to now has the option to save HULU episodes in full to their own computers.

But I decided not to stop there.

Part 2 of the surprise is related to the YouTube videos of mine that were yanked because of the music. I found another site to host them that's like YouTube. The site is called Vimeo. I have uploaded all of the AW videos I had at YouTube that were yanked, and they are now available at my Vimeo page. I'm hoping to eventually post all of my videos with music over there, but I'll continue to post my future AW videos at YouTube as well.

Part 3 of the surprise is the rest of what is at my Vimeo page. I don't have the time to post everything, but I will post some of the scenes from the HULU episodes that were not on Janie's tapes. I have taken to calling the Vimeo "The Annex" in my mind, because it's AW scenes, but because of all the YouTube crackdowns, I don't want to post them there for fear they'll suspend my entire account which, after 2 1/2 years and over 1700 videos and clips, most of which are AW, would break my heart.

And at Vimeo, the clips and videos are available for download so you can save them directly to your computer and/or burn them onto a DVD or CD. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page when you play any given clip or video, and in the far right corner at the bottom will be a blue hyperlink that you can click on to download that particular clip or video and save it. So Suzanne, this is what I meant when I said there was one part that I hoped you would really like: you'll be able to download the scenes of Anne as Vicky and Marley from May and June of '91 that you don't already have. And Byron, you'll get to see some 1991 Iris that you haven't seen. And those of you who are not able to access HULU because of computer problems, or because you live somewhere other than the U.S., you can still see some of what's up there at The Annex (my Vimeo page). Hopefully they won't pull the rug out from under me! I've been posting there for a week, and they haven't pulled anything yet.

I'll be adding clips to The Annex as time allows, a few each week, because the YouTube posts of Janie's tapes will always be my first priority. I will continue posting the 1992 and we're about ready to head into 1993 scenes I get from her, and I will also continue telling Cass and Frankie's story and posting their 1990 scenes. YouTube will come first with me always; Janie's tapes and my tapes of Cass and Frankie from 1990 will always come first with me. The Annex will be a close second, and contain only HULU scenes. As for what you'll be seeing over there, it'll be about like what you see at my YouTube channel: Dean and Jenna, D&M stuff, Ryan and Anne's Vicky, Lucas and Felicia, Ryan and Carl, Jake and Judi's Paulina, Rachel and the Corys (including Iris and Jamie and Ada), Jamie and Anne's Marley, some John and Sharlene. Because of the emotional devastation (to me) of Cass and Frankie's story in the summer of 1991 (I survived it once, and I saw everything, but I just honestly do not have it in me to go through it again), I will NOT be posting any clips of them at The Annex (Vimeo) unless it's a group scene that I didn't post at YouTube (where they're with Ryan, Rachel, Sharlene and John, Dean, etc.), or something that Janie didn't have, such as when they and Ryan are looking for Sharlene after she disappears in November 1991 and they're on the dock when the yacht blows up with Sharlene on board, according to Eddie's site. That's the only thing I can think of from '91 off the top of my head that Janie didn't have, and everything else, like when Cass came back from California and told Frankie he wanted her back, and Jamaican Me Crazy and everything that came after that, I've already posted at YouTube. So you won't see much of Cass and Frankie at The Annex for a while, but there will be plenty of other 1991 AW stuff there.

Here's the link to my Vimeo page (or as I call it, The Annex):

http://vimeo.com/user1327155/videos/all

I already have some clips up there from May 1991 episodes of AW, as well as all of the following videos, which YouTube yanked:

Frankie Frame: You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)

Rachel and the Corys After Mac's Death: "Landslide"

Jenna Norris and Dean Frame: "For All Time"

An Another World Christmas, 1989-1990: "Better Days"

Anne Heche as Vicky Hudson & Marley Love: "You're Beautiful"

Marley Love and Jamie Frame: "Absence of Fear"

Michael and Donna Hudson: "Goodbye My Lover"

Matthew Cory: "American Boy"

Joey Perrini and Kit Halloway: "Starting Over Again"

(And I have one How I Met Your Mother video there also, because YouTube rejected it before it could even upload because of the song I chose.)

Okay, I think that's everything. If anyone has any questions or technical difficulties with Replay Media Catcher, let me know, and between Sue and me (although it will more likely be her), we'll do our best to get everything straightened out and working right for you. The instructions for downloading RMC and the instructions for recording episodes of AW from HULU with RMC will be below my name.

I hope you all like this surprise.

Amy

INSTRUCTIONS:

Download and Install Replay Media Catcher - Read instructions completely before installing
Instructions are for Windows XP but can be modified for Vista and Mac
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1-- First download Replay Media Catcher (RMC). Here is the link.

http://rapidshare.com/files/181267204/Replay_Media_Catcher_v3.0.zip.html

Click the Free user button. It'll take you to a page with a countdown clock. Wait till the
countdown is over and the big blue button that says Download appears. Click the Download button.
Then click Save and save it in a place you know where it is, like your desktop.

2-- Go to the desktop or wherever you downloaded RMC to. Select it and virus scan the zipped file called ReplayMediaCapture. There should be no viruses detected but it is always wise to virus scan anything you download to be on the safe side.

3-- After the virus scan, you need to unzip ReplayMediaCapture.
Right click ReplayMediaCapture-->Extract All-->Next-->Next-->Finish. A window will now pop up with a folder that says Replay_Media_Catcher_v3.0. Double click that folder.

4-- Inside the Replay_Media_Catcher_v3.0 folder there is an icon called RCATSetup. Double click it.
This starts the Replay Media Capture installation. If you get a security warning ask if you want to run this file, say run. Follow onscreen instructions. This is what you should be clicking:

Next-->I agree to the TOS and click Next-->leave install Path what RMC suggests-->leave shorcut folder
the same name and click Next-->click Next again-->

5-- When RMC is fnished installing DO NOT click Launch Now. Click Exit.

6-- This is an important step so follow carefully. You need to go back into the Replay Media Capture folder. In this folder you will see a blue icon with a butterfly catcher. This icon is named MediaCatcher. You need to COPY this blue icon. Select it and Edit-->Copy. Nothing will happen but the icon (it's really an exe file) will be copied to Microsoft's clipboard. The next will show that you copied correctly.

7-- After copying the MediaCatcher in the last step you need to navigate to the Replay Media Catcher folder to paste what you just copied.
Double click My Computer-->double click Local Disk C-->Program Files--> Replay Media Catcher. The direct path should be C:\Program Files\Replay Media Catcher.

Once you are in C:\Program Files\Replay Media Catcher you need to paste that MediaCatch icon that you copied in step 6. Edit--Paste. You will see a window pop up asking if you want to replace the existing file. Say Yes. If you do not get a window pop then you failed to copy the icon in step 6 correctly. Go back and do step 6 again to make sure you've copied.

After you've replaced the file you can exit out of the C:\Program Files\Replay Media Catcher

8-- Go back to your Replay Media Catcher folder and double click the ahcu file (looks like a paper with blue falling blocks).
This will install the registration code to activate RMC. You'll see a message saying
"Been successfully added to the registry".

9-- Go to desktop and double click Replay Media Catcher.

Another World Hulu Recording Instruction
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1- Start Replay Media Catcher (RMC) first before going to the Hulu.com site. Click the green button to start the recording. It's important to do this step first so Replay Media Catcher will be able to catch the URL of the video you want to record.

2- Go to http://www.hulu.com/another-world and select the video you want. RMC will then "catch"the video URL. RMC is great because it will catch the video ads seperately, so your AW video will be one whole episode without any commericals. As the video is played on Hulu, RMC will capture the commerical ads when they come on the screen. You'll be able to tell which videos are ads and which are AW because AW will be the biggest file. You can delete the commercial ads and keep the AW video.

Another thing. You do NOT have to be watching the video for RMC to capture the whole episode.You can stop/pause the video on Hulu.com and RMC will continue capturing the video. You can exit out of the tab window of Hulu, go to another website, or even close Firefox completely. As long as RMC is recording and has captured the URL of the video you want it will continue capturing the video till the video ends or you click Stop Recording in RMC.

3- After you've captured the video(s) you want go into the My Documents folder and then go into the My Recordings folder. This is the default storage location for RMC. You can change the storage location in RMC by clicking Tools/Settings/Media Capture Storage Directory. In the folder where your captures are stored you are going to see a bunch of files. Most of the files will be FLV files. When you installed RMC the program also installed a Flash Video Player. You might already have a Flash Video Player installed, but RMC installs another one, so you are covered with being able to see your captured videos. Just double click the file to start the video. You might also see something in your recordings folder that says "aa1". This is a Shockwave Flash Object. It's more likely than
not the hulu "player" that you see on the website. You do not need this "aa1" file. Delete it.

In your My Recordings folder look for the largest size file. The AW file size will be in the
neighborhood of 230,000KB give or take a few KB. Commerical ads will be significantly smaller. When in doubt, just double click the file and play it and you'll see what the file is. Delete all commecial ads.

The last thing you need to do is rename the file name. I suggest renaming the file name to something that describes the file. For example, if I capture AW June 12, 1991 I would rename it, AW-June-12-1991. This way I know that the video is Another world and I know the date of the episode.

Or if you want to have the folder AlphaNumeric when you View/List the folder one could name the file 06-12-1991 or 06-12-91. This way when you look at the files in the folder the files are in numerical order.

Tip: As someone who captures clips of a soap, I've found it helpful to create a main Folder and give it a special name. Let's use Another World as the main folder name. Then within the main folder called Another World I create another folder and name it the year. Let's call it 1991. Then within the folder 1991 I would create a folder and call that folder the month. Let's call it June. Then within that folder I would place all my June episodes. I would place the 06-12-91 file inside the June folder, which is inside of the 1991 folder, which is inside of the Another World folder.

If you've followed my instructions correctly, the actual file directory at the top should look
something like this (depending on where you've created the Another World folder):

C:\Another World\1991\June\

---To create a folder right click then click New then Click Folder. The file name New Folder will be highlighted. Go ahead and change New Folder to another name.

---To rename a folder already created select the folder you want to rename (do not double click folder) and right click the folder and scroll down to rename.

4- Most AW videos will average around 230MB or so. That means around 20 AW episodes, give or take, will fit on one 4.7GB DVD. As you capture videos watch your Free Space on your Hard Drive to make sure you still have plenty of room to continue capturing. If you're capturing to keep, it's a good idea to burn to CDs or DVDs so you avoid Murphy's Law (google it).

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Additional note
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If you like, you can experiment with the Hi Resolution on Hulu. I guess the clips are supposed to be better quality, but keep in mind the Hi Resolution clips will be a bigger file size.
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Made by Dean_FrankieCass_addict