S&M meaning.. Software & Movies. Movies in this case being a TV show DVDrip of Wonderfalls I found, though, called Wonderfalls. Unintentional double-header of Wonderness today!
Software Review
I just downloaded and installed this handy little (and free, for today) converter called Wondershare Video To Flash Encoder (which is free for just today from Giveaway of the Day) that does pretty much that. It turns your video files (MPEG, AVI, MOV, WMV, MP4, TS, TP and TRP) to SWF, FLV, EXE (executable) or SCR (screensaver). I got it pretty much just for the FLV option and haven’t tried anything else.
I’ve been largely pleased with it so far. I am not one for wanting super sharp quality on videos, as long as the audio is clean and the video isn’t overly pixellated. I decided to test the WVTFE out on a rip I have of the Wonderfalls Season 1 DVD, and it turned my episode 1 divx file from 358mb into a 147mb FLV. Now instead of backing them up on CDR at two-per-disc, I can fit four, without a significant loss of quality to a degree that’d make me cringe. By comparison, Vista’s stock Windows Movie Maker would turn it into a 217mb WMV. Below are a few screenshots of the original vs. the FLV-encoded versions.
Looks like I’ll be going on an encoding spree in the coming weeks, compressing all of my videos ^_^
Movie/Video Review
Wonderfalls is a nice show, and is created by the same gent who manufactured my favorite show of all time, Dead Like Me. The scene transitions, the tone and actual sound of the main voice-overing/starring character, the bored-silly backup characters, the general cinematography, and overall feel for the show is nearly identical to Dead Like Me, but is only similarly quirky so far.
Basically it’s a Niagra Falls trinket shop grunt employee that is nudged quite suddenly into the world of inanimate objects that talk to her and tell her things to do. She’s initially resistant to the idea, but slowly comes around to it. Not quite as sudden as getting killed by a falling toilet seat (though, that wasn’t very sudden either, there was a lengthy buildup to it), but still appropriately abrupt.
There’s not nearly as much swearing in this one as DLM, but the feel is still quite similar and the chemistry between characters is still that “distant but meh-whatever” kind of chemistry that DLM began with. Having only seen the first few so far, I hope I’m not being fooled into believing one of the characters is different in the pilot than he is in the rest of the show, like how a bright and chipper Mandy Pitinkin is in DLM’s pilot, but is instead a grumpy old sourpuss (in a good way) for the rest of the show.
Either way, I anticipate a good season’s worth.
