Branch in Visual sourcesafe

Amount all those version control system, visual source safe is not the best one for sure.
And maybe the worst…but company policy, so…
No matter what you are developing, branching will come to your face one day.
It is not that straight forward for roll-back and branching in VSS.

In the Visual SourceSafe Explorer, right-click on the project that you want to branch. Then Select Show History.
In the Project History dialog box, select the recursive option if all subprojects and their files are wanted. Click OK.
Select the version you want to branch, and click the Share button. Select the branch after share on the lower left.
Select the project in which you want to create the new branch. Click OK.
In the Share dialog box, type the name you want to give to the new branch and
check the recursive checkbox if you want to branch subprojects. Click OK.

How to Rip DVD in for idiot like me

I have evaluate a few popular dvd ripping / transcoding softwares.
Most of them are free.

First thing first, there are some imformation you better know.
The resolution and the frame per second.
Optionally, the audio codec.
You can get these information by using a free software MediaInfo

Then you can pick one of these software to do the ripping.
Next Video Converter
This one is the easiest to use amount all there. Just choose file, choose codec, start.
But this one is not free software. It claim you can use its full features in evaluation version.
The catch is, you can only convert 1hr in 1 day. That is no DVD can be rip in one file.
Any DVD Converter
This one is very popular software recommended by many people from forums.
A little bit more difficult than Next Video Converter but still point and click easy.
With no limitation and free.
MediaCoder
This one is free and the most power amount these three softwares.
The trade off is, this one is not easy to use. I am going to walkthrough MediaCoder.

Run MediaCoder, press the add file icon on the upper left. Choose the dvd.
There are many files in a dvd. Usually there will be a VTS_01_0.IFO
with not much file size and many .VOB with bigger file size. Choose the .IFO.
Then there are many tab windows on the lower left.
We are going through them one by one.
Generic tab – output folder and etc, nothing special.
Video tab – this one is very important. We choose our video codec here.
I usually use H.264 since it is High quality video implementation of Mpeg-4.
And it is very popular choice. Then choose Bitrate-based mode. This variable is responsible for the file size and which will affect the video quality. Storage space is cheap so I use 1024, you may use any rate you like. Then on the right, there is a x264 tab. Profile select high, predictor frames 6, Motion Est. Mode Hexagonal, Range 16, B-Frames 5, subpel refinement 7.
Audio tab – select Nero Encoder, on the right Nero Encoder tab, select HE-ACC V2, CBR, 192 kbps.
Container tab – container use AVI
Picture tab – frame rate 30, click ‘effect’, will pop up a dialog, this one is important, De-interlacce choose YADIF, then you can preview the outcome. Click ok when finished.
Subtitle tab – set an ID.

This is it. Click start and lay back.