RAM: 8GB or 16GB for gaming/light video editing

[Dragontology]

Supernatural sure does bring people back a lot, and in weird ways. I just caught up with that. Marathonned it this whole year. They really seem to be playing to the ladies, first adding Cass, then Crowley. But I had an interesting reason for watching it. Long story short, I caught part of an episode on TV I really thought was Supernatural but didn't know. So I started watching and got hooked. Caught up and found out that episode wasn't in Supernatural's run. So the mystery continues.

I've been a Steam member almost since the beginning. My first computer's motherboard came with a download for Half-Life 2. I had to register with Steam to get it, so I did. Computer couldn't run it. So I uninstalled Steam. Six or seven years later, I had just built the current computer, and I got Skyrim on sale. It was my third game—I caught Portal 1 on a one-day giveaway. Now I have about 140 games on Steam. I've had a couple gifted to me on forums, and I've gifted a lot more myself. I get the Humble Bundles (well, some of them) and give away duplicates, and games I don't want. Some forums have a problem with this, so I like to make sure before I start offering. As a personal rule for myself, I offer no game that is currently in a Humble Bundle. Get your own, support charity, you know. After the bundle's over? Open season. If it's not allowed here, that's cool. Do you know if they have a rule here?

For me, Steam kinda snuck in as the de facto PC gaming platform for me. It used to trip over its own SteamGuard because of my DSL (Dynamic IP) but they've since fixed that. I've turned on family sharing so my wife can play, though she prefers consoles and their exclusives. Rockband 3 on the Xbox 360, and Pokemon X on the 3DS. For me, a second DRM service is redundant and unnecessary. For the Humble Origin Bundle, the only game I was interested in was Burnout Paradise, and that had a Steam key, so I just activated it there. And Mirror's Edge but I already owned it. So I don't hate Origin. Not really. Just don't want to make another online gaming profile, have my games in a second place.

I've used the default Handbrake profile for 720p (downsampling from 1080p) and the configuration I have doubled, almost tripled the transcoding time. If you Google for Handbrake settings and get into the video enthusiast forms, they post their setups. One guy had a pretty good story about how his was the best and I went with that. If I were a serious YouTuber/game commentator, I'd probably research what each setting does and experiment to get my own settings. But what I have works well.

 

[PP Mguire]

I've followed the series since the beginning. Depending on what they do with the season premier the last season will probably be my last.

No piracy talk, but I'm sure all of us have tossed and swapped bundle items. 3/4 of my Steam and Origin are freebies from bundles honestly.

I still don't like Steam or digital distribution because you don't technically own games, you lease them. When I buy a game, if something happens to my account, I get banned, something happens to the servers, insert whatever scenario here my hard cash is gone. When I have a physical copy this doesn't happen. I would more than likely need a no cd crack because of modern DRM, but I still own the game. This goes for all distribution like this, including the no DRM GoG which the name of eludes me. Steam is convenient because I can keep all my games installed through each Windows format, but that is at a cost. I tread lightly when I do things with Steam because I don't want to risk getting my account banned for whatever reason.

For us amateurs, the only settings you need to mess with is the constant quality bar. The higher the number, the lower the quality and lower the file size. I have since moved to Shadowplay for my game recording though so I don't use Handbrake much anymore.

 

[Dragontology]

Yeah, I was a little disappointed, shortly after Season 9 ended, they said they wrapped up one arc but have set the series up to where it could run for just one more or ten more. I hope it doesn't go on much longer. I think after Season 5, if they'd quit there, they'd have had a good run and the series would probably be better for it, though I really like Crowley.

I'm with you on no piracy, 100%. Are you saying the board's policy is that sharing bundle items = piracy? If so, I respectfully disagree, but will abide by the rules. I mean, I disagree with the board about emulation, but again, rules are rules, they're there for a reason, etc. so I won't discuss it here.

Steam is what it is, leasing instead of buying, but they're really not going to ban you unless you ask for it, I think. People know selling Steam accounts is against the rules, but they try it anyway. They know the risks. Same with cheating in multiplayer games. I think people who do that know of the possible consequences, but consider it a low risk to get ahead in a game.

If you're willing to use a no CD crack to play games you legitimately own, would it be such a stretch to "pirate" a game that you bought on Steam? In both cases, you bought the game and legitimately own it.

In any case, I factor that in when I buy on Steam, and never pay full price.

Consoles are just as bad. I don't even know or want to know how much we spent on the Rockband games on the Xbox 360. Rockband Special Edition (game, wired guitar, wired drum set, wired mic, powered USB hub, drum sticks, stickers), Rockband 2 Special Edition (game, wireless guitar, wireless drum set, wired mic, drum sticks, stickers), Rockband 3, Lego Rockband, one Country pack, one Classic Rock pack, The Beatles Rockband, and so many songs that all told we have over 1300 of them. Microsoft and Harmonix: LOL no backward compatibility with the Xbox One or getting your stuff to the new console, hope your 360 has long life! Surely it will last as long as the NES and others...! ....Yeah. Do we own that? Maybe. I don't know. Way I see it, you buy a game, you play it, that's it, nobody owes anybody anything, if you play it again that's cool, you bought it. If they put it on another system and you buy it there, they're not cheating you, it's a new experience. Supposedly. I'm not gonna lose too much sleep over it.

 

[PP Mguire]

No piracy, as in don't talk about pirated content. Humble bundles and Steam deals or whatever are perfectly legit. Anything illegal is not allowed. Emulation is against the rules simply because 99% of the people emulating will download their games which is illegal. Emulation is legal to an extent, but the topic of emulating can bring up conversation about torrented material so they just snap it at the knees by not allowing discussion of emulation.

Things can still happen, like Steam getting hacked or a bug goes through the system where certain accounts can get banned. Luck of the draw type deals, but they do happen and you can wind up losing a few hundred bucks or more worth of games you can't get back.

No cd cracks are technically legally, and making copies of games you own is also legal, but pirating is illegal regardless if you own the material (rather file sharing copyrighted content is illegal). I'm not saying I don't do it, but the discussion can go the wrong way in the eyes of mods.

I'm not a huge fan of consoles but I do own some.