A little software designed to assist you in your Word Challenge, Word Feud, Scrabble games :)

Vampiric Word Challenge Challenger 1.0 -

This program requires the latest version of Microsoft .NET Framework
http://www.microsoft.com/net/

Instructions:

1. Click the browse button and select the included dictionary file en-US.txt, or load your own dictionary file.

2. Type the letters you are given into the Input textbox, and words containing the letters you typed will appear automatically in the textboxes below.

Helpful Tips:

1. Configure the Min textbox for optimal performance. For example, Word Challenge increases time for 4 letter words and above only so it will be best to set Min Letters to 4.

2. Configure Lengths textbox to assign word lengths for any of the 4 output textboxes. This allows you to generate anagrams for any word length you desire. The default 3-6 letter words are optimal for Word Challenge.

A good complement to the WDTV Image Grabber. Useful for deciding what movie to watch on the computer, or to see how each wd_tv.jpg looks like.

WDTV Image Viewer 1.0 -

This program requires the latest version of Microsoft .NET Framework
http://www.microsoft.com/net/

Instructions

1. Press the Browse button to choose the directory to use.
2. Click on a folder name on the left pane to view the image. Image will display on the right pane.
3. Change image size to proportionally resize the window.

This application retrieves movie content from The Movie Db (http://www.themoviedb.org) and generates wd_tv.jpg, wd_tv.txt (optionally), and folder.jpg files in your movie directories. These directories, when read by the Western Digital WD TV, will display a full 1280x720px background image, a 180x240px or 120x180px thumbnail, and movie information instead of the generic WDTV movie thumbnail and background image. I use my application with the LaurentG.app.bin found on the WDTV Forums, but it may work with other mods due to the generic naming scheme.

WDTV Image Grabber 2.9.9.3 -

This program requires the latest version of Microsoft .NET Framework
http://www.microsoft.com/net/

Thanks to Tony at nguyengraphics.com for his excellent Revamped design!

Please consider donating through Paypal if you liked this program!

Visit the WDTVForums!

Important Notes:

Custom Movie Sheet Builder app - Builds a single movie sheet and folder.jpg from scratch.
Mass Folder Renamer - Cleans up folder names in your movie directory (ex. the.dark.knight.[2008]-DVDRIP   ->  The Dark Knight), includes a demo mode to test it out first.
Each movie needs to be contained within a directory named after a movie (otherwise, have an info.txt or .nfo file in the folder containing the IMDB ID).
The generated files will be automatically placed into each directory.

Folder structure:

If you configure the folder D:\movies\ in the WDTV Image Grabber program, movie directories should be like:

D:\movies\300\
D:\movies\The Bourne Identity\
D:\movies\The Dark Knight\

Instructions:

1. Select Movie Directory (Your folder containing the movie directories).
2. Press Generate! button.
3. The left box will populate with movie names grabbed from directory name. The right box will show Movie Name if the movie was found.
4. Once retrieval has finished, you can compare the boxes to find out if there are any movies it couldn't find.

This application generates:

wd_tv.jpg = a 1280x720 px jpeg which becomes a backdrop in WDTV. This file now has a large poster and movie information text written it.
folder.jpg = a 180x240 px jpeg which becomes a thumbnail in WDTV
wd_tv.txt = a text file displaying movie information (optionally)

How to have the program use your own movie information (optional):

Create edit.txt file in the movie directory and replace the following information within the double quotes as needed. If a line is missing, the program will use information from the online database instead.

Title=<"300">
Year=<"2006">
Categories=<"Action, Adventure, Fantasy, History">
Runtime=<"117">
Budget=<"65000000">
Revenue=<"422610419">
Rating=<"5.7">
Type=<"movie">
Director=<"Zack Snyder">
Cast=<"Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West">
Overview=<"Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel">

Changelog

4/15/2011 - Version 2.9.9.3
- Fixed another API retrieval bug

12/28/2010 - Version 2.9.9.2
- Fixed API retrieval bug

6/3/2010 - Version 2.9.9.1
- Minor bug fix for null runtime bug

5/31/2010 - Version 2.9.9.0
- Fixed bug retrieving certain movies
- Fixed bug in manual sheet creator for three digit runtime
- Added 1920x1080 to Manual Sheet Creator

5/13/2010 - Version 2.9.8.5
- Fixed program to work with new TMDB

3/3/2010 - Version 2.9.8.0
- Integrated MediaInfo plugin to Manual Sheet Creator
- Added MSheet 500x700 backdrop style to ImageGrabber and Manual Sheet Creator
- Added MSheet 1280x459 backdrop style to ImageGrabber and Manual Sheet Creator

2/19/2010 - Version 2.9.7.0
- Integrated MediaInfo plugin to display video information: video/audio format and resolution
- New feature to custom input folder.jpg and wd_tv.jpg pixel dimensions. Great for resizing movie sheet to fit new MSheet mods
- Added CRT TV backdrop style to Manual Sheet Creator

2/10/2010 - Version 2.9.6.0
- New CRT TV backdrop style which focuses on displaying movie information in the middle of the screen so nothing important is cut off

2/9/2010 - Version 2.9.5.0
- Manual Sheet Creator improvements - proxy support, Revamped style, single save directory, pull information from info.txt, option to download images from online

2/3/2010 - Version 2.9.4.0
- Now able to read user inputted movie information from edit.txt (see Instructions section for usage instructions)
- Proxy bug fixes

2/1/2010 - Version 2.9.3.0
- wd_tv.txt changed to info.txt
- App will look for IMDB ID in info.txt or any .nfo file in the directory to choose movie before using folder name

1/31/2009 - Version 2.9.2.0
- Proxy feature added
- Fixed no movie found message to close after 5 seconds
- Fixed mass folder renamer to support identical folder names

1/29/2009 - Version 2.9.1.0
- If movie not found by folder name, ask if user would like to enter in IMDB ID

1/26/2009 - Version 2.9.0.0
- Added new backdrop style Revamped
- Automatic save settings with reset to defaults button

1/20/2009 - Version 2.8.1.0
- Fixed no image bug

1/20/2009 - Version 2.8.0.0
- Fixed manual IMDB ID input for invalid characters
- Improved movie searching diagnostics
- Added Cast and Director Enable/Disable into Backdrop Settings
- New Clean Folder Name option to remove unnecessary text from movie name before search for the movie (~90% accuracy)

1/18/2009 - Version 2.7.0.0
- If there is an info.txt in movie directory containing IMDB ID, program will use it as first priority in selecting movie
- Custom Movie Sheet Builder can now pull movie information with input of IMDB ID
- Custom Movie Sheet Builder will now also create folder.jpg

1/11/2009 - Version 2.6.0.0
- New Custom Movie Sheet Creator to create movie sheet from scratch
- Added option to select a movie by IMDB ID
- Improved year selection menu

1/9/2009 - Version 2.5.0.0
- New language drop down to select German backdrop movie information language
- Image quality is now 95% maximum because 100% results in images above 500kb. To be completely safe, use 85%
- New folder.jpg dimensions drop down to select between 180x240 and 120x180

12/30/2009 - Version 2.4.0.0
- New Manual Image Select mode to manually select Backdrops and Posters

12/30/2009 - Version 2.3.0.0
- Movie overview and movie title is now bold font for visibility
- Added new MSBasic backdrop style for Basic layout with MSheet thumbnails
- Fixed movie rating bug for movies with 10 rating
- New line formatting for movie overview text improved for Basic backdrop style

12/28/2009 - Version 2.2.0.0
- Added new backdrop style for MSheet users
- Fixed movie overview positioning in basic backdrop style

12/28/2009 - Version 2.1.0.0
- image download errors will now show a dialog box with 10 sec timer

12/24/2009 - Version 2.0.0.0
- Option to automatically select newest movie when there are movies with identical names, or manually select

12/24/2009 - Version 1.9.0.0
- Backdrop and Poster images are now randomly selected
- Removed destination movie directory

12/24/2009 - Version 1.8.0.0
- Modified Cinema style font positioning
- Added drop down to select JPEG quality
- Added movie director and cast

12/23/2009 - Version 1.7.0.0
- Rating rounded to one decimal place
- Genre will now span two lines
- Added drop down menu to select Year display style

12/22/2009 - Version 1.6.0.0
- Created new backdrop style called Cinema, better for HDTVs. Basic version still available and might be better if viewing from the WDTV's composite connection.

12/22/2009 - Version 1.5.0.0
- Fixed date bug on certain systems
- Added tabmenu for general settings, including bgk opacity
- Added tabmenu to disable/enable backdrop text and poster, disable all to show only movie backdrop

12/21/2009 - Version 1.4.0.0
- Added Runtime, Budget, Revenue, Genres to backdrop
- improved text positioning on backdrop
- Fixed a bug caused by missing movie year
- Now multi-threaded for better performance

12/21/2009 - Version 1.3.0.0
- Added overlay behind text for visibility
- If there are multiple movie names of the same name, select newest

12/18/2009 - Version 1.2.0.0
- Added poster and text directly onto backdrop
- Creation of wd_tv.txt is now an option, off by default

With the ever decreasing costs of Gigabit Ethernet hardware, setting up a Gigabit network to transfer files between computers and stream media to home theatres has never been as easy and cost efficient. Here is a simple tutorial for home users which covers all the important basics of Gigabit networking.

What you will need:

• Two computers, both with Gigabit ethernet RJ45 ports
  
  Check if you a Gigabit by going to Device Manager (Right click on My Computer or Computer, select Manage, and click on Device Manager).
  Under Network Adapters, look for an adapter which says "Gigabit" or "1000Mbps". The best way is to check on the chipset manufacturers website directly.
  
  
  
  
• Two CAT5, CAT5e, or CAT6 cables
  
  Contrary to popular belief, a CAT5 cable is enough to sustain full Gigabit 1000Mbps (125MB/s or 125 megabytes per second) transfer rate. This means that you can implement a Gigabit network with your legacy CAT5 cabling. However, there are occasionally older / cheap CAT5 cables which leave out the required wires within the cabling. The only way to know for certain if you have a compatible cabling is to test the network speed. More on that later.
  
  
• Gigabit switch
  
  Any cheap switch or router with Gigabit ports will be sufficient. On Black Friday 2009, I purchased this TRENDnet TEG-S80G 10/100/1000Mbps GREENnet Switch with 8 Gigabit ports for only $27.99.
  
  
• AIDA32 (networking benchmarking software) - Free
  
  We will use this software to verify that the network is transferring at Gigabit speeds.

Instructions

1. Connect both computers onto the Gigabit switch or router using the network cables. Note that only the cabling in between these two computers must support Gigabit speeds. So a wireless router connected to the Gigabit switch through an older CAT5 cable supporting only 10/100Mbps will not have an effect on the transfer rate of the two computers.

2. Execute the AIDA32 (aida32.exe) program on both machines. From the menu, select Plugin, then AIDA32 Network Benchmark. On the window that appears, click on the Bandwidth tab. On the bottom of the window, select Master for one machine. For the other machine, select Slave, and enter in the local IP address of the Master machine. This can be found from the Windows command prompt by going to Start Menu -> Run -> type "cmd" then press Enter -> type "ipconfig" then press Enter. Press the "Start" button on the Master machine first, then on the Slave machine.




3. AIDA32 will begin the benchmark process. Right from the start it will be easy to determine whether all your computers and the network hardware in between support Gigabit speeds. If the Average transfer rate tops out at around 10,000 KB/s, there is a bottleneck which must be swapped out. The image above shows an example benchmark with a single older CAT5 cable not supporting Gigabit speeds connected between one of my computers and the Gigabit switch. The image below shows the transfer rate after I swapped it out with another CAT5 cable. Quite the difference, eh?