Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread II

[aimeeandbeatles]

Is there a good way to photograph/scan x-ray pictures? I had surgery a while ago and the doctor gave me a copy of the xrays. The problem is they are on that old transparent x-ray paper and I can't figure out how to scan them (sticking them in a scanner doesn't work because you can't see any details). Any ideas?
Thanks

Have you tried a light above the scanner?

 

[Narnia]

Have you tried a light above the scanner?

No, however, how would that make a difference? The scanner already puts out a lot of light when it is scanning, so how would shining a light from the other side make a difference?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I don't know but I vaguely remember reading it.

 

[Narnia]

Ok, I'll give it a try

 

[leif erikson]

Googled "scanning x-ray film" and found that it is very difficult to do. There are services that can do it for you.

This was the most helpful link to do it yourself. Didn't seem worth the effort to me. Sorry it is not easier.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Question: I sometimes plug in my headphones in a front audio panel for fine work. However on low volumes I can hear a buzzing. I know it's electronic interference but...

There's a USB port on the same panel and when I plug in a USB flash drive and transfer data I can actually hear it transferring. Is this a common thing?

Also heres another one: Is there a way to reserve a drive letter for a specific external device? I have a program that copies files to G:/ (external hard drive). But suppose I put in a thumb drive first and then plug in the external it goes to H:/ which breaks the software.

 

[Cutlass]

Most headphone wires don't have anything to protect them from picking up any electromagnetic signals. So the only thing you can do is plug them in the other jack.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

How do I superimpose a picture on top of a video in windows movie maker (I'm using the latest version for windows 7)?

 

[GoodGame]

Tried adjusting the contrast when scanning the X-ray?

 

[Narnia]

Yes, I tried messing with the contrast and it didn't do much. If anyone is good with photoshop, I could upload the picture if anyone wants to try and use photoshop to make it better (They are just a bunch of xrays of my foot, so nothing inappropriate to worry about and because they are xrays they don't have any blood/gore/etc). I tried a while ago but I couldn't do a very good job. Should I upload them?

 

[GoodGame]

Actually scanning in using Photoshop might be the answer, if you have that an a higher end flatbed scanner at a major library (like University).

 

[Narnia]

No, I don't have access to one of those

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

There are companies that will scan it for you but that would be rather expensive if you want to do it just for fun.

Perhaps if you ask a local hospital (or medical college) they'd do it for you. Offer a few dollars for a donation and they might be more likely to say yes.

 

[dominatr]

I've got a problem with my computer. today, i turned it on and i get a message saying windows/system32/config/system is missing or corrupt.
i am using windows xp and i want to know how to fix this situation. i tried looking around for solutions on google and whatnot, but nothing i am trying seems to work...
help please?

 

[Cutlass]

Download a copy of the file off the net. You can usually find that easy by googling it. Then copy it to that folder and overwrite the old file.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I've noticed once or twice in my search logs some spammy looking searches (there's urls and stuff about backlinks and viagra). Is this an incompetent spambot?

Here's another question: I have a Flash video file, Sorenson Spark is the codec. Anyways it freezes up in Media Player Classic. It plays just fine in VLC but I'd prefer it to work in Media Player Classic. I tried to encode it to another format with ffmpeg but the resulting file made a bunch of funny sounds and the video part was skipping around and freezing.
Then I tried demuxing the audio (which worked fine by itself), encoding the video seperately, and then muxing them back together. But the video turned out to be twice as long as the audio! It was moving in slow-motion and was a rather disconcerting effect.
Another oddity: In MediaInfo (codec information tool) it says the video is ~35 minutes long. However when I play it in VLC it's actually ~18 minutes long.
Does anyone have any other suggestions? Will upload file on request if anyone wants to muck with it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Question: Is there anything special about the glass in a scanner flatbed, or is it just regular glass? I sometimes use a bit of Windex for stubborn smudges (not directly to the glass but on a cloth, and I only do it if the microfiber doesn't work). But someone just told me its not a good idea because it's "special glass." I'm not entirely convinced he knows what he's talking about though LOL.

 

[Cutlass]

I think it's tempered glass. And it would be made as transperent as possible.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well i think he meant special as in not-windex-safe. Is tempered glass safe with windex.

 

[Cutlass]

Yes, but it might leave a film behind. There's special cleanser for copier glass, which is essentially the same thing as a scanner glass. Try cleaning with alcohol.