How to Check If Your Website Is Blocked In China or Not

“How do I find out if web users in China can access my website at xyz.com?”

Following this story on China blocking Blogger blogs ahead of Olympic games, Todd is looking to conduct similar test for his own website to confirm that his site is not blocked by the Chinese government.

There are at least three reliable services that help you test Internet filtering in China using more or less the same method. They have computers located in different cities of China that try to access your site using the ping command.

If you get a “Packets lost” error or there’s a time-out while connecting to your site, chances are that the site is restricted.

1. Just Ping – They have checkpoints inside Hong Kong and Shanghai in China.

2. Watch Mouse – This service too has monitoring stations inside Hong Kong and Shanghai in China.

3. Website Pulse – In addition to Hong Kong and Shanghai, Website Pulse conducts website connectivity test from a computer located in Beijing as well.

Unlike the previous two services that simply do a ping test, this service connects to your site and tries downloading the complete HTML web page. The total response time shows how long it takes for your website to download.

1.  Save your Windows Media Encoder configuration as C:\encoderconfig.wme

2.  Download this Zip file and unzip the two files ( reconnect.vbs and startencoding.bat ) onto your C:\

http://infonetmatrix.com/wp-content/uploads/wme.zip

3.  Test the files:

   •  Make sure Windows Media Encoder isn’t currently running, and test the startencoding.bat file by double clicking it.  You should see Windows Media Encoder start up, and a few seconds later start encoding.

   •  Click “Stop Encoding” in your encoder and wait 10 seconds.  You should see your encoder automatically start encoding again.

   •  If the encoder never started encoding and didn’t display an error, make sure reconnect.vbs is located on your C:\.  You may also try double clicking it manually to test if it works (while the encoder is open).

4.  If the test passed, place a shortcut to startencoding.bat in your Startup directory by dragging it to Start -> Programs -> Startup

5.  Make sure your computer is set to automatically logon. 

   •  For 2000 and XP instructions, click here.

   •  For 95/98/ME instructions, click here.

Reboot the computer and make sure Windows Media Player starts and begins encoding.  You may also want to check your computer’s BIOS to make sure the power state will always be “ON” or “LAST” after a power outage.  If it is set to “OFF”, the most common default, your computer will not reboot in the case of a power outage.

 Now you don’t have to worry about power outages or network anomalies, knowing that your encoding machine will always be encoding.  Enjoy your newly found freedom! http://www.serverroom.us/mediapulltutorial

This recipe will explain how to use a batch file i’ve written and windows media encoder 9 to convert mpg / avi / asf video files to wmv. The batch file will allow you to convert a folder full of videos one at a time w/a specific profile. The best part about this recipe is that all the ingredients are free.

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2699/windows_media_encoder_9_batch_file_encoding_videos_from_mpg_avi_asf_to_wmv/

Microsoft has made the Windows Media Encoder 9 application available since Media Player 9, however most are not aware of its power and utility. This recipe will explain one way to use it to batch convert a folder of video files to wmv (will work with mpg (divx too), avi, asf).

REQUIRED FILES:

Windows Media Encoder 9
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx

My batch files and prx profiles
http://seamonkey420.tech-recipes.com/other/misc/batchConvertwmv.zip

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Install Windows Media Encoder 9.
2. Save my zip file to your c: and extract the zip file of my batch and prx files to your c:

so you should have a C:\WME folder

3. You can use the batch files as is if you want, just put your mpg, avi, and/or asf files in the RAW folder (default c:\wme\raw).

Then go to the App folder and run the Convert to Zune Display.bat to convert the videos to my zune profile
or
run the High_quality Convert.bat for a higher quality conversion.

Let it process, it takes about 150 secs per 4 min video file. Once its done, you should have a Converted folder in C:\WME\ with your converted videos!

You can create your own profile using the Windows Media Profile Editor in the start menu folder.

NOTES:

-The zune profile settings are as follows:
320×240 resolution, 256kbps video, 30fps, 192kbs/44khz stereo sound

-The high_quality profile settings are as follows:
Same as input size, 768kbps video, 30fps, 192kbs/44khz stereo sound

-To change the folder settings, you will just need to edit the batch file and the idir and odir folder settings (see below)