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Advanced SearchUser Name TGSantee
Member Since 2002-02-26
Total number of Feedback Posts: 22
Total number of comments: 2
Last 10 Feedback Posts by TGSantee [ Search for All ]
Roxio Popcorn 3.0 (Mac OS X)
Worthwhile upgrade from version 2 
I find Popcorn 3 to be a vast improvement over version 2 because it can encode and author video DVDs (with Dolby Digital audio), can put content from multiple VIDEO_TS folders on one DVD, can do batch processing, cause pause encodings, supports El Gato's Turbo.264 and TiVo, and has better export presets. I've compared Popcorn 3 with the video features in Toast 8. Toast 8 can do DVD slide shows, DivX disc burning, and burn DVD-Rom content along with a video DVD which Popcorn 3 cannot do. Popcorn 3 does all Toast 8's other video features plus some (such as pausing, batch processing and Turbo.264 support) that are lacking in Toast 8. Popcorn 3 also has an encoding preview feature which lets you see a sample of the results from your encoding settings without having to encode the entire video. If your Mac meets the system requirements and you do much with video I think you'll find Popcorn 3 very beneficial. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 5 of 5 users found this helpful
Wednesday, August 29 2007 @ 07:44 PM PDT
hawkeye 1.0.1 (Mac OS X)
I downloaded and played with version 1.0.1 for a couple hours. It does some interesting things. For instance, it ignored the copy protection on a couple commercial DVDs I tested, extracting their chapters the same as if they were one of my personal DVDs (I didn't try a whole DVD). Hawkeye requires the existing video to be DVD-compliant MPEG 2 so this isn't for encoding MPEG2 from other kinds of video files. It can requantize video so you can fit more to a disc (such as using DVD2OneX or Popcorn). It also can burn discs or create disc images for burning with Toast or Disk Utility. When I selected one of Hawkeye's disc images (that contained some chapters from a commercial DVD) in Toast's Copy window, a message appeared reporting that the video was copy protected. But then Toast went ahead and mounted and burned the disc image without problem. So I don't know what is up with that. Except for the commercial disc ripping and the different way it lets you create menus I'm not certain why someone would choose to use Hawkeye instead Toast 7. But it's easy to download and give it a try. The Help menu could be a better tutorial than it is so you'll spend some time trying to figure out how it all comes together. If you do choose to save a disc image be sure to create an empty folder for it in the Save dialog box. Otherwise it will place everything on the hard drive at the same level where you are saving the disc image (the default was the Documents folder) inside the disc image file. That was a shock to see my entire Documents folder copied inside the disc image! I don't know if this is fixed in version 1.0.2. [alert admin]
Read Comments (3) | More Info | 9 of 9 users found this helpful
Sunday, June 25 2006 @ 04:02 PM PDT
DivX for Mac 6.5 (Mac OS X)
My favorite feature in the new DivX Player is the slider to control background screen brightness when you're playing a video at less than full screen. That alone makes it my favorite player now. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Thursday, May 25 2006 @ 07:33 PM PDT
Roxio Popcorn 2.0 (Mac OS X)
Popcorn 2 is excellent for people who want to make DVD copies from ripped DVDs and/or want to convert video DVDs or other kinds of video to various popular formats. The latter wasn't an option with Popcorn 1 (but is with Toast 7). The former was much more limited in either Popcorn 1 or Toast 7 for selecting what to include or exclude when making your DVD copy. Popcorn 2 has an easier-to-use interface for these functions than does Toast 7. Toast 7 also requires MPEGs to be extracted from VIDEO_TS folders via the Toast Media Browser before exporting to other formats whereas Popcorn 2 works directly with the VIDEO_TS folder which is a big time-saver. Popcorn 2 is a niche application and I believe many people will remain satisfied using either Toast 7 or Popcorn 1 for what this does. But Popcorn 2 is better than either of them for just this purpose. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 9 of 9 users found this helpful
Wednesday, April 12 2006 @ 03:02 PM PDT
SilverFast Ai (Microtek) 6.4.3r9a (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X)
I'm amazed by how much better the scan quality is using Silverfast AI compared with Microtek's scan software for its i900 scanner. Scanning for professional results is work but once one learns Silverfast it does the job beautifully. I'm very appreciative for its help videos. What especially impresses me is how well this software is being supported and improved by the developer. This is a first-rate software developer and superior scanning software. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 0 of 2 users found this helpful
Thursday, March 16 2006 @ 08:33 AM PST
Corel Graphics Suite 11.633 (Mac OS X)
This Corel update has been available for a long time. It updates Corel Draw from 11.633 to 11.693 and also updates Corel R.A.V.E. 2 and Corel Photo-Paint 11 It runs fine on my G5 iMac Isight with OS 10.4.3. This graphics package now is sold as Creative Essentials from Allume.com. I don't know what version is in that package as I bought mine when it was a Corel product. At its $100 price it may be a good value. But newer applications are much easier and more powerful. [alert admin]
Read Comments (1) | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Wednesday, January 11 2006 @ 04:20 PM PST
Pixe VRF Browser 2.6.1 (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X)
The pixela-1 site is selling a version 3 of Pixe VRF Browser. Pixela also posted on their Japan site a version 2 update to v 2.8 which appears to me to be identical to the v3 description at pixela-1. The 2.8 update installed on the earlier English version which I have on my Mac. The update can be found from this page: http://www.pixela.co.jp/support/download.html Since my earlier review Roxio Toast 7 was released which also extracts VR-mode MPEGs from DVD-RW and DVD-RAM discs. I prefer using Toast for extraction. I prefer Toast to VRF Browser; therefore I only recommend VRF Browser for those whose Macs don't meet Toast 7's minimum requirements. The pixela-1 site also is selling Capty MPEG Edit EX that is much superior to VRF Browser for MPEG editing. I use Toast 7 for extraction and Capty MPEG Edit EX for MPEG editing. [alert admin]
Thursday, December 08 2005 @ 02:11 PM PST
Apple Front Row 1.0.1 (Mac OS X)
I thought it would be nice to have at least one post here by someone who isn't using a hacked version of Front Row. The 1.0.1 update on my iMac iSight seems to have improved Front Row's responsiveness to commands. Also, now when leaving Front Row my iTunes and iPhoto applications are in Hide mode whereas previously their windows were open on the desktop. Those are the only differences I've noticed with the update. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Friday, November 18 2005 @ 09:27 AM PST
USBVision 1.1.3 (Mac OS X)
I have USB Vision for my XLR8 Interview device, but discovered it also activates the built-in iSight camera on new G5 iMacs. This way the camera's video can be captured and saved to the hard drive. It also gives you the ability to adjust the video and audio quality, and to record in various resolutions using a wide range of codecs. This is a great application! One tip: be sure to choose a save location with Snapshot setup and Record setup before using Snapshot or Record, or the application will crash. [alert admin]
Thursday, October 27 2005 @ 03:59 PM PDT
Sound Studio 3.0 (Mac OS X)
According to felttip.com the upgrade from version 2.x to 3 is $40 yet there is no comparison available about what has changed. These apps appear to be essentially the same (felttip has the beta v.3 for download expiring Nov. 1). I'm relieved that I have version 2.2.4 and that it meets my needs very well in Tiger. [alert admin]
Post a comment | More Info | 1 of 1 users found this helpful
Tuesday, October 11 2005 @ 10:10 AM PDT
Last 10 Comments by TGSantee [ Search for All ]
Allume is no longer selling the Graphics Essentials package.
Original feedback item : Read More
Friday, February 10 2006 @ 07:17 PM PST
Sorry, I don't understand what that means. Do you have a problem with my stating that I find Toast 7 to be far superior to Toast 6? I think most existing Toast 6 users would want to know what's different so they can decide if those are features they want. I certainly think it is foolish now to purchase Toast 6 at the same price as Toast 7, so I feel sorry for those whose…
Original feedback item : Read More(1 words)
Wednesday, August 31 2005 @ 12:16 PM PDT
