VLC

Apr 27 2009

iTV

Watch video from all kinds of sources on you Mac with this weeks picks.

WatchIt

To remind yourself to watch or record you favorite programs, use this free application. List your channels and set reminders.

DVArchive

This OS X java port of a popular Windows program lets your Mac play from and record to your ReplayTV.This utility also imports other formats.

Vidi

Have a Formac Studio DV/TV converter? Then you’ll want Vidi to record TV on your Mac. This application also controls channels and adjusts picture. It can even record video in the background.

VLC

Here is a piece of freeware you can use regardless of your hardware. Also a port from Windows and Linux, VLC plays all kind of media including VCD and DivX video.

Now that you’ve got something to watch I’ll leave you to it. Until next week,

Brian

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Apr 27 2009

MacManX’s Picks

Well, I’m proud to start the first of our personal picks this week. I’m sure that my collection is probably the most eclectic, but I find all of these freeware apps very useful.

mu MacManXs PicksMenuMeters

MenuMeters is a collection of menu extras, featuring easy, graphic monitoring of CPU, disk, network, and RAM usage. MenuMeters is simple, easy to use, and valuable. If you can’t seem to find a practical use for it, at least the CPU graph is pretty neat to watch.

mu MacManXs PicksVLC

VLC is a powerful multimedia player that can read a variety of formats including DVD, VCD, MPEG, and DivX. For those of you who are depressed by Apple’s lack of support for more than 2 channels with its DVD player, VLC is your solution and features support up to 5.1 channels. Currently, VLC’s GUI is more advanced and intuitive than MPlayer and unlike the current version of MPlayer, VLC tells you when and why it can’t play a certain file, rather than just quitting.

mu MacManXs PicksTux Paint

Do you have small children? Have you made the move to OSX? Do you and/or your kids miss KidPix? Then I strongly recommend that you try Tux Paint . Tux Paint is a paint application that is aimed towards young children (similar to KidPix). Tux Paint features basic drawing tools, designs, colors, and a downloadable stamp set.

mu MacManXs PicksCocktail

Cocktail is an undeniably valuable tool for every OSX user who is either afraid of the terminal, or just doesn’t have the time to bother with it. Cocktail takes control of nearly every terminal command available and presents it in a very easy and intuitive GUI. SOme features include prebinding, Cron scripts, delete archived log files, delete caches, and customizing the look and features of the Finder and Dock.

mu MacManXs PicksFreeSnap (fka, Snatcher)

FreeSnap (fka, Snatcher) is an easy to use and powerful screen shot application. It features the ability to take screen shots of the entire screen, window, or selection. FreeSnap also features AppleScriptability, scaling, timed screen shots, 10 different formats, global key combos, a completely invisible mode and more.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my picks for this week and find some of them useful. Have a great week!

James

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Apr 27 2009

Access A Variety Of Media Formats

Brought to you by: James Huff

VLC Access A Variety Of Media Formats


This week’s PUM is short and simple. It can be summed up in a single sentence. Download VLC Media Player! If you’re frustrated with QuickTime’s narrow file format support, or Windows Media Player’s inability to work correctly, you’ll want VLC Media Player. VLC is a free player that supports a variety of formats including DivX, DVD, VCD, MPEG (1, 2, and 4), WMV (1 and 2), mp3, ogg, and many more. Unfortunately, Windows Media Series 9 files are not supported at this time.



If you’re still in 10.2 or 10.1 and don’t have the luxury or Apple’s most recent DVD player, then VLC is your key to hearing your DVDs in 5.1 digital surround (Apple’s DVD Player pre-10.3 only supports 2 channels).



VLC also makes it easy to take screen shots of your DVDs. The DVD screen shot in the previous PUM was taken while playing the DVD through VLC.



VLC is in constant competition with MPlayer and typically the most recent version of VLC will support more formats than the current version of MPlayer and visa versa. However, in my opinion, VLC’s controller has more features than MPayer’s and is easier to use/understand. VLC also has the nice feature of letting you know why it can’t play a file, rather than either crashing or simply not playing the file (as in MPlayer’s case).



VLC Media Player is a great player to have sitting around on your hard drive. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.



Update: Intel Indeo Video 3.2 (IV32) was very widely used as video compression and still is today. Unfortunately, for those of us in OS X, there is no way for us to view these files. Thankfully, if you still have a full OS 9 system, there’s a work-around. You’ll have to download and install Intel Indeo Video 3.2 in Macintosh HD/System Folder/Extensions and restart. Then you can view the file in OS 9′s QuickTime Player. If you have QuickTime Pro in OS 9, you can export the file at the highest possible settings (Uncompressed audio and video will provide you with the highest quality) and make sure to double check the fps with the movie file and what you’re setting the compressor to use (you don’t want to have 1.5 minutes of audio with 30 seconds of video). From there, you can play the file and do all your final compressing in OS X. Good luck!

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