I had some great recommendations for slide show software but, unfortunately, none are Mac-compatible. Have you used "Photo to Movie"? Or are you using something else that you would recommend that's Mac-friendly?

Todos conocemos la aplicación iDVD que viene con el paquete de programas de iLife. Personalmente lo he usado desde siempre porque uno de mis hobbies es el video. La primera vez que lo utilicé ví en el la aplicación que desde hacía mucho tiempo había buscado en mi andadura con windows y no había encontrado. Tiene la simpleza de Apple y la potencia de una aplicación profesional con unos acabados realmente espectaculares.

Por otro lado, quizá no tan conocido hasta que no lo necesitas, está Perian que no es ni más ni menos que una serie de códecs que se instalan de forma gratuíta y hacen que el reproductor de medios quicktime se atreva con una serie de archivos que "de fábrica" no está diseñado para reproducir. Cómo no, el día que lo conocí no tardé en instalarlo en mi sistema para hacerlo más versátil y completo (y encima gratis).

El problema llegó cuando un día me dió por hacer un proyecto nuevo de iDVD y grabarlo en soporte físico. Cuál es mi sorpresa cuando me encuentro que el video se ve "a saltos", es decir, como si le faltaran fotogramas.

Argghhhh, pero ¿qué he hecho mal?, me pregunté... Revisé todo lo revisable hasta la saciedad. Probé con distintos formatos de entrada, distintos formatos de salida pero nada. En algunos casos el problema era más leve y en otros más acusado pero el video seguá viéndose a saltos. Paradójicamente, el sonido era perfecto y no había ningún salto ni corte. Seguí probando con distintos programas: Final Cut Express, iMovie... hasta que me harté y me puse a investigar en la web.

Encontré una primera solución que no era ni más ni menos que REINSTALAR todo el SOX. Me dió un poco de pena, como he dicho anteriormente, porque me recordaba mis tiempos de desfragmentación semanal y reinstalación trimestral de Windows... pero era lo único que me quedaba por probar. Como tenía copia de seguridad en un disco externo (Dios bendiga Puromac y SuperDuper!) pues nada. No perdía nada con intentarlo.

En unas pocas horas tenía el sistema limpito y listo para probar. Reinstalo todos mis archivos personales y pongo el sistema a punto con los programas necesarios para ponerme a trabajar, con lo cual me pasé por las webs de Perian y de Flip4mac para que el quicktime funcionara al 100%... ESTE FUE MI ERROR.

Puesto todo a punto rezo en primer lugar y después me dispongo a probar el iDVD con la mala fortuna de que ¡¡¡SIGUE FUNCIONANDO MAL!!! Tenía que haberme visto la cara en ese instante porque tendría que ser de película (nunca mejor dicho). Quería tirar el ordenador por la ventana. Por un momento tuve la duda de si Apple y su Mac OSX eran tan buenos como estaba acostumbrado a escuchar en millones de podcasts. Quería morirme...pero entonces surgió en mí el instinto de supervivencia y seguí buscando por páginas y foros... hasta que lo ¡¡encontré!!

En un hilo de soporte de Apple en inglés encontré a un montón de personas que tenían el mismo problema que yo. Dios... GRACIAS. Leí y leí y el maldito problema era una INCOMPATIBILIDAD de iDVD con Perian. El problema se solucionaba simplemente DESINSTALANDO Perian. Madre mía, pensé, la que he liado y la solución es tan simple. Pero en esto de la informática los fallos suelen ser así: pequeños detalles o tonterías que te hacen perder la cabeza.

Me descargué el programa gratuíto AppCleaner para desinstalar en condiciones el programita de la navaja. Pero recuerdo que incluso tuve que entrar en las carpetas de librería de Quicktime para borrar "a mano" los residuos que había dejado Perian. Hecho esto reinicié el Mac y...

...flashhhh...Asunto arreglado.

Me dio tantos quebraderos de cabeza y tiempo perdido (desde entonces no he vuelto a maldecir a ningún programa de Apple) que pensé compartirlo con todos aquellos que usan Mac por si algún día tienen un problema parecido.

No quiero despedirme sin antes tirar de las orejas a Apple por no arreglar este asunto antes y es que de sobra saben, o deberían saber, que los usuarios de Mac de todo el mundo no solo usan los códecs propietarios de Apple sino que "alguno que otro" necesitamos software como Perian para poder reproducir ciertos archivos que tenemos en nuestro ordenador.

Después de tanta parrafada mi consejo es que utilicéis Perian si no vaís a darle uso a iDVD y os gusta Quicktime. En caso contrario, puedes descagar el magnífico reproductor de medios VLC en su versión para Mac OSX para sustituir a Quicktime y asunto arreglado.

Espero que este post sirva de ayuda o simplemente ayude a conocer un poco más este/nuestro Sistema Operativo.

Un saludo.

However, since the last one finished on Thursday, she's been stir crazy. The weather hasn't helped as it's been rainy and yucky. With nothing to distract her attention, she has been worrying about every little thing holiday-related. Starting with a full day and a half of "when are you getting my suitcase out" followed by a panic caused by me attending a sewing event yesterday (took me away from the more important task of packing her stuff). By a miracle, even though I was away yesterday, the suitcase is nearly packed, only a few shirts to add. Then we're off to Tesco's to stock her up on snacks and away we go!

Btw, D's skipping today's fun by going to a football match at Wembley. I'm not bothered because I wasn't the one who had to leave the house at 7.30am!

Another cool thing at GCPS is that all of the principals get an iPod Touch.  I was shocked when I found they were getting them.  I have an iPod touch too.  Technology in our county is really booming.  Too bad it's my last year here at GCPS.  Maybe I should become a teacher, and work here forever :)

I also noticed several tutorials for Apple's new iMovie '08, which is a part of the iLife '08 suit. Each of the teachers and students have iLife '08.  I find this a good thing.

This hip tech savy company posted revenue of $7.46 billion and net profited $1.07 billion, for the third quarter ending June 28, or $1.19 per diluted share. These numbers compare to revenue of $5.21 billion and net profited $818 million, or $.92 per diluted share, in year ago. 

Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said "We're proud to report the best June quarter for both revenue and earning in Apple's history." The company shipped 2.5 million Mac computers during the quarter, according to Apple's recent earning press release. 

El paquete Ilife se compone de 5 programas: Iweb, Imovie, IPhoto, IDvd, Garage Band.

El Iweb es un programa para crear páginas web de forma muy sencilla.  Lo primero que has de hacer es elegir una plantilla que se adapte al tipo de web que quieres hacer.  Tiene webs para niños, para viajes, para bodas, profesionales, de tal forma que es fácil encontrar una a gusto de cada situación.  Simplemente con arrastrar una foto, video o mp3 del escritorio al iweb lo tendremos insertado.  Nos permite crear blogs, instertar publicidad del google adsense así como un contador de visitas y un sin fin de opciones mas.

El caso es que para un usuario casero sin idea de hacer páginas web, con pocos conocimientos de manejo, puede crear una web con aspecto bastante profesional con este programa.  Como siempre apple tiene programas de consumo con un resultado muy profesional y un manejo bastante sencillo.

Este curso lo estamos haciendo con Fade.

PARTE 2

PARTE 3

PARTE 4

Piccola demo osx orientata sopratutto alla creazione video.

By Julia Hostetler

I got an absolutely BEAUTIFUL MacBook Pro for my birthday last year because I needed a computer that was portable and media-oriented. I'm really into film-making and Windows Movie Maker just didn't cut it.

On my Mac, I'm still running OSX Tiger so I haven't updated to anything like Final Cut Pro or even iLife '08, but I've been pretty satisfied with iMovie HD 6 and that's what I'm sticking with (for now).

In this article, I just wanted to share a couple of my very frustrating experiences using film-related iLife applications and solutions to these frustrations so that you won't have to learn the hard way! This is not specifically a tutorial in how to use iLife, but if you need one, just visit http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/.

First - Audio Tracks in iMovie

I was editing a short film in iMovie and got it looking like I wanted it to, with all the audio in the proper place and effects, etc. but then, when I went to preview it, every time the movie got to a certain place, the audio would start to echo. Ok. Fine. I extracted all the audio and tried again. Still with the echo! I tried copying, deleting, then re-adding clips, I tried taking out all my transitions and effects, I tried just exporting it as a quicktime movie. Nothing would work. Finally, my friend's dad figured out how to fix the problem. For some reason, the audio in the first track of the movie was in a slightly different place than the audio in the second track, and although when I highlighted a clip it would show audio at 0% (in the first track), sound would still come from that track. De-selecting the 1st track solved the whole thing! And since I had all my audio extracted into another track, no sound was lost. I think, with iMovie, it's best to work with a maximum of 2 audio tracks (Fig. 1) otherwise sound gets confused.

Second - Copying Clips

I recently filmed my school's annual play so that all the cast and crew could get a "souvenir" DVD. I filmed it on miniDV tape, witch wasn't such a great idea because each tape can only hold 60 min, so I had to switch tapes between acts. Really, I should have just filmed everything directly from my camera into my computer, eliminating the need for a tape, but...that would have required another extension cord. In any case, I filmed this play continuously, so that I started recording at the beginning of each act and stopped at the end. This meant that when I transferred the video to iMovie, there were only 2 clips. Well, I built my movie out of the clips, and then had the idea to make up some "special features" to go on the DVD as well. I thought it would be cool if I took a couple scenes and put some effects on them. For instance, get them to play in reverse, or make them play in slow motion. So, I chose a scene, and by splitting the original clip before and after that scene and hitting copy, I could paste it into a new project. Well, it took more than 10 minutes to transfer over and took up something like 10 GB! I was so confused! It was a rather short scene so it should not have taken that long or taken up that much space. It was only later that I realized: when I thought I had copied just the scene I had cut out, I was copying the information for the whole act! I still don't know whether it's possible to isolate a part of a clip and just export the information from that part, but if it is, I could have saved myself some trouble!

Third - iDVD Space Problems

Making a DVD of this play in iDVD was very problematic. It was all my fault, though, for not familiarizing myself with the program.

Just a quick note before I continue: if you're creating a DVD menu and your video is NOT in widescreen, consider choosing a theme other than 6.0 Themes. There's a little drop-down menu in the top right corner when editing themes and if you select "All" you get access to older themes, many of which are in fullscreen (Fig. 2).

Ok. So I chose all the menus for my DVD and put proper labels and everything and clicked the "burn" button. In a couple hours, it had encoded all the assets and was ready to burn, but then, I got this message saying the file was too big to be saved on the DVD I was using! It was a single-layer disk capable of holding up to 4.7 GB so I had no idea why this message had popped up. Well, I went up to iDVD>Preferences>Projects and the DVD Type was Single-Layer 4.2 GB so, I mean, I was stumped. Well, I deleted the encoded assets and this time, instead of just burning a DVD, created a disk image, by going to File>Save As Disk Image. Fine. It took a couple hours to re-encode the assets, but I did get my image, so I went to Disk Utility and tried to burn it. Not enough space on the DVD! Well, I checked out the image and it was more than 7 GB! Now I was really getting mad. I had just wasted about 6 hours encoding assets and I thought I might have to buy a bunch of expensive double-layer disks. Fortunately, I was fiddling around in iDVD and discovered under Projects something called "Project Info". There was the problem. Under Project Info, the DVD type was set to Double-Layer Disk (Fig. 3). So, when you want to burn a DVD, make sure the DVD types in BOTH Preferences and Project Info is set to Single-Layer Disk.

Fourth - Audio Playback Problems

I filmed a piano recital in April so that all the students would have DVDs of the concert. Unfortunately, I decided to film the whole thing in 12-bit audio instead of 16-bit because I didn't have much space on my computer. Bad idea. As I was editing my footage, sometimes the audio would have these horrible pops and clicks in it. I thought it was just because of the transitions I was using, so I took out the transitions, extracted the audio, then re-inserted the transitions (again, like copying film, extracting the audio from a clip within a clip copies all the information from the larger clip, not just the info from the clip you made). The audio was still broken up. I tried various things, copying the audio to my desktop and re-inserting it, trying to make a movie score in GarageBand, putting all the audio in only one track, but seriously, nothing worked. In the end, I got totally fed up and just thought: who cares? I'll make a disk image and hopefully everything will work out. Well, it did! The audio was totally fine on everyone's DVD, even though in iMovie it was still really messed up. I guess it just couldn't handle the 12-bit...

Fifth - Saving Projects Externally

I was trying to free up some space on my computer the other day, so I saved a couple smaller iMovie projects onto re-writable DVDs. Just to test things and make sure I could open the projects later, I tried double-clicking on a project icon directly from the DVD window. A message came up saying "the project could not be opened because the disk is full, the folder is locked, or the folder permission are incorrect". I tried going to Disk Utility to see if I could Repair Permissions and tried to Get Info from the DVD and change the Ownerships & Permissions but...that was useless. Finally, I had the idea to transfer the project files back to my computer. Guess what? They opened just fine! So when saving project files to DVDs, you need to transfer them back to your computer in order to open them in iMovie. When I tried saving onto an external hard drive, though, they opened directly from the hard drive.

Last - Emailing Large Files

I have entered a couple short film competitions where the contest address is kind of far away (say, Australia) and there isn't enough time to send a DVD by snail mail before the deadline. To send large files via email, I use DropSend (http://dropsend.com/). It is just awesome! You register using your current email address and you get to send up to 3 files a month of sizes up to 1 GB for FREE! Some other websites that offer this service are www.sendthisfile.com <http://sendthisfile.com> , www.transferbigfiles.com <http://transferbigfiles.com> , and I think www.filemail.com lets you send files up to 2 GB for free, but I have the most experience with DropSend. Of course, sending large files can take a lot of time first, to upload, then, for your recipient to download so be sure to take this into account

Well, voila! I hope this was somewhat beneficial to you and maybe saved you some time! I am in no way a Mac expert, though, so if you have a problem with iLife, definitely visit http://www.apple.com/support/ and either browse their forums or contact apple support.

Finished my first iDVD Project using Mac. I have to admit that it is not really easy editing the movies as the software I have in my system is something new for me. We still have a PC but I figured I just have to start working now to learn it, besides I have all the time for it.

The first work is a movie of all the photos and videos I have compiled while working with SPG and for the special colleagues I have worked with in my department. 

iDVD is cool to use though it took about 4 hours to encode and burn the entire stuff...I still have to learn a lot of stuff but I'm taking my time. Sleeping is a bit difficult for me in the last couple of nights and maybe I am adjusting to not working. Somehow I miss working but I kind of expecting these moments before I tendered my letter to our CEO.

I used making and editing movies the iMovie. Way too different from the Windows Movie Maker which I'm used to as I thought it is a bit limited in text and video transitions...but I am still an explorer...I think iMovie offers more or the same as Windows Movie Player. One thing that I don't like about it is that unless your photos are not imported in your iPhoto you can not use the video or photo. Most of my photos and videos are in my external hard drive.

Anyhow, I am pretty excited to hand over the DVDs to my colleagues on Monday, I just need to fine tune some things on it or maybe not.

06/10/2008

iDVD 7.0.2 - 20.27MB
This update supports general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues.

iMovie 7.1.2 - 17.9MB
This update addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues.

I want to know if Apple would add supports for newer AVCHD camcorders such as Panasonic HDC-SD9 which I own.

UPDATE:
I can now import videos from Panasonic HDC-SD9 using iMovie 7.1.2 and QuickTime 7.5 installed. I still have Perian 1.1 installed on computer. I will do more testing on this.

Apple just released updates for iMovie and iDVD. According to Software Update, the iMovie update "addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues."

The iDVD update "supports general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues."

You can download both of these updates via Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or download the installer packages by visiting Apple's Support Downloads website

(Via (TUAW))

Jukeside Studios, the production company that creates the podcasts, videos, music, and graphics for Magic's Royal Duke Sammy Cortino is actually a home studio setup by Sammy in 2006. The studios have gone many milestones as Sammy has studied the art of Electronic Media/Broadcasting and it has been been apparent if one was to watch the progression of media released over the years. The studio is Mac-based with a minimal but effective digital arsenal of cameras, microphones, and other pertinent studio gear. Sammy records his own vocal dubs for the podcast show ids as well as show introductions and has been known to change the pitch of his voice digitally to create an announcer's voice. Sammy also uses the studio to create his show soundtracks - ranging from the composition and mastering of songs to the recording of rhythm tracks. As the main computer of the studio is a MacBook, Jukeside Studios is mobile as Sammy can work on a mix or render a sequence wherever he may find himself.

Below is a selected list of gear found at the Studio:

Platform - Apple MacBook used with Garageband, Logic Pro, iMovie, Final Cut Express, iDVD

Audio - Audio Technica AT3035 Condenser Microphone, 2x Fender p-51 Dynamic Microphones, Fender Pas

sport, Boss DI-1 DI Box, iKey Portable Field Recorder, Yamaha GO46 Digital Interface, Fender G-DEC Amp

Video - Panasonic PV-GS400 3Chip Camera and a handful of other camcorders

Instruments - Fender G-DEC Amp, Yamaha Acoustic Guitar, MXR Distortion + Pedal, 1982 Aria Cardinal, CasioSnyth, ION Audio Electronic Drum Kit and Drum Pad

Teachers, don't forget that in July the 

Course options (take one, or take them all, or anywhere in between):  

• Using iPhoto in the Classroom and Using iMovie ’08 in the Classroom, both on July 22 
• Using GarageBand 3 in the Classroom and Using iWeb in the Classroom, both on July 23
• Using iDVD 6 in the Classroom and Using Leopard in the Classroom, both on July 24

During the course of the day, we put together podcasts, learned how to turn our iPhoto library into a published book, and how to create an iDVD. We also worked with PhotoBooth, GarageBand, iMovie, iWeb, and the Dashboard. Along with some cheerleaders, John Hodgman and Justin Long even made a brief appearance at the beginning of the morning. Just a day in our iLife!

Apple Mac mini (P/N : MB138ZP/A, MB139ZP/A) แมคมินิช่วยให้คุณจัดการกับภาพดิจิตัล ภาพยนตร์ เพลงและเว็บได้อย่างง่ายดายยิ่งขึ้น โดยเฉพาะในแมคมินิรุ่นใหม่นี้ คุณจะสัมผัสได้ถึงการทำงานที่ฉับไวยิ่งขึ้นถึง 39% เมื่อเทียบกับการทำงานในรุ่นเดิม ด้วยพลังแรงจาก Intel Core 2 Duo และระบบปฏิบัติการคุณภาพสูงอย่าง Mac OS X นอกจากนั้นยังมาพร้อมด้วยแอพพลิเคชันที่ใช้งานง่ายอย่าง iLife'08 เพื่อให้คุณจัดการและแบ่งปันภาพถ่ายผ่านทางโปรแกรม iPhoto รวมถึงการสร้างปฏิทิน หนังสือ และการ์ด อีกทั้งยังสร้างภาพยนตร์ในแบบของคุณได้ด้วย iMovie พร้อมกันนี้ยังสามารถแปลงภาพถ่ายหรือภาพยนตร์ที่คุณสร้างสรรค์ขึ้น ให้อยู่ในรูปของดีวีดีคุณภาพสูงด้วย iDVD และพบกับประสบการณ์แบบเต็มจอจากโปรแกรม Front Row ด้วยเมนูที่ใช้งานง่าย ตัวอักษรขนาดใหญ่ และภาพกราฟฟิคที่สีสันสดใส เพื่อให้คุณสามารถเบราวซ์เพลง ภาพถ่าย และวิดีโอบนเครื่องแมคมินิได้อย่างง่ายดาย เช่นเดียวกับการเบราวซ์เพลงจากเครื่องไอพอด และด้วยรีโมทที่มาพร้อมกับตัวเครื่อง ช่วยให้คุณเพลิดเพลินกับสื่อดิจิตัลได้จากทุกที่ในห้อง และด้วยโปรแกรม Front Row และเครื่องแมคมินินี้ จะช่วยให้คุณเล่นเพลง ภาพถ่าย และวิดีโอที่บันทึกไว้ในคอมพิวเตอร์เครื่องอื่นๆ ที่อยู่ในบ้านได้ ด้วยความสามารถของ Bonjour instant networking

จุดเด่นผลิตภัณฑ์

• เลือกการทำงานที่ตรงตามความต้องการของคุณจากโปรเซสเซอร์ Intel Core 2 Duo 2 ระดับ คือ 1.83GHz หรือ 2.0GHz
• ใช้งานสะดวกด้วย Apple Remote with Front Row
• หน่วยความจำสูงสุด 2GB
• แสดงผลกราฟฟิคด้วยความสามารถของ Intel GMA 950
• มาพร้อมด้วยอุปกรณ์ DVI connector และ VGA adapter
• มอบความจุฮารด์ไดร์ฟ 160GB
• ภายในติดตั้ง Gigabit Ethernet
• รองรับระบบเสียงทั้งแบบอนาลอคและดิจิตัล
• เพิ่มขยายผ่านทางระบบ USB และ FireWire
• ใช้งานง่ายและให้ประสิทธิภาพสูงด้วยโปรแกรม iLife ’08, Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger