Audio, Photo & Video

Creating a screencast with a Mac: will you use iShowU HD, Screenium, ScreenFlow, or Snapz Pro?

2009-07-08T08:19:41-08:00

You can record a screencast in two ways. You either record the entire screen or a small portion of it. If you choose the second method it’s best to let the area follow your mouse wherever it goes. Actually, there’s a third way to record which is to record a fixed area of your screen, but that’s...

Elgato Turbo.264 HD Fastest Conversion to H.264 Ever

2009-07-08T07:52:57-08:00

The new Turbo.264 HD only works on Intel Macs and there’s a good reason why: the High Definition bit stream generated by the conversion process requires a solid and fast processor. Power Macs just don’t cut it. Elgato also added the ability to directly convert into H.264 from a HD video camera, so...

Publishing Online: Does Your Publishing System Allow the Routing of Content to User Profiles?

2009-07-06T00:44:59-08:00

Turning a healthy profit is a challenge for newspaper and magazine publishers. They can accomplish this by charging for the content they create. The print channel has traditionally been tuned so that readers will pay. However, in times where free rags and online news sites all compete in the same...

Publishing Systems Functionality Matrix Tells You How Systems Perform

2009-07-05T04:36:23-08:00

The Functionality Matrix & Diagram Report describes the capabilities of 11 all-round publishing systems and 2 dedicated systems with regards to 51 functionality parameters. The second component of this analysis, the Completeness of Vision diagram, positions the systems relative to three...

Turning News into Actionable Information: How Newspaper Publishers Can Charge for Content

2009-06-28T05:18:41-08:00

Everyone who has a mobile phone with a camera and SMS capabilities can report what is happening. The process of reporting what is happening is called news gathering and before ordinary people were capable of doing this, it was only a privileged group of professional reporters—journalists—who would...

Cross-channel Publishing Most Expensive Form of Publishing in History

2009-06-24T08:46:47-08:00

What vendors of publishing systems never say is that a mixed publishing environment requires a lot more than only an online or only a print publishing environment. In print, the workflow of a publication can easily be construed: the publication starts with content and design and ends with the...

Crowd Control: The Equivalent of Stock Photos in Video Footage

2009-06-24T06:29:17-08:00

I was given a trial account for All Bets are Off, and I immediately tried out the service. I found the interface offered to the user to be efficient but not very effective. You start your stock video footage project by searching for keywords. Unfortunately, for me this didn’t work out very well....

Latest Multiformat Card Readers for dSLR and Video Cameras are Fast and Stunningly Designed

2009-06-23T07:39:07-08:00

My objective when I set out to write this review was to compare a large number of all-format readers. Unfortunately, SanDisk’s All-in-One ImageMate hasn’t been released yet, and neither has Jobo’s new model. Lexar only has the dual slot reader, so I decided not to wait any longer and review the...

LaCie Gains on Quality Image by Teaming up with Xyratex For Video Storage

2009-06-22T05:09:32-08:00

Xyratex assembles and sells high-performance data storage solutions, such as NAS and RAID technology. For example, the Xyratex family of RAID systems scales in performance and functionality from small-to-medium business (SMB) to enterprise class systems. These systems have industry leading...

Toon Boom Storyboard Pro has Animatics and Final Cut Pro Integration

2009-06-17T08:27:51-08:00

Storyboard Pro has the same interface and largely the same features as the regular version without the “Pro” addition. What makes the “Pro” really pro is the availability of animatics and more export capabilities, including one that integrates Storyboard Pro with Final Cut Pro. Animatics—also...

Motion Picture Industry Standard Scripts with Final Draft 8

2009-06-17T05:30:52-08:00

When you start Final Draft, there’s little to remind you of the specific purpose for which this application is developed. It looks like a strange word processor. But as soon as you start typing, you’ll enter the world of scripts, dialogues, scenes, etc. And let me warn you upfront: without at least...

Elpical Claro Premedia Xtension for QuarkXPress 8 and QPS8 Announced

2009-06-16T06:21:30-08:00

Elpical’s direct integration with Indesign and QuarkXPress/QPS is new. The latest integration of the Claro image enhancement technology into ex ImageDeskXT allows for automatic image handling in QuarkXPress 8 and Quark Publishing System 8 (QPS8). Developed by Germany based CoDesCo IT Consulting...

Xinet Digital Asset Management Focuses on Enterprise-class Features

2009-06-07T05:28:50-08:00

Xinet’s WebNative Suite DAM is a modular system. It comes with two components at least. The key component is the main server and the system in the studio where image retouchers edit the images that users will place in their layouts. The second component is the WebNative portal. The portal sits...

Software as a Service; Is it Any Good For Publishers?

2009-06-05T03:51:29-08:00

SaaS goes back a long time. It’s never really caught on big time until a couple of years back, when the market slowly started to adopt SaaS as a viable alternative to owning expensive enterprise software. Even then—and now—a lot of companies were burnt by SaaS agreements that cost them more than...

The Novoflex ClassicBall 5: Professional Quality Ball Head Keeps Your Camera Safe At All Times

2009-06-04T06:00:07-08:00

Novoflex must be to Europe what Really Right Stuff is to the US: it’s a company that only manufactures to the highest standards in the best materials, and this shows. After unpacking the lot, the ClassicBall 5, the Q=Base and Q=Plate AT 1 that I received all looked very different from what I’m used...