" Dear xlr8yourmac,
I've been following the coverage of Vidi on xlr8yourmac.com. I'm Vidi's author, and I have a few remarks. Feel free to publish any of them on your site.

(reader comments on Vidi indented-Mike)
"Works well. The recorded video clip can be moved directly to the video bin in an imovie project and it will be put in the clips tray.

It seems that when you use this technique, iMovie insists on performing a lengthy "import" operation, only to end up with an exact duplicate of the file appearing inside the Media folder inside the project. A more efficient technique is to close the iMovie project, drop the DV files saved by Vidi right into the Media folder, then re-open the project. iMovie will identify the files as "stray clips" and will suggest adding them to the video bin.

"Works in both imovie 3 and imovie 2. However, the recorded clip is more fuzzy than one captured directly by imovie."

I'm not sure about this. With the pervious version of Vidi, iMovie actually decompressed and recompressed the clips during the "import" operation, which could have resulted in degradation. However, with the latest version of Vidi or with the move-to-media-folder technique, I suspect the only possible reason for the difference in quality is different brightness, contrast and saturation settings.

"Only snag is that there is no FM radio support as far as I could see."

That is correct. I'm working on it but obviously I can't promise anything.

" However, iMovie has a bug with the Formac Studio as all imported digitized footage has sound interference (sounds like a machine gun being fired over the top of the original sound). My only work around so far is to extract the audio and this seems to correct it. Does anyone out there know of a better fix for this?"

Other than upgrading the firmware, you can use Vidi to capture video and then bring the clips into iMovie as described above. They'll be buzz-free. You just have to make sure your clips don't exceed 2GB, which is iMovie's clip size limit (at least in version 2). ...
Best regards,
-- Mitz Pettel "

When I first saw the note on the Vidi page System Requirements section that listed Formac models with specific FM radio tuner modules (in italics there), I had assumed FM radio was a supported feature - it isn't. I do not own the Formac DV/TV device so I never used the software. (One man site here, way overloaded and human - so I do make mistakes at times.)

"Someone did it! He uses a Zalman heatsink to cool his GeForce 3, and he manages to make it fit in his Cube! Check this page: http://homepage.mac.com/yukihiro_i/bind_it/mac/geforce3.html
Too bad it's in japanese, and the babelfish translation is of no help to figure out how this guy manage to install the card with the huge heatsinks in the Cube. And checking the Zalman web site, it seems that the heat pipe must be installed in a certain position to work well (heat pipes uses gravity to function) (heat pipes use phase change (liquid to vapor, then cooled back to liquid, etc.). Although some use a wick and capillary action, the Zalman page has specific install/orientation guides for their cooler that shows it requires the cool end of the heatsink pipe to be higher than the GPU (hot side) end.-Mike), so I wonder if the particuliar installation in the Cube (the card is vertical) allow the heat pipe to work as it should...
Franaois Menu"

From the photos there it still shows a fan on the GF3 card (not over the GPU chip anymore though, bottom side mounted in the photo). I've not tried translating the page but if any japanese readers can provide an accurate translation, that would be great. For Zalman's notes on standard installation (for non-Cube systems of course) see their ZM50, ZM80 and ZM80A pages which have comments on card/GPU orientation, etc.

"Hi Mike
I bought Montage for an entirely different reason Û they include an audio clean-up product called ÏRay-GunÓ which uses the Montage framework as the platform for running. Ray Gun X is the best product IÌve found for cleaning up pops and clicks and other sounds which result from transferring my albums to CDs.

I suppose that over time IÌll use Montage for its video capabilities, but right now, IÌm using it just for the audio portion.
Thanks
Paul M."

For previous reader comments on Montage, see Friday's news page.

"Today, CocoaTech and YazSoft are extremely proud and excited to announce the immediate availability of Path Finder 2.1; the most powerful, most complete Finder ever written for Mac OS X. We give you a Finder on major steroids. Path Finder has all the default functionality of the standard Mac OS X Finder, but also packs tons of additional must-have features not found anywhere else. Path Finder puts an Aqua user interface on many powerful Unix tools for operating on files and can be customized in more ways to suit your working habits."

For more info or to download a free trial copy, see http://www.cocoatech.com.

• Other World Computing G4/550 in B&W G3 (rated 9)
• PowerLogix BlueChip G3/466 in PB G3 wallstreet1 (rated 3)
• Powerlogix G4 Dual 1GHz in Dual G4/500 AGP (rated 9)
• Powerlogix G4 Dual 1.2GHz (running 1.3GHz) in G4/733 AGP (rated 10)
  (some problems noted, perhaps overheating)
• Apple OEM 350MHz (didn't note G3 or G4) in Beige G3 (rated 9)
• Apple B&W G3/350 OC report
• PowerBook G3/400 (pismo PB G3 2000) OC report

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand). For detailed reviews with performance tests and install tips, see the CPU Upgrades page.)

DVD-R DVD Recorder Drives:
• IDE Pioneer DVR-105 in G4/AGP (OS X)
• IDE Pioneer DVR-105 in B&W G3 (OS X)
• IDE Pioneer DVR-105 in Beige G3 (OS X)
  (2nd Beige G3 owner noting 10.2.4 helped data cd problems)
  
  Expansion Bay CDRW Drives:
• Matshita UJDA-320 (4x4x24x) in PowerBook G3 2000 (OS X)
  (using modified burn support plugin)
  
  IDE CDRW Drives:
• Micro-Star-8348 (48x16x48x) in Beige G3 (OS 9.1)
  (no itunes burn support., had to be set to slave to boot, listed under "other" brands)
  (FYI - Illustrated CD drive install guide here covers G4 towers up to the Digital Audio Model, Beige G3 MT, B&W G3 and 8600/9600 Macs.)
  
  Firewire CDRW Drives:
• Buslink 52x in FW case used w/Powerbook G3 Wallstreet1 (OS X)
  (actual drive mechanism not mentioned, no mention of iTunes burn support, listed under "other" brands)
  
  USB CDRW Drives:
• NEC NR7700A (12x8x32x) used w/iMac (OS X)
  (no itunes/iapps burn support., listed under "other" brands)
  
  IDE Hard Drives:
• Western Digital WD800JB (8MB Cache) in B&W G3 (OS X)
  (Illustrated guide to adding a 2nd HD here in B&W G3 rev2 and G4 towers up to the QuickSilver models.
  IDE articles page RAID section has an illustrated guide for adding 2 more drives in the side bays.)
• Seagate ST3120023A 120GB in G4 Cube (OS X)
  (wake from sleep disk problems noted)
• Toshiba MK4018GAP 40GB in Powerbook G3 2000 (OS X)
  (Pismo illustrated HD install guide here)

You can find full owner reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches). For guides to installing CD/CDRW/DVD drives or Hard drives in many mac models, see the IDE Articles page. The Firewire articles page also has guides on case kits, installing drives, etc.
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database. (If you post an updated entry - make sure you use the same name, etc. as you did before so I can find your past entry. Thanks.)
(Incomplete entries are deleted. Do not post questions in the database, it's for drive reports not questions on what drive to buy - for that try searching the database for reports from owners of your mac model on the drive type/brand/interface, etc. you're interested in.)

• 1 year ago today
• 2 years ago today
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