Update! Still missing a few things since moving to OSX
January 31, 2007
About a week ago I wrote about 9 things I was missing since moving to OSX. Since then I have come to term with a few of them thanks to some of you and to my own research.
Here are some of the solutions/workaround I have found/used:
1. In Windows I use to hit windows-d all the time to minimize all open windows to the task bar.
OSX implement a nice variant of this. Which essentially minimize all applications but the one currently selected. You can see this in action in this short screencast:
2. The second thing that I miss is the simplicity of permanently associating network shared resources to drive letters.
I have not found any way of doing this efficiently as of today.
3. Mounting network shares takes what it seem like a very long time. Here is a YouTuve video I made showing the difference.
Still true for my Linksys NSLU2 based network shares. I noticed that network shares hosted on a Windows XP workstation is equally fast on both system.
3. The lack of good photo management software.
Sorry to repeat myself but iPhoto is really disapointing when compared to Picasa. Luckily I run XP in Parallels for this one application.
4. There appear to be way too much ties with .MAC services from Apple. Paying for web services is so 2000. Apple, please dump .MAC and move it all to Google.
No change here
5. No good IM software with iSight support for video IM that I know of. Do you know any good ones?
Someone pointed me to Skype for Mac. I will give it a spin.
6. I really miss the Start menu.
I have now learned to use Spotlight and Quicksylver and no longer miss the Start menu
7. uTorrent! Sure, there is Azureus (Thank God) but I find it a little on the heavy on the RAM side. At least the Apple implementation of Java does not suck like on Windows… this make Azureus a little bit more tolerable… but what I want is my uTorrent!
I use Azureus. Still waiting for uTorrent
8. AutoGK. There is nothing quite like it on OSX. Yeah, Handbreak or ffmpegx are often brought up but you just can’t compare to the ease and power of AutoGK.
OK, I wrote a screencast on how t use those. I guess I have come to term with them.
9. Windows Explorer. Finder is a nice file manager but Windows Explorer feels more functional. Icons are smaller and give you more real estate. I also feel that it is much more responsive.
Again, this is one place where Microsoft is a tiny bit better than OSX Finder.
Please discuss this in the forum if you have answers to my issues.
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How to convert from DVD to XVID on mac OSX for Free
January 29, 2007
Someone asked for a quick guide on how to freely extract the main movie of a DVD and convert it to XVID while retaining the original AC3 audio. Yes, I know, Handbreak can do this in one pass… but with very bad video quality… no thank you! This guide is for those that, like me, want the best video and best audio in their XVID converted DVD.
The solution is rather simple on a MAC (as you can tell by the length of this HOW TO).
What you will need:
1. MacTheRipper
2. ffmpegx
If you would like a screencast on how to install those (most likelly ffmpegx) let me know in the forum.
How to do it:
1. Follow the instructions in this screencast to extract the main movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocOJyNWhD7g
2. Follow the instructions in this screencast to convert to XVID: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeitJOtdoYo
3. Final thoughts (cheap, sort of):
That is it! Enjoy your xvid converted movie with AC3 audio.
Discuss this how to in the forum.
Transcode 360 now at a new location
January 27, 2007
Just noticed (kind of late, I know) that Transcode 360 for Vista has found a new home (http://transcode360.co.uk/).
This is essentially a continuation of the original work done by Runtime. James has now taken the flame and is running with it for Vista owners. I am glad he did since I just upgraded my old MCE2005 system with my Vista Ultimate license I got as a gift from Microsoft.
Here is what James has to say about his new site:
"Hello,
First off welcome to this new site, I wanted to give T360 its own community page a bit more of a home from home in the hope to get more involvement with the project, and what better way to introduce everybody to the new site than to release a new version of Transcode 360.
Get it well its hot - You can grab the latest versions of the software from the downloads page, so have fun and download.
So whats happening in th the world of T360
New Wrapper - I have undertaken the work to create a new wrapper for T360 so that we can experiment with the wonderful VLC client and getting it running both MPEG2 and Windows Media Video files (V3). I am hopping this wrapper will stop the stuttering issues under Windows Vista that everybody is experiencing on playback but that might only be fixed by moving to Windows Media Video. Initial testing has been good on my development laptop, I had a CPU usage of 40% whilst encoding but on a 1.6Ghz Intel Centrino laptop that isn’t bad going, I will move it over to my Media Center server to see what sort of stats we get out of it there as its a little more powerful than my laptop!
Internet Streaming - I have devised a new file format for T360 its called the .36w format, basically if you dump the URL to a piece of media on the Internet in to a file you can stream the media in realtime to your Xbox 360. It works great with You Tube but unfortunately I doubt it will work with protected content but hey your welcome to try when it comes out! this format will only work with the VLC wrapper at present but I will look at porting it in to mencoder if it supports the interne streaming formats.
I am hoping to get another release out before the new year with the above improvements in it but no guarantees!"
Long live Transcode 360 for Vista
9 things I miss since moving to OSX
January 24, 2007
OK, I have been running on pure (ok, not so pure since I have run XP in Parallels VM) OSX for the last few days. My verdict? I miss a few Windows features / software. So what am I missing as a new iMac user?
This:
1. In Windows I use to hit windows-d all the time to minimize all open windows to the task bar. So far OSX appears to be missing this feature. I hate to ha to minimize all windows to get to the desktop. I know, F9 sort of does this but it does not actually minimize things to the dock. So selecting one of the open app bring all the clutter back again. Bad bad.
2. The second thing that I miss is the simplicity of permanently associating network shared resources to drive letters. OSX does not appear to allow permanent mount of network resource… come on… give me the option of automounting network shares in the background. Windows can do this with it’s fingers in the nose… OSX got to be able to make this easy. I sometime have the feeling that Mac users do not use networking all this much or else they would have a major fit with this.
3. Mounting network shares takes what it seam like a very long time. Here is a YouTuve video I made showing the difference.
3. The lack of good photo management software. I Don’t know if there is a deal going on between Apple and Google but why the heck is there no native Picasa port of the Windows version? Is it because Steve made a deal with Google and Google in return agreed to not compete with the feature less iPhoto? Google, give me something better that the native Picasa Uploader plugin for iPhoto!
4. There appear to be way too much ties with .MAC services from Apple. Paying for web services is so 2000. Apple, please dump .MAC and move it all to Google.
5. No good IM software with iSight support for video IM that I know of. Do you know any good ones?
6. I really miss the Start menu. I hate to have to go to the Finder every time I want to start an application. It feels so unproductive compared to the Start menu implementation. OSX should do something similar to the Start menu of Windows with the nice list of appications and recently run application. Snif, snif… Maybe there is an open source option? Please let me know!
7. uTorrent! Sure, there is Azureus (Thank God) but I find it a little on the heavy on the RAM side. At least the Apple implementation of Java does not suck like on Windows… this make Azureus a little bit more tolerable… but what I want is my uTorrent!
8. AutoGK. There is nothing quite like it on OSX. Yeah, Handbreak or ffmpegx are often brought up but you just can’t compare to the ease and power of AutoGK.
9. Windows Explorer. Finder is a nice file manager but Windows Explorer feels more functional. Icons are smaller and give you more real estate. I also feel that it is much more responsive. Just to test, I am running XP in Parallels right now and clicking on the + sign beside folders just explode them like crazy fast compare to the click on the arrow in Finder… All this even while running it in Parallels virtual machine. I think OSX is deliberately slowing it to do more graphical animation. I don’t know but this suck. Watch a short YouTube video demonstrating this.
Please discuss this in the forum if you have answers to my issues.
Oh, yeah, about the forum account registration. Some morons are posting SPAM in there so I have to enforce some restriction. Make sure to use a username without numbers. I auto reject those as spammers tend to use digits a lot to make sure their spam user is unique.
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I bought myself a 17 inch Apple iMac
January 20, 2007
Well, well, well, what happen when you play with a copy of OSX86 on a standard Intel PC (called a hackintosh)… You like it so much that you buy the real thing!
I had been playing with OSX86 on my P4 Intel PC since it came out about a year ago. Since then the OSX86 scene has been able to "hack" all the OSX release up tp 10.4.8 to enable them to run on standard Intel PC.
The overall experience of running OSX86 on a PC gives you a pretty good idea of what it is to own a Apple Mac computer… but it is not the real thing. Running OSX86 on a PC is not perfect and make you wish you had the real thing.
For one, the sleep function did not work on my PC and would result in a hung system. A hard power down / power up was needed to recover from it.
Secondly CD/DVD would constantly get "stuck" in the desktop and would cause the OS to behave very badly, to the point of needing a full reboot to get the darn thing out.
I had enough of those problem so I decided to look for how much an iMac would cost me. Looking at the choice on the Apple web site I decided that the best overall choice was a 17 inch iMac with a 2GHz care 2 duo Intel processor for 1349$ Canadian.
When I arrived home with the new system I was blown away by how slick the whole packaging was. Simple, elegant and well thought. In no time I had the whole system up and running on my desk… well, one could call it a monitor instead of a system since this is essentially it. Everything is hidden in the same amount of space my old PC monitor was taking. No more huge PC case on the desk, just space to put anything else. The only cables left are the power cable nicely tuck behind the "monitor" and the Ethernet cable to my 100mbps switch… the keyboard and mouse are using blue-tooth so no wires are needed.
OK, enough about the packaging and the system form factor aspect. The next thing that got me going "wow" was how quiet the iMac is. Literally you ear nothing when it run… compare this to the sound the 3 fans on my PC where making… Total silence… just unbelievable.
One would expect that a noiseless computer would have to be slow to keep the heat down. Not the iMac. It is much faster than my noisy 3GHz HT based PC it replaced. This is just mind blowing fast. The overall experience of running a real 2GHz core 2 duo iMac vs running OSX86 on my PC feels at least 2 times faster.
Enough to report tonight… I will write tomorrow about what where the first software I installed on my new iMac to feel at home. I hope to give PC owners a good idea of what software you will need to get to match what you use to do on the PC.
Cheers
Discuss about iMac in this forum
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Was going to buy an Apple iTV but now I won’t
January 10, 2007
Apple just announced the Apple TV product. I was ready to pull the trigger on the pro-order web site but held back and went looking at the product specs. I was sad to read that the unit will only playback a VERY limited set of video files:
H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile; 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3; 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile.
MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile
This mean that no mpeg2 will be supported, no HD xvid/divx and no WMV9 VC1. This is really a purchase stopper.
Engadget also published the fact that you won’t be able to buy Music/TV/Movie via the unit itself. You will have to move you ass to you computer running iTune to do it first. This is yet another purchase stopper.
I would still buy it to play music and some video if the price was 100$ but certainly not at $299.
I think Apple have seriously missed the boat on this one. Sorry guys. The unit might be small and pretty looking but it is so limited that it is not worth buying at $299.
Maybe the next version will be worth buying
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No Apple iPhone for Canada
January 10, 2007
Digg this story!
Have you noticed how the iPhone tab is no where to be found in the non USA based Apple web site? What does this mean? Is it that Apple has only inked a deal with Cingular and no one else outside the US? Is it expected that the iPhone will only lunch in the USA in June? What about the rest of the world? What is the plan?
My guess is that because the device need a cell phone carrier to properly operate Apple will need to ink deal with cell phone carrier in each and every country they want to sell it in.
Apple, it would be nice to clarify cause I really want one of those… but if you do not have a Canadian partner then I am S.O.L..
Here is a quick screen grab showing the missing iPhone tab from the Canadian and France Apple web site:
www.apple.com/ca
or www.apple.com/fr:
where the US site show:
XBOX 360 to act as an IPTV platform
January 6, 2007
mercurynews.com had published and article (than has since been taken down) about something that will be announced at CES 2007 by mister Gates… The XBOX 360 will be able to ac as an IPTV client later this year. All XBOX 360 owners will be able to use it (not like the HD/SD movie download currently limited to the U.S.A.)
The following is a quote from the now taken down article:
"Microsoft is also dropping something of a bomb at the show. Jim Brady, a spokesman for Microsoft, said Gates and Bach will say in the keynote speech Sunday night at the Venetian Hotel that the Xbox 360 will be able to serve as a set-top box for IPTV, or Internet protocol television. The details on this announcement are sketchy and Brady says only that it will appear later this year.
He did say that no consumers would be left behind, meaning that all of the 10 million plus Xbox 360s in the market would be able to participate in the IPTV services at some level."
Update 1:
Gizmodo has released a little bit more info regarding IPTV. Here is what they have to say:
"The leak says Microsoft’s IPTV services will have instant channel change, multiple picture-in-picture, broadcast shows, video on demand, and DVR functionality—gotta use those 120GB for more than just trailers."
Update 2:
I also found an interesting article from January 10 2006 speculating about XBOX 360 and IPTV. Follow the link to it ;-).
Update 3:
I found a nice little presentation from Microsoft about their IPTV (likelly what will be offered on the 360).
Here is what Microsoft has to say about it:
"Microsoft TV IPTV Edition is an integrated and comprehensive software platform developed specifically to deliver broadcast-quality video and new, integrated TV services over broadband networks. The platform combines market-leading features such as instant channel change (ICC) and multiple picture-in-picture (PIP) with traditional TV services such as broadcast programming, VOD, and DVR. The software is developed to integrate seamlessly and economically with other IP-based communications and media services for PCs, phones, and other consumer devices. Microsoft TV IPTV Edition is ideal for telecommunications carriers and for cable operators looking to deliver differentiated TV services and experiences.
Robust Navigation
The multimedia Program Guide provides a unified user experience with integrated listings for broadcast and on-demand content, consistent navigation and search features, and picture-in-picture.
A Mini Guide provides a convenient way to browse guide listings without interrupting the show currently airing. Discretely displayed along the bottom of the screen, the Mini Guide shows comprehensive program information plus a real-time video stream for each show currently airing. Consumers can browse listings by shows currently airing, shows on next, and shows airing later.
Fast Channel Surfing
Patent-pending technology from Microsoft enables channel changing in a fraction of a second, effectively eliminating the delay associated with tuning channels in a digital system.
Integrated Video-On-Demand (VOD)
All content - including HDTV - can be distributed on a subscription or a pay-per-play basis with content promotion integrated into the user experience.
Digital Video Recording
With an internal or external hard disk drive, customers can pause, fast-forward, and rewind live and recorded content. With IPTV Edition, multiple recordings can be made without the need for multiple tuners, so there is no need for costly hardware upgrades."
Sound nice
Update 4:
Update 5:
OK, Miscrsoft will also announced a Home Server appliance at CES. It might make sense that the IPTV XBOX 360 use it as a network storage device for VOD. This would allow CORE system users to also enjoy IPTV solutions.
Link to the story about Home Server.
Cheers!
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YouTube and Google Video downloader for Zune
January 6, 2007
"Zunemytube is an IE plugin that allows you to download videos from youtube, google video in a format viewable in Windows Media player, Zune, Creative Zen, Archos, IRiver players. Watch a video, click the Zune icon to get wmv video in "My Videos"."
I personally don’t have a Zune player myself (care to donate one ;-0) so I can’t tell if the produced video play well on the unit, but the video do play fine under Windows Media Player 11.
Enjoy this new tool.
You can download it from here
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Windows Home Server, a solution to the XBOX 360 small HD
January 5, 2007
OK, I am doing pure speculation here, so be warned!
With the recent news about Microsoft announcing "Windows Home Server" at CES 2007 I got thinking about the possible use of this device:
1. The 360 has a small HD, right? Maybe, just maybe, the Home Server will allow you to offload your XBOX 360 SD/HD movie to it for long time archival? If the home server is really a closed hardware then it might be possible for Microsoft to apply proper DRM (I know, frightening) to keep the file safe on a home NAS.
2. Could the home server do on the fly xvid/divx conversion (like TVersity) for playback on the 360? Maybe… but probably not.
That is it for now. Just a few ideas!
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