Posts Tagged
dvd
OS X comes with CD and DVD burning capabilities built-in, so you might have managed so far without needing to install a separate app. When I reinstalled Snow Leopard a few months back, I decided to keep my system as lean as possible, since my old Core Duo MacBook has been showing its age. I only installed applications as a real need for them arose.
As it happens, one of the very first apps I added was for burning discs, since I found the native OS X burning seemed to be slower, and certainly gave me less control of how discs are burned.
I had previously had an earlier version of Toast installed, but I decided not to return to that outdated software, and instead went with a free burner app that had good reviews on MacUpdate. Recently, Roxio released the newest version of Toast, and I’m very glad to have updated.
Though there are lightweight apps that can do some of the things Toast does, and there are many cheaper, and even free, programs available, I believe Toast remains best-in-class. And if you go for the Pro version, it’s actually very good value – but more on that later.
Apple is known for often being one of the fore-runners in adopting new technologies – Firewire, ExpressCard, and Mini DisplayPort spring to mind. But equally, the company can be ruthless about dropping the inclusion of features they no longer feel to be relevant.
Blu-ray is an interesting outlier, and it isn’t obvious whether Apple is planning to adopt the technology yet. As themselves a video distributor through the iTunes Store, choosing to include an optical format that’s almost exclusively used for HD films would not necessarily be in their competitive interest.
Apple is a purveyor of the benefits of downloadable content – whether that be apps, music, or HD movies and TV shows. It even seems that they’d ultimately like to move away from optical media altogether, as is the case with the MacBook Air.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with this. I rarely use the DVD drive in the MacBook Pro – a couple of times per year at most – and I wouldn’t think twice before purchasing a machine with no optical drive at all. I don’t own any Blu-ray equipment or media, and am content downloading HD content from the iTunes Store.
But do you feel the same? Or is it Apple’s duty to support a wide range of formats – especially widespread standards such as Blu-ray? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Today we’re taking a look at a range of different CD and DVD burning tools for your Mac. Along with those bundled with your machine already, we’ll consider a number of third party applications that specialise in different fields. Some are delightful in their simplicity, others pack a huge feature set.
Whether you regularly produce and burn optical media, or just need to share a few photos from time to time, there will be something here for you!
Burning files to CD or DVD, although gradually becoming an outdated practice, is still a necessary function for many people. Mac OS X comes bundled with some basic disc writing capabilities in iTunes and the Finder, however these options do not give you full control over some of the finer details of burning to optical media
Today I’ll be reviewing the free, open-source burning application (aptly named) Burn. Although keeping things simple on the surface, Burn packs quite a bit of useful power and custom functionality under the hood.
We all have reasons for importing our DVDs onto our Mac. Whether it is to preserve the movie if the original DVD gets scratched, or to have the ability to carry your movie collection in a digital format. For the duration of this tutorial I will be using my Ice Age DVD (a great movie by the way!)
This step by step guide will teach you how to use the power of HandBrake to rip your DVD’s so that they show up in iTunes, as well as on your iPod/iPhone device!
DVDs can be a nuisance to carry around. They also scratch, break, or go missing over time. RipIt, from The Little App Factory lets you rip your DVDs to your Mac so that you can watch them at anytime without the DVD inserted in your drive.
RipIt is an application so beautifully simplistic, even your mum would have no problem using it. This review will have a look at why RipIt is better than other apps out there, highlight how the process works, and take a look at what’s missing.
Keeping media on your computer has some great benefits. Watching movies directly from your hard drive saves battery life. DVDs scratch easily, so backing up lets you have some peace of mind.
Now here’s the problem: You don’t have any visual cues as to what is what. Rather than looking for the covers and cases you know so well, you must rely on the same sterile document icon (or preview of the first scene of the movie if you have icon previews on) and the small label underneath.
SlipCover, from Bohemian Coding is a free solution for this little problem. Today I’ll show you SlipCover and it’s features, as well as how and where to find cases to expand SlipCover’s Repertoire.
At some stage you’ve probably all needed to convert videos between various formats. Whether it’s to make that YouTube video play on your iPod, or to watch something a PC-using friend sent to you in an odd format. This task can often seem time consuming and problematic, but with the right tools is no issue.
Luckily, there is an abundance of applications out there for this very purpose. This roundup covers 7 different Mac apps for encoding video into whichever format you’re after. Some are free and some are not, but all do a great job.
Whether you’re an expert cinematographer or passionate about Lost, most Mac users find themselves needing to convert video between formats from time-to-time. I used to swear by an app called VisualHub, but the developer has unfortunately now stopped work on the project.
In late 2008, an older DVD ripping application – HandBrake – was given a new lease of life. It is no longer limited to purely archiving DVDs, but can now open and convert between practically any type of video source.
This review will take a look at how HandBrake works, give an overview of what the application is capable of, and highlight how it can be used to better managing your video library.
