So your complaint is that you bought a used machine that you couldn't upgrade to the latest PCI spec that would enable support for a graphics feature in an OS released 5 years after the computer? I mean, barring a total mobo replacement, what were you expecting?
I've been using an Apple machine in one way or another since 1987, when my family got an Apple IIGS. I've never owned a PC. I've had an LC, an LC II, a Centris 660av (the machine of the true believer), a PowerMac 7500 (that lasted through so many upgrades by the end it had no original parts left except the case and power supply), a white iBook, PowerBooks 180c, 520c, Wallstreet II G3 and Al G4, and a Sawtooth G4 (I got lucky and got one of the original 450MHz ones, before the speeds were reduced.)
Right now I have the PB G4 and a Core Duo Mini. I sold the G4 tower (it was also pumped full of upgrades) and just about made enough to cover the cost of the mini--try doing that with a 6 year old PC.
Here's my point--the Core Duo Mini is the coolest piece of Apple kit I've used since OS X 10.2 came out and I switched over permanently. The 1.66 Duo is enough faster than the 1.25 G4 in my PowerBook that I have started to complain about the PowerBook. The OS feels tighter, somehow. I've never had a single problem with Rosetta, apart from a few PrefPanes and plug-ins not loading, which was expected. Mundane things, like browsing in Safari, are hilariously faster. Harder things, like transcoding video, are noticeably quicker. Parallels is nice to have around, even if I never use it.
If the new Macbooks are this good, they're going to be the biggest hit Apple's ever had, particularly at the college level. I don't know any non-geek students who still buy desktops, and the speed and polish of the MacBook coupled with the whole BootCamp/Parallels thing is going to wow a lot of people. I was initially hesitant about the Intel thing, but it really has breathed a whole new life into Apple's product line.
Frontrow is a quicktime only joke. Where do I get content for that? And don't say iTunes store. Ditch the bundleware and the hardware is nice though, too bad they won't sell em naked. Paying the Apple tax is worse than paying the M$ tax in that it is a bigger percentage of the sticker price.
the latest version of the divx codec for macs plugs into quicktime, so pretty much any content from anywhere is available to frontrow.
it's not illegal to take photos in millenium park, it's illegal to take photos of the bean (a sculpture in the park) and sell them. it's not a 'deal with the city,' it's a fundamental copyright--the right to prepare derivative works.
thus, people with "professional" gear, like wedding photographers and such, are stopped and asked if they have licenses for their work, because they're the only people who are probably selling their photos. you can walk in there with a point-n-shoot and take all the photos you want.
You're confusing QuickTime with QuickTime-based applications. In QuickTime 7 we added new attributes that tell QuickTime applications to take a movie with native size X by Y and play it back at size A by B. But the applications have to set that attribute.
so, uh, why didn't you set this attribute in quicktime 7 player, presumably your flagship quicktime application?
Because that's what the video is. Standard-def TV masters are stored on videotape in anamorphic format. When they're played back on a widescreen set, they're stretched out to about 850 by 480. That's how widescreen SD works.
"standard-def tv masters" are most emphatically not stored on videotape as anamorphic anything. they're stored on videotape, which, the last time i checked, was an analog medium that had a fixed aspect ratio. besides, i don't really remember seeing a whole lot of standard-def tv in widescreen. anyone? anyone ever watch any regular show, on regular tv, that was letterboxed? didn't think so. everything else you said about anamorphic-ness was correct, but still a little strange: quicktime's ability to handle anamorphic video is not new, and isn't really better in qt7--it still sucks. that's why i think you're not who you say you are, because looking at spec sheets and marketing mateirals and lying about them is easy, while anyone who tries to use this stuff knows that it's not all there yet, and presumably anyone who works at apple knows this too.
I don't understand this comment at all. When I said "1080/24p," maybe I should have been more specific. I was referring to video in the 1920-by-1080 format playing back at 24 frames per second.
yes, you're right. most things are shot at 24fps. but, uh, dude? of the major networks, two of them (nbc and cbs) broadcast 1080i and the other two (abc and fox, as well as espn) put out 720p. so "the majority of scripted dramas" are not 1080/24p. why would abc and fox shoot at 1080 when they're going to to have to convert and broadcast at 720? and don't give me this condescending little lecture about pulldown because if you knew anything at all, you'd know that pulldown is not easy--it took a very large update to final cut pro to support the 3:2 pull down from a 24p camera, and it still doesn't always work just right. so, you know, go ahead and do it in realtime, over 54g, with a hardware update to airport express that doesn't quadruple the cost of the unit.
besides, my man, the "film look" comes from shooting at 24fps. that's why it's conveyed so well across regular, crap, 30/60 interlaced NTSC. obviously it's dramatically better when it's end to end, but otherwise blockbuster would've been out of business in six months. you think vhs really handled 24fps? or that they did those transfers by doing anything other than putting a vhs camera in a telecine projection box and hitting go? you're clever, but wrong.
in fact, most high end HD gear puts the "camera end" in whatever mode you want, but leaves the vtr end at 60i. you're throwing around a lot of numbers and specs, but i don't think you're quite up to speed here.
again: fun ride, but i think you might have pushed it just a little far this time.
well, it was a fun ride pretending you were the real thing, but all good things come to an end.
quicktime's support for anamorphic video has, and continues, to suck.
go ahead and try it. record something in anamorphic 16:9 on some hot shit dv camera (i use a canon XL1, you can use something even hotter, like a dvx-100, or even sony's new hd thing. doesn't matter.) import into imovie, or even better, final cut. both of them will probably recognize that you're dealing with anamorphic 16:9 and react accordingly. for added measure, you can even set the damn flag in FCP and affirmatively tell the program (which runs on quicktime!) that the video is anamorphic 16:9.
now here's the tricky part: export your video. any format you want: back to.dv, out to mpeg 2 for dvd, anything. just don't cheat and resize the frame--you're rocking the anamorphic tip, remember.
but what's this? quicktime player still plays it back in 4:3, no matter what you do? dvd studio pro and idvd still can't make a proper 16:9 anamorphic dvd without hexediting the video_ts.ifo files? the anamorphicizer (great freeware app to fix some, but not all of these problems) stopped working because apple changed all the applescript commands in quicktime pro?
yeah, you sure work for apple. you know exactly how much better the anamorphic support is in 10.4 and quicktime 7, and that's why you just said that./sarcasm
besides, why the fuck would you offer online movie downloads as anamorphic video? anamorphic is designed to save space and allow dvd players to compensate for televisions with different aspect ratios which is not a problem with computers, since they work just a little differently than tvs. i know you're trying to make some airport video express argument, but....no. you don't have any credibility left. your comment about "1080/24p" which makes approximately zero sense pretty much wrecked any you had left. 24p describes how cameras like the dvx-100 record video--24 frames per second, progressive scan. not necessarily HD (the dvx-100 shoots straight DV).
1080(i) is part of the HD standard, and it's one of the two ways of capturing and interacting with video as part of that standard--1080 interlaced scanlines. now, i understand your confusion, since sony's HD cameras record 60 interlaced frames/sec at 1080i, and jvc's HD cameras record 30 progressive frames at 720p, the other HD spec. i mean, 1080i and 720p. two biggest numbers in all of HD. easy for the apple master here to get confused with a proprietary shooting mode on a DV camera, i'm sure. especially in the 'year of HD'. riiiight.
again: fun ride, but now you've been pushing it for a while, and now you just pushed it too far. fake, son. fake. we love you, and good night.
greg jackson is a dick. also, the university of chicago is amazingly mac friendly, and there are macs everywhere. i'm not exactly certain what the hell he's talking about.
hi. i used to go to the u of c and now i'm at wisconsin for law school.
any chance you guys'll be taking over the network there soon? there's nothing sadder than law students without wireless.:)
Sidetrack and uControl use basically the same machanism for implementing trackpad scrolling--in fact, the same guy wrote the code in both utilities. See?
oh c'mon. were you using the same mp3's, encoded by the same program? were you using the line output in the ipod dock or plugging into the headphone jack? if you were plugging into the headphone jack, was the ipod volume turned up loud enough to distort? what was the equalizer setting? was "sound check" turned on? was the zen set up similarly?
i'm not discounting your experience, but don't complain when people think you're spewing bullshit if you don't provide enough information.
for half the cash, you could go on ebay and buy a true dual processor ppc machine. a search for "dual g4" brings up lots of dual 1.2ghz MDD models, for about $850-$1000, depending. plus these machines have far more expansion capabilities, and aren't limited by the 5400rpm notebook drive of the mini.
i mean, why would you waste so much time and effort on getting SSI to work on the minis when you could just get a true dualie with even more potential?
it's funny that you complain about sound quality and then brag about selling your vinyl.
seriously, once you've been listening to music filtered through a/d/a coversion + the inherent noise of your computer for long enough, a purely analog signal path blows your mind.
you should buy an old technics table on ebay for like $15 and hook it up to those good speakers--you might be surprised at how good those $1 records sound.
i have two computers with different music on them. i use an ipod to send files back and forth.
it's way easier because of the itunes integration--i have two playlists, one called "from g4" and another called "from powerbook" and i just drag all the new music on each machine to the appropriate playlist.
with ipod download, i can just plug the ipod into a machine and sync my music pretty painlessly.
there isn't a better way to do this that i've found, but i'm willing to hear it.
Hey everybody, lets watch a movie or listen to music at the beach, I have brought 25 sets of headphones.
if you really think it's possible to use a laptop lcd screen at a beach, or that you won't destroy that thing in.23 seconds by getting sand in it, you have never been to a beach in your life.
you should check it out, they have these things called 'girls' there. also you can get a 'tan'.
hey, i'm not going to take a side, except to say that it'd be awesome if we knew what was going on here. a prominent critic of a sitting president has been silenced, setting a bad precedent. furthermore, they did not charge the critic, but subpeona'd the ISP. that's not good.
plus you can go to various other websites and fill out their forms--CNN, for example.
again, no sides taken, but let's try and cause a stink--this is a big deal. I'll even make it easy for you--copy'n'paste!
The FBI has effectively shut down Indymedia.org (IMC) by issuing an order to RackSpace US to hand over server hard drives located in London. As a result, over 20 local Indymedia sites have been shut off. At this time, no one knows why the FBI wants the drives or what they are investigating. It is also unclear why Rackspace US complied with a demand for materials held by Rackspace UK.
Indymedia is a vocal critic of the Bush Administration, and also of the mass media. There is some history of this administration's dislike of Indymedia: before the RNC, there was a Secret Service order to shut down nyc.indymedia.org, which was organizing protests.
More information can be found at the general Indymedia site, http://www.indymedia.org.
Kerry is a socialist because, among other things, he believes in tax brackets to redistribute wealth and he believes in nationalizing health care, and he believes in govt.
minus the healthcare part, so does george bush. so does alan greenspan. shit, so does steve forbes. i mean, really, what's your point? that kerry believes in higher taxes to pay for more infrastructure and that makes him a socialist? i always thought that had something to do with redistributing the means of production.
you live in a highly regulated economy, whether you like it or not. furthering some laissez-faire pipe dream by calling the candidate who supports higher taxes a "socialist" is sheer delusion.
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So your complaint is that you bought a used machine that you couldn't upgrade to the latest PCI spec that would enable support for a graphics feature in an OS released 5 years after the computer? I mean, barring a total mobo replacement, what were you expecting?
Most new Macs and Airport Express come standard with optical-out. What's your point?
I've been using an Apple machine in one way or another since 1987, when my family got an Apple IIGS. I've never owned a PC. I've had an LC, an LC II, a Centris 660av (the machine of the true believer), a PowerMac 7500 (that lasted through so many upgrades by the end it had no original parts left except the case and power supply), a white iBook, PowerBooks 180c, 520c, Wallstreet II G3 and Al G4, and a Sawtooth G4 (I got lucky and got one of the original 450MHz ones, before the speeds were reduced.)
Right now I have the PB G4 and a Core Duo Mini. I sold the G4 tower (it was also pumped full of upgrades) and just about made enough to cover the cost of the mini--try doing that with a 6 year old PC.
Here's my point--the Core Duo Mini is the coolest piece of Apple kit I've used since OS X 10.2 came out and I switched over permanently. The 1.66 Duo is enough faster than the 1.25 G4 in my PowerBook that I have started to complain about the PowerBook. The OS feels tighter, somehow. I've never had a single problem with Rosetta, apart from a few PrefPanes and plug-ins not loading, which was expected. Mundane things, like browsing in Safari, are hilariously faster. Harder things, like transcoding video, are noticeably quicker. Parallels is nice to have around, even if I never use it.
If the new Macbooks are this good, they're going to be the biggest hit Apple's ever had, particularly at the college level. I don't know any non-geek students who still buy desktops, and the speed and polish of the MacBook coupled with the whole BootCamp/Parallels thing is going to wow a lot of people. I was initially hesitant about the Intel thing, but it really has breathed a whole new life into Apple's product line.
And the whole thing can be implemented in a driver update.
And it has been, killer. For, like, years now.
It's called SideTrack. It'll do all you said and way, way, more.
Frontrow is a quicktime only joke. Where do I get content for that? And don't say iTunes store. Ditch the bundleware and the hardware is nice though, too bad they won't sell em naked. Paying the Apple tax is worse than paying the M$ tax in that it is a bigger percentage of the sticker price.
the latest version of the divx codec for macs plugs into quicktime, so pretty much any content from anywhere is available to frontrow.
it's not illegal to take photos in millenium park, it's illegal to take photos of the bean (a sculpture in the park) and sell them. it's not a 'deal with the city,' it's a fundamental copyright--the right to prepare derivative works.
thus, people with "professional" gear, like wedding photographers and such, are stopped and asked if they have licenses for their work, because they're the only people who are probably selling their photos. you can walk in there with a point-n-shoot and take all the photos you want.
if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
stunningly well reasoned, my good man. how i ever thought differently, i have no idea. you are truly the electronic cicero.
dude, what do you think wifi operates over? pixie dust?
in other news: the wavebird is not a wifi controller. 0 for 2, killer.
(also your wifi keyboard doesn't seem to have enough fairy powder in it to type a period.)
dude, if you can't hear a difference in sound when you play AC/DC at 192bpm you've got some serious issues.
i have some (crap) USB speakers. those seem to be "computer controlled. hmmm.
fine, whatever.
all i'm saying is, try it. set the flag in FCP and try to play it back in qt7 pro player.
you will not see widescreen video.
the end.
it was a reply to 'stored on videotape.' get it? the idea is that he knows just enough to sound good, not enough to actually be legit.
that's all.
You're confusing QuickTime with QuickTime-based applications. In QuickTime 7 we added new attributes that tell QuickTime applications to take a movie with native size X by Y and play it back at size A by B. But the applications have to set that attribute.
so, uh, why didn't you set this attribute in quicktime 7 player, presumably your flagship quicktime application?
Because that's what the video is. Standard-def TV masters are stored on videotape in anamorphic format. When they're played back on a widescreen set, they're stretched out to about 850 by 480. That's how widescreen SD works.
"standard-def tv masters" are most emphatically not stored on videotape as anamorphic anything. they're stored on videotape, which, the last time i checked, was an analog medium that had a fixed aspect ratio. besides, i don't really remember seeing a whole lot of standard-def tv in widescreen. anyone? anyone ever watch any regular show, on regular tv, that was letterboxed? didn't think so. everything else you said about anamorphic-ness was correct, but still a little strange: quicktime's ability to handle anamorphic video is not new, and isn't really better in qt7--it still sucks. that's why i think you're not who you say you are, because looking at spec sheets and marketing mateirals and lying about them is easy, while anyone who tries to use this stuff knows that it's not all there yet, and presumably anyone who works at apple knows this too.
I don't understand this comment at all. When I said "1080/24p," maybe I should have been more specific. I was referring to video in the 1920-by-1080 format playing back at 24 frames per second.
yes, you're right. most things are shot at 24fps. but, uh, dude? of the major networks, two of them (nbc and cbs) broadcast 1080i and the other two (abc and fox, as well as espn) put out 720p. so "the majority of scripted dramas" are not 1080/24p. why would abc and fox shoot at 1080 when they're going to to have to convert and broadcast at 720? and don't give me this condescending little lecture about pulldown because if you knew anything at all, you'd know that pulldown is not easy--it took a very large update to final cut pro to support the 3:2 pull down from a 24p camera, and it still doesn't always work just right. so, you know, go ahead and do it in realtime, over 54g, with a hardware update to airport express that doesn't quadruple the cost of the unit.
besides, my man, the "film look" comes from shooting at 24fps. that's why it's conveyed so well across regular, crap, 30/60 interlaced NTSC. obviously it's dramatically better when it's end to end, but otherwise blockbuster would've been out of business in six months. you think vhs really handled 24fps? or that they did those transfers by doing anything other than putting a vhs camera in a telecine projection box and hitting go? you're clever, but wrong.
in fact, most high end HD gear puts the "camera end" in whatever mode you want, but leaves the vtr end at 60i. you're throwing around a lot of numbers and specs, but i don't think you're quite up to speed here.
again: fun ride, but i think you might have pushed it just a little far this time.
well, it was a fun ride pretending you were the real thing, but all good things come to an end.
.dv, out to mpeg 2 for dvd, anything. just don't cheat and resize the frame--you're rocking the anamorphic tip, remember.
but what's this? quicktime player still plays it back in 4:3, no matter what you do? dvd studio pro and idvd still can't make a proper 16:9 anamorphic dvd without hexediting the video_ts .ifo files? the anamorphicizer (great freeware app to fix some, but not all of these problems) stopped working because apple changed all the applescript commands in quicktime pro?
/sarcasm
quicktime's support for anamorphic video has, and continues, to suck.
go ahead and try it. record something in anamorphic 16:9 on some hot shit dv camera (i use a canon XL1, you can use something even hotter, like a dvx-100, or even sony's new hd thing. doesn't matter.) import into imovie, or even better, final cut. both of them will probably recognize that you're dealing with anamorphic 16:9 and react accordingly. for added measure, you can even set the damn flag in FCP and affirmatively tell the program (which runs on quicktime!) that the video is anamorphic 16:9.
now here's the tricky part: export your video. any format you want: back to
yeah, you sure work for apple. you know exactly how much better the anamorphic support is in 10.4 and quicktime 7, and that's why you just said that.
besides, why the fuck would you offer online movie downloads as anamorphic video? anamorphic is designed to save space and allow dvd players to compensate for televisions with different aspect ratios which is not a problem with computers, since they work just a little differently than tvs. i know you're trying to make some airport video express argument, but....no. you don't have any credibility left. your comment about "1080/24p" which makes approximately zero sense pretty much wrecked any you had left. 24p describes how cameras like the dvx-100 record video--24 frames per second, progressive scan. not necessarily HD (the dvx-100 shoots straight DV).
1080(i) is part of the HD standard, and it's one of the two ways of capturing and interacting with video as part of that standard--1080 interlaced scanlines. now, i understand your confusion, since sony's HD cameras record 60 interlaced frames/sec at 1080i, and jvc's HD cameras record 30 progressive frames at 720p, the other HD spec. i mean, 1080i and 720p. two biggest numbers in all of HD. easy for the apple master here to get confused with a proprietary shooting mode on a DV camera, i'm sure. especially in the 'year of HD'. riiiight.
again: fun ride, but now you've been pushing it for a while, and now you just pushed it too far. fake, son. fake. we love you, and good night.
greg jackson is a dick. also, the university of chicago is amazingly mac friendly, and there are macs everywhere. i'm not exactly certain what the hell he's talking about.
:)
hi. i used to go to the u of c and now i'm at wisconsin for law school.
any chance you guys'll be taking over the network there soon? there's nothing sadder than law students without wireless.
well that guy's dead. good work, dude.
Sidetrack and uControl use basically the same machanism for implementing trackpad scrolling--in fact, the same guy wrote the code in both utilities. See?
oh c'mon. were you using the same mp3's, encoded by the same program? were you using the line output in the ipod dock or plugging into the headphone jack? if you were plugging into the headphone jack, was the ipod volume turned up loud enough to distort? what was the equalizer setting? was "sound check" turned on? was the zen set up similarly?
i'm not discounting your experience, but don't complain when people think you're spewing bullshit if you don't provide enough information.
for half the cash, you could go on ebay and buy a true dual processor ppc machine. a search for "dual g4" brings up lots of dual 1.2ghz MDD models, for about $850-$1000, depending.
plus these machines have far more expansion capabilities, and aren't limited by the 5400rpm notebook drive of the mini.
i mean, why would you waste so much time and effort on getting SSI to work on the minis when you could just get a true dualie with even more potential?
it's funny that you complain about sound quality and then brag about selling your vinyl.
seriously, once you've been listening to music filtered through a/d/a coversion + the inherent noise of your computer for long enough, a purely analog signal path blows your mind.
you should buy an old technics table on ebay for like $15 and hook it up to those good speakers--you might be surprised at how good those $1 records sound.
summary: sometimes simpler is better.
i have two computers with different music on them. i use an ipod to send files back and forth.
it's way easier because of the itunes integration--i have two playlists, one called "from g4" and another called "from powerbook" and i just drag all the new music on each machine to the appropriate playlist.
with ipod download, i can just plug the ipod into a machine and sync my music pretty painlessly.
there isn't a better way to do this that i've found, but i'm willing to hear it.
Hey everybody, lets watch a movie or listen to music at the beach, I have brought 25 sets of headphones.
.23 seconds by getting sand in it, you have never been to a beach in your life.
if you really think it's possible to use a laptop lcd screen at a beach, or that you won't destroy that thing in
you should check it out, they have these things called 'girls' there. also you can get a 'tan'.
hey, i'm not going to take a side, except to say that it'd be awesome if we knew what was going on here. a prominent critic of a sitting president has been silenced, setting a bad precedent. furthermore, they did not charge the critic, but subpeona'd the ISP. that's not good.
so, let's force the people with access to start asking questions.
nytimes
newsweek
o'reilly
msnbc
plus you can go to various other websites and fill out their forms--CNN, for example.
again, no sides taken, but let's try and cause a stink--this is a big deal. I'll even make it easy for you--copy'n'paste!
The FBI has effectively shut down Indymedia.org (IMC) by issuing an order to RackSpace US to hand over server hard drives located in London. As a result, over 20 local Indymedia sites have been shut off. At this time, no one knows why the FBI wants the drives or what they are investigating. It is also unclear why Rackspace US complied with a demand for materials held by Rackspace UK. Indymedia is a vocal critic of the Bush Administration, and also of the mass media. There is some history of this administration's dislike of Indymedia: before the RNC, there was a Secret Service order to shut down nyc.indymedia.org, which was organizing protests. More information can be found at the general Indymedia site, http://www.indymedia.org.
well, if it is just a script, it's probably a US specific one. so, yes. still lame, though.
Kerry is a socialist because, among other things, he believes in tax brackets to redistribute wealth and he believes in nationalizing health care, and he believes in govt.
minus the healthcare part, so does george bush. so does alan greenspan. shit, so does steve forbes. i mean, really, what's your point? that kerry believes in higher taxes to pay for more infrastructure and that makes him a socialist? i always thought that had something to do with redistributing the means of production.
you live in a highly regulated economy, whether you like it or not. furthering some laissez-faire pipe dream by calling the candidate who supports higher taxes a "socialist" is sheer delusion.
ps. burn, karma, burn!