Use FireWire when available...always. USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed) has a looooong way to go before the various bridge hardware is mature enough to compete with FireWire. Even then I don't think USB 2.0 is up to the task.
As for Sony DV camcorders...USB is primarily for transferring still images from Memory Sticks or webcam functionality.
If you own a Mac, you're basically hung out to dry on USB support. You probably don't want it anyway. Just get a MemoryStick reader and be done with it. Never EVER buy a camcorder expecting greatness out of its still camera functionality.
If you want to transfer video, then FireWire is the [i]only[/i] practical choice. FireWire's isochronous transfer capability, low-CPU usage, etc. make it much better suited to high-bandwidth applications than USB.
If you are having problems importing DV video over FireWire/i.Link to your Mac, then I can't really help you. I'd suspect Sony is at fault if that is the case. Apple's FireWire DV driver/shim should pretty much handle any generic camcorder.
It's amazing how much bandwidth a single insulated and shielded 18 gauge copper conductor can handle IMO, cable is the way t go for now. With 256QAM coming in the future, you'll be able to receive 43 Mbps for each 6 MHz wide channel from about 50-1000 MHz. Even with the current 64QAM implementation, there's lots of bandwidth to go around.
With satellite, the problem really isn't the finicky dish behavior (overly dramatized), but the fact that it's a bottleneck. Currently the DSS providers don't have the bandwidth necessary to broadcast local HD programming. The only way to increase the bandwidth is to launch more satellites. That takes time and money, so if you want local DTV channels, you'll need a plain old UHF/VHF antenna to grab the over-the-air signals.
Your average HD broadcast is between 15 and 20 Mbps. 15 being 720p and 20 being 1080i. Should 1080p come along, that would roughly double the bandwidth requirement of 1080i. The DSS providers are going to have to resort to more aggressive compression sooner than the cable providers...
This is a boon for traditional animators who now don't need to compete with Disney on that front. Bring back the competition. What happened to Don Bluth anyway..? The Secret of NIMH anybody?
I assume it means the death of the spatial GUI. Instead of visual means of organization, you are instead forced by Microsoft to use their own notion of task management. The Microsoft user experience has become increasingly drab to me as their apps all start resembling web-pages. When I use Movie Maker 2 it feels like I'm editing video in a web-based application. Everything feels flatter in Windows...
The majority of the tracks are original compositions by Trevor R. Jones performed by the London Symphony. Two tracks are more ethnic African tunes from Lady Blacksmith Mumbazo...this was all mentioned in the C|NET article.
Charlie White is quick to rattle off about Apple's marketing practices, but he seems to forget how, oh, the rest of the industry does this too. It's standard practice.
AMD would have you believe their chips are 3200+ fast...whatever that means. As if Quantispeed isn't the current biggest marketing annoyance on the planet...I mean how can AMD sit around trying to convince people of the MHz Myth when they can't even convince themselves...forcing themselves to use Pseudo-Hertz...
And lovable Intel...with their NetBurst Architecture...it makes the internet zippier! Or HyperPipeline Technology. It must be good...
If Charlie White really wants to convince people the G5 sucks, he should be a little more candid about his bias.
ComputerWare/MacSource was a great chain here in Northern California, and I was sad to see the owners quit while they were ahead 2 years ago...quite understandable though.
The funniest thing is how they hated Elite and considered it a sleazy operation. I've never purchased anything at Elite...you could just feel the bad karma in the place when you stepped through the doors.
And like all other sleazeballs, in the end the Elite owners know how to do is sue sue sue.
Weird, if you don't ever use the open-apple/command key in Mac OS, you're probably not using your Mac effectively at all with regard to keyboard input efficiency. In other operating systems it may be of limited utility, I guess. As for in other operating systems, that key is at least more useful than the "Windows" key on most PC keyboards.
I really can't find a single key on my keyboard that I don't use at all, or semi-frequently. The least used keys on my keyboard are probably 'help' and 'home'
http://www.robgalbraith.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi ?ubb=get_topic&f=29&t=000009
Indeed. Looks like he jumped the gun with his original article. With MacBibble, the dual 1.25 GHz Mac handily defeated the single 3.06 MHz PC for once...
Maybe it was the rumor-mongering of TheInquirer.net and The Register and all those other sites that had our hopes up, but this just seems like more bad news from a company that is losing further ground to Intel.
The way I see it, AMD has been the weasel ever since adopting the XP rating format. Suddenly a 2800+ is a 2083 MHz part instead of a 2250 MHz part?..because of 256K more L2? Where is that 2800+ anyway? I tried to get one at NewEgg and they didn't have any...
Now Athlon 64 gets delayed...and they still think they can compete with Intel, who has a huge headstart in the 64-bit race. AMD's put all their eggs in one basket and it's looking more and more like IA-64 will win by a TKO.
Hopefully AMD will miraculously survive. I hope good things come with IBM's desktop POWER4 derivative as well.
If your life as a digital photographer revolves around menial tasks such as catalogging zillions of photos, sure, get a PC.
But if you actually take decent photos and make something of them, get a Mac. Where are all the output and retouching related benchmarks? I want tests of RGB-->CMYK conversion, unsharp masks, gaussians, color correction (white/black levels, contrast, brightness, etc,) and other tools photographers actually use to prepare their photos for publishing...
Is anybody else having trouble getting decent upload speeds? Connections keep stalling and knocking the average down to 128 kbit. The worst thing is that I'd rather have a constant 128 kbit than a jumpy 384 kbit upstream that averages out to 128!
Misinformation for Turds.
1) iPod has a 5 GB HDD. Not 10 GB.
2) iPod can upload music files to iTunes (Music folder.) Auto-Sync only works from iTunes-->iPod, but from within iTunes, you can drag songs from iPod to your iTunes library.
3) The above has nothing to do with FireWire Disk Mode...which I presume is the one aspect of iPod that is compatible with Windows, and even dumber devices like a Nikon D1X or a MiniDV camcorder.
4) I know this has all already been said, but it hasn't been said enough.
Slashdot Mirror
Use FireWire when available...always. USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed) has a looooong way to go before the various bridge hardware is mature enough to compete with FireWire. Even then I don't think USB 2.0 is up to the task.
As for Sony DV camcorders...USB is primarily for transferring still images from Memory Sticks or webcam functionality.
If you own a Mac, you're basically hung out to dry on USB support. You probably don't want it anyway. Just get a MemoryStick reader and be done with it. Never EVER buy a camcorder expecting greatness out of its still camera functionality.
If you want to transfer video, then FireWire is the [i]only[/i] practical choice. FireWire's isochronous transfer capability, low-CPU usage, etc. make it much better suited to high-bandwidth applications than USB.
If you are having problems importing DV video over FireWire/i.Link to your Mac, then I can't really help you. I'd suspect Sony is at fault if that is the case. Apple's FireWire DV driver/shim should pretty much handle any generic camcorder.
It's amazing how much bandwidth a single insulated and shielded 18 gauge copper conductor can handle IMO, cable is the way t go for now. With 256QAM coming in the future, you'll be able to receive 43 Mbps for each 6 MHz wide channel from about 50-1000 MHz. Even with the current 64QAM implementation, there's lots of bandwidth to go around.
With satellite, the problem really isn't the finicky dish behavior (overly dramatized), but the fact that it's a bottleneck. Currently the DSS providers don't have the bandwidth necessary to broadcast local HD programming. The only way to increase the bandwidth is to launch more satellites. That takes time and money, so if you want local DTV channels, you'll need a plain old UHF/VHF antenna to grab the over-the-air signals.
Your average HD broadcast is between 15 and 20 Mbps. 15 being 720p and 20 being 1080i. Should 1080p come along, that would roughly double the bandwidth requirement of 1080i. The DSS providers are going to have to resort to more aggressive compression sooner than the cable providers...
This is a boon for traditional animators who now don't need to compete with Disney on that front. Bring back the competition. What happened to Don Bluth anyway..? The Secret of NIMH anybody?
I assume it means the death of the spatial GUI. Instead of visual means of organization, you are instead forced by Microsoft to use their own notion of task management. The Microsoft user experience has become increasingly drab to me as their apps all start resembling web-pages. When I use Movie Maker 2 it feels like I'm editing video in a web-based application. Everything feels flatter in Windows...
The majority of the tracks are original compositions by Trevor R. Jones performed by the London Symphony. Two tracks are more ethnic African tunes from Lady Blacksmith Mumbazo...this was all mentioned in the C|NET article.
Spin doctoring Apple's spin doctoring...classy.
Charlie White is quick to rattle off about Apple's marketing practices, but he seems to forget how, oh, the rest of the industry does this too. It's standard practice.
AMD would have you believe their chips are 3200+ fast...whatever that means. As if Quantispeed isn't the current biggest marketing annoyance on the planet...I mean how can AMD sit around trying to convince people of the MHz Myth when they can't even convince themselves...forcing themselves to use Pseudo-Hertz...
And lovable Intel...with their NetBurst Architecture...it makes the internet zippier! Or HyperPipeline Technology. It must be good...
If Charlie White really wants to convince people the G5 sucks, he should be a little more candid about his bias.
ComputerWare/MacSource was a great chain here in Northern California, and I was sad to see the owners quit while they were ahead 2 years ago...quite understandable though.
The funniest thing is how they hated Elite and considered it a sleazy operation. I've never purchased anything at Elite...you could just feel the bad karma in the place when you stepped through the doors.
And like all other sleazeballs, in the end the Elite owners know how to do is sue sue sue.
Weird, if you don't ever use the open-apple/command key in Mac OS, you're probably not using your Mac effectively at all with regard to keyboard input efficiency. In other operating systems it may be of limited utility, I guess. As for in other operating systems, that key is at least more useful than the "Windows" key on most PC keyboards.
I really can't find a single key on my keyboard that I don't use at all, or semi-frequently. The least used keys on my keyboard are probably 'help' and 'home'
Rob Galbraith now says Macs faster...
Sorry, got to used to UBB automagically making links clickable.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi ?ubb=get_topic&f=29&t=000009
Indeed. Looks like he jumped the gun with his original article. With MacBibble, the dual 1.25 GHz Mac handily defeated the single 3.06 MHz PC for once...
Maybe it was the rumor-mongering of TheInquirer.net and The Register and all those other sites that had our hopes up, but this just seems like more bad news from a company that is losing further ground to Intel.
The way I see it, AMD has been the weasel ever since adopting the XP rating format. Suddenly a 2800+ is a 2083 MHz part instead of a 2250 MHz part?..because of 256K more L2? Where is that 2800+ anyway? I tried to get one at NewEgg and they didn't have any...
Now Athlon 64 gets delayed...and they still think they can compete with Intel, who has a huge headstart in the 64-bit race. AMD's put all their eggs in one basket and it's looking more and more like IA-64 will win by a TKO.
Hopefully AMD will miraculously survive. I hope good things come with IBM's desktop POWER4 derivative as well.
If your life as a digital photographer revolves around menial tasks such as catalogging zillions of photos, sure, get a PC. But if you actually take decent photos and make something of them, get a Mac. Where are all the output and retouching related benchmarks? I want tests of RGB-->CMYK conversion, unsharp masks, gaussians, color correction (white/black levels, contrast, brightness, etc,) and other tools photographers actually use to prepare their photos for publishing...
Is anybody else having trouble getting decent upload speeds? Connections keep stalling and knocking the average down to 128 kbit. The worst thing is that I'd rather have a constant 128 kbit than a jumpy 384 kbit upstream that averages out to 128!
Misinformation for Turds. 1) iPod has a 5 GB HDD. Not 10 GB. 2) iPod can upload music files to iTunes (Music folder.) Auto-Sync only works from iTunes-->iPod, but from within iTunes, you can drag songs from iPod to your iTunes library. 3) The above has nothing to do with FireWire Disk Mode...which I presume is the one aspect of iPod that is compatible with Windows, and even dumber devices like a Nikon D1X or a MiniDV camcorder. 4) I know this has all already been said, but it hasn't been said enough.