Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

Product Category: Video, Graphics, Photo & Music Software

Manufacturer: Roxio

Where to Buy: Amazon.com [Affiliate]

Price: $82.98 USD

System Requirements (Minimum):Microsoft® 7 (32- or 64-bit), Windows VistaTM SP2 (32- or 64-bit), Windows® XP SP3 (32-bit), Windows®XP SP2 (64-bit), Intel® 1.6GHz Pentium 4 processor or AMD equivalent, 512MB RAM for windows XP and 1GB RAM for Windows Vista and Windows 7, 1024x768 DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card with at least 16-bit color setting, sound card, DVD-ROM drive, Hard drive with at least 3GB free space for the installation process.

Specifications: External Link

Pros:

• Fun, quick, and easy;
• Huge, capable, fully loaded suite;
• Learning Center.

Cons:

• 3D features won't please everyone;
• Not all applications in the suite have been improved;
• Retail price double that of iLife.

Summary:There is a third dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and between Roxio Creator 2010 and 2012 - which indecently is Roxio Creator 2011. I have taken some liberties with Rod Sterling's famous words (see The Twilight Zone), and Roxio has taken some liberties with the notion that two dimensions can be converted into three. But really, how cool would it be to do just that - convert your 2D photos and video into 3D? I put on the included 3D glasses and took a look for myself. Spoiler alert - it's pretty cool! Read more...

"Jeez Louise. A conference organizer asked if I could put together a DVD loop of my funniest Web videos, to play in the registration area while attendees stand in line. No problem, I thought: I’ve got all of the original iMovie projects backed up on DVD, in clear cases, neatly arrayed in a drawer next to my desk. (My hard drive wasn’t big enough to hold those 50 videos a year.) Guess what? On the Mac I use for video editing, most of the DVD’s were unreadable. They’re less than four years old! Tried them on another machine. About half of them were readable."

David Pogue discovered the dirty little secret about optical media... it deteriorates over time. Even commercially pressed media may fail. I recently bought an out-of-print CD from eBay that plays primarily static. Fortunately, it was only a $1. I used to backup all my tax returns and supporting data to a CD-R. I pulled one out when I read this story and guess what? It's a good thing I have my 2002 return backed up elsewhere because I'm not getting it off the CD.