Pinnacle Studio 9 - review

After buying my new video camera, I've splashed out on Pinnacle Studio 9, a very popular video editing package.

Having used previous versions in the past, I wanted to get legit (!) and benefit from official patches, less buggy software, etc. And to be honest, I haven't been disappointed.

It does everything it says it will do - picture quality onto DVD is fantastic. The supplied menus and transition effects are really smooth. But you do need quite a hefty machine to run it on.

I'm using an AMD 2800+ XP processor, with 512mb RAM and a 128mb graphics card - and it still whirrs slowly along at some points. Sometimes the processing of effects can slow down your editing process, but not annoyingly so - just enough waiting time to go and get another can from the fridge! I'll probably increase my RAM by another 512mb in the next month or so and see what effect it has. I'm also going to be adding another seperate hard drive - specifically for video editing purposes. An hours worth of digital video can take up a good 20 Gig! Transferring your finished article to DVD is simple, but be prepared to leave it running overnight - an hours worth of edited footage with menus and transitions will take a good 4 hours to process and then burn.

The choice of transitions is vast, with the option of buying more packs for about a tenner each (quite reasonable). And the Smartsound functionality is really useful - basically it creates music for a specified length of time - no more trimming music files!

If I had to have a complaint, it would be the quality of the user manual. It just doesn't go into enough detail. For example, a fundamental of creating a DVD is the root menu. Whilst the manual tells you that you can do this - it doesn't tell you how!! It took a bit of fiddling around to get that sorted.

So in summary, Pinnacle Studio 9 is definately worth the money and I can see myself spending many many hours working with it - and being very pleased with the results!

Quick Review - 15 words or less: Starsky and Hutch

Film: Starsky and Hutch (2004)

Hmmm, not a side-splitter. But enjoyable in a nostalgic way. 'Just do it!'

Quick Review - 15 words or less: Tears of the Sun

Film: Tears of the Sun (2003)

Hollywood gloss, action, but with an important message. Good plot, great film, sometimes moving.

Two weeks!!!

Many apologies to my hordes of adoring fans!!

Ok, to the couple of people who read this blog! Its been 15 days since my last blog entry. I am ashamed. Mortified. Disgusted. But its so easy for time to pass without realising it!

So much has happened in those 15 days, so here goes:

• All the presidential debates have taken place, I think Kerry won by a very small margin. The poles show Bush ahead by a couple of percent. But with only 9 days to go, I think the undecided vote may go in Kerry's way - giving him the top job by the smallest of margins.
• Ken Bigley was murdered. My heart goes out to his family, who though trying as hard as they could to get him freed, must have realised pretty early on the liklihood of the governement not being able to help. And now another UK born woman has been taken. Hopefully, the miltants who have taken her will see sense and free her. She has been such an inspiration to the Iraqi people in all the work she has done.
• The Black Watch are being redeployed with only a week or so of their tour left. Tony Blair promised their families that they'd be home for Christmas. If theyre not, we could be seeing the biggest threat to his leadership yet!
• My car is running like a dream! Although my mileage is getting worringly high!
• Ridiculously busy at work - I've always been a supporter of outsourcing to India. However, the time difference can be a real bugger sometimes. Also, the developers don't seem to work on their own initiative - if you leave something for their own interpretation, then it won't get done!
• Bought myself Dawn of War for the PC. Played the demo last week - what a fantastic game! I'm using it as an incentive - I can't take off the cellophane until I've finished al the video editing and completed the Tigerlily Cards website. It's killing me!! Read a review here. I'll be posting my own as soon as I get to play it!!
• And lots of other family problems and issues - no change there!

Thats it! Back to regular postings from now on - I promise!!!

Pics of new car

Well, I've finally managed to get some pics of my new Pic! Sorry for the quality, but by the time I get home in the evening - its too dark to use my digital camera. So my mobile will have to do for now!

I've been very impressed with this car so far - so much better than my Vectra!


new car


side view


Picasso dash

Also, a big 'Hello!' to all the guys and gals at the Unofficial Citroen Picasso site! It's websites like these that the internet was made for - people who want to help each other out!

DVDs365.com - review

Is this the end of the local Video store?

We've been members of DVDs365 for almost 10 months now and I don't think I would ever bother making the trip to my local video rental store ever again.

Always one for early adopting new technologies and services, I started looking into the rise of the online video rental store back in January. The adverts looked fantastic - rent up to 3 DVDs at any one time, no late fees, free first class post return, keep them as long as you want, all at a price of £14.99 a month. Too good to be true I thought. There's got to be a catch.

But there isn't. Not one. With a catalogue of over 20,000 titles, I've been able to get hold of new releases, old classics, TV shows old and new, special editions, concerts - the list is endless.The rental process is simple: once signed up, you peruse the list of titles, catalogued by category or in 'suggested' genre top 50 lists, add them to your Rental Queue and wait for your first 3 (!) titles to arrive in the post. As long as you keep your queue topped up, the turn around, from posting back your watched DVD in the pre-paid envelope to receiving your next DVD, is usually about 3 days. Maintenance of your queue is done via the website, and they email you to tell you which DVDs have been dispatched to you next.

And Customer Service is second to none. A couple of times, DVDs have gone missing in the post (in both directions) - which is par the course for Royal Mail. DVDs365 have always answered my queries swiftly and efficiently, immediately resetting my queue so that I'm not waiting any longer than I should be for my next title. The same for the one DVD that has arrived damaged - DVDs365 credited my account by 2 days as an apology.

I have only one criticism of the whole process versus the traditional local video store method. If there is a film you really, really want to watch - you may have to wait a while before you get to see it. Sometimes, popular DVDs are over subscribed, so other films lower down your queue may come first. For example, I've been waiting to see Kill BIll Vol 2 for ages, and although top of my queue for a couple of weeks, only arrived a few days ago. But this is a little niggle really in the grand scheme of things.

Overall, excellent value for money, no more trips to the video store at last minute when you realise you havent got anything in to watch, no paying fines when you haven't been able to return the DVD in time, and no extortionate rental fees per disc.

P.S. If you'd like to join - email me and I'll 'recommend' you - that way I get a free DVD!!! :-)

P.P.S. Just had notification of my next 3 DVDs: Star Wars (A New Hope), Mona Lisa Smile, and Starsky and Hutch.

Bad boy turns Good.

Signed up for a trial on the new Napster the other day. For £9.95 a month, you get access to their vast catalogue of titles for streaming play or download. The sound quality of the streaming material is excellent, and the downloaded files great for listening without the worry of waiting for it to buffer up.

However, if you want to burn onto disc or copy onto your mp3 player, you'll have to buy the tracks, which at 79p to 99p per track makes an album approximately £10+. With no access to covers and disc images to print from, and your local supermarket selling the same album for sub £9, makes this aspect of Napster pretty redundant.

I'm cancelling my trial - whilst it would be ideal if my only method of listening to music was through my PC, there is no way to get the streamed music to other areas/stereos in the house. Napster subscription would be an amazing investment if it worked with products such as the Netgear Wireless Music Streamer, which allows you to stream music from your PC to any stereo. It would mean that you would have access to virtually any music at any time - on demand.

But it doesn't. Until it does I won't be returning to it. Sad really, another great idea not followed through to its full potential.

Shaun of the Dead - review

'Shaun has problems. His girlfriend Liz is fed up with spending every night drinking at their local pub the Winchester, and fed up with the constant presence of Shaun's best friend Ed, who is an unemployed, dope-dealing slob. What is more, Shaun is stuck in a deadend job, and is terrified of his dour stepdad Philip, which stops him visiting his beloved mother Barbara. With everything coming to a head, Shaun determines to make amends and sort out his life - but he does not reckon on just how much his attempts to turn over a new leaf will be hampered by the masses of zombies that have suddenly appeared all over the place. So there is nothing for it but to go with Ed to rescue his mum from Philip, have some tea, pick up Liz and her flatmates, avoid the undead, and head for the Winchester to sort everything out over a few drinks before his problems really consume him and his relationship with Liz is torn apart' - Movie Gazette

I can't remember why I missed this at the cinema, but I did. Having never sat through an episode of the hit comedy 'Spaced', I wasn't sure how I would get on with this movie. Friends and colleagues had told me that the Spaced humour was an acquired taste, so I loaded up the DVD with much trepidation - hoping that I wasn't going to be massively disappointed.

I shouldn't have worried - right from the offset I realised that this was exactly my sense of humour. With one foot firmly planted in the toilet and the other foot in social/cultural references of our 30-something generation, mixed with a couple of fingers in the pie of Pythonesque absurdity with a few strands of script writing genius only previously found in the likes of classic 'intelligent' comedy such as Blackadder.

An hilarious example of this is when Shaun and his friend Ed, are deciding which vinyl 'gems' from Shaun's record collection they will use as weapons against the oncoming zombies: Pink Floyd is saved, Sade and Dire Straits go to the zombie killing cause.

Wit, energy and timing allow the plot to race at a manic pace. I'm sure that quite a few of the scenes were ad-libbed, and this can be seen in the myriad of special features included in this DVD release. This is how DVDs should be - you can keep returning to this title and find something new. There's a huge amount of gore, a bit of romance and emotion, and plenty of laughs. The film company publicised this movie as the first 'Rom-Com-Zom' - I don't know if I agree with that, but it certainly sits up there with the work of the master, Romero.

In summary: fantastic film, even better with a couple of cans, junk food, a few friends and a cricket bat.

Quick Review - 15 words or less: Bad Boys 2

Film: Bad Boys 2 (2003)

Review: Surprised me, great action pieces, strong violence and language, Smith/Lawrence = a good team.

Lots to do, but not a lot of time

Thought I'd better write something, otherwise it will be at least Friday before I make another entry.

Busy, busy, busy - so many things to update you on. Will do a proper update later, but in summary:

1. Collected new car on Saturday!!!
2. Went to Lorna's 60th Birthday party at the Belfry Saturday night - fantastic night out.
3. Very busy up and down to London this week.

Also, received two new DVDs from DVDs365 - Kill Bill Vol 2 and Shaun of the Dead. I'll review both when I've had a chance to watch them.

Umm, thats it really - apart from buying Michael Moore's Stupid White Men to read on my train journeys to and from London, getting Christina Aguilera's Stripped for £2.99 from Woolworths, and driving past Edwina Curry, in her Toyota Celica, on the M40 last night.

Barcelona clubbers get chipped

BBC NEWS Technology Barcelona clubbers get chipped

Very interesting article - could this be the future of payments? Goodbye to cash and credit cards? What do you think? Please let me know by leaving your comments.

Michael attacks George...again

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" (Dickens)

Very interesting letter from Michael Moore to George Bush this week. Yet again pulling no punches, it summarises the many changes of attitude towards Iraq by the administrations of Georges' Senior and Junior.

Matt has published it on his Blogroll.

I'm really annoyed - I just typed a highly emotional rant about world politics, and its just flippin disappeared!!!!

Let me try again, it went something like this:

"I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me.” (Dickens again)

I've never been particularly politically minded, but its things like this that really p*ss me off! In the last couple of months, I've really had to look at where I stand on political issues. Recent coverage of the 'conflict' in Iraq, the apparent lack of security of British institutions, and the ongoing fox hunt debate, have made me start to listen to what the politicians are saying - or more importantly what they're not saying'.

"It is a far, far better thing I do..." (Charlie boy on a roll now!)

But, I tell you one thing, there's no way I'd want to be in their shoes right now. The recent hostage crisis in Iraq, and programmes like BBCs Crisis Command, powerfully show that when in power, you have to make some damn hard decisions.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." (Spock)

Rant over.

Quick Rant - The Blog Culture

There's a big, big world out there.

Ok, coming up to the end of a week of blogging. Was browsing around earlier, over a Muller Light, checking out other people's blogs. If you click the 'Next Blog' link at the top right of your screen, you will be taken to a random blog - very cool idea.

However, why do people insist on adding little applications that throw up pop-up windows or change your cursor or generally screw up your machine??!!??

I'm all for Blogs - fantastic way of getting anyone on the web, even if you have no html experience. A brilliant idea, and there's some amazing people out there with some very moving stories. Shame there's the minority who spoil it for others, thinking its 'cool'.
Apologies to anyone who has put these applications on and it works - I haven't seen them yet.

Rant over.

Quick Review - 15 words or less: Battlefield Earth

Film: Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000)

Review: Nothing like book, which was great, thought it might get better - it didn't.

Look at my new toy! Mmmmmm!

New toy! New toy!

I forgot to tell you - I bought myself a new toy the other day. It's a Canon MV750i MiniDV Camcorder - and its fantastic!



I've been putting off buying one for a long time now, but when Granada TV's 'House from Hell' program wanted some footage of our Money Pit, it was as good an excuse as any.

Lots of research and price matching later, Jessops in Sutton Coldfield came up trumps. Did you know that they will try to price match any UK price - even online shops! They were very helpful, even matching Argos on price for blank tapes!

Got my new toy home and realised that I needed a firewire card and cable to actually get the footage onto my PC - so off I went again - Jessops almost matching Amazons price, but winning in the end for the fact that I could get it immediately. So with a new firewire card, cable and Pinnacle Studio 9 - off I trotted home, a very happy bunny.

Granada now have our DVD of footage - watch this space for updates and hopefully news of when we'll be on TV!!!

Quick rant!

'Are exams getting easier?'

I don't know about exams getting easier, but an article in this weekend's Mirror made me choke on my cornflakes. It appears that the mark neede to get an 'A' grade this year was set at 45%

I'll say it again - FORTY FIVE PERCENT!!!!!!

For an 'A' grade!

No wonder so many kids are getting high grades. You needed 16% to get a 'C'!!!!!

'It's just wrong!'

There has got to be something fundamentally wrong with this - hasn't there? Or is it just me? I'm all for ensuring that people feel better about themselves, but this is ridiculous. If the exam needs to be made harder, then spend the resources needed to make it so, don't devalue the exam so much that its not worth the recycled paper its printed on. Its not fair on the pupils and its not fair on businesses. How are you meant to differentiate 2 'A' grade pupils, one with 46% and the other with 80%?

Oh, and by the way, I was only reading the Mirror because it had a free copy of 'Brassed Off' on DVD. Honest!!!

Car-rying on again

'Mmm, new car!'

Just had a call from my local car dealer to remind me about collecting my new car this weekend. AS IF I'D FORGOTTEN!!!

Bit of background info for you: have had a Vauxhall Vectra for last two years (company car from previous job) - never drive one of these!! My Physio puts this metal monstrosity as the main cause of my 2 slipped discs and out of whack pelvis that I suffered from a couple of months ago (thats now starting to reappear again!).

Anyway, new job comes with a very good car allowance. Now, impulsive me wanted a flash, top of the range car. Front contenders were a BMW 3 series or Volvo s60. Sensible me wanted a smaller, cheaper car, more economical and more practical on space. Sensible me won.

So I am collecting my new Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6HDi 16v Exclusive, in Sahara Gold, this Saturday. Looks pretty damn fantastic, plenty of room, plush interior and very good on mileage. Pictures will be displayed as soon as I get it!

'How much????'

Back to the phone call and my reason for spouting all this off - the dealer needs my insurance documentation to register the car. Should arrive tomorrow, so not a problem. Having had company cars for the last 4 years, I didnt realise how expensive premiums are.

Spent a huge amount of time, ringing the usual suspects : Direct Line, Esure, etc. all of which were quoting in the region of £500!!! Lloyds TSB certainly didnt quote me happy - £960!!! In the end, found Elephant - with a premium of £340 - fantastic value and great customer service.

And to top it, Ive just realised that nobody is going to interested in reading this drivel!! I'm going to have to spice it up a bit I think.

Website of the Day: The Microbreak

'Genius!'

Ok, I still have no idea how and why I find these sites, but today's essential reading can be found on Tim Hunkin's site. Cartoonist and engineer, Tim has devised an amazing piece of engineering - the Microbreak.

'The fast, efficient holiday'

Words cannot describe how bored this guy must be to come up with this fantastically original idea - Microbreak.

Apparently, there is a working version of this invention at Tim's Under the Pier Show arcade on Southwold Pier, Suffolk. If anyone has seen this - please let me know!!