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Zion

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Join date
23-Sep-2004
Last activity
20-Dec-2025
Posts
2,002

Post History

Post
#308407
Topic
News from MacWorld
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/308407/action/topic#308407
Time
You can use just about any mouse on a Mac. It doesn't have to be made by Apple. I use a logitech MX518 "gaming" mouse and G11 "gaming" keyboard on my Mac Pro. Technically, neither of them are supposed to work because Logitech doesn't make OSX drivers for them, but they work just fine without installing anything.

Like I said, try out the mighty mouse at the Mac score, but if you find that the more ergonomic mice made by say Microsoft or Logitech to be better then get one of those.
Post
#308088
Topic
News from MacWorld
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/308088/action/topic#308088
Time
Be sure to try out a mighty mouse at the store before you decide you really want one. I got tired of mine after a couple weeks when my hand would get sore after using it for a long period of time. Sometimes a right click registers as a left click as well. But if those things don't bother you they're pretty cool.
Post
#307714
Topic
H.264/AVC/MPEG-4
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/307714/action/topic#307714
Time
The download link on that page isn't working for me. Though I did find a thread over at Doom9 with some good samples. It looks as though the sample files I tried out played OK in Media Player Classic, with a little choppiness. They played flawlessly in PowerDVD though. I'll have to check, but I'm guessing right now that either the files from my DVR are too high in bitrate for MPC to handle, or there's something actually wrong with them.
Post
#307534
Topic
Video Games - a general discussion thread
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/307534/action/topic#307534
Time
I'm not one to ever buy strategy guides. But I considered buying the Mario Galaxy strategy guide early on because I thought I'd never figure out most of the secret stars and such. I thought it might be one of those games where it's almost impossible to find everything without consulting either the internet or a guide. I guess I was wrong.

I popped in my GC copy of Sonic Mega Collection the other day and realized that I had never played Sonic 3 or Sonic and Knuckles before. So after quickly playing through the first two games, I decided to give them a try. Much to my surprise, they both seem a lot different than the first two. The first thing I noticed was that "better graphics" in these two games usually meant "more detailed". I personally loved the simplicity in the graphics of the first two games and in my mind they actually look better than the pixel-fest that is Sonic 3. Knuckles is a better game I think, but I'm only about half way through either one. They are both definitely harder and more challenging than 1 and 2 combined.
Post
#307532
Topic
News from MacWorld
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/307532/action/topic#307532
Time
Originally posted by: PSYCHO_DAYV
I HAVE FIREFOX INSTALLED, AND I USE IT EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE. THE THING THAT I DON'T LIKE ABOUT T IS THAT IT LOOKS TO MUCH LIKE SOMETHING YOU WOULD FIND ON WINDOWS. HOWEVER, THE ADD-ONS FOR FIREFOX ARE PRETTY COOL. THAT'S PROBABLY WHAT MADE IT SO POPULAR IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I HONESTLY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE STILL USING IE. IT'S BECOME SO OUTDATED. THERE ARE A LOT OF WEBSITE THAT REQUIRE EITHER FIREFOX OR SAFARI. IF YOU TRY USING IE YOU'RE SHIT OUT OF LUCK.


I think something like 75% of all computers use IE to browse the web. It used to be a lot higher before Firefox came out. The problem with IE (and this is the reason I've despised it for the past 10 years) is that it doesn't conform to W3C web standards like Mozilla browsers, Safari, Opera, etc. do. IE instead uses their own coding and standards, which is why web sites optimized for IE don't work correctly with any other browser. Any site that says it's optimized for Firefox or any other browser usually means that it conforms to web standards and therefore will work the way it was intended to on any browser but IE. That's not to say such sites, or even IE optimized sites won't work in other browsers, but usually are missing certain functionality or features.


Anyway, back on topic.
I heard the other day that the iPhone still can't send multimedia messages, and despite the upgrades to the interface, people are still peeved at Apple for not including a feature that is standard on pretty much any other phone today. Is it true that you can "hack" your iPhone to enable pic and movie messages?
Post
#307120
Topic
H.264/AVC/MPEG-4
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/307120/action/topic#307120
Time
I haven't seen a lot of discussion on this around here so I thought I'd start this to get some of your opinions on using these codecs and playing them on your computers and home theater systems.

First of all, a little background on my experiences. As you may or may not know, I have been in film school for about a year now and have edited a dozen or so short films. In addition to authoring these films to DVD, I've also encoded my HD projects in H.264 using Final Cut Studio 2's Compressor application. Other than my own films, I've accumulated a lot of MPEG-4 HD programming from my DVR that has been transfered to my HTPC.

I've recently set up Vista's Media Center on my HTPC along with FFDShow/Haali Splitter/etc. to optimize video playback of any and all formats that are on my PC. What I've noticed though, is that playback of HD MPEG-4 content seems to be a lot more stressful on my system than a comparable HD MPEG-2 file. In fact, I haven't really gotten it to play back correctly on my system yet. Episodes of The Office that I've transfered over from my DVR (.TS files) play back perfectly in PowerDVD, but don't play right in Media Player Classic, Media Center, and VLC, if at all.

Has anyone else run into problems like this? I'm guessing that the problem has to do with FFDShow, but I could be wrong.

Regardless, I'm planning on converting all my MPEG-2 programming to H.264 to save on precious disk space. Is anyone else doing anything similar, or planning on releasing their stuff in H.264?
Post
#306661
Topic
News from MacWorld
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/306661/action/topic#306661
Time
Even with all the great things Mac software can do with video, I still can't live without my VirtualDub/AviSynth and all the great scripts that are out there. Still, I'll probably never edit a film on a PC again.

As far as the Macbook Air goes, I found it interesting that it doesn't come with a firewire port. I guess if it was only going to have one port, the USB 2.0 would be the way to go. But it still would have been cool to see a FW800 on there. Personally, I've never really been a fan of portable electronics (iPod aside), but if I was ever in the market for a laptop, I'd want to get something like this.
Post
#306045
Topic
Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/306045/action/topic#306045
Time
Sure, there'll be a lack of competition between formats, but not a lack of competition between brands and models. Prices will go down because of the competition and introduction of cheap no-name players just like with DVD. Anyone remember when the Apex DVD player hit the market back in 2000? (You know, the one with the secret menu to disable macrovision and region coding.) That thing started at a then-ultra cheap price of about $169, and by Christmas, it was a door-buster selling for just $69. I bet a year from now we'll be seeing the same thing happen in the Blu-ray market.
Post
#306034
Topic
Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/306034/action/topic#306034
Time
I told myself a while back that once Blu-ray drives were around $200, I'd look into getting one. The only problem with that right now is that the software players (PowerDVD) aren't very good yet. I think I'd rather buy a stand-alone player once they're in that $200 range and then buy a BD burner once their prices and media prices are reasonable. As a filmmaker, I'd love to be able to author Blu-ray discs for my own projects.