QuickTime is nice but since Apple yanked the full-screen out of the free version some time ago, it has little value other than playing QT Movies. With so many other viewers available for the Mac, QuickTime Pro just isn’t a smart buy at $29.99 for mere full-screen viewing. Now, if you wish to convert movies to the iPod format or need 24 channels of surround sound, then sure, grab it if you want it. I’m looking just for some full-screen action and a bit of a better way of playing my QT movies. Thanks to MacZot, I found it for $12.

Many Tricks, which we told you about its awesome app switcher Witch last week, brings to your screen, your full-screen, yFlicks. With yFlicks, you are now able to watch any file QuickTime can play as well as manage all of your files. With the now very common iTunes-like interface, Many Tricks lets you manage all your files in folders (Groups) or dynamically via Smart Groups. yFlicks also allows you to use your Apple Remote so you can sit back and enjoy your library of movies from the comfort of your couch. Add in the ability to download and view videos (and save them locally to your hard drive) right off such sites as YouTube, Google Video, DailyMotion, CollegeHumor, MyVideo, SevenLoad, and ClipFish, the standard $20 price even sounds good. But for today only at MacZot, you can save over $8 and grab it for $11.95!

I’ve already bought it and I’m enjoying the ability to watch every Get a Mac ad released all in a row without having to double click the next file in Finder. My kids are enjoying it, too.

SendStation got its start producing little dock connector that allowed you to plug in a Firewire (six pin) to any iPod which made bringing your iPod with your Mac notebook easier in the past with one less cable (the iPod one) while brining that needed cable for the video editing. Now, keeping the little dock connector size, SendStation brings the power of your video iPod to the big screen withe some cables and its little connector. SendStation packs four different bangs into this connector, “drastically reducing the cable clutter mobile users are faced with,” as SvenOnTech was told in an e-mail from SendStation. The four connections include one for “USB, line out audio, as well a both composite and S-Video, allowing you to sync & charge, attach your iPod to your home stereo and output iPod videos in supreme quality on TVs or projectors.”

SendStation starts shipping the PocketDock AV May 31st and will take orders on its web site now for $36.95.

You know, it’s a bit of a laugh to remember Steve Jobs introducing iTunes for Windows with his smug banner of “the best thing ever made for Windows” line. Truth was, iTunes had it’s share of problems from the start and never really has lived up to that banner Jobs raised so high years ago. Now with the added capability of video playing, things have just become worse.

Ever since iTunes incorporated video playing, my speedy Windows XP Professional box, equipped with a Pentium 4 3.00 GHz CPU, accompanied with 4.0 GB of DDR RAM, and an ATI video card with 128 MB of video RAM, has struggled to play anything. If I play Windows Media files, DiVX movies, or Xvid stuff, no problem. My box doesn’t even bat an eye. But the minute I try using iTunes, or the heart of its movie playing, QuickTime, bring on the slug. Kinda like that slug in the old Apple add against the Pentium way back in the day. Irony. Select a video Podcast and that alone “freezes” up iTunes for a good ten seconds. Click the play button and, well, get a coffee. Once the video starts rolling, you’ll be lucky to get fluid frames. Breaking it out into it’s own window does help immensely, I’ve noticed, though. Still, though, it’s just not worth even watching in the end.

I don’t quite get the problem. Maybe it’s a Microsoft thing like with Java and Redmond is doing something to prevent good video playing for QuickTime. Maybe it’s an Apple thing and it just can’t code a good video player for Windows. I don’t know. I do know my Macs have no problem with the same files on either a PPC or Intel-based Mac. Why can’t we spread the same love to the Windows box?

I’m sure I’m missing something and there is a tweak to fix this annoying issue, but fact is fact, out of the box, iTunes sucks when it comes to playing videos on Windows and it’s something that needs to be fixed if Apple doesn’t want to ignore a market share tens of times larger than its own operating system market.

Accelerating its presence in the global custom home theater market and its corporate initiative to capitalize on high-value specialty display products and solutions, Planar Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLNR) today announced it has acquired the assets of privately-held Runco International, Inc. for $36.7 million in cash. Financing to fund the purchase price consisted of $14.7 million in existing cash and $22.0 million of borrowing from the Company’s amended credit facility.

Known worldwide for producing the world’s finest home theater products, Runco has been a leading brand in the high-end, custom home theater market for the past two decades, and has developed some of the industry’s most advanced home theater solutions, such as CineWide (patent pending) technology and Video Xtreme™ projection equipment. Runco currently delivers outstanding home theater solutions priced from $3,000 to $250,000 which have consistently won awards for picture quality and performance. In addition, the Vidikron brand, including the award-winning Vision™ Series, has been part of Runco since 2002 after being founded in 1980. Read the rest of this entry »

Connectivity solutions provider Gefen today announced the availability of two new professional quality video scalers. The HD-SDI to HDMI and HDMI to HD-SDI Scalers offer high-end scaling abilities that broadcast professionals will appreciate when integrating and testing audio/video systems.

Both employ Gennum’s VXP top-of-the-line GF9351 Image Processor that provides value-added features, notably genlock control and proprietary 10-bit motion adaptive video de-interlacing capabilities to ensure perfectly timed video performance.

The HD-SDI to HDMI Scaler allows consumer displays to be used for gauging video performance and testing, converting a HD-SDI source to HDMI format and scaling video in multiple HD resolutions to 1080p. It outputs digital audio embedded in the HDMI signals and mirrored in S/PDIF format.

The HDMI to HD-SDI Scaler connects consumer video sources, such as games, satellite television systems and HD DVD players, to the HD-SDI format, scaling the video in both dual and single link modes for standard and high definition resolutions.

Both scalers are installed with Gefen’s trademark plug and play ease, requiring simple connections to perform. A simple menu guides users through advanced scaling selections including noise reduction, detail enhancements, frame rate conversions, test patterns, color corrections and custom timing outputs.

Currently available for pre-ordering and slated for June 2007 distribution, the Gefen HDMI to HD-SDI (MSRP $1499) and HD-SDI to HDMI (MSRP $1299) Scalers each come with an IR remote and RS-232 ports for menu control and selection.

HD-SDI to HDMI Scaler
http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4211

HDMI to HD-SDI Scaler
http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4210

Softening the distinction between computer hard drive and home media server, TrekStor GmbH & Co. KG has introduced a high-capacity USB hard drive that can connect directly to a TV or stereo system to play stored movies, music, and photos without
use of a computer.

The new MovieStation maxi t.u, an external drive available in sizes up to 500GB, comes with a remote control for operating the drive as a media player. The new multi-media drive works with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems, and uses a high-speed USB 2.0 connection when linking to a PC. It can be used to play HDTV and multi-channel audio content as well content from popular movie and music download services, such as CinemaNow, MovieLink, and Napster. Officials for TrekStor, Germany’s top-selling brand of portable media players and USB memory products said the MovieStation is now available.

“Now you don’t have to turn on the computer to enjoy the movies or music stored on the hard drive,” said Hana Arad, president of Data Station, the U.S. marketing arm TrekStor GmbH. “The MovieStation is another example of TrekStor’s innovation and quality engineering.”

In addition to playing back content from movie and music download sites; MovieStation will play files created with digital cameras and camcorders. When connected to a TV, MovieStation offers an onscreen menu for playing for all content located on the drive. The menu can be accessed and controlled via the remote or with controls button located on the hard drive.

When watching a movie that has been downloaded, MovieStation’s built-in zoom function allows users to eliminate any black bars that appear above and below on some movies. The MovieStation plays high definition (720p/1080i) formatted videos to be watched on a suitable TV set. Stored music can be replayed from play lists compiled by the user. Read the rest of this entry »

ABC is bucking the trend to bring its content to some one else by making available its shows online at abc.com. Now it is going a step further and bringing true HD content to the web for streaming enjoyment of fans of shows such as Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty. The 1280-by-720 content will be joined by a more “robust” line-up by September following the July launch of the ABC HD channel. Further, the “geo-targeted,” the ability to identify your geographic location, player will serve up local content such as news and weather. As they say in TV land, stay tuned.

[Via Multichannel]

Bamboo Technology today announced the release of Vault360 Smartphone Edition, a simple point-and-click conversion software tool that allows consumers to transfer, manage and organize their music, photo and video files on popular smartphones freeing them from carrying multiple devices when they travel. The $29.99 application, as well as the full Vault360 product line, are Vista-compliant and available at retail stores nationwide.

“Many users want to transfer videos, music, and photos to and from their Smartphones but to date converting DVDs, tapes, CDs and even TiVo recorded media requires in-depth knowledge of codecs, bit rates and formats,” said Todd Porter, president of Bamboo Technology. “Vault360 allows you to simply connect your Smartphone or insert its memory card into the computer and move a vast array of media to it or pull the media content from it, quickly and easily. Vault360 Smartphone Edition puts a theater, scrapbook and jukebox in the palm of your hand for anytime, anywhere entertainment.”

Vault360 Smartphone Edition is compatible with popular models such as the Blackberry Pearl, Motorola Q, Samsung Blackjack and Palm Treo. Users simply load Vault360 Smartphone Edition on their PC, directly connect the device to the USB port and begin transferring content in three clicks of the mouse. Smartphones that are not capable of direct-connect are supported through the phone memory card whereby media is converted and transferred directly to the memory card via a card reader.

Vault360 Smartphone Key Features:

Following are Vault360 Smartphone’s key features in the areas of music, photos and video. A comprehensive feature set can be found at www.bambootech.com.

Music:

• Imports audio CDs, MP3, WMA, or WAV files
• Automatic audio CD title lookup using an Internet database
• Audio file preview that converts and transfers to your smartphone or memory card

Photos:

• Connects directly to all digital cameras and/or digital camera media such as memory cards
• Imports and scale photo files
• Preview individual photos
• Easy no-click animated zoom preview of photos
• Exports selected photos to the most popular media devices (video iPods, PSP, ZEN)

Video:

• Converts video files such as AVI, DivX, MPG, ASF, WMV, etc. to DVD format
• Converts DVDs to video files such as AVI, Mpeg2, WMV, and Mpeg4 SP AVI
• Imports video to computer from: DVDs (entire movie or chapters) and Analog or Digital camcorder; Digital Video Recorders (TiVo, Media Center PCs, DVRs); computer video files (AVI, Mpeg1, Mpeg2, Mpeg4, ASF, WMV, DVR-MS, TiVo); VHS tapes; VCDs/SVCDs
• Exports videos from computer to: personal media players (Video iPod, ZEN Vision, M/W) and portable game systems (PSP)
• Video preview before and after import
• Auto-fit card technology fits movies to 256MB - 4GB memory cards (PSP only)
• Organizes video library by predefined and custom genres
• Full audio and subtitle language selection for DVDs
• Customize videos with preset or custom thumbnails

Okay, now Altec Lansing has just released the inMotion iMV712, I’ve got to ask, “Where’s the car video version?” Alpine, Pioneer, Sony, they all have iPod connectors now. Most after-market radios do, period. Now with album art as the new big thing to show on the display, why can’t we just get the whole video on these screens? Altec Lansing has proven that it can be done no problem as have other brands with home docks that also produce video on TV screens from a cradled iPod. So what gives?

For the last few months, I’ve been wondering why this hasn’t happened. I know there isn’t any technical difficulties to work around especially since now Altec has shown us that it can be done. With the prevalence of LCD screens in cars and SUVs everywhere today, this just makes SO much sense to do. In fact, the first company to do it will probably sell tons of units. So where are they Alpine? Sony? Pioneer? Clarion? Eclipse? You all pioneered the LCD screen in cars so won’t one of you pioneer iPod video in the vehicle?

Gefen announces a revolutionary method of extending HDTV over coax cable for high-definition video and multi-channel digital audio delivered through HDMI connectors.

The plug and play HDMI over Coax cable solution allows any A/V source with HDMI connectors to be extended up to 300 feet from the display or projector using a single coax cable.

In addition, the company’s Wireless for HDMI extension solution delivers the same high quality HDTV extension using ultra wideband (UWB) wireless technology for easy in-room connections of high-definition video sources to HDTVs.

Both solutions utilize Tzero Technologies’ UWB technology combined with Analog Devices JPEG 2000 video processing and Gefen’s HDMI expertise in delivering pure digital video with resolutions up to 1080p with digital audio.

Each extension system operates through compact transmitter and receiver units that offer HDMI audio and video extension with full HDCP-compliance, CEC control and additional IR remote pass through.

NAB attendees can see demos of the new HDMI over Coax and Wireless for HDMI cable-free extenders at booth SL 2305 throughout the show.

Pre-ordering will begin June 2007.

MSRP: $750