7

Dec

Predicting 2010: iLife, iWork & iTunes

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With 2010 around the corner, Apple is poised to begin a new year that should yield lots of great advancements in its consumer software arena. Here’s our predictions for what could be in store for the latest versions of iLife , iWork and iTunes . (These predictions are not substantiated by rumors or other “inside evidence” and are purely speculation based lots of experience with these applications and their histories.) iLife X Probability: Guaranteed When the last version of iLife launched, it adopted the moniker “iLife ’09.” Recently however, Apple has modified most of its website to drop the date from the title. Now simply called “iLife,” I wonder if Apple will be quick to release a new “yearly” iteration at the outset of 2010. Based on previous versions, the next iteration of iLife will require Mac OS X 10.6. By requiring Snow Leopard, this does make iLife an Intel-only release. Though some users will be left behind, significant performance gains should be recognized by taking advantage of 64-bit technology included in Snow Leopard. Within the apps themselves, I believe we’ll continue to see significant updates. Here’s the roundup. iPhoto Probability: Possible The addition of Faces and Places to iPhoto ’09 was just the beginning. The next version of iPhoto will support more accurate facial recognition and integration with Twitter

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2

Dec

iDVD Refresh Coming With iTunes LP Creation Feature?

Posted by   Published in 20, ALI, Apple I, IL, MIT, News, Object, Software, Support, Web, ad, app, apple, apple-com, apples, application, ar, art, cat, contact, custom, design, ds, dvds, ea, ears, ftw, genius, graph, iTunes, ilife, indie, it, mac, mod, nes, new, os, pre, ram, rap, report, rumor, rumors, store, time, ui, update, updates, what the

Apple appears confident that the DVD is going the way of the dinosaurs, if the recent lack of updates to iDVD (part of the iLife suite) are any indication. But the rumor mill is churning with word that may be changing, taking the software in a new direction. Boy Genius Report has gotten word that Apple is planning to completely revamp the aging iDVD application soon. Like its big brother DVD Studio Pro, iDVD has received only the most modest of updates in recent years, mostly for compatibility and to add new menu templates. The juiciest part of the BGR rumor involves the inclusion of iTunes LP creation into iDVD, allowing both indie and major artists alike to create a custom iTunes LP and submit it directly to Apple straight out of the new application, presumed to be part of a forthcoming iLife 2010 update. iTunes LP would seem at first glance to be an odd inclusion into software designed for the everyman to make DVDs, unless Apple’s larger plan is to rework the program into some kind of all-purpose disc-making behemoth. The rumors are unconfirmed for now, but BGR contact “L.” has what they call a “pretty accurate” track record, so time will tell…

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9

Jan

Final Cut Pro-to-iDVD Chapter and Widescreen Woes

Posted by   Published in 2008, 23, Apps, Articles, Support, Web, ad, ads, app, apple, apple.com, applications, art, bed, case, cat, crib, feed, god, google, hardware, ibed, image, information, loo, movie, release, time, what the

For goodness’s sake, will the people at Apple responsible for iLife go talk to the Pro Apps folks so that iDVD and Final Cut Pro actually works together? You’d think that Apple would ensure both their video applications work seamlessly together, especially when such interoperability is touted in the Help section of both applications. Well, you’d be surprised at how broken it is. I learnt that the hard way earlier this week, when I had to master a DVD for a client. My intention was to export five segments from the timeline, each of which would have chapter markers, while the segment would itself become a ‘Play All’ clip.  Having finished the edit in Final Cut Pro, I placed the necessary chapter markers in the timeline and exported each segment of the timeline as DV PAL 16:9 Anamorphic QuickTime clips. I chose this format since it was what the acquired footage was shot in.  Once I’d imported the clips into iDVD, two problems surfaced: the 16:9 clips remained anamorphically squashed in the 4:3 ratio, and iDVD could not see the chapter markers in any of the clips. After some Googling, it turned out that the problems I was facing are known issues, according to two Apple support articles.  In the first, Article TS2179 , titled “iDVD: DV widescreen 16:9 workflow from Final Cut Pro”, warned that “if you export an anamorphic 16:9 DV sequence from Final Cut Pro with the intention of burning a DVD-Video of that sequence in iDVD…. Final Cut Pro does not include the widescreen aspect ratio information that iDVD looks for.”  Great. Prior to discovering the support article, I had figured iDVD would be smart enough to unsqueeze 16:9 clips back into their original anamorphic aspect ratio since QuickTime Player did exactly that.  The second problem is acknowledged in Article TS1233 , titled “Final Cut Studio: “All Markers” option does not include DVD Chapter Markers”. The symptoms described in it goes: “When you export a QuickTime movie from Final Cut Pro, choosing the “All Markers” option does not include chapter markers that will function in DVD Stidio Pro or iDVD.”  Right.  Look at the screenshot of Final Cut Pro’s export dialog box above. You can see various types of markers listed. Any user would naturally assume that choosing “All Markers” would include all the types of markers. Why this is not the case for DV clips is a mystery only the FCP or iDVD folks at Apple would know, since the support article offers no explaination.  If your editing workflow comprises exporting 16:9 clips from Final Cut Pro for DVD mastering in iDVD, you’ll have to avoid using the DV Widescreen format until this is fixed in a future release of iDVD or Final Cut Pro. In the meanwhile, if your workflow involves DV Widescreen, I recommend that you export your clips as ProRes 4:2:2

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