Apple’s newest edition of Final Cut Pro polishes an already mature, dominant video editor. That’s good news, since every Final Cut user will find clever, thoughtful refinements in version 7 that make life easier. But the focus on smaller tweaks has one drawback: it’s kept Apple from some fundamental infrastructure work that’s also needed. One of the Final Cut 7’s standout features is a new version of the popular ProRes codec, ProRes Proxy. Proxy lets you encode video into tiny file sizes that even low-end laptops and iMacs can edit, but keeps the video–even HD–looking surprisingly good (though not perfect). Final Cut makes it easy to convert existing video into ProRes Proxy, and for Web or DVD projects, Proxy’s visual quality may be good enough to use for your project’s final output. If not, it’s easy to reassemble your work in a higher-quality version of ProRes and then output from there. Final Cut Pro 7 is heavy on polish, but we wish it addressed a fundamental or two as well. Apple has also redesigned its Speed Change feature, which lets you speed up and slow down a clip at precise moments (you’ll see this effect in any number of commercials or music videos). Of course, Final Cut has been able to ramp between speed values for years, but mastering this effect previously meant working with arcane speed graphs. Now you can simply place key frames in a clip and then drag them together or apart to change the video’s speed or freeze it. It’s all very visual and intuitive. For editors who work off-site, Final Cut 7 has built-in support for iChat Theater, so you can create a videoconference with another iChat user and then play the video from your Viewer or the Canvas. It worked remarkably well for us using a 5Mbps cable Internet connection and should make life considerably easier for freelancers and those who edit remotely. iChat Theater gets a little choppy when showing video with quick cuts and fast-moving camerawork, but generally does the job well

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In-flight movies suck. They’re usually not the greatest films to begin with, and then anything that could possibly offend anyone–otherwise known as “the good parts”–gets edited out. Lucky for you, all you need is a MacBook and some headphones to stage your own film festival at 35,000 feet. But spinning a DVD takes a serious toll on battery life, which is where DVD ripping comes in. RipIt takes the sometimes complex task of getting video off of DVDs and onto your hard drive and turns it into a single-click affair. In keeping with that simplicity, the app doesn’t force you to fuss with video codecs or bit rates, instead creating VIDEO_TS folders that exactly mimic a DVD’s structure are played back with the DVD Player app you use on your Mac to watch actual DVDs. RipIt skips complicated options in favor of a simple interface. Playing back the resulting files on your Mac works exactly the same way it would as if you had inserted the DVD itself into your optical drive–except you don’t need to worry about losing or scratching your expensive discs, and you can avoid the noise and battery drain of a spinning DVD drive. All of the menus, special features, and other options of the disc itself are intact. On the flip side, the resulting files won’t play on your iPod or iPhone, and they’re quite large–a feature-length DVD typically weighs in between 4 and 8 gigs–although apps like HandBrake (free, handbrake.fr ) can easily convert RipIt’s output to compressed files that will playback on your other devices. RipIt’s simple interface and reliable output are perfect for serious movie collectors looking to consolidate or back up their collection, or anyone who wants to watch DVDs in all their glory on the go, without the inconveniences of schlepping around actual discs.

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It seems like everyone is drowning in video these days. With everything from full-sized camcorders to pocket-sized mini cams capable of shooting in HD, not to mention your DVD collection, there are endless hours of content to be watched. But ask anyone who’s ever waited for hours while converting video with H.264 encoders–for playback on an iPhone, Apple TV, or MacBook, for example–and it’s clear that video can be cumbersome for most consumers, even on recent Mac hardware. Elgato’s Turbo.264 HD aims to make converting video for use on your devices easier. read more

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It seems like everyone is drowning in video these days. With everything from full-sized camcorders to pocket-sized mini cams capable of shooting in HD, not to mention your DVD collection, there are endless hours of content to be watched. But ask anyone who’s ever waited for hours while converting video with H.264 encoders–for playback on an iPhone, Apple TV, or MacBook, for example–and it’s clear that video can be cumbersome for most consumers, even on recent Mac hardware. Elgato’s Turbo.264 HD aims to make converting video for use on your devices easier. read more

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Ever have this problem… You are a new city visiting some friends, but you have a few hours to kill and you think, "Hey, lets get totally stoned… but who do I call?" Neither do we. But, we know for a fact that the Ghost Busters can’t help you out on this occasion. But, just in case you have a friend who is going out of town and they need some herbal refreshment resources, then have no fear the iPhone App Cannabis is here. read more

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You have 10 minutes to get out of your house. What do you grab? Your pets/kids, your wallet, any valuables you can find, and maybe a few irreplaceable pics, right? Or, on second thought, you might actually need your iPhone and something to keep it charged while you’re fending off disaster. Freeplay’s FreeCharge 12V, a human-powered charger, will keep whichever gadgets you grab powered when you’re away from your handy wall outlets. read more

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Since the introduction of the iPhone, SlingMedia has taunted us with news of SlingPlayer Mobile for the device. Even when the Sling app finally entered the iTunes App Store approval process of mystery, the delay of the app’s release to the general public spawned talk of AT&T keeping Apple from approving the app. With the iPhone approaching its two-year anniversary, SlingMedia has finally kept its promise. read more

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  Burn Hollywood, burn!   read more

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  Burn Hollywood, burn!   read more

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When Apple introduced iMovie ‘08, it created a schism in the Mac video-editing world. On one hand, the new version introduced an entirely new interface that made editing quick, casual movies far easier than before. On the other hand, Apple was so busy implementing this new model that it didn’t have time to reimplement all the features of previous iterations, leaving a lot of iMovie users believing the new version was really a step backward. read more

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