2 comments about Lexar Media IR437 Image Rescue Software (Retail Package).

1. I purchased the Lexar Image Rescue 2.0 software because I was having trouble with two Lexar 1GB Professional CompactFlash memory cards. The case containing the software CD arrived broken. The installation instructions that came with the software are poor and I had to contact Lexar for further instructions. Their recommendation was to install once, remove, and install again. Did not make a lot of sense but it did work.
   At the end, the software did not solve my problem, it recovered frames containing checkers from 3 or 4 different pictures. Which led me to eventually discover that the Lexar memory cards were not compatible with my camera (Canon 20D). Lexar replaced the cards with new compatible cards for free, shipment of the bad cards not included. Time and money wasted.



2. The product is simple to use and operates at various levels of data recovery. My recovery required the most intensive effort but almost all data were recovered even though the SD card had been reformatted. Those pictures that had been overwritten were not recoverable, through no fault of this excellent product.
   I highly recommend it for image recovery from a digital camera card.

No comments about Slick Transitions & Effects for iMovie, Vol. 10, Universal Binary.

No comments about Arturia CS-80V Soft Synth.

No comments about Green Label Photo Editor.

No comments about Turbocad Deluxe V 11.0.

5 comments about Instruments.

1. I'm a composer here in the West Midlands, and I also teach in various schools in the area. I bought this software for my students recently, but after using it for a while and realising just how useful it is I've now bought my own copy for when composing at home.

   Basically it's got comprehensive information about almost every orchestral/band instrument you can think of (and a few you won't even have heard of) - but presented in a very useful & interesting way. There are pictures, orchestral & band layouts, instrumental ranges, notated examples from well-known pieces, historical context, plus (most importantly of all) hundreds of excellent audio recordings.

   What's more there's complete information about every technique in the orchestration books, from bowing to multiphonics to percussion mallets, again all with recordings. This is completely invaluable stuff, even for a professional composer. Where else (in one place) can you actually *hear* the difference between jete and spiccato, or a cup mute and a Harmon mute? (Or a fingered trill and a lip-trill!) The orchestration books naturally *mention* all these things, but don't of course come with recordings.

   There's also a quiz, intended for students I suppose, to test what they've learnt - I tried it out (at the advanced level) and I confess not even I got full marks! (Some of those questions are really tricky...)

   Overall, I'd say this is invaluable both as an approachable introduction to instruments for students (even beginners), and as excellent reference material for professionals.

   (Disclaimer: I do already use their Sibelius 2 notation software, of which I'm a big fan, so I'm already a bit of a convert.)




2. Instruments by Sibelius is a must-have software for every music educator. Musicians who have an interest in band and orchestra instruments will also find this interactive, multimedia guide to be a valuable resource. Installation is very simple, even for the novice.

   Instruments provides a fairly comprehensive presentation of the instruments, including notated and sound examples, playing techniques, listening lists, pitch ranges, and writing for the instrument family.

   Of special interest to the music educator are the student assignments, lesson plans, and a quiz. The student assignments are designed to help students understand the evolution of the orchestra, bands, and other ensembles. Permission to photocopy any of the assignment pages is given to schools and colleges that own Instruments-a big plus. The lesson plans are particularly effective if you have a computer projector to use as a teaching tool. The quiz is designed in a multiple-choice format to test knowledge about the instruments, ensembles, and playing techniques as described in the software.

   I highly recommend Sibeluis Instruments to all enthusiasts of band and orchestra instruments, but especially to teachers of music education.




3. I'm such a Sibelius fan!

   I just got "Instruments" today, and couldn't help but boast about it. I just can't stop diving deeper into this program. It's like the most wonderful interactive musical encyclopedia you could possibly imagine. Nothing comes close to this if you want a one-stop way to learn EVERYTHING about instruments, ensembles, etc., including HOW THEY SOUND!!
   Every musician (from beginners to pros) should have this program. I imagine it would be a very popular learning tool in schools. I wish this was around when I went through music training! Funny thing is, it's a bit humbling because you're likely to LEARN something from it, no matter how educated you are. :-)




4. There is no other software in the world that does this: give you a complete encylopaedic guide to everything for band and orchestra, with really great detail and GREAT audio examples of every instrument of the orchestra and band. Plus a fun quiz too!
   If your kids are doing a project on instruments, every school library (every public library) should have a copy of this. Like an Enkarta for music.....



5. Sibelius Software has produced yet another excellent music teaching tool. Instruments is comprehensive and attractive. Whilst designed as an aid to serious music study, it is proving to be equally fascinating for children and teenagers. Participants appreciate the non-nonsense approach, beautiful graphics, appropriate sound examples and the uncompromising thoroughness of the quizzes.

No comments about Burn & Go X.

No comments about Avery(R) DesignPro(R) Deluxe 4.0.

5 comments about Video Deluxe 2.0.

1. I bought the Plus version of this software for the extra bells and whistles but I don't use them much, so I recommend the basic version for a few dollars less. I purchased this on TechTV's recommendation. It is an incredible value with an amazing amount of flexibility in your editing. It isn't the easiest piece of software on the market - it's not a "click" to capture, "click" to cut, and "click" to burn - and while the DVD menus are pretty flexible but not as comprehensive as some of Ulead's menus. Right now there is also no motion or music to menus. I find this software intuitive but I've heard some people find it a little difficult. You can work in storyboard or timeline mode and toggling between the two is simple. The effects, transitions, and audio fixes are superb. The online bulletin board is friendly, USER-friendly, and a great place to have all kinds of questions answered. I have it bookmarked and check it daily. With the Plus version, in addition to the software and additional material, you also get a labeler software, photo manipulation software, and a music-editor and player. It's imported every kind of file I've thrown at it, including footage from my Sony TRV18 digicam and VOB files from (my personal) DVDs.



2. I've had Video Deluxe 2.0 for about 3 weeks now and my opinion is that it is a great editor. It does some quirky things every now and then, but compared to other Video Editors that I own and others that I have tried, it is very stable. The Deluxe version allows 16 tracks, where the plus version allows 32. You can mix video and photos and do all kinds of cool zooms and pans. I'm really only getting started. The only caveats are: 1) the documentation is not up to date, 2) receiving official Magix support is a drag. You have 3 support options: 1) email - which has a 1 week turnaround 2) you can call a 900 number - which is very expensive 3) use the Magix forums - which are divided up by which language you speak. An official Magix technician monitors each forum except for the English (U.S.) forum, but there are several end users that are willing to help with any questions.



3. I bought this software because Pinnacle Studios that came with my ATI All-In-Wonder 9000 has A/V sync problem. I was disappointed that when I try to edit my videos with Video Deluxe, the audio will lag the video in the final MPEG file just like Pinnacle Studio. It appears some of the video frames were dropped. The problem seems to be with the video decoder since when I play back the original video unedited in Video Deluxe the sync problem will appear (no such problem when I play back in MS Media Player).

   The web site is no help as it doesn't seem any Magix employee is responding to this complaint which many people are making. I was hesitant to buy this product since it was not even mentioned on Magix website. Until they fix this problem, this software is worthless to me.

   Other than that, the interface is very good. It splits the video by time instead of scene which is good since the scenes can take a long time to generate as in Pinnacle Studio. I'd give Video Deluxe 5 stars if they fix this A/V sync problem.




4. Looked good at first. The Demo is awesome. But the management of files in the projects is very confusing and unlike regular MS Windows method. I want to be able to clear out the project and start over with something new but have trouble starting a new project and puting the clips in the new project. The video capture was disappointing because there is no sound during the capture. Preview and Playback is ok though. After capturing a clip the screen would not even show the next capture without unplugging the firewire cable and re-inserting. Using the timeline to trim the clips was awkward. There has to be something better than this. Shame for a programmer to put so much effort into a product but fail to make simple and basic things easy for the first time user. I'll have to go back to arcSoft ShowBiz without so many options. PC I'm using Win XP Pro on is Athlon 2100+ and Canon ZR40 Mini DV. wilsonbusn@cox.net



5. The tutorial looked pretty cool, but you couldnt use the program with a USB connection, only with a firewire, so this product turned out to be absolutely worthless.

5 comments about Pinnacle Studio 8.0 Video Editing with CD/DVD Authoring.

1. Hi there, straight to the point, this software is not worth a penny.....takes so long, I've even upgraded my computer with more memory, and dual processor, and still this program will not budge, spend your money elsewhere....thats where I'm going....



2. Many people have said that this program is not worth a penny, however, I truly disagree! Yes, it is true that it does lag and if you get frustrated with it and start clicking things it makes it worse. However, when it does have its melt downs, as long as you are pacient for a couple seconds it'll come back to you. However, make sure you save often just in case. The affects are absolutly fantastic! I have a special program for transitions though- Hollywood FX. With the program the transitions can be insanely cool. I've made lots of videos with ease. It has been so much easier to manage than I-movie. Also an easy to follow set up and its easy to learn! I am wondering though (the real reason I wondered onto this page) if any one knows how to put 4-8 different shots onto one screen as a split screen with all videos playing at the same time. Does anyone have any idea? The affect shows that it is available through the hollywood fx transitions, but I can only get it to work with two shots, even though the transition botton says it should do 4. If you have any suggestions please write it in a review. I'll be checking! Thanks! Great product though! I totally recommend it!



3. I have been able to easily create 1-hr home video's using this software that are filled with menu's, transitions, special effects, smooth slow motion, imported mpegs/jpegs, music (you can use your own mpgs too), sound effects, on-screen words, everything. You can zoom in on the timeline to fine-tune each 1/30th of a second of video if you wanted! I used about 20 clips from footage of my kids on vacation. I found cutting and pasting clips, adding music, words, effects easy and the whole interface really intuitive - I didn't once need to read a help menu/file. Now, I suspect the reason it hangs up/crashes for other people is because they have insufficient computer resources. I have Windows XP, 512MB RAM, 50GB of FREE Hard Drive (you need 12GB per hour of video imported), Athlon XP2200 1.8Ghz Processor and a basic 32Mb Graphic Card. Basically, this was a $1000 computer system 4 yrs ago and I imagine pretty standard by todays standards. I do think the box's recommended system requirements is way too conservative. The box says you need only 128Mb of RAM, 800MHz processor, and a comment about 4Gb of disc space per 20mins of video. That would be insufficient. You will need to have a firewire (IEEE 1394) on your PC (super-fast USB-like port) to capture video which can be bought from Best-Buy for $40 and installed inside your computer on a spare PCI slot (it really is easy to do). If you have this, I think that the current price of v.8 at $25 (it was $100) is brilliant value for money. If your computer system is below what I listed, you may find this program hangs up. But with a moderately powerful computer system you will have a great video editing program with nice DVD's to share and keep.



4. Over and over I've worked, studied, upgraded, optimized, tweaked and sworn at Pinnacle Studio 8! No support, lots of crashes, and no finished discs! Not even a rendered image file! Junk program. A coaster. I've had it. Windows Movie Maker runs circles around it! Anyone know the CEO's address? I've got a litte package I'd like to send him/her. A junk program he/she doesn't even offer support for any longer.



5. I've never had experience with video editing programs, but I can tell you that Studio 8 does a pretty good job with creating "movies" (this is coming from an ameatur). What I don't like is that rendering takes a very long time, not too many fancy titles and I haven't (if its even capable of doing this) been able to play a video while there is text in front of it.