Posts tagged iPhone
eRetailers jump the gun on UK iPad orders
May 5th
A number of UK and European eRetailers are offering competitive prices on over 100 pre-order and unlocked versions of Apple’s iPad ahead of the product’s official launch here on May 10th according to price-comparison site Twenga.
With the US sales of Apple’s iPad now having reached the one million mark in record time, it seems that just about everyone is keen to get their hands on Apple’s revolutionary tablet device.
What’s particularly relevant for digital video-makers is the fact that iPad shows great promise not only as a portable display and playback device but also in the way it opens up many opportunities for video-makers and video-sharers at all points in the production and post-production workflow.
We’ve already seen lots of useful applications having become available to users of Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch devices, and there are positive indications of apps now in the pipeline which will greatly help video-makers in their workflows.
Jumping the gun ahead of launch date
Price comparison website and next-generation search engine Twenga.co.uk has reported that the tablets are already available to buy online, ahead of Apple’s official launch in Europe on May 10th (and a whole month later than the product’s US debut).
Users can compare over 100 deals for pre-order and unlocked iPads from 10 eRetailers and marketplace sites.
For most of these offers, the iPad will be delivered in its original box, configured for any UK operator, and complete with a one-year warranty.
Internet users can also find lots of accessories for their iPads, such as cases, screen protectors and much more by visiting Twenga.co.uk.
Here’s a sample of iPad prices ranging from £398.90 to £939 through eRetailers:
-
eRetailer iPad 16GB iPad 32GB iPad 64GB Advance Technologies £398.90 Unknown Unknown Wirefree Homes £499.99 Unknown Unknown Fizi £517.99 £604.99 £710.99 Pixmania £547.98 £643.99 £743.99 Purely Gadgets £589.99 £685.99 £789.99 Xomobo £616.88 £703.83 £795.48 Vizik £799 £869 £939
It’s interesting to see that legitimate eBay resellers are also offering the iPad at discounted prices.
For our news story on the Apple iPad range see here.
More information: http://www.twenga.co.uk
MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 16 debuts in UK
Mar 3rd
Movie Edit Pro 16, from the innovative German digital media software company MAGIX, is finding increasing favour among serious video-making enthusiasts as well as with complete newbies.
MAGIX has at last announced the UK availability of the next generation of its successful and innovative video editing tool, Movie Edit Pro.
Available in two versions – a Classic version for beginners as well as a Plus for more ambitious users – Movie Edit Pro 16 could be the ideal solution for multi-format video editing, sound mixing and multiple-output format sharing.
We’re assured by MAGIX that the new application is designed to give the user effortless video capture, straightforward editing, “spectacular” 3D effects, a large selection of titles and fades and “brilliant” soundtrack building and mixing.
As today’s camcorder users have now come to expect, edited results can be burned to an interactive CD/DVD or exported to the web (eg: YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, etc) or to a mobile media player, such as an iPhone.
With high definition formats like AVCHD now dominating consumer camcorder formats, it’s essential that video editing products provide full support, and to that end MAGIX claims that it’s even easier to import and edit the whole range of commonly-used video formats in addition to applying any number of impressive visual special effects as well as background music and animated DVD and even Blu-ray Disc (BD) menus.
MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 16 – great for video editing newbies?
Here’s a summary of MAGIX Movie Edit 16′s main features:
- Upload videos to YouTube directly in HD quality.
- Free selection of audio track in multi-audio VOBs on DVDs.
- Flexible track number selection.
- Title editor with improved quality and direct previewing.
- Improved audio monitoring option in the timeline.
- Screenshot function.
- Object zoom function for even more precise effects control.
- Countless improvements in details.
Also included with the above is a copy of the brand-new MAGIX PC Check & Tuning 2010 – claimed by the company to provide the unique complete solution for intelligent checking maintenance and acceleration for PCs and laptops – something that’s pretty essential when editing complex video projects. The software is included free, even though is has a typical retail value of £29.99.
MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 16 Plus – taking on the big guys
MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 16 Plus, claimed by MAGIX to be the best version to date, promises an unlimited selection of high quality editing tools, powerful dubbing instruments and countless special effects. The package offers more ambitious video-makers 99 tracks, full HD support, one-of-a-kind travel route animation, innovative MultiCam editing, expanded menu design, countless special effects ready for the big screen, 5.1 Dolby Digital sound and more.
Movie Edit Pro 16 Plus Features:
- Secondary colour correction for impressive colour effects.
- Blu-ray and AVCHD discs with animated menis.
- Completely revised DVD menu design.
- Title editor with improved quality and direct previewing.
- Object zoom function for even more precise effects control.
- Unique travel route animation.
- Upload videos to YouTube directly in HD quality.
- Flexible track number selection.
- Level display for audio file import.
- Upload videos to the new Vimeo video portal.
- Generation of colour fields/test images.
- PC performance benchmarking for optimized presets.
- Music Editor 3.0 with optimized user guidance.
- Free selection of audio tracks in multi-audio VOBs.
- BONUS! proDAD Adorage starter package (with 155 effects).
- Countless improvements in details.
It’s good to see European software developers facing up to the big names in a field that’s dominated by American brands, so we’re pleased to see MAGIX increasing its foothold in what is undoubtedly a tricky market.
UK Price and Availability
Both products – MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 16 and Movie Edit Pro 16 Plus – are available now for SRP £49.99 and £69.99 inc VAT from Amazon and PC World.
Apple Launches iPad
Jan 27th
Thanks to what can only be a series of so-called controlled leaks by Apple, we all knew that Apple’s much-awaited new product reveal would be a tablet. And, lo, the iPad is born!
It’s been described by its maker as a revolutionary device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books and much more.
The all-new Apple iPad features a responsive high-resolution multi-touch display that’s designed to let users physically interact with applications and content. At just 0.5 inches thick and weighing just 1.5 pounds, the iPad is thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook and includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for the iPad.
It will run almost all of the over 140,000 apps in the App Store. iPad will be available in late March starting at the breakthrough price of just $499 in the US (no indication UK/ROI/Europe pricing yet).
“Intimate, intuitive and fun” – CEO Jobs
In a presentation by Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs, he said: “iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.” He continued, “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”
Every app works in both portrait and landscape, automatically animating between views as the user rotates iPad in any direction.
The precise multi-touch interface is designed to make surfing the web on the iPad an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer, we’re told.
Reading and sending email is designed to be fun and easy on iPad’s large screen and almost full-size “soft” keyboard. Users can import photos from a Mac, PC or digital camera, see them organised as albums, and enjoy and share them using iPad’s elegant slideshows. It’s also easy to watch movies, TV shows and YouTube, all in HD or flip through pages of an e-book that were downloaded from Apple’s new iBookstore while listening to one’s music collection.
iBooks from the iBookstore
iPad runs almost all of the over 140,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for an iPhone or iPod touch. The iTunes Store facilitates access to the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalogue of over 11 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 8,000 films including over 2,000 in stunning high definition video. Apple also announced the new iBooks app for iPad, which includes Apple’s new iBookstore and provides what Apple cliams to be the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device. The iBookstore will feature books from major and independent publishers.
Apple also introduced a new version of iWork for iPad, claiming it to be the first desktop-class productivity suite designed specifically for multi-touch devices.
With already-familiar Mac applications commonly found on regular Mac desktop and laptop computers, Pages, Keynote and Numbers make the creation of beautifully formatted documents, stunning presentations with animations and transitions, together with spreadsheets with charts, functions and formulas – all of which look much better than their Windows equivalents. The three apps will be available separately through the App Store for US$9.99 each.
Same iTunes syncing as iPhone and iPod Touch
iPad syncs with iTunes just like the iPhone and iPod touch, using the standard Apple 30-pin to USB cable, meaning that all contacts, photos, music, movies, TV shows, applications (and more) can be synchronised from a Mac or PC. All the apps and content are downloaded to the iPad from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to the user’s iTunes library the next time it is connected to the computer.
The iPad has been given a 9.7-inch, LED-backlit display which features IPS technology designed to deliver crisp, clear images and consistent colour with an ultra-wide 178 degree viewing angle.
The precise, capacitive multi-touch display is (according to Apple’s Press Release) “amazingly accurate and responsive” whether scrolling web pages or playing games.
Additionally, the intelligent soft keyboard pioneered on iPhone takes advantage of iPad’s larger display to offer an almost full-size soft keyboard. Many users will welcome the fact that the iPad also connects to the new iPad Keyboard Dock with a full-size traditional keyboard – something considered to be a really important and handy feature here at SimplyDV Towers.
Two versions – Wi-Fi with 3G, Wi-Fi without
iPad comes in two versions—one with Wi-Fi and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G. iPad includes the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the 3G versions support speeds up to 7.2 Mbps on HSDPA networks. Apple and AT&T announced breakthrough 3G pre-paid data plans for iPad with easy, on-device activation and management.

Pricing & Availability
The iPad will be available worldwide in late March for a suggested retail price of US$499 for the 16GB model, US$599 for the 32GB model, US$699 for the 64GB model. The Wi-Fi + 3G models of iPad will be available in April in the US and selected countries for a suggested retail price of US$629 for the 16GB model, US$729 for the 32GB model and US$829 for the 64GB model. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers. International pricing and worldwide availability will be announced at a later date. iBookstore will be available in the US at launch.
Smug Footnote by Author
Yours truly even predicted that it was to be called the “iPad”. And guess what? He was right!
Source (Text and Images) Apple UK. Additional words: Colin Barrett
New: Corel VideoStudio Pro X3
Jan 26th
Corel Corporation has announced the latest in a long and established line of consumer video editing software. VideoStudio Pro X3 promises a streamlined interface and new features.
Corel’s new VideoStudio Pro X3 video editing software promises to combine video editing, media authoring, real-time effects and DVD and Blu-ray burning in addition to a newer, simplified and streamlined display workspace.
What’s more, it’s claimed by Corel to perform many common tasks more than twice as fast as the previous version with optimization for new, high-powered chipsets including the Intel Core i7.
The software also offers multi-core and GPU parallel processing with support for new technology including NVIDIA CUDA as a means of enhancing performance and end-to-end production workflow.
Product highlights
According to Corel, the highlights of VideoStudio Pro X3 are numerous, and include the following:
- Enhanced Support for Multi-core processors: Users can now experience a significant suite-wide performance boost as Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 takes advantage of new multi-core processors including the Intel Core i7.
- General Purpose GPU Acceleration: New GPU acceleration adds speed improvements across the application, delivering new Corel FX effects, 3D transitions, Trim and Multi-trim in real time. Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 dramatically accelerates render times for video editing, transcoding and effects.
- Enhanced Smart Proxy editing: Now leveraging both GPU and CPU acceleration, HD content can be edited as easily and smoothly as standard definition — even on midrange PCs.
- Attribute and media copying: Now, modifications made to one video clip, photo, title, transition or effect can be copied to another, reducing the time it takes to create a custom, uniform look and feel in movie project elements. Users can also copy media in the Project Timeline and intuitively paste it to a new spot.
- Online sharing: In a couple of clicks, video productions can be uploaded to Facebook, Flickr, Vimeo and YouTube.
- Stunning new visual effects: Unique visual effects make it possible to turn a video segment or image into a simulated drawing, giving a realistic animated appearance to photo or videos. Users can also choose new multi-track overlay effects and enhanced title effects using new multi-layered graphics compositing tools.
- Great Audio and Custom Soundtracks: The new Mood Mapping music generator from SmartSound gives video editors the ability to experiment and control individual instruments in the available music tracks, creating a unique sound for their production. Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 also now includes two additional audio tracks.
- Exceptional Content and Third-party Tools: In addition to the enhancements made throughout the application, Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 offers valuable content and features from third-parties such as NewBlue FX Filters including Detail Enhancer, Active Camera and Picture-in-Picture Animator, high-quality project templates from RevoStock, and Quicktracks from SmartSound.
UK Pricing and Availability
Corel VideoStudio Pro X3, which includes Corel DVD Factory Pro, is now available at a suggested retail price (SRP) of just £79 for the full version or £59 for the upgrade.
The product can be purchased as an electronic software download (ESD), with boxed software shipping throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa in February. Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 will be available globally in English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Chinese Traditional and Japanese. All prices include VAT.
For more information, see: http://www.corel.com/videostudio.
Source: Corel Corporation press release. Images courtesy Corel Corporation.
View SimplyDV on your iPhone
Jan 13th
Posted by Colin in Announcements
We’re pleased to tell you that the SimplyDV website is now compatible with not only Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch but also other touch-screen Smartphones, too.
And the great thing is that you don’t have to click any special buttons or navigate to special sub-domains or anything like. Just enter the website name into the phone’s browser and hit “go”.
It’s that easy!
Nice, clean interface
You’ll see that we’re giving mobile users a specially-formatted version of the site that’s much simpler, focuses primarily on the news and review pages and will therefore be more bandwidth-efficient. The good thing is that it’s all automatic (and doesn’t involve me in any more work at this end, either).
You’ll also notice that, since Apple doesn’t yet support Adobe Flash on its iPhone operating system, you won’t see any elements that contain Flash. Don’t worry – when Apple changes its mind the Flash elements will automatically become visible. You will be able to play YouTube video clips, though (of which we have a number on the site).
We’d love to get your feedback on your user experiences, so get in touch via the Contact form in the top menu.
Don’t forget to add SimplyDV to your iPhone’s bookmarks, too!
Enjoy!
Apple’s iSlate to ship in March?
Jan 5th
The good old Apple rumour-mill has been grinding away for months and now it looks as if we’re a positive step closer to learning the truth. The Cupertino, California, based giant looks set to reveal its new tablet computer soon, with a late-March launch for the product that shall (at least according to those bearing rumours) be called the iSlate.
It’s basically a big iPhone or iPod Touch; a 10- or 11-inch touch screen with (we can only assume) all the now-familar features of the iPhone plus the functionality of one of the company’s Mac Book laptops will at last be available soon.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the selling price is likely to be $1,000. Not a cheap, even if convenient, substitute for your average laptop or notebook PC, but we at SimplyDV towers can think of some interesting uses for digital video-makers. Just think – a Wi-Fi connected device into which your SD or even HD movie clips can be imported using the Mac user’s preferred OS and edited in (dare we speculate further?) iMovie. The sky’s the limit, really.
Here’s a video clip with more information (or should that be speculation?):
A trawl around the web right now is sufficient to glean the following specs:
- 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache and 1066MHz system bus
- 2GB of RAM, but will support up to 8GB
- 120GB SATA hard drive 4200RPM
- Built-in iSight Camera; Built-in Projector (Projector?)
- 7.1 inch Widescreen Multitouch display, with intelligent feedback; finger-print resistant oleophobic coating
- Two USB Ports, SD Card Slot
- Built-in Stereo Speakers, built-in mic
- Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) Ethernet
- Built-in Airport Extreme Wi-Fi (based on IEEE 802.11n draft specification)
- Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 EDR Module
- MAC OS X Clouded Leopard v 10.7
More info as we get it!



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