Thinking of moving your NLE to the Mac? Think again.

[Hulk]

Jerry,

Glad to hear it's working out for you. The mac mini definitely has a cool form factor. No doubt about that.

Looks like you might have found the right match for you!

[Jerry Jones]

And I'm really excited about the vector-based titling and animation in Apple Final Cut Express 4:

http://images.apple.com/finalcutexpress/images/titling_gallery1_20071115.jpg

It's better than Ulead MediaStudio Pro's CG Infinity... but that's not too surprising when one considers that Ulead didn't integrate any improvements in CG Infinity after version 6 of MediaStudio Pro.

Apple Final Cut Express 4 -- at $199 -- is a steal, in my opinion.



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Elie]

Here's a rumor..Apple may be selling it's NLE software division.



Cheers,
Elie

[Jerry Jones]

I think not, Elie.

But nice try.



Regards,

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jessterw]

Just a few comments...

The network drive file transfer issue is a long-time bug that has been present since before 10.4 even. Why Apple's kept from fixing it is anyone's guess, but it's not exactly some new thing. Keep in mind that the default operation when dragging a file to or from a non-local drive is a copy, not a move.

Mac OS has had it's own blue screen for a long while, but yeah, now it gets an actual blue screen.

Apple censoring their support forums isn't anything new either. Sadly, veteran users take this for granted, while new users are left befuddled.


Honestly, I haven't upgraded to Leopard yet because Tiger works just fine for me, even if it doesn't have some of the GUI niceties like Quick Look.

[Jerry Jones]

I just did some more testing with codecs that some might consider challenging for the Mac.

I took a cheapo Taiwanese camcorder... the Aiptek ISDV2.4... and recorded some 640 x 480 .asf (Windows Media Video) format video and accompanying audio to a memory card.

I took the memory card and inserted it into a tiny USB 2.0 memory card reader.

I downloaded the free Windows Media Video codecs for the Mac from the Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=915d874d-d747-4180-a400-5f06b1b5e559&displaylang=en

Then I upgraded the QuickTime player on my Mac to the $29.99 QuickTime Pro:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=D3380Z/A

(This only required copying a code e-mailed to me from the Apple Store into the QuickTime player on my Mac, which activated the QuickTime Pro features.)

After upgrading to QuickTime Pro, I exported to the APPLE INTERMEDIATE CODEC, creating a file with a .MOV file extension.

I then imported this file into Apple iMovie '08 without difficulty... ready for editing.

Worked like a charm.

So it's easy to convert even Microsoft Windows Media Video format files (including .ASF files) into editable files for editing in either iMovie '08 or Final Cut Express 4.

By the way, the APPLE INTERMEDIATE CODEC does a remarkable job of preserving the quality of the original file.

I just did a frame-by-frame comparison on a 20" high resolution flat panel display.

The possibilities seem endless.

This APPLE INTERMEDIATE CODEC is *included* on every APPLE computer.

To get the same value on a Windows-based computer, you have to buy the Cineform NeoHDV codec at a cost of $250.

Microsoft blew it when they didn't negotiate a deal with Cineform to just include the codec on every new Vista computer.

What a major mistake.



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

By the way, this thread got started by somebody posting a link to an article about hard drive issues on some Macs.

1. Everybody should back up their data no matter which operating system or computer they happen to be using, Mac, PC, or Linux.

2. Drives fail in PCs all the time.

3. APPLE provides a one-year warranty and you can buy a longer warranty if you want.

4. APPLE is looking into these recent claims and I'm sure there will be some type of program to get the drives replaced if it is determined that the claims are valid. Apple stands behind their products. Most of today's PC manufacturers do also.

But the fact of the matter is that user surverys consistently report higher levels of satisfaction among buyers of APPLE computers than among buyers of PCs:

http://www.tech.co.uk/computing/mac/news/apple-macs-surge-on-iphone-effect?articleid=1689472750

More depressing findings for Dell were revealed in ChangeWave's customer satisfaction survey. It placed the company last behind Lenovo, Gateway, HP and Toshiba with just 44 per cent of very satisfied owners. Apple topped the poll with 86 per cent - 27 per cent ahead of Toshiba.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Technoid]

We have just witnessed the birth of a new Macfanatic Fanboy

[Jerry Jones]

Actually, you should read the *numbers* and then extrapolate.

http://www.changewave.com/freecontent/viewarticle.html?source=/freecontent/2007/08/alliance-consumerPC-082107.html

Perhaps the most impressive finding for Apple in this survey was its outstanding customer satisfaction rating. A whopping 86% of respondents who bought an Apple computer during the past 90 days reported being very satisfied with their purchase (another 7% said they were somewhat satisfied) -- by far the highest satisfaction rating we've found for any manufacturer.

On the flipside, Dell was dead last among PC makers when it came to customer satisfaction. In fact, only 44% of respondents who bought a Dell in the past 90 days reported being very satisfied with their purchase, down nine points since June.

These survey results reveal there are a growing number of APPLE "fan" boys and girls... not just me.

You can argue with me here, but it's pretty hard for you to argue with the vast numbers of people who basically feel the same way.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Here's the link to the ChangeWave survey:

http://www.changewave.com/freecontent/viewarticle.html?source=/freecontent/2007/06/alliance-halo-062707.html

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

As I've said before I'm glad Apple is out there. Even though they have less than 3% of the market it's always a good thing to have competition. If Apple could just bring the price down I think they could capture enough of the market to actually put some pressure on the PC makers.

Hey Jerry how come businesses don't purchase Mac's? I mean normal offices that have a hundred computers or more. Besides graphics arts or video editing I've never walked into a business environment and seen PC after PC in everyone's desk.

[Brian Ellis]

Actually, you should read the *numbers* and then extrapolate.

OK Apple have 3% of the market and Dell have 30% of the market. Let's say that, in a given time period, 1,000,000 computers are sold. 30,000 are Apple and 300,000 are Dell. 86% of the Apple purchasers are satisfied, and that represents 25,800 contented customers; 44% of the Dell clients, or 132,000, are happy bunnies, more than 5 times the number of happy apply guys.

However, I dispute your being able to compare Apple with Dell. The latter is, in my eyes, the lowest of the low and is NOT really typical of state-of-the-art PC technology, but of cheap mass-produced punch'n'crunch junk. If you made the comparison with a company producing roughly the same number of PCs as Apple and can build in more quality, the comparison would be much fairer.

Anyone can quote statistics to further any argument.

[Jerry Jones]

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/12/03/new-high-for-mac-market-share-in-november

Incorrect, Mark.

Total Mac market share is now just over 6.8 percent, and will likely break 7 percent for 2007.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

they have less than 3% of the market.

[Jerry Jones]

Habit, but more and more businesses are switching to the Mac as they realize the long term cost savings.

Macs -- in fact -- are the new low-cost option.

I spent less than $1,000 for an editing system that kicks far more expensive Microsoft Windows-based systems to the curb.



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

Hey Jerry how come businesses don't purchase Mac's?

[Jerry Jones]

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13506_1-9758856-17.html

According to AMI Partners in a report filed in July (2007), Apple's desktop market share in the medium business segment (100 to 999 employees) soared from 13% to a whopping 27% in just one year, while its notebook segment commands 18% market share in the same segment. In small enterprises (1-99 employees), Apple's desktop and notebook market share raised to 12% and 8%, respectively.

These numbers reflect Apple market share growth since 2006. Am I missing something here? Did Apple release business products that somehow escaped my grasp? And when did Apple products become so appealing to businesses? Isn't XP or Vista the proven leader in the industry? Not anymore.

Businesses have finally awoken to the fact that there are other solutions in the wild that may be able to solve the same issues (if not more) than the current product. And while I understand some of these businesses could be design and media companies, there is no indication that these numbers reflect the (mostly erroneous) argument that Max OS X is not suitable for the corporate world.

Apple has successfully created a new, profitable market segment for itself by simply creating products that make us go "wow". The company didn't create an enterprise-ready desktop or laptop and it certainly didn't offer a product that is aimed at the IT manager in all of us. Instead, it reversed the Dell formula that worked so well.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net