CyberLink PowerDVD 11 Standard V.11 Review

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(More customer reviews)This is in reference to PowerDVD 10. I have bought 3 versions of this software, I have no confidence that this will be any better - read on for the review of my previous experiences with this software.
This program does work, but is high maintenance. Constant reminders to upgrade to the newest version.
Worse it reminds the user of periodic updates (which I would expect) - except clicking on downloading (or cancelling) the updates freezes the program. The software updater is broken as well - after downloading it wants to remove the prior installation, and then it doesn't install.
I'm a system builder and have done more clean installs and repairs that I can count. NEVER have I encountered a program as difficult to work with as this one. Watching the last season of lost my family had to ensure a system reboot because of this program. I will keep my media PC for home (hi-def) movies, but I do plan on buying a standalone Blu-ray player instead of shelling out more money for this piece of junk. It is a shame, because I would like to find a good blu-ray player - but this is not it.

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History Channel: Lost Worlds Review

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(More customer reviews)This game came from the same place as monster quest. Had to return this one too. Let me download then told me I needed Open gl and to insert card??? Requirements were xp which I have???

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Roxio Creator 2010 Review

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(More customer reviews)First let me state that I am a long-time user of Roxio products and I have always been more than happy. I upgraded to this product only because its predecessor would not work with my current operating system. This is probably a good product however I could never get it to work properly and Roxio's tech support was less than helpful.
I had a problem with saving files and with components of the program spontaneously closing. I also had problems with other programs such as Photoshop Elements after installing this software. Tech support initially gave me the standard answer that I should uninstall and reinstall the program. I did this and it didn't help. They then instructed me to make some changes to my start up and registry files. Doing this not only did not solve my problem, it made my system work irratically. After giving the system a tune up with Norton 360, it worked fine but Easy Media Creator still did not work properly.
Next they asked me to send them my msinfo32 file as an attachment to my help ticket. I did so and did not receive a response. Five days later they closed my help ticket and marked it solved. I replied that they had not responded to the last information I had sent and again attached my msinfo32 file. Five days later they again closed my help ticket without having responded. When I added another reply they responded that I had not sent the msinfo32 file as requested. I sent it a third time. I then got this message: "We cannot troubleshoot your problem with the msinfo32 file we had requested. Please follow the steps below to send us your system information." The steps below instructed me to copy my msinfo32 file and attach it to the help ticket. At this point I gave up. I unstalled the program and now my other software works fine. This seemed to be an indication that the problem might be with the software and not my computer.
As a test to see if the problem really did lie within my computer I installed the software on a new "virgin" computer that uses a different operating system. I had the exact same problems. This further indicates that the problem is with the product not my computers.
I've downloaded a trial version of a similar product by Nero and it seems to be working fine. I think I'll just write off the Roxio software as a loss and order the full version of Nero.

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Easily preserve and share photo, video and audio projects with Roxio Creator 2010. Built-in video tutorials make it easy to get started. Burn and copy CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Edit video like a pro and create Hollywood-style DVDs. Digitize LPs and tapes. Create photo slideshows, cards, calendars and panoramas. Share creations online, on disc, mobile phone or iPod. New features let you burn and copy discs directly on your desktop; save web video for offline playback; archive your AVCHD camera video directly to disc, pause/resume during video conversion; and encode video up to 5X faster depending on your hardware.


New Design Creator's Home is the launch pad for all video, photo, audio and burning projects. Creator automatically personalizes the main screen to put your most frequent tasks front and center. Click to enlarge.

New in this version
New--5X faster video encoding with support for ATI Stream and NVIDIA CUDA technology
New--Burn and copy discs directly on your desktop with Roxio Burn desktop widget
New--Save web video for convenient offline playback on DVD, mobile phone or iPod
New--Back up an entire camera of HD video directly on disc with AVCHD Archive
New--Pause/resume video conversion, or schedule long projects for efficient use of your PC
Improved--Capture music from streaming internet radio and automatically add title, artist and album info, then add to iTunes

Burning

Roxio delivers the industry's best and easiest tools for burning CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. The new Roxio Burn desktop widget lets you easily drag and drop files for burning or copying right on your desktop. Click to enlarge.
Copying

Easily copy data, audio, photo or video CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. Copy an entire 9 GB DVD movie onto a standard 4.7 GB recordable DVD disc. Create custom DVD compilations. Convert video files for playback on the device of your choice. Click to enlarge.
Video

Edit movies and burn DVDs like a Pro--even if you're a beginner! Capture, burn and share video, even from HD camcorders. Save streaming web video for offline playback on DVD, mobile phone or iPod. Click to enlarge.
Music

No matter what kind of music you're into, Creator 2010 makes it easy to rip tunes from CDs, digitize and clean up LPs and tapes, and record Internet audio or any other music playing on your PC! Create personalized mixes and compilations for any occasion. Click to enlarge.
Photo

Easily enhance your photos from cameras and mobile phones--and create animated slideshows, greeting cards, panoramas and more. Click to enlarge.
Sharing

Enjoy your videos, photos and music mixes on CD, DVD, on your hi-def TV, on YouTube, or portable devices including iPhone, PSP and more. Click to enlarge.
Learn

Get to know Creator 2010 by watching it in action. Built-in video tutorials make it easy and fun to get started. Print step-by-step instructions for easy reference while you work on projects. Click to enlarge.

Key Features
Burning & Copying
New--Burn and copy discs directly on your desktop with the new Roxio Burn desktop widget
Copy DVD-Videos and convert DVDs for playback on iPod, iPhone, PSP and other devices or to video files.
Convert other video file formats to DVD.
Burn up to 50 GB of content onto one Blu-ray Disc
Quickly back up data to CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray Disc, even networked drives
Schedule unattended backups, and secure your discs with encryption and password protection
Copy discs in a few clicks, including the latest Blu-ray discs
Create virtual disc drives and load disc images
Span large files and projects across multiple CDs or DVDs
Burn a disc and create a disc image file at the same time
Backup your favorite audio, movies or TV shows from any iPod to your PC

Video
New--Save web video for convenient offline playback on DVD, mobile phone or iPod
New--AVCHD Archive makes it simple to back up an entire camera of HD video directly to disc
New--Pause/resume during video conversion, or schedule long projects for efficient use of your PC
New--Accelerated video encoding with support for NVIDIA CUDA and ATI Stream technology
Improved--Smart Encoding speeds up processing and preserves original video quality
Capture standard and high-def video
Plug in your digital camcorder and burn directly to DVD
Edit video automatically
Create video compilations to share on DVDs or portable devices
Create movies with custom sound tracks, titles, transitions and effects using advanced video editing tools
Add titles and scrolling credits to your video production
Trim and cut video clips
Timeline and storyboard views help you lay out your project
Automatically fix video color, contrast and brightness
Overlay multiple images, text or video clips; create picture-in-picture effects
Quickly and easily upload video to YouTube

DVD Creation & Playback
Improved--Author AVCHD video to standard DVDs as an affordable way to watch your HD video on your Blu-ray player
New--Play Blu-ray Discs, including Hollywood movies, on your PC with the optional Blu-ray playback Plug-In
Burn videos on Blu-ray Disc with the optional High-Def/Blu-ray Disc Plug-In
Turn home videos into striking DVDs complete with animated menus and fully orchestrated music
Create compilation DVD discs from DVD-Video, and other video file formats
Produce Hollywood-style DVDs with motion menus and resizable buttons
New standard and high-def DVD menu templates for all occasions
Exercise full creative control over DVD menu features
Control end-of-play action and link menu elements to specific files
Add menu overlays--change size, orientation, transparency and more

Music
Improved--Capture music from streaming internet radio and automatically add title, artist and album info, then add to iTunes
Easily convert audiobook CDs for convenient playback on iPods and other portable devices, complete with chapters and bookmarks
Create advanced playlist projects with crossfades, transitions and beatmatching between songs
Edit your audio tracks--trim, join, add effects, create audio mashups
Convert multiple audio tracks into a different format for payback on a broad variety of devices, in one step
Simultaneously rip CDs from multiple drives
Build and audio library by capturing Internet radio or any PC-based audio source directly from your desktop
Convert audio and video files to your preferred format with the desktop gadget
Rip tracks from audio CDs quickly, automatically and concurrently across multiple disc drives
Digitize your analog LPs and cassettes, clean up noise and scratches, then add them to your MP3 player
Automatically identify unknown music tracks--even those captured from the Internet or streaming music services, then add title, artist and genre information to tags & filenames
Create DVD music discs for playback on DVD players, complete with 'smart navigation' via the remote control, with up to 50 hours Dolby Digital quality music on a single DVD.
Span dozens of songs and compilations across multiple audio CDs

Photo
Import photos from your digital camera into the Media Manager or directly into photo projects
Organize thousands of photos & create custom views to find photos quickly
Fix and enhance photos with powerful editing, effects and touch up tools
Easily correct color and exposure
Fix red eye, erase wrinkles and blemishes, crop and straighten photos
Use a range of powerful editing brushes
Adjust photos to suit your mobile device's screen resolution
Add effects like transparency and edge fading, and change color tone
Add attractive mats and frames to photos
Auto-fix mobile phone photos
Show off any picture on your mobile phone, full screen, without borders or bars
Quickly fix and enhance multiple photos at once
Create slideshows with pan & zoom animation to enjoy on PC or DVD disc
Add a royalty-free soundtrack to your slideshows
Stitch multiple photos together to create amazing panoramas
Create photo albums, greeting cards, collages and calendars
Get the best results when you print your photos using the Print Assistant
Optimize your photos for sharing via email

Mobile Device Support
Synchronize digital media from your PC to your mobile device
Queue up files to transfer to your mobile device even if it's not connected to your PC
Create a custom profile for your mobile phone
Seamlessly integrate with Windows Vista media folders
Easily transfer digital media from camera phone to PC via Bluetooth or USB cable
Send audio mixes to iPod, PSP and other players to enjoy on the go
Convert audio and video files to popular formats to play on mobile devices.

Disc Label Creation
Create personalized disc labels, DVD case inserts and booklets
Choose from professional-quality templates or create your own
Add a photo index to your disc label or insert to locate your photos
Calibrate your printer to take the guesswork out of printing disc labels

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VideoWave 7 Professional Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been doing video editing for about 6 years now. I have tryed shareware, freeware and retail video editors of all shapes and sizes. I am use to jumping between 3-4 diffrent editors to get all the effects, transitions and video color/brightness adjustments I need. Then I tryed ViedoWave 7 pro. This sucker has it all. I can adjust the color/brightness and contrast of each individual video clip. Remove sound from clips or add my owen naration and music. Make pans and zooms on still images. And this version has more FUN transitions to play with.
You will deffinitly need a Pentium 3 (i would recomend a Pentium 4) processor with at leatst 512 of RAM to run this puppy. It takes alot of power... but for a low priced video editor it HAS ALOT OF POWER.
not sure what the other guys issue was, but compaired to Pinnicle studio which crashed all the time and Ulead this product is great.
michelle
family music video maker
computer geek :o)~

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VideoWave 7 Professional lets you create the ultimate in home video productions. It's a complete home-produced DVDs with theater-sound, special effects, and animated menus. VideoWave 7 Professional will be the only video editing software you ever use!Burn your new video sensation to DVDs, VCDs, or SVCDs

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Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe DVD Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a general aviation pilot, flying single engine fixed wing Cessna type aircraft (4 seater). Flight Simulator X gives the feeling of actually piloting a plane. The plane responds to the controls much like "the real thing".
Like other reviewers, I must agree that you must have a great computer. I have a dual processor Pentium D 940 running 3.2 Ghz, 4 gb RAM, 512 mb NVIDIA graphic card. On my system, with maxed out graphics and scenery, it runs very well, with only an occasional slight bump in frame-rates. I am somewhat disappointed with the scenery, which is good in major cities, but still basic in the country-side. The terrain is good everywhere, but the structures lack detail in other than the cities. The detail on airport runways and taxiways is terrific! Aircraft list is extensive. I recommend it.

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Shift 2 - Unleashed Review

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(More customer reviews)Just to give you some background on me (so you can take what I say with a grain of salt, depending on what you're looking for from this game) I mostly play racing games that lean far more toward the simulator side (modified versions of GTR2, GTR Evo/Race 07, rFactor, Richard Burns Rally). I have a G25 steering wheel and have my pedals & shifter mounted on stands to more accurately place them where they would be in a car. I'll spend hours trying to whittle away seconds from a lap time. So imagine how excited I was after seeing the technology video on Shift 2.
Out of the box, the game was nearly unplayable on the PC. What it feels like to me is that the game was probably ported to PC, then given a quick slap of force feedback (FFB) that isn't anywhere near being well tuned, in order to get the games released at the same time on all platforms. I say this because I don't believe the physics are entirely to blame here, but after playing other sims and then playing this one, you literally don't get any feedback about what the car is doing other than the resistance of a turn or hitting the wall & other cars (you can't tell what the tires are doing, nor the springs, or how the weight of the car is shifting). In a good racing sim, you can feel when your car starts losing traction in a turn, allowing you to make corrections (letting off the gas, etc). But in Shift 2 it is really hard for me to tell what the chassis is doing. The opening part of the game has you drive a Nissan GT-R (an advanced AWD vehicle) around a small course, and you pretty much can't drive it aggressively from the get-go because you can't feel what the car is doing. It misleads you into believing you're going to make a corner, and then the car slides out sideways without notice (you can't feel anything, you just see it happening). Anyone who has played GTR2/Evo/rFactor will know what I'm talking about. You can jump between various styles of cars in those sims and if you're an experienced driver you can adjust to the new car within a few turns just because you can feel what the car likes & doesn't like, the FFB programming in those sims is that good. It's not like that at all in Shift 2. Switching from the GT-R to the Alfa Romeo (first car you are awarded in the game) wasn't much of a difference in feel at all. Even after purchasing chassis parts & new tires, it felt the same and I never felt confident of what the car was capable or not capable of. You'll basically just end up learning your acceptable corner speeds and the best driving line without feeling what the car is doing, which entirely detracts from what a simulation is about. I make this distinction only because EA made such a huge deal about how realistic this game was going to be. And for someone who is all about the driving aspect of the game, you're going to feel like something is missing. That connection between man and machine. It's more like being a witness to some very pretty graphics.
Private parties (modders) have already made a couple of mods to fix some of the issues in this game. There's a fix to make the sidewalls of the tires stiffer so the reaction to turning is improved (feels less mushy), and I think there's a mod to remove some of the effects of colliding with other objects that cause the lag issue. But this game feels like it's unfinished, if only because of the sub-par FFB. The game looks brilliant with the graphics cranked (better have a fast rig) and the car selection is very nice and highly varied, without having too many cars that nobody will ever touch. Some of the new effects are nice, like the inside-helmet view, the look-to-apex function (which takes some getting used to, since I use TrackIR in other sims, and Shift 2 doesn't support TrackIR [but there is a mod for TrackIR support already too]). Hopefully EA patches this game soon. It really is a solid 4 or 5-star game, marred by very poor feedback support. Heck, if you're going to play it on PC with a gamepad you might really like this game. It is definitely fun (FFB issues aside) and looks great, it just needs some TLC from EA to make it more of a complete offering for people who drive with a steering wheel setup and take their racing games seriously (again, I only mention this because EA made much ado about how realistic this game was going to be).
EDIT - Okay, 1 week and a lot of forum research later, I'm starting to get this dialed in with my G25 wheel. First of all, you need the latest Logitech Profiler software, and you'll need to set the spring effect strength and damper effect strength to about 40% or so (more or less to suit your taste). Most sims don't use these effects, so we tend to set them both to 0%, but EA built their FFB around the use of these two effects, as well as the FFB strength (which I have at 113% currently). I am using 362 degrees of rotation in the Profiler software (not the full 900 like I have in my other sims), and I have the Profiler set up to launch off of the Shift 2 executable (you can do this under Edit -> Properties in the Profiler software). In-game, I have the wheel set to 50% sensitivity with 360 degrees of steering lock. You can widen these figures if you like (460-540 or so) but for some reason it feels really loose to do so in this particular game, and you may be turning the wheel excessively. Now, with these settings in a stock vehicle, it still probably won't feel quite right. That's because you still need to go into each and every car you own in-game and adjust the steering lock in the car's tuning settings itself. Each car will be at default 20 steering lock, and most need to be lowered (for instance, I'm using 18 on the Lotus Elise 111). Plus, the feel of the cars gets proportionally better if you buy better tires & suspension and adjust them halfway decent. It's a shame that EA didn't make it simpler to just hook up your wheel and go, but at least we are figuring this stuff out. I feel like it has seriously marred what could have been a great launch for this game on PC. Also, EA has confirmed that they are coming out with a patch that will eliminate some of the lag in steering response, but I'm not sure when that will be. But the way I have it set up now is miles better than it was when I first started playing it, and I'm really starting to enjoy it as much as I'd originally hoped...

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Shift 2 Unleashed is a multiplayer Simulation Racer for play on PC. Follow-up game to 2009's Need For Speed: Shift, Shift 2 Unleashed leaves the traditional arcade racing associations of the Need For Speed franchise far behind as it immerses the player in an unprecedented level of realistic racing scenarios and functionality. Features include: improved first person perspective via the all-new helmet cam; access to real-world drivers, tracks, and cars; a deep Career Mode; 1-12 online multiplayer support; extensive car customization; and Autolog social networking functionality.

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Quarkxpress 8 Upgrade for mac/win with int Designer Xpert Tools Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been using QuarkXPress since 1994 and I would not be able to do a good job as a graphic designer without it. It is part of my layout arsenal including Illustrator and Photoshop.
I know that InDesign is also a great program but since I started with Quark, I'm staying with Quark as long as they continue to deliver a great piece of software.
The truth is, I looked into getting an Adobe Suite but Adobe did not make it easy or inexpensive to do so. I own 5 other Adobe products that are already included in the suites but I would have had to pay full price (minus $100) to buy a suite. $100 was the only break Adobe would give me as a loyal customer. So for a minimum of $1300 I could buy the basic suite. It just wasn't worth it since the only thing I didn't have was InDesign.
So, getting back to Quark 8.0 upgrade. I upgraded from Quark 7 because I purchased a new computer running Windows 7 64 bit. I wasn't sure if Quark 7 would be compatible but I decided it was just easier to upgrade and be done with it. I've had no problems running on 64 bit Windows 7.
There are some great new features (that really should have been part of the program to begin with).
1.) When you import a picture into a picture box and that picture is larger than the picture box, you can see the rest of the picture faded back (when you unselect the picture box, it goes away). This really helps in positioning a picture. Additionally, you can rotate and scale by grabbing picture corners.
2.) The tools/measurements have more options. For example, the measurements box now gives shortcut access to just about anything like alignments, tabs, runarounds, drop shadows, etc.
3.) Font choices in the measurements box actually displays a sample of the font.
4.) You can create a plain box. Not a picture box, not a text box, just a box to be used for fill or whatever. That box can later be defined as either text or picture.
5.) The object alignment options are now the same as Illustrator, flush left, flush right, center, flush top, flush bottom, distribute evenly both horizontally or vertically, etc. and are easy to get to in the measurement box.
6.) You can import native Illustrator (.ai) and Photoshop (.PSD) files although I try not to do this since I eventually go back to make them flattened files before publishing.
7.) It is much easier to edit shapes with the expanded Bezier tool options.
8.) Just about every tool has been enhanced with more options or more common options and shortcuts from other programs.
There are really too many changes to keep listing but Quark's website has a lot of detail as well. I'll try to come back and update as I come across new things or crash issues.
I have had just a couple of crashes in the two months I've been using it. They seemed to be related to text reflow and table editing -- two things that I had trouble with in previous Quark versions.
Other than that, I have had no trouble in setting up new projects, editing previous versions, exporting for print or navigable PDF's for online posting.
The thing that keeps Quark as an industry leader in publishing is the ability to manipulate type so precisely. That and the detail and flexibility in style sheets, master pages and 'find and replace' options.
I really think that Quark has taken a good product and brought it well up to speed with competitors in the industry. It is worth every penny to upgrade.

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