Nik Software Complete Collection - Professional Photographic Tools for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture Review

Nik Software Complete Collection - Professional Photographic Tools for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture
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This is an excellent plug-in suite for PS.
I've used it for 6 months now, and it has improved the quality of the photos and really cut down the time spent processing them.
- Viveza: This is the most awesome app. in the suite. I run pretty much every photo through viveza, even those who looks great to begin with. Playing with to control points and making localized color corrections makes it easy and fast to improve the overall quality of the photograph, as well as making certain elements of the photo to pop out.
- Color Efex: Nice piece of software, but not as useful as viveza, dfine or Sharpener. The filters are easy to apply and adjust, both globally and localized. The quality of the filters is great, and makes the process og creating certain effects fast, easy and fun. You can get in minutes the same effects you would spend hours trying to do in PS. But just like with other PS filters and effects plug-ins, it should be used with care. Overuse will ruin the photos.
- Silver Efex: Nice black&white conversion software. Like Color Efex, not the most useful software, but it does B&W conversion extremely well. The localized adjustments are great, and gives me much more flexibility than the channel mixer in lightroom and PS.
- Dfine: This is actually the best Noise reduction software I've tried( I've used Noise Ninja and Neat Image before). As with the other apps in the suite, the localized adjustments makes the work so easy and renders such excellent results, that I can't see myself using other programs anytime soon.
- Sharpener: It's a very good sharpening tool, and gives you more flexibility and power than any sharpening method in PS.
The price of the suite is steep, but the quality is unmatched by any other plug-in suite out there, and all the apps in the suite are easy to use, intuitive, fast and renders excellent quality.
I highly recommend this to anyone who like to work with their photos and explore more creative photo enhancement, without spending a lot of time with each photo. I also recommend it to anyone who makes money from their photos, and want to work more efficiently.

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The Nik Software Complete Collection includes all of Nik Software's latest award-winning plug-in software titles for Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom ,and Apple Aperture including Dfine 2.0, Viveza, Color Efex Pro 3.0, Silver Efex Pro and Sharpener Pro 3.0. All products now feature Nik Software's patented U Point technology, giving photographers the most powerful tools for precise and natural photographic enhancements and corrections without the need for complicated selections or layer masks. The Complete Collection offers two editions, the Complete Collection for Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, and Apple Aperture includes support for every plug-in to work in both Photoshop and Aperture and offers Color Efex Pro 3.0 to work in Capture NX 2 as well. To receive your free copy of HDR Efex Pro please register your product at niksofware website or call to register at 1-888-284-4085.When HDR Efex Pro is released, a download link and product key will be sent to you via email. Good only for purchases of Complete Collection made afer August 26, 2010. Please make sure you register your product with Nik Software to qualify for a free copy of HDR Efex Pro. Only registered copies willbe eligible. Offer expires August 26, 2011.

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PC Matic Review

PC Matic
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I have the 5-seat license. Installed on my grandkids PC & Laptop, and on my wife's laptop, and on my 2 desktops. Full updates & scans every week, and I receive a full email report on each one.
It just works - period. Cleans crap from the grandkids' (and wife's) PC's every week, tweaks, and tunes 'em too.
PJ

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Titan Quest Gold (Titan Quest and Titan Quest Immortal Throne) Review

Titan Quest Gold (Titan Quest and Titan Quest Immortal Throne)
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The game is billed as an action-RPG. The number of NPC's is limited, the game is relatively linear, save some sidequests that are optional but not exactly secret since every NPC with something important to say has an exclamation point above their head. You start the game as a single hero (or heroine as is my preference) with nothing but the tunic on your back. You only get to chose male or female, no races, classes, or even differing appearances (except your tunic color). The reason I gave it four stars for an above average game is the beautifully rendered ancient worlds. If you love ancient history this game is even more fun, but even if you don't, the graphics are great. Also they have a Mastery system that is innovative and allows you to choose two separate Masteries (second at level 8) to customize and diversify your character. You can use many different weapons and are not restricted based on your Mastery but rather your attributes, (a weakling will not be wearing heavy armor, etc.) This game is all action, there is no running errands around town for this guy to get that information etc. which happens often in RPGs (I love that kind too, don't get me wrong!). You go out, kill lots (lots, seriously) of enemies, build up nice and quickly, then talk to some guys, then go out and kill some more. You can find tons of items, some ordinary, some magical, some rare and some legendary. You also can make artifacts by collecting ingredients and recipes and taking them to an enchanter.
A few more pluses, some Mastery skills allow for summoned "pets" (wolves, elementals, etc.) to help you; skill points foolishly spent can be reclaimed and reallocated with the help of a mystic and some cash. If your inventory gets a little full and you don't want to sell certain items there is a helpful caravan driver where you can store stuff and buy more room if needed. I am a fan games like Baldurs' Gate, Neverwinter Nights, etc. so this game was a departure from that more in depth style of RPG, but I still found it fun and the price was right so I would definitely recommend it for some stress-relieving hacking action.

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CyberLink PowerDVD 11 Standard V.11 Review

CyberLink PowerDVD 11 Standard V.11
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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

History Channel: Lost Worlds
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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

Roxio Creator 2010
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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

VideoWave 7 Professional
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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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