Both HandBrake (video converter/ripper) and Onyx (general Mac maintenance) should definitely be on that list.
Yes, especially Onyx. I have been waiting since the beginning of the App Store to see Onyx there. I don't like to do any financial transactions online (call me paranoid, I don't mind)... but make an exception for iTunes and Appstore, and nothing would please me more than to be able to buyOnyx at Apple App Store .... yes I know it's a free download but I have used it in the past and think it's a terrific app and worthwhile buying ... would love for Apple to have something similar for Mac, but Onyx does a fantastic job.
Sounds like there are some guys on here that know their apps pretty well. Slilghtly off the subject of OS-x...but does anyone know of a good app for the iPad that works kind of like the finder (which I like because I am comfortable with this kind of filing system)? I got my new mini coming in soon and would be interested in suggestions. (Or am I confused and will discover that I won/t actually need this)?
does anyone know of a good app for the iPad that works kind of like the finder (which I like because I am comfortable with this kind of filing system)? I got my new mini coming in soon and would be interested in suggestions. (Or am I confused and will discover that I won/t actually need this)?
It depends on what you plan to use the filesystem for. There's a couple of apps here for multiple file types:
The latter one is closer to the Finder layout and you can manage files on a server quite easily with it so you can shuttle files back and forward from either a local NAS drive or a remote server and open files in chosen apps.
If you just want something to play movies in formats other than Apple's preferred formats, there's the likes of GPlayer and you copy movies directly into the app:
Apps are sandboxed for security so opening files from a shared file browser app will copy files into other apps and have to copy them back. I think it would be good if Apple had a documents area that was shared between apps and every app sandbox only had access to their own space and the shared space. The shared space could have protections if an app chooses to delete or modify more than one file at a time.
I'd add 'HandyPrint' to the list for those with iOS devices; it lets you print to any printer on your OSX machine from your iOS devices. Saves the cost of buying an 'AirPrint' compatible printer and simply works.
Also, Rarify to compress, Calibre as an alternative .epub reader, MenuMeters as a SysPrefs plugin, XLD for converting audio, HandBrake.fr and iVI for video converting and so on and so forth.
I want to talk up iVI. It's an amazing app and then you look at the price and it's unbelievable. I paid $10 long before it dropped to it's current $3.99 price and it's been worth every penny.
Besides the configuration options and automation that will take a file added to a folder, locate the metadata, "convert" it and put it into iTunes in the right area (TV Show or Movie), it can do most conversions in under 1-2 minutes on my MBP because instead of foolishly converting H.264/AAC or H.264/Mp3 encoded file wrapped in a MKV container it will intelligently strip off the MKV container and add the MP4 container around the video and audio data using Apple's M4V extension.
Sure, no problem. I thought we discussed this already
I bought it after your recommendation last year (or so). Yep, $10 back then. Been using it for all the concerts I download from my favourite artist (audience shot, so wide variety of codecs/containers), so I can have them all in my iTunes. Walking into a friends house and AirPlay a video they like through the AppleTV is simply the best there is. A unified, constant naming convention in my iTunes library because iVI makes this so easy is really great.
Sure, no problem. I thought we discussed this already
I remember, but I didn't want your mention to get lost and others to miss out on what I think is a great time saver for those that want an organized media server.
I'd add 'HandyPrint' to the list for those with iOS devices; it lets you print to any printer on your OSX machine from your iOS devices. Saves the cost of buying an 'AirPrint' compatible printer and simply works.
Link? I can't find it. Not in my Store, nor in the US one.
VLC has gone down hill for many months now - choppy performance (that being my number one complain; it's irritating when skipping 5-10 sec of a movie and the whole thing freezes and/or loses the audio)
If that's the case then my hardware is simply newer or 'more maxed out'. I've never seen anything lag/gone choppy/freeze. MacPro5.1 dual quad core, 20GB RAM, 1GB 5770 GPU. Also my mini (cheapest, I think one year old) runs just fine, with I believe 8GB RAM. Nothing to complain. Yes the interface is ...whatever, but that's to be expected from open source. I just open a video in the Finder and sometimes FF by using the arrow key. That's the only thing I touch in VLC.
I partially agree but I consider Quicktime X's UI bad too for the main reason that it overlaps the video. If you are reviewing videos for artifacts, the UI can obscure some of them entirely and you can't see where you are in the video until you hover over the video. VLC can be customized to skip back/forward with the arrow keys - great for skipping to the good parts in your favorite movies. You can resync audio on the fly with f/g keys. Also recrop video and change aspect on the fly. The format support is great for transcoding - just use the convert/stream option and it can convert all the old formats to MP4, I've used it a couple of times for movies Handbrake didn't support. It also lets you take screenshots from DVDs unlike DVD Player. It only supports one movie open at a time though, which is annoying.
Indeed, QTX UI is just as bad. Good thing I still have v7. And VLC certainly has the above pros, with the one movie open at a time as my only con.
Indeed, QTX UI is just as bad. Good thing I still have v7. And VLC certainly has the above pros, with the one movie open at a time as my only con.
I like QTX, after I altered the PLIST so it will auto play files on launch. I use it for quick editing video and audio, as well as combining clips together. Firing up iMovie or Garageband is just too time consuming, and I've never had luck trying to use VLC for editing.
If I am playing a video outside of iTunes on my Mac I use Movist. It's just simpler than VLC but it hasn't been updated in years.
I like QTX, after I altered the PLIST so it will auto play files on launch. I use it for quick editing video and audio, as well as combining clips together. Firing up iMovie or Garageband is just too time consuming, and I've never had luck trying to use VLC for editing.
If I am playing a video outside of iTunes on my Mac I use Movist. It's just simpler than VLC but it hasn't been updated in years.
I agree on the ease of editing in QTX. Just don't like the controls over the video. I think they took the HUD (Heads Up Display) from Aperture, which works there, very nicely, but not in a video player (for me).
Movist. So, should I check it out? You're not the first to mention it.
Movist. So, should I check it out? You're not the first to mention it.
The buttons allow you to skip forward and back 10 seconds (by default) which I like better than the click to rewind and fast-forward which I can never seem to time right. It also will remember the place your video left off even if you close the app or restart (like with the old DVD Player app in OS X); however, if you have played another video with Movist it won't remember it so it's very limited in scope.
AppCleaner is a keeper! I have been hassling all week with a corrupted copy of MacDraft, getting nowhere with their support on doing a complete uninstall and reinstall... it kept crashing after being reloaded, despite following all of their instructions for digging into the System files to find and trash the various bits and pieces... So I was VERY pleased when I gave AppCleaner a try today and it quickly found EVERYTHING of MacDraft on the HD, got it trashed and when I dumped the files and rebooted, the reinstall worked like a champ! Nice Christmas present for me! Thanks for the suggestion Shane! -eb
It’s terrible software with a horrible interface, ugly design, and exists to prop up the fringe market of formats which don’t need to exist at all.
ONE WORLD.
ONE ENCODING.
ALL DEVICES.
Dude, get over yourself. Stupid statement. VLC is a good tool. It was unfortunate when they dropped shoutcast support though. On my iPad, VLC works great to access my MythTV recordings via UPNP.
Movist. So, should I check it out? You're not the first to mention it.
The buttons allow you to skip forward and back 10 seconds (by default) which I like better than the click to rewind and fast-forward which I can never seem to time right. It also will remember the place your video left off even if you close the app or restart (like with the old DVD Player app in OS X); however, if you have played another video with Movist it won't remember it so it's very limited in scope.
VLC doesn't remember playhead position, not even for a single movie; which sucks. The keyboard shortcuts for winding can be altered, which I always do after a fresh install because the defaults are moronic.
So, in short, there isn't a player out there 'which does it all' as far as our wishes are concerned.
Comments
Both HandBrake (video converter/ripper) and Onyx (general Mac maintenance) should definitely be on that list.
Yes, especially Onyx. I have been waiting since the beginning of the App Store to see Onyx there. I don't like to do any financial transactions online (call me paranoid, I don't mind)... but make an exception for iTunes and Appstore, and nothing would please me more than to be able to buy Onyx at Apple App Store .... yes I know it's a free download but I have used it in the past and think it's a terrific app and worthwhile buying ... would love for Apple to have something similar for Mac, but Onyx does a fantastic job.
Sounds like there are some guys on here that know their apps pretty well. Slilghtly off the subject of OS-x...but does anyone know of a good app for the iPad that works kind of like the finder (which I like because I am comfortable with this kind of filing system)? I got my new mini coming in soon and would be interested in suggestions. (Or am I confused and will discover that I won/t actually need this)?
It depends on what you plan to use the filesystem for. There's a couple of apps here for multiple file types:
http://www.getfilesapp.com
http://www.stratospherix.com/products/filebrowser/
The latter one is closer to the Finder layout and you can manage files on a server quite easily with it so you can shuttle files back and forward from either a local NAS drive or a remote server and open files in chosen apps.
If you just want something to play movies in formats other than Apple's preferred formats, there's the likes of GPlayer and you copy movies directly into the app:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gplayer/id438402174?mt=8
Apps are sandboxed for security so opening files from a shared file browser app will copy files into other apps and have to copy them back. I think it would be good if Apple had a documents area that was shared between apps and every app sandbox only had access to their own space and the shared space. The shared space could have protections if an app chooses to delete or modify more than one file at a time.
I'd add 'HandyPrint' to the list for those with iOS devices; it lets you print to any printer on your OSX machine from your iOS devices. Saves the cost of buying an 'AirPrint' compatible printer and simply works.
I want to talk up iVI. It's an amazing app and then you look at the price and it's unbelievable. I paid $10 long before it dropped to it's current $3.99 price and it's been worth every penny.
Besides the configuration options and automation that will take a file added to a folder, locate the metadata, "convert" it and put it into iTunes in the right area (TV Show or Movie), it can do most conversions in under 1-2 minutes on my MBP because instead of foolishly converting H.264/AAC or H.264/Mp3 encoded file wrapped in a MKV container it will intelligently strip off the MKV container and add the MP4 container around the video and audio data using Apple's M4V extension.
Sure, no problem. I thought we discussed this already
I bought it after your recommendation last year (or so). Yep, $10 back then. Been using it for all the concerts I download from my favourite artist (audience shot, so wide variety of codecs/containers), so I can have them all in my iTunes. Walking into a friends house and AirPlay a video they like through the AppleTV is simply the best there is. A unified, constant naming convention in my iTunes library because iVI makes this so easy is really great.
So, thanks for the recommendation. Again.
I remember, but I didn't want your mention to get lost and others to miss out on what I think is a great time saver for those that want an organized media server.
Link? I can't find it. Not in my Store, nor in the US one.
True, but they do have a 30 day trial.
It is available at netputing.com. http://netputing.com
Stupid me; I was looking in the iOS Store. Thanks! A mere $5 donation OSX utility. Handy
If that's the case then my hardware is simply newer or 'more maxed out'. I've never seen anything lag/gone choppy/freeze. MacPro5.1 dual quad core, 20GB RAM, 1GB 5770 GPU. Also my mini (cheapest, I think one year old) runs just fine, with I believe 8GB RAM. Nothing to complain. Yes the interface is ...whatever, but that's to be expected from open source. I just open a video in the Finder and sometimes FF by using the arrow key. That's the only thing I touch in VLC.
I have no issues whatsoever. Yep, fugly, but I watch the video, not the UI
Indeed, QTX UI is just as bad. Good thing I still have v7. And VLC certainly has the above pros, with the one movie open at a time as my only con.
I like QTX, after I altered the PLIST so it will auto play files on launch. I use it for quick editing video and audio, as well as combining clips together. Firing up iMovie or Garageband is just too time consuming, and I've never had luck trying to use VLC for editing.
If I am playing a video outside of iTunes on my Mac I use Movist. It's just simpler than VLC but it hasn't been updated in years.
I agree on the ease of editing in QTX. Just don't like the controls over the video. I think they took the HUD (Heads Up Display) from Aperture, which works there, very nicely, but not in a video player (for me).
Movist. So, should I check it out? You're not the first to mention it.
The buttons allow you to skip forward and back 10 seconds (by default) which I like better than the click to rewind and fast-forward which I can never seem to time right. It also will remember the place your video left off even if you close the app or restart (like with the old DVD Player app in OS X); however, if you have played another video with Movist it won't remember it so it's very limited in scope.
-eb
It’s terrible software with a horrible interface, ugly design, and exists to prop up the fringe market of formats which don’t need to exist at all.
ONE WORLD.
ONE ENCODING.
ALL DEVICES.
Dude, get over yourself. Stupid statement. VLC is a good tool. It was unfortunate when they dropped shoutcast support though. On my iPad, VLC works great to access my MythTV recordings via UPNP.
VLC doesn't remember playhead position, not even for a single movie; which sucks. The keyboard shortcuts for winding can be altered, which I always do after a fresh install because the defaults are moronic.
So, in short, there isn't a player out there 'which does it all' as far as our wishes are concerned.
"Bad to know"