Barb Dybwad has collection a nice list of online resources where you can find free multimedia content for your use. My favourite one would be the Creative Commons search.

On a current job the client wants the videofiles on an external harddisk in FAT32. One of the problems with FAT32 is of course that it doesn’t allow for file sizes of 4GB or bigger, which translates to roughly 20min of DV material, and less on better codecs.

One way would of course be to use Final Cut, iMovie or QT Pro to mark each 15 minute segment, and export that to the external harddisk. This means a lot of button pushing, when there are hours of material to be transferred.

Doing a longer search on Macupdate did not come up with any easy solutions. So here is a step by step guide for non-geeks. Those who know their way around UNIX will probably know of a quicker solution…

Solution

1. Fire up OSX’s Terminal (Go to programmes > Utilities > Terminal, or just do a search from Spotlight)
2. Enter this command (copy & paste works; this will make the Finder restart and then display also hidden files): defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder
3. Download the manual install version of QTCoffee – look for the .dmg file, or the “manual install package”.
4. Open the disk image file (double click on the just downloaded file.)
5. Open the QTCoffee folder.
6. Open the bin folder
7. Open a new finder window (pressing Command-N or from the file menu)
8. Open your system disk
9. Open the bin folder
10. From the other finder window, drag the file “splitmovie” to the newest window
11. In the Terminal enter defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
killall Finder This restarts the Finders and hides the system files again.

Now you are done with the installation part. Now, if you want to split a video file, simply enter the following code into the Terminal: splitmovie /volumes/sourcedisk/original.mov -duration 10:00 -self-contained -o /volumes/targetdisk/split.mov Sourcedisk is the name of the disk that contains your source footage, target is the name of the targetdisk and duration is the length of each segment (in this case 10:00 minutes). Afterwards you can drag and drop the split files from the finder.

If you need to split AVI files, you can have a look at Explicit.

I always find it tedious to keep all my software updated. AppUpdate is a free widget that scans your harddisk for programes, and then checks the versions number against a list on Apple’s software directory, MacUpdate and Version Tracker. Once it is finished — and this goes surprizingly fast — you are presented with a simple list that shows all available updates, with links to the respective download pages. All for a very affordable 0 Euro/Dollar/Yuan.

Further soft

Georg Kaindl, the programmes, also makes a little widget for the iPhone/iPod Touch that quickly checks the TV schedule of Austrian TV channel ORF, for whom I have worked a couple of times. Another iPhone App makes for quick getting-around in Vienna (which is a phantastic town, with more than enough historic places).

Just came across a one-page site by Jan E. Schotsman which offers a couple of video tools for the Mac, and at zero cost.

Fix your video

The JES Deinterlacer does a fine de-interlacing job, but despite its name, it does more. It lets you slow down the frame rate, interpolating the in-between frames. Click here for a comparison between iMovie and the JES Deinterlacer. Feature list:

• Deinterlace movies (half height/normal height/double frame rate/blend,adaptive/simple).
• Change field dominance (for PAL films with fake interlace).
• Reinterlace from one or two movies.
• Standards conversion (PAL<->NTSC or custom).
• Inverse telecine.
• Trim, shift, simple color correction, noise reduction.
• Change encoding (RGB gamma, video range/full range).
• Fix jagged edges.
• Pitch preserving sound track for half speed.
• Change movie speed, reverse movie.
• Interlaced in/out, progressive in/out.
• Includes utility to view and edit image description extensions and movie and track geometry

Clean up your video

If you have noisy video, the JES Video Cleaner may be the quick tool for you. It also allows for removal of logos. I imagine this must be great for cleaning up consumer camcorder footage with a burned in date.

• General noise reduction (adaptive)
• Remove logo
• Average two movies
• Remove cross-luma
• Remove periodic brightness variation

Vintage computing

If you still run OS9, he has a helper program that allows for transfers > 2GB.

And if you have an old Power Mac, he offers a program for uncompressed capture of SD video.

Finally, Jan has a little app to fix the blue cast on a monitor under Mac OS 10.4.

Sometimes you have to produce photographs from films, so-called frame grabs. In Final Cut Pro this entails several clicks for each frame, something that becomes tiresome after a while. Also, if your material is anamorphic, you have to resize it in a separate programme, adding yet more clicks.Enter Movie Frame Grabber, a simple programme for the Mac.You drag a QT into the blue window, then you chose the frame you want, hit “Save Frame” and you are done.Much easier than using QT or FCP.One thing I noticed – and I am torn between calling it a feature or a bug – is that each frame gets exported in the same size as your windows is sized. I.E. When you have a 600×400 QT file, but your window is, say 605×605, you get a square picture. The good thing is that Movie Frame Grabber does a decent job of uprezzing. So if you need some quick framegrabs, this is a big time saver.

Wishes

What I would love are the following future features:

• De-interlacing
• Automatic naming and numbering of exported frames.
• Option to export in native QT size (with option of having 16:9). Option of having 25%, 50%, 200%, 400% sizes. Throw in some advanced resizing calculations, and this could become a powerful tool that people would spend money on. This reviewer included.
• Display of current window size.
• A Text saying “Drop QT file here” instead of the blue screen — this threw me off at first; blue screen to me suggested that I would have to plug in a DV source.
• Support for keyboard control. Space = start/stop. Arrow left/right = one frame advance/back.

That said, great little – and free – program.(Review at Macupdate.)

Gems from the Web:

• Nobody Expects the SPAMish Inquisition – An alliance of 20,000 spam-fighters in more than 100 countries are suing spammers. The suit seeks the email harvesters’ identities and more than $1 billion in damages for violations of the CAN-SPAM Act and the Virginia Computer Crimes Act.
• Photoshop CS3 New Feature Tips – Nice collection of tips on what cool things you can do with the new Photoshop.
• Morticious Thrind – Phantastic! A Blog with a Commodore 64 feel. I love it!
• Jahshaka – The worlds first open source, hardware accelerate editing and effects system!
• Gallery – Gallery is an open source project with the goal to develop and support leading photo sharing web application solutions.
• International Billboard – Phantastic overview of documentary film festivals and seminars.
• A List Apart: Articles: Contrast and Meaning – Nice list of the fundamental tools a designer has at his and her hands.
• Apple to build new features into iPhone, Apple TV free of charge – Apple said Wednesday it will leverage its proven capability in the area of software development to gradually add new software features and applications to its iPhone and Apple TV products free of charge

Gems from the Web:

• Witty Comics – Make a Comic – Make your own comic strip. Online. And free.
• 100 Million iPods and still going strong – Since the first iPod was introduced = 50,327 iPods sold per day since launch
• My Photo Booth Photo Blog » Why does the art die? – I decided to gather my thoughts in one and come up with the problem. And the problem is: the crucial moment in history of photography we are living these days: its end.
• It?s good to be back – I thought that Yvonne had stopped blogging for good, but out of the blue, a great writer is back again.
• Top 100 font downloads – Great selection of fonts, most of them free for personal use.
• The Fastest way to find High-Quality Freebies on the Web – Finding High Quality free files on the internet is every designers daily dilemma. Sometimes you don?t have the time to make your own swooshes, or seamless paisley background image. This is why we search, and from my experience, the search can be brutal.
• Film Exclusiv Agregator – RSS feed for film related content
• WordPress NiceAdmin Plugin Version 1.0.0 Released – It doesn?t change the usability or functionality of WordPress whatsoever, it just makes it a little easier to look at! Hope you like it!
• Can I get my money back, Wikipedia? – Now Wikipedia is adding nofollow to all external links. That basically knocks out a very key referrer to my blog, so no doubt I will lose search engine placement due to the decision.
• Ten Things You Shouldn?t Buy New – Some things are best purchased new ? lingerie pops to mind ? but lots of other stuff depreciates quickly while still having plenty of useable life left. Here are ten items where the cost vs. use equation strongly tilts toward buying used.
• The TV Is Dead. Long Live the TV – On the 80th anniversary of the first long-distance TV broadcast, the industry that evolved out of it is under siege. Old rules — defining who, where and what to watch — are collapsing, making room for new ideas and talent on air and online.
• Tactile 3D maps could help blind people navigate – A team of researchers at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece have created a system that can convert video into tactile, three dimensional maps designed to help blind people navigate.
• iPod saves soldier’s life – Wouldn’t have worked with a Zune, apparently
• Apple TV hacked for RSS and emulation, plus bounty for USB drive support – Engadget – The Apple TV has received two new abilities in its second week of availability thanks to a couple of new hacks: one, a fully functional and integrated RSS reader, and two, video game emulation for NES, SNES, N64, and Sega Genesis game consoles.

Gems from the Web:

• Checking the back focus – A brief explanation alongside a printable siemens star for easy back focus calibration.
• ISO 12233 Test Chart – Resolution test chart for HD
• Video Resolution Test Patterns – Nice collection of downloadable test patterns for video cameras
• bartek:bargiel : iGTD – Freeware organizer for the Mac
• MacUser: Want to download YouTube videos? Kiss them – Simple way of downloading YouTube videos that are worth keeping
• MacUser: 10.4.9 brings new phone sync compatability – …but my p990i – the so-called top-of-the-line phone from Sony Ericsson – still does not sync.