Seven Wonders of the Video World

Mac OS X’s built in multimedia capabilities aren’t bad – QuickTime basic, iTunes, DVD player – but there is a wealth of third party applications out there that can really enhance your video experience. And the best news is that most of these vital video apps are free. Here is my selection for the top seven video applications for Mac OS X.

1. VLC media player (www.videolan.org) – Free

What’s not to love about VLC? It’s a free player that opens nearly every single video format known, including obscure mobile phone video and so on. It also enables Mac users to watch certain video streams that normally only Windows users can open, and it has cool features such as playlists.

2. Flip4Mac WMV plug in (www.flip4mac.com) – Free

Flip4Mac WMV is absolutely vital for all Mac users. It;s a free plug-in that enables QuickTime and Safari to open and play Windows Media (.WMV) and .AVI files.

3. MPEG Streamclip (www.squared5.com) – Free

MPEG Streamclip is a miracle product. Completely free, it opens nearly
every video format. It can rip, encode, compress, convert between all main
formats, and can even download from YouTube and video streams. It even has
features that QuickTime Pro lacks – for example the ability to save custom
export settings. And you can buy plug-ins to allow it to export to Flash
and Windows Media.

4. iSquint (www.isquint.org) – Free

iSquint is the iPod user’s dream. It rapidly converts most popular video
formats to MPEG-4 (with optional H.264 encoding) making them suitable for
iPod viewing or TV viewing. There’s a simple Quality slider, and if you
want to make advanced settings tweaks you can do. It exports to H.264
quicker than QuickTime (at least on my dual G5). iSquint’s biggest strength
is its interface: even the most tech-clueless person could figure it out
instantly without help.

5. HandBrake (handbrake.m0k.org/) – Free

HandBrake will rip any DVD-like source and convert it to MPEG-4, .AVI or
OGM. It also does H.264 encoding. I have used it to rip media from a damaged/wrongly burnt DVD that wouldn’t even play with any other software or hardware DVD player. It’s a favourite application among Apple TV users who want to transfer their DVD library to play on Apple TV.

6. Snapz Pro X (www.ambrosiasw.com) – $69

Snapz Pro X is payware, but one of the few applications that is really worth
it. It’s a screen capture utility that will record anything happening on
your desktop as a movie, still image or audio file. It will capture all or
part of the screen. For example you may want to create a demonstration of
how to use certain software, and you can even do a microphone voice over
while Snapz records your actions. Or you may have a video that simply will
not convert to any other format. With Snapz Pro X you just re-record it.

7. Vidi (www.mitzpettel.com/software/vidi.php) – Free

Vidi lets you capture video on your Mac from any FireWire DV device. What
I have found is that Vidi will also capture video with timecode errors that
Final Cut refuses to ignore. So for video editors it can a be a lifesaver.

by istara