12-04-2006, 08:13 PM

Looking at the apple website the video demos on iLife make it look to easy to make DVD's, podcast, and iWeb. Is it really as just that easy or are the videos just good commercials?

12-04-2006, 08:24 PM

Well, basic videos are really easy to make. The software interfaces are intuitive and treate to your eyes Here are some tutorials.

12-04-2006, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by Sachsr1

Looking at the apple website the video demos on iLife make it look to easy to make DVD's, podcast, and iWeb. Is it really as just that easy or are the videos just good commercials?

Its that easy. mac is basically drag and drop when it comes to most things..

12-05-2006, 01:35 AM

It is easy. The only thing about it is that since it is made very simple, any advanced functionality is either limitied or pretty well "hidden". While iMovie handles exports and many visual effects very nicely, it e.g. lacks the ability to add more than 2 audio tracks to a video. Granted, for home use that's unnecessary, but I needed it once and had to go through a rather painful process to make it work (I used Garageband Movie Soundtrack feature).

So basically, yeah, it's **** simple. And it's chock full with features. It just needs some getting used to in terms of how these Apps behave. Like where they store stuff. You should never, and mean never, bother much about how iPhoto stores pictures. Just let it do it's thing and use the interface.

12-05-2006, 06:48 PM

I guess I've been using PC's so long I can't believe it's easy to do the actual task. I'm use to having to get the computer ready to handle the task

12-05-2006, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by Sachsr1

I guess I've been using PC's so long I can't believe it's easy to do the actual task. I'm use to having to get the computer ready to handle the task

Just about everything that you do on a Mac is so easy, that you have to actually 'think simple' when transitioning from a PC to a Mac. My wife had no trouble dealing with the, uh, easierness of a Mac vs. her old PC, but I found myself in a lot of "wait, it can't be that easy" moments when acclimating to the Mac way of doing things. I haven't done any video stuff (but a lot of audio stuff) with my Mac as yet, but I am sure that once I do it'll be just as easy as advertized.

12-05-2006, 08:21 PM

I just switched to MAc and just made my first DVD yesterday. Without looking at any instruction I was able to make a DVD with a main menu with music and menu and a couple videos without a problem. It was pretty basic, but for just opening up the program for the first time and doing it, it was pretty cool.

I am worried when I want to get into more detailed projects and having trouble as someone else had mentioned. I also have a problem not know where my files are located too.

12-05-2006, 08:32 PM

Yes it is really that easy, I do it all the time. And I've been using these things since long before 'i' applications ever existed.

12-06-2006, 08:54 AM

Yeah it's like IKEA's German slogan (stop "housing" and start living)... stop thinking and start working.

I really don't care a **** where iPhoto puts my photos, or iTunes my music. I'm just so pleased. I'd love to see a video manager for Mac though, like iTunes for videos, because iTunes itself is rather crappy and doesn't hold AVIs.

12-07-2006, 06:56 PM

IDK - I've had mine a month now and am not finding it easy. There are no manuals/instruction that come with it so you must go to the support site, search around for the answer, and either sit there & read, or print it out. I'm going to have to buy a book.

I'm still trying to figure out how to refresh my screen/window without mousing up to the icon. I have a litany of various irritations like not being able to resize a window via dragging a bar - one must mouse click on ONE teensy tiny little corner. Stuff like that. Good luck.

(Edit: Apple R) LOL

12-28-2006, 09:16 PM

So I'm at 2 weeks and counting till I pull the trigger on my iMac. I'm gonna wait till after the keynote at Macworld, I'm not expecting anything big, but I think it's smart to wait two more weeks. I found the answer to my original question on this thread. I went to the apple store this weekend and in less then 1 hour i put together two quick movies in iMovie (you won't see them at the Oscars), 2 quick websites in iWeb, and a little song in garageband. Nothing great, but my combined time on a mac before this trip was 15 minutes. I also have been listening to a podcast called ilifezone's podcast, and even though I don't own a Mac or iLife it's simple enough I can follow along with what they are talking about. I can't wait till the 9th so I know what Jobs has planned.

12-29-2006, 12:54 AM

Originally Posted by meagain

IDK - I've had mine a month now and am not finding it easy. There are no manuals/instruction that come with it so you must go to the support site, search around for the answer, and either sit there & read, or print it out. I'm going to have to buy a book.

I'm still trying to figure out how to refresh my screen/window without mousing up to the icon. I have a litany of various irritations like not being able to resize a window via dragging a bar - one must mouse click on ONE teensy tiny little corner. Stuff like that. Good luck.

(Edit: Apple R) LOL

Have you tried looking at the top of the screen where it says "Help"? Taken a look there quite often, and been able to find about 95% of what i need to know. (Not intended to sound condescending, but it's hard to say that through text without it coming out like that)

Anyways, I agree that it is easy as heck. I wanted to make a DVD with some photos and videos. Took me about an hour and a half to go through the photos I wanted, modify them (Color balance, exposure, etc), plop them into iDVD, set it all up there, and be done. The ony thing that was a pain was lining up menu items in iDVD, as it wanted them in a 2x2 "Grid" when I wanted them in a straight line. Took some working with underscores to set it right. Also, couldn't move the Back arrow, but I worked around it.