iDive for Mac

User Reviews

• Buggy & slow

  scott.bicDecember 17, 2009

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I use the previous 1.9 version a few times per week to review my companies large video catalog. It's the fastest way to review lots of video. Version 1.9 has it's quirks, but it generally does what I need it to. I just tried out version 2, and liked the new, updated interface. Too bad you can't change the color (I think it's too dark). The demo lets you view 5 of your existing catalogs, so that was sufficient to see how well it worked. I was able to view a few SD clips, but it choked on the HD video... spinning beach ball and three force-quits later, it doesn't appear ready for release. Maybe version 2.1, but not this. I went back and opened version 1.9 and it didn't have any problems with the existing catalogs.

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• I just don't get it.

  julianps_dotmacJuly 19, 2006

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />What exactly is this software? It catalogues films and lets you add notes. Wow. There are loads of catalogue tools (notably iView) out there that will do this - even (unstable) iVideo can make a go of this. It can compress but basically uses QTPro functionality for that. It's no Compression Master though so talk of "Pro" quality is misplaced. It has a Mosaic; what's that then (I know what it looks like - I simply struggle to know why)? Then is has all this people, places, etc thingy going on. so does Memory Miner and that has a more elegant solution. So if you add up iView, Memory Miner and QTPro then iDive is cheaper but I still do not understand what it's really trying to do and more importantly, why?

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• It has changed my video life, personally and...

  poipeeFebruary 26, 2005

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  ...professionally!<br />This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />There appear to be three programs struggling to be the iPhoto of video: iDive, Foottrack, and iVideo. The latter's own site reveals a relatively feature-sparse (no compression), budget-type program, so I didn't spend any time comparing it with its more powerful competition; I'm going to be cataloging hundreds of tapes and need some power. Foottrack and iDive are both excellent programs. I compared both and dumped multiple tapes to both to see how they worked. For core features, they both do exactly what they say they will, and overall performance was good. So why did I choose to buy iDive instead of Foottrack despite a $20 price difference? 1) Design philosophy: I simply like iDive's interface better for the work at hand. both Foottrack and iVideo tout that they have an iPhoto-like interface and yes, that makes things easy-to-understand, but the iTunes/iPhoto style of interface isn't necessarily the end-all of software design. Video has its own needs. I like the way the people at Aquafadas were not afraid to "think different," which is in itself oh-so-Apple. 2) Stills: Only iDive has the ability to archive stills of the tapes you catalog; you can set the number of seconds in the intervals between them. This is a brilliant way to save disk space, but still let you catalog the contents of older or less important tapes in your collection. 3) Search controls: Foottrack has iPhoto-like keywords, and they work just great. Some people may like this system better than iDive's unique People/Places/Events system (either is fine for me, since people, places and events are pretty much all I need). But Foottrack's time/date search capabilities pale next to iDive. The latter has a unique time slider bar at the top of the screen which lets you effortlessly select any period in time and find all those clips with dates falling within the highlighted section. iDive also allows you to apply iTunes/iPhoto style ratings to your clips. 4) Display controls: iDive has more extensive options for choosing how to sort your clips in the viewer (such as by rating, or title) and more customizability of the the data shown for each clip. Other notes: Foottrack has an important feature that the current version of iDive lacks: the ability to play back multiple clips back-to-back. I asked about this in a mail to the Aquafadas' feature request mail address, and was told it's coming very shortly. Also, when I evaluated Foottrack (ver. 2.0.2), I experienced an important technical problem: The program appears to be dropping a few frames from the beginning of every clip. The first frame is there, but then there's a gap of 2-4 frames before the capture restarts. I confirmed this problem on two different Macs capturing with completely different hardware. This may of course be corrected in a future release, but that alone was a deal-breaker for me when considering which to purchase, as I want to be able to move the captured clips directly into Final Cut for editing. Conclusion: If you only shoot a few tapes a year and don't care about archiving stills or extensive display &amp; search options, you may find Foottrack suits your needs just fine. But for someone like myself who wants a single program that has the flexibility to handle a variety of personal and professional needs, and the disk-saving stills function, blow the extra $20 and give your money to Aquafadas.

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• incredibly nice piece of software

  m/hamiltonNovember 30, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I stumbled across this software just when I was wondering how to go about transferring 100-odd Hi-8 tapes to mini-dv, and how to make notes about what holiday is on what tape, and where's the shot of this, and where's the shot of that (we're talking 200 hours of footage, spanning 10 years, during which I didn't label tapes) - - and it's going to save my digital life!!! The interface is clean and elegant, and it works perfectly. I've had a couple questions, which the developer has been incredibly helpful with. All in all, iDive has proved to be one of my best software experiences yet. Five stars.

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• I wouldn't give it back

  bill11111980November 22, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I have been using iDive for 3 month now and I'm just wondering how I was doing without it before... I wouldn't give it back.

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• the PowerPreviewing feature is cool too!

  jerry j.November 8, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Having a sample every 2 seconds is a timesaving feature. You don't have to view the whole clip to know what's in it and yet you don't miss anything. I find that just one thumbnail per clip wouldn't be enough to catch the best moments of my tapes. iDive is just what I was looking for.

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• I just love it!

  calvin r.November 8, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />The feature I prefer is the <b>TIMELINE</b>: drag over a period of time and you see the relevant clips. Really <b>fast & powerful</b>. I also rated my clips in order to view the best first.

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• Just what I was looking for

  pgrimshawSeptember 29, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I have 50 + DV tapes to log. Bit the bullet, bought the software and haven't looked back. The technical support has been responsive and immediate. New features are added continuously along with performace improvements. Tried other apps but this is just what I had been looking for. I strongly recommend it.

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• More and

  thömiSeptember 28, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />more better. Good job !

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• iDive 1.1 rocks!

  Jerry Talandis Jr.September 22, 2004

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />When I began teaching the video production course at our school, I was overwhelmed by how disorganized everything was, with dozens of tapes scattered about. We had no idea what was what. Now with iDive, we are able to collect and organize our entire collection. You can't imagine how awesome this is! We now have access to our school's history. This will come in handy next year, when our school celebrates its 20th anniversary. Thanks to iDive, the big retrospective video project we are intending to make will be all that much easier. I'd give iDive 5 stars, but I think it can improve. 4 will do for now. The good support should also not be over-looked- I had a "dumb" question answered promptly and clearly. This showed me the staff was on the ball, something that provides a sense of security. If you have a lot of old tapes lying around and want to get organized, iDive is the way to go. Jerry Talandis Jr. Toyama College of Foreign Languages Toyama City, Japan

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