WHAT'S NEW?

Plus a history of changes to this website

Sept 24 2001

I've been very busy over the past few months, so this website has been a little neglected. I have not been idle however. I had a heavy session over many weeks testing the new Studio7 editor, and am currently preparing a new section on this remarkable product. More about this soon.

In the last month I have been getting to grips with the new CD/DVD authoring package, Pinnacle Express. Today, I have uploaded a new area associated with this but, be warned, it is not 100% complete yet. However, the essentials are here - a product tour, an in-depth review, and a page that will delight devotees of the TMPGEnc transcoder.

This latest maintenance update to my site also heralds a general restructuring and clean-up. There are some links that are not operational yet, but if you find something that used to work, but is now dead, please let me know.

April 26 2001

6 months of wrestling with complex multimedia programming techniques (new to me) has finally produced my latest freeware creation AviLab For SDV. This is a special build of the main AviLab application (which I am still developing), intended as an aid for StudioDV users. It creates animated .avi files to enable accurate Pause &Record Delays to be measured.

I have also added a search engine to my site, which allows both the WWW and my site to be individually searched.

March 17 2001

New page added to the Studio OnLine section, dealing with Sharing your movies over the Internet. This includes details of how to stream RealMovie clips from your own website.

February 6 2001

New section  added, describing Pinnacle's new baby, Studio OnLine. This is a low-cost USB solution for anyone wanting to make and send personal video web greetings to far-flung friends and family over the Internet. The package price includes free space on Pinnacle's web server, so you don't even need to have a website of your own to use it. This new product will also give you the opportunity to make high resolution movies to your hard-disk in a variety of formats, for burning to CDR/RW if you wish. It can also be used with video-conferencing programs like Netmeeting. 

October 29 2000

Another new page added. This time devoted to producing Hi-Res AVI movie files with Studio400. This exploits the superb editing capabilities of the system, using imported AVI files from other applications. It will appeal in particular to users interested in creating high quality movies for including in multimedia CD ROM productions. This page is new, and will be updated regularly as new information emerges, so keep an eye on it.

October 14 2000

New page added to Studio400 section describing how to convert SmartCable 006 to give direct Ctrl-S wire control to Sony VCRs. I have had this information in the background for some time but, with cable 004 becoming obsolete, I decided to take time-out from my other projects to bring its posting forward.

I have also filled in some blank space on the Sparky? page.

June 28 2000

Studio400 Connections page constructed. This is almost complete, except for the final connection diagrams. I have added this page ahead of completion because of the e-mail enquiries I have been receiving recently concerning the confusion over SCART cables and soundcard connections.

I am doing my best to keep up to date with this website, but I am currently heavily involved in writing new software, to be released late summer. This is restricting the time I can spend acting webmaster. Sorry about that.

By the way, a big thank you to all Studio400 users that have registered the new User Guide + The Assistant.  So far, all feedback has been very positive, so I am delighted that you are finding the package as useful as I had hoped. I am currently trying to find a way of rewarding your support. This could be in the form of discount on my next software utility for all registered User Guide customers. Watch this space.

May 23 2000

Free update to Glitch Doctor now available. Also, a brand new illustrated User Guide with a unique free utility I have called The Assistant.

I make no apology for the need to register this new user guide. It is the result of countless hours work, and is built upon direct experience of users' problems. The Assistant has been developed from a utility that I created for my own use, to give a rapid feedback to users having trouble with the arithmetic associated with their Glitch Doctor results, and irregularities in the results themselves. It can now be on your own computer in a few moments when you register the new User Guide.

May 4, 2000

Well, here it is at last . My new website - It has been a long time coming.  I decided to get a web presence over a year ago, at a time when I was burning the midnight candle (at both ends) each night answering a mountain of e-mail that I received each day on the Studio400 editing system, and my Freeware Glitch Doctor program. The easy way out, I thought, was to put a load of stuff on the web and let you guys help yourselves. 

Unfortunately, pressure of work, a strong commitment to my family life and home/garden projects, and my e-mail/webboard activities,  slowed progress somewhat, but I found time from somewhere to move slowly in a forward direction.

I had first to learn many new tricks to get these pages off the ground, ranging from finding out what HTML was all about and designing a personal look and feel to the site, to sorting out the commercial aspects such as deciding on a web hosting solution. This took time.

Then came the hard  work (fun?) - producing the words and pictures. I guess I underestimated this. I still have some way to go, and there are several incomplete pages sitting on my harddrive waiting to upload when they are ready, but I think I am now getting somewhere. I hope you find it useful.