The Buffalo LinkStation Mini was first released in 2008, however, the 2010 version offers some significant benefits. The main interest for me was it’s complete lack of a fan for near silent running. Something of a rarity with Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices.

The Knomo Stirling Messenger bag is a premium laptop carry case available in 13, 15 and 17″ sizes. The version reviewed here is the 13″ and it has been tested with the current 13″ MacBook Pro. I won’t discuss the aesthetics of this bag. If the design of the bag initially appeals but you’d like [...]

Magic Bullet’s Colorista is a colour correction plug-in tool for video applications Motion, Final Cut Pro and After Effects. I reviewed the product a couple of months ago for MacUser magazine. If you have an interest in such programs and missed the review in the magazine you can now read the review at the MacUser [...]

I recently looked at Squeeze 5 compression suite for Digital Arts magazine, which now also incorporates the old ‘Digit’ magazine. Squeeze 5 is a video compression tool from Sorenson Media with a fairly simplistic interface but great results. For those that like to stay on the cutting edge – it even encodes for Blu-ray. You [...]

I’ve been looking at the latest Final Cut Express program for both MacUser and Digital Video for the past couple of weeks. I’m a little disappointed with it as it offers few ‘must have’ features whilst also removing some of the functionality of prior versions – say goodbye to Soundtrack for example. You can read [...]

I’ve spent the last few days testing out the POV.1 Action camera from Vio. It’s a bullet camera and recording device that records to SD cards (as opposed to conventional tape). The full report will be in isue 23/23 of MacUser magazine but if anyone is considering the camera they might want to take a [...]

Any other budding screenwriters may be a little excited to know the long awaited latest version of Movie Magic Screenwriter (version 6) is now available. If your upgrading from an earlier version it costs just $99 – Bargain! If you have even the slightest inclination towards writing televisual scripts either Screenwriter or Final Draft should [...]

I had a look at Sony’s FX7E HDV camcorder last month for Digital Video magazine. I’m afraid I’m not a big fan of HDV as a format but the camera is not without its virtues. Read the full review in this month’s magazine (in newsagents now or online)

Alongside the MacBook Pro review I’ve been taking a look at Apple’s latest incarnation of the Final Cut Studio 2 suite for Digital Video. It remains an incredible suite of tools but I couldn’t help feeling that the application at the hub of the suite, namely Final Cut Pro, is distinctly lacking in progress this [...]

I’ve just finished looking at the preview release of Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 for the Mac for Digital Video magazine. It’s nice to see the program back on the Mac and offering a little competition for Apple’s Final Cut Pro. The review should be in next months issue (issue 230) but if you are curious [...]