Tired Of iPhoto? Dive Into The Latest iDive.

iPhoto is just fine for digital photos. What about digital movies. Is there a Mac application that’s the equivalent of iPhoto for movies?

Yes. iDive is ready for Intel Macs, your Mac, my Mac. Should you take the plunge? Yes.

I like iDive and it just keeps getting better. What’s it do? iDive is the place where you should be putting your digital video clips.

iDive lets you capture your digital video from your camcorder, the helps you organize those clips in a visual presentation.

For DV footage you can log each clip, easily retrieve each clip, and finally, know where you put each clip. That helps you get your video organized.

Then, you can export pictures to iPhoto, export movies to iMovie and Final Cut Express, even export clip lists to Final Cut Pro.

iDive doesn’t make the movie for you. It keeps track of all the pieces that go into a movie. That’s no mean feat because I’ve always found the most difficult part of movie making was keeping track of the clips.

iDive does that.

If your Mac is a digital hub for all your digital devices, then iDive is the hub for your movie clips and movies.

It’s a catalog, a shoebox with organizational skills.

Got iMovie? Get iDive because you will thank me later.

iDive starts with an attractive Mac-like welcome screen. What do you want to do? First, Capture DV from your camcorder? Why? Isn’t that what iMovie does?

Yes, but iMovie isn’t into organization. Let iDive do it for you.

Second, Import Movies from a Folder. iDive begins to organize and catalog movies you’ve already taken.

Once you have movies and clips, the third choice is simple; Start iDive.

Importing movie clips has a few self-explanatory options like picture qualtiy and scene break detection.

The brushed aluminum interface should be familiar to Mac OS X users. As with iTunes and iPhoto, photo clips are listed in the left column.

In the center are thumbnails of each video catalog. Many of my clips had black as the first frame. iDive lets you choose which video frame is displayed in the catalog so you can quickly determine the clip.

Click on a folder catalog and the clips inside are displayed below. Click on a movie clip and details pop up in a new window. You can edit clip information in the dialog and edit box to the lower left.

Other tools let you tag the clips with keywords so they’re easier find during a search. These are the built-in organization tools you’d expect. They simple to use, helpful, and you won’t be disappointed.

At this point, iDive is doing nothing more than keep you well organized without you putting in much effort.

There’s another side to iDive that’s worth exploring.

It’s called Mosaic. Mosaic is an animation and slideshow module that lets you produce animations and export in various formats.

Mosaic will take pieces of your video clips and let you create an animation or slide show that is fully stunning. Once you see it in action, you get the impression that former Apple developers designed iDive and Mosaic.

Other Mosaic tools let you change backgrounds, transitions, and export to proper QuickTime and DV formats. There’s even a selection to export to Video for iPod.

This is a very well done Mac application that continues to improve, now ready for Intel-based Macs. What’s it missing? The Media Browser which shows up in iLife; iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto. That would add to Mosaic’s power.

I like iDive. Anything that works to organize Jacks video clips is worthy. Click Here for details and the download link.

Off Topic Note: Mac360 has discounts and special pricing on Microsoft Office for Mac ($125), Apple’s iWork ‘08 suite ($62), and Adobe Photoshop Elements ($70). Where? At the newly remodeled Mac360 Store. Shopping at our local version of Amazon helps to support Mac360.