Review: Fantashow makes (almost) fantastic videos

Fantashow Pro $50.00 Fantashow offers an easy way to create a slideshow composed of photos and video clips, but even its plainest design options add some effects.

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Plenty of applications help you show off your photos, and plenty help you show off your videos. But too few tools exist that allows you to show them off together. Enter Fantashow Pro, a $50-per-year (or $5-per-month) application allows you to combine still photos with videos to create a custom video slideshow.

Fantashow's "Anytime" themes are its plainest templates, but even these include a bit of animation.

I like that Fantashow offers some advanced features, such as the ability to convert unsupported audio and video files and the option to change the transition times between photos. And I like that the latest version adds a much-needed feature: plain templates for users who don't want or need a lot of animation in their slideshow background.

In some ways, Fantashow is very similar to Wondershare's excellent DVD Slideshow Builder Deluxe. That program allows you to create a video slideshow from still photos, complete with your own music soundtrack, opening and closing credits, and (if you want them) animated themes.

What's nice about DVD Slideshow Builder Deluxe is that it offers two modes: Standard and Advanced. Standard lets you add a background template to your slideshow, while Advanced lets you create a more customizable slideshow, free of background templates. Fantashow could benefit from this type of option.

Fantashow's attractive layout shows a preview of your photo, as well as ribbon at the bottom of the screen that makes it easy to see which pictures and videos you've already added to your slideshow.

As it stands with Fantashow, you're required to select a template before you can begin to create your video slideshow. Fantashow does include dozens of template options, most of which tend to be a bit cutesy: Think animated hearts and virtual scrapbooks. A few simpler templates are available—and many of the animated themes are attractive—and the latest version adds several plain templates.

Still, these plain options are templates, and each one adds some effects to your video slideshow, whether it's transitions that slice photos in half, or a photo that bounces into place on your screen. These templates are plain enough to satisfy most personal users, but business users looking to create a corporate-looking slideshow will be disappointed that there isn't a simple option to not select a theme.

The "Cut Effect" theme transitions between photos by slicing them in half.

Adding photos and videos to your slideshow is a cinch, though, and I like how Fantashow converts any video files to the right format before letting you add them to the slideshow. The attractive interface makes it easy to preview your photos and videos before adding them to your slideshow, and a ribbon view of your slideshow along the bottom of the screen lets you see the photos and videos you've added in the order they'll appear in the slideshow.

Fantashow offers a decent amount of customization options, including the ability to add a voice over to certain photos, the ability to adjust the time each photo is displayed, and the ability to add some cool effects, such as a sketch-like design to photos. It also includes basic editing tools that let you crop or rotate your photos. All of these are simple enough so as not to overwhelm even those new to photo tools.

Once your video slideshow is finished, you can export for viewing on a mobile device or DVD, or save it to a PC-friendly format for sharing and viewing on your computer. Wondershare handles the conversion for you, and allows you to choose between standard and high definition. If you're using the free Lite version of Fantashow, all videos that you output will be branded with a watermark.

You can see your photos and video clips in order, and easily edit and rearrange them.

Wondershare's Fantashow has a lot to like, as too few slideshow programs let you combine videos and photos in one finished product. It's also attractively designed and works very well.

Note: The Download button will download the software to your system.

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Review: DivX Stash stores Web videos for mobile viewing

Keeping track of all the online videos you want to watch can be a challenge...especially if you're not always in front of your PC. Sometimes, you see a video while you're on your computer, but you just can't remember what or where it is by the time you launch the browser on your smartphone. Enter DivX Stash, introduced at Mobile World Congress. This free service helps you create a queue of videos that you can watch later, either on your PC or mobile device. It's a very handy tool, and one that works well—most of the time.

Once the browser add-on is installed, you'll see a "Stash It" button appear on compatible video sites.

To use DivX Stash, you start on your browser, preferably on a PC or Mac. You must log in with your Facebook account and install the browser extension or add-on to Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. You then surf the Web as usual. When you come across a video on a DivX Stash-supported site (including YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo, Funny or Die, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, College Humor, and more) , you'll see a button underneath the video that says "Stash It." Clicking this adds the video to your Stash, which you can access via the Web on your computer or via mobile apps for iOS and Android devices. I tested it on my iPhone and iPad.

From your Stash, you can click a video title and watch the video within the DivX Stash interface. DivX Stash doesn’t download and store the videos offline. It simply stores the video URL and brings it up within its own app. That means you'll need an active data connection if you're using a smartphone or tablet, and spotty service will greatly impact the quality of the video you see.

In addition to the videos you stash, DivX Stash also creates a feed of all the videos found in your Facebook feed. These are all of the videos posted by your friends and made available to you on Facebook. It's nice to have them all in one scannable list, but it's unfortunate that you cannot search the list to find a specific video you may have seen. Instead, you have to scroll through the videos, which appear with those most recently posted near the top, to find what you're looking for.

That's a minor glitch, though. What's more unfortunate is the problem I had watching videos I'd stashed from Hulu. They played back fine on my PC, but when I tried to access them using the DivX Stash app on an iPhone, I was unable to do so, and saw only an error message that the video was not available on mobile devices. The folks at Rovi Corporation say this is due to the nature of Hulu and the fact that some of their videos are only available to paid users. I was unable to watch any video from Hulu on my iPhone, though, even content that was freely available on my PC. In future versions, the DivX Stash app should direct users to the Hulu Plus app, which will allow them to watch Hulu content on their mobile phone, the company says. But that will only help users who've paid for access to Hulu Plus.

Videos that you add to your Stash are automatically added to the list that appears on your mobile phone.

While DivX Stash can't offer an easy—or free—way to watch Hulu content on your smartphone, it does offer easy access to plenty of free video sources. If you're an online video junkie looking to go mobile, DivX Stash could be your new best friend.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you must log in to use the software.

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Review: MP3 Rocket makes YouTube videos into MP3s

YouTube's videos attract plenty of eyeballs, but your ears likely get plenty of enjoyment out of its contents, too. And if you'd like to turn those videos into audio files and save them, MP3 Rocket (free) makes it about as easy as it could be.

MP3 Rocket bills itself as an "MP3 video converter"—and it does, indeed, convert videos to MP3 files, either from YouTube or from your own video files. It lets you search YouTube for certain songs or videos (you can search by artist name, song name, or keywords), and proved quite capable at delivering accurate results very quickly. Results are presented in a new tab, which shows the name of the file, source, file type, and popularity rating, and includes options for streaming the audio to check it or downloading it as an MP3. If you choose to download the file, you can select the location and opt to add it to your iTunes library. MP3 Rocket says that it downloads songs in "high quality mode with a bitrate of at least 256 kbs." To my ears, all of the downloads were on a par, with CDs I had burned to my iTunes library. MP3 Rocket Pro, a $30 version, offers downloads at a higher bitrate of 320 kbs and promises faster downloads—though the free version took just a few minutes to get the job done.

MP3 Rocket displays your search results in a neat, organized list.

MP3 Rocket includes plenty of additional features, beyond simple file conversion. It includes its own media player, so you can listen to the files you've downloaded. And it offers video conversion tools, too. You can locate a file on your computer and convert it to a different video format for viewing on a different device or to an audio file for listening. In addition, MP3 Rocket includes a "Watch TV" feature that lets you stream YouTube videos from within the application, an Internet radio, and access to some games.

When you convert a video to an MP3, the software lets you select the location and the name of the file.

If you're thinking that MP3 Rocket sounds like a great way to get a lot of copyrighted content stored on your PC for free, you should take heed of its Terms & Conditions, which notify users that the application should not be used for "the purpose of copyright infringement." It states that all downloading should be done for the purposes of time-shifting, and must be for "personal, private, and non-commercial uses only." And, despite the option to include the files in your iTunes library, the EULA states: "You agree that you will not share, distribute, or broadcast any files downloaded with the Software in any way. You agree not to keep the recording any longer than is reasonably necessary in order to listen to or view the broadcast at a more convenient time."

We'll let the lawyers ponder these conditions, but otherwise MP3 Rocket is a slick solution for YouTube's overcrowding problem. It offers an easy way to create a collection of your favorite YouTube videos for later listening.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

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Download YouTube Videos and Playlists in One Click With Free YouTube Download

YouTube video downloading tools come and go, and most of them are not really that good. They're slow cumbersome, and so mired in banner advertising and pop-ups that it's easy to give them up. But one free tool that stands out from the crowd in a really big way and makes downloading YouTube videos a delight is Free YouTube Download.

Simply copy-paste a YouTube video URL or playlist URL into the Free YouTube Download's main interface and downloading immediately begins.What makes FYD different from the others? Well, apart from its ease of use, it lets you download complete YouTube playlists, videos from a YouTube channel, and even video responses to videos, simply by cutting and pasting the necessary link. Downloading is fast, the quality is excellent, and during downloading, the advertising isn’t in your face(compared to what many of FYD’s rivals do), which is always a bonus in my book.

Free YouTube Download is extremely simple to use. After installing it, open it up and you will see the download window. Beneath that is where you choose your file format and your quality. Once you have made your choices, copy/paste the desired YouTube URL into the main download window and let FYD take care of the rest.

One of FYD's really neat features is its ability to auto-detect YouTube URLs in the Windows clipboard. So if you have FYD open, and you copy/paste a YouTube video link, it will immediately appear in the main FYD download window, ready to download. Some people may find this irritating and turn the feature off. It just all depends on how intuitive you want your software to be.

One big warning: During the installation process, the company attempts to persuade you to install a toolbar and other bloatware. This can be easily avoided by paying very close attention to what boxes you are checking and what you are agreeing to. Plus, everytime you close FYD, you get a nag screen giving you the sales pitch for a paid app. You can easily close this, but it does get tiresome after a while. It's these drawbacks which prevents FYD from getting 5 stars.

From time to time, YouTube changes their video files hosting which means that FYD can temporarily stop working while DVD VideoSoft works to amend their software. Therefore it is recommended that you follow their Twitter page for status updates.

—Mark O'Neill

Free YouTube Download. Download HD, HQ or normal quality video from YouTube, complete playlists, show lists, video responses or even user's channels to your computer with one mouse click. Video from YouTube will be saved as AVI, FLV or MP4. You'll be able to play it with any video player on your computer.

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Acer Aspire TimelineUltra M5-581T-6446 Review: Apparently Canadians Don't Watch Videos

Acer is bringing its non-Ultrabook Ultrabooks to Canada. The Acer Aspire TimelineUltra M5-581T-6446 is the Canadian version of Acer's M5 series. Except for the default installed memory, it’s similar to the American M5-481T-6642. That American version costs $730 (USD), but it ships with only 4GB of DDR3; the Canadian counterpart includes 6GB. Like the other notebooks in the series, the M5-581T-6446 (henceforth called the M5) is only technically considered an Ultrabook—it may fit the specs, but it's just too big and too heavy for a reasonable person to consider it a true Ultrabook.

Our review model, which costs $799 (Canadian), sports a third-generation Intel Core i5-3317U processor, 6GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive with a 20GB SSD cache. Unlike the American counterpart we reviewed, the model 6666, which sports a discrete Nvidia graphics card, the Canadian M5 relies solely on Intel's integrated HD graphics. Other specs include a DVD-RW drive, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and a 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium.

Performance

In PCWorld's WorldBench 7 benchmark tests, the M5 scores a very good 121 versus the baseline of 100—that is, it's 21 percent faster than our testing model. This is a better score than that of the American version of the Acer M5, which earned just 104 out of 100.

The M5 manages nicely in individual tests, as well. It starts up quickly, in just 16.8 seconds—the American M5 takes 17.5 seconds, while the Dell Inspiron 14z and the Dell XPS 15 take 22.5 and 33 seconds to start up, respectively. The M5 also performs adequately in the PCMark 7 office productivity tests, with a score of 2685 compared to the American M5's 1617. It's a little difficult to compare the M5 to other computers, since it fits somewhere in between categories (similarly sized all-purpose laptops are heftier and ultimately have higher productivity scores), but compared to the American M5, the Canadian M5 performs impressively. (Note: The chart below and others in this article include the Dell XPS 15, which hasn't been reviewed at this writing.)

"Performs impressively" in general performance, that is. Graphics performance, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. The M5 relies on Intel's integrated HD graphics for video and gaming performance and, well, it shows. In our Crysis 2 graphics tests, the M5 pumped out frame rates of between 12.4 frames per second (high-quality settings, 1366 by 768 pixels) and 26.5 fps (low-quality settings, 800 by 600 pixels). By comparison, the American M5, with its discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 640M graphics card, managed frame rates of between 39.9 and 75.9 fps on the same test. As a gaming system, the Canadian M5 is not even in the same league.

The Canadian M5, however, has excellent battery life: We managed to eke out 7 hours, 31 minutes in our tests. This is better than the other laptops in the category (which, on average, top out at 6.5 hours), and marginally better than the American M5, which managed 7 hours, 24 minutes in our tests.

Design: Chassis, Keyboard, Trackpad

The M5 looks great for an all-purpose laptop, but as an Ultrabook it's a little too big and heavy. Although it's only 0.8 inch thick, it weighs 4.7 pounds sans accessories. This is rather heavy for a slim notebook, even a 15.6-inch one. Luckily it's got great battery life, so you probably won't have to tote the power brick (which weighs about 0.75 pound) very often.

Size and weight aside, the M5 is a great-looking ultraportable notebook. The laptop sports a slate-gray cover with an aluminum finish and a laser-etched silver Acer logo in the center. The screen is super slim, but the two hinges that hold it up are solid, so it doesn't shake or wobble at all when it's open. The M5's interior features the same brushed-aluminum styling on the keyboard deck, which holds only the keyboard and trackpad—the power button is on the front of the computer, near the right side.

Though the M5 is only a 15.6-inch notebook, Acer has managed to squeeze in a 10-key numeric keypad next to the full-size keyboard. Keys are backlit, island-style, and offer decent tactile feedback, but they're a little small and stiff and take some getting used to. The Return key is sort of awkwardly squashed next to the backslash key, which means your little finger has to travel a bit farther than usual.

Below the keyboard, and off-center, is a large trackpad. The trackpad has a matte texture, so it's easy to distinguish from the smooth wrist-rest. The trackpad is large and easy to use, but it's a little too far off-center for my taste—I feel as if I'm practically on the left side of the laptop. The pad has no discrete mouse buttons, and the lower half of the trackpad tips when you press the built-in buttons.

Because the M5 has a tray-loading DVD-RW player on its left side, most of its essential ports are located on the back. Here you'll find two USB3.0 ports, one USB2.0 port, an Ethernet port, HDMI-out, and a Kensington lock slot. Besides the optical drive, the left side houses just the power plug, and the right side has an SD/MMC/SDHC card slot and a combination microphone/headphone jack.

Screen and Speakers

The M5 sports a glossy 15.5-inch LCD screen with a native resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. While this resolution is somewhat typical for budget laptops and Ultrabooks/ultraportables, it's disappointing on screens larger than 14 inches.

Pixel density aside, the M5's screen looks okay. Images look crisp, but text seems a little fuzzy, colors appear accurate, and the glossiness doesn't throw back too many reflections. The screen is not quite as bright as it needs to be if you want to use it outside in sunny weather, but it's okay for the average user. At brighter screen settings, colors can start to look washed out. Off-axis viewing angles are predictably bad, especially if you look at the screen from above or below.

Video plays pretty poorly on the M5. I saw a lot of artifacting and choppiness, which is unexpected given the robust video block in Intel’s HD 4000 integrated GPU, and also also a lot of shimmering and pixilation, which is something I don't typically see. This happens in both streaming and nonstreaming clips, so it's not the clip quality or Internet connection.

Audio, on the other hand, sounds pretty good. The speakers are respectably loud, though not overwhelming, and offer up decently full sound. The speakers are on the bottom of the machine (under the front two corners), but did not sound muffled even when I sat the computer on my lap.

The Bottom Line

Most of our readers will never see the Acer M5-581T-6446, since it's sold only in Canada. That said, it's a pretty good laptop if you're looking for a larger, more solid Ultrabook-type model. The M5 has great battery life and excellent overall performance, but it lacks a discrete GPU and even its integrated graphics seem subpar. But if you're not too interested in graphics performance, this is a great, sleek laptop.

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New “DASH” Streaming Technology Promises Stutter-Free Videos, Even at Low Bandwidth

We all know the feeling. You’re sitting on the bus, in a work meeting, or at your least favorite cousin’s wedding and the movie you’re trying to stream on your smartphone won’t stop stuttering. Without video, you’re now forced to interact with the world outside of the 4-inch screen clutched tightly in your hand.

Well fear not dear mobile user, researches at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications Heinrich-Hertz-Institut in Berlin say they have created a new wireless streaming standard that could eliminate video stuttering forever.

According to the researchers, the new standard, known as Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP, or DASH, is capable of recognizing when users are attempting to stream media over their wireless connection and adjust the video quality accordingly.

Modern cellular networks, use what are known as Radio Resource Managers to determine how much data a user is using and how much bandwidth the transmission requires. But with so many people using wireless networks, the Radio Resource Managers become overwhelmed resulting in a reduction in bandwidth to users, which cause streaming videos to stutter.

The bandwidth problems result from the Radio Resource Managers inability to tell the difference between when a user is streaming a movie and when they are downloading a large file. But with DASH, the Radio Resource Managers are able to tell the difference between simple files and movies, allowing for videos to be transmitted to users in various file sizes.

If a network is overloaded, DASH will insure that the Radio Resource Manager sends users smaller video files. If the networked isn’t being taxed, DASH will tell the Radio Resource Manager to send large video files.

DASH does, however, have on major drawback. While smaller file sizes mean you’ll be able to stream videos without stuttering, they also mean you’ll see a decrease in overall video quality.

So those crisp high-definition images you’re used to will instead be replaced with slightly grainier videos. Conversely, as your signal strength improves, so will your video quality. Researchers from HHI are expected to present the new DASH standard later this month at Mobile Work Congress. Stay tuned for our first impressions from the show floor.

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Buffering Too Slow? Watch Videos When They're Complete With Video DownloadHelper

If you ever found yourself repeatedly starting and stopping an online video clip because it wouldn't buffer fast enough or felt that Flash was slowing your browser down to a crawl, you should try Video DownloadHelper for Firefox.

Video DownloadHelper contains YouTube-specific features for fine-grained control over downloaded video quality.Video DownloadHelper is a free add-on, and it has been around for years. With almost six million downloads and over 3,000 reviews giving it an average of over four stars, this is one of the best ways to download videos off YouTube, Vimeo, and a slew of other video-hosting websites.

When you first install Video DownloadHelper, it takes you to an "installation successful" page. This is one of the more disappointing parts of the user experience: The page features sketchy-looking banners offering a "free scan for hidden PC errors" and a large button leading to a ranked list of video sites, many of which are adult-oriented. In other words, the best thing you can do as soon as Firefox restarts after the installation is close that tab and pretend it was never there. Just as you wouldn't judge a book by its cover, try not to judge Video DownloadHelper by its website.

What that success page should really contain is a quick tutorial showing how to use Video DownloadHelper. This is not trivial: Video DownloadHelper used to have a menu item, as well as an optional button in the status bar. The menu item is still there, but the menu itself has been hidden in recent Firefox versions, leaving only an orange Firefox button at the top-left corner of the window. The status bar has also been axed, replaced with an "add-on bar" that is hidden by default. This makes getting to Video DownloadHelper tricky at first.

The secret is to go to a webpage with a video, start playing the video, and right-click anywhere on the screen. You should now see a DownloadHelper entry in the context menu, featuring lots of options. This has a sub-menu labeled Media, only visible once you start playing the video, which lets you easily download the current video to disk. If you're on YouTube, you even get to pick what quality you'd like to download. The DownloadHelper menu also lets you access a rich Preferences dialog, but the add-on works just fine with the default settings.

Downloads are done via the browser's built-in download dialog. Once you begin a download, you can close the video's tab--the download happens in the background, no Flash involved. The video files you get can be played with any modern media player, such as VLC or SPlayer. Even with the same resolution, watching a video file locally feels better: You can play and pause using your keyboard's media keys, there's no buffering involved, and you don't have to read the comments.

Video DownloadHelper is a valuable tool, especially if you're on a slow connection. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but if you enjoy watching videos online, it can certainly add to the experience.

--Erez Zukerman

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