Flip4Mac has been completely rewritten to meet the new requirements in OS X 10.7 and 10.8. Flip4Mac 3.0 includes an option to install Microsoft Silverlight which is Microsoft's answer to Adobe Flash although you don't have to install it. However, it's useful to have it as some video streaming events on the net use Silverlight to deliver content.

First some background to Flip4Mac. WMV is Microsoft's own video format which by default, won't play on Macs since Apple's own video format is QuickTime. The most common solution for users has been to install a multimedia player such as VLC media player or a plugin such as Perian or Flip4Mac which both allow QuickTime to play WMV files. However, with Perian only supporting older versions of WMA and now no longer being developed, Flip4Mac is set to become the most logical choice for users, especially because it is officially endorsed by Microsoft and effectively, the official Windows Media Player for Mac.

Flip4Mac 3.0 is not just a plugin for QuickTime however. For the first time, it introduces its own player - Flip Player - but it will still allow you to view WMV videos in QuickTime. The difference from the previous version of Flip4Mac however is that it now leaves a watermark in the top right-hand corner of QuickTime although Telestream say they hope this will be gone when the public beta is released. Flip Player doesn't feature this watermark with the additional bonus that it has some powerful added extras although many of them are only available in the Pro version.

The free version of Flip Player in Flip4Mac 3.0 is very clean in appearance and does a good job of not obscuring video content during playback as there are no overlay controls. Instead, the player controls only appear when you move the mouse cursor over it. Flip Player also includes a new "Dim Lights" feature which neatly darkens everything around it so that you focus on just the video. Playback controls are enhanced with slow motion options and most functions can be performed using keyboard shortcuts.

Among the more powerful features of the basic version of Flip Player are the ability to Crop, Rotate, Scale and Trim video which is not possible in QuickTime X. You can also now convert and export WMV video for iMovie and Final Cut Pro but without creating quality damaging H.264 files. Instead, a native AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) file is created for iMovie to avoid additional transcoding when importing. For Final Cut Pro users, it creates a ProRes file that automatically sets the correct dimensions and native video codec that fit with project settings. You can even export sound from your favorite videos to an iPhone ringtone and use the trimming features to refine it.

If you want to change the general plugin settings of Flip4Mac 3.0, they can be accessed at the bottom of your Mac system preferences under "Other". There are several different configurations options including for the Flip Player media browser, upgrade, update and plugin settings.

Note that Flip4Mac 3.0 no longer supports OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (although version 2.4.4 still does) as its been designed for the new demands of Lion and Mountain Lion such as Gatekeeper aimed at making Macs more secure. The benefit of this is that Flip4Mac 3.0 features much improved 64-bit support for OS X 10.7 and 10.8 although the QuickTime video components have remained 32-bit due to the QuickTime component architecture. However, audio codecs are 64-bit now.

Overall, the introduction of Flip Player is the major innovation in Flip4Mac 3.0. It offers some powerful features that aren't available in the free version of QuickTime, and it's very well designed to suit the look of OS X. However, it lacks some of the features of QuickTime (such as screen recording) and some users may feel it's not quite as slick as Apple's own player.

Flip4Mac 3.0 remains a powerful solution for anyone that needs to play WMV and Windows Media on their Mac and the introduction of Flip Player is a significant enhancement that makes managing WMV files on Mac easier than ever.

Download Flip4Mac for Lion/Mountain Lion 3.2.0.16 in Softonic

Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD includes an option to install Microsoft Silverlight which is Microsoft's answer to Adobe Flash although you don't have to install it. However, it's useful to have it as some video streaming events on the net use Silverlight to deliver content.

First some background to Flip4Mac. WMV is Microsoft's own video format which by default, won't play on Macs since Apple's own video format is QuickTime. The most common solution for users has been to install a multimedia player such as VLC media player or a plugin such as Perian or Flip4Mac which both allow QuickTime to play WMV files. However, with Perian only supporting older versions of WMA and now no longer being developed, Flip4Mac is set to become the most logical choice for users, especially because it is officially endorsed by Microsoft and effectively, the official Windows Media Player for Mac.

Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD is not just a plugin for QuickTime however. For the first time, it introduces its own player - Flip Player - but it will still allow you to view WMV videos in QuickTime. The difference from the previous version of Flip4Mac however is that it now leaves a watermark in the top right-hand corner of QuickTime. Flip Player doesn't feature this watermark with the additional bonus that it has some powerful added extras that are only available in this Pro version.

Amongst the advanced features of Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD are the ability to Crop, Rotate, Scale and Trim video which is not possible in QuickTime X. You can also convert and export WMV video for iMovie and Final Cut Pro but without creating quality damaging H.264 files. Instead, a native AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) file is created for iMovie to avoid additional transcoding when importing. For Final Cut Pro users, it creates a ProRes file that automatically sets the correct dimensions and native video codec that fit with project settings. You can even export sound from your favorite videos to an iPhone ringtone and use the trimming features to refine it.

Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD includes all features of Flip4Mac Player Pro plus it adds the ability to create Windows Media files using your own high definition, two-pass encoding profiles. Export WMV including VC-1 and WMA Standard, Professional and Lossless files directly from media encoding applications, such as QuickTime 7 Pro, Flip Player Pro in OS X 10.7 and 10.8, ScreenFlow, Compressor and more.

If you want to change the general plugin settings of Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD, they can be accessed at the bottom of your Mac system preferences under "Other". There are several different configurations options including for the Flip Player media browser, upgrade, update and plugin settings.

Note that Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD no longer supports OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (although version 2.4.4 still does) as its been designed for the new demands of Lion and Mountain Lion such as Gatekeeper aimed at making Macs more secure. The benefit of this is that Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro features much improved 64-bit support for OS X 10.7 and 10.8 although the QuickTime video components have remained 32-bit due to the QuickTime component architecture. However, audio codecs are 64-bit now.

Overall, the introduction of Flip Player is the major innovation in Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD. It offers some powerful features that aren't available in the free version of QuickTime, and it's very well designed to suit the look of OS X. However, it lacks some of the features of QuickTime (such as screen recording) and some users may feel it's not quite as slick as Apple's own player.

Flip4Mac WMV Studio Pro HD remains a powerful solution for anyone that needs to play WMV and Windows Media on their Mac and the introduction of Flip Player is a significant enhancement that makes managing WMV files on Mac easier than ever.

Download Flip4Mac Studio Pro HD 3.0.2 in Softonic

The first thing Mac users should be aware of is that there's nothing eye-popping in Snow Leopard that's going to have you scrambling to upgrade. The focus of OS X 10.6 is simply to improve overall efficiency and reduce it's footprint. However, there are a few interesting new features that will certainly interest some users. Here are some of the most notable:

Slimmer QuickTime Player

Maybe inspired by the success of VLC Player, "QuickTime X" features a simplified GUI with a greater focus on codec support

Cocoa Based Finder

Finder has a glossy new Cocoa Desktop Window and Contextual Menu

Safari Beta 4 Default Browser

In an unusual (and some might say slightly desperate move) Apple included a beta version of Safari 4 with Snow Leopard presumably in a bid to give it a leg-up against Firefox.

Microsoft Exchange Server Support

A smart business move that will surely attract more corporate users. Mac users can now connect to Microsoft Exchange 2007 servers via Mail, Address Book, and iCal

Faster Installation Time

May not be of much interest to single users but network administrators installing Snow Leopard on multiple machines can expect to install it in around 15 minutes compared to around an hour for Leopard. Testmac.net completed an install in an incredible 13 minutes.

More Stacks Control

Stacks has been improved to allow users to drill-down the contents of sub-folder

If you're finding your Mac is operating increasingly slowly, then for speed alone it's worth the upgrade to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. In addition, its also fair to say that developers will find much to be happy about about in Snow Leopard. The integration of Grand Central, OpenCL and a 64 bit kernel will finally allow them to take full advantage of the dual processing power of Intel Macs and produce some stunning applications.

Download OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard 10.6.8 in Softonic

Flip4Mac WMV Player Pro includes an option to install Microsoft Silverlight which is Microsoft's answer to Adobe Flash although you don't have to install it. However, it's useful to have it as some video streaming events on the net use Silverlight to deliver content.

First some background to Flip4Mac. WMV is Microsoft's own video format which by default, won't play on Macs since Apple's own video format is QuickTime. The most common solution for users has been to install a multimedia player such as VLC media player or a plugin such as Perian or Flip4Mac which both allow QuickTime to play WMV files. However, with Perian only supporting older versions of WMA and now no longer being developed, Flip4Mac is set to become the most logical choice for users, especially because it is officially endorsed by Microsoft and effectively, the official Windows Media Player for Mac.

Flip4Mac WMV Player Pro is not just a plugin for QuickTime however. For the first time, it introduces its own player - Flip Player - but it will still allow you to view WMV videos in QuickTime. The difference from the previous version of Flip4Mac however is that it now leaves a watermark in the top right-hand corner of QuickTime. Flip Player doesn't feature this watermark with the additional bonus that it has some powerful added extras that are only available in this Pro version.

Amongst the advanced features of Flip4Mac WMV Player Pro are the ability to Crop, Rotate, Scale and Trim video which is not possible in QuickTime X. You can also convert and export WMV video for iMovie and Final Cut Pro but without creating quality damaging H.264 files. Instead, a native AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) file is created for iMovie to avoid additional transcoding when importing. For Final Cut Pro users, it creates a ProRes file that automatically sets the correct dimensions and native video codec that fit with project settings. You can even export sound from your favorite videos to an iPhone ringtone and use the trimming features to refine it.

If you want to change the general plugin settings of Flip4Mac 3.0, they can be accessed at the bottom of your Mac system preferences under "Other". There are several different configurations options including for the Flip Player media browser, upgrade, update and plugin settings.

Note that Flip4Mac 3.0 no longer supports OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (although version 2.4.4 still does) as its been designed for the new demands of Lion and Mountain Lion such as Gatekeeper aimed at making Macs more secure. The benefit of this is that Flip4Mac 3.0 features much improved 64-bit support for OS X 10.7 and 10.8 although the QuickTime video components have remained 32-bit due to the QuickTime component architecture. However, audio codecs are 64-bit now.

Overall, the introduction of Flip Player is the major innovation in Flip4Mac WMV Player Pro. It offers some powerful features that aren't available in the free version of QuickTime, and it's very well designed to suit the look of OS X. However, it lacks some of the features of QuickTime (such as screen recording) and some users may feel it's not quite as slick as Apple's own player.

Flip4Mac 3.0 remains a powerful solution for anyone that needs to play WMV and Windows Media on their Mac and the introduction of Flip Player is a significant enhancement that makes managing WMV files on Mac easier than ever.

Download Flip4Mac WMV Player Pro 3.0 in Softonic

Flip4Mac WMV Studio includes an option to install Microsoft Silverlight which is Microsoft's answer to Adobe Flash although you don't have to install it. However, it's useful to have it as some video streaming events on the net use Silverlight to deliver content.

First some background to Flip4Mac. WMV is Microsoft's own video format which by default, won't play on Macs since Apple's own video format is QuickTime. The most common solution for users has been to install a multimedia player such as VLC media player or a plugin such as Perian or Flip4Mac which both allow QuickTime to play WMV files. However, with Perian only supporting older versions of WMA and now no longer being developed, Flip4Mac is set to become the most logical choice for users, especially because it is officially endorsed by Microsoft and effectively, the official Windows Media Player for Mac.

Flip4Mac WMV Studio is not just a plugin for QuickTime however. For the first time, it introduces its own player - Flip Player - but it will still allow you to view WMV videos in QuickTime. The difference from the previous version of Flip4Mac however is that it now leaves a watermark in the top right-hand corner of QuickTime. Flip Player doesn't feature this watermark with the additional bonus that it has some powerful added extras that are only available in this Pro version.

Amongst the advanced features of Flip4Mac WMV Studio are the ability to Crop, Rotate, Scale and Trim video which is not possible in QuickTime X. You can also convert and export WMV video for iMovie and Final Cut Pro but without creating quality damaging H.264 files. Instead, a native AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) file is created for iMovie to avoid additional transcoding when importing. For Final Cut Pro users, it creates a ProRes file that automatically sets the correct dimensions and native video codec that fit with project settings. You can even export sound from your favorite videos to an iPhone ringtone and use the trimming features to refine it.

Flip4Mac WMV Studio includes all features of Flip4Mac Player Pro plus it adds the ability to create Windows Media files using built-in templates. Export WMV and WMA directly from media encoding applications, such as QuickTime 7 Pro, Flip Player Pro in OS X 10.7 and 10.8, ScreenFlow, Compressor and more.

If you want to change the general plugin settings of Flip4Mac WMV Studio, they can be accessed at the bottom of your Mac system preferences under "Other". There are several different configurations options including for the Flip Player media browser, upgrade, update and plugin settings.

Note that Flip4Mac WMV Studio no longer supports OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (although version 2.4.4 still does) as its been designed for the new demands of Lion and Mountain Lion such as Gatekeeper aimed at making Macs more secure. The benefit of this is that Flip4Mac WMV Studio features much improved 64-bit support for OS X 10.7 and 10.8 although the QuickTime video components have remained 32-bit due to the QuickTime component architecture. However, audio codecs are 64-bit now.

Overall, the introduction of Flip Player is the major innovation in Flip4Mac WMV Studio. It offers some powerful features that aren't available in the free version of QuickTime, and it's very well designed to suit the look of OS X. However, it lacks some of the features of QuickTime (such as screen recording) and some users may feel it's not quite as slick as Apple's own player.

Flip4Mac WMV Studio remains a powerful solution for anyone that needs to play WMV and Windows Media on their Mac and the introduction of Flip Player is a significant enhancement that makes managing WMV files on Mac easier than ever.

Download Flip4Mac Studio 3.0 in Softonic

Important Note: There are now two versions of this encoder: ffmpegx for OS X 10.7 Lion users and ffmpegx for OS X 10.3-10.6.

When there were barely any decent applications to convert to DivX, ffmpegX was a true godsend. It is still a very good converter which handles a lot of audio and video formats, but it now faces competition from newer and very reliable alternatives such as Handbrake.

After nearly a two year wait, during which we really thought ffmpegX had been abandoned, the application finally got an update, which fixed a few minor issues, yet still keeps the old, Panther like interface.

Converting media is generally quick and easy, and one of the strengths of ffmpegX is all the different audio and video formats you can choose from. The program also includes a rather basic, yet necessary, media player so you can preview your newly encoded videos before burning them or storing them on your mobile device. If you dig in the settings you'll see you can perform all sorts of advanced functions like joining, fixing or authoring videos and creating an img. Advanced users will also be able to set bitrate and all sorts of video parameters.

Another strong point of ffmpegX is that it can convert your subtitles, not only to DVD Studio Pro 1.5 format but also to the more common SRT format. This, and the range of encoding formats to choose from, still make it an essential tool for any true video addict.

Still, ffmpegX is not for beginners, as it is filled with settings and tools, that only confirmed users will feel comfortable with.

We hope that we won't have to wait as long for the next update, and that ffmpegX will keep offering new encoding features. For now, it still remains an excellent audio and video encoder with great subtitle support.

Download ffmpegX 0.0.9y Lion r2 in Softonic

It supports iPod MPEG-4 video at 640 by 480 resolutions also. Joboshare iPod Video Converter for Mac can convert almost all popular video files including AVI, DivX, XviD, WMV(Window Media Player), MPEG, MPG, DAT(VCD), RM(RealPlayer), MOV(QuickTime), ASF, VOB(DVD), FLV and so on.

It acts as a WMV to iPod video converter, AVI to iPod video converter, FLV to iPod video converter and so on. Joboshare iPod Video Converter for Mac allows you to convert multiple files at a time, trim your video files to capture your favorite clips, and so on.

1. Just designed for iPod users including iPod classic, iPod touch and iPod nano users. 2. Rip audio from video to iPod MP3, M4A and AAC. 3. Powerful video and audio settingsIt allows you to adjust so many settings such as video size, bit rate, frame rate, and so on.

4. Support preview, zoom and split features for iPod video conversion. 5. Trim movie length. Trim the length of any added video files to capture your favorite clips.

6. Easy to use. Only a few clicks are enough to convert your favorite movie clips to iPod video MP4 for your digital entertainment life! Joboshare iPod Video Converter for Mac is so easy to use!

7. Super fast conversion speedSupport multithread and batch conversion to convert iPod video and audio files. Dual-core and multi-core processors are fully supported.

8. Multi-language support including Simplified Chinese and English. 9. View the information of the original filesYou can view the detail information about video codec, video bit rate, frame rate, audio codec, audio bit rate, sample rate etc.

Download Joboshare iPod Video Converter for Mac in Softonic

Roxio Popcorn 4 introduces several new features including the ability to stream DVDs from your Mac to your TiVo DVR. You can also publish videos directly to YouTube, burn up to 4 hours of video to DVD and now extract audio to several different formats.

Even though the Roxio Popcorn lacks a proper startup tutorial for first time users, you can easily understand how to use it from the options on the left side of the interface. It reads DVDs, image files and Video_TS files. Roxio Popcorn includes a media browser, which hovers in a separate window, from where you can look for the videos you want to compress. Unfortunately, this browser is limited to list view, which feels odd on a Mac, where you can browse folders by many different other views.

Once you've selected the videos to compress press the big red button at the bottom right. It'll open up a separate window, from which you can choose the format you want to compress to. Advanced users will be disappointed to find that Roxio Popcorn has only presets and that video quality can only be set via a slider bar. However beginners will like being able to quickly choose the best format for your device.

You can select an option to fit to DVD compression and even create a compilation of VIDEO_TS files. If you're not sure of the format you want, just create a quick preview. Roxio Popcorn also lets you gauge to maximum size, such as 256 MB or 1 GB. You can follow the compression process thanks to the progress bar over the Dock icon and if you're away from the computer, even schedule compressions and conversions.

Roxio Popcorn comes with three additional applications. Tivo To Go, Disk Cover RE and a video player. The Disk Cover application is very intuitive to work with and already includes a number of templates for CD or DVD covers. The video player, even though a little basic, has a nice sleek interface and includes all the necessary playback tools. Tivo To Go is great for sending TV programs to any handheld device.

Roxio Popcorn 4 is the best version of Popcorn yet and fulfills almost all of your burning and conversion needs in a slick interface..

Download Roxio Popcorn 4.0.2 in Softonic

FireANT is an RSS video aggregator and media player that helps you keep up to date with the latest internet TV channels and programming.

With the FireANT Player, you can subscribe to any RSS 2.0 channel and automatically download fresh media content to watch and listen to. In this way, you don't need to keep checking your favorite channel - whether it be CNN or ESPN - to see whether there's anything you want to watch on as FireANT delivers it all to you in much the same way as Google Reader tracks your favorite blogs.

The other big draw of FireANT is that the media player is incredibly versatile - rivaling VLC Player in some respects - as it's able to play just about any format without the need for codecs including Quicktime, Windows Media, Flash, Real Media. FireANT can even sync downloaded files with portable media players such as iPod and Sony PSP.

In addition, FireANT player comes with an integrated Yahoo! Video Search function. When FireANT was originally released this was probably quite useful but now that Google is king, you probably won't find much use for it. You can also interact with video creators by sending comments to them based on their content although I'm sceptical as to whether this actually works properly.

A format free and fun way to keep track of your favorite programming, FireANT is maybe a bit dated now but better than having to keep checking channels for new content yourself.

Download FireANT Beta in Softonic