The company remains the same — Netflix isn’t selling off or completely separating from the DVD side (yet). But this move may help customers feel less anger over the whole situation. Instead of paying $16 or so a month to Netflix, you pay $7.99 to Netflix and $7.99 and up to Qwikster. You’re still paying $16 for the whole package, you’ll just see two separate items on your bill. That’s good, right? Psychological games FTW?

Even though the company remains the same, the Qwikster team and the Netflix team will be separate, and Qwikster even gets its own CEO: Andy Rendich. On the front end, there will be no cross-communication between the two services. If you need to change your billing information, you’ll have to do it on both sites. Want to review a movie? Gotta do that twice, too.

In addition to DVDs, Qwikster will also finally start renting game discs for Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360. “Members have been asking for video games for many years,” Hastings said. “And now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done.”

Other than separating the billing and making customers feel like they’re not paying too much money for either service, I wonder if Netflix is preparing for a time when no one wants the DVD-by-mail business, anymore. It will look better, when the day comes, if the company can say “We’re shutting down Qwikster due to low subscriptions,” instead of “We’re shutting down a whole section of Netflix due to low subscriptions.” Given that Netflix began life in the DVD mailing arena, the fact that they chose to keep that brand for the streaming service says volumes.

Honestly? That doesn’t bother me one bit. If the DVD-by-mail thing goes, I won’t cry. I canceled my 1 DVD at a Time thing a month ago because the last disc I received is still in the red envelope. And though Starz is beating their chest and pulling content from Netflix, it’s clear that the media watching public wants their digital streaming media and, if they don’t get it, they’ll just pirate the media, anyway. On-demand, instant access to entertainment is what people want. Media companies can only bottle it up for so long.

The end result for Netflix could be a far stronger streaming service with more recent TV episodes and day and date movie availability. That’s my hope, at least. Might be a while before we get there…

The official split between Netflix.com and Qwikster.com will come in “a few weeks.”

Netflix To Re-Brand DVD Mailing Service As Qwikster; Apologizes For Everything But Silly Name is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

PC World is already worried that OS X Lion will be Apple’s Vista, making it a pain for user who want to do a clean installation of the upgrade. While Ian Paul, and others, raise many valid points, it is almost certain that Apple will also release a DVD of Mac OS X Lion this summer alongside a Mac App Store upgrade route.

Why OS X Lion Will Come on a Disc or Drive

#1 Why are we so sure that you will be able to get OS X Lion on a Disc? Simply put, you have to have Snow Leopard to use the Mac App Store. This means that Mac OS X Leopard users would be completely left out of the upgrade process.

While we may see Apple attempt to charge a higher price as they did when the Tiger to Snow Leopard upgrade happened back in 2009, we do expect to see a hard copy version of the OS X Lion upgrade available. If Apple follows past practice, we would expect this disc to be able to perform a clean install.

#2 Even if you discount the older upgrade as a reason for the release of Mac OS X Lion on a disc, take comfort in the fact that Apple has embraced installation USB drives for Snow Leopard on the MacBook Air. It is relatively easy for Apple to deliver a small application which will create a bootable USB drive. Microsoft provides one that turns the Windows 7 upgrade into a bootable USB drive which is surprisingly easy and quick to use, we aren’t sure why Apple wouldn’t offer a similar tool.

Our advice. Don’t get your Lions and Leopards in a bunch. We may see Apple go totally digital down the road, but we don’t expect a company that still insists you connect your iPad and iPhone before using to ditch the disk this quick. Especially considering this would be the first time that Apple delivers an update via the Mac App Store.

Two Reasons the Mac OS X Lion Update Will Come On a Disc is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Introduction

In this article I am going to be taking a look at the new Windows Movie Maker, rechristened Windows Live Movie Maker and how to create your first movie with it. People accustomed to the old Movie Maker that came bundled with Windows Vista and XP might be in for a bit of a surprise. The Windows Live Movie Maker team continued working on improving the user experience and ended up delivering an exceptional final product I am sure many of you will be pleased with. In this tutorial, I want to take a look at the new features and introduce you to the new interface based on the popular Scenic Ribbon.

The first thing I would like to get out of the way for users of Windows Movie Maker that comes bundled with Windows XP or Vista is, they are distinctively different products. Do not expect to see everything in Movie Maker 2.6 in Windows Live Movie Maker 1.0.

System Requirements:

Operating system: Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit editions), Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit editions), or Windows Server 2008. Note: Windows Live Movie Maker is not supported on Windows XP

• Processor: 1 GHz or higher for Windows Vista; 800 MHz or higher for Windows XP
• 512 MB for Windows Vista
• Resolution: Minimum 1024 x 768
• Internet connection: Internet functionality requires dial-up or broadband Internet access (provided separately). Local or long-distance charges may apply.
• Graphics or video card: Windows Live Movie Maker requires ATI Radeon 9500 (or higher) or nVidia GeForce FX 5900 (or higher). I have Live Movie Maker working with a nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MB AGP.

Additional requirements

The following components are needed for specific Windows Live programs, and may be installed for you if they’re not already on your computer.

• For Writer: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher*.
• For Photo Gallery: SQL 2005 Compact Edition and Windows Imaging Codecs*.
• For Photo Gallery and Movie Maker: Some components of DirectX9.
• * Not required when installing on Windows Vista.

Windows Live Movie Maker (above), Windows Movie Maker 6.0 (below)

Compatibility

One of the key improvements Windows Live Movie Maker users will appreciate is the ability to import Windows Movie Maker projects. Although you might be warned that there are features in your existing project that might not work or are not available in this version of Movie Maker. Overall, users can appreciate that most features and functionality from the previous release works just fine.

Interface

In addition to a lighter color scheme, Windows Live Movie Maker works differently through and through. You won’t find previous functionality such as a Storyboard, drop down menus, and a time lines. Windows Movie Maker used a Task based approached to creating a movie, Windows Live Movie Maker introduces a clean design with most tools and functionality revealed through the innovative Scenic Ribbon which displays common functionality once buried under drop down menus and wizards in a gallery of easy to identify icons.

The Ribbon is very intelligent and only reveals additional functionality when needed through contextual tabs that can be easily identified by their activated colors.

Adding media

Just like the previous version, Live Movie Maker makes it quick and easy to import your media such as Videos or Photos. In Windows Movie Maker this can be done from the Import Task Pane toolbar button or Import Media toolbar button, in Live Movie Maker, you can import media through the Add videos and photos button located under the Home (tab) within the Add gallery. Once you have added your media, you will see it populated within the Bin area.

Editing content

Previously, in Windows Movie Maker, your videos would require that you drag and drop into the Story board and edit in the Time line. Windows Live Movie Maker does the opposite. Task like re-arranging or cropping a video clip are more visual and interactive. In fact, one of the lovely highlights is the actual display of multiple frames in a clip. You can use the video cursor bar to scan through a video clip and see additional sequences within the video itself. The cursor bar is a important element of the software and allows you to accomplish many of the common tasks you would do in the previous Movie Maker time line.

To organize your clips, all you need to do is use a drag and drop action in the order you find most desirable. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

Cropping a clip

In Windows Movie Maker, this was done through the Time Line, it’s just as easy in Windows Live Movie Maker. Select your video clip, go to the Edit tab which you will notice is activated in the yellow ‘Video Tools’ Contextual tab. Within the ‘Editing‘ gallery, click the Trim tool button, now use the Trim Maker knobs on both sides of the clip duration in the video preview pane, drag either knob until you reach the desired point in the video you would like to see played. If you know the point in time you would like the video to  start and end, you can alternatively use the Start and EndPoint markers located in the Trim markers gallery. Once completed, click the ‘Save trim’ button to keep your edit.

Adding media – music

What is a movie without music? In Movie Maker, you add music to your video from the Tasks > Import (Audio or Music) link. This would extend across the time line, you then had the option of cropping and adding effects such as fade in or out. You can do that too in Windows Live Movie Maker, a bit differently of course. I even like this method, simply go to the Home tab, within the Add gallery, click Add music button. From the pop out list, you have two options, which will add a music track to the entire project or you can add music to just a specific point within a video.

If the song is distributed over the project, you can edit this by selecting the song represented by a green bar (you should see the title of the track specified), drag the video cursor, to the point in the video you would like the song to stop playing, right click the cursor and click ‘Set end point’ from the the contextual menu. Additional options include, you can have the song fade in and out from the ‘Audio’ gallery options.

Text Overlays, Transitions and Visual Effects!

The Text Tools contextual tab allows you to format your text with a range of options. To add a Caption, go to the Home Tab, from within the Add gallery, click Caption, enter your text. To format the text using a desired font and size, click Format Text Tools button and choose from the gallery of options available, one of the nice improvements users will notice, the Font list box allows you to see a preview of a font before applying. If you want to add some effects, you can do so from within the Effects gallery which provides the ability to hover over effects and preview them before applying – very cool! You will also notice any text added your clips are represented by a cream colored bar, to edit your text, simply double click this bar and edit the text within the preview window.

As for Visual Effects, I am happy to tell you that this functionality has improved tremendously in the final product, by benefiting immediately from the Scenic Ribbon. Hovering over available effects gives you a quick on the fly preview, you won’t see this in Windows Movie Maker. You can also control the brightness of your videos and photos from within Live Movie Maker too. I hope in a future update, the Windows Live Movie Maker Team adds some robust text effects similar to what you can find in Office 2007/2010.

In Windows Movie Maker, transitions are located under the Edit > Transitions link. In Windows Live Movie Maker, the Animation tab stores a collection of transitions that you can use to control how your movie changes from one clip to the next. Again, one of the great things I like about Windows Live Movie Maker, you can simply hover a transition to preview without even applying the effect. You will notice that Pan and Zoom Gallery is grayed out, these effects are activated when you add photos to your movie.

Previewing Transition before Applying

Publishing your work

Out of the box, Windows Live Movie Maker supports a number of distribution points, in today’s world of online video most users I am sure would like to get their content out to a wide audience quickly. Windows Live Movie Maker does that with built in support for YouTube. If you want to share your media through traditional mediums such as DVD, no problem, just click the DVD icon in the gallery to save your video in an appropriate format suitable for use in Windows DVD Maker. You can also prepare your movie for viewing on different aspect ratios and video formats such as high and standard definition or save to a portable device, prepare for email or instant messaging.  If you don’t find a suitable tool, you can download additional plug ins that will provide you with additional functionality.

A look at the final project

So, you want to see what I did? Take a look

This is a movie of some random videos of family at home visiting that I decided to put together. You can see a my mom Yvonne, my sis-in-law Marjorie, brothers Troy, Dion, and my little nephew Nathan (the star).

How to Make a Movie with Windows Live Movie Maker is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Today, we are going to be looking at using the Optical Recording capabilities built into Windows 7.

Burning a CD or DVD in Windows 7 can mean many things, these include:

• Burning a movie created in Windows Live Movie Maker
• Burning an audio CD created in Windows Media Player
• Backing up personal files and settings using Backup and Restore
• Burning individual files using the Burning Wizard through Windows Explorer.

In this article, we are going to look at some of these task and how to accomplish them.

Burning individual files using the Burning wizard through Windows Explorer.

Before the popularity of thumb drives the most affordable and efficient way to backup files and shuttle them from computer to computer was to use a CD-RW (Compact Disc Re-writable). These days you see almost everybody with a thumb drive hanging around their neck or a key chain. If you still prefer optical media, here is how you can use it.

Using a blank CD-RW disk to backup files.

Preparing the Disc

To backup files to a CD or DVD, you will need a blank DVD-RW or a CD-RW (used or unused). You can use standard blank DVD or CD but understand it’s for one time use only. Insert the disk into your optical drive. Depending on how you configured your computer, the Auto Play dialog should automatically appear on screen with a list of Task you can accomplish. If not, proceed to click Start > Computer > and double click the optical drive in which the disk is inserted.

This will launch the Burn a Disc wizard which present a couple of options for how you can use the the disc. The first thing you need to do is give the disc a name.

You have two ways of using the disc, first Like a USB flash drive, which means, drag and drop files into the disk, you can open and edit files and click save in your favorite programs, whether it is Microsoft Word or Windows Media Player and it automatically writes the information to the disc. This is called a Live File System.

The second option, With a CD/DVD player means files will be burnt one time only to the disk and cannot be edited or removed. In my case, I plan to use my CD-RW to backup important files and use with different computers running different versions of Windows such as Windows XP and Vista.

After selecting Like a USB flash drive, click Next

The drive will prompt you to format the disk to prepare for use. Formatting can take some time depending on the type of media, especially if it’s a blank DVD. If you have any programs using the disk, please close them.

Formatting CD-RW disk.

Once you have done this, you will notice that the CD drive is now open and ready for you to drag files into it. The next step is to locate where your files are that you would like to add to the disc.

This is a good opportunity to take advantage of the window management capabilities built into Windows 7 by snapping both windows to the opposite sides of the screen so you can efficiently browse and drag files over to the disc burning window. Learn more here.

So we have located our files, the next step is to simply drag and drop the files into the window. Here you can see I am dragging and dropping a few photos, please note, I am not limited by the type of content. I can drag and drop a mixture of documents, audio files, videos and pictures.  If you do encounter problems trying to drag files into the disk, you can try the following:

Right click the Files or Folder, select Send to > and click the name of the disk listed in the submenu.

Files being coped to disk

That’s it, your files have been added to the disk. You can now use the disk on any computer running Windows XP or Vista view and copy files just the same. See below:

Backing up personal files and settings using Backup and Restore

In a previous Notebooks.com article we looked at using System Image to back up our Windows 7 installation to an external hard disk. In addition to this method of backing up your computer, Windows 7 includes standard backup which allows you to backup the contents of your User folder such as Documents, Music, Pictures Videos etc.

To start the backup, insert your CD or DVD blank disc.

If you have the Auto Play wizard enabled, you can click the Backup and Restore Center option.

or if you don’t…

Click Start, type: Backup

Hit Enter on your keyboard

If you don’t see the option to backup to optical media, click Change Settings. Follow the on screen wizard and select your optical drive, then click Next.

Once the backup wizard starts, select the destination, in this case, my optical drive is displayed DVD RW Drive (D:). Also displayed is information about how much Free Space is available and the total size of the disk. My disk has a reasonable amount of free space, so I will go with this destination since I won’t be backing up too many files to it. If you are backing up a lot of files, it’s recommended you use an external hard disk.

The next page in our wizard ask us what we would like to backup. Letting Windows choose might not be effective since it will be backing up a number of locations and folders which might actually exceed the size of our backup location. So, I will select ‘Let me choose’ option. I can individually choose libraries and folders.

In this section of the backup wizard, a folder tree of all my folders and libraries are displayed. My intention is not to backup everything, just the most important folders and locations since I am limited by the storage capacity of my CD.

As you can see, the Backup wizard conveniently displays hidden locations, which is just what I was looking for. This is good, since what I would like to backup is my Microsoft Outlook Personal Folder files.

So I have selected the locations I want to have backed up, click Next.

Review the Items you are backing up. If you would like to add additional folders or locations, click the Back button and make your changes. If everything is good to go, click Save settings and exit.

Backup in progress.

When you are ready to restore your backup, just reopen Backup and Restore and click the link under Restore to ‘Restore all users files’ and follow the on screen instructions.

Burning an audio CD created in Windows Media Player

Probably one of the most popular and prolific activities of the early to mid 2000’s. Rip and Burn as some would call it made a fun way to create your own mix CD’s with your favorite songs. There were some troubles involved with ripping and burning music CDs due to the popularity of online file sharing, but ripping your music to your hard disk had, and has, it’s legitimate purposes. Of course this was before the popularity of MP3 Players like iPod or Smart Phones with enough storage capacity or even affordability in comparison to a 1 cent CD Blank.

With the release of Windows XP, Microsoft built in CD Burning as a part of the operating system. One of the major beneficiaries was Windows Media Player which allows you to create and burn your own Music Playlist and we are going to take a look at doing that.

Burning a audio CD

First thing we need to is launch Windows Media Player.

Go to the Burn tab

In the Music Library, browse then drag drop into the Burn Playlist pane on the right and repeat the steps until you are satisfied with the amount of songs you have.

You can also use the progress bar in the Burn Pane to indicate how much space you have left to add songs to a typical 80 min CD.

I find the most convenient way to burn a CD in Windows Media Player is to simply create a Playlist. It’s quick and easy, just click the Create playlist button on the command bar and use the same method of dragging and dropping songs  in Play Pane. Once you are done click Save List.

Since I already have a playlist created of songs I would like to burn, all I need to do is, right click it, select Add to > Burn List

Automatically, my songs are added and are ready to be burned. I can edit the list if I want by dragging around tracks in any desired order.

I can click the Burn Options button and access additional options.

I suggest you check out the More burn options tab which displays settings for burning audio discs. I personally recommend you burn your CD’s at the lowest possible for best results. You can also adjust options whether you want volume leveling for consistency across tracks. You can also select if you want a short pause between your tracks too.

Once you are ready, just click the Start burn button to begin burning the audio disc.

You can monitor the progress of your CD while it burns or do something else in the mean time. Once the disc has been burnt, it will be automatically ejected.

Burning a movie created in Windows Live Movie Maker

So for we have explored three of the options available for working with optical media in Windows. The last one we are going to look at deals with video. With the release of Windows Live Wave 3 and Windows 7, Microsoft decoupled it’s free video editing software Windows Movie Maker and renamed it Windows Live Movie Maker in addition to bundling it with it’s free set of programs and services called Windows Live Essentials.

Windows Live Movie Maker makes convenient to create quick movies you can share with family and friends through differenet mediums, whether it’s by publishing to a online video service such as YouTube, by email using Windows Live Mail or traditional means such as a DVD or CD.

Here you can see a movie I have already edited and I am now ready to burn to DVD. To do this, click the Save Movie In in the Share group and click  Burn a DVD.

Give the file a name and this will prepare the video for burning using the Windows Media Video File format.

Saving Movie

After the Movie is saved, it will automatically launch Windows DVD Maker and the movie file to list of items to be burnt. If would like to add other media, click the Add Item button on the command bar.

If you click the Options link, you can make adjustments to how DVD is played back, the aspect ratio for how it will look on screen and the supported format. Just like media player, you can adjust the speed at which it is burnt. I also recommend burning at the lowest speed for best reliability. Click Next

Next you can customize the look of the DVD Menu. DVD Maker includes a number of themes to choose from. You can make further changes by clicking the Customize menu and Preview your changes.

Once you have made your adjustments, click the Burn button.

It’s 2010, the role of the optical drive is beginning to fade, but there is still a lot of life left in it. It remains a great way to backup files, share information and media. Why not explore some of these available options already built into Windows 7.

How to burn a CD or DVD in Windows 7 for Backing Up, Music CDs and Movies is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

The movies included are titled:

• HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE
• HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
• HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
• HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
• HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
• HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

Catch up on all the movies before you see the new movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The trailer is below:

Visit the Notebooks.com Black Friday page for more Black Friday deals, or visit this page about Amazon.com’s Black Friday deals.

Pre-Black Friday: 60% Off Harry Potter Years 1-6 Giftset in Blu-Ray and DVD at Amazon Now is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

Home Theater

Klipsch Icon 2-Way Triple 5.25″ Floorstanding Speaker – $187.49

Klipsch Icon 2-Way Triple 6.5″ Floorstanding Speaker – $237.49

Pioneer VSX-820-K 550-Watt Receiver – $199.99

Samsung 1000-Watt Blu-ray Home Theater System – $297.99

Sony 1000-Watt DVD Home Theater System – $177.99

Video Game Systems

Nintendo Wii w/Wii Remote Plus, Nunchuck, Wii Sports & Wii Sports Resort (Black) – $169.99 *

Nintendo Wii w/Wii Remote Plus, Nunchuck, Wii Sports & Wii Sports Resort (White) – $169.99 *

Nintendo DSi w/Mario Party – $149.99

Playstation 3 160GB Console w/2 Games & 1 Blu-ray Movie – $299.99

XBox 360 4GB Console w/LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Batman & LEGO Indiana Jones – $199.99

Black Friday Best Buy Home Entertainment and Video Game Deals is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

The biggest limitations in Windows 7 Starter, as compared to the other editions of Windows 7, are;

• No desktop personalization
• No DVD playback
• No Multi-Monitor Support
• No Aero affects
• And others

A recent survey by Retrevo, which revealed that 21% of respondents were planning on purchasing a netbook this coming year, found that many consumers don’t understand the differences in Windows 7 editions.

Specifically, 46% didn’t know about the different versions of Windows 7, and 64% didn’t know that the Starter edition lacked the above features already found in Windows XP.

When asked if they would be disappointed with a netbook that couldn’t support these common, and expected these days, features; 56% said they would be dissatisfied with the experience!

Unfortunately most new netbooks are migrating to Windows 7 Starter edition, Retrevo found 23 out of 28 sold at Amazon shipped with Starter edition, which means consumers will end up paying more for these features.

This will either come about in the form of higher priced Windows 7 netbooks or by taking advantage of the ability to do an Anytime Upgrade in Windows 7. While paying more for a new netbook or dropping $80 on an Anytime Upgrade from Starter edition to Windows 7 Home aren’t appealing there is a silver lining. Users who just want a simple computer to use on the go, as a secondary computer, will be able to save $50 to $80 on their netbook purchase.

Majority Of Users Would Be Dissatisfied With Windows 7 Starter is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.