When I bought my current Mac Pro, it came with nVidia’s GT8800 that I ordered as a factory upgrade from whatever was stock at the time.  The upgrade was inexpensive and got me a better GPU and more memory.  The card also supported Dual Link DVI to two displays and I have to say that I got over two years of excellent service from it.

But as I embark ever more deeply into video editing, I discovered that likely through my own ineptitude and lack of proper training, I was able to strain the capability of the GT8800 so I started researching alternatives.  There was the ATI Radeon HD 4870  on the Apple Store that had a faster GPU but no more video memory, there was the nVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 for nearly $2,300 (argh, choke) and the EVGA GeForce GTX 285.  I was not aware of the GTX 285 or of EVGA for that matter so I went over to my local Canada Computers and talked to John and Samuel.  Canada Computers is a retail chain that deals in all manner of kit but this store at least, attracts some seriously hardcore gamers and gamers as we know tend to beat on video cards pretty hard.  Both Samuel and John admitted to no familiarity with the Mac Pro platform but did share that they had enjoyed a lot of customer success with EVGA cards and with the Windows release of the GTX 285.  They did tell me that the GTX 285 had been superseded by the GTX 295 on the Windows platform and also advised that there was a hack out in the internet on making one work in a Mac Pro.  As I depend on the Mac Pro for work every day, i chose not to go that route and had them order me the Mac version of the GTX 285.  With no disrespect to Apple or Apple resellers, I saved at least 10% off the price of the card by getting it from these folks.

Installation was straight forward once I disconnected the web of cables from the Mac Pro and pulled its mass out from under the desk and into the kitchen where I could work on it without crippling myself.  I did learn some tips that might be useful for anyone else.

1. When EVGA says read the instructions first, do it.  If you are not running a current build of Snow Leopard, be absolutely sure you follow the instructions about installing the display drivers BEFORE you take things apart to install the card.  I found that on my machine, running 10.6.3 at time of install, the drivers had already been provided in an Apple update.  If you find this too, well you’ve burned a whole minute, but if you didn’t have the drivers installed and tried to power up the Mac with the new card and no drivers you’d be seeing a black screen and the only fix would be to pull the new card, put in the old card, load the drivers…You get the point.

2.  The PCI-e slots on the Mac Pro have little card locking clips that you engage when removing a card.  Using a flashlight helps you see them and helps you cut down on the cursing when you cannot figure out why the stock card will not come free of the slot.

3. The GT8800 has only one power cable.  The GTX285 has two.  Disconnect the one from the GT8800 before you try to remove the card as you’re going to need it in a minute.  The GTX285 comes with two new power cables, so you could use both new ones of course.  I did.

4.  The motherboard location of the two power ports you will be using is best accessed if you have 14″ long rubber fingers that are impervious to cuts and scrapes.  If you are not Mr. Fantastic, take the time to do the motherboard connections before you install the new video card.  If you don’t, you will just have to pull it out to get the cables connected, and if that happens, remember point #1.

5.  Did I mention that making those connections can be challenging?  I found that a pair of bent nose hemostats worked fine.  Connecting the upper slot first makes things easier as well.

6.  Once the cables are connected and latched onto the motherboard (check that the latching mechanisms on the power connectors have engaged), place the card into the slot.  Slot 1 is best because like most other high end video cards, the GTX 285 is a double-wide.

7.  Replace the card slot locking bar, put all the other pieces back together, connect your cables and fire it up.

At boot time and in normal operations, frankly you won’t see much of a difference.  If you use iStat and watch temps very closely, you might find the system runs a bit cooler.  Or not.  The new card really comes into it’s own when you are doing some intense editing in Final Cut Studio or Premiere Pro or Logic Studio.  Screen draws are faster in Aperture, and Photoshop seems snappier.  I’m not a gamer but I did speak to a guy who uses Steam on the Mac and he says this card is better than what I had for gaming.

In summary, if you need more video horsepower, can handle the expense, and are willing to read the instructions you will like the EVGA GeForce GTX285 Mac Edition.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I admit that as a wannabe netcaster, I look to leverage my alleged muscianship to help me do better recordings. I was very pleased to find that Apple put the camera in the bezel of the MacBook Pro. It’s pretty good, but I am less enamoured of the built-in mic. It’s decent enough but picks up desk noise and doesn’t have great dynamic range. not a major indictment. I am a fan of the Logitech camera/mic combos and they do work well with the Mac. But to keep weight down, I’ve gone back to the built-in camera. My latest mic pick is from Samson, called the Go Mic. I bought it online sight unseen because it was relatively inexpensive, about $80 CDN all in.

Wow! I’m very impressed. I have a good condenser mic in my home studio that I use for most of the netcast work I do for my full time job. This little Samson is going with me everywhere. It folds flat, has great sound and clips perfectly to the lid of my MacBook Pro just as in the picture. It runs off USB and provides good quality sound for voice recordings and netcasts. I have seen positive reviews for music recording and vocals. I don’t sing (you are all welcome) and use the Stealth plug to jack my guitar directly to the Mac.

So while my own use is focused on creating netcasts and spoken word recordings, I really like this little mic. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Mice are integral to our use of computers but in my own experience a bad mouse can make your day go poorly and even cause you physical pain. Earlier this year, I switched from the Apple Mighty Mouse on my Mac Pro to the Logitech MX Revolution. For general use, I think that this mouse is the best one on the market. It’s not cheap, being priced around $130 CDN at retailers and on the web. It’s no longer a current release from Logitech but they still exist out there and it has more functionality than the model that replaces it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

New up for me this year is the Logitech MX Air. I wanted a mouse that could be used as a presenter controller since my venerable Logitech Wireless presenter stopped working when I upgraded my Macs to Snow Leopard. The MX Air literally works in the air, allowing pointer movement and clicks without having to rest on a specific surface. The buttons are fully programmable and my only missing wish is side to side scrolling as it only has controls for vertical scrolling. Like the Apple Magic Mouse, the top is touch sensitive so there is less actual clicking to be done when scrolling. Expensive at around $200 CDN. RECOMMENDED

Next up is the Logitech Performance Mouse MX. This is the follow-on to the MX Revolution and offers pretty much the same set of functionality. The MX had two scroll wheels, one on top and one on the thumb side. The Performance Mouse MX eschews the second scroll wheel for a surface button on the top of the lower edge where your thumb falls. I set this mouse up on my Windows 7 desktop and use this button for the Aero window selector and it works well for this. On the Revolution I used the wheel to activate OS X screen management functions so it was pretty simple. There is a simpler button to control the gearing function for the main scroll wheel making clicking the scroll wheel another programmable action. This mouse uses Logitech’s new DarkField technology so it tracks on pretty much any surface. Around $100 CDN. Includes the new Logitech UNIFY connector technology.RECOMMENDED

The next mouse from Logitech is the VX Revolution. Like the MX Revolution, this one is no longer current in the line but is found in retailers and online still. I’ve had mine about six months and it is the default mouse for my Acer AspireOne as I really don’t care for the trackpad on that machine. Very programmable and easy to use, the smaller size makes it convenient for the Netbook. Lots of buttons and easily customized. Works very well with Windows 7 Home Premium on this machine. Last seen at $60 CDN. RECOMMENDED

When this little guy appeared it sold for over $100 CDN which is a lot of money for a notebook mouse but now you can find the no longer current line VX Revolution online and in stores for around $55 CDN. It’s very small and has the first generation Logitech USB stub receiver that you can leave in your USB port all the time. Ideal for notebooks and Netbooks, it takes up little bad space and is very customizable. Small enough for an airline tray, back when you could actually get your notebook open back in steerage. You probably wouldn’t want to use this as your primary mouse, especially if you have big hands as I do, but for short term use or as an alternative to lousy trackpads, it’s great. I use them with my MacBook Pro and the Dell Mini 9 all the time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I just picked up an EyeTV 250 Plus TV box to replace my aged EyeTV 200 unit. The 250 Plus is smaller and has a faster processor so the picture is better. Unfortunately, I and several others are having issues with the stereo audio inputs on the box, but that’s not the point.

One of the frustrations of the excellent EyeTV 3 software is that if you connected it to your cable or satellite set top box, you had to manually change the channels on the set top box because the Mac could not do it for you via the Eye TV software. This inhaled rapidly because of course you couldn’t queue up a bunch of recordings without remembering to come back and change channels. Hence the box tended to be a one trick pony. When I did get a recording done, the software made a great image and pushed it right to my AppleTV. But I wanted to be able to queue up recordings.

Of course I could have rented or bought a PVR from my cable company. Ste instore staff are not really tech savvy but they have some great support people. Unfortunately getting material off the PVR is next to impossible without cracking it to activate the USB or FireWire ports.

I then discovered the ZephIR IR Blaster from studioZee at http://www.thezephir.com/ZephIR/Home.html It leverages a database of infrared receivers to program its own infrared sender with the proper codes to control the device. I plugged the IR Blaster into a USB powered hub and put it in front of my cable box, a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3200. I picked the 3250 from the database and the ZephIR software popped up a test panel and I was quickly able to verify that I could control the cable box.

Then I went into EyeTV and set up the same name for the set top box and chose Tuner as input, because audio isn’t working on the stereo inputs for S Video or Composite on the EyeTV 250 Plus. EyeTV connected properly and everything looked fine. But now if I use the EyeTV remote or the onscreen guide or the onscreen remote to change a channel, the ZephIR sends the right codes to the cable box and it changes channels automatically. Now I can cue up a bunch of recordings while on the road like on a PVR but I can also edit them in the EyeTV or other software to rip out the commercials and other crap and then load them to my AppleTV.

The ZephIR package with Blaster and software was $49.95 US. I put the order in last Wednesday night at 8pm. I received the Fedex package identifier that evening and the unit at my door on Friday. Excellent followup and delivery. Yes I had to pay some duty but in the end I’m pretty happy. So if you are looking to control a set top box from your Mac, the ZephIR might just be the answer for you.

Well you’ve probably heard all the hype about the Magic Mouse. Mine arrived today and I’ve just set it up. This review is not sponsored and I receive no compensation for doing it.

Upsides:

Smaller than I expected and also lower
Case design is elegant
Good weight
Once paired, software update is smart enough to go get the right software when you check for updates
It’s the full Steve Jobs thing, no visible buttons
Has on off switch
Scrolling works well
No side buttons

Downsides:

Feels really awkward Will take getting used to, especially since I switched from the Mighty mouse to Logitech MX series mice a while ago
Scrolling with momentum far from the elegance of the Logitech model
No side buttons
Two finger swipes can move the entire mouse

So overall it’s beautiful, kind of cool, and has a learning curve. I’ve decided to pair it with the MacBook Air and try it instead of the Kensington Slimblade I use with that machine and see how it goes.

Hey friends,

If like me you are getting a lot more out of your AppleTV by using the excellent aTVFlash offering, take a minute to read this before applying the AppleTV 3.0 upgrade.

First things first. As of this writing the aTVFlash folks do not have a release that is 3.0 ready, so hold off upgrading until you are notified that there is an aTVFlash version that’s ready and then be sure to read and follow the instructions.

The other, potentially bigger issue, is that to do an AppleTV upgrade you need to have the primary storage set as the AppleTV hard drive, not an external drive. One of the best things aTVFlash does in my opinion is allow you to attach decent storage volume to the AppleTV. The pipsqueak internal drive could not handle the 600GB of stuff on my external drive.

I have reached out to the aTVFlash folks to obtain the how-to for this scenario, and will post their response as soon as I hear back from them. In the meantime, hold fast where you are.

If you are like me and bought into things like the original Bose Sounddock or an Apple HiFi or any of the other legion of devices released for the earlier iPods, you’ve got perfectly functional kit lying around that definitely won’t charge the current collection of Apple gear and may not work at all.

Enter the excellent Scosche Passport, now available in the online Apple Store. Live stores don’t stock it and the staff usually have no idea what you are talking about. It’s not cheap considering what it does, but what it does is make those older devices work with and charge your iPhone 3G, iPod Nano 5th Gen, iPod Touch 2nd Gen and the like.

I ordered two from the online store. They showed up quickly as usual and plugged right in to the Apple HiFi in the kitchen and the Bose Sounddock in the bedroom. Now my iPhone and new Nano plug right in, charge while docked and operate fine with the speaker system’s remote.

http://store.apple.com/ca/product/TV684ZM/A?mco=MTExMDM0NTI

A great way to extend the life of your existing iPod accessories. Comes in black or white.