Tue, 11 Mar 2008 iDive 1.8.6 Review

iDive is designed to bring order to a chaotic movie clip collection. Shooting digital video is so easy that very soon you end up with stockpile of oodles of unmarked recordings on tape, hard drives, DVDs and assorted other storage formats. iDive therefore makes a convenient central repository for all of this accumulated footage.

Importing is pretty much a one-touch FireWire operation. The program will subsequently catalogue any file QuickTime can open, and enthusiastically work its way through your entire collection of clips. It’s got a fabulous interface to boot.

Video software can tend to be amazingly complicated to master, but iDive is just the opposite. It’s a breeze to operate thanks to its drag and drop functionality. Simplicity is the keyword here. That interface helps guide you logically through the procedure, while footage can be searched for and separated using simple topics such as People, Places, and Events. But iDive also packs a punch – it can sift through a bulky archive of footage looking for clips using a series of powerful filters.

Accumulated clips are housed within the main window area. This is surrounded by numerous palettes that offer all sorts of viewing and editing options. iDive seems to be able to handle anything you throw at it without complaint, from rapid-fire clips through to full-length movie footage.

File compression can be carried out in any QuickTime codec while additional new features include printable contact sheets and CD/DVD covers, a PowerPreview feature, drag-and-drop annotation capability and direct export to digital photo frames.

Most impressive of all is that iDive seems capable of doing this all at great speed, which is not always the case when working with large video files.