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Convergence is one among several key features that arrives with the latest enhancement pack from Microsoft. Bringing together video editing, music manipulation and several feature enhancements with home entertainment in mind is what Microsoft Plus Digital Media Edition addresses in a direct no nonsense manner. The idea of the PC being the fulcrum about which home entertainment revolves is not new. With the advent of more powerful processors and larger hard drives, the major obstacles preventing the merger of home entertainment with computing prowess have been effectively removed. The only hurdle left is finding the software to effectively pull the various parts together. Clearly, Microsoft has given this idea a great deal of thought.
Breaking in new ground, Microsoft has released another Plus enhancement in addition to the already released Plus! for Windows XP. While the first Plus dealt with adding ease of use to existing segments of Windows XP, along with new screen savers and themes, DME (Digital Media Edition) adds improved functionality with an emphasis on digital entertainment and movie making.
 
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The corner stones of DME are the new revisions of Windows Media Player and Windows Movie Maker. In order to really enjoy the new functionality offered by DME, it is necessary to download both Media Player 9 and Movie Maker 2. Both are available for “free” for download from the following links:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/player.aspx
and
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/moviemaker/
If you recall the original Movie Maker that shipped with Windows XP, you will recall an application that was anemic in major areas. Surprisingly, the first version of Movie Maker lacked the ability to export films to DV camcorders. How this function was overlooked remains a puzzle. Clearly, Microsoft realized that Movie Maker was not going to become a favorite in the state in which it was originally released. In light of the full featured software offered by companies like Pinnacle Systems, it was clear that a more comprehensive approach to video editing on the PC was in order. Not only that, but Apple had made a strong case for their iMovie, which was included with their latest operating system, OS X.
The serious reworking of Movie Maker now renders it as a more full featured application. Built on a premise similar to Apple’s iMovie, Movie Maker 2 is the PC version with some added features. Amazing, intuitive and powerful, for average end users Movie Maker 2 may be all that is needed for basic editing. There is certainly much here to recommend it as a solid performer, and no doubt serious competition for the many consumer level editing programs on the market. Having created videos with Movie Maker, it is definitely fast, simple and produces solid results. Plus, you can now export your creations to your digital camcorder. Movie Maker as it stands with the added effects offered by DME makes it much more than a novelty application. Even a user with a modest background in movie making can create some rather sophisticated productions with polished special effects with little effort.
While Movie Maker 2 is a free download, Plus! Digital Media Edition offers some rich effects that before required a separate application to achieve. Totaling 50 new effects and transitions, DME adds some very professional tools to Movie Maker that can turn a basic video into something more elaborate with few demands on the user. It seems that ease of use has been taken into serious consideration. Simply installing DME with the basic install adds all of these effects with little difficulty. It is advised to download and install the new improved Movie Maker 2 first, and then DME to enjoy the full value of the new feature sets this enhancement offers.
 
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Just as DME adds improved functionality to Movie Maker, the new and vastly improved Windows Media Player 9 gains a number of striking new functions. In order to enjoy the new enhancements that DME offers, do download the new Media Player. In the new revision, a number of new features, and even better sound, are all here. The interface has been given a few refinements in addition to other elements that are well worth considering.
Once downloaded, Plus! DME adds some rather surprising, even amusing features. One can turn your PC into a jukebox. Guests simply select the music they want on your PC without the owner having to worry about prying eyes. The new “party mode” for Windows Media Player allows for guests to plays music without allowing them access to files you wish to remain private. Guests can even make comments on the music played. One can even choose among several full screen skins while in party mode to create images that match the atmosphere of the music. This new functionality means that the PC can become a digital jukebox without having to make your desktop open to all sorts of unwelcome activity. Party mode adds that option in an elegant package to the already full bodied Media Player.
While this feature is more amusing than functional, I have to admit there is something peculiar and fascinating about “Plus Dancer.” What Plus Dancer does is allow you to add a dancing, man, woman, or couple, to your desktop to dance across your screen. While this sounds silly, in practice it is actually an amusing little element that makes computing just that much more entertaining. Accessible from the DME Plus menu, you can have dancers pop up at start up, or on request. They can be altered to dance in time with the music selected on media player, or just simply allowed to dance minus music.
Plus Dancer adds an icon to your task bar that vanishes when you wish to end the dance party. Fluid, and life like, Plus dancer may not add any essential features, but it does prove that computing has reached a point where little people can dance across your monitor without so much as losing a beat as you type or send email. Infinitely movable, you can place your little dancers any place on your screen. When finished, they can be clicked and retired until you wish to see small figures shake, spin and even tango again. If you would like more dancers to chose from, on the dancer icon menu on the task bar there is an item that will take you to a site from Microsoft that will allow you download more dancers.
What makes these dancers so entrancing is their detail, fluid movement and naturalism. There is nothing cartoon like about these characters. An interesting option to Plus Dancer is that you can alter the visibility of the dancers. If you want to make them transparent, there is an item on the options menu that allows you to make them transparent, or as solid as a real dancer.
Convergence is a key element to making the PC part of an entire entertainment system. Another equally important aspect is conversion. One of the biggest problems with advances in technology is backward compatibility. No more is this true as it is with audio tapes and vinyl records. MP3’s, CD’s and the like are all digital formats. For those that want to commit their record collections and tape to digital files, Plus Analog Recorder allows users to painlessly transfer their analog recordings into something more permanent.
Using wizards, Plus Analog Recorder takes the bother out of transferring tapes and records to the digital divide. The complex technology behind this process is hidden from the user. Adjusting for distortions, and removing flaws, this new functionality makes the process of translating analog to digital a no brainer. Based on technology from Syntrillium, makers of the popular sound editing application “Cool Edit Pro,” Microsoft has given users an easier way to perform a complex task.
File formats are always an issue. This time around DME’s “Plus Audio Converter” makes it easy to change a file’s format and bit rate. Changing either one file or many, the converter makes the process just that much easier. One can access this feature directly from Windows Media Player 9 or from the DME menu on the program list. While MP3 is the standard on the Net, Microsoft’s own WMA format, which delivers CD quality sound at roughly a third of the size of MP3 files, could become a better choice. Having used WMA, there is a lot to recommend it as a format of choice in spite of the fact that MP3 is a standard on the Internet. With Audio Converter, changing over is just a matter of selecting this feature.
For labeling all of the CD’s you have created, Plus CD Label Maker takes the trouble out of creating labels for your music. Following a basic wizard menu system, one can chose a layout without having to know a great deal about advanced page layout features. Interestingly enough, Plus for Windows XP offers this same feature.
If you would like to turn your PC into an alarm clock, DME has that area covered. Features such as snooze, are included in this feature that allows you to turn Media Player into an alarm clock. For those that like to use their PC as an elaborate clock, now you can add that functionality without having to look for a non Microsoft program. For some users, I could envision where this may be a very practical feature.
While working on your alarm clock or playing files on Media Player, you can also chose from eight new skins for Media player. There are several you can download, but DME offers some rather exciting takes on skins.
Moving away from media, connectivity and synchronicity between Windows and the Pocket PC has been achieved. This functionality requires Microsoft Active Sync version 5.5 or higher which can be downloaded or included with your Pocket PC software. This makes the process of transferring data just that much simpler, and trouble free.
Sharing photos and making them interesting is a challenge. Slide shows by their nature are not that interesting, unless you can add some interest to them. Coming to the rescue, Plus! Photo Story makes it easy to turn a set of photos into a compelling story. Using wizards to make the process easier, Photo Story opens with a colorful, but not intimidating, window that asks you to add photos in whatever sequence you wish. Once the photos are arranged to your liking, you can add voice over narration to explain what is taking place, or to focus on an area of interest in a particular image. As you create your narration, the opportunity to move from image to image is available.
What makes Photo Story Plus compelling is that you can move about in still photos to focus on those areas you wish to highlight. Let's say you have a close up of a friend in a photo. As you begin your narration you can zoom in on the friend adding a bit of motion to a still photo. While all of this sounds basic, when you see it in action, still images take on a new dimension.
Just as readily as you can add voice over narration, you can also add background music. Rather than being limited to just dialogue, you can also add your favorite song to the proceedings. The possibilities between narration and background music are limited only by your imagination, and not by the software.
Once you have all of the various parts of your presentation complete, you can then save your photo story to the windows media format, wmv. The compression rates are superb and you can save your creation to disk or email to friends. For advanced users that want more control and customization over their creations, simply visit http://www.microsoft.com/plus for the appropriate files.
You can import up to 150 pictures in popular formats such as BMP, JPG, GIF, TIF, and PNG. You can also, naturally, import pictures you have created provided they are in the appropriate formats, and most graphics programs support the aforementioned formats.
After you have selected your images, you can set them up in any position you wish. Much like Movie Maker that allows you to position videos in various configurations, Photo Story works in a similar fashion.
Once you have all of the photos set up, you can add your own narration to the proceedings. For novices, there is a built in sound hardware test that sets up the proper settings for sound recording. Naturally, this all assumes you have a sound card and microphone set up on your system. For many users, that will not be an issue.
As you dictate your voice over narration, you can zoom into areas of interest on your pictures as you see fit. There is a pointer on the screen that shows where your points of interest are as you begin speaking. You can also hover over a specific spot as well.
At the conclusion of the editing process, you can add a title page. While there are not a huge number of features available, there is a basic window for creating basic, but elegant, title pages.
The options for sharing your creation are not limited. As long as the recipient of Photo Story can read Windows Media Video 9 files, they can view your photo compilation. So viewers do not need to have Digital Media Edition Plus in order to view photo stories. However, if they wish to create them, DME makes the process all that much easier.
For those that do not have the time, or patience, for complex applications, Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition is more than just an extra package. The features here are such that they not only extend Windows XP abilities, they make it that much easier to create photos, videos and music without having to be bogged down in technical details. Unlike some Plus packages that one can take or leave, this one has some truly useful core features. This is particularly true for users that want to transfer analog sources such as tapes and vinyl recordings into digital formats. For those that like the compression and quality of Windows native WMA and WMV files, this is an essential.
I do feel that much of the interest with DME stems from how much you wish to use a digital camera, or digital camcorder. If manipulating music, pictures and video are important to you, and you like the all in one simplicity of Windows Media Player 9, the new additions are not frills but essential additions.
For a long time Apple made a case for ease of use with applications like iMovie and iTunes. Windows has effectively closed the gap between the two systems, and at the same time offered functionality that users need and want.
If you are new to video editing, or just getting started, Plus Digital Media Edition is an excellent starting place that takes the hassle out of creating interesting content without having to bother with the expense and complexity of learning multiple applications.
While there have been many Plus packages over the years, Plus Digital Media Edition stands out as a real essential for Windows XP users that wish to explore the possibilities of video and sound creation, as well as sharing those efforts with others.
Requirement: Microsoft Windows® XP Home Edition or Microsoft Windows XP Professional. Also, Plus Digital Media Edition requires Windows Media Player 9 series and Movie Maker Two.
Recommendation: Pentium 4 or something equal to that processor. You could run a P III, but I feel the P4 is more able.
Recommendation: 256 MB of RAM for smooth performance
Requirement: 205 MB of free hard disk space. Actual requirements will vary based on your system configuration and the Plus! Digital Media Edition components you choose to install. Up to 320 MB of free hard disk space may be required if you are installing Plus! Digital Media Edition over a network or from the Internet. At least a 40 GB hard drive is recommended to handle the huge files created.
Requirement: Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor.
CD-ROM drive or DVD drive, keyboard, and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.
Ideally, broadband for some of the features due to the time to download additional elements. However, you can work with a regular dial-up without loss of features.
800 MHz processor, such as an Intel Pentium or Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processor.
256 MB of RAM.
Sound card with a microphone to record narration.
Sound card with a line-in port.
Printer
Microsoft Windows Powered Pocket PC with Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 software, or
Compaq iPAQ with Microsoft Pocket PC 2000 software.
64 MB or greater CompactFlash, PC Card (PCMCIA), MultiMedia (MMC), or SecureDigital (SD)
Pocket PC storage card.
Microsoft Windows Movie Maker 2
A 1.5 gigahertz (GHz) or higher processor, such as a Pentium 4, AMD Athlon XP 1500+,
or equivalent processor, is recommended to optimize performance
256 MB of RAM is recommended to optimize performance
2 gigabytes (GB) of free hard disk space
Audio capture device to capture audio from external sources
Video capture device (digital or analog) to capture video from external sources
Internet access to save and send a movie to the Web or to send a movie as an attachment in an e-mail message
Sound card and speakers or headphones
Optional registration
Microsoft .NET Passport account
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