Darren Kitchen Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Looking for a full screen zooming app for Windows. Basically like macs do when you hold some function keys and hit + or -. The reason is while we run the set box at 800x600, the text is often unreadable on the show after compression. If we could easily zoom in on what we're trying to show in software it would look a lot better. 640x480 looks great on the video mixer but is completely unusable in todays world. The magnifier that comes with Windows is utter crap. I've tried DesktopZoom, iZoom, and ZoomIt and none of them will work. Any recommendations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Run the windows apps on RDP or a VM inside your mac? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Kitchen Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 Requires getting a mac for the show, which is slightly expensive. I tried a macbook but had to return it. It was poorly designed and the edges were so sharp they cut my wrists like an emo kid. You'd think Apple would figure out Web 2.0 means rounded corners. Anyway we thought about a mac mini but we need composite, s-video out AND VGA/DVI out. They have a DVI dongle that'll do svideo and composite but that doesn't leave us anything for our LCD on set. A Mac Pro might do it, but now we're talking big bucks. So sadly while the mac has the best zooming support, it just isn't an option for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooper Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I tried a macbook but had to return it. It was poorly designed and the edges were so sharp they cut my wrists like an emo kid. Um... I think most of us know what really happened there, dude. But what makes you discard the built-in Windows Magnifier? WindowsKey + Arrow-Up/Down to zoom in/out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Looking for a full screen zooming app for Windows. Basically like macs do when you hold some function keys and hit + or -. The reason is while we run the set box at 800x600, the text is often unreadable on the show after compression. If we could easily zoom in on what we're trying to show in software it would look a lot better. 640x480 looks great on the video mixer but is completely unusable in todays world. The magnifier that comes with Windows is utter crap. I've tried DesktopZoom, iZoom, and ZoomIt and none of them will work. Any recommendations? What are you trying to zoom into? If its just web pages, use opera's zoomer. Up to 1000% zoom. If its desktop related stuff try the windows magnifier like you were already doing, but drag it to the left side of the screen, make it half the width of the screen OR put it on a second monitor as large as you can make it, and turn off the follow mouse option so it doesn't move everything around as your navigating the mouse, then send monitor two to your output video (if its even possible with your setup??). You will just have to line up your screens, but I am sure it can be done with some tinkering. Also, camtasia has a zoom into feature, but to get tight and clear video you need to use their codec to not lose any resolution and it eats up space big time. It is also mainly for post production, but if its captured using their codec then it is usually true to the original capture, so a combination of windows magnifier and catasia's texhsmith codec ( http://www.techsmith.com/download/codecs.asp ) you should have VERY clear readable screen grabs in any videos. I just don't know how you woudl do it live though, but this is more for getting exact screen grabs with near lossless quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Requires getting a mac for the show, which is slightly expensive. You could download the Mac OS X for x86 Proccessors (Goatsecx or Jas). This is legal if you own a legal copy of Mac OS X. I saw you had some Apple TV's which are just cut down Mac Mini's with a Cut Down version of Mac OS X. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingwray Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Requires getting a mac for the show, which is slightly expensive. You could download the Mac OS X for x86 Proccessors (Goatsecx or Jas). This is legal if you own a legal copy of Mac OS X. I saw you had some Apple TV's which are just cut down Mac Mini's with a Cut Down version of Mac OS X. If you read above you will realize that the AppleTV is useless in this case, they require more video outputs than it'll support, plus for showing apps which require more power it would be useless at it. As for running mac on a PC, its not legal, even if you buy a copy of Mac OS X for the machine. The EULA prohibits running the software on anything other than an Apple. Plus it would be horrible because of driver problems, and time-consuming to setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 If you read above you will realize that the AppleTV is useless in this case, they require more video outputs than it'll support, plus for showing apps which require more power it would be useless at it. As for running mac on a PC, its not legal, even if you buy a copy of Mac OS X for the machine. The EULA prohibits running the software on anything other than an Apple. Plus it would be horrible because of driver problems, and time-consuming to setup. Well, downloading a copy of something you own usually is illegal to start with, especially if it's a different version. However if you did somehow legitimately have a version that could be installed on a PC the EULA wouldn't really make a difference. It wouldn't be illegal anyway, Apple could take you to court for breach of contract possibly, but that's a civil matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 If no one can see the box, then how are they going to know its not a Apple product? "Don't ask, don't tell" has to be useful for something. Other than that, can you not do the zooming in post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 If no one can see the box, then how are they going to know its not a Apple product? "Don't ask, don't tell" has to be useful for something. Other than that, can you not do the zooming in post? Definitely not in the case of live shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Could pre-record it, then just mix it into the live feed? Just have to plan out what your doing before hand. Can vista do this natively though? It has a vector based UI where XP has a bit mapped version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychoaliendog Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 You can do that using beryl under linux(I think its windows key + scroll wheel), and maybe use VNC or a VM for windows, as previously suggested. EDIT: need to learn to spell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickarse Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Did you try version 1.4 of ZoomIT? Magnifier http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Magnifier/1113506311/1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 Thats pretty cool if your using dual view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bacca Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 Did you guys at Hak5 ever find a suitable zooming utility for Windows? I'm dying here I've been spoiled by the Mac zooming, now I need something for my Windows HTPC. I need something that can play video and animation while zoomed in, something with customizable zoom levels, and if it could be hot-keyed that would be great. I'd also settle for a Compiz port to Windows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZesteR Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 http://portableapps.com/apps/accessibility..._glass_portable :D :D :D I use it while in class to show my buddy something on my screen (usually small or text based). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Kitchen Posted October 4, 2008 Author Share Posted October 4, 2008 http://portableapps.com/apps/accessibility..._glass_portable :D :D :D I use it while in class to show my buddy something on my screen (usually small or text based). Looks good but we needed something for fullscreen. We're using sysinternal's ZoomIt, which works ok. Once we go HD, in a few weeks here, we won't really need a zooming function. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 I wonder how much a hardware solution would cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razor512 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinte...s/bb897434.aspx ZoomIt works for me when recording demonstrations of bugs (most bug reports I do I record videos of the bug happening especially for odd bugs that are hard to explain ) I have tried one other one that also worked well, forgot the name but it's zoom function only worked when recording and it was hard to tell how it zoomed because the zoom took place in the recording and not live, i will check if i bookmarked it, but i personally hated it because you will get seasick as the zoomed in area followed the mouse pointer another thing that can be done is adding subtitles for typed text, so when your typing things it will show up as subtitles in the video in a way that everyone can read that way no zooming is needed, only problem is adding subtitles using adobe after effects is very frustrating because of all the steps needed and if you can find someone with a lot of time on their hands, you can do the panning and zooming in the video editor after recording (which is also very annoying especially when the motion tracker in programs like aftereffects cant tell the difference between a mouse pointer and text) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickarse Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Looks good but we needed something for fullscreen. We're using sysinternal's ZoomIt, which works ok. Once we go HD, in a few weeks here, we won't really need a zooming function. :) Yeah! I won the software fight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZesteR Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 my post was for more of a joke, i prob. wouldn't use it for podcasting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Kitchen Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 I wonder how much a hardware solution would cost. We have a hardware solution, it's built right into the scan converter. It allows us to zoon and pan, but it's painfully slow and awkward to use via remote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snakey Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 magic is a good magnifying app they use it at all aus tafe's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.