Browse Entertainment & HDTV Help and Tips

Browse Entertainment & HDTV Help and Tips

Macworld's complete iPod buying guide
This holiday season, which iPod is the right one for you and for your loved ones? Our expert Christopher Breen helps sort out Apple's offerings so you can make the best choice.
Copy music off your iPod
There's nothing worse than losing your iTunes library to a hard drive crash. If you have music on your iPod, you can at least get it back with the right tools.
Pocket HD camcorders buying guide
The pocket camcorder may be the hottest holiday gift this year. To help you make a decision, here are some of our top-rated pocket camcorders from the products we’ve reviewed.
Full-sized HD camcorders buying guide
How to choose the right HD camcorder? We’ve got some shopping tips if you’re in the market for one this holiday season. And we’ve got a few camcorder recommendations based on what we’ve reviewed over the past year.
Create pause-zoom-pause effects in iMovie stills
Learn how to show a still image for some time in your iMovie project, then zoom/crop/move that image, and then pause on the final image again before moving on.
All about iTunes windows
Whether it's adjusting the width of iTunes' interface, using multiple windows, or controlling how videos play back, there's a lot you can do with windows in iTunes.
Apple, Sonos, or Squeezebox: What's best for getting your audio all over your house?
We love Sonos' Digital Music System and Logitech's Squeezebox, but Dan Frakes and Jason Snell set out to determine if they could build a comparable system from AirPort Express units and other Apple gear. Their experiences can help you decide which is the best system for getting your music around your house.
Create a central media library
With a Mac, iTunes 9, and Apple TV, and an HDTV, you can access all of your audio and video content from the couch. Here's how.
Make it even easier to add media to iTunes
Learn how to make it even easier to use the new Automatically Add to iTunes feature in iTunes 9.
Ripping your unprotected DVDs
We've had plenty of fun talking about ripping the commercial DVDs you own. But what about the discs you've created? Here are tips for extracting their video.
See selection info in iTunes 9
See the size and play time of selections in iTunes 9
Editing (or not) iTunes genres
No, you can't edit the list of iTunes' pre-defined genres. But you can deal with the countless custom genres that clutter your iTunes library.
Cleaning an iTunes library
Is your iTunes library full of duplicates, tracks from misnamed artists and albums, and albums lacking artwork? These tools can help.
Using smart playlists with nested conditionals in iTunes 9
New in iTunes 9 is the ability to create smart playlists with multiple conditions in them. Here are some cool ways to enjoy the new feature.
Stream audio from any application with Airfoil
With Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil, you can send audio from any app on your Mac to speakers around the house.
Head to Head: iPod nano vs. pocket camcorders
How well does the new iPod nano's video camera compare to a standard-definition pocket camcorder? Take a look at samples that PC World shot with a nano, a Flip Mino, an iPhone 3GS, and a Kodak Zi8.
Bugs & Fixes: iTunes 9 and Safari mix it up
Apple rolled out a new version of iTunes this week, and with it have come a pair of problems -- one related to Safari and the other involving the new Genius Mixes feature.
Beyond HandBrake's defaults
HandBrake is a terrific tool for easily ripping DVDs but there may come times when you want to go beyond its preset settings. Here's a look beneath the surface for doing just that.
Stream music from iTunes
Using an Airport Express or an Apple TV, you can easily stream music from iTunes to the speakers of your choice.
Dealing with podcast glut
Yes, you can have too much of a good thing. If too many podcasts are the good thing in your digital life, here are some tips for dealing with them.
Play .wma, Ogg, and FLAC files in iTunes
iTunes doesn't support every audio format. Here are techniques for playing .wma, Ogg Vorbis, and FLAC files in iTunes.
Play Internet radio in the background
Jason Snell shows you how to play Internet radio streams in the background of your iPhone.
Bugs & Fixes: Don't worry if CoverScout stops responding
Many other software makers could learn a lesson from how Equinux handled a recent issue with its CoverScout album art finder.
Take advantage of play counts in iTunes
With smart playlists and iTunes' play counts, you can quickly find songs you've listened to often, or not at all.
Bugs & Fixes: Apple TV deletes files
Has iTunes started unexpectedly copying several hundred files to your Apple TV when you try syncing your set-top box? It's happened to Ted Landau, so he does some digging to find out the cause.
Feed your iPhone/iPod touch free iTunes content
You're probably aware that you can easily find free iTunes content from within the iTunes application on your Mac or PC. Here's how with an iPhone or iPod touch.
Ripping and burning CDs with iTunes
You remember CDs, right? Those silvery discs you played music from before you owned an iPod? Yeah, those. Here's a reminder of what iTunes can do with these discs.
Rip CDs better and faster
Find ripping CDs a slog? Kirk McElhearn offers some tips for more efficiently ripping your discs.
Using video playlists on the iPhone/iPod touch
You've created a video playlist yet your iPhone fails to respect it. Here are a couple of techniques for ganging together videos within iPhone playlists.
Use QuickTime Player to create a video wall
You've seen video walls at trade shows and airports, perhaps -- those large banks of monitors showing single or multiple videos. Today's tip uses AppleScript to create a video wall showing multiple video clips on your own monitor