Kinoma 3.0 EX . . . Questions

i<3mypup

New member
I'm no video "whiz" by any means, but I thought Kinoma 2 (came with the T3) and the later 2.2 were pretty fantastic. Simple, pretty decent quality for a handheld, easy to use.

NOw 3.0EX has come out (apparently recently, but I may just be behind on the "newsflash;" it handles MPEG4, is $19.95 for the player (I think $30 for the "Producer") and is if course larger than the stock version 2 that came on the Tungsten T3.

The good news is you can delete 2 of the libraries it makes (AACLib for Audio compression as well as the MPEGVidLib of 228k if our're not playing that format movies) to save some room; the app is around 340k if memory serves - little larger than the 230 for the old one.

Here's the thing that's stopping me from buying it TODAY . . . it shows JPEGs. Further, it scans the card for all my JPEGs (5-6 seconds) at every startup. APPARENTLY THIS CAN NOT BE DEFEATED, DELETED OR TURNED OFF. Giving it credit, it does NOT make thumbnails all over the place, but it does require a 75k JPEGLib (which can also be deleted but it it will still SCAN for JPEGs, just not open them). I'm more concerned about the start-up lag; I guess I wouldn't mind an "extra" viewer otherwise. The "old" version fired right up, was small in size, and ran GREAT in flash. Almost instant.

What's the deal here? Does anyone just make an app to do what you're buying it to do anymore? I want a movie player . . . Kinoma's fine. I want JPEGs . . . AcidImagePro, thank you. I don't see AI trying to play movies.

If the JPEG viewing (and scanning) could be TURNED OFF, the actual MOVIE VIEWER seems it would be pretty cool . . . rotate, zooom, and pan like AcidImage.

There is no easy way to contact customer service on Kinoma's site, and they tell you right at the bottom there is:

1. NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT FOR TRIAL OR NON REGISTERED USERS
2. NO SUPPORT AFTER 90 DAYS!

Admittedly it is pretty self explanatory, and the 3.0 version is free from their site (apparently) if you register it . . . it's the "EX" which plays MPEG4 that costs the $$ . . . and that's fine. It just seems a little snotty to not offer customer support when you're thinking of buying their product, furnishing no real details about specs other than "it's super," and providing a time-consuming, RAM consuming "option" that many people won't want with no way to defeat it.

Has anyone bought this thing? I know IIIcRuled is to MM Player what I am to Teal . . . I only have about a dozen clips . . . no complete films/TV shows, and don't personally have the "demand" to make them on an ongoing basis. Still, I'd get MM instead based on following:

1. Is there a REALLY noticeable sharpness improvement in MM Player OVER THIS NEW KINOMA?

2. There is quite good compression with Kinoma2 (which may be the loss of quality I see at low frame rate) . . . are file sizes for a 4MB film clip STILL 4MB in MM Player, or cut to around 2.2MB .pdb like Kinoma?

3. How's the customer service?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Just downloaded MMPlayer trial for 2.14 -- Man oh man what a difference! It runs around 1MB with the added stuff like grey skin, library, etc . . . but that's still smaller than Agendus and it PLAYS VIDEOS for heaven's sake. I'll be purchasing that bad boy - quality is terrific.

Now I need to re-encode the stuff (pdb's) I had for Kinoma but that's going to be difficult. I'll research the video threads on here, which are extensive and brilliant (thanks IIIcRuled!) . . .

Got a message playing a "full clip" that bitrate was set too high. I used a freeware version of TMPG Editor to "pick the source range" of clips - but when I downloaded PocketDVX (freeware) it doesn't recognize that clip's format - all it says is "video files" but the clips don't show up.

Also, what do you all use to "take an extracted clip" from a video file if TMGE won't be recognized? Kinoma did recognize TMPG clips and convert them.
 
I've tried the Kinoma 3EX and I think there are limits on where it looks. I have quite a few pictures (JPEG) stored in the SplashPhoto sub directory (/PALM/PROGRAMS/SplashPhoto) and none of these appear in Kinoma. Only photos in the /DCIM/Palm Photos sub-directory show up on my system. So to reduce the search time - don't put anything in /DCIM :D

(Sarcasm on my part - By doing this it defeats the purpose of /DCIM for other applications.)

I agree with you when it comes to programs trying to be "everything for everyone". Why - in most cases the extras are added so they can charge the "upgrade" fee. :(

fnagle/Frank
 
Thanks Frank . . .

I could move the folders from DCIM to programs/AcidImage (folders separate maps/drawings/photos/ (in categories), etc -- I think AI would pick them up anywhere.

Amazing thing is it went about 3 folder levels deep in DCIM - so your "Programs/" tip is a big help if I were to "go for it."

By the way, "flash fans;" the added libraries which make 3.0EX total 746k all will work in flash as well as the application itself.
 
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