Best Mac App Store Apps

[Jase Winter]

Thought i'd start a thread for everyone to list their favourite MAS apps.

My current faves are as follows:

1password - great for managing and generating unique and secure passwords.

Fantastical - lives in the menu bar and accepts contextual input for events, replaced ical/calendar for me.

Dragon Drop - gives you a little box to drop any files onto and stays at the front until you drop them out again.

 

[bpsmith]

Got to be IVI for me. It's the perfect one stop shop for getting all those mkv's ready for watching in glorious 1080p on your ATV3 and iThing's!

 

[Bladey]

Yeah IVI for me so easy to get them on the apple tv.

 

[RobM]

Most of mine are already in the 'Simple programs you adore thread' - things like Caffine, Growl etc.

 

[Monopot]

How does IVI compare to the likes of Handbrake?

 

[bpsmith]

I moved to IVI from HB and find it significantly better.

 

[Monopot]

Thx will give it a try. Liked the review on the app store which said you could set it to auto convert and SD card full of AVCHD from a camera into a format that is playable/keepable for iMovie/iPhoto. Just what I want it to do!

EDIT - Just tried it, quite impressed. Put in an 2min 1080p AVCHD file and set the bit rate for HD to 5mbps. Also did the same in Handbrake with High Profile setting. The IVI encode took 2mins and gave me a 70mb file while Handbrake took 5mins for 107mb file. Played them both in MPlayerX and couldn't tell the difference.

Thanks for the heads up guys!

 

[bpsmith]

No worries fella. Enjoy!

 

[Rafe]

Nice one Mono. Sounds like i'm in the exact same situation as you so have I purchased that software.

 

[Barthez]

Guys, is IVI and Mac DVD Ripper the same thing? I'm looking for an easy solution to get some of my DVDs into iTunes to watch via apple tv.

 

[Rafe]

Guys, is IVI and Mac DVD Ripper the same thing? I'm looking for an easy solution to get some of my DVDs into iTunes to watch via apple tv.

MTR rips the contents of a DVD to your hard disk.

FYI - I use MDRP for my ripping duties. Hasn't missed a beat since installation. It rips the DVD into ISO's ready for Handbrake.

Apps like IVI and handbrake re-encode the file to your liking i.e. re-encode to .mp4 ready for iTunes, Apple TV etc

 

[bpsmith]

Unless you get iVI Pro and that covers the ripping aspect too. ;-)

 

[Barthez]

Thanks Guys. So for the easiest solution would IVI or Mac DVD Ripper be the best?

Sorry but slightly confused as it sounds like you have to do two stages. Am I right in thinking then that IVI Pro is the best suited to my needs for ease of use?

 

[bpsmith]

I have IVI from the Mac App Store, but the Pro version from their website us supposed to do the ripping part too.

 

[dante01]

I have IVI from the Mac App Store, but the Pro version from their website us supposed to do the ripping part too.

Yeah, Apple will not allow the developer to include the ripping aspects of the software so another version, the Pro version, had to be made available via the dev directly.

Import DVDs into iTunes
iVI can import your DVDs into iTunes for playback on your Apple TV, iPod or iPhone. This import can include multiple audio tracks (surround sound, directors commentary...) and subtitles from the original DVD. A free download of VLC is required.

Apple have made it clear that this feature will not be allowed in an App Store version of iVI so it's only in iVI Pro available from our store.

http://www.southpolesoftware.com/iVI/iVI.php

 

[bpsmith]

Yes, that's true and hence my post about the Pro version. ;-)

 

[Slyboy]

MTR rips the contents of a DVD to your hard disk.

FYI - I use MDRP for my ripping duties. Hasn't missed a beat since installation. It rips the DVD into ISO's ready for Handbrake.

Apps like IVI and handbrake re-encode the file to your liking i.e. re-encode to .mp4 ready for iTunes, Apple TV etc

Rafe - many thanks for the recommendation for mac DVD ripper pro. I had been using a version of mactheripper but since the mountain lion update it doesn't work. It was such a pain in the ar$e getting a license the first time (real cloak and dagger stuff) that I couldn't be bothered going through all that rigmarole to get a new version.

Installed mac DVD ripper pro on trial and it works perfectly, has a nice interface and works on any DVD so bought the pro version for £15. Bargain.

 

[Rafe]

You're welcome

I haven't come across a DVD it hasn't been able to rip so that must be a good sign

 

[Barthez]

So mac DVD ripper pro for extracting and ripping the DVD is the best solution?..Then dragging the file into IVI for importation into your iTunes library the best app for this process?

 

[Rafe]

Yep, IVI will convert to a .mp4 (which iTunes understands) so that all your iDevices can play them

 

[Monopot]

What bit rate do you guys use in IVI when converting 720p/1080p to mp4?

 

[bpsmith]

IVI will also add the metadata automatically and allow you to customise it to save the file wherever you like and add to iTunes. It can also delete the original or move to a holding folder just in case, allowing you to delete when your ready.