Moviola Studios has kicked-off 2010 in grand style with their Pro Video Guide, a nifty new app that should live on every media-maker’s iPhone and iPod Touch.
In a nutshell, Pro Video Guide is a well organized, fact-filled reference manual that covers all the important technical aspects of a modern digital workflow. It’s not perfect, but priced at a very modest $1.99, it’s twenty bucks cheaper than the last reference guide I purchased (which had less useful information).
The guide is broken down into five sections: Library, Glossary, Organizations, Bookmarks and History.
The Library offers useful, easy-to-understand explanations of complex topics (i.e. Video signal standards, bit rates, color space, etc.). The information is broken down by category, and relevant sub-categories. When necessary, images are also provided to further explain or demonstrate a concept — with varying degrees of success.
The Glossary provides a comprehensive list of terms along with excellent, to-the-point explanations. You can scroll up and down through the terms, or narrow down the list by using the search box. Unlike the search box in the iPhone’s address book, the Glossary search box remains fixed at the top of the screen — a thoughtful touch. Ideally, future versions of the Guide will implement an app-wide search function.
Organizations presents a list of unions, guilds, groups, and forums. Each entry includes a description (sometimes too brief) and a URL. It’s even got a section for filmmaking related blogs… which currently doesn’t include Hand Held Hollywood. What’s up with that?! It’s also missing ProLost, one of the best blogs on the intertubes. Clearly these heinous omissions need to be corrected in future updates. </self-serving-hype>
You can bookmark any entry in the Library, Glossary and Organization sections for later review. Your saved bookmarks can be found in the Bookmarks section. This is where I have my biggest complaint. The app offers no way to delete an individual bookmark. You can only choose to clear them all. Yikes! That needs to be addressed, pronto!
The History section shows where you’ve been in the app — like the history section of a web browser. Not much else to say about that.
I experienced a couple minor bugs while swiping between library entries, one of which led to a crash. But I suspect they’re the sort of bugs that will vanish in a 1.01 release.
Whether you’re a tech-whiz or a video newbie, Pro Video Guide will make a worthy addition to your iPhone arsenal. And at $1.99, it’s a significantly better investment than Fart Shaker Deluxe. If you’re 12, please disregard the previous statement.
Pro Video GuideDeveloper: J&R Film Company, Inc
Taz Goldstein
Taz is a Los Angeles based Director who launched Hand Held Hollywood to satisfy his own gadget addictions.
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Hand Held Hollywood 
Hi Mike,Ek! They do? That's not good.They've always done well by me. I've rented and purchased from them on several occasions. Granted, it's been about five years since I've done business with them, but I've always been satisfied. Hopefully, they haven't turned to the dark side in my absence. ...perhaps they have.Best,-Taz
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