Snappy 4.0 Adds Great New Features
Written: Dec 18 '99 (Updated Jan 22 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: lots of added features, convenient, great analog & digital video captures, organizational software, Adobe Photodeluxe
Cons: hardware unchanged, another $169.95 for just a software upgrade unless they make the software available separately for a reasonable price, weird uninstall for this and previous version
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| JMB623's Full Review: Play Snappy Video Snapshot |
I wrote a review of Snappy 3.0 in this category, but obtained a copy of the latest, Snappy 4.0. Read my Snappy 3.0 review for some background on the program itself. Snappy 4.0 is a software only upgrade, so you will not need new hardware if you already have 3.0. The developer, Play, Inc., has not stated whether it intends to make a software only upgrade available. I like to think they will because they've done that with the upgrade from Snappy 3.0 to Snappy 3.0 Deluxe.
Like the earlier version, the Snappy module plugs into an LPT port, or a switchbox, if you have one. Snappy recommends a direct LPT connection, but I've used the switchbox with it since I first acquired version 3.0 nearly two years ago. The software installation is CD-ROM, and is a breeze. The only thing you need to do is select where to install it if you don't want the default (c:\program files\play\snappy). No, there is one other thing, you can choose to register it online or not.
Having connected the module, you just plug in an included video cable to the module and your video camera's "video out" jack. The interface is familiar, but it comes with a couple of new features that are particularly useful. SnapPad, which the company describes as the biggest innovation in Snappy 4.0, is a new button on the interface that displays a window showing "picons" (picture icons) of each and every image you've snapped and processed, regardless of whether you remembered to save them. It will load them on every startup. You can edit in it, and compare modifications.
Another new feature is a photo rotation control. It has predefined settings, and something called a "horizon bar" for custom settings. You need to line up the "horizon bar" with the photo element that you would like to be horizontal, then click process. It's all automatic, and if you got the "horizon bar" right, it will be accurate. Snappy 4.0 also supports more image formats than the previous version ( PIC, PICT, Mac PCT, WMF, Photoshop PSD, RAS, IMG, Silicon Graphics SGI).
It also has a new "free-form" cropping tool, so, unlike the old version, you can now crop to any size rectangular shape. Not exactly "free-form", but you're no longer stuck with a 4:3 aspect ratio.
Snappy 4.0's CD-ROM comes with some features from Play's Gizmos application, including Picture Explorer and Performer. The first edition of the award winning Gizmos 98 came out shortly after Windows 98, but a new edition is about to be released. Picture Explorer allows you to search for and gather photos, and create picons in a resizable bin. The first time you open a photo, it will create a picon for it. On a doubleclick, it will display the photo to a maximum size of your monitor. It also has zoom capabilities on a right mouse click. If you have ever seen Compupic, Picture Explorer is similar to that, but with fewer features. Performer allows you to create shows with stills, sound, and effects, simply by dragging them into an expandable timeline. It comes with a lot of samples to show you how it looks. Among the samples, are a wedding and a birthday, consisting of narration, photos and sounds. It can insert fades, and altogether make quite a professional looking presentation. The interface is clear, clean, and easy to understand. Play provides individual, short, easy-to-read manuals for these Gizmos add-ons. They even show up on your program menu separately from Snappy. The software includes Adobe Photodeluxe 3.0 (on its own CD-ROM) with a coupon for a free update to Photodeluxe 4.0. That's a nice bundle of extras that would cost a lot of money if purchased piece by piece.
Play recommends you uninstall Snappy 3.0 before installing 4.0. I was, however, compelled to do a manual uninstall because the uninstall log for 3.0, and now 4.0, listed these Windows system files to be removed: mfc42.dll, msvcirt.dll, msvcrt.dll, oleaut32.dll, olepro32.dll, and msvcrt20.dll. It also listed twain_32.dll. Quite a few programs would not run with these files removed, and I am not sure why they are listed in the Snappy uninstall log. It made the uninstall inconvenient, and would be a disaster for the uninitiated. In addition, Snappy 4.0 overwrote my newer versions of twain_32.dll and olepro32.dll with older ones. Fortunately, I had a copy of the twain_32.dll, but have not found the newer version of the olepro32.dll.
The Snappy 4.0 interface is generally a piece of cake to use, but like Snappy 3.0, if you choose to forego default settings you will have somewhat of a learning curve. With Picture Explorer and Performer you'll have a slight learning curve, but, on the whole, the whole package falls somewhere between "piece of cake" and "fairly easy to use".
It remains an outstanding program that makes possible capturing excellent still photos from both analog and digital video sources. It has more convenience features in the Snappy program, and has some cool Gizmos and Adobe software to enhance it. If you don't already have Snappy, I would recommend you skip version 3.0 for 4.0, you'll get more for your money. But unless Play makes the software update available separately at a reasonable cost for Snappy 3.0 owners, I wouldn't recommend spending another $169.95 (MSRP) for duplicate hardware and a software upgrade. No question about it, Play has the market cornered with the best in this kind of video capture. Snappy 4.0 continues improving the bloodlines.
Recommended:
Yes
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JMB623
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Member: Joel
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