Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

Here's our sixth giveaway, courtesy of Roxio: five copies of Roxio's Easy Media Creator Suit 10, valued at $99.99 USD each, will be given away. Here's a bit about the product:

"The new Roxio Easy Media Creator 10 gives you creative inspiration and all the tools you need to enhance your digital lifestyle. Create, share and enjoy your movies, memories and music as only you can. A 3 step wizard lets you auto-edit your movie. Then upload to YouTube in one click or put it on DVD. Capture and edit HD video and add surround sound playback. Record internet radio, batch convert files, backup your iPod and more. Enhance photos and video taken on your mobile devices and use them in projects with your other media. Certified for Windows Vista and fully supports Windows XP."



Here's how to enter: just post a message as a reply telling me what new or improved feature that this software has looks most useful to you and your needs. That's it! There's one post per person allowed, and five winners will be randomly chosen. The contest will stay open for entries until April 7th, 2008.

Special thanks to Roxio for their donation of this software!

Here's our ninth giveaway, courtesy of Pinnacle: one copy of Studio 11 Ultimate, valued at $129.99 USD, will be given away. Here's a bit about the product:
"Pinnacle Studio™ Ultimate lets you take complete control of your video quality and style by pairing the Pinnacle Studio™ Plus video editing software with popular audio and video tools. This full-featured application lets true video enthusiasts harness the power of the latest technologies without compromising ease of use. The extensive range of capabilities includes compatibility with the Windows Vista™ operating system, HD DVD and AVCHD format editing and disc authoring, hi-fi audio music generation, and automatic Web publishing. In addition to the software’s improved performance and speed, and a sleek new user interface"



Here's how to enter: just post a message as a reply telling me which feature this software has that you think is the most useful or the coolest. That's it! There's one post per person allowed, and two winners will be randomly chosen. The contest will stay open for entries until April 7th, 2008.

Special thanks to Pinnacle for their donation of this software!

Here's our eighth giveaway, courtesy of Corel: two copies of Ulead DVD MovieFactory 6 Plus, valued at $69.99 USD each, will be given away. Here's a bit about the product:

"DVD MovieFactory 6 Plus is easy-to-use disc authoring and burning software that lets you do more with your standard or High-Definition digital media. Create HD or standard discs with studio-quality personalized menus. Use the new Edit Room to add polish to your videos, with titles, music and effects. Archive, share and play your music, data, photos and videos on CD, DVD, HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc."



Here's how to enter: just post a message as a reply telling me what sort of DVDs you'd like to burn with this software. Family videos for safe keeping? TV shows or personal DVDs? Videos of your pet hamster? There's one post per person allowed, and two winners will be randomly chosen. The contest will stay open for entries until April 7th, 2008.

Special thanks to Corel for their donation of this software!

Although the basic theme of this site has stayed the same over the years, when we launched with a new name and a new template a couple of months ago, I figured it was time for a grand re-launch contest as a way of thanking long-time readers, and of course bringing in new readers.

The contests will be simple: every week-day I'll be highlighting one of the prizes we're giving away, and you'll have to post a comment in the thread answering my question (likely related to the item and what you'd like to do with it, or what your favourite feature is). One random winner will be selected when the contests are all closed, which will be in early April. There may be some geographical restrictions on some of the contests (due to shipping costs), so pay attention to the individual contest description to make sure you qualify.

Now, let's get to the list of prizes! Thanks to a great group of very generous sponsors whom I'm grateful to, I have the thrill of being able to give away just under $6500 USD worth of prizes (and there may be one more coming). Here's what we're lining up to give away over the next few weeks:

GRAND PRIZES
Orb Audio Mod1 PLUS 5.1 surround sound system: These small speakers pack a lot of punch, and look good doing it. I have a set I'm currently reviewing, and they're absolutely fantastic. This kit includes a two-speaker centre channel, four single-speaker surround channels, cabling, and an eight-inch sub-woofer (one kit, $999 USD MSRP value).

Canon Vixia HV20 HD Camcorder: Courtesy of the Windows Vista team at Microsoft, this Certified for Windows Vista device was reviewed by yours truly late last year, and it's a truly fantastic HD camera (one camera, $999 USD MSRP value).

LumaPix FotoFusion Extreme: Make jaw-dropping photo collages and layouts in just a few clicks with this amazing software (reviewed here). The Extreme version also comes with a huge assortment of templates, photo frames, and photo effects, giving you instant results (five copies, $299 USD MSRP value each).

Canon Powershot 850 IS Digital Camera: Also courtesy of the Windows Vista team at Microsoft, this Certified for Windows Vista device is an 8 megapixel point and shoot camera with image stabilization (one camera, $299 USD MSRP value).

HARDWARE
Pinnacle MovieBox Ultimate: Video capture hardware? Check. Powerful video editing software? Check. AVCHD editing? Check. BIAS SoundSoap audio noise cleaning? Check. Scorefitter for making musical scores for your videos? Check. It's all here - truly, an ultimate toolkit (one unit, $149.99 USD MSRP value)

AudioEngine AW1 Wireless Adaptor: This brand new and clever gadget allows you to pump wireless audio from various audio sources to your speakers (one unit, $149 USD MSRP value).

Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator Platinum: This kit gives you the hardware and software you need to transfer those old VHS tapes, or nearly any other video source, to your PC for editing (one unit, $89.99 USD MSRP value).

PPC Techs Lil' Sync Mobile USB Power Pack: Every gadget needs power and this 4400 mA battery pack will charge almost any device that's capable of charging over USB (four units, $69.99 USD MSRP each).

Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger: This svelte, portable power pack holds 3400 mA of power, allowing you to recharge many sorts of devices on the go (three units, $44.95 USD MSRP value each). Read more...