Video Books

MY HUSBAND & I ARE AVID DOO-WOP FANS & WE HAVE HAD THIS BOOK SINCE THE EARLY 80'S. WE LOVE IT & USE IT OFTEN. OUR FRIENDS HAVE ALL BORROWED IT SO MUCH, WE HAVE BEEN BUYING AFFORDABLE COPIES TO GIVE THEM! I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT IT - IF YOU'RE A FAN, YOU'LL LOVE IT!!!!

For anyone who lived through the early beginnings of Rock N Roll, the 50's and 60's this book is a goldmine. It lists by artists most all of their charted records and some others that might not have made the charts but that were essential to the development of Rock N Roll.

It contains many photos, facts about the artists, months & years that the songs were released and the record labels.

I grew up during the 50's and was there when it all happened, so for anyone interested in collecting music from that period, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book

I bought this book way back when it first came out and also have the 2nd edition (encompasses the 60's).

I read that the price for a used copy is $30.00....WELL, I wouldn't sell mine for $300.

Over the years, it has been my most used book in my possession.

I wish I had a copy on CD....

I rate this volume and the 2nd edition 5 Stars ONLY because there is nothing higher....

I didn't really love music untill Rock and Roll was invented. I went to all the Alan Freed Rock and Roll Shows, to the Apollo, and the Murray The K shows. I am an old baby boomer, and no books that I know of are more complete and accurate the Norm N Nite's Rock N' Roll The Solid Gold Years, and the other two that followed it up. If you love rock and roll you got to have those books. I wish they would reprint them, because the condition my coppies are in is not great. The books are so great that I would buy new reprints because I have used my original quantities so much, they could be in better condition.

An easy to read, step-by-step guide to Roxio Easy Media 8, this manual answered most of my questions.

This book will substantially reduce your learning curve when using Easy Media Creator 8. The time saved is well worth the modest price. EMC8 is fun to use when accompanied with this easy-to-read self-help manual.

I purchased this book on Easy Media Creator 8, last April. I have been using Roxio's Easy Media Creator since version 5. The software is very powerful but, at times, can be a bit frustrating. The knowledge in this book will smooth the project path quite a bit.

Just inside the front cover is "Contents at a Glance", every subject or software function has it's own tab which makes using the book as a reference manual very quick and easy. I found the organization of the book and the presentation of the material to be straight forward and easy to understand.
If you are new to the software, I would recommend reading the 25 page introduction, "Start Here", first. If you have experience with the software, the book is organized so that all of the information you will need for your project is in one place (follow the tabs).

Chapters in the book cover:
1.-Start Here
2.-Importing Audio
3.-Editing Audio
4.-Creating Audio Projects
5.-Importing Photos
6.-Editing Photos
7.-PhotoSuite Projects
8.-Creating Slideshows
9.-Capturing Video
10.-Editing Video
11.-Advanced Video Editing Techniques
12.-Authoring DVDs
13.-Creating Data Disks
14.-Backing up Data

Label Creator and Media Manager Tools are bonus content on the publisher's website.

There are other books on Easy Media Creator 8 but unless you'r a Dummie (also a good book) this is the one you will want.

I have the Dummies book for EMC 8 and it leaves many questions unanswered or gives wrong information.

This "In A Snap" book is really wonderful. It shows you what to do through pictures of the screens and simple, easy to understand text. It is extemely easy to understand and allows you to get right to work on a project.

It is just about the easiest computer instructional book I have seen. Just as the title states "Teach Yourself" EASILY.

C'est un trés bon ouvrage sur le sujet. Il fournit de bonnes pistes concernant la gestion des buffers de reception et la synchro des medias. Rien que pour cela le livre est incontournable.
Olivier Rassemusse

Perkins offers us a deep explanation of how RTP can handle real time audio and, more importantly, video across a standard Internet connection. RTP has now been around for some 10 years, and has been extensively built out, based on practical feedback from its earlier usages.

As you might expect, much of the text concerns the packet formats used in RTP. There are subsidiary protocols within RTP, like its control protocol. Naturally, these are explained, as they are a necessary part of the overall RTP.

Some chapters delve into specific timing issues. One, called lip synchronisation, refers to the difficulty of synchronising the audio and video portions of a video signal. Other chapters discuss how to conceal lost video packets. Error concealment is a very practical necessity in this field.

The author is an expert in RTP/RTCP area, and this book is a must-have reference if you are working on this area or interested in . inlcuding VoIP/Videoconferencing, Streaming. The book presents the all technical aspects of RTP/RTCP precisely and correctly.

Colin Perkins is obviously well regarded in the area of RTP with many papers and research to his credit. This book is a very thorough and readable text on RTP. All aspects of RTP are covered in sufficient depth. The only thing that would have improved it would have been access to code. At various sections in the book he refers to an RTP stack that he has written. If this were made available as part of the book it would have been a killer combination.

If I lost this book, I'd buy another one!

Great condition with well kept book jacket. Smooth transaction. Delighted with book.

It's the best Gone With the Wind book I've read, besides GWTW itself! Terrific photos! Covers everything from Margaret Mitchell, to the stars of the movie! I recomend it to anyone who loves Gone With the Wind!

It's the best Gone With the Wind book I've read, besides GWTW itself! Terrific photos! Covers everything from Margaret Mitchell, to the stars of the movie! I recomend it to anyone who loves Gone With the Wind!

This book's cover alone is worth it all!!!! Contains "fresh" photos of Scarlett contenders as well as documenting the quest for the "right cast".

This book is a MUST for all GWTW collectors!

Practical and complex, this book is a collection of essays, games, puzzles and studies focused on tactical play; especially interesting is how psychology enters into choosing moves. This book is not geared toward beginners, but any dedicated student could benefit if willing to put in the study time.

Dvoretsky's book is for advanced players. In order to get maximum benefit one should probably have a rating of at least 2000 FIDE (app. 2100 USCF). At that level basic tactical skills would be in place. However, in order to develop further one must work with more complicated material, basically well-annotated complex tactical games.

This is where Dvoretsky comes in. The book is packed with complex games and analysis of very high quality, with additional observations and succinct advice about decision-making and psychology in tactical situations. In this book chess is a very concrete game - the master-teacher is a firm believer in the power of the specific example more than in overall synthesis or general conclusions.

If you are looking for quick fixes or easily digested "lessons", look elsewhere. However, if you have reached a certain level of play and are willing to put in the work (answering the training questions, doing independent analysis) its instructional value is very high.

I am rated 2200 ICC standard and have gone through about half of the book. In some positions I have managed very well, but in many others I have missed some points or the main point. I know that I am relatively weak tactically so I have to remind myself that rewards will come from the very fact of trying to solve these problems.

In short: a excellent book for hard-working advanced players

As a player with a growing but still modest chess library, it was only recently that I discovered Dvoretsky's name recurring in the books and reviews of players in-the-know. School of Chess Excellence 2 was my first foray into his writings and I have found it tremendously rewarding, though difficult, to work through. Chief among the book's virtues is its willingness to approach the games of chess legends and relative unknowns with equal respect and equal care, and to strike an excellent balance between analysis and commentary in doing so. Dvoretsky's own games, as well as those of his leading pupils, figure prominently in the work, and contribute a host of insights into the differences between planning and playing, succeeding and failing.
The analysis itself is first-rate. As a player of average talent, I often find tactical analysis comes most easily in positions that are already themselves overtly tactical. By contrast, Dvoretsky excels at revealing the subtlety of tactical thought as it develops through the course of a game. As a result, he routinely shows a culminating tactical shot to be the punctuation mark to a rigorous process of continually seeking out the best move, rather than a stroke of brilliance arriving like a bolt from the blue.
As a stylist, Dvoretsky can tend towards the self-congratulatory from time to time, though this may be as much a result of the difficulties of translation as anything else. For the most part he is likeable and accessible. I agree with previous reviewers that the ideas presented are both difficult and dense, but they should not prevent any player beyond a beginner level from comprehending the book and benefiting greatly from it, provided one is patient. I recommend it.

When I first looked at this book, I found it hard and a little plodding. Then going through the examples, I found my play improving, and beat two masters in quick chess. This is an outstanding book, perhaps the best I have read, though it requires time and thought.

If you would like to write a script, this is the book I recommended. I have a lot of self-help screenplay books on my bookshelves. There are few self-help books are worth to keep. Most of them I wasn't really happy with and felt it was wasted of money. Sometime last year, I read somewhere about Rob Tobin, I took a chance to purchase it. Not a day I regret buying this book and worth the money. Everything he wrote in his book, it makes perfect sense. Since he already read over 5,000 scripts in film industry. He's clearly a very good teacher. He had experienced to teach us with information.
Overall, this book is simply the best to give you with straightforward structure in screenplay from beginning to the end. His book will help you to stay focus with one subject, theme or goal for a main character to follow through the movie or script. I use this book as my bible when I write a script.
Good luck on writing!
Richie

I'm an Emmy-winning TV writer who's read hundreds of books about screenwriting and story. Rob Tobin's is simply the best I've ever seen. It's straightforward without being simplistic, and it relates the various elements of story in a way I've never seen before. For example, a lot of books will tell you that the hero has to have a goal and a flaw, but Tobin shows how the two elements have to interact to get a satisfying story. This book should be on every screenwriter's shelf.

This book gave me great, unbridled hope as an aspiring writer! I finally came to the realization that I'm infinitely more suited to screen-writing than novel-writing. Mr. Tobin's book gives the reader exactly the information he/she needs to write a well-crafted, financially- and prestigiously- viable screenplay. I was completely sold...until the last 7/8ths of the book.

Everything Mr. Tobin writes in the beginning and middle, is 100% sound. One could write a brilliant movie based on his wise, and simply explained concepts. Good job Dude!

I must confess, though, that I had a bit of a problem with his "dissing" of the stories of "Titanic" and "Brokeback Mountain".

Yeah, OK, "Titanic" didn't have a whole lot of story going for it, and it's not particularly one of my favorite movies... But Mr. Tobin's complete disdain for the lead characters was a bit of a turn-off, and made me question his understanding of them, and their story.

The other problem for me was the appendix that dissed the screenplay of "Brokeback Mountain". I found this a bit confusing, because throughout the body of the book, Mr. Tobin cites the script for "Brokeback Mountain" regularly, and seemingly reverantly. I think, perhaps, that he was forced by the publishing folks to include that particular essay...?

Those two issues aside, this book will teach you much about screen-writing, and may even change the way you watch and appreciate movies.

When it comes to creating scripts for films and television, professional scriptwriter Rob Tobin's maxim is that 'writing well isn't just a goal, it's a responsibility'. That attitude comes across loud and clear in "The Screenwriting Formula: Why It Works And How To Use It", his deftly written and thoroughly 'user friendly' instruction guide for aspiring screenwriters regardless of the genre they are working in. "The Screenwriting Formula" is nicely organized into three main sections: The Seven Elements (the hero, the flow, enabling circumstances, the opponent, the hero's ally, the life-changing event, jeopardy, combining story elements); The Structure (prologue, act one, act two: parts one and two, act three); The Big Picture (the logline, the outline, high-concept and low-concept stories, a titanic undertaking). Enhanced with the inclusion of two germane appendices (Prewriting Techniques and Adapting Novels to the Screen), "The Screenwriting Formula" is comprehensive, practical, and essential reading for anyone hoping to successful write a screenplay that will measure up to professional standards and commercial viability.

A good intro that is well illustrated. Almost all the tutorials work like they are supposed to. Much better than the Official Guide.

I love this book!! It rocks!! It really helps you get around in Second Life (SL) as a struggling "Newbie" those first few days and weeks. The book is beautifully presented, with high quality illustrations, great tips, and the author's Avatar; "Ansel Gasparini" is a cool dude : ) It really enhanced my whole SL experience.
After you read the book and get on Second Life, go visit the in-world site where you can see some of the stuff in Brian White's book. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to start their Second Life adventures..! Let's get this party started... let the adventures begin!!

See you in Second Life!! : )

This is a superbly done, informative, beautifully illustrated (and printed), densely packed yet easy-to-understand, highly informative, tour-de-force introduction to everything you want or need to know about Second Life. They don't get any better than this. If you are interested in SL, you've got to get this book!

All the best,

will

Basically, I did the same thing a lot of other people did in Second Life. I registered, then walked away after not getting the fun of it right away. I came back to it because I needed a new creative and social outlet. Mr. Whites book approaches the problem that the Second Life folks are only now getting a handle on and solves it. By going through the chapters in whatever order, at your own pace, You can get a handle on this experience and use it to help remake your world. First and Second. Now my Second Life is all about making new friends and doing and making things with the tools and talents I can muster.... and talking to people who like dancing....while talking, and making things....
The best game engine is another human being.
Thank you Brian White.

Secrets of Hollywood Special Effects was in its day without a doubt an excellent work, and still is packed full of very interesting and helpful references.

While CGI has taken over the mainstream special effects, lower budget films are unable to afford the costs of CGI and real special effects are still in demand, and on stage as well in live productions.

The book quite rightly has a very strong emphasis on safety, and the need to thoroughly rehearse what you are going to attempt.

The author, Robert McCarthy is generous in giving away information not only about the special effect but how to interact with the talent using the special effect.

However his chapter on chemical affects is an absolute shocker, with potassium chlorate and sulphur being frequently used in compositions. These two chemicals can ignite with very small amounts of friction.

Mercurous chloride is used in a number of the compositions, and the dangers of mercury salts completely ignored. No one, but no one uses mercury salts for pyrotechnics, because of the toxicity let alone the cost.

In fact I have to wonder if this chapter used works from the 19th century as a reference, when the use of such compositions was commonplace.

The line drawing illustrations are extremely good, however reproductions of actual film scenes of extremely poor quality and it is difficult to see what is happening. Some of the other black-and-white photos which were shot especially for the book are also of poor quality.

The chapter on fireworks is very dated, with little reference to electronic choreographed firing, and much emphasis on hand firing. As well it recommends the use of steel mortars when nearly every jurisdiction in many countries have banned these because of shrapnel issues after deaths.

These deaths have occurred in among other countries, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand, entirely due to steel mortars. This chapter should have been removed from the book as it is not special effects and there are far better books and training on firework shows available.

All in all as the book says in its disclaimer, do not attempt to create any of these effects without proper training experience and professional assistance.

However for operators in the industry, it is an exceptionally good read, and if you only come away with one revelation or interesting observation it is well worthwhile buy.

For the interested auteur, TV and film buff it will be a fascinating read seeing behind the scenes.

I am sure those professionals who read the book, will come away with considerable respect for work that Robert McCarthy did.

Anthony Lealand Firework Professionals Ltd www.firework.co.nz

This book is an amazing resource for the budding special effects wizard. Whether you have a desire to go into the field of big Hollywood effects or if you just have a genuine interest in the "how did they do that" side of the effects business, this is a great guide.

In this day and age it is rare to find books that lay out a helpful guide to practical effects. While I have heard that perhaps some of the chemical information is outdated or mis-stated (chemicals being something I think you should always make sure you understand...eg: beware recipes) I still think the book is worth having for its explanation of all sorts of major on-set effects. Great book! Worth getting!

Nothing compares to this book when it comes to special effects, the incredible amount of information is hard to find outside of this book

WARNING MACARTHY'S BOOK GIVES USES FOR CARBON TETRACHLORIDE, DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL--EVEN ONE BEER--WITHIN 24 HOURS, BEFORE OR AFTER, OF USING CARBON TET--THE COMBO HAS A SYNERGISTIC EFFECT THAT CAN KILL YOU!
This is a great special effects book but the author is not an organic chemist and so didn't know this. (Carbon tet used to be very comon in cleaners and was thought safe at one time.) Since the author gives a number of chemical recipes you should be cautious about drinking before, or after, or during the use of any of them.
Otherwise this is a great book. There is very little overlap between this book and Bernard Wilkie's CREATING SPECIAL EFFECTS FOR TV AND VIDEO so you might want to get both.

Its hard for me to treat the books of this series separately (ShaderX 3, ShaderX 4, ShaderX 5). They are all very good books of GPU-Gems level or higher. In comparison with GPU Gems, they are more academic, i. e. they are rather short and more applicable to wide range of applications then GPU Gems ones (while GPU Gems series is more scientific, state of the art, considering one particular research) and the accompanying CD is much more better (lots of working examples, most with source code).
Sections (Image-Space, Shadows) are also very helpful to figure out what is useful for you.
This series is not for beginners anyway, so please, go Cg Tutorial or DX SDK Tutorial and don't put 2 or 3 marks for these books because you can't cope with them.

I've bought many other rendering books like GPU Gems series, and I think this book is more practical for game developers compared with the other books. It explains many useful algorithms in good details and covers many aspects that a serious game developer should consider. As a game engine programmer, I think this book is a very good reference for me.

This book is a collection of forty-seven articles around the common theme of shading images in real time. Many of these effects have been common in the movie world for many years, but in that application the shading can be done on very expensive machines and the time it takes to produce an image is not important because the resulting image is to be shown on screen rather than immediately on a display. Now, with the increasing power in the PC's in widespread use, these techniques are being brought down to the standard desktop.

In this book a wide selection of authors discuss the start of the art in shading. They are, for the most part, active professionally in the graphics display business. A number of them work for ATI, the video card manufacturer, a number work for gaming companies, or for companies producing software used in gaming.

This approach provides for a fast time to print, rather than one author taking a year to write the book. In this industry a year is a lifetime, well, at least a generation in the software.

Shader X3: Advanced Rendering With DirectX And Open GL compiled, organized, and deftly edited by Wolfgang Engle (Senior Special FX Engineer at Wings Simulations) is packed from cover to cover with 630-pages of insightful new techniques, innovative approaches to common problems, as well as practical tools and tricks that will help in all areas of shader programming. All of the articles comprising Shader X3 evolved from the the working experiences of industry professionals, and all of the sections were expertly edited by shader programming experts. This comprehensive collection of ready-to-use techniques will enable even the most novice programmer to get up to speed quickly, and the more experienced programmers will find a wealth of insights and techniques to improve efficiency and avoid redundancies. Shader X3 is an essential, "user friendly", and highly recommended instructional reference for shader programmers.

Sand Pirates is not only a romance, it's a breezy mix of suspense, mystery and thrills beyond ones wildest dreams. It takes you far away to a land of fantasy. I was intrigued by the characters that were well developed and interesting. The story moves fast and keeps the blood pumping. The twist and turns of the plot and the island of Sava made me feel as if I were there.

by- Kim Sandford author of Secret Fears

This is a fairly good book, but is rather thin for the price. It seems targeted to the Intermediate Civ2 player -- anyone who is looking to refing winning high-level play strategy will find it rather redundant.

However, if you are struggling at King or Emperor level, this book will help you. It's targeted to building a sound empire, then winning (albiet sloppily) at Emperor and Diety levels; however, it will not help with most of the more subtle play at those levels (e.g., getting your score from 3,000 to 15,000 by 1850 AD, etc.).

This book does discuss solid fundamentals, how to deal with unhappiness, how to start a strong empire, etc. It does not cover things such as the OCC (one city challenge), getting your top Diety score above 20,000, and the game's more subtle idiosyncracies (max advances, the food caravan 'trick', cheapest way to rush build, etc.).

The cutting edge strategies still reside on the Internet, or maybe you'll discover them during extended gameplay.

PS, If you still seek a challenge, take the OCC (though this book does not help). OCC game rules are simple: you are only allowed ONE--that's right--ONE city, no cheating, no takebacks (unless a hut gives you a city); game setup: Diety level, small world, 7 civs, raging hordes. Your single city against the world... Top players can LAND a spaceship by 1900 AD, and the best have done it before 1850... Questions? My email is civII@bigfoot.com

This is a great book for types on building your civilization from scratch. I learned many strategies from this book. It is not like other Civ2 books I've seen, that are pretty much a extension of the manual and the Civilopedia. The only thing lacking is the tip's for scenarios from Civ2 Conflicts in Civilization (to be bundled with Ultimate Civ2: Gold Edition.) It had two pages for tip's on some scenarios, and only a half on others. It also didn't rate any of the scenarios. Still, if you are yet to fully master Civ2, I would buy this book.

Unlike most so-called strategy guides, which are really rehashes of the game manual, Rymaszewski's book outlines a legitimate strategy which players of CivII can use to succeed at the game on its hardest settings (Emperor and Deity).

The author knows his book is different; he recommends that the most effective way to use it is to simply "read it, and then play the game again". In other words, _Advanced Strategies_ is not a step-by-step walkthrough, nor is it a comprehensive references source full of charts and tables. Instead, it is an outline of a new way of thinking about the game.

I recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with CivII. While Rymaszewski's advice cannot compete with the level of detail available on some CivII-related Web sites, his clear writing style and no-nonsense approach to the game make _Advanced Strategies_ well worth its list price.