Snipping Tool Vista

In my earlier post I have mentioned about Z screen automatic screen shot tool. Here for those who are having above version of Vista Basic have the Snipping tool. This tool shall be used for capturing screen shots.

 

"You can capture a portion of your screen so you can save, annotate, or share the image"

I would say most of the Vista users may not have aware of this functionality that they have with their system.

To go to the Snipping tool

Open the Snipping Tool. Click Start>All Programs>Accessories. The Snipping Tool window will open and a white overlay appears over the screen.

Select the type of snip. Click on the arrow next to the New button and and choose from the options

 

• Free-form snip. To draw irregular shapes and lines, such as triangles and circles.

• Rectangular snip. Draw a custom and precise line by dragging the cursor around an object to form a rectangle.

 

• Window Snip. Capture the browser window or dialog box in a snip.

• Full-screen snip. Capture the entire screen, such as desktop background.

Capture the snip. Use the mouse or tablet stylus to drag around or select an area or program for snipping.

You can annotate and share the image. The snip will be automatically copied to the mark-up window. The toolbar hosts options for saving, creating, copying, e-mailing and editing the snip. I would say this is a slight set back with this option the images are copied are not set to any predefined folder /no autonaming and Saving feature when we do multiple screen shots. If you compare this feature Z screen edges out.

To save a snip, press the Save Snip button. In the dialog box enter a name for the file and choose a format if need be.

Annotations in the Snipping Tool include the ability to draw/write with a customizable pen, use a highlighter and clear selections with the eraser. These are simple to use tools for minor edits.

To share a snip, click the arrow on the Send Snip button and select an option from the menu.

To turn off the white overlay projected on the screen when the Snipping Tool, click Options. Clear the check box Show screen overlay when Snipping Tool is active.

To assign a shortcut key to the Snipping Tool, right click the Snipping Tool icon, click Properties and select the Shortcut tab. Enter your preference in Shortcut key.

Snips can be saved in a range of formats including HTML, PNG, GIF and JPEG.This a plus point where Z screen we have only JPG and PNG formats.

Any how we can do some gimmicks with this tiny application for Sure.

Text to speech/voice/narrator/audio reader

Text to speech reader

I have been quiet some time on the process of finding a good text to speech reader or narrator to read the  content in an audio form or to  read the doc or PDF files into audio form.

In between I have tried very much with the Vista narrator option. But I could notice there is a limitation for this. As the narrator only announces the menu and sub menu and screen settings but not the content .At times after using the narrator it was highly annoying and a big nuisance when we start working in the system.

My friend suggested of having a try on the Ultra Hal text to speech reader. He suggested this tool  as it does a fair job. I have installed the Ultra Hal text to speech reader in the system which is a free version of the tool.

 

In the free version the 3 voices are default.You can adjust the pitch and speed based on the document.

Usefulness

• This program will read all the standard Windows dialog box messages out loud to you. This can be a great aid for the visually impaired or for anyone who just wants messages to be read out loud.
• The Ultra Hal Text-to-Speech reader is also able to read the clipboard contents.

• Having use of this function you can easily have it read your email and web sites that you visit.
• Your chat messages can speak instead of text message and you can hear the messages from your  buddy
• This can be a great tool for proof reading because hearing your text out loud helps you spot all mistakes
• This program can also be used for reading e-books. Why strain your eyes trying to read a book

 

Gray areas:

• With the free version Ultra Hal Text-to-Speech Reader have only 3 standard voices.
• The documents like word and PDF files when we open throws with special characters and hence I have tried with the window pane. Might be a limitation with the free version.
• The audio file format is exported to a memory occupying WAV format we need to use tools like audacity to convert to MP3 or WMV formats.

I was quiet happy with this tool as it served the purpose though with the minimum functionality. Some of the features as mentioned I have tried converting text documents with audio file formats and then compressed to a MP3 file using audacity.

So whoever are on the look out of text to speech reader or Text to voice reader  or text to narrator I can recommend this tool which is free. Over all with the basic features with the tool I would rate it is a Good.

http://www.zabaware.com/assistant/.

To down load please click here.

To view TV program through Laptops

I have an IBM Thinkpad while purchase the default operating system was with Windows Vista home premium.It contains the media centre features .I was just cranking my head to find out how to connect the cable television and view the channels in my Laptop.I have just digged and then I found out that my Laptop has a limitation of the TV tuner card which is not a part of it  to support.

Just wondering how shall I proceed with that..By the time when I purchased the laptop Vista has been Launched in the market and it is a 4 months old baby.The set back I have noticed was none of the major TV tuner card supports vista by that time.I was just hunting for an good External TV tuner card for my Laptop and I got the answer.

At that time I have just seen the review of Winfast Palmtop TV  which is the only external device to support Vista.I just took a try for buying this model.It was Rs3600/-(ApproxUS $90).I have installed the software  and finally my issue got resolved.I could watch the TV program in my LCD screen of my Laptop computer.

  

External USB TV tuners are a dime a dozen these days, but with DIY media PCs still growing in popularity, we can expect to see even more devices like Leadtek's WinFast PalmTop TV before the flood of products tapers off. This Japanese model features a high-speed USB 2.0 connection, hardware-based MPEG-1/2/4 and AVI encoding, and a wireless remote, along with a suite of bundled software for TV watching, recording, and DVD authoring.

 

Some of the Key Features are :

• Enjoy NTSC/PAL TV on Desktop or Laptop PC for high quality entertainment
• USB 2.0 Interface Powered:
  Plug-and Play & no extra power adapter required (like a memory device)
• Noiseless and elegant designs
• Fully-Functional Remote Control:
  With use of a single power-off button, users can now switch off PC at ease.
• 23* Sec. high speed full-channel scan
• Support De-Interlacing for the best video quality
• Picture-In-Picture (PIP)
  2 channel programs processing at same time and master video can be alternative. The slave video can be displayed with any size and anywhere
• Time-Shifting:
  You can pause, rewind live television and  instant replays. Take your breaks during a TV show or movie and never miss a scene again.
• You can schedule your TV recordings on a daily, weekly or once only
• Capture Format Profile:
  • Support real-time video recording in MPEG-1/2/4*2 (MPEG4 is compatible with DivX or Microsoft MPEG4, related MPEG 4 codec needed)
  • Analog video sources input via AV/S video connector
  • Support still image capture in JPEG or BMP format
  • Support TV audio decoder, including MTS/EIAJ/A2/NICAM
• User-friendly and powerful PVR application
  • TV/Video wallpaper function.
  • Support playlist for video/audio playback, several files can be played seamlessly as one file. It can play with a Cool Command remote control and hot-key with keyboard
  • Make pre-scheduled recordings of TV programs, to achieve the features of Video & Audio On Demand
  • Multiple channel preview with "Channel Surfing in a Snap"
• Bundle software:
  Ulead® Videostudio® 9 SE, Ulead DVD MovieFactory™ 4 SE, Ulead® Cool 3D™SE, Cyberlink® Power DVD® 6

Review comments on Leadtek Winfast Palmtop TV

Recently so many external TV tuner cards are in place.But when I asked for the local computer vendor about this TV tuner card.He said that he cant guarantee the performance of any external TV tuner card and he is getting lot of complaints from the market .But not about this particular model.Even the popular digital magazine has rated as best model.If you want to ask my experience for the past one year I didn't find any problem.I use this mainly to record some TV program and it does the job fairly well.After proper evaluation I felt the decision is ok and it does the Job.

But whatever the software's they have mentioned are not much usable apart from the TV Tuner driver software because I have experienced some bugs in the U lead video studio and U lead DVD movie factory(any way those are all freebies only). I couldn't edit any movies may be it might not have supported vista that point in time.

So any one who wish to buy an external TV tuner card for LAPTOP can consider this particular device .

I would rate Winfast palmtop TV as Good.