MaximumPC 2005 05

You write,

we respond

VIDEOCARD CATECHISM

In “The Ultimate Upgrade

Bible” [April 2005], you say

some of the newer videocards

are unnecessary if you’re not

a gamer. But it doesn’t really

say what you need if you just

want good video-processing

performance. Sure, I play a

game or two, but I don’t want

to shell out $400 to $1,

just for gaming. I’d like to

use my PC for video editing

and rendering, so I can make

movies. Would a gaming card

offer the right performance for

this?

—BO ALEXANDER

EXECUTIVE EDITOR WILL SMITH

RESPONDS: The advanced video

processing that the videocard

manufacturers are pimping these

days is designed to accelerate

video playback and improve image

quality, but it doesn’t really have

anything to do with editing video.

Where you might see some benefit

from a faster 3D accelerator is

in the 3D transitions offered by

many video-editing applications.

Both Adobe’s Premiere Pro 1.5 and

Premiere Pro CS will leverage

your GPU for some 3D transitions.

We’ve not specifically tested 3D

performance in Premiere , but

assuming you wouldn’t want to

use a lot of obnoxious 3D transi-

tions anyway, we can’t imagine

that you’d need a $500 videocard.

HONESTY IS ITS OWN

REWARD

In your news story “Microsoft

to Pirates: ‘No Patches for

You!’” [Quick Start, April

2005], you write “Users

without a valid software

license will instead be offered

an opportunity

to purchase a

discounted version

of Windows.”

If pirates get a

discount, why don’t

I, the honest, law-

abiding, faithful

customer? Well,

actually, I don’t care

whether we should

or should not get a

discount. Instead,

I’m wondering

how long it will

take for the honest

customers to turn

into pirates just to

get the savings.

—JONATHAN FRYE

GEEKY IS AS

GEEKY DOES

I always enjoy reading your

magazine, and it was fun

taking the “Geek Quiz” in the

April issue, but you don’t list

a correct answer for question

95: “The standard cable used

in Ethernet-based networking

is called....” You indicate that

the correct answer is “RJ-45,”

but that’s only the name of

the connector that’s crimped

at each end of the cable. The

name of the cable is “Cat-5.”

—STAN EWY

I believe I found an error in

the “Geek Quiz” (April 2005).

Question 89 begins “Baud is a

measure of....” You state in the

answer key that it’s an indica-

tion of bits per second. That’s

not quite right. Baud actually

measures the number of signals

per second. You could define

it even more accurately as the

number of state changes per sec-

ond. The number of bits trans-

mitted per second depends on

the encoding scheme. Encoding

4 bits per second at 300 baud,

for example, would give you

1,200 bits per second.

—MIKE JONES

EVER TRIED STICKY NOTES?

I use adhesive paper labels to

label my CDs and DVDs. One

of my co-workers recently

told me this is a bad idea

and that the practice could

ruin my data or render the

discs unreadable. I did some

checking online, and it seems

that a lot of people do in fact

have problems when using

labels. Can you give me your

take on this?

—TOBY SPENCER

FEATURES EDITOR LOGAN DECKER

RESPONDS: Although it’s true that

labels applied even slightly off

center can render a disc unusable

in some players, we’ve yet to see

a drive mangled by a wayward

piece of adhesive. Our objections

are purely aesthetic: Disc labels

are tacky (no pun intended). You’ll

get much better results with an

inkjet printer that’s capable of

printing directly onto CDs (Epson’s

Stylus Photo R320, for instance).

Or check out this month’s review

of BenQ’s LightScribe DVD burner:

It uses the optical drive’s laser

to etch images onto special

LightScribe media. You can see

the spectacular results on page 75

of this issue.

TRY GERITOL

I hate to admit it, but the

fastest computer I own is a

paltry PIII 1GHz. Although my

machine was built when Super

Bowl ads were still funny—the

dot.coms were good for

something —it still serves me

well. I took a hit to my pride,

however, when I saw my

faithful machine become the

focus of an equip-the-elderly

pledge drive in your “Ultimate

Upgrade Bible” [April, 2005].

—ADAM PATRIDGE

SAY WHAT?

Michael Brown’s editorial

[“Minority Report, April 2005]

struck me as strange. I was

amazed when I heard my

first CD, but I was even more

amazed when I heard my first

MP3. I could squeeze 145 songs

on my own mix CD. Was there

degradation in quality? Yes, but

it was hardly noticeable, and

when I want quality, I go the

“

”

I’M WONDERING HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE FOR THE

HONEST CUSTOMERS TO TURN INTO PIRATES JUST TO GET

THE SAVINGS.

In/Out

6 MA XIMUMPC MAY 2005

SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

I’m a long-time subscriber and enjoy your

magazine. In your review of Corel Painter IX

[February 2005], you used the program to sketch

a mean-looking guy. Did you notice how much

he looks like former Homeland Security director

Tom Ridge?

—ED RIVAS

EDITOR IN CHIEF MICHAEL BROWN RESPONDS:

Indeed we did, Ed. It’s a little-known fact, but Tom

Ridge has a hand-drawn twin brother named Todd.

The Ridge family, struggling to make ends meet in

rural postwar Pennsylvania, quietly gave up the freak-

ish Todd for adoption. After a tumultuous childhood

bouncing from one foster family to the next, Todd

caught the acting bug and moved to Hollywood in the

early 1970s. While Tom Ridge was earning his law

degree, brother Todd was landing small roles in such

films as Ralph Bakshi’s notoriously bawdy Fritz the

Cat. We grabbed this screenshot last year, as Todd

was leaving an audition for Comedy Central’s Drawn

Together. He didn’t make the cut.