Before Mac OS Lion many of us were using Media calculator from Znarf Electronix  but unfortunately because it is a Carbon app it won’t run on Lion as Rosetta (the app for running these kind of apps) was dropped by Apple with the Introduction of Mac OS 10.7.x.

  

So what about the replacements?  There are two candidates for the Disk Space task which are both Apple Widgets.

A-NO-NE DAW Disk Space Calc

The first comes from Hiro at A-NO-NE Music and can be downloaded from here on the Apple web site. It can calculate how much disk space is needed for digital audio recordings based on bit depth, sample rate, length in time, and number of tracks.

 

Bitrate Pro

The second is Bitrate Pro from Daniel Pimley and can also be downloaded here from the Apple Widget site. It can calculate storage requirements for video capture or data rates for encoding, all in one simple elegant tool. File size presets for CD, DVD, BD-R, and local disks. Data rate presets for DV, DVCPRO, AVC-Intra, Sony XDCAM and many more. You can even drag and drop any QuickTime-supported media file from the Finder to import its properties.

Timecode

Moving on to the timecode calculation side, again two candidates for you to try…

 

Timecode Calculator Widget from Netmedia can be downloaded here. It can perform basing operations on video timings. You can add, subtract, multiply or divide pieces of video tapes in many formats. It is also possible to convert calculated values between formats without re-entering values.

 

TimeCalc from Eric Rawlins which can be downloaded here is a calculator for time values, expressed as hours, minutes, seconds, SMPTE frames and SMPTE subframes. The seconds and the SMPTE values can be suppressed if not needed. SMPTE calculations allow 4 different frame rates, and take into account drop frames when calculating at 29.97 fps.

 

Smartphone apps

There are also smart phoe apps available too for these kinds of tasks…

 

 

 

Timecode by Panoptik can calculate and convert any timecode into any other timecode or unit at the touch of a button. Timecode displays four user-definable units at once, allowing you to view 24 fps, 25 fps, rolls of film and frame results at the same time.

Cost £4.99

 

Time:Calc 2 from Dr Phil’s Apps lets you do calculations and conversions with time. He originally designed this app to help calculate the timings of TV shows, but he has since found many other great uses. For example converting the cryptic runtime details on the back of DVD covers, or ensuring the Sunday roast is not overdone (because the original cooking times were devised with the help of a bottle of wine).

 

Cost £1.99

 

I haven’t been able to find any free apps on the iPhone platform.  

 

Tell us what you think, which one do you like? Or do you have others that you use? What about other platforms like Windows and Google? Please share you experiences.