The latest version (1.8) includes a completely new capture module for video footage that lets you choose how you want your videos stored on disk: either as high quality footage fully compatible with either iMovie or Final Cut, or as on-the-fly compressed videos. The new capture module also adds a pre-roll, the ability to save capture settings and playback control. All are time-saving enhancements that make a near-perfect product even better.

iDive 1.8 also includes organizational improvements. Tape groups have been introduced as well as folder hierarchies for imported material. Tapes can now be rearranged via drag and drop and can even be moved between libraries and disks with your mouse. Again, these are time-saving improvements. There are also new maintenance tools to run diagnostic and repair corrupted libraries, although I've never had a problem with this.

But let's back up: iDive a "digital video shoebox" that lets you view your video clips like a photo album. It works by keeping a list of the videos you've digitized via the software. You can capture tapes and tag the clips with vital information about who, what and where the clips are about. You can sort, add keywords, trim, and more before you drop clips into your editing software.

You can digitize your videos at full quality and then export them to iMovie or Final Cut by dragging the clip from iDive into your editing software. Another nice touch -- especially for those with limited storage space -- is the ability to perform a sampled-video capture, in which iDive records frames at an interval you set (from 1-20 seconds). You can use the catalog to find the tape with the clip you want, and then digitize the entire video in your editing application.

iDive's "Mosaic" feature lets you create and share motion graphics from digital video footage. With Mosaic, you have a way to bypass video editing completely, and as an alternative, you can automatically generate fun animations from your iDive DV catalog. If you're really busy this can be a nifty timesaver as it moves your digital video from the shoebox to someone's inbox.

The Mosaic feature lets you generate a variety of animations -- such as a spinning globe, a cartoon-like assembly line, a museum presentation and more -- by automatically loading all the data that iDive has intelligently captured and catalogued: the highest rated images, clip titles and annotation information. Pro users can integrate motion graphics into client presentations and create animated portfolios. All animations can be exported as QuickTime files, streamed directly to a video camcorder or sent to iTunes, ready to be exported to the 5G (video) iPod.

With the latest features, iDive is a practically perfect complement to the digital lifestyle. Get a copy and idive right into all those video clips.

iDive 1.7 costs US$69.95 and is a $20 upgrade for registered users. System requirements are: Mac OS 10.4 or later, 256MB of RAM, 5MB of disk space (plus 20MB to 120MB disk space per hour of digital video). iDive is Universal Binary so runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs.

Macsimum rating: 10 out of 10