I’ve been using Hugin for a few years now - following a recommendation from Nat.

The best things about Hugin:

• Hugin does a stunning job of stitching and blending pictures
• Hugin is Open Source - so it’s free
• Hugin is cross platform

So here’s my 5 minute how-to:

Get Hugin - download from http://hugin.sourceforge.net/download/

Install it.

Get autopano-sift to do the point management from http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/~nowozin/autopano-sift/

Install it.

Get enblend to do the excellent blending of photos once they are stitched together from http://sourceforge.net/projects/enblend

Install it.

You now need to tell Hugin to use autopano-sift and enblend.

File –> Preferences –> Autopano

Specify the location of Autopano-sift

File –> Preferences –> Enblend

Specify the location of enblend

That’s it.

Add your pictures; do the magic - and you have some great panoramic pictures.

I’ve found that experimenting is key; you can get great results with some patience.

There’s also a manual for Hugin here http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=707719

I’ve been looking for a good quality, upscaling, multi-region DVD player for ages.

Alan tipped me off about Oppo - and I’ve just bought a DV981HD player.

Should be here Monday.

Apparently it’s $1000 worth of player for $225. Alan swears by his.