Not the best screensaver, I personally think it sucks but thats just me, thanks anyway, think I'll pass on this one!

As with most of their screen savers they need to have a widescreen (16:9 & 16:10) setting instead of the default narrow (4:3) so that those of us with newer displays can enjoy the true aspect ratio... i.e. eliminate the 'egg like' earth. :-)

Seriously, whoever came up with the idea that screen savers should include music, is not only a moron, but is a moron who needs a slap upside the head.

My screen saver comes on when I am otherwise ignoring my computer. Do people really sit and watch/listen to their screen savers?

It's pretty enough, but the "gee whiz" factor quickly wears off. The view just circles repeatedly around the planet, so it gets old. I prefer a screen saver which lets you change images, add new ones, change the desktop wallpaper, etc.

HEY FUBAR!! Here's the download link to your Storage Matrix Manager
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101

Ok As for todays give away.. I give it a 5 outta 10.
it's ok. I didn't have any problems with it. Just an average screen screen saver.

*S*

I sure hope Screensaver Saturday doesn't segue to Screensaver Sunday!

Why not try to attract some Freeze.com screensavers. At least they are more realistic

Hmm... There's something about Astro Gemini screensavers that I don't like. I think it's the super-high system requirements. On my computer I can (yes, again mentioning) run Half-Life perfectly and Half-Life 2 without too many major slowdowns (it's just the water rendering at that gate in the canals). My computer is a 2001 (or was it 2002-03? I forgot) Dell Dimension 4000i, with 2.6 GhZ processor, 512 MB RAM (of which 8 MB are dedicated to video), and a on-board Intel graphics chipset. For some really odd reasons, the screensavers run really slowly, 2 weeks ago's screensaver at 4 FPS, and today's at less than 1 FPS. I think if Astro Gemini's screensavers are going to go mainstream, they need to make it so that they will run on average computers, not near-gaming level PCs (I bet gamers won't bother with screensavers like these). Seriously, 16 MB video RAM for a screensaver?! That's just too high! Laptops running Vista with Aero on probably will experience awfully slow graphics (went to Staples today; saw one poor small laptop suffer 10-20 FPS on the Windows screensaver).

To all of you who are saying the same thing over and over again (jerky image). Stop it! Its really irritating, its like small kids whining about drinking milk. If you don't like screensavers, then DEAL with it. You should be happy that screensavers are only 1 day of the week and not the other way around.
Honestly I find these screensavers a better download then software (clean up utilities, optimizers, managers, burners)
oh yea btw i like the game giveaway today.

This was the first Astro Gemini screensaver that has actually worked on my computer. However, it is not the one I was hoping it was. There is a really cool Earth 3D screen saver that I used to have that had actual landmarks visible and you could see planes streaking across the sky. I was hoping this was it, but it wasn't. Also, I am not fond of the music, and also agree with a previous poster that the earth is rotating backwards which just seems wrong. I have uninstalled this program already.

to jerky, I dont't like. I give it a thumb and a half down.

This is a beautiful screensaver that simply needs its settings adjusted for your preferences. The install added it to my existing Gemini Screensaver Manager, and after turning off sound in the settings, and really turning down "camera" speed, it's a great ethereal trip when you machine kicks into screensaver mode. Definitely worth downloading -- thanks GOTD.

At first I confused this screen saver with another in the series 'Rexane Solar System' that was the (Moon) giveaway on January 12. I had previously downloaded an evaluation version of 'Rixane Solar System - Earth 3D v1.1'. That was a 16.4 MB download whereas this one is only 3.74MB. The differences approximate to the detail and quality of the screen saver.

By comparison with the Rixane offering the Astro Gemini is amateurish. There is no option for displaying it with the correct aspect ratio on a 16:10 monitor other than by altering the graphics card settings and, in my case, choosing 1600 x 1200 in the screen saver settings thus displaying the screen saver with black bands left and right.

The speed of action even with the 'camera speed' setting at minimum is still dizzying. All the action appears to going backwards - as someone else has commented the sun rises in the west and all the clouds migrate from east to west too. NB - I am NOT looking at it 'upside down'!

Another inaccuracy - when the sun is eclipsed by the earth there is no attempt at the back illumination of the earth's atmosphere. It should show up as a diffuse red/orange ring. Why other, during a real eclipse of the moon, does it turn that colour?

There doesn't seem to be any attempt at reproducing real meteorological cloud formations - there is a random unnaturalness about them and everything is too fast. It is anything but relaxing.

I find this screen saver akin to a gaudy seaside picture postcard and, although briefly attractive, is one that you would very quickly tire of.

The only thing that can be said in its favour, due to its lack of complexity and the low demands it places on your system, it runs rock solidly with perfect fluidity of motion.

uh ill pass and dont worry i did not vote.

i will skip today's giveaway because i have had a bad experience with this company's screensavers. they are good but they mess up alot of my visualisation settings.

looking forward to tomorrow.

#31, My husband can't see and hear at the same time...LOL. He, our 2 boys, and I went on a trip one year; the kids and I were talking about something and he was trying to focus on something route-related, and he not-to-loudly hollered, "Would y'all shut up...I can't see"!. Of course we all burst out laughing. :D

My PC 1920 x 1200
Installs without a hitch
Great graphics on my system
runs very smooth.
my favorite from gemini so far.

If it doesnt' run well, then it is your pc, since this software works perfect on mine and has great graphics.

I am posting a comment again, because it is obvious there are so many commenting with hidden agendas and dont' mind trying to hurt someone's business as this site and also the software provider. Many love this site and want to see it do well.
I would love to know who has so little repect for others, so I can go into your company and tell your boss what a jerk you are and they should fire you. If you don't like screensavers then go plant a tree or something, because there many people like me, that like them. The world is not all about you and your inability to adapt to society as normal human being. My four bits.

Has anyone else had problems with the full version activation? It shows up as a trial in the screensaver manager. I have not had this problem before. Age of Japan activated just fine. Any suggestions?
Thank you.

I like screensavers but I already have 4. I tried several by Astro Gemini but none were very impressive. A couple are nice but none stand yo to Marine Aquarium 2.6 + Time or Dream Aquarium. All Astro Gemini screensavers have been uninstalled. Thanks but I'll pass on this one without commenting on it's worth one way or another. One comment only, it installes a screensaver manager which is an add to buy more of their products and I can sure do without that all together.

The Planet Earth 3D Was very easy to install and runs VERY smoothly on my 2.8Ghz PC. Great graphics. A bit disconcerting to watch the Earth in counter rotation though. Thumbs up for me. Anyone interested you can see the ISS, Shuttle, and ATV from your back yard. Go to http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html and choose your home town or one close. I hope I've violated no rules here.

I just love the way people whine about all the freebies they get...

Thanks for another FREEBIE GOTD!

I'm a little disturbed by the description of the screen savior provided by the producer. It appears to be highly exaggerated

"This screensaver provides a unique opportunity to do that without having to pay 20 million dollars. You will actually get to see more than a ‘regular’ space tourist."

I understand they are trying to sell their product, but to say a cheap rendering of the Earth is better then actually being in space and really seening the Earth with your own eyes is just plain ludicrous. I know if I ever realistically had the chance to take a space tour I definitely would. It's just one of those awe inspiring moments that there is no substitute for.

A word to the producer, dont try to compete with the real thing. I strongly suggest that you consider changing it to something less fictious.

Gag! I would like to see a poll taken by GAOTD, asking how many users actually want screensavers offered for free. What use are they? They only work when you are NOT on the computer. No longer do monitors need protection from screen burn in. No thanks, I dont need this!

The install was quick and easy, and 3D graphics are GREAT! The ever changing perspective is really beautiful. I am showing 40+ FPS on an older Pentium 4 with AGP graphics card (nVidia FX5200 chipset). Nice job Astro Gemini, this one is certainly a keeper for me.

A very boring screensaver. All you see is earth rotating. The best screensaver from GAOTD so far has been 3D Bungalow Aquarium.

Very, very, nice. Thank you very much GAOTD. team and astro. I give it a 9 out of 10.
Boo to all the usual crybabies. Yous get days and days of software and no one and I mean no one cries about the software. God forbid we have a screensaver once or twice a month and yous act like the world is coming to a friggin' end. Get the hell over yourselves already will ya ????????
I almost wish it was a screensaver a day for an entire week just to piss you off.

PS and the sound should default to off. Imagine what would happen if you installed this at work and then left your desk. By the time you got back your office-mates would lynch you :-) (and the specific music sucks, regardless of whether you like the music option at all or not)

#11, #27

Not sure what you mean about the planet rotating backwards. I installed and watched night move across the coast of Africa, across the Atlantic, and onto the eastern seaboard. What might be confusing you is that sometimes, as the camera pans around the planet, it presents an 'upside down' view of earth (you can tell by looking at the position of the continents). From this view, the earth appears to be rotating backwards - as it should.

Speed: never got above 1FPS. There's a slider in the screensaver options to adjust speed but the slider isn't marked with which end is fast and which is slow. However I tried both and it still never got above 1FPS. Totally unpleasant experience of jerkiness.

Quality: as others have mentioned, the image is distorted. My guess is the programmers developed on a 4x3 aspect ratio screen and never tried it in a 16x9 screen. The options did offer other screen modes *but* they were some pre-selected list, they were not the ones that windows offers. I tried them all and still the earth was squashed-egg-shaped. The quality of the rendering was poor - you could see edge artifacts around the horizon.

If this was a first-year programming class I'ld given them 60% for making it work at all but no more since they failed at every opportunity where they could put some polish on the product.

Absolutely and 100% not worth paying for.

Already uninstalled. Btw Revo found 3 left-over graphics files and two left-over directories. Also Revo didn't pick up the company name/web site info to display, which is available in most every other piece of installed software I have.

I love all things space related and still enjoy the Solar System - Moon 3D Saver from 3 PlanetSoft, so despite the negative comments I was eager to try this offering.

Sorry GOTD, I have seen better graphics of the Earth in free animated gifs I find on Google Image searches. But thanks anyway - I love freebies!

Folks,

I understand that GOTD is friendly enough to offer a free program and usually a game everyday except the other day for some reason lol! When it comes down to commenting on products, people hold back or they are completely oblivious on giving an honest review. I am hear to tell you, this screen saver is horrible in so many ways alone.

- Look at the requirements, if you have a system that is older it will probably run better simply for the optimized requirements being generation II pentium border line III. Most up to date video cards and dual core procs will have a hard time with Open Glide because of it's limited capacity and constraints, simply because it's like trying to translate Aramaic in today's bible language.

- With Open GL compatibility built into the code it will cause choppy frame rates for people that have an up to date video card or machine. Open glide is near prehistoric along with 3D FX, when it comes to graphics card support.

- The music does not fit the scene in any way shape or form. It would be like looking at the screen saver with windmills that was put out awhile back and hearing death metal music in the background.

- If you think this is a good screen saver and you have an older machine then kudos to you. However I run a performance RAID and it still slows down when the camera is panning up and down the earth, this program is poorly coded belongs in the bargain bin for no more then 4.99!

Astro gemini is always welcome.. its a nice softwaer with so littel in size, great graphics,,, you can test your graphics card through it...

TAPASH FROM INDIA.

When will people realise that screensavers are NOT green, Monitors have OFF switches for a reason!
They should be banned by now!

#7....check your fans and graphic card...when my pc start jumping a few months ago, discovered it was overheating because the fans were all filled with dust. i cleaned it out and everything runs great now...a tidy pc is a happy pc.

It works smooth like butter on my pc so I know it's not the program.

I am glad this one went up for trial. Been waiting for this one and was thikning of trying it. I like it better than the moon one.
Can't figure out why people thumbs down. I think anyone who actually tries this will like it. OH...mine installed smooth runs perfect and did install on my astro gemini screensaver manager just fine. I have this set at 1920x1200 settings and looks great. Yea, I like screensavers, I work on my pc a lot and don't feel like shutting it down everytime I walk away. besides, it looks very sharp.
commenting should only be reserved for who is trying it and not what someone thinks it might be like Lol...
thanks GOTD and Gemini

Hello, I have sooo enjoyed all the screen savers from this developer and the manager it comes with. I opened up the manager and all but this newest screen saver says full version. This time, it does not read full version and it "seemed" to do fine when I registered it, twice. Should I uninstall it and try it again? O.K. Shall try that, and if anyone one else sees this under "my screensavers" on the manager page, let me know it is not just something happening to me, although, I hope no one else is haveing a problem getting the Full Version. Thank You for this screen saver. Sharon H.

This is horrible. Graphics are crappy. Even at 1680x1050 looks blurry.
I feel sorry for ANYBODY who actually purchased this. Even for free it is NOT worth it.

I wasn't going to download this one, but saw a few good comments in amongst all the negatives, so thought I'd give it a try. This is one of AstroGemini's better savers. Runs very smoothly on my PC at its default settings, although I went in to the settings and dropped the camera speed down to next to nothing so I wouldn't motion sick from spinning around in space that quickly. :) I don't use screensavers all that often, but this will be a nice one to hang on to. A thumbs up from me.

And to the person who wondered where Mercury and Venus were, there is a perfectly logical explanation for that. Keep in mind that they do orbit the sun also, and aren't always in a direct line between us and it. At the time this screensaver was put together, they were probably on the OPPOSITE side of the sun. ;) Thus ends the astronomy lesson for today, lol.

So many negative people today, you should just be grateful it was offered for those who just might find this software helpful and not be so quick to judge. Not everyone in the universe stays by their pc's 24/7, some might actually like to have something like this in addition to whatever else they are using.

The tone of the comments are just really pathetic and if I was a potential software manufacturer reading these words of wisdom, I would definitely think twice before I gave GOTD anything in my product line to promote, which, for the morons who are quick to give something the thumbs down, is the very reason GOTD exists in the first place.

If you have something constructive to say, say it, otherwise just move along, and come back tomorrow and see if that offering is more to your liking.

So far whatever I downloaded from GOTD I loved it. Thanks GOTD for all the free softwares.

Thanks for this offer too but today we should think more about those stuff which are earth friendly too. Screen saver works when we are not working on computer. If we are not working on computer then there is no need for it to work so I would rather turn it off than watch screen saver.

I know I am saving lots of energy by turning it off.. and will advice all my friends to turn those screen-savers off. I am not any screen saver I just hate to waste energy.

WE ARE LIVING IN GLOBAL WARMING AGE... WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR OUR EARTH.

Another screensaver by Astro Gemini software? Nooooooo....

Well, the photos are very nice but the screensaver itself doesn't move in a smooth motion. The pictures jump from one to the next rather than being more of a rotating model, which I was hoping for. And I have 2G memory, a Pentium Duo Core, Intel Graphics Display and a 200G hard drive so, between the three, I should have no problems if it's supposed to run like that since I have no trouble with other graphics of any kind.

I'll keep it because, as I said, the pictures are nice, but I doubt I'll use it often.

#5: Do you really use your eyes to listen with?

Tried briefly and it's pretty enough, but I really don't think it's as useful or as pretty as say Google Earth if you actually want to look at Earth's geography etc, and I don't really use screen savers. If you want something showing the Earth to run in the background, get Xearth - it's free, it's a tiny program, and it shows the earth rotating in real time as the wallpaper on your desktop, as a globe or various map formats, with optional display of recent earthquakes. No, it isn't a photo-realistic image, but it's a lot more useful.

#15 spacepixie...I use a download manager also click on the (mirror link) not the download link that takes you to wiki.

Thank you GAOTD and Astro Gemini...nice and relaxing, very enjoyable in my opinion.

While there are some problems with this screensaver, I like it a lot. First, the negatives. The Earth rotates backwards, it's polygonal, the colors are probably wrong, and there's no normal or displacement mapping. The positives--it just looks neat. The cloud motions, while vastly faster than realtime, look great. The reflections are well done. As with other Earth screensavers, there are city lights on the nightside. As usual, the Moon and Sun are present. The starfield is fairly good, and shows the plane of the Milky Way. There are a great many views and angles. You can change the camera speed. I viewed it at 1920x1440 on a moderately fast computer, with a lower-midrange video card, by today's standards. The animation was very fast (up close, some spinning angles were a little dizzying), and mostly smooth, with an occasional stutter (decreasing the resolution would probably eliminate that). Personally, I like the music (through headphones), although it's not as good as some of Astro Gemini's other soundtracks. This doesn't aspire to be astronomically accurate, it just looks cool. It's not slow and pondering like some other astronomy-related screensavers. It doesn't suffer from the distortion that many 3D screensavers do when objects are near the edges/corners of the screen. On the downside, it doesn't have an aspect ratio setting. Unfortunately, I won't be able to post screenshots, as my screen-capture utility and OpenGL driver don't get along (Windows OpenGL drivers tend to have even more problems than DirectX drivers).

This doesn't appear to install the Astro Gemini Screensaver Manager (although it's already installed on my computer). The shortcuts go directly to the screensaver, and it didn't change any registry entries related to the Astro Gemini Screensaver Manager.

It's not worth my time to respond to the usual comments from people who viewed it for two seconds at a low resolution and claim their five-year-old can do better in a day (make a 3D screensaver and put it on GOTD next week--heck, I'll even give you six months to produce yours), and those who still haven't figured out that screensavers can be run standalone or with power management.

Briefly off-topic, since I mentioned it the other day: the Intel Matrix Storage Manager which HP deleted off my PC is actually quite good. It permits multiple logical RAID volumes of different types per physical drive, which eliminates many of the problems with using RAID (you can have high-reliability volumes, and separate high-bandwidth volumes, on the same physical drive). Whether I can reinstall it without a wipe and restore is still an open question--it requires coordinated changes to the OS and the BIOS.

Already got this screensaver from this site as it was already offered here in the past. Nice screensaver, but I'd rather download something more useful than a screensaver.

A very nice screensaver that is soothing and enjoyable.

Installation & Activation: The activation and installation works very nicely. It will also install the Astro Gemini Screensaver Manager if you don't already have it.

Graphics: It has very nice graphics of the planet Earth, the Moon, and the billions of stars around it. Half of the Earth will be in darkness and the other half will be bathed by the light from the Sun. The Moon isn't really emphasized that much; it's just there...

"Educational Content": It says that it is "A fantastically realistic 3D model of Earth with great educational content!" in the Astro Gemini Screensaver manager software, but I do not see much educational content. For example, I was taught that there were two planets (Mercury & Venus) between Earth & the Sun, but this shows nothing between these two celestial bodies. This is probably one of the best educational screensavers I've seen... not.

Music: It has nice music that suits this screensaver's theme. This screensaver is like looking out the windows of a rocket orbiting Earth, and this music, to me, just suits it. To be honest, though, I really don't care for the music because I usually have my own music on when I'm on my computer, So the fact that you like the music or not will be up to you.

Options: You have the following choices on this particular screensaver: Video Mode, Show FPS, Exit on Mouse Move, Show Time, Camera Options, Gamma Control, and Sound Control.

Video Mode: Mainly, this lets you choose the resolution of the screensaver.

Show FPS: Decide whether or not to show the FPS.

Exit on Mouse Move: Leave this checked if you wanna exit on mouse movement. If not checked, you must press any key to exit.

Show Time: Select whether or not to show time. If you do, you have a choice between the 12 hour format or the 24 hour format.

Camera Options: Here, you can choose the speed of the camera.

Gamma Control: Set how bright you want the screensaver to be.

Sound Control: Choose to enable music or not. If you enable music, you can choose the volume of the music.

Conclusion: This is a really nice screensaver with "educational content" that can help you relax. I have a little thing for astronomy which makes this is something I will really enjoy, so a thanks to GAOTD and Astro Gemini Software.

The Verdict: Two thumbs up, 4/5, 8/10.

Do anyone really use screensavers today?

Downloads and installs with no problem. However, Earth looks like an egg on my laptop and I didn't see any adjustment I could make to restore the view to a proper globe. The Point of View of the Observer is that of a drunken sailor heading back down the pier to his ship after an all-night bender.......lots of swoops and circling about.....it almost makes you dizzy to watch. I plan to keep for another look or two, but would bet I'll remove within 48 hours.

#5 I have a stick if you need a blunt object, and I usually turn off the music and clock anyway. #6 I bet you have one of those rectangle screens on your laptop which often distorts any image. #18 It must be your system, works just fine on mine.#20 No way does this consume 40 Watts of power, though I did find that it peaks my processor when Sim Aquarium (Which is a more active saver)doesn't. This is the first saver from Astro Gemini that doesn't have "jerky" images that I've downloaded. So what if the sun rises over Frisco first, that just gives us east coasters a little more sleep. I turned down the camera speed to give it more realism. All in all a keeper for those (Like me) who enjoy a variety of savers. Thanks GAOTD and Astro Gemini for this one.