Kollaborate
Pro Maintenance Tools
Pro Media Tools
CinePlay
Post Haste
Preference Manager
FCS Remover|
Maintain, optimize and troubleshoot your NLE
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Professional cloud workflow platform
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Simplified media management
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We recently released a minor update to our suite of media management tools. Here's what's new in Pro Media Tools 1.7.3:
We've added Quick Tasks in QT Edit for the following actions:
These tasks can be run in single-file or batch modes.
Additionally, while you won't be able to see the difference by looking, we've completely overhauled Quick Tasks under the hood to make it more efficient and to make it easier for us to deliver more Quick Tasks in future.
We've improved how Auto Transfer handles situations where volumes are offline. It now informs you which volumes are offline when you click the Transfer button, instead of the transfer just failing.
You can also now switch off transfer logging in preferences.
Pro Media Tools is an essential toolkit for media professionals. To find out more, view the feature list, read the user manual or download the free 15-day trial.
You may have read Apple's article about "legacy media" being phased out in the next version of macOS or even been alerted by an error message in the new version of FCPX. The article is fairly sparse and doesn't go into detail about the change or explain why it is occurring.
To be clear, it's not that 32-bit codecs are going away, it's that all 32-bit software is going away. But it affects video software the most because the only reason for an app to still be 32-bit in 2018 is because it uses QuickTime.
Why would an app still use QuickTime over the newer and non-deprecated AV Foundation? Because AV Foundation does not support third-party codecs. I filed an enhancement request to support third-party codecs several years ago and Apple closed it as "won't fix" so their position on that seems pretty clear. (Sure, you can go to a lower level and write your own parser but if you've reached that point, why bother using Apple's media frameworks at all?)
There is a Reddit thread with quite a lot of misunderstandings about what the change means. So to clear up some of the misunderstandings in that thread: there isn't really such a thing as a 32-bit file. You can have a file stored on a 32-bit file system or in a container with a 32-bit size header but the result of this is that these files will be limited to 2 or 4 GB in size. It has no bearing on which apps can read them, so they can still be read by both 32- and 64-bit apps or codecs. Also, do not confuse the QuickTime container (.mov) with the QuickTime API - the container is alive and well and still supported by the new frameworks. (The MP4 standard's container is about 99% identical to a regular MOV container after all.)
This isn't really about 32- vs 64-bit, it's about Apple no longer allowing extensibility. Next year's version of macOS won't support third-party codecs at all, so converting 32-bit codecs to 64-bit isn't a solution. A codec is a central piece of code that handles reading and writing to a particular format. Now instead of using that central code for free with no extra effort, every app needs to create its own version of that code.
But remember: this only affects macOS's native video frameworks. Developers don't have to use them and there's nothing to stop someone writing their own DNxHD parser. You don't need to worry about your files becoming unreadable because ffmpeg will always be there. (It still supports ancient long-dead codecs like Indeo!)
This is unlikely to change much with Adobe or Blackmagic. They use their own parsers for a lot of formats so will be immune to this change. The people it affects the most are small developers, who now have to come up with solutions to problems that Apple was taking care of for them in the past. By licensing certain codecs or allowing users to install their own codecs, Apple was providing an easy, free and legal way for these developers to read these files. They may not have the manpower to write their own parsers or the legal or financial ability to license the codecs in question. ffmpeg is a solution to the technical problems, but legal ones still remain - the code has to be compiled directly on the user's computer in order to be legally compliant, which can be complicated and user-unfriendly.
It may also affect FCPX negatively too. If the cross-platform NLEs are immune to this change, it means that FCPX is the only major NLE that will be affected by it. Apple's advice in the article is essentially "buy a new camera" but will people really shelve the cameras they paid thousands of dollars for to continue using FCPX? Or will they go for the cheaper option of switching to an NLE that can open them? I think the FCPX team are great, but they are sometimes hamstrung by corporate Apple which may not have the same interests as them or may be unable to see the bigger picture of how large changes like this affect Apple's smaller divisions.
Some people have speculated that the reasons for this are because Apple is planning to merge iOS and macOS or create ARM chips for desktop computers. Apple may well do these things in future, but I think this change was made for two more mundane reasons: security and efficiency. AV Foundation is fast because it is efficient so inefficiently-coded third-party codecs may cause performance or battery life problems. Supporting third-party codecs opens up the operating system to maliciously-crafted movie files meant to exploit bugs in third-party codecs that Apple doesn't have the ability to fix themselves. (I would argue that the benefits are still worth it despite these two potential costs.)
You may be wondering what solution we are planning for our products. The majority of our apps don't use QuickTime and the only one that relies on it heavily is QT Edit. For the apps that use QuickTime, we will convert them to have some level of base functionality with the default OS frameworks. When you launch the app for the first time, it will ask if you want to enable additional codecs and if you answer yes, it will install ffmpeg for you (the exact technical way this will work and the exact codecs that will be supported is still being figured out). Advanced users will also have the ability to compile ffmpeg themselves and link the executable to our apps to ensure they can definitely read the files they need to or to have greater control or better support for their hardware. We feel that this is the best we can make of both worlds: trying to make it as user-friendly as possible while still giving power users control.
If this change affects you, here are the feedback links for macOS and FCPX. But Apple shouldn't postpone or cancel the death of QuickTime (it absolutely should die) - the solution is to allow third-party extensibility in the new frameworks. I'm not holding out hope that this will happen, and our ultimate goal is to be cross-platform so we'd probably go down the ffmpeg route regardless, however if enough people complain they may at least continue to support some additional codecs in FCPX.
CinePlay for iOS 1.7 - Oct 23 2018
Kollaborate Encoder 1.3 - Oct 18 2018
Changelog:
Kollaborate Server 1.7.1 - Oct 18 2018
Server-specific features
Full changelog:
CinePlay 1.5.4 - Oct 10 2018
When we created Kollaborate we set out to encourage long-term subscriptions, with short-term subscriptions intended for situations where you might only work on a project for a few months and therefore not need a whole year's subscription. So for this reason there was a significant price difference between annual and monthly subscriptions.
While more than 80% of our customers are on annual subscriptions, we know that some customers prefer to be billed monthly and have in fact been using our service for years on the monthly plan even though it costs more. Based on feedback we have decided to reduce pricing on the monthly plans so there is less of a difference between month-to-month and annual plans, although it will still remain better value to subscribe for the whole year.
| Plan | Old monthly price | New monthly price | Annual price |
| Freelance | $45 | $25 | $180 ($15/month equivalent) |
| Small Business | $65 | $40 | $300 ($25/month equivalent) |
| Business | $79 | $60 | $480 ($40/month equivalent) |
| Production | $119 | $99 | $780 ($65/month equivalent) |
| Studio | $149 | $129 | $1188 ($99/month equivalent) |
| Studio Plus | $199 | $169 | $1548 ($129/month equivalent) |
| Network | $279 | $239 | $2388 ($199/month equivalent) |
| Network Plus | $379 | $339 | $3599 ($299/month equivalent) |
You can view our entire list of packages including storage space and features here.
Existing subscribers will be charged the new prices the next time their account bills and don't have to do anything to receive the lower price. Customers who were charged within the last 10 days have received a credit on their account for the difference, which will be subtracted from next month's bill (so if you were charged $45 your next bill would be $25 - $20 = $5).
Kollaborate is an essential cloud workflow platform that allows you to share files with clients and team members while integrating with Digital Rebellion apps and services. To find out more, see the overview or register for the free trial.
Last week we released a major new update for CinePlay, our iOS app for local and cloud media playback that's aimed at video professionals.
The most significant change in this version is that markers are now supported on iPhone devices. Why was this not supported before? The main reason was screen real-estate, but with iPhones now increasing in screen size plus the repeated recent requests we got for iPhone support, we decided to re-evaluate the feasibility of adding this feature. You can now add, edit, view and delete comments directly from your phone.
Other changes include improved stability and minor bug fixes.
CinePlay for iOS is a powerful mobile playback and note-taking tool for video professionals. To find out more, see the feature list, read the user manual or watch the overview video. Kollaborate customers can get cloud functionality in CinePlay free of charge with the CinePlay: Kollaborate Edition app.
Kollaborate Server 2.7.1 adds some great new features and changes to our self-hosted workflow platform.
You can now customize more of the UI and even use different logos for the site and email headings if you choose.
You can now hide pages completely or only make them available to admins. So for instance if you never use the Dashboard feature it can now be hidden from the UI.
You can also hide features from the player page such as making it so that only admins can see viewing statistics.
By default everyone has the ability to create a project. You can now limit this to site admins only from the Configure page of the admin area.
Kollaborate Server 2.7.1 has the same features as the cloud version, including:
Files are no longer deleted instantly and can now be restored by an admin for up to 14 days. To view deleted files, click the Show dropdown at the top right of the Files page and select Deleted Files (note: only admins can see this option).
Deleted projects can be restored by choosing Deleted Projects from the dropdown at the top right of the Projects page. You will only see projects you created here and they can be restored for up to 14 days.
To protect your content, files can now be given an expiration date from the Metadata page. The file will be deleted once this date passes, but can be restored by an admin for up to 14 days.
You can now view comments in a printable view complete with thumbnails. To do this, click Actions in the player, then go to Export Comments and choose Print. 
There are two new options on the Share page:
Force users to download - This forces the user to download the file instead of playing it in the browser. This is useful for situations where you don't intend to keep a file up for a long time and want to make sure the client downloaded it before it gets deleted.
Automatically relink to latest version - In earlier versions of the site, if you sent out a link and allowed the user to view all versions, the link would still default to the version it was originally linked to even when newer versions exist. This option makes sure that the first file shown is the latest version but still gives the option to view earlier versions.
There is also a new option when emailing a link to send the password in a separate email. This was requested by users who were concerned about link recipients forwarding the link to others.
There are two new Upload Workflow actions:
Don't combine versions - This prevents the uploaded file from being part of a version stack, even if the filename matches that of an existing file in the folder. Files will always be independent with this option switched on.
Remove original file after conversion - This automatically deletes the original file after it has been converted by our encoding servers and replaces it with the highest-quality proxy. This is useful for saving storage space. Note that deleted original files cannot be restored by the new file restoration features.Â
There is also a new File Workflow action:
Set file expiration date - This allows you to automatically change the file's expiration date. This is very useful for creating content lifecycles - you can now create multiple File Workflows and set expiration settings automatically depending on the file's sensitivity or importance.Â
There is also a corresponding update to Kollaborate Encoder. You must install this version if using Kollaborate Server 2.7.1 as older versions are not compatible.
Changes include support for password-protecting encoders and better support for image and multi-track audio files.
Full release notes for Kollaborate Server 2.7.1 and Kollaborate Encoder 1.3 are available on the Updates page or on the Kollaborate Server page after logging in.
Kollaborate is an essential cloud workflow platform that allows you to share files with clients and team members while integrating with Digital Rebellion apps and services. Kollaborate Server allows you to host the platform in-house on your own servers and storage. To find out more, see the Kollaborate Server overview or register for the free cloud trial (Server trials are available on request).
Kollaborate 2.7.1 - Oct 3 2018
Post Haste for Mac 2.6.4 - Sep 14 2018
Pro Maintenance Tools 2.2.6 - Sep 7 2018
Kollaborate 2.7.1 is now live on the cloud, with lots of great new features.
Files are no longer deleted instantly and can now be restored by an admin for up to 14 days. To view deleted files, click the Show dropdown at the top right of the Files page and select Deleted Files (note: only admins can see this option).
Deleted projects can be restored by choosing Deleted Projects from the dropdown at the top right of the Projects page. You will only see projects you created here and they can be restored for up to 14 days.
To protect your content, files can now be given an expiration date from the Metadata page. The file will be deleted once this date passes, but can be restored by an admin for up to 14 days.
You can now view comments in a printable view complete with thumbnails. To do this, click Actions in the player, then go to Export Comments and choose Print.Â
When linking a subscription to your account from the Linked Accounts page, you can now choose whether the user can automatically access all projects you create. If this box is unchecked, they will be able to create new projects but will need to be specifically added to the Team page of each project in order to see them.Â
Note: users linked in this way will become admins on every project.
There are two new options on the Share page:
Force users to download - This forces the user to download the file instead of playing it in the browser. This is useful for situations where you don't intend to keep a file up for a long time and want to make sure the client downloaded it before it gets deleted.
Automatically relink to latest version - In earlier versions of the site, if you sent out a link and allowed the user to view all versions, the link would still default to the version it was originally linked to even when newer versions exist. This option makes sure that the first file shown is the latest version but still gives the option to view earlier versions.
There is also a new option when emailing a link to send the password in a separate email. This was requested by users who were concerned about link recipients forwarding the link to others.
There are two new Upload Workflow actions:
Don't combine versions - This prevents the uploaded file from being part of a version stack, even if the filename matches that of an existing file in the folder. Files will always be independent with this option switched on.
Remove original file after conversion - This automatically deletes the original file after it has been converted by our encoding servers and replaces it with the highest-quality proxy. This is useful for saving storage space. Note that deleted original files cannot be restored by the new file restoration features.Â
There is also a new File Workflow action:
Set file expiration date - This allows you to automatically change the file's expiration date. This is very useful for creating content lifecycles - you can now create multiple File Workflows and set expiration settings automatically depending on the file's sensitivity or importance.Â
We've improved the UI for the Adobe panel to make it easier to download files and import markers.Â
Note that this is a server-side change so you don't need to update the panel plugin itself.
We've renamed the previous Disable Alerts option to Incognito Mode to make its function more obvious.
Incognito Mode allows you to prevent your actions on the site (e.g. uploading a file or making a comment) from sending email alerts to others on the project. It is available by clicking your avatar at the top right of the screen and toggling Incognito Mode.
This is one of those very simple small changes that can make a big difference. You will now see a blue circle next to folders that contain unviewed files. This can be really useful when working on a big project where lots of changes are happening, so you can just follow the blue dots to find files you haven't looked at yet.
In addition, we have conducted some server upgrades to make the site faster and more responsive.
Kollaborate is an essential cloud workflow platform that allows you to share files with clients and team members while integrating with Digital Rebellion apps and services. Kollaborate Server allows you to host the platform in-house on your own servers and storage. To find out more, see the Kollaborate Server overview or register for the free cloud trial (Server trials are available on request).
We recently released Pro Maintenance Tools 2.2.6 with some great new features.
Project Repair can now downgrade Adobe Premiere projects so they can be opened in earlier versions of Premiere. After downgrading the project, Premiere will report that it was saved in an earlier version and asks you to save a copy. After doing this, the project will now be openable by Premiere.
If you use Premiere features not supported in earlier versions they will of course not work in the earlier version, so be aware of this as Adobe has recently made major changes to features like the titler.
Plugin Manager can create installers for plugins. This is not just useful for plugin developers to distribute their plugins but can also be an easy way of backing up your plugins or moving them to another computer.
You can now run scripts both before and after installing the files in order to perform additional tasks like running a licensing step, copying or moving files or launching a web page. You can run Applescripts, Bash scripts or Swift scripts (note that some Swift scripts may not work on earlier versions of macOS). The scripts must return 0 otherwise Plugin Manager will abort the installation, which is useful in situations where you want to stop installation if a license or security check fails.
Pro Maintenance Tools is an invaluable toolset to help working video professionals get up and running again quickly in the event of a problem. To find out more, see the feature overview, read the user manual, watch the overview video or download the free 15-day trial.
Pro Maintenance Tools 2.2.6 - Sep 7 2018
Cut Notes
CinePlay
Aspect Ratio Matte Generator
Video Space Calculator