Last week we released Pro Maintenance Tools 2.0.1, which adds several new features to our suite of tools for maintaining and optimizing your editing system.

System Toolkit has several new additions to make Lion behave more like Snow Leopard. You can disable window launch animations, prevent Lion restoring windows when relaunching apps, re-enable key repeating, disable automatic spellcheck and restore the old keyboard shortcuts for open and save dialogs.

You can also easily show or hide the current user's Library folder with a single click, which can be useful even if you have not yet upgraded to Lion.

Other new features include support for Avid AVX2 plugins in Plugin Manager and extra Housekeeper tasks. There are many new bug fixes too, including several for Pro Admin. The full list of changes is here.

Pro Maintenance Tools is an essential toolkit for editors and post production professionals on the Mac. Download the 15-day trial today to see how it can simplify troubleshooting and maintaining your system.

What made Final Cut Studio great was the sheer number of tools you got for the price. The demise of Final Cut Studio has left a void in the market which the closest competitor, Adobe Creative Suite, does not yet fill completely.

We've had several people come to us in recent weeks with requests to replicate certain Final Cut Studio functions that they depended on because they wanted the piece of mind that these functions would still be available after they switched to another NLE.

We implemented two of these in the latest version of QT Edit in Pro Media Tools - Cinema Tools-style frame rate conforming and a replication of QuickTime Pro's export dialog. The latter is useful for people who don't want to purchase a separate QuickTime Pro license, which they used to get free of charge with their Final Cut Studio installation.

The frame rate conform function is an improvement upon the Cinema Tools equivalent because it allows you to specify a custom frame rate. The advantage of implementing these features into applications that have not been long-abandoned by their manufacturer is that these features will continue to be improved over time.

We're interested to hear of any other Final Cut Studio features you use that could feasibly be added to our software. We're not planning to create our own versions of Cinema Tools or Color, but are keen to hear of any small features from the suite that would fit well into our existing applications. Let us know in the comments below or via our contact form.

Last week we released Pro Media Tools 1.0.4, which adds many new features and optimizations to our suite of tools for simplifying media management and streamlining workflows.

There have been several performance optimizations so many of the apps are now much faster than before, particularly Quick Bins and Project Overview.

We've added several new features to Auto Transfer based on your feedback, namely ARRI Alexa support, an option to bounce the Dock icon when the transfer is complete, the ability to choose a custom archival folder in Preferences and an option for SHA-1 checksums instead of MD5.

Project Overview saw a lot of changes too - markers now load significantly faster, it is much quicker to batch modify a large number of marker settings and there were lots of bug fixes including an issue where clip usage counts were set to zero.

Quick Bins is now significantly faster when saving to XML or sending data to Final Cut Pro. Export times from my test project went from around 15 seconds to less than 5.

QT Edit had two new additions, both of which were in response to customer feedback. The first is a frame rate conforming function, similar to the one in Cinema Tools, used to quickly convert from one frame rate to another without transcoding. It's actually more flexible than the one in Cinema Tools because you are not limited to common frame rates and can enter any rate you like into the box. This feature is located under the Settings tab when the movie is selected in the track view.

The second new feature is the ability to transcode to other codecs, just like QuickTime Pro. This feature is located under File > Export > QuickTime Conversion.

Both of these features were requested by customers because they were concerned with the obsolescence of Final Cut Studio and wanted piece of mind that such functions would continue to be available to them.

There were many other changes and features and you can read the full changelog here.

Pro Media Tools is an essential toolkit for post production professionals. Download the free 15-day trial to see how it can speed up your workflows.

Last week we released version 1.0.3 of Pro Media Tools, our suite of utilities for simplifying media management and streamlining workflows.

Version 1.0.3 is now compatible with Final Cut Pro X and OS X 10.7 Lion. Apple has made many improvements in Lion that have resulted in a noticeable speed boost in all of the applications.

We've also made several changes to Auto Transfer. The verification feature has been overhauled to be faster and the verification progress more accurate. It now also shows the estimated time remaining for both transfers and verification.

Based on user feedback, we've added a new option in Render Watcher. You can now request that it only alerts you if the application doing the rendering is in the background. This stops alerts from appearing for short renders and it will only show them if you start doing something else while waiting for a long render to finish. This option is off by default but it can be switched on in the Actions pane of Render Watcher.

We've made several other minor changes which can be viewed here.

Pro Media Tools is an essential time-saving toolkit when working with video. You can download a 15-day trial here and view a video overview here.

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion was released earlier today. I've heard a couple of people say they're not enthusiastic about it and, with features like Autosave and Launchpad, it's mainly geared at consumers. I completely disagree and here's my list of five features that are great for editors and video professionals (in no particular order).

AirDrop

Even in the 21st century, many people I know still use good old Sneakernet to distribute files between computers. People still use such a low-tech method of transferring files because the machines don't need to be networked to each other, there's no setup process and you're not opening yourself up to potential security issues (assuming the files and the drive are virus-free, of course).

AirDrop allows you to send files to people physically located nearby who are not necessarily on the same Wi-Fi network. When you want to send a file to someone, both of you click the AirDrop icon in the Finder sidebar and you then drag the file onto the person's name. If they accept the file, it is encrypted and sent directly to their Downloads folder.

You only appear to other users on the network if you have the AirDrop folder open. This provides greater privacy and security than having regular file sharing running constantly.

Lion Server and Xsan

Every Mac now has the potential to be a server for just $50, giving you a great deal of control over your system and the users that access it.

Lion now includes Xsan, a network file system popular with video editors. This used to cost $999 so it's a huge saving for large installations.

AV Foundation

Love it or loathe it, you can't deny that Final Cut Pro X is built on a great technical foundation. AV Foundation ships with Lion and allows developers to utilize the same technology in their applications. It's something we plan to explore to improve future versions of Pro Media Tools.

It's also worth noting that the QuickTime 7 API is still there so existing QuickTime applications will continue to work. Final Cut Pro 7 runs just fine in Lion.

Merging folders

This feature has been part of Windows for decades and I'm surprised it's taken this long to make it to the Mac. If you drag a folder onto another folder with the same name, it now gives you the option to merge the two together. This is a huge timesaver.

Versions

We're big fans of incremental backups, which is why we created FCP Versioner. It's great to see something similar included in the OS for applications that support it.

Other nice features include the ability to encrypt an entire drive without a perceptible performance drop (according to Apple's marketing), OpenGL 3.2, Resume and Time Machine local snapshots, for recovering files when you're on the road without your Time Capsule or backup drive.

Lion seems faster too - I've seen noticeable performance improvements in all of our applications when run under Lion.

Of course, there are downsides too. Firstly, it's only available from the Mac App Store. If you are running OS X 10.5 Leopard, you will need to first upgrade to 10.6 Snow Leopard in order to access the store and download Lion. Apple will be selling Lion USB keys for $69 in August for users on Leopard or without broadband internet access.

Secondly, Rosetta is dead. This means that applications built for PowerPC computers will not work on Lion, including the Final Cut Studio 2 installer.

Thirdly, for some reason Apple decided to invert scrolling in Lion, meaning that dragging two fingers down scrolls up and vice versa. This would work well on a touchscreen but feels unnatural with a scroll mouse or trackpad. Fortunately it can be disabled in System Preferences but I don't know why Apple decided to make this the default.

Fourthly, features that some professionals have been demanding for a while, such as OpenGL 4.1, 10-bit monitor support and Blu-ray playback via third party drives still haven't materialized.

Overall, I think Lion is a step forward for professionals that provides much-needed additions to OS X. Driver and application support will likely take a while to catch up, despite the beta period, so as a rule I wouldn't recommend using it for professional use until the .3 or .4 update ships, even though I've actually found it to be quite stable in my testing.

Our flagship software, FCS Maintenance Pack, has been a big success and is in use at many of the top broadcasters in the USA and Europe. It is used every day to solve Final Cut Studio problems and get editors quickly back on track again.

We're proud to introduce the successor to FCS Maintenance Pack - Pro Maintenance Tools.

Pro Maintenance Tools is a 64-bit, Lion-compatible version of FCS Maintenance Pack that works with Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro for Mac. This is all included in one version - you do not need to buy different versions for each NLE. This means that you're covered no matter which application you decide to switch to after the obsolescence of Final Cut Studio.

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin is not compatible with Pro Maintenance Tools. If you want to remotely administrate Pro Maintenance Tools, you must run Pro Admin. Licensed Network Admin users do not need to purchase Pro Admin as they can use their Network Admin licenses with the new version. There is more information on the future of Pro Admin here.

Pro Maintenance Tools builds on FCS Maintenance Pack with over 300 changes including many new log management features in Crash Analyzer such as color coding and annotations, many additional System Toolkit options, a rewritten version of Preference Manager, Autosave Cleaner has been replaced with Autosave Manager, countless bug fixes, tweaks and more.

We've prepared a short introductory video showing some of the key features of Pro Maintenance Tools:

Pro Maintenance Tools is $139 for a single license. FCS Maintenance Pack users can upgrade for $39, but if you upgrade before August 1st 2011 you'll be able to get it for only $29.

Customers who purchased FCS Maintenance Pack on or after February 1st 2011 are eligible for a free upgrade to the new version. We're going to be sending these out in batches over the next two weeks. If you need your upgrade license sooner than that, please contact us.

Pro Maintenance Tools is in indispensable suite for Mac-based editors. There is a 15-day trial here and we're keen to hear what you think of the new version.

Earlier this week we released a brand-new 64-bit rewrite of Preference Manager, an essential tool for managing the user settings of your editing application. (We also released a new version of FCS Remover that supports Final Cut Pro X.)

The first change you'll notice is the redesigned user interface. Each task (trashing, backing up, locking, restoring) has its own tab which makes it more intuitive to use.

Another big feature is support for Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4, Avid Media Composer for Mac and Adobe Premiere Pro for Mac. Avid preferences can be managed on a per-user level if desired (see screenshot below).

The third big feature is the ability to selectively restore files within a backup. This is great for restoring one application's settings without affecting others.

We've prepared a short demo video that shows some of the new features:

Other new features include automatic backups, keyboard hotkeys and the ability to set a default backup - a backup that is known to be good that will be restored automatically when performing a QuickFix. The full list of new features is available here.

Preference Manager remains completely free and can be downloaded here. For more information on the new features, please see the user manual.

We announced last month that we were replacing FCS Maintenance Pack with Pro Maintenance Tools which would offer support for Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro for Mac, due for release very soon.

With this in mind, it seems like a good time to explain our plans for FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin, the companion tool that allows you to deploy FCS Maintenance Pack over a network and remotely troubleshoot Final Cut Studio.

Network Admin is in use at many top broadcasters in the USA, Europe and Australia and is an essential tool for anyone with a network of Final Cut Studio systems. We're planning to replace it with Pro Admin which will eventually become a hub for managing all Digital Rebellion products, not just FCS Maintenance Pack or Pro Maintenance Tools.

In addition to 64-bit support and compatibility with the upcoming Pro Maintenance Tools suite, we're planning radical overhauls of the user interface and networking code. This will make the software easier to use, more reliable and will improve compatibility with corporate networks. It also enables us to do a lot of exciting things that we'll announce closer to the release.

These changes will require significant portions of the application to be rewritten and this will take time. We are planning a release before the end of the year.

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin cannot support FCS Maintenance Pack and Pro Maintenance Tools simultaneously, so we will release an interim version of Network Admin that has been modified to support Pro Maintenance Tools. This version will take the Pro Admin name but will not have the new features. You will be able to run FCS Maintenance Pack and Pro Maintenance Tools side-by-side and use Network Admin and Pro Admin, respectively, to administer them.

Existing customers will be able to use their licenses with this interim version at no cost until it is replaced by Pro Admin 2.0 later this year. Upgrade pricing will be announced closer to the release but anyone who purchased the software from February 1st 2011 will be eligible for a free upgrade.

We've been paying attention to your feedback and we think Pro Admin is a great step forward for the software. If you have any suggestions to make for the new version, please let us know.

Now that Final Cut Pro X is out, you may be wondering which Digital Rebellion software is compatible with the new application.

FCS Maintenance Pack - COMPATIBLE (via Pro Maintenance Tools)

As announced earlier, we are working on a new version called Pro Maintenance Tools. We have heard a great range of opinions on FCPX - some love it, some are sticking with FCP 7 for now and some are switching to Avid or Premiere. Pro Maintenance Tools works with all of these applications, so whatever you do, you're covered.

Update: Pro Maintenance Tools is now out.

Pro Media Tools - COMPATIBLE

Pro Media Tools was designed to be as independent as possible so it only needs a few minor tweaks in the next version. You can use it today on your FCPX projects.

The three XML apps in the suite don't work, which puts FCPX users in the same camp as Avid users who also don't have XML support. These remaining apps will be made compatible when/if XML support comes to FCPX.

Update: Pro Media Tools 1.0.3 now supports FCPX.

FCP Versioner - NOT COMPATIBLE

FCP Versioner depends on XML support, which is not present in FCPX right now.

FCS Remover - COMPATIBLE

Version 3.0 is now compatible with FCPX.

Preference Manager - COMPATIBLE

Version 3.0 is now compatible with FCPX.

Editmote - COMPATIBLE

Version 1.0.1 is compatible with Final Cut Pro X. Make sure you have the version 1.0.1 preference pane too.

We will update this page as more of our products become compatible with Final Cut Pro X.

A common problem on the Apple forums from Final Cut Pro X users has been the inability to hear audio from DV files imported from iMovie.

iMovie creates raw DV files (.dv) which contain video and audio data but no metadata or other information. It's essentially a DV QuickTime without the surrounding QuickTime structure.

This means that Final Cut Pro X can't find the audio because it's mixed in with the video data and there's no index or track structure to point it in the right direction.

To get around this, you must convert .dv files to QuickTime movies. Here's how to do it:

1. Open up the .dv file in QuickTime Player 7, which should be in your Applications/Utilities folder. If you don't have it on your system, you will need to install it from the Snow Leopard DVD.

2. Go to File > Save As and make sure the option to make a self-contained movie is checked.

3. Click Save. It shouldn't take very long because it is restructuring the data rather than recompressing it.