We've just released episode 2 of the Digital Rebellion Podcast that gives a brief overview and demonstration of all of the utilities in our newest suite, Pro Media Tools.

You can subscribe in iTunes or via the direct feed. The Episode 2 video is available for direct download here. The podcast is free and is optimized for iPhone 4 and iPad.

We're open to requests for future tutorials so please let us know if there is something you'd specifically like to see.

We've just created a video podcast to show how to get the most out of Digital Rebellion products. We plan to show tutorials and demonstrations for common workflows and focus on tips and tricks that people don't know about. The first episode is the Cut Notes overview video from earlier this year and more episodes will be coming shortly.

You can subscribe in iTunes or via the direct feed. The Episode 1 video is available for direct download here. The podcast is free and is optimized for iPhone 4 and iPad.

We're open to requests for future tutorials so please let us know if there is something you'd specifically like to see.

Apple just gave a sneak preview of Final Cut Pro X at the NAB Supermeet. I wasn't there so thanks to everyone who tweeted and posted photos of the event.

There's a lot to like - 64-bit Cocoa rewrite, OpenCL and Grand Central Dispatch support, color management to prevent gamma shifts, no rendering or transcoding, native support for DSLRs and many more features. You can read the full list here.

Apple only talked about new features so there was no mention of existing features that had made it into the new version. Consequently the presentation left more questions than it answered - what about XML, EDLs, tape workflows, scopes, DVD output? We won't find that out until the release.

There is an emphasis on automation in the new version - it can automatically detect audio hum and remove it, and the magnetic timeline can simplify L- and J-cuts by automatically moving clips to a new layer to prevent clip collisions. I think this is great, as anything that makes me a faster editor makes me a better editor, however I can see a lot of cases where this would be unwanted and I hope it can be disabled when necessary.

My favorite features are the 64-bit rewrite, the lack of rendering, the new keyframe editor and Plural Eyes-style audio syncing.

The feature I'm most unsure about is dynamic tracks. Tracks will appear and disappear as you move clips around and new tracks will be added when you use the magnetic timeline. This could cause organizational problems if you always put music on tracks 8-9 for instance, and it would be a nightmare if you need to output a multi-channel show. Apple sought professional feedback so I assume this issue was brought up and that they have a solution for it.

There was no mention of other apps in the suite. Final Cut Pro X will be sold in June via the App Store so this means it will be a self-contained app. There is no way to sell a group of apps via the store, however it would still be possible to sell them separately like iWork. It also means there is no way of upgrading if you own an old version of Final Cut Pro, however the $299 price point is the same as the FCP 6 to FCP 7 upgrade cost.

What about my top 5 developer requests? Number 1 looks to be done; I'm not sure about any of the others.

Although I haven't tried the new version, I'm cautiously optimistic. There are a lot of features designed for speeding things up and that's always a good thing. It's also clear that Apple isn't trying to do everything, so it leaves a lot of gaps for third-party developers like myself to fill. As it is an App Store app, it won't overwrite the old version of Final Cut Studio so you can still go back if anything is missing.

The new version would be great for a lot of my smaller projects for the web but I don't yet know how well it would translate to larger projects where I need Cinema Tools, tape ingest / output and DVD creation. That's something I'll only find out when it's released.

P.S. Anyone else prefer the old icon to the new one?

Update: "Today was just a sneak peak of Final Cut Pro, stay tuned," an Apple representative told The Loop. This implies that there may be additional apps available separately.

Lots of people have been posting wish lists for the next version of Final Cut Pro with such features as 64-bit support, OpenCL, etc. One thing I haven't seen is a wishlist from a developer's perspective, so here's mine.

I've included a description of the feature, how likely I reckon it is to be implemented and what we could do with it if it was.

1. Store settings in preference lists (plists)

Apple introduced a standardized format for preference files in Mac OS X that allows applications to easily read and write from them. Final Cut Pro, which dates back to the days of OS 9, uses a proprietary binary format that only Apple knows how to read from and write to. It is also the reason why Final Cut Pro preferences get corrupted so easily.

What we could do with it: You could choose to backup only certain settings in Preference Manager instead of the entire file. Path Manager could modify and sync Final Cut Pro scratch disks.

Likelihood: Certain. If they've rewritten FCP, there is no reason why they would not use the standardized OS X preference system.

2. Make the FCP project file format more open

There is currently no method of reading from or writing to Final Cut Pro project files. The workaround is to export an XML copy from Final Cut Pro. The downsides to this are that Final Cut Pro has to be running, exporting to XML is slow and it locks up FCP so the user can't continue working.

There are several solutions to this problem - Apple could keep the format the same and release detailed specifications, they could create an API for reading and writing or they could convert the Final Cut Pro project format to XML (perhaps with binary and plain-text options like Maya). I don't really mind which method they choose as long as a solution arrives.

What we could do with it: FCP Versioner would be faster and would no longer lock up Final Cut Pro when exporting to XML. Pro Media Tools would be much faster and would not require FCP to be installed in order to read an FCP project file.

Likelihood: 50/50. I'm sure Apple will make big changes to the file format but we'll have to see if these are developer-friendly.

3. Add a playback and timecode API

The only way to get timecode from a Final Cut Pro project is to setup a fake MIDI device to receive the information. The downside to this method is that it is not very user-friendly - the user must specifically setup the device as a control surface in FCP and must have the audio mixing window open at all times.

A playback and timecode API would allow developers to control the Final Cut Pro timeline and receive timecode without any intervention on the user's part.

What we could do with it: Final Cut Pro syncing for Cut Notes with no complex setup for the user.

Likelihood: Ordinarily I would think this was unlikely but there are rumors that there will be an official iPad control app for Final Cut Pro. If this rumor is true, I highly doubt that Apple is using the user-unfriendly method of setting it up as a MIDI control surface.

4. Programmatically initiating exports

With Apple Events, developers can send commands directly to Final Cut Pro for such tasks as saving a project or highlighting a clip in a bin. There is no way to automatically export a sequence to a QuickTime movie without user intervention.

What I'd like is a command that exports all or part of a sequence to a file the developer specifies along with the ability to specify export settings such as the codec, if it is self-contained, whether or not it should contain markers, etc.

What we could do with it: This would be incredibly useful for a super-secret future product...

Likelihood: Unlikely.

5. Adding interface items

All third-party applications have to be launched separately and there is currently no way to integrate a third-party application with Final Cut Pro. What I would like is the ability to add interface buttons or menu items to send data to third-party applications in the background. The applications could then send data back without the user leaving Final Cut Pro.

What we could do with it: Lots of things, including adding buttons to manually initiate FCP Versioner backups from within FCP, a "Send to Edit Detector" command that cuts up a clip on your timeline at each edit point, an "Add Quick Bin" menu item, and more.

Likelihood: It's a long shot.

I hope at the very least that 1 and 2 are implemented in the new FCP. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Do any other developers have requests?

We're proud to introduce our newest product, Pro Media Tools. Pro Media Tools is a suite of ten workflow utilities focused on processing and managing media, with functions including detecting gamma shifts, editing QuickTime movie metadata, batch renaming files and more.

There are many features that have been in demand for a long time, including notifying when a render is complete, editing markers and adding timecode tracks and reel names to QuickTime movies.

Pro Media Tools also marks our first foray into supporting multiple NLEs. Version 1.0 supports Final Cut Studio 2 and higher and Avid Media Composer 5.0 and higher for Mac*. The Avid support is primarily aimed at people using AMA workflows. Adobe Premiere Pro support will be coming shortly.

The full list of tools is as follows:

Auto Transfer

Various actions can be performed after the transfer has taken place, including showing the copied files in the Finder, opening up the clips in QuickTime Player or, if the clips are in a compatible format, importing them directly into a Final Cut Pro project.

Batch Renamer

Edit Detector

Results can be exported in a variety of formats including Final Cut Pro marker lists, Avid locator files and EDLs.

Gamma Shift Detector

Just navigate to the same frame in both clips and click the Detect Gamma button. It will compare them and give you a percentage difference between the two. You can then use this percentage to go back to the app and compensate for the shift.

In some cases, the pixels will be identical but the gamma shift will be occurring due to a mismatch in metadata. In these cases, Gamma Shift Detector allows you to sync the metadata of the two clips with one button press.

Project Overview

It also offers comprehensive marker editing capabilities including offsetting, custom printable data fields, label presets (to label all green markers as "Needs VFX" for instance) and the ability to import Final Cut Pro marker lists and Avid locator lists into an FCP project. It's a great companion to Cut Notes, our note-taking iPad app.

QT Edit

Quick Bins

There are several types of quick bins available. A Bin Range generates a group of numbered bins, allowing you to quickly create empty bins for scenes 1-100 in your movie for instance.

A Smart Bin automatically sorts media into the bin if it matches the criteria you have chosen (e.g. "scene greater than 11" or "filename contains MVI_"). A Smart Bin Range takes this concept one step further, where you choose the criteria first and then Quick Bins automatically creates Smart Bins for each variation of the criteria.

As an example, in the screenshot below I selected "File Extension" as the criteria for the Smart Bin Range. Quick Bins went through all of the media files in the project and discovered files ending in .mov, .aiff and .tif, so it created new bins for each of these types and automatically sorted matching clips inside them.

Render Watcher

Timeline Tricks

Video Check

The suite is available for an introductory price of $99 and there is a 15-day trial available here. It will run on Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 on both Intel and PowerPC computers.

If you want to find out more about Pro Media Tools, check out screenshots and the user manual.

We're always keen to hear feedback, so contact us to let us know what you think and how well the suite fits in with your workflow. We have many more post production tools available here.

Update: Just a quick note for FCS Maintenance Pack users - when you install Pro Media Tools the FCS Maintenance Pack launcher will be removed and replaced with "Digital Rebellion App Launcher", so you will need to update any shortcuts or Dock aliases.

* Note: due to technical limitations, a few features of the suite are unavailable for Avid users.

Late last week we released Aspect Ratio Calc onto the iTunes App Store. It allows you to calculate aspect ratios and pixel dimensions for video. There are many preset aspect ratios for different formats to choose from and you can also specify a custom one.

Results can be copied to the clipboard or emailed.

The app will work on iOS devices running iOS 3.1.3 or higher, making it compatible with every iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad model. You can download the app here.

As always, we appreciate your feedback and will use it to improve our tools. Just use the feedback link within the app to tell us what you think.

NVIDIA is reporting that Mac OS X 10.6.7, released a few days ago, removes drivers for high-end NVIDIA Quadro 4000 cards, so machines with these cards will refuse to boot up after installing OS X 10.6.7.

There is an updated driver for OS X 10.6.7 here. The support post is a little vague and doesn't state if the new driver can be installed before updating to 10.6.7 to prevent the issue from occurring, or if it must be installed afterward. If the latter, the article states that you should install a different graphics card in order to boot up to install the new driver, but I'd only advise that if Safe Mode and Target Disk Mode fail.

Update: TUAW is reporting that the NVIDIA support article is inaccurate and that Quadro 4000 machines will boot up just fine but without 3D acceleration and other features. Just install the new driver and these features will be restored.

Today we released FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3.3, a bugfix release for our suite of tools for maintaining, optimizing and troubleshooting Final Cut Studio.

Version 1.3.2 had a lot of under-the-hood changes which introduced a bug into Corrupt Clip Finder that caused it to randomly flag up non-corrupt files. This has now been fixed. We also changed the way Corrupt Clip Finder displays scanning progress to bring it back to 1.3.1 functionality, based on user feedback.

We also took the time to update Crash Analyzer definitions and fix some other minor issues including Plugin Manager's Crash Tester not working correctly with plugins that need an admin password in order to be disabled.

Please note that when upgrading from version 1.3.1 or earlier, registered users will need to re-enter their registration information. We apologize for the inconvenience and you will only need to do this once.

Since we didn't post a blog entry for version 1.3.2, here are the notable changes since version 1.3.1:

Significantly improved Corrupt Clip Finder scanning times

Files trashed by FCS Housekeeper are no longer marked "in use"

We've now made sure that files in the trash are no longer marked as being in use and they can now be trashed without any error messages or additional steps.

Crash Analyzer printing and emailing

Last week we released Cut Notes 1.0.2, a maintenance update for our iPad note-taking app.

This version fixes a crash some users had been getting when pressing buttons, as well as fixing an issue with misinterpretation of shorthand timecode.

We've been listening to your feedback and version 1.0.2 adds the ability to edit notes. Just switch to portrait mode and press the Edit button at the top. Click Done when you've finished.

Another nice tweak in this version is that when you double-tap a button to expand upon a note, after you press Enter, Cut Notes will scroll back to whichever button page you were originally on.

Finally, please note that we have changed the way Final Cut Pro marker lists are generated. The note text is now added to the marker name instead of the comment, meaning that you can ctrl-click on the timeline header and see all of the markers listed by name.

Cut Notes 1.0.2 is free for existing users or $7.99 for new users.

Last week we released Film Rate Calc 1.0.1, which adds iPad support and backwards-compatibility for iOS 3.1.3 devices, as well as fixing a few bugs.

Film Rate Calc enables you to calculate the amount of film required to shoot for a certain amount of time, and vice versa. This is really useful in planning the most efficient use of your film and should be in any script supervisor's toolkit.

Film Rate Calc is available on the App Store for $1.99.