New year, new look
We're excited to announce the much-needed redesign of our web site. The old site was designed four years ago with a different purpose in mind and quickly outgrew itself.
As well as looking nicer, the new design is much easier to navigate to help you quickly find the information you need. It's also been streamlined with many extraneous pages removed.
Our recommended web browser is Firefox 3.6 and higher, but it also works well on Safari, Chrome and Internet Explorer 8. Internet Explorer 6 is not supported.
Every page has a feedback link at the bottom so if you spot any errors, broken links or incompatibilities, please use these links to notify us. Remember to state which browser you're using.
This is just one of the many exciting announcements we have coming up, so stay tuned for more.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Jan 8 2011 to
DR News,
Front Page NewsPermalink2010 - Year in Review
2011 is here and I'm spending my New Year's Day thinking about the year that is now behind us and the new one that has just arrived. Here is a summary of the great year that was 2010:
We shipped 18 updates for our paid applications - both major and minor - and countless more for our free apps. Our most popular app by far was
FCS Remover. Our most popular paid app was
FCS Maintenance Pack.
We launched two new products -
FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin and
Film Rate Calc for iPhone (App Store link).
We welcomed many new customers, both large and small, including
Digital Film Tree and
NCIS:LA.
The number of unique visitors to this site grew by a third and visitors collectively viewed 1 million more pages than in 2009.
The following 2010 blog posts were popular:
Restoring an older version of ProKitQuickTime 7 and X Frequently Asked QuestionsAperture changes in Compressor 3.5However, none of them beat the old favorites:
How to reinstall Compressor and QmasterHow to banish the Final Cut Pro registration screen foreverUsing Compressor with multiple cores2010 was a fantastic year in which we grew significantly and delivered lots of genuine solutions for our customers. But I predict 2011 will be even better. Stay tuned for a brand new site and lots of exciting new products,
some of which have been unveiled already.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Jan 1 2011 to
DR News,
Front Page NewsPermalinkFCS Maintenance Pack 1.3.1 and Network Admin 1.0.6 released
Last week we released
FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3.1 and
FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.6, minor updates to our applications for maintaining, optimizing and troubleshooting Final Cut Studio.
FCS Maintenance Pack is a utility pack designed to keep your Final Cut Studio or Final Cut Express machine running at optimal performance and help resolve problems when they arise.
FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin extends FCS Maintenance Pack to allow tasks to be performed simultaneously over a network. The Network Admin interface gives system administrators all the tools they need to remotely manage, maintain and troubleshoot Final Cut Studio systems on their network.
The most important new feature is Crash Analyzer log consolidation. This allows you to import and analyze crash logs from other local users on your system. This was created at the request of Network Admin users who would log on at the end of the day and wish to see crash logs for all users logged in throughout that day.
To access it from the Crash Analyzer application, go to
Tools > Consolidate logs. You will need to enter an administrator password. After processing is complete, the log window will populate with additional logs.
If you find yourself using this feature often, there is also a Consolidate button available for the toolbar which is hidden by default. Ctrl-click on the toolbar and select
Customize Toolbar, then drag the
Consolidate icon onto the toolbar.
To access this feature from Network Admin, select the Crash Analyzer pane and click the
Consolidate button. You will be prompted for an administrator password for each of the computers you wish to view logs for (you can save these passwords in your Keychain to prevent it asking again).
The full list of changes is available on each application's product page. FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin requires a license of FCS Maintenance Pack on each computer. 15-day trials are available for both.
We take feedback seriously so if you have any suggestions for future versions of the software, please feel free to
contact us.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Dec 20 2010 to
Front Page News,
DR News,
UtilitiesPermalinkFCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.5 released
We released
FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.5 a week or two ago and I completely forgot to blog about it.
FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin extends
FCS Maintenance Pack to allow tasks to be performed simultaneously over a network. The Network Admin interface gives system administrators all the tools they need to manage, maintain and troubleshoot Final Cut Studio systems on their network.
This version was released to coincide with the major
FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 update. Here are some of the noteworthy changes:
QuickFix support
QuickFix, a new tool in FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3, is now supported in Network Admin. QuickFix allows you to perform common troubleshooting tasks such as trashing preferences and clearing caches with a single button click. It should be your first port of call when things go wrong.
Bonjour broadcasts are confined to the chosen interface
If you have chosen to make Network Client listen on a specific network interface, it now only broadcasts Bonjour messages on that interface. This means that if you have a network interface reserved for a specific purpose, such as Xsan, Network Client will not send any data over that interface.
Note: by default, Network Client listens and broadcasts on all interfaces.
Crash Analyzer HTML view
The improved HTML view in Crash Analyzer 1.3 has been extended to Network Admin.
This is in addition to general tweaks and bug fixes related to connection issues, software updates and progress bars.
FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin is priced at $69 for a 5-user license and $129 for an unlimited user license. Each client requires a separate version of
FCS Maintenance Pack, with bundle pricing available. There is a 15-day trial of Network Admin that works with the 15-day trial of FCS Maintenance Pack.
We constantly strive to make things easier and if you have any suggestions for further improving Network Admin,
we'd love to hear them.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Nov 22 2010 to
DR News,
Front Page News,
UtilitiesPermalinkCompressor Repair 2.0 released
Yesterday we released
Compressor Repair 2.0, a significant update to our free tool for keeping Compressor working smoothly.
This version greatly improves the repair process, which should result in more reliable repairs. It also fixes the issue where Compressor would sometimes complain that a batch was submitted by a different user.
It has support for global hotkeys, which requires
FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 or higher. This allows you to press a keyboard shortcut to close Compressor, repair it and then reopen it again when the repair is complete. This is a very useful and convenient timesaver. If you have
Growl installed, you will be able to see the status of the repair.
Here is the full list of changes:
- Improved repair algorithm
- Interface improvements
- Global hotkey support (requires FCS Maintenance Pack)
- Growl notifications
- If Compressor is open, Compressor Repair closes it and and then reopens it when finished
- Option to reset Compressor's window layout
- Support for custom Qmaster cluster storage paths
Compressor Repair is available for free
here or as part of
FCS Maintenance Pack, where several additional features are offered including global hotkeys and scheduled tasks. If you have
FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin you also have access to remote repairs over a network.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Nov 19 2010 to
DR News,
Front Page News,
UtilitiesPermalinkFCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 released - QuickFix, Crash Analyzer overhaul and more
Last week we released
FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3, a significant update to our suite of tools to maintain, troubleshoot and optimize Final Cut Studio.
There are many new features, both large and small, but here are the most significant ones:
New tool: QuickFix
QuickFix performs common troubleshooting tasks with just one button press. Ordinarily you would need to have some idea of what the problem is in order to fix it, but now you can simply click the QuickFix button and then get back to work. It drastically speeds up troubleshooting and should be your first port of call when things go wrong.
Crash Analyzer error message database
Crash Analyzer is invaluable when Final Cut Studio applications crash, but what if they just display an error message without crashing? That's why we've added a new tool to Crash Analyzer that allows you to search for common error messages and receive tips for overcoming them.
Keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts can now be set in the Preferences pane of each application, allowing you to assign global hotkeys to launch apps and perform tasks.
Crash Analyzer overhaul
Crash Analyzer now uses an HTML view to display definitions, enabling us to better organize information and more easily highlight important points. This helps to make the correct course of action much clearer to the user.
Improved Corrupt Clip Finder format and project support
Corrupt Clip Finder can now scan Motion, Soundtrack Pro, Color, DVD Studio Pro and LiveType projects for corrupt media. It now flags up images that use the CMYK color space or are more than 4000px in width or height, two common causes of Final Cut Pro crashes.
Multithreaded scanning in QT Repair
QT Repair now makes use of your extra cores to speed up scanning times.
QT Repair presets
QT Repair now offers you several presets for getting the most out of your files. It significantly reduces the learning curve and ensures that you don't waste time using settings that won't repair your file.
FCS Maintenance Pack uninstaller
FCS Maintenance Pack now has an uninstaller, included on the disk image.
New icons
Many of the application icons in FCS Maintenance Pack have had a much-needed refresh, thanks to
Ben King.
Network Admin now works on restricted user accounts
FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin, our tool for managing FCS Maintenance Pack over a network, now works correctly with restricted user accounts when used in conjunction with FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3.
FCS Maintenance Pack costs $139 but this update is free to all existing customers. A 15-day trial is available
here and you can read a review
here.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Nov 15 2010 to
DR News,
Front Page News,
UtilitiesPermalinkQuickTime 7 and X Frequently Asked Questions
I've seen a lot of confusion lately about QuickTime X in Snow Leopard and whether or not the older QuickTime Player 7 is still needed.
Here are my answers to the common questions I've seen.
Q: What is QuickTime X?A: QuickTime X is a stripped-down version of QuickTime that provides highly-optimized hardware-accelerated playback of supported video formats. This optimization comes at the expense of features, as the QuickTime X technologies are primarily designed for playback-only. QuickTime Player X is the default stripped-down media player on Snow Leopard.
Q: What is QuickTime 7?A: QuickTime 7 is an older but more fully-featured technology designed for playback, editing and capturing. The QuickTime 7 technologies ship with OS X. QuickTime
Player 7 is an optional install from the Snow Leopard DVD but is identical to the default QuickTime Player in OS X 10.5 Leopard.
Q: Do I need to install QuickTime Player 7?A: It's up to you. I would recommend it because QuickTime Player 7 has a lot of features that are very useful to video professionals. But it's important to remember that it's only a player and even if you don't install it, applications can continue to use QuickTime 7 technologies.
Q: Once I have installed QuickTime Player 7, where is it located?A: It is installed to the Utilities folder inside Applications.
Q: How do I get all of my media files to open with QuickTime Player 7 instead of X?A: Ctrl-click on a movie file in the Finder, then select
Get Info. Under the Open With section, select QuickTime Player 7 and click
Change All.
Q: I have a problem with Final Cut Pro. Is it because I haven't installed QuickTime Player 7?A: No. The QuickTime 7 technologies ship with OS X by default, so installing QuickTime Player 7 makes absolutely no difference to this. It's just a player.
Q: Can QuickTime 7 and QuickTime X conflict with one another?A: No.
Q: Does Final Cut Pro make use of the newer QuickTime X acceleration technologies?A: Unfortunately not.
Q: Why is there no QuickTime X Pro?A: The QuickTime X technologies are aimed at playing back media, not exporting or editing it, so there is no QuickTime X Pro because of technical limitations.
Q: Do I need to purchase QuickTime 7 Pro if I have Final Cut Pro?A: No, Final Cut Pro unlocks Pro functionality within QuickTime for free.
Q: Why are the dimensions of my video different in QuickTime Player X vs QuickTime Player 7?A: QuickTime Player X displays all video with a
Clean aperture setting, regardless of the video's original aperture.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 31 2010 to
Apple,
Software,
QuickTimePermalinkRestoring an older version of ProKit
ProKit 6.0.1 has been breaking Final Cut Studio for some people and so far there has been no fix from Apple.
Here is how to restore an older version:
1. You will need to obtain a copy of the old ProKit.framework file either from a friend, another computer on the network or a Time Machine backup.
Update: I have discovered that the version of ProKit 5.1 on Apple's site that is supposedly Leopard-only is also Snow Leopard-compatible. You may need to install ProKit 5.0 first. Before installing, open up the Terminal in /Applications/Utilities and type sudo pkgutil --forget com.apple.pkg.ProAppRuntime, then enter your admin password.
2. In the Finder, navigate to /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks and copy the ProKit.framework file to your desktop.
3. Ctrl-click on the file on the desktop and select Compress "ProKit.Framework".
4. Delete the original file from your desktop and empty the trash. Leave the compressed file there for now.
5. Copy the older ProKit.framework file to /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks, overwriting the newer one. You will most likely need to enter an administrator password to do this.
6. Final Cut Studio applications should now work and it should be safe to delete the compressed file. If they do not, try restarting your computer.
7. If something goes wrong, decompress the compressed file and copy it back to the PrivateFrameworks directory.
(The reason for compressing the file is to ensure that OS X doesn't continue to recognize it as a framework and potentially try to link to it.)
If the installer refuses to install, try using Pacifist to extract the files or try this manual method (be careful).
Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 26 2010 to
Final Cut Studio,
Apple,
SoftwarePermalinkProKit 6.0.1 breaking Final Cut Studio
ProKit 6.0.1 came out last week with bug fixes for Logic and Aperture. No Final Cut Studio changes were mentioned, and in fact it would seem that a number of people have experienced problems after updating:
Apple Discussions - Installed Pro Kit 6.0.1... all Pro Apps down!Apple Discussions - DVD Studio Pro 4.1.2/ProKit Update 6.0.1LAFCPUG - WARNING - Just did Prokit updateKen Stone - Last week's Pro Kit update 6.0.1-DVD studio Pro crashingFor the record, I know several people who have installed this update successfully with no problems whatsoever, but as this update doesn't specifically address anything in Final Cut Studio it's better to give it a miss.
Anyone experiencing issues should
report the bug to Apple or
leave feedback. There isn't a fix for this as of yet but some people have managed to repair it by restoring the old ProKit.framework file from their Time Machine backups or from another machine on their network.
(Note:
FCS Remover won't help in this instance because ProKit is now integrated into OS X and FCS Remover never removes files that reside in the System directory for safety reasons.)
Update: Here's how to fix it.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 26 2010 to
Apple,
Final Cut Studio,
SoftwarePermalinkFCP error: Project is unreadable or too new for this version
If you're getting the error message "Project is unreadable or may be too new for this version of Final Cut Pro" when you try to open a particular project, it may be due to one of three reasons:
1. The project was created with a newer version of Final Cut Pro. Make sure you have the latest version, or alternatively ask the person who gave you the project to export an XML file that you can import into an earlier version.
2. The project's metadata may be invalid. Use
Project Repair to fix this.
3. The project is corrupt. There is unfortunately no fix for this. You will need to restore the project from a backup or autosave. Our
FCP Versioner software automatically backs up your project every time you save it, and
Autosave Cleaner can archive autosaves so that they are never automatically deleted by Final Cut Pro.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 25 2010 to
Final Cut Studio,
Apple,
SoftwarePermalink
Kollaborate
Pro Maintenance Tools
Pro Media Tools
CinePlay
Post Haste
Preference Manager
FCS Remover
Cut Notes
CinePlay
Aspect Ratio Matte Generator
Video Space Calculator