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FCS 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, Utilities
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QuickTime 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, QuickTime
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Restoring 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, Software
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ProKit 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 6.0.1

LAFCPUG - WARNING - Just did Prokit update

Ken Stone - Last week's Pro Kit update 6.0.1-DVD studio Pro crashing

For 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, Software
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FCP 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, Software
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Removing the codec name from a Compressor destination

Whenever you export a Compressor batch, Compressor normally appends the name of the codec to the file, such as "-DV NTSC" for instance. This isn't always desirable.

Here's how to remove it:

1. Go to the Destinations tab.

2. Click the plus button (+) and select Local.



3. Browse to a location.

Important: Do not browse to the same directory as the source files otherwise the new files will overwrite the source media.

4. Under Output Filename Template, set it to Source Media Name. You can use the drop-down button to select template options.



5. Drag the new destination onto the clips in your batch.



6. If you want to use the new destination by default in all new batches, go to Preferences and set Default Destination to the destination you just created.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 23 2010 to Final Cut Studio, Apple, Software
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Film Rate Calc now on App Store

Our first iPhone app, Film Rate Calc, is now on the iTunes App Store.

This tool 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.

You can then email the results to someone else, or copy the data to the pasteboard. You can choose to copy all of the information or just the final result.

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.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 18 2010 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.4 released

Last week we released version 1.0.4 of FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin, a tool to maintain, optimize and troubleshoot Final Cut Studio over a network.

Here are the significant new features in this version:

You can now specify a network interface to listen on

By default, the software will listen on any available network interface and a random open port to simplify configuration.

However, if you have Xsan set up on your network, you will have a network interface (ethernet port) reserved specifically for Xsan metadata use. In version 1.0.4, you can now set a specific interface to listen on which will ensure that data is only sent on that interface and not on the Xsan interface.

You can also set up a specific port to listen on if desired. Deselecting this option chooses a random open port.

Note: For now, Bonjour broadcasts are still sent on all interfaces regardless of which setting you choose. This is less of an issue because Bonjour uses very little bandwidth, but it will be addressed in a future version.



Extra statistics in Info dialog

The Info dialog for each client now displays more statistics about each system. The most important change, however, is the addition of the connected IP address and port. If you have connection issues and set up a specific network interface and port to listen on (as detailed above), check this dialog to ensure it is in fact connecting to the correct IP and port.



Support for beta software updates

You can now enable beta software updates for all client computers, which will allow you to install the latest FCS Maintenance Pack beta automatically on all systems at once.

Important: If the client computers are running restricted (non-administrator) user accounts, you will need version 1.3b2 or higher. They will not work with version 1.2.8.


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 Oct 15 2010 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 Beta 2 released - Corrupt Clip Finder supports all FCS apps and more

We've just released a beta of the next major version of FCS Maintenance Pack, version 1.3.

This version offers many exciting new features, some of which are summarized below.

Corrupt Clip Finder now supports all Final Cut Studio applications

Corrupt Clip Finder can now search for corrupt clips inside Motion, Color, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro and LiveType project files.

It can now also search for corrupt image files and flag up images that are larger than 4000 pixels, the maximum allowable image size in Final Cut Pro.

QT Repair is now multi-threaded

QT Repair now uses all of your available cores to scan files, resulting in significantly improved processing times. For best results, run it on Snow Leopard, as it benefits from optimizations made in 10.6.

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.



Keyboard shortcuts now supported for all apps

Keyboard shortcut support, introduced in beta 1 for QuickFix and FCS Housekeeper, has now been extended to all applications in the suite. Growl notifications, however, are still limited to QuickFix and FCS Housekeeper.

FCS Maintenance Pack uninstaller

FCS Maintenance Pack now has an uninstaller, included on the disk image. This makes it easy to go back to the stable 1.2.8 release after installing the beta, should you wish to do so.

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 1.3b2.


These changes are in addition to the many changes in the previous beta.

Please note that this is a beta release designed for evaluation purposes only. It is not intended for use in a production environment. If you require a stable version please use version 1.2.8 instead.

This will be a free update to all users when the final version is released, so if you buy version 1.2.8 today you will not be penalized for it.

To download this update, either visit the FCS Maintenance Pack product page or, if you have an existing version of FCS Maintenance Pack installed, go into the Preferences menu of Software Update and select the option to check for beta updates, then go to File > Check for Updates.

It's also worth noting that in addition to our regular appcast, we now have a beta appcast to separate beta updates from stable versions.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Sep 22 2010 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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Final Cut Pro bug - Long delays with extended markers

There's a bug in Final Cut Pro 7 that causes the application to beachball when you load transitions into the Viewer. This seems to occur if you have long clips with long extended markers in them (i.e. markers with a duration longer than one frame).

Here's how to replicate:
1. Go to the Effects tab and drag a Bars & Tone generator into the Viewer.
2. Change the duration to 30 minutes (00:30:00;00) and bring it into the timeline. Repeat this step to add a second clip next to the first.
4. Select the first clip, press M to add a marker and then press M again to open up the marker settings dialog.
5. Set the marker duration to 15 minutes (00:15:00;00).
5. Add a cross-dissolve transition between the two clips.
6. Double-click the transition to open it in the Viewer. It will take several seconds to open and will probably beachball.

Observations:
* The extended marker does not need to pass through the transition in order for this to occur.
* Shortening the marker to 20 seconds only causes a brief delay.
* The effect still occurs with short master clips but it was lessened and did not beachball on my system.
* The effect is exacerbated if both clips on either side of a transition use long extended markers.
* This only seems to occur when you use the default transition length or values close to it (00:00:08;28 for NTSC). If you lengthen the transition significantly, it loads much faster. I'm not sure why this is - perhaps it was an anomaly on my system.
* The quantity of markers makes a difference. Loading the transition for a clip with ten 30-second markers takes significantly longer than loading one for a clip with just a single 30-second marker.
* The length of the clip on the timeline is irrelevant. It is the length of the master clip that makes the difference. This explains why even relatively short markers can experience this effect, as there may be a large number of them within a single master clip.

Workarounds:
* Give your markers a color that is not used for any other purpose, then go to Edit > Project Properties and hide markers for that particular color. This resolves the issue, and if you need to see them again, just go back to Project Properties and enable them. This is my recommended solution (thanks Nick).
* Use shorter or fewer markers.
* Split up master clips or export your timeline as a reference movie and put the markers on the exported clip. This workaround works better if your project is short.
* If you are using cross dissolves, consider emulating the effect with opacity keyframes instead.
* Instead of using extended markers, use single-frame markers with a color coding scheme - e.g. red for the beginning marker and green for the end marker.

Test Notes:
* I tested this on Final Cut Pro 7.0.2, OS X 10.6.4, QuickTime 7.6.6.
* Thanks to Thomas Berglund for his assistance in helping me replicate this.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Sep 20 2010 to Final Cut Studio, Software, Apple
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