Hacking Firefox extensions to work on beta versions
This is a little off-topic but some people might find it useful. For the past three months or so, I have been using the
Firefox 3.5 betas as my main browser. Why? Well, it is considerably faster than the previous version, renders pages more accurately (much less difference between Firefox and Safari now) and has some features I now cannot live without, such as the ability to restore closed windows as well as tabs.
But the trouble with using a bleeding-edge browser is that third-party developers take time to update their extensions to make them compatible. This can be frustrating, as often no code changes are necessary and all that needs to be done is a simple modification of the maximum version string.
There are two things you can do here - switch off compatibility checking or modify the maximum version of the extension.
Switch off compatibility checking
1. In Firefox, type
about:config into the address bar.
2. Select "I'll be careful, I promise" if a warning appears.
3. Ctrl-click anywhere and select
New > Boolean.
4. Enter
extensions.checkCompatibility (note the capital C) as the name.
5. Select
false as the value.
I have heard people report problems with this so if you want to specify exactly which extensions you want to make compatible, read on.
If the extension is already installed
1. Make sure Firefox is closed.
2. Navigate to
~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles.
3. You should see a folder with a gobbledegook name ending in ".default". Open this folder.
4. Delete or rename the file
extensions.cache.
5. Open the
extensions folder.
6. You will see more gobbledegook folder names. The only way to tell which one is the extension you are looking for is to open each folder one at a time and look at the contents of the folder's
install.rdf file in TextEdit. The file's contents include the name of the extension, a description and compatibility information.
7. In the
install.rdf file, look for the tag
<em:maxVersion> and change the tag value to your current version (at the time of writing this is
3.5b4).
8. Save the file (you may need to change permissions on the file so you can write to it).
9. Launch Firefox and go to
Tools > Add-Ons to verify that the extensions are now recognized by Firefox.
If the extension is not already installed
1. The
Mozilla add-ons site won't let you download the extension if you have an incompatible version of Firefox. The easiest way to get around this is to fire up Safari, navigate to the add-ons page for the extension in question and download it manually (this works in Safari 4 - I don't have version 3 to test with).
2. Change the file extension of the .xpi file that is downloaded to .zip and unzip it. This will create a new folder on disk with the contents of the archive inside it.
3. Open
install.rdf inside the folder and follow steps 7-8 above.
4. Select all files inside the folder, ctrl-click and click
Compress X Items. You must compress the files inside the folder - do not compress the folder itself.
5. Rename the
Archive.zip file to have an xpi extension.
6. Drag the XPI file into Firefox or go to
File > Open File and navigate to it.
7. Firefox will now install it as if it was compatible.
Note - the extensions I modified were compatible with 3.1b3 (the previous version) so it was not much of a jump and I didn't experience any issues. I would not advise major version jumps (e.g. 2.x to 3.x) as this is likely to cause problems.
Posted by Jon Chappell on May 2 2009 to
Off-TopicPermalinkCompressor Repair 1.1.3 released
We've just released a quick maintenance update to
Compressor Repair, bringing it up to version 1.1.3. This one improves Tiger compatibility and compatibility with foreign language versions of OS X.
Apple's Compressor relies heavily on the Qmaster service in order to work. Qmaster allows you to split rendering tasks across multiple machines in a render farm but it is still required even if you are only rendering on a single computer.
The link between the two is so important that if the Qmaster service fails to launch, Compressor will be unable to submit batches. Should this occur, Compressor Repair checks for problems that could be preventing Qmaster from operating correctly. It checks for missing files, incorrect permissions, an invalid hostname, and attempts to manually start the qmasterd process.
Compressor Repair remains completely free and is available
here.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Apr 25 2009 to
DR News,
Front Page News,
UtilitiesPermalinkPreference Manager 2.0.1 released
We've just released
Preference Manager 2.0.1 (if you're wondering what happened to 2.0.0, that was exclusive for FCP SuperMeet visitors).
Preference Manager is a utility that allows you to trash, lock, backup and restore your Final Cut Studio user preferences. Unlike other apps, it supports all applications in the Final Cut Studio suite, not just FCP. It is useful as a troubleshooting tool and as a simple means of transferring your preferences to another computer.
Version 2.0.x is a complete rewrite with a redesigned and improved interface. It was designed to be easier for casual users while still being useful for power users. So if you click Backup or Quick Trash in the Basic tab, this will just trash or backup
all of your preferences, which is fine for most users.
People who want a bit more control can click on the Advanced tab, where they will have more precise control over what is trashed or backed up, and also have the option to lock files to prevent modification.
You can also assign categories to better distinguish backups. There are three categories - User, Project and Workflow. These categories are just different ways of representing the backups and have no bearing on the content stored in the file or the operation of Preference Manager - they're purely for organization (incidentally, I am open to suggestions for additional categories).
However, it is possible to optionally link a project to a Project-categorized backup. This doesn't just apply to FCP projects either - you can add Motion projects, Color projects, Compressor jobs, etc. Whenever you launch the project, the backup will automatically be restored before the application launches. This enables you to easily set scratch disks and other settings on a per-project basis (you must open the project file in the Finder - you can't click File > Open).
As these are major changes to the application, I would fully appreciate feedback on what works for you and what doesn't. Everyone uses the app in a slightly different way, so it'd be interesting to hear what would improve your particular workflow. Just reply to this post, use the feedback form at the bottom of the
Preference Manager page, send us an
email or contact us on
Twitter.
Preference Manager remains completely free and can be downloaded
here. If you are running version 1.0.7, you will need to download and install the update manually due to a bug with the updater in that particular version.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Apr 25 2009 to
DR News,
Front Page News,
UtilitiesPermalinkRED Rocket announced
Many within the RED community have been clamoring for an official conform tool to simplify online/offline RED workflows. Well, RED's gone one better with
RED Rocket.
Rocket is a hardware R3D decoder and debayer capable of realtime output of up to 30 fps @ 4K or 24 fps @ 5K. This completely removes the need for an offline (at least with the RED One - Epic will still need it at high resolutions), allowing you to work with 4K directly in FCP, Premiere, After Effects, RED Alert!, REDCINE, REDrushes or any application using the REDCODE SDK.
It is PCI-Express (laptop users are out of luck here), is compatible with Windows, OS X and Linux, and features Quad-DVI and Quad-HD-SDI.
This is bad news for DVS which just introduced
Clipster at NAB, however there could be a place in the market if they can undercut Rocket's $5k pricetag and beat it to market. There is currently no ETA on RED Rocket.
Update: Jim says two months but RED's release dates have been pushed back on many occasions.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Apr 22 2009 to
Cameras,
Hardware,
IndustryPermalinkNVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 for Mac Pro
The 2009 Mac Pros don't have a great range of graphics cards to choose from. You can go for the cut-down GeForce GT 120 or the more advanced Radeon 4870, and that's it unless you plump for an older card (not to mention of course the fact that you must buy one card for every Mini DisplayPort monitor you own, which screws up FCP).
There's now another one to choose from - the
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800. It's incredibly powerful with 1.5 GB of memory, 192 CUDA parallel processing cores (!) and 76.8 GB/sec memory bandwidth. But its price tag matches its capabilities - $1799.
I would not actually recommend this for ProApp use, as the Quadros have not traditionally been optimized for Core Image operations (not to mention the small number of ProApps that utilize the GPU significantly) so a lot of that power goes to waste in Final Cut Studio. However, this card is often used for 3D modeling and visualization tasks.
Why was this not released with the 2009 Mac Pros? One explanation could be the fact it requires OS X 10.5.7 which has not been released yet. The card is scheduled to be released in May, which suggests 10.5.7 would also be released around that time too.
It is compatible with the 2008 and 2009 Mac Pros. Apple have not announced anything on their site so it remains to be seen if there will be a BTO option. Interestingly, NVIDIA's site only mentions Dual-Link DVI as a display option and does not mention Mini DisplayPort at all.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Apr 21 2009 to
Apple,
HardwarePermalinkNAB 09 Day 1
Yesterday was the first day of NAB. I'm not going to list every single announcement (for that you can go
here), but I'm going to focus on what I feel were the biggest or most interesting announcements.
Avid completely redesigned their logo - I can see what they were trying to do but I'm not a big fan of it. Luckily they had some bombshell announcements to go with it. In a surprising move, Avid
qualified Final Cut Pro to run on its Unity MediaNetwork and ISIS storage. This makes it considerably easier to use both FCP and Avid systems on the same project.
Avid also
redesigned its support offerings and showcased RED support and stereoscopic 3D integration. Avid has always had the edge on FCP when it comes to media management but the recently-introduced AMA architecture takes that one step further. There is no need to Log and Transfer - just link to the P2 or XDCAM volume and all of the clips just pop up in the bin, complete with metadata. This is clearly a lot better than FCP's clunky implementation (hopefully something Apple will address in FCP 7) and Avid were keen to show it off.
Adobe announced it has partnered with several manufacturers to
create TVs with Flash support. So you could theoretically watch a documentary on a subject and then view interactive content related to that subject.
But far more interesting was Adobe's
post announcements. Adobe Story is a collaborative screenwriting application that is integrated with Adobe Premiere. There are very few details but it seems likely that it will build on Premiere's transcription function to introduce an Avid-like Script Sync feature.
This continues the recent trend of linking pre-production processes directly to post production software - something we will no doubt see more of in the future. Right now Apple
appears to be considering storyboard integration.
Blackmagic Design announces
UltraScope - 3Gb/s SDI and optical fibre scopes for $695. This is huge. Hardware scopes cost more than some cars, so a scope for $695 is a real game-changer. Lets hope it's good - Blackmagic's products normally are.
It is a PCI Express card that plugs into a Windows computer with a 24-inch monitor (alas no Mac support as yet) to display output on the screen. As one
PVC commenter notes - the lack of Mac support is not necessarily a bad thing as you would probably not use the machine for any other purpose, thus a cheaper PC would be a better option.
This is a clever solution to an age-old problem and I wish I was at NAB to see it in action.
Blackmagic's
HDLink looks to be a worthy opponent to the original Matrox MXO. This gives you HD monitoring via DVI or HDMI for only $495. Monitor 4:4:4 SDI video on a regular computer monitor.
In addition, Blackmagic have lowered the prices of several of their existing products.
Matrox CompressHD is a PCI Express hardware H.264 encoder. This allows you to encode H.264 faster than realtime using Matrox's MAX technology. Also announced is the
MXO 2 Mini, which is a cut-down, smaller, cross platform version of the MXO 2. It lacks XLR and SDI ports, unlike its larger and more expensive brother but it works on PC, Mac, and all QuickTime-compatible editing applications. It costs $449 or $849 with the H.264-accelerating MAX option.
AJA has a very nice
new website and have introduced the
KI Pro. It connects to a camera and records to ProRes422 in the field, without the aid of a laptop. It is the only device to do this because AJA have an exclusive contract with Apple for ProRes support.
This means you can import footage into Final Cut Pro instantly without the need for transcoding. It also means that the post production team is dealing with the same video format each time, no matter what type of camera was used on set.
It can accept SD/HD SDI, HDMI and component inputs and can connect to your computer via FireWire 800 or Ethernet. It can also convert from one video standard to another in realtime. You can record to removable ExpressCards or an external hard disk. It can be remotely controlled through Wifi via a laptop or iPhone (nice!).
AJA also announced the
Io Express which looks to be similar to the Matrox MXO 2. I haven't had time to do a feature-by-feature comparison yet though.
Finally,
Panasonic is developing a 3D camera and
JVC is developing a very pricey $200,000 4K camera.
That's what interested me... did I miss anything?
Look for the FCPUG SuperMeet on Day 2 (today) where a brand-new exclusive version of our very own
Preference Manager will be given out on the SuperDVD.
Also, a lot of people think that Apple will release new details of Final Cut Studio 3 today. I don't think this will be the case - we'll have to wait and see I guess.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Apr 21 2009 to
Analysis,
Video Editing,
IndustryPermalinkIncoming network connection dialogs keep appearing
Amazingly for an OS that markets itself as secure, the firewall in OS X is not switched on by default. So if you switch it to the recommended mode, "Set access for specific services and applications", OS X will prompt you to allow or deny incoming connections.
But sometimes that dialog will not go away! Certain applications such as QmasterStatusMenu.app and Batch Monitor.app cause the dialog to pop up every 5 seconds (or every 20 seconds if you ignore it) which gets annoying very quickly.
The reason for this is that applications like QmasterStatusMenu.app and Batch Monitor.app don't communicate on the same port each time. It is constantly changing, as this log excerpt shows:
This really confuses the very basic OS X firewall.
Some people have recommended switching the firewall off but I wouldn't recommend this. There's always a trade-off between security and convenience, but this trade-off is far too big. Instead, it is much better to just obtain a more advanced firewall.
I would recommend
Little Snitch for this job. It gives you infinitely more options than the default firewall, lets you see where apps are sending data, doesn't bug you too often, and most importantly, it copes with applications that constantly change ports so those annoying 5-second popups go away.
The demo gives you full functionality for 3 hours, after which you just restart the firewall again. That's a lot better than popups every 5 seconds, but if 3 hours is too often, you can buy a single license for $29.99.
Just install Little Snitch, restart the computer and switch the default OS X firewall to "Allow all incoming connections". Little Snitch then takes over - you can now use Qmaster and be safe at the same time.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Apr 19 2009 to
Apple,
Final Cut Studio,
UtilitiesPermalinkIf you're going to NAB 09...
I'm sure everyone's probably noticed that this blog's been pretty quiet of late. That's partly because I haven't had much time lately and partly because I generally don't like to pre-announce things before they are due.
However, there is one thing I would like to announce right now. If you're going to NAB this year, be sure to check out the
FCPUG SuperMeet on Thursday 21st April, 5:00 PM-11:00 PM at the Rio Hotel Amazon Ballroom. This is a great place to meet up with fellow Final Cut Pro users, learn new things and win great prizes in the raffle ($70,000-worth of prizes in the bag and counting). Entry is $15.00 ($20 at the door) which includes two raffle tickets.
The doors open at 4:30 PM, so be sure to get in there quick because the first 1000 people in the door get the SuperMeet DVD. This is a disc containing gigabytes of software, tutorials and discount codes. And the lucky recipients of this DVD will also exclusively receive the brand new, completely redesigned version of
Preference Manager.
This version has taken into account much of the feedback from the original version, and version 2.0.0 aims to simplify the most commonly-used tasks while still providing customization for those that need it.
Brand new features include the ability to categorize backups, and the ability to link backups to specific projects so that settings are automatically applied when the project is launched. This is in addition to its prior functions of trashing, backing up, restoring and locking preference files.
Preference Manager 2.0.0 is Leopard-only.Preference Manager remains completely free but this version will be exclusive to those with the SuperMeet DVD. If you're not going to NAB or you miss out on the DVD, don't fret. You'll get version 2.0.1 a few days later which has some very minor features (like Tiger support and an improved application icon) that didn't make the deadline.
Also on the disc is the current version of
FCS Remover and a minor new release of
Compressor Repair that now displays a warning stating that it is designed for Compressor 3.0.x. This is to clear up confusion over some of the warnings 2.x and 1.x users were getting about missing Compressor files.
As this is a completely rewritten version of Preference Manager, we'd really appreciate feedback. We think this is a major improvement over the previous version but we'd love to hear what doesn't work for your needs and workflow (and of course, it's always good to know what does work too). You can use the
bug report /
feature request links within the application itself or contact us on
Twitter.
If you're waiting for the 2.0.1 release, you can subscribe to this blog,
our appcast, or follow our
Twitter feed to hear when the new version has been released.
Wish I could be there, hope everyone has a great time.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Apr 11 2009 to
Front Page News,
Industry,
DR NewsPermalink
KollaborateCloud platform for pro video
Pro Maintenance ToolsMaintain, optimize and troubleshoot your editing system
Pro Media ToolsMedia and workflow management for video pros
CinePlayProfessional video player
Post HasteCreate projects from customizable templates
Preference ManagerTrash, backup, lock and restore preferences for your video apps
FCS RemoverUninstall Final Cut Studio and FCPX
Cut Notes
CinePlay
Aspect Ratio Matte Generator
Video Space Calculator
