How to fully remove Final Cut Server

Apple has just released an Applecare document listing the files installed by Final Cut Server and detailing how to remove them. This follows on from the difficulties a lot of people had with removing it due to the large number of files it places in hidden system folders. This was further complicated by Apple not wanting fixes made public until they had a chance to address the issue themselves.

I will use this information to add support within FCS Remover shortly.

ATI Radeon 3870 due next month for Mac Pro?

AppleInsider is reporting that the ATI Radeon HD 3870 will be due "next month" for both current and legacy Mac Pros.

Details are scarce (and possibly fictional) but the card is said to include 512 MB of DDR4 memory and support for CrossFire mode (linking two cards up to boost graphics performance, usually in video games) within Windows.

More importantly for professional users, it provides a mid-range alternative to NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GT which has ProApp performance issues.

Color users are particularly advised to invest in an ATI card because they support rendering in 10-, 12- and 16-bit modes in addition to NVIDIA's 8- and 32-bit offerings. The NVIDIA card gives you a choice between best and worst, with no in-between values. This can cause problems for people wanting something higher than 8-bit without the massive performance hit when working in 32-bit mode.

At present, the only way to get a mid-range ATI card in your new Mac Pro is to buy one of the ones from the old Mac Pros and update the firmware, although this has the caveat that you have to install it in an older Mac Pro first in order to update it. This news would appear to be the answer to many professional users' prayers, although I hope that Apple introduce a driver update for those that have already upgraded to the 8800 GT.

Digital Rebellion 1 year old today

Digital Rebellion is exactly a year old today! And unlike a lot of start-ups, we're still here and going strong (amazingly).

It's been a year of great things for us. Perfect Sport is now complete and is doing very well at festivals, and our free online resources are proving popular. Looking forward, we have some more projects in the pipeline and I hope I can make an announcement towards the end of the year regarding these.

We've always encouraged comments and feedback and I feel this has been important to our success so I encourage that further. Either use our contact form or use the feedback link at the bottom of every page.

I'm not going out to celebrate or anything, but if you are planning on going to a bar, you are more than welcome to use this as an excuse for the wife :p

Baz Luhrmann offers free filmmaking course on iTunes

Baz Luhrmann (director of Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge and the infamous Chanel commercial with Nicole Kidman) is now offering a free filmmaking course entitled Set to Screen in video podcast form on the iTunes store.

It lasts until October and each podcast features a specific aspect of the filmmaking process (e.g. set design, cinematography, etc) on Baz's new feature film, Australia, starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. The first one, On Set Photography, is available now. Peter Jackson did something similar on King Kong which ended up being very successful.

If you're a high school or college student, five of the podcasts come with a challenge at the end. Complete the challenge, post it to the Apple Student Gallery and you could be in for the chance of winning an iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch, or a MacBook Pro. A trip for two to Australia is also up for grabs, and the top prize in the final challenge is a trip to Australia with a chance to meet Baz and travel with him on the movie's promotional tour. Your project will also be featured on the movie's DVD release.

For those who aren't students, I think the podcasts are still very interesting regardless. I have a lot of respect for Baz and his work so I will be subscribing to this for sure and no doubt hanging on his every word.

[via CamcorderInfo]

CalDigit SAN announced at NAB

I just got this in my inbox courtesy of the LAFCPUG mailing list.

Right now at Digital Rebellion we're running Xserve RAIDs on Xsan 1.4. I love these things but they're loud, they kick out a lot of heat and they're no longer being made. They're still pretty good and they're not out of date yet but I have been looking at alternatives with the future in mind.

CalDigit, famous for their hardware RAID cards, demonstrated such an alternative at NAB. One major departure from the Xserve RAIDs and their replacement, the Promise VTrak E-Class, is the fact that it does not use 2 or 4 Gb Fibre Channel cables (which cost around $80 per cable) to transmit data. It uses ePCIe which allows it to transmit data at speeds of up to 20 Gbps and allows for very long cable lengths of up to 300m.

With the recent announcement of the entry-level Scarlet camera, the demand for real-time access to extremely high resolution streams looks set to increase dramatically and, luckily, the CalDigit SAN has the bandwidth to transfer multiple 2K streams in real-time.

Uniquely, there is also an ePCIe ExpressCard device to allow laptop users (MacBook Pro only) to access the SAN. This is not currently available for fibre-based networks.

There's nothing on their site as of yet but they have a press release out and it looks like more details will be announced nearer the shipping date, which is currently unknown. This is definitely something I'm keeping my eye on.

New tool: Lens Angle Calc

We've just released a new online tool: Lens Angle Calc. This allows you to calculate the horizontal or vertical lens angle from a given frame width / height and lens focal length.

This is very useful because it allows you to plan your shoot on paper and work out exactly where the camera should be placed before you even arrive on set - saving valuable time and avoiding awkward situations in small locations where you can't see the subject on your widest lens with your back against the wall. It is invaluable for effects work, where everything must be planned out in meticulous detail.

It can also work out the focal length of the lens from a given lens angle and frame width or height - very useful for working out which lens should be used in a certain situation.

Lens Angle Calc
Lens Angle Calc (iPhone version)

See our other web applications here.

NAB 2008 Summary

If, like me, you couldn't possibly keep up with all of the goings-on at NAB and decided to wait it out until the end, here is a short summary of the biggest announcements (or the ones most interesting to me anyway) in bitesize form.

RED
New low-end portable camera Scarlet

• 3K
• Around $3000
• Early 2009 release
• New Mysterium X Sensor
• 1-120 fps (180 fps burst)
• 100MB/sec Redcode RAW and RGB recording via dual Compact Flash
• 4.8 inch LCD
• Fixed 8x T2.8 lens
• Auto and manual shooting modes
• Wi-Fi control - this one opens up many possibilities

PVC Scarlet write-up

New high-end camera Epic

• 5K (up from 4K)
• I have heard both $30,000 and $40,000 quoted (up from $17,500)
• Early 2009 release
• New Full-Frame S35 Mysterium X Sensor
• 1-100 fps (up from 1-60 fps)
• 100MB/sec (up from 36 MB/sec) Redcode and HDMI recording
• 6 lb body (down from 10 lbs)
• RAW and RGB recording to Red Flash
• Wi-Fi control
• Fully upgradeable
• You can get a full $17,500 credit for your Red One if you upgrade

PVC Epic write-up

New playback device RED Ray

• Early 2009
• 4K in
• 4K, 2K, 1080p, 720p, SD playback
• Can play back content from a regular red laser disc
• Plays native R3D files from Compact Flash
• 4 HD SDI and 4
  HDMI connections for 4K
• 2 HD SDI and 2 HDMI connections for 2K
• 2 hrs of 4K with 5.1 audio on a regular DVD
• FireWire 800 for connecting external hard disks or cameras
• Under $1000

PVC RED Ray write-up
Scott Simmons at the Editblog has several photographs of the various RED products.

Sony
PMW-EX3

• Around $13,000
• Uses SxS cards (similar to P2)
• Removable lens
• 1080i / 720p switchable
• Genlock and timecode inputs
• Shoulder-mounted
• Available late 2008

F35

• S35-sized sensor
• Extensive depth of field controls
• Greater dynamic range than the F23 (800% more)
• PL lens mount allows regular 35mm film lenses to be used

Panasonic
P2 Varicams (AJ-HPX3700 and AJ-HPX2700)

• Now uses P2 cards exclusively. 5x P2 slots available on each camera
• 2/3" CCDs
• Full-res 10-bit 4:2:2 AVC Intra-100 recording
• Variable frame rates in 1-frame increments
• Available fall 2008

AG-HPX170 solid-state camcorder

• Improves on the successful HVX200
• 1/3" premium-quality CCDs offering increased sensitivity and lower noise
• 13x lens with 28mm wide-angle setting (widest in its class)
• 12-60 fps in 720p-mode
• P2-only; no tape deck
• Much smaller and lighter than the HVX200
• Available fall 2008

Here is a great summary from DVXUser.com.

AJ-HVX200A camcorder

• Successor to the hugely popular HVX-200
• Incorporates the same lens and CCDs as the new HPX170 but with a tape deck for transitioning from a MiniDV workflow

Here is a great review from DVXUser.com.

64 GB P2 card

• More than 4 hours of DVCPRO footage
• More than 2 hours of DVCPRO50 or AVC-Intra 50
• More than 64 minutes of AVC-Intra 100 or DVCPRO HD
• Available fall 2008

AJ-PCD35 ExpressCard P2 drive

• Allows P2 cards to be used in machines with ExpressCard ports
• Can transfer from up to 5 cards at once
• Available late 2008

Imagineer Systems
High-end finishing system mogul

• Monthly subscription includes hardware, software and maintenance. Annual hardware upgrades
• Open platform allows content sharing and management between multiple applications
• Editing, compositing and grading integrated to allow you to switch from one to the other without rendering
• Software "plugs in" to the architecture to perform certain tasks such as mogul/roto and mogul/comp with similar interfaces
• mogul/serve shipping at NAB, other products to be determined

Studio Daily mogul interview

Matrox
MXO 2

• Inputs: Component HD/SD, SDI HD/SD, Embedded SDI audio, Y/C, Composite, XLR audio, RCA audio, AES/EBU, HDMI, Embedded HDMI audio
• Outputs: Component HD/SD, SDI HD/SD, Embedded SDI audio, Y/C, Composite, RCA audio, XLR audio, AES/EBU, HDMI, Embedded HDMI audio, Direct 5.1 surround monitoring
• This does not have a DVI output like the MXO so it cannot output to a Cinema Display
• Dynamic RT acceleration and hardware up/downscaling
• Designed for HDMI monitoring with calibration and 1:1 pixel mapping
• Black burst and tri-sync for HD
• $1600
• Released July 2008

Differences between the MXO and MXO 2 (PDF)
Shane Ross's write-up

FCS Remover 1.0.7 released

We've just released FCS Remover 1.0.7.

The biggest new feature is Final Cut Server support (thanks to Morten Schmidt for helping with this). Clicking "Remove Final Cut Server" will remove the Final Cut Server software but not Compressor or Qmaster. To remove these as well, you will have to click "Remove Final Cut Studio" as unfortunately these two applications overlap into both pieces of software.

It also removes some Final Cut Studio support files that were missed out in previous versions.

FCS Remover allows you to remove Final Cut Studio 1 and 2, Final Cut Express and Final Cut Server at the press of a button.

Bug report
Feature request

Apple releases 8800 GT for old Mac Pros

Early Mac Pro users can now use Apple's NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT Upgrade Kit to add the latest graphics card to their machine.

However, before you rush off to find your credit card, I would advise holding off for a while until Apple fixes the performance issues with an updated driver (these are normally included in operating system updates but sometimes are offered separately).

And if you're planning to use it with Color, you're better off with the original ATI Radeon X1900 XT as the NVIDIA card supports fewer working bit-depths.

But if you're a gamer, you're grand.

My Compressor issues solved

UPDATE 11/9/2008: We've now released a tool to automate this fix, called Compressor Repair.

I recently experienced the dreaded "Unable to submit to queue. Please restart your computer or verify your Compressor installation is correct" error message when submitting batches with Compressor. I noticed that it listed "No Value" under Cluster instead of "This Machine".



Going to Qmaster Preferences and clicking Start Sharing gave me a message saying that "qmasterd" was not running. This was the cause of the problem.

The first thing I did was look on Apple's support boards where I found many posts on the subject. Unfortunately most users found that they managed to solve their issues by removing and reinstalling Compressor or the entire Final Cut Studio. This is something I did not want to do.

I used the terminal command sudo qmasterprefs -reset (this seems to be equivalent to trashing prefs as far as I can gather) and then sudo qmasterprefs -restart to relaunch qmasterd. I then relaunched Compressor and everything worked as it should.

Except when I restarted my machine, at which point I was back to the same error messages again. I knew that a fix must be possible without a reinstall, and it was probably something simple. So I did some digging around and I discovered that the folder /Library/StartupItems/Qmaster had the wrong permissions. It was set to No Access for some bizarre reason, preventing OS X from seeing any files inside it. Note that this was not picked up by Disk Utility when doing a permission repair. So I set the owner back to system and clicked Apply to enclosed items to be 100% sure that the permissions would be correct for all files.



I restarted my machine and everything worked. Two restarts later and it still works.

I can't say it will work for everyone but try it if you are experiencing these symptoms.