Tool updates: Web clip icons now available

With the iPhone 1.1.3 firmware, Apple added the ability to bookmark web pages ("web clips") onto your iPhone home screen. This is a great new addition that allows you quick and easy access to favorite web sites. Unfortunately, the default icon for the web clip is a tiny shrunk-down version of the page, which looks very unsightly, not to mention confusing for similar-looking pages.

We have now updated our online tools to replace these shrunk-down images with the relevant application's icon, as has been requested by several people recently.

View the updated iPhone applications here:
Footage Calc (iPhone version)
Film Rate Calc (iPhone version)
Aspect Ratio Calc (iPhone version)
Depth of Field Calc (iPhone version)

As always, we appreciate feedback on these applications. Just use the link at the bottom of every page.

New online tool: Depth of Field Calculator

This tool will calculate the depth of field for a given sensor or film type, aperture, focal length, and subject distance (the distance from the camera to the person or object you are focusing on). A lower number means that a large proportion of the background will remain in sharp focus and a higher number means that a smaller proportion (if any) will be in focus.

It also includes presets for popular video cameras. Selecting a preset will automatically change the sensor type to fit your camera.

We have two versions:
Depth of Field Calc (standard)
Depth of Field Calc (iPhone)

This tool was created as a result of feedback by users of our other other tools. We always appreciate feedback so we can create the best possible experience for you. Just use the feedback link at the bottom of every page to send your comments anonymously.

Gartner: HD DVD dead by the end of the year

PCWorld is reporting that Gartner Research has predicted the death of HD DVD by the end of the year. It dubs Toshiba's massive HD DVD player price cuts as "useless resistance".

While I have no idea how long it will take before Toshiba gives up, I am in agreement that it is incredibly difficult for HD DVD to make a comeback. It is too costly for the studios to output to three different formats (standard-def DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray). More importantly, HD DVD is already dead in the eyes of several consumers I have spoken to, and I am sure the recent negative publicity cemented this belief in many more people.

Lack of studio support and constant predictions of HD DVD's demise are denting consumer confidence and increasing Blu-ray's lead. If Toshiba is planning a comeback, it needs to be now.

As an update to my previous post, the "Save HD DVD" petition now stands at over 30,000 signatures and the "Let HD DVD Die" petition stands at over 10,000. I cannot see Warner or the others doing a U-turn on this policy, however, no matter how many votes it gets.

Update 1/30/08:
Video Business is reporting that HD DVD player sales rose significantly over the past week. This is likely to be due to the massive (half-price in some cases) price cuts that took place. Last week's player sales put Blu-ray at 63%, HD DVD at 33% and dual-format players at 4%. The week before it was 90% for Blu-ray and 7% for HD DVD.

This shows that consumers are more susceptible to pricing strategies in this war than previously thought. HD DVD is the cheaper format, in terms of both disc and player costs but if Blu-ray does become the dominant format, production costs (and presumably prices) will fall with time.

Recommended QuickTime and Mac OS configurations for Final Cut Pro

As the recent QuickTime 7.3 and 7.4 updates show, it is important to choose your Mac OS and QuickTime configurations carefully to match your Final Cut Pro version.

I have been developing this list of optimal configurations for a while now. It is based on my own experiences and the recommendations of others. As such, it is somewhat subjective. If your own experiences differ, feel free to let me know and I will update the page.

Note: This page is designed to give the most compatible configurations for old versions of Final Cut Pro. If you have the latest version of FCP, you should simply use the latest OS X and QuickTime versions. But don't upgrade in the middle of a project.

Final Cut Pro Version	Mac OS Version	QuickTime Version
6.0.6	10.5.8	7.6.6
6.0.5	10.5.6	7.5.5
6.0.4	10.5.5	7.5.5
6.0.3	10.4.11 / 10.5.2	7.4.5
6.0.2	10.4.11 / 10.5.1	7.3.1
5.1.4	10.4.11	7.1.6
5.0.4	10.4.11	7.1.6
4.5	10.3.9	6.5
3.0.4	10.2.8 Update 2	6.2
3.0	10.2.8 Update 2	5.0.6
2.0.2	9.2.2	5.0.1
1.2.5	9.2.2	4.1.3
1.2.1	8.6	4.1.1
1.0.1	8.6	4.0.3
1.0	8.6	4b16

NVIDIA working on Mac support for GPGPUs

AppleInsider is reporting that, according to its sources, NVIDIA is working on General Purpose Graphical Processing Unit (GPGPU) support for the Macintosh.

Unlike conventional graphics chips, GPGPUs can perform general purpose processing tasks and are not limited to graphical calculations only. This allows non-graphical software to utilize the GPU for other processing tasks, speeding up calculations. Software like Compressor could use this to speed up rendering, and Motion and Final Cut Pro could re-use the graphics processor as a standard processor when it is not needed for graphics-accelerated rendering. It would also be beneficial to laptop users, as it would provide more power efficiency (performance per watt).

GPGPUs cannot process every task that a CPU could though. They are used to processing several streams of graphical data simultaneously, so they work best with parallel tasks in which several similar tasks are being completed at the same time (e.g. rendering video frames in Compressor).

NVIDIA's chips use a technology called CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) that allows software to communicate with the graphics processor and issue commands to it. ATI has a similar technology called CTM (Close to Metal).

The important factor that people seem to be missing is that GPGPUs are present in Nvidia's GeForce 8800 chips. This is confirmed by this page. This means that the GeForce 8800 GXT for the Mac Pro is already a GPGPU; it is just a case of developing OS X software to utilize it.

NVIDIA has put out a job posting for a full-time OS X CUDA driver developer, so it looks like this process is about to begin. It will probably be a long time before we see GPGPU-enabled applications because Apple will have to release driver and framework support for it before any developers can start work on CUDA applications. It is a very exciting development though.

DiskWarrior 4.1 adds Leopard support

I've mentioned DiskWarrior before. It has been a life-saver to me, and is well worth the asking price of $99.95. It will diagnose and fix hard disk problems that Disk Utility cannot. DiskWarrior is an essential editors' tool in the fight against data loss.

Version 4.1 adds Leopard support and support for Leopard-specific features such as the ability to repair Time Machine volumes.

Note, however, that you cannot repair Leopard volumes from within Tiger, so if you were trying to repair a Time Machine volume it would fail.

Workarounds for the QuickTime 7.4 rendering issues in After Effects

I have heard claims that it is caused by DRM and I have heard claims that it is just a case of adjusting a preference.

The preference in question is the "Show legacy encoders" option. Unfortunately I can't test this out myself as I don't have the CS3 version of AE and I wouldn't really want to install QT 7.4 even if I did. However, people are reporting that adjusting this preference makes no difference. I would imagine that this is correct, as the option simply shows and hides encoders in the QuickTime menus.

This problem only affects sequences longer than 9:59 (I have also heard 9:57 but it doesn't make much difference) in length. If you are exporting sequences shorter than this, you will not be affected.

The bug only affects QuickTime exports. A workaround is to export to an image sequence (I recommend TIFFs). Final Cut Pro doesn't work well with image sequences and it will really slow down your timeline, so I recommend then converting the images to a movie in QuickTime.

To do this, fire up QuickTime and go to File > Open Image Sequence. Choose the first frame of the sequence and click Open. Select your desired frame rate and click Ok.

You now have two options: you can go to File > Save As and save it as a self-contained movie or the second option is to go to File > Export and choose an export format. The former will make no changes to the quality of the images and the second one will recompress it to a given format (such as DV). The latter option is recommended if you are placing it in a Final Cut Pro sequence, as it will not require rendering if you match the sequence settings.

This workaround can be applied to any application that is having difficulties with the latest QuickTime update.

Using QuickTime 7.4 with Final Cut Pro 6

I've seen a lot of questions about this lately. Some people have tried installing QuickTime 7.4 in order to fix problems they were experiencing with Final Cut Studio. There is no need to install QuickTime 7.4 on your Final Cut Pro machine as the 7.4 update does not offer any new features relevant to Final Cut. In fact, it causes a lot of incompatibilities with non-Apple software.

You should only install a QuickTime update when you are updating Final Cut Pro and the FCP update demands a later version of QuickTime. It is best not to do this in the middle of a project, and make sure you have a clone of your current system before you do so.

I understand that some people use their machines for multiple purposes and the temptation to install QuickTime 7.4 in order to get iTunes movie rentals must be great. I would advise people in this situation to at least wait for a 7.4.1 patch before upgrading. The bugs in the current release mean that such a patch is likely. Don't forget to clone your drive before you do it.

And don't install it at all unless you have the very latest version of Final Cut Pro (6.0.2) or it will break your Final Cut Pro installation.

After Effects 8.0.2 released

Adobe has released a new patch for Macintosh After Effects users. This patch allows you to natively import and work with Panasonic P2 data, and adds Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard support.

More details of bug fixes are available here.

This does not, unfortunately, fix the QuickTime 7.4 rendering issues, although Adobe are "working with Apple to resolve the problem".

HD DVD not going down without a fight

HighDefDigest has a series of articles on the ongoing HD-DVD vs Blu-ray saga. I have heard some consumer publications say that HD-DVD is dead and Blu-ray has won the war. This is completely misleading. HD-DVD has taken some heavy blows but it has not died yet. Microsoft has shown in the past that it is prepared to make a loss in order to increase the market share of inferior products.

HD-DVD is definitely not giving up the ghost here. Universal has confirmed that it has no plans to abandon the HD-DVD format, despite the escape clause in its contract.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, Warner revealed that it plans to delay even more of its HD-DVD releases. The delays now encompass its catalog titles in addition to its new ones.

Retailers are supporting Warner's move as well. Retailers are becoming cautious about over-stocking HD-DVD titles and are dedicating more shelf space to Blu-ray discs.

Finally, an online petition has been set up, campaigning against the move to abandon HD-DVD. At the time of writing, it has received over 15,000 signatures. Recently, a counter-petition called "Let HD DVD Die" was set up. At the time of writing, it has over 6,000 signatures (including mine). Because the first petition has had a couple of weeks' head start, it's difficult to tell which one is actually "winning" right now, although it probably won't make much difference.