Last week we released Pro Media Tools 1.6.1, a minor update to our suite of media management tools for video professionals.

New List metadata type in Auto Transfer

Our camera offloading tool Auto Transfer now has a new metadata type - List. This allows you to specify a series of items, separated by commas, and force the user to choose one of these without being able to enter custom values. I use this in my workflows to send video and audio to different folders.

Additionally in Auto Transfer, you can now choose in preferences whether to include the camera ID in auto-detected reels (e.g. A011) or just have it be a numeric value (e.g. 011).

We've also added support for detecting volumes from DJI drones.

Force UTC timezone in QT Edit

By default our QuickTime metadata editing tool QT Edit uses times in your local timezone. This is appropriate for most workflows, especially when adding timecode tracks from the creation time of the file, but some users have requested support for UTC timezone instead, irrespective of the local timezone. You can now force UTC in preferences.

Other changes

 

• Auto Transfer - Fixed an issue where metadata columns in the Transfer view wouldn't reorder when reordered from the Metadata pane
• Auto Transfer - Fixed an issue where files on transferred volumes may not retain their original modification dates
• QT Edit - Limited the maximum number of metadata fields to 400 to prevent the app hanging if a movie has corrupt metadata
• Fixed an issue that could cause a "trial has expired" message to appear
• Various other bug fixes, tweaks and improvements

Pro Media Tools is an essential toolkit for media professionals. To find out more, view the feature list, read the user manual or download the free 15-day trial.

 

Last week we released Kollaborate Server 2.6, a major update to our self-hosted cloud workflow platform for video professionals.

This update contains some important new features but many of the best changes are the smaller ones. We really smoothed and polished a lot of things in this release and many tasks are faster and easier to accomplish than before.

Batch downloading

Select a group of files, then hit the download button next to one of them to download all of them at the same time. This works on the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

Auto-advance

Click the circle arrow to the left or right of the player to automatically advance to the next file in the folder after the current one finishes.

Download proxies

If the file has a lower-quality playable proxy, you will now be given the option of which file to download when clicking the download button in the player.

Custom approve/reject button labels

You can now give the Approve / Reject buttons in your workflows custom titles, allowing you to make it clearer what pressing a particular button will actually do.

Project thumbnails

Projects now show the icon of the most recent file that everyone can access. This only applies to files outside of departments.

Keep your place

If you click a file to view it and then press the Back button to go back to the Files page, Kollaborate now goes back to exactly where you were instead of going back to the top of the Files page. This is really useful if you were 20 pages deep.

Quick Look overhaul

We overhauled Quick Look to be more polished and responsive and increased the screen space it takes up so you can see your files better.

Improved image support

Large images are now displayed more prominently in the player and the image full-screen view has been redesigned and polished.

Additionally, we've improved support for animated GIFs, which now have frame rate, duration and hoverscrub thumbnails.

Security improvements

We've made a variety of security improvements. These will largely not be noticeable but one noticeable change is that you will need to re-login the first time after this update. After that the site will automatically log you in in future as normal.

Various uploading improvements

• Videos and images now show thumbnail previews during upload if the file is a format your browser can read
• Uploads now stay where you dragged them instead of scrolling you to the bottom of the page
• Estimated time remaining is now shown during uploads
• Lots of performance optimizations

Other changes

• New filter - show only Favorites on the Files page
• You can now favorite a file directly from the player
• The next / previous buttons in the player now show a preview of the upcoming file
• You can now separate version stacks by right-clicking them
• Folders are now ordered before files in the list
• Many UI tweaks
• Many performance optimizations and bug fixes

Kollaborate is an essential cloud workflow platform that allows you to share files with clients and team members while integrating with Digital Rebellion apps and services. Kollaborate Server allows you to host the platform in-house on your own servers and storage. To find out more, see the Kollaborate Server overview or register for the free cloud trial (Server trials are available on request).

Kollaborate 2.6 - Aug 21 2017

• Batch downloading
• Auto-advance to the next/previous file in the folder
  
• Download proxies instead of original files
  
• Kollaborate now auto-selects the previously opened file when navigating back to the Files page
  
• Custom approve / reject button labels
• Images and videos show icon previews while uploading (for video formats supported by a web browser)
• Overhauled QuickLook to be more responsive and look nicer
• Project thumbnails
• You can now favorite a file from the player
• Filter by Favorites on the Files page
  
• The next / previous buttons in the player now show a preview of the file
• Better support for animated GIFs - hoverscrub thumbs are now generated and file durations are shown
• You can now separate version stacks by right-clicking
• Folders are now ordered before files in the list
• Improved image full screen view in player
• Better displaying of large images in player
• Uploads will stay where they were dragged instead of scrolling the page to the bottom
• Time estimates for uploads
• Digests are no longer sent to unactivated users
• Password security improvements
• Auto login security improvements
• Player UI improvements
• Many performance and responsiveness improvements
• Many UI tweaks
• Various other bug fixes and polish

Last week we released Kollaborate 2.6, a major update to our cloud workflow platform for video professionals.

This update contains some important new features but many of the best changes are the smaller ones. We really smoothed and polished a lot of things in this release and many tasks are faster and easier to accomplish than before.

Batch downloading

Select a group of files, then hit the download button next to one of them to download all of them at the same time. This works on the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

Auto-advance

Click the circle arrow to the left or right of the player to automatically advance to the next file in the folder after the current one finishes.

Download proxies

If the file has a lower-quality playable proxy, you will now be given the option of which file to download when clicking the download button in the player.

Custom approve/reject button labels

You can now give the Approve / Reject buttons in your workflows custom titles, allowing you to make it clearer what pressing a particular button will actually do.

Project thumbnails

Projects now show the icon of the most recent file that everyone can access. This only applies to files outside of departments.

Keep your place

If you click a file to view it and then press the Back button to go back to the Files page, Kollaborate now goes back to exactly where you were instead of going back to the top of the Files page. This is really useful if you were 20 pages deep.

Quick Look overhaul

We overhauled Quick Look to be more polished and responsive and increased the screen space it takes up so you can see your files better.

Improved image support

Large images are now displayed more prominently in the player and the image full-screen view has been redesigned and polished.

Additionally, we've improved support for animated GIFs, which now have frame rate, duration and hoverscrub thumbnails.

Security improvements

We've made a variety of security improvements. These will largely not be noticeable but one noticeable change is that you will need to re-login the first time after this update. After that the site will automatically log you in in future as normal.

Various uploading improvements

• Videos and images now show thumbnail previews during upload if the file is a format your browser can read
• Uploads now stay where you dragged them instead of scrolling you to the bottom of the page
• Estimated time remaining is now shown during uploads
• Lots of performance optimizations

Other changes

• New filter - show only Favorites on the Files page
• You can now favorite a file directly from the player
• The next / previous buttons in the player now show a preview of the upcoming file
• You can now separate version stacks by right-clicking them
• Folders are now ordered before files in the list
• Many UI tweaks
• Many performance optimizations and bug fixes

Kollaborate is an essential cloud workflow platform that allows you to share files with clients and team members while integrating with Digital Rebellion apps and services. To find out more, see the overview or register for the free trial.

Pro Media Tools 1.6 - Jul 26 2017

• Auto Transfer - Support for automatically detecting reel numbers from RED media
• Auto Transfer - Offline destinations are now indicated as offline in the Destinations pane
• Auto Transfer - Leading zeroes of the default reel are now respected when auto-detecting a reel name
• Auto Transfer - Added an option to prepend a metadata item's title to its value when creating a path, so for example it would create a "Day 1" folder instead of just "1"
• Auto Transfer - Modified the default metadata settings so that timestamped folders are now no longer created automatically. The default folder structure is now "Day [day] > [reel]". This change only affects new users but existing users can recreate it manually if desired.
• Auto Transfer - Drag metadata fields to change folder structure order
• Auto Transfer - Metadata folder structure preview now shows values rather than field names
• Auto Transfer - Fixed an issue where some cards may not appear in the list
• Auto Transfer - Fixed an issue where a cancelled transfer couldn't be restarted
• Auto Transfer - When automatically incrementing the day number, a new day is now considered to start at 5am instead of midnight
• Auto Transfer - Prevented system sleep during transfers
• Edit Detector - Improved FCPX compatibility
• QT Edit - When modifying timecode in batch mode, the original file's reel name is preserved unless directly modified
• Video Check - Improved FCPX compatibility
• Various other bug fixes, tweaks and improvements

Kollaborate Transfer 1.5 - May 15 2017

• Uploads no longer have to finish before the next file will start encoding. Kollaborate Transfer will now encode files as quickly as possible and put them in a Waiting state until the previous upload finishes. This should result in faster processing of large batches.
• Accelerated uploading on the cloud (most noticeable for users outside the US)
• Reduced situations where the queue could hang
• Fixed an issue that could cause some hoverscrub thumbnail frames to be black when processing large batches
• Reduced memory usage
• General bug fixes, tweaks and optimizations

Pro Versioner 2.1.5 - May 12 2017

• Stability improvements when scrolling through backups
• General bug fixes, tweaks and optimizations

Pro Maintenance Tools 2.2.2 - May 11 2017

• Housekeeper - Support for trashing Premiere media caches in custom locations
• Plugin Manager - Improved compatibility with FCPX plugins
• Plugin Manager - Improved Audio Unit validator reliability
• Preference Manager - Disabled preference locking for certain apps due to incompatibility with newer versions of macOS
• Preference Manager - Fixed several issues with how unlockable preferences are displayed in the Lock pane
• FCS Remover - Improved compatibility with macOS 10.11 and higher
• General bug fixes and performance improvements

FCS Remover 3.1.4 - May 10 2017

• FCS Remover now requires macOS 10.8 or higher
• Improved compatibility with macOS 10.11 and higher
• Minor bug fixes and tweaks

Preference Manager 4.4.1 - May 9 2017

• Disabled preference locking for certain apps due to incompatibility with newer versions of macOS
• Fixed several issues with how unlockable preferences are displayed in the Lock pane
• General bug fixes and performance improvements

We recently released an update to Kollaborate Transfer that should significantly improve the speed of batch processing.

Encoding behavior has been changed so that it will no longer wait for a file to finish uploading before encoding the next file in the list. Encoded files now enter a Waiting state and will start uploading immediately upon the previous upload finishing. This can reduce total queue time significantly for large batches or long videos.

Additionally, we have now switched over to the accelerated upload system we recently activated on the cloud. This boosts upload speeds for everyone but is most noticeable for customers outside of the US.

Other changes:

 

• Reduced situations where the queue could hang
• Fixed an issue that could cause some hoverscrub thumbnail frames to be black when processing large batches
• Reduced memory usage
• General bug fixes, tweaks and optimizations

Kollaborate is an essential cloud workflow platform that allows you to share files with clients and team members while integrating with Digital Rebellion apps and services. To find out more, see the overview or register for the free trial.

 

Marker Import for Mac 2.1.5 - Apr 28 2017

• Marker Import now requires macOS 10.8 or higher
• Improved compatibility with FCPX

Pro Media Tools 1.5 - Mar 30 2017

• Auto Transfer - Offloading performance improvements
• Auto Transfer - Added an "Open QuickTimes movies as CinePlay playlist" option to Actions
• Auto Transfer - Reel number is now auto-detected if it’s in the volume name (certain volumes only)
• Auto Transfer - Better support for detecting ARRI volumes
• Auto Transfer - Support for detecting Tascam volumes
• Auto Transfer - Improved the responsiveness of ejecting a volume
• Auto Transfer - Fixed an issue where the day could increment more than once if the app is launched with more than one card mounted
• Auto Transfer - Fixed an issue where ignoring a volume may not work correctly
• Edit Detector - Exporting an FCPXML event now automatically imports it into FCPX
• Edit Detector - Added the ability to suppress the deletion prompt when removing edit points
• Edit Detector - Improved compatibility with FCPX
• QT Edit - Support for setting Ultra HD and HDR color flags
• QT Edit - Better error reporting when a movie can’t be opened
• Video Check - Results are now cached when reloading a file
• Video Check - Export errors as markers in an FCPX event
• Video Check - Metadata errors are now tagged with timecode
• Video Check - Default bit-depth is now 10-bit
• Video Check - Settings are now saved correctly when a text box is still editing when you click submit
• Video Check - Arrow keys now work correctly in text boxes
• Video Check - Fixed an issue where timecode tracks may be detected incorrectly
• Various other bug fixes, tweaks and improvements

Kollaborate Server 2.5 - Mar 23 2017

• Workflows - Perform tasks like color coding or moving to a specific folder when a file is assigned a workflow. Create tiered approval levels and milestones.
• File Requests - Allow users outside the project to upload files without being part of the team
• Files can now be color coded
• Status labels can now be added to files
• Team page overhaul with simpler UI that makes it easier and quicker to add new team members
• Positions have been replaced with Roles to make it simpler to set user permissions
• Batch metadata editing
• Projects can now be muted to stop receiving alerts
• SRT subtitles can now be shown in the player by linking them to the video via the Relationship Editor
• Added an admin Dashboard that shows statistics and error logging
• Link recipients can now be tracked by their IP address for links not sent through the site
• Files - Added new filters for showing unviewed files, files with/without comments, with revisions and new files since your last visit
• Users can now switch off auto-pausing when typing a note from the Playback Settings window in the Actions menu of the player
• Added Home and End shortcut keys to go to the beginning and end of a movie
• Tasks - Added Project and Filename columns to CSV exports
• [todo] and [done] tags now appear in exported marker lists
• Overhauled email styles
• Inviting a user now sends them an activation link instead of automatically generating a password
• Profile - UI overhaul when viewing someone else's profile
• Sharing - You can now view the link URL directly from the Share page when creating a new link
• URLs are now parsed in comments and file descriptions
• Custom user permissions can now be set back to the defaults
• Overhauled task UI
• Tags and descriptions are now matched when searching from the Files page
• Videos now show an icon if they have an audio track
• Fixed an issue where Kollaborate Server may create folders with incorrect permissions
• Fixed an issue where custom site logos may not display correctly
• Fixed an issue where markers may not export correctly for comments made by users without accounts
• Fixed an issue where the hold timecode position may not appear
• Fixed an issue where thumbnail paths could be incorrect
• Installer - Fixed an issue where PHP paths could be blank
• Fixed an issue where duplicate files could appear incorrectly when making revisions independent
• The base file in a version stack can no longer be moved or deleted
• Adobe panel no longer shows a dropdown if no markers exist for importing
• API changes mean that only apps released within the past year are compatible
• Flash fallback removed - a browser supporting H.264 playback natively is now required
• Link recipients can no longer enter blank usernames
• Profile - Fixed not being able to subscribe / unscubscribe from task notifications
• Better full screen compatibility with unusually-shaped movies
• Fixed an issue where non-admins couldn't see unassigned tasks
• Fixed an issue where folder sizes may not be recalculated correctly when deleting a file
• The digest frequency option no longer affects the frequency of instant email alerts
• You can no longer upload revisions / replacements for an alias
• Volume controls no longer appear for videos without audio (currently only works on Firefox)
• Improved the display of files with long titles
• Users can no longer rename a folder to the name of an existing folder from the Metadata page
• Improved Synced Session reliability
• Thumbnails are now cached more aggressively which boosts performance upon subsequent visits to the site
• Major architecture overhaul
• Security improvements
• Many UI improvements
• Various other bug fixes, tweaks and optimizations

Kollaborate Transfer 1.4.5 - Mar 13 2017

• Support for setting the new audio indicator icon on thumbnails
• Better support for situations where the specs of a video exceed those of the H.264 profile level
• Various speed and reliability improvements

Post Haste for Mac 2.6.1 - Mar 13 2017

• Fixed an issue that could cause the Preferences menu to be disabled

Kollaborate Folder Watcher 1.2.1 - Mar 9 2017

• Better support for situations where the specs of a video exceed those of the H.264 profile level
• Various speed and reliability improvements

Kollaborate Transfer 1.4.4 - Mar 8 2017

• Better support for situations where the specs of a video exceed those of the H.264 profile level
• Various speed and reliability improvements

We've just released a major new update to our Kollaborate Server self-hosted workflow platform for video professionals, with a lot of new features and important changes. This follows on from the update we recently released on the cloud.

Workflows

Workflows are an extremely powerful new feature that tells Kollaborate to perform certain tasks on a file when it is assigned a specific workflow. The tasks can range from labelling or marking the file to moving it to a specific folder. It's an easy way of quickly sorting files so they are easier for your team to access.

They are also the new way of getting file approvals from other people on your team. This is considerably more powerful than before and allows you to target specific people or departments as being able to approve files, rather than everyone with approval rights. You can also specify that every single marked person must approve the file before it is considered approved, as opposed to the old system where it was approved simply by the first person to approve it.

Each approval workflow has options for running another workflow when it is approved or rejected, so you could for example run another workflow to automatically highlight approved files and move them to an Approved folder. It also means you can chain approvals together so that an approval on one workflow triggers another approval workflow, allowing a file to filter up to higher members of your team for a decision before it is finally approved.

Another way you could use this is to implement milestones. So Milestone 1 would move the file to a particular project or department, someone works on the file and they then assign it Milestone 2, which moves it onto someone else to work on. Then they assign it Milestone 3 which asks a manager to approve it and then if it is approved it is automatically assigned an Approved status which moves the file to an Approved Files folder.

That's just an example - you can set it up however you like and it's extremely flexible.

We have lots of plans for this in future and are keen to know how customers plan to incorporate this feature into their workflows.

Upload Requests

Need some files from a vendor but don't want to add the person to the project? Send them an upload link. Upload links work just like sharing links but show a file upload page instead of a video player.

Team overhaul

The Team page has been completely overhauled. Each department now has a text box at the bottom that allows you to type in an email address to invite a team member. This is a considerably quicker and simpler way of setting up your team than the previous version.

Positions have been replaced by Roles, which apply a set of default permissions to a user. In a future update you will be able to add your own roles.

Inviting new users to the service is easier than before. Rather than assigning the user a default password, they now receive an activation link. Upon clicking the link they will be asked to choose a password for their account. We feel this is a more user-friendly way of doing things that should result in fewer forgotten passwords. You can also choose to manually send a user the activation link rather than having Kollaborate send it if you want to add a personal message.

Another change is that departments are no longer required to have users inside them. This is useful if you just want a private storage area for Admins, as they are not required to be part of a department to see inside it.

Project muting

Don't want to receive alerts from a specific project but still receive alerts from others? You can now mute it. Hover over the project on the Projects page and click the bell icon next to its name.

Subtitle support

You can now view SRT subtitles in the video player. Here's how to do it:

1. Upload both the video and SRT caption file to your project.
2. Right-click on the video file on the Files page and click Relationship Editor or go to Actions > Related Files > Relationship Editor.
3. Click New Relationship.
4. Browse to the SRT file and choose Subtitles as the relationship type.
5. Save and go back to the video. You'll now see a green icon at the bottom of the player that will allow you to toggle the captions on and off.

We plan to support additional caption formats in future.

Admin Dashboard

The Admin Dashboard shows you statistics about your installation including software versions and configuration information. It can also alert you to problems that have occurred.

A full list of changes is available here after logging in.

Kollaborate is an essential cloud workflow platform that allows you to share files with clients and team members while integrating with Digital Rebellion apps and services. Kollaborate Server allows you to host the platform in-house on your own servers and storage. To find out more, see the Kollaborate Server overview or register for the free cloud trial (Server trials are available on request).