Last week we released Pro Maintenance Tools 2.0.4, which adds several new features to our suite of tools for maintaining, optimizing and troubleshooting your editing system.

Repair Adobe Premiere projects

You can now repair corrupt Adobe Premiere Pro projects in Project Repair. This removes invalid characters from the file that can prevent it being loaded.

Improved Final Cut Pro X / Compressor 4 support

We've improved Final Cut Pro X support in Housekeeper, adding the ability to trash several new caches, and also improved Compressor 4 support in Compressor Repair, Housekeeper and Path Manager.

Avid Media Composer 6 support

We're now supporting the latest version of Avid Media Composer in all applications including Housekeeper and Preference Manager.

The full list of changes is here.

Pro Maintenance Tools is an essential toolkit for video editors and is used by studios, broadcasters, production companies and freelancers worldwide. To find out more about Pro Maintenance Tools, see our features page, read the user manual, watch the overview video or download the 15-day trial.

We have many more useful tools for video professionals; see our Products page for more details.

Today we released Pro Media Tools 1.1, a major new update to our suite of workflow and media management tools. There are over 300 changes in this version, which is a free update for registered users.

Here are some of the biggest changes in 1.1:

64-bit

Post Haste

Auto Transfer metadata

You can set the destination path for transferred media according to the metadata you enter into the main window. This allows you to organize copied files on disk according to their camera, reel, the current date or any other useful information.

When the volume is transferred successfully, Auto Transfer can add the metadata to a spreadsheet (CSV) to help you organize your project.

QT Edit Batch Processing

QT Edit can now perform operations on batches of files. Go to File > New Batch and select all of the files you wish to process. Select the tasks you wish to perform (you can perform more than one at a time) and when you're done, click Process.

A new window will appear asking you how you want to save the files. If you select Update existing files, the existing files on disk will be overwritten. This is a very quick process to perform. The other options create duplicates of the files, either in the same directory or in a new one.

Edit Detector overhaul

Edit Detector has been given a major overhaul. It is now significantly faster and more accurate. It is more than twice as fast on my test machine at scanning SD media. We've also implemented a caching system so that it only needs to scan the frames once. Reopening an already-scanned file is instant.

Video Check overhaul

Video Check now has a multithreaded 64-bit architecture that gives it a significant speed boost. The improvements in OS X 10.7 allow us to offer additional features to Lion users such as 10-bit codec support, so consequently Lion is now our recommended operating system for Video Check.

Better collapsing in Timeline Tricks

Now looks like this:

You can still collapse the old way if you prefer. Third-party transparent clips can be added to a blacklist in preferences so that they will not be collapsed.
We've also added support for stripping markers and effects from Final Cut Pro X projects.

New apps in Render Watcher

There are many more changes listed in the changelog.

Pro Media Tools is an essential toolkit for assistants, editors and video professionals alike. To find out more, see our features page, flip through the user manual or check out the video overview.

Earlier this week we released Preference Manager 3.1, which adds some exciting and long-requested features to the application.

After Effects support

Improved Avid support

We've also improved the stability and speed of the software. You should notice a speed boost when trashing and restoring preferences. The full changelog is here.

Preference Manager is an essential tool for managing the preferences of your editing software. To find out more, see our video overview and download Preference Manager free of charge.

Yesterday we released Pro Media Tools 1.1 Beta 3, adding many significant new features to the suite. It includes all of the big changes in the previous betas and also the following major additions:

Dynamic Paths in Auto Transfer

You can now set the destination path for transferred media according to the metadata you enter into the main window. For instance, you could setup the destination path to be Day > Camera > Reel and then enter the relevant metadata values before transferring.

The interface for customizing metadata is very similar to Post Haste.

New Batch Renamer Tasks

Several more tasks have been added to Batch Renamer including Insert Characters at Position and Replace Characters in Range. You can now also optionally Find and Replace file extensions too.

QT Edit Batch Processing

QT Edit can now perform operations on batches of files. Go to File > New Batch and select all of the files you wish to process. Select the tasks you wish to perform (you can perform more than one at a time) and when you're done, click Process.

A new window will appear asking you how you want to save the files. If you select Update existing files, the existing files on disk will be overwritten. This is a very quick process to perform. The other options create duplicates of the files, either in the same directory or in a new one.

Not every function is supported in batch mode and we're keen to hear requests for additional functions users would like to see in the batch window.

Better collapsing in Timeline Tricks

Timeline Tricks can now collapse opaque clips that are obscured by a clip on a higher track. This means that a timeline that looked like this in the previous version:

Now looks like this:

You can still collapse the old way if you prefer. Third-party transparent clips can be added to a blacklist in preferences so that they will not be collapsed.

Video Check progress bug fix

We also fixed the Video Check known issue from the previous beta where progress would happen in big lumps on Lion instead of being smooth, giving the impression that the application had hung if it was a large file. Lion is now our recommended operating system for Video Check and it is the only platform we are offering 10-bit processing support for.

The full list of changes is as follows:

• Auto Transfer - Option to only copy QuickTime movies if they exist on a volume
• Auto Transfer - Ability to set destination path from metadata
  
• Auto Transfer - Improved user interface responsiveness while copying and verifying
• Auto Transfer - Fixed an issue where you were unable to edit metadata after canceling verification
  
• Auto Transfer - Added the ability to disable checksums without disabling file size verification
• Batch Renamer - Insert Characters at Position task added
  
• Batch Renamer - Replace Characters in Range task added
• Batch Renamer - Suffixes can now be added after a frame number
• Batch Renamer - Added an option to search the file extension when performing Find and Replace
• Batch Renamer - The filename no longer appears blank when removing frame numbers from certain filenames
• Batch Renamer - Auto-recalculates when dragging items if the currently selected task is Reorder Frames
• Edit Detector - Fixed an issue where progress happens in big lumps on Lion
• Project Overview - Fixed an issue where marker colors may not display correctly
• QT Edit - Batch processing
• Render Watcher - Fixed an issue where Avid, Premiere or FCP renders may not correctly notify
• Timeline Tricks - Final Cut Pro X support
• Timeline Tricks - Uncomposited clips can now be collapsed
• Timeline Tricks - Transparent third-party filters can be added to a blacklist in preferences to prevent Timeline Tricks collapsing these clips
• Video Check - Filtering
• Video Check - Support for multi-channel audio
• Video Check - Fixed an issue where progress happens in big lumps on Lion
• Improved general stability and reliability
• Fixed an issue where Pro Media Tools may ask you to re-enter your registration information unnecessarily

This is a beta release designed for evaluation purposes. It is not intended for use in a production environment. If you require stability please use version 1.0.5 instead.

You can download the 1.1 beta here. The final release of 1.1 will be a free update for all existing customers.

Last week we released Post Haste 2.0.2 which adds several new features to our project organization tool.

Folder structure importing

You can now import the structure of an existing project folder. Just click the + button in the Template Editor, select Import Folder Structure and choose a folder to import. Post Haste will import the folder and all subfolders into the project but will not import any files. This is a very quick way of setting up a new template.

Parameter locking

Parameters can now be locked to prevent user modification. The parameter will appear grey in the list and cannot be edited in the Project pane. Use the Default Value field in preferences to set a value before locking.

The full list of changes is available here.

Post Haste is an essential tool to help creative professionals organize their projects. To find out more, download the software free of charge and check out the video overview and user manual.

Last week we released Pro Maintenance Tools 2.0.3, a minor update to our suite of tools to repair, optimize and troubleshoot Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro for Mac.

Improved Premiere Pro support

We've improved Premiere Pro support in this version, with extra cache options in Housekeeper and support for backing up Premiere Pro sequence presets, styles and column settings in Preference Manager.

We also fixed an issue where only Premiere Pro 5.0 caches were being trashed for some items in Housekeeper, and not earlier or later versions.

Enhanced Plugin Manager performance

Plugin Manager is now significantly faster at loading and filtering. The more plugins you have, the more of an improvement you will notice.

Final Cut Pro X trial support

The Final Cut Pro X trial is now supported by Crash Analyzer, Housekeeper and Preference Manager.

The full list of changes is as follows:

• Support for the Final Cut Pro X trial
• Crash Analyzer - Color coded logs now appear colored in the Finder
• Crash Analyzer - Color coding is now preserved when updating Pro Maintenance Tools or trashing caches
• Crash Analyzer - Error message search box is more forgiving if your search query doesn't exactly match the error message
• Housekeeper - Support for trashing Premiere Pro plugin cache and column settings
• Housekeeper - Fixed an issue where some files would only be trashed for Premiere Pro 5.0 and not earlier or later versions
• Housekeeper - Fixed a Leopard crash when trashing waveform and thumbnail caches
• MC Repair - Fixed a crash when performing a repair
• Plugin Manager - Improved startup times
• Plugin Manager - Improved performance when filtering plugins
• Plugin Manager - Fixed a crash when adjusting the host application filter before the plugin list had loaded
• Preference Manager - Added an option to replace all files in a backup with the current versions on disk
• Preference Manager - Support for backing up Premiere Pro sequence presets, styles and column settings
• Preference Manager - Fixed a crash when performing a backup
• Project Repair - Support for repairing FCPX project database headers
• System Toolkit - Support for trashing Mac App Store caches
• Updated Crash Analyzer definitions
• General bug fixes, tweaks and improvements

Pro Maintenance Tools is an essential toolkit for post production professionals. To find out more, check out our detailed features page, our video overview and download the 15-day trial.

For more useful post production tools, see our Products page.

Today we released Pro Media Tools 1.1 Beta 2. This includes all of the significant changes in the previous beta and also the following major additions:

Auto Transfer metadata

When the volume is transferred successfully, Auto Transfer can add the metadata to a spreadsheet (CSV) to help you organize your project.

We're planning to expand metadata support in future versions so we're very keen to hear how our customers are using metadata in their workflows.

Individual destinations in Auto Transfer

QT Edit summaries

QT Edit anamorphic Quick Tasks

Video Check overhaul

The full changelog is as follows:

• Auto Transfer - 64-bit
• Auto Transfer - Ability to set a destination individually for each volume
• Auto Transfer - Folders can now be copied
• Auto Transfer - Metadata columns such as day and reel can be added. Metadata entered into these columns can be output to a CSV file in the project directory
• Auto Transfer - Fixed an issue where "total remaining space" can calculate the same drive twice
• QT Edit - Added an Info tab that shows a summary of each track in the movie
• QT Edit - Improved performance when scrolling through chapter thumbnails
• QT Edit - Added Quick Task presets for setting pixel aspect ratios for NTSC and PAL anamorphic material
• QT Edit - Improved the reliability of saving files to network volumes or volumes with incorrect permissions
• Video Check - 64-bit
• Video Check - Multithreading
• Video Check - Support for 10-bit movie files (Lion only)

You can download the 1.1 beta here. The final release of 1.1 will be a free update for all existing customers.

Episode 7 of the Digital Rebellion Podcast just came out and it covers how to sync your Final Cut Pro 6 or 7 timeline to Cut Notes, our iPad app for taking timecode-accurate notes during a screening.

You can subscribe in iTunes or via the direct feed. The Episode 7 video is available for direct download here. The podcast is free and is optimized for iPhone 4 / 4S, iPad and Apple TV.

You can also watch the video on the Cut Notes video page.

We're open to requests for future tutorials so please let us know if there is something you'd specifically like to see.

Today we released Cut Notes 1.1, a significant update to our note-taking app for the iPad.

The biggest change in this version is Final Cut Pro synchronization. You can now sync your Final Cut Pro 6 or 7 timeline over wi-fi and have the timecode display in Cut Notes automatically update as you play or scrub in FCP. You can even use the play button in Cut Notes to remotely control playback.

We've also qualified it for iOS 5 compatibility, so we recommend updating before using it on the new operating system due tomorrow.

A notable change from previous versions is that the Hold button has been removed. Holding is now achieved by tapping the timecode as it is playing, causing it to freeze and turn blue. Tap it once again to unhold.

Final Cut Pro sync requires a wi-fi connection to your Mac. Here's how to set it up:

1. Go to Audio MIDI Setup in the Utilities folder under Applications. Go to Window > Show MIDI Window and then double-click the icon marked Network.

2. Click the + button under My Sessions and name the new session Cut Notes. Tick the box next to it to enable it. Under "Who may connect to me" at the bottom, set it to Anyone. In the Bonjour Name field, enter the name of your computer if it is not already set.

3. Now launch Cut Notes on your iPad and click the Sync button. The name of your iPad should appear in the Audio MIDI Setup window on your Mac in the Directory list. Select it and click Connect. It should then appear under Participants on the right-hand side.

4. In Final Cut Pro, go to Tools > Control Surfaces. Set the "Use" field to Mackie and click the + button. Set both input and output connections to Network - Cut Notes and click Ok.

5. Now open the Audio Mixer from the Tools menu. This MUST be open at all times in order for Cut Notes to receive timecode. If you find it gets in the way, drag it off screen or position it behind other windows but do not close it.

6. Now drag the playhead or press play and Cut Notes will update with the timecode of your Final Cut Pro sequence. You can even start and stop playback within Cut Notes itself.

If you have problems setting it up, make sure that you are connected to the same network as the Mac via wi-fi. This will not work over Bluetooth or cellular networks. If your Mac isn't connected to a wi-fi network, you can create a Computer-to-Computer network by going to Airport and then Create Network. You can then connect directly to your Mac from the iPad.

We've listened to the feedback of our users and this is just one of many updates we are planning in the near future. Stay tuned.

We're pleased to announce our newest app - EditCodes for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

EditCodes is a reference application that provides a searchable database of common error messages for Final Cut Studio, FCPX, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro for Mac.

When you receive a cryptic error message in your editing application, fire up EditCodes and type all or part of the message into the list. EditCodes will then display the errors in its database that match your search terms. Tapping one of these errors will show a description of the problem and steps to resolve it.

If an error is not found in the list, you can use the Action button to submit it to us and we will add support for it in a future version.

EditCodes is available for $1.99 on the App Store.

(Note: if you're looking for a desktop solution rather than an iOS app, Crash Analyzer in Pro Maintenance Tools has an error lookup function that uses the same database.)