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Introducing Cut Notes

I'm proud to introduce our newest product, Cut Notes, an iPad app for taking timecoded notes during a screening.

We've been collaborating on this app with Nate Orloff, who saw a need for a way to create notes during a screening with a producer or director without having to tediously write timecode by hand.

The app primarily operates in landscape view. There are pages of buttons corresponding to common notes such as "Bad Cut" or "Too Fast." Taking a note is as simple as pressing a button, and the buttons can be completely customized to fit your workflow.

To enter a more detailed note, swipe to the right to reveal the keyboard. To view and delete notes, simply rotate the app to portrait mode.

Cut Notes is designed to be as platform- and NLE-agnostic as possible. Consequently, it will work with Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, Premiere, iTunes, QuickTime or indeed any application that's capable of playing back video or audio. Just select the correct frame rate and timecode settings and then press play in Cut Notes and your NLE at the same time.

Notes can be exported as plain text, Avid locator files, Final Cut Pro marker lists or CSV files for importing into Excel. There is no built-in way to import marker lists into Final Cut Pro so we created a helper app called Cut Notes Marker Import.

For more information on Cut Notes, check out our demonstration video, user manual and our Facebook and Twitter pages. There is a feedback link within the app and we'd be keen to hear what people think of it.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Jan 8 2011 to Front Page News, DR News, Utilities
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New year, new look

We're excited to announce the much-needed redesign of our web site. The old site was designed four years ago with a different purpose in mind and quickly outgrew itself.

As well as looking nicer, the new design is much easier to navigate to help you quickly find the information you need. It's also been streamlined with many extraneous pages removed.

Our recommended web browser is Firefox 3.6 and higher, but it also works well on Safari, Chrome and Internet Explorer 8. Internet Explorer 6 is not supported.

Every page has a feedback link at the bottom so if you spot any errors, broken links or incompatibilities, please use these links to notify us. Remember to state which browser you're using.

This is just one of the many exciting announcements we have coming up, so stay tuned for more.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Jan 8 2011 to DR News, Front Page News
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2010 - Year in Review

2011 is here and I'm spending my New Year's Day thinking about the year that is now behind us and the new one that has just arrived. Here is a summary of the great year that was 2010:

We shipped 18 updates for our paid applications - both major and minor - and countless more for our free apps. Our most popular app by far was FCS Remover. Our most popular paid app was FCS Maintenance Pack.

We launched two new products - FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin and Film Rate Calc for iPhone (App Store link).

We welcomed many new customers, both large and small, including Digital Film Tree and NCIS:LA.

The number of unique visitors to this site grew by a third and visitors collectively viewed 1 million more pages than in 2009.

The following 2010 blog posts were popular:
Restoring an older version of ProKit
QuickTime 7 and X Frequently Asked Questions
Aperture changes in Compressor 3.5

However, none of them beat the old favorites:
How to reinstall Compressor and Qmaster
How to banish the Final Cut Pro registration screen forever
Using Compressor with multiple cores

2010 was a fantastic year in which we grew significantly and delivered lots of genuine solutions for our customers. But I predict 2011 will be even better. Stay tuned for a brand new site and lots of exciting new products, some of which have been unveiled already.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Jan 1 2011 to DR News, Front Page News
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FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3.1 and Network Admin 1.0.6 released

Last week we released FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3.1 and FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.6, minor updates to our applications for maintaining, optimizing and troubleshooting Final Cut Studio.

FCS Maintenance Pack is a utility pack designed to keep your Final Cut Studio or Final Cut Express machine running at optimal performance and help resolve problems when they arise.

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin extends FCS Maintenance Pack to allow tasks to be performed simultaneously over a network. The Network Admin interface gives system administrators all the tools they need to remotely manage, maintain and troubleshoot Final Cut Studio systems on their network.

The most important new feature is Crash Analyzer log consolidation. This allows you to import and analyze crash logs from other local users on your system. This was created at the request of Network Admin users who would log on at the end of the day and wish to see crash logs for all users logged in throughout that day.

To access it from the Crash Analyzer application, go to Tools > Consolidate logs. You will need to enter an administrator password. After processing is complete, the log window will populate with additional logs.



If you find yourself using this feature often, there is also a Consolidate button available for the toolbar which is hidden by default. Ctrl-click on the toolbar and select Customize Toolbar, then drag the Consolidate icon onto the toolbar.



To access this feature from Network Admin, select the Crash Analyzer pane and click the Consolidate button. You will be prompted for an administrator password for each of the computers you wish to view logs for (you can save these passwords in your Keychain to prevent it asking again).



The full list of changes is available on each application's product page. FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin requires a license of FCS Maintenance Pack on each computer. 15-day trials are available for both.

We take feedback seriously so if you have any suggestions for future versions of the software, please feel free to contact us.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Dec 20 2010 to Front Page News, DR News, Utilities
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FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.5 released

We released FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.5 a week or two ago and I completely forgot to blog about it.

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin extends FCS Maintenance Pack to allow tasks to be performed simultaneously over a network. The Network Admin interface gives system administrators all the tools they need to manage, maintain and troubleshoot Final Cut Studio systems on their network.

This version was released to coincide with the major FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 update. Here are some of the noteworthy changes:

QuickFix support

QuickFix, a new tool in FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3, is now supported in Network Admin. QuickFix allows you to perform common troubleshooting tasks such as trashing preferences and clearing caches with a single button click. It should be your first port of call when things go wrong.


Bonjour broadcasts are confined to the chosen interface

If you have chosen to make Network Client listen on a specific network interface, it now only broadcasts Bonjour messages on that interface. This means that if you have a network interface reserved for a specific purpose, such as Xsan, Network Client will not send any data over that interface.

Note: by default, Network Client listens and broadcasts on all interfaces.

Crash Analyzer HTML view

The improved HTML view in Crash Analyzer 1.3 has been extended to Network Admin.



This is in addition to general tweaks and bug fixes related to connection issues, software updates and progress bars.

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin is priced at $69 for a 5-user license and $129 for an unlimited user license. Each client requires a separate version of FCS Maintenance Pack, with bundle pricing available. There is a 15-day trial of Network Admin that works with the 15-day trial of FCS Maintenance Pack.

We constantly strive to make things easier and if you have any suggestions for further improving Network Admin, we'd love to hear them.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Nov 22 2010 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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Compressor Repair 2.0 released

Yesterday we released Compressor Repair 2.0, a significant update to our free tool for keeping Compressor working smoothly.

This version greatly improves the repair process, which should result in more reliable repairs. It also fixes the issue where Compressor would sometimes complain that a batch was submitted by a different user.

It has support for global hotkeys, which requires FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 or higher. This allows you to press a keyboard shortcut to close Compressor, repair it and then reopen it again when the repair is complete. This is a very useful and convenient timesaver. If you have Growl installed, you will be able to see the status of the repair.

Here is the full list of changes:
  • Improved repair algorithm
  • Interface improvements
  • Global hotkey support (requires FCS Maintenance Pack)
  • Growl notifications
  • If Compressor is open, Compressor Repair closes it and and then reopens it when finished
  • Option to reset Compressor's window layout
  • Support for custom Qmaster cluster storage paths

Compressor Repair is available for free here or as part of FCS Maintenance Pack, where several additional features are offered including global hotkeys and scheduled tasks. If you have FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin you also have access to remote repairs over a network.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Nov 19 2010 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 released - QuickFix, Crash Analyzer overhaul and more

Last week we released FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3, a significant update to our suite of tools to maintain, troubleshoot and optimize Final Cut Studio.

There are many new features, both large and small, but here are the most significant ones:

New tool: QuickFix

QuickFix performs common troubleshooting tasks with just one button press. Ordinarily you would need to have some idea of what the problem is in order to fix it, but now you can simply click the QuickFix button and then get back to work. It drastically speeds up troubleshooting and should be your first port of call when things go wrong.

Crash Analyzer error message database

Crash Analyzer is invaluable when Final Cut Studio applications crash, but what if they just display an error message without crashing? That's why we've added a new tool to Crash Analyzer that allows you to search for common error messages and receive tips for overcoming them.

Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts can now be set in the Preferences pane of each application, allowing you to assign global hotkeys to launch apps and perform tasks.

Crash Analyzer overhaul

Crash Analyzer now uses an HTML view to display definitions, enabling us to better organize information and more easily highlight important points. This helps to make the correct course of action much clearer to the user.

Improved Corrupt Clip Finder format and project support

Corrupt Clip Finder can now scan Motion, Soundtrack Pro, Color, DVD Studio Pro and LiveType projects for corrupt media. It now flags up images that use the CMYK color space or are more than 4000px in width or height, two common causes of Final Cut Pro crashes.

Multithreaded scanning in QT Repair

QT Repair now makes use of your extra cores to speed up scanning times.

QT Repair presets

QT Repair now offers you several presets for getting the most out of your files. It significantly reduces the learning curve and ensures that you don't waste time using settings that won't repair your file.

FCS Maintenance Pack uninstaller

FCS Maintenance Pack now has an uninstaller, included on the disk image.

New icons

Many of the application icons in FCS Maintenance Pack have had a much-needed refresh, thanks to Ben King.

Network Admin now works on restricted user accounts

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin, our tool for managing FCS Maintenance Pack over a network, now works correctly with restricted user accounts when used in conjunction with FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3.


FCS Maintenance Pack costs $139 but this update is free to all existing customers. A 15-day trial is available here and you can read a review here.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Nov 15 2010 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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Film Rate Calc now on App Store

Our first iPhone app, Film Rate Calc, is now on the iTunes App Store.

This tool enables you to calculate the amount of film required to shoot for a certain amount of time, and vice versa. This is really useful in planning the most efficient use of your film and should be in any script supervisor's toolkit.

You can then email the results to someone else, or copy the data to the pasteboard. You can choose to copy all of the information or just the final result.

As always, we appreciate your feedback and will use it to improve our tools. Just use the feedback link within the app to tell us what you think.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 18 2010 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.4 released

Last week we released version 1.0.4 of FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin, a tool to maintain, optimize and troubleshoot Final Cut Studio over a network.

Here are the significant new features in this version:

You can now specify a network interface to listen on

By default, the software will listen on any available network interface and a random open port to simplify configuration.

However, if you have Xsan set up on your network, you will have a network interface (ethernet port) reserved specifically for Xsan metadata use. In version 1.0.4, you can now set a specific interface to listen on which will ensure that data is only sent on that interface and not on the Xsan interface.

You can also set up a specific port to listen on if desired. Deselecting this option chooses a random open port.

Note: For now, Bonjour broadcasts are still sent on all interfaces regardless of which setting you choose. This is less of an issue because Bonjour uses very little bandwidth, but it will be addressed in a future version.



Extra statistics in Info dialog

The Info dialog for each client now displays more statistics about each system. The most important change, however, is the addition of the connected IP address and port. If you have connection issues and set up a specific network interface and port to listen on (as detailed above), check this dialog to ensure it is in fact connecting to the correct IP and port.



Support for beta software updates

You can now enable beta software updates for all client computers, which will allow you to install the latest FCS Maintenance Pack beta automatically on all systems at once.

Important: If the client computers are running restricted (non-administrator) user accounts, you will need version 1.3b2 or higher. They will not work with version 1.2.8.


FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin is priced at $69 for a 5-user license and $129 for an unlimited user license. Each client requires a separate version of FCS Maintenance Pack, with bundle pricing available. There is a 15-day trial of Network Admin that works with the 15-day trial of FCS Maintenance Pack.

We constantly strive to make things easier and if you have any suggestions for further improving Network Admin, we'd love to hear them.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 15 2010 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 Beta 2 released - Corrupt Clip Finder supports all FCS apps and more

We've just released a beta of the next major version of FCS Maintenance Pack, version 1.3.

This version offers many exciting new features, some of which are summarized below.

Corrupt Clip Finder now supports all Final Cut Studio applications

Corrupt Clip Finder can now search for corrupt clips inside Motion, Color, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro and LiveType project files.

It can now also search for corrupt image files and flag up images that are larger than 4000 pixels, the maximum allowable image size in Final Cut Pro.

QT Repair is now multi-threaded

QT Repair now uses all of your available cores to scan files, resulting in significantly improved processing times. For best results, run it on Snow Leopard, as it benefits from optimizations made in 10.6.

QT Repair presets

QT Repair now offers you several presets for getting the most out of your files. It significantly reduces the learning curve and ensures that you don't waste time using settings that won't repair your file.



Keyboard shortcuts now supported for all apps

Keyboard shortcut support, introduced in beta 1 for QuickFix and FCS Housekeeper, has now been extended to all applications in the suite. Growl notifications, however, are still limited to QuickFix and FCS Housekeeper.

FCS Maintenance Pack uninstaller

FCS Maintenance Pack now has an uninstaller, included on the disk image. This makes it easy to go back to the stable 1.2.8 release after installing the beta, should you wish to do so.

Network Admin now works on restricted user accounts

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin, our tool for managing FCS Maintenance Pack over a network, now works correctly with restricted user accounts when used in conjunction with FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3b2.


These changes are in addition to the many changes in the previous beta.

Please note that this is a beta release designed for evaluation purposes only. It is not intended for use in a production environment. If you require a stable version please use version 1.2.8 instead.

This will be a free update to all users when the final version is released, so if you buy version 1.2.8 today you will not be penalized for it.

To download this update, either visit the FCS Maintenance Pack product page or, if you have an existing version of FCS Maintenance Pack installed, go into the Preferences menu of Software Update and select the option to check for beta updates, then go to File > Check for Updates.

It's also worth noting that in addition to our regular appcast, we now have a beta appcast to separate beta updates from stable versions.
Posted by Jon Chappell on Sep 22 2010 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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