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2012 - Year in Review

2013 is now upon us so here's a look back at the past twelve months.

It was a big year for us with our customer base expanding by 50% and us welcoming many new corporate clients and broadcasters.

We launched six new products: Pro Versioner, Post Haste for Windows, Video Space Calculator for iOS, Video Space Calculator for Mac, Film Terms for iOS, Film Terms for Mac.

In addition, we released major updates for Editmote, Cut Notes and several other products. In total we released 7 major updates and 53 minor ones in 2012.

Our most popular free app was FCS Remover and our most popular paid app was Pro Maintenance Tools. Our most popular iOS app was Video Space Calculator.

Our site traffic was up significantly with over a million more pages viewed and over 6 million more hits compared to 2011.

The most popular blog posts of 2012 were:
Making Lion and Mountain Lion more like Snow Leopard
How to export chapter markers from FCPX
Avid AMA best practices
Adobe dynamic link troubleshooting

Things you may have missed:

Looking forward, we predict 2013 will be our biggest year ever. We have several big releases planned and we'll be exhibiting at NAB in April for the first time. I can't say more than that but definitely watch this space.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Jan 1 2013 to DR News, Front Page News, Analysis
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Post Haste 2.1.4 released - import and export parameters

Earlier this week we released Post Haste 2.1.4 for Mac and PC.

The biggest new feature in this version is support for importing and exporting parameters, which has been much-requested by our users.

The parameters are exported to a .phparam file which is compatible with both the Mac and Windows versions of Post Haste.

We've also fixed several bugs and the full changelog is available here.

Post Haste is a free tool for organizing your creative projects. To find out more, see the comprehensive user manual or download the app free of charge.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Dec 14 2012 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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Editmote 2.0 released with gestures, landscape, extra buttons and much more

Today we released Editmote 2.0, a major new update to our NLE remote control for iOS devices.

We've listened to your feedback and have added the following major new features.

Gestures


You can now switch between buttons and a gesture pad for performing tasks without having to look down. I didn't realize how much looking down affected my workflow until I tried gestures for the first time.

The default gestures include:

Single tap - Play / Pause
Swipe Up (1 finger) - Fast Forward
Swipe Down (1 finger) - Rewind
Swipe Left (1 finger) - Step Left 1 Frame
Swipe Right (1 finger) - Step Right 1 Frame

These are the basics; tap the Actions button then tap Edit Gestures to see the full list of default gestures.

One of Editmote's best aspects is that it's highly customizable. Tap Actions then Edit Gestures to modify them. You can choose from a list of over 60 actions to perform (or set your own custom ones) and assign tasks to tapping, swiping, zooming and rotating. You can set different tasks depending on the number of fingers held down.

Landscape orientation


Editmote now functions in portrait and landscape orientations for both iPad and iPhone. Each orientation uses a different layout, allowing you to create different button layouts for different purposes, such as a portrait layout for marking and a landscape layout for trimming.

Extra Buttons


Additional buttons have been added for insert / overwrite editing, undo, zoom in / out,  play in to out, play around, and many more.

We've also added additional user-defined buttons, making a total of 20.

Customizable user button names


This has been a highly requested feature. When creating a custom button you can now give it a name instead of the default User1, User2 etc.

To change the names on your existing button layouts, tap a user button while in edit mode and then select the user button again from the list. You will then be prompted to enter a new name.

We recommend keeping button names short. Long button names will be truncated.

iCloud sync


Button layouts are now synced to iCloud. This allows you to easily configure multiple devices with the same layout. There are separate layouts for iPad and iPhone so you cannot sync iPad to iPhone, only between devices of the same type.

New app presets


You've always been able to add new applications but we've now added built-in presets for Avid Symphony, Adobe Audition, Encore, Prelude, SpeedGrade, Blackmagic Media Express, Motion, REDCINE-X and Davinci Resolve / Lite.

We've also updated the existing presets to add support for new functions, so if you modified your presets you may need to reset them by hitting the remove button.

We support a wide range of applications but any not on the list are really easy to add manually. See the user manual for more details on this.

UI Improvements


We've made a lot of improvements to the connection view in particular. Manual IP addresses are now added by tapping the + button and can be saved as presets to prevent you having to re-enter information each time.

This is just an overview of the changes - there are many more tweaks, bug fixes and improvements in both the app and preference pane.

Editmote is a great addition to an editor's toolkit. I've found it really useful during client screenings, especially with our new gesture support. Our customers have found inventive uses for it too, ranging from giving the client control during a screening to marking clips and performing basic edits from a distance.

Editmote, along with several of our other tools, was also recently featured in Hand Held Hollywood's Filmmaking with the iPad & iPhone book by Taz Goldstein, so check it out on page 337. If you don't have the book yet I recommend it, and you can get a 35% discount by using the coupon code HHH.

Editmote is available for iPad and iPhone on the App Store. You'll also need to download and install the free Editmote Preference Pane to get it working. Existing users will need to update the preference pane to 2.0 to take advantage of the new features.

We're keen to know what people think of the new version so use the feedback link in the app to tell us.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Dec 12 2012 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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Pro Maintenance Tools 2.0.12 released - improved FCPX support and more

Yesterday we released Pro Maintenance Tools 2.0.12, a minor update to our suite of tools for troubleshooting and repairing problems with your editing system.

Here are some of the more important changes.

Plugin installer registration


Plugin Manager's installer now supports CocoaFob, so you can force users to enter their registration information before they will be allowed to install your plugins.

This requires you to base your backend on CocoaFob too, but you get this for free if you're using FastSpring for purchases.

Motion templates for all users


FCPX Motion templates can now be installed for every user on the system and you can easily move templates between the current user and all users.

This is just a small subset of features and changes - to view the full list please see the changelog.

Pro Maintenance Tools is an essential toolkit for all video professionals. To find out more, see the feature list, watch the overview video, read the user manual or download the 15-day free trial.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Dec 7 2012 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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Pro Media Tools 1.1.8 released - new QT Edit metadata presets and more

Earlier we released Pro Media Tools 1.1.8, a minor update to our suite of media management and problem-solving tools.

Export Edit Detector markers to an FCPX event


You can now create Final Cut Pro X events from Edit Detector. This will produce a .fcpxml file that you can import into FCPX to create a new event containing the source file with markers on every cut point.

New QT Edit Quick Task


You can now import reel information from an ARRI-originated file and add it to the Final Cut Pro X Reel field. This feature can also be performed in batch mode.

New QT Edit metdata presets


We've added lots of new metadata presets for ARRI, Final Cut Studio, QuickTime and RED. Metadata preset fields are now prefixed with their application name so that you can differentiate between ARRI and FCPX Reel fields, for example.


This update included many more changes and tweaks, which you can read in the changelog.

Pro Media Tools is an essential toolkit for editors, assistants and post production professionals. To find out more, see the feature list, watch the overview video, read the user manual or download the free 15-day trial.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Dec 3 2012 to Front Page News, Utilities, DR News
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Pro Versioner 2.0.6 released - better Dropbox management and more

Today we released Pro Versioner 2.0.6, a minor update to our project backup and versioning software for Mac.

New folder watcher presets


We've added new folder watching presets for Adobe Audition sessions and Adobe Prelude projects. The presets are set to the default locations for these files but you can create custom ones for any project type and location.

Better Dropbox management


Synced projects are now deleted from Dropbox when you delete them locally (previously this only applied to individual backups, not entire projects).

You can also manually clear space on Dropbox by ctrl-clicking a project and selecting Remove All Synced Backups.

We've also fixed several bugs and other issues. The full list of changes is available here.

Pro Versioner is an essential tool for ensuring project integrity and piece of mind. To find out more, watch the overview video, read the user manual or download the free trial.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Nov 15 2012 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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Cut Notes 1.2 released - Premiere Pro sync and more

We're pleased to announce the availability of Cut Notes 1.2 for iPad. We've listened to your feedback and this version adds much-requested Adobe Premiere Pro sync support. This is achieved through a downloadable plugin for Premiere Pro CS 6.0.2 or higher for Mac.

To get it setup, follow these steps:

1. Download the Cut Notes Adobe Plugin located on the right-hand side of the page.

2. Make sure all Adobe apps are closed.

3. Run the installer to install the plugin.

4. In Finder, launch Audio MIDI Setup in the Utilities folder under Applications. Go to Window > Show MIDI Window and then double-click the icon marked Network.

5. 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.

6. Now launch Cut Notes on your iPad and tap 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. You will need to repeat this step whenever you launch Cut Notes.

7. Relaunch Premiere Pro.

8. Go to Premiere Pro > Preferences > Playback and tick the box next to Cut Notes.

9. Scrub the timeline and the timecode should appear in Cut Notes.

Note: the playback buttons in Cut Notes do not control playback in Adobe Premiere.

The plugin will also work with Adobe Encore for Mac and we are planning a Windows version in the future.

Cut Notes 1.2 also includes several crash and bug fixes. The full changelog is available here.

We're keen to hear your feedback on the new sync mode. You can use the feedback link within Cut Notes itself or file bug and feature requests through our support site.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Nov 6 2012 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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Preference Manager for Windows Beta 1

We're pleased to launch the first public beta of Preference Manager for Windows 7. This is a Windows port of our popular Mac tool for trashing and managing user preferences for your editing application.

The beta can trash, backup and restore preferences and other settings for Avid Media Composer, Symphony, Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Backups are stored in a new file format which is different from the Mac version so Mac and Windows backups cannot yet be shared, but it's something we plan to address in future.

Please be aware that this is pre-release software so it may have bugs and issues and we do not recommend using it in a production environment yet. Please report any bugs or feature requests here.

Preference Manager for Windows is a free application that requires Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4.0.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 24 2012 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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Pro Maintenance Tools 2.0.11 released - improved Premiere Pro support and more

Last week we released Pro Maintenance Tools 2.0.11, a minor update to our suite of maintenance tools for Final Cut Studio, FCPX, Avid Media Composer / Symphony and Adobe Premiere Pro.

This version contains improved Premiere Pro support in CS Repair and Housekeeper. We've also added support for backing up Premiere audio channel layouts in Preference Manager for easy syncing between computers.

In addition to bug fixes, we've also added an option in Preference Manager to relink FCP 7 preferences to Motion 4 after trashing to prevent the error message saying it's incompatible with Motion 5.

A full list of changes is available here.

Pro Maintenance Tools is an essential toolkit for maintaining, optimizing and troubleshooting your editing system. To find out more see the feature list, read the user manual, watch the overview video or download the free trial.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 16 2012 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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Video Space Calculator 1.0.5 released - 3K ARRIRAW, DNxHD 80,100,444

Today we released Video Space Calculator 1.0.5 for iOS and 1.0.3 for Mac.

These updates add 3K ARRIRAW support, along with Avid DNxHD 80, 100 and 444 codecs.

Video Space Calculator can calculate the disk space taken up by over 75 codecs including ProRes, Animation, ARRIRAW, DNxHD, XDCAM and DPX.

The app is available on the iOS App Store and the Mac App Store.

Posted by Jon Chappell on Oct 4 2012 to DR News, Front Page News, Utilities
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