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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.3 released

Last week we released FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.3, an important maintenance update.

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.

With just one button press, administrators can repair Compressor, clean Final Cut Studio caches, analyze crash logs, synchronize plugins, troubleshoot problems and much more - saving time and allowing them to get on with more important tasks.



Notable changes in this version:

Improvements to software update mechanism

Previous versions of Network Admin used Sparkle to manage admin updates, with client updates handled separately by the Software Updates dialog within Network Admin. In some cases this would complicate things because you would need to install the client update first before the admin update.

We have now replaced Sparkle with a proprietary system that allows us to deliver all updates directly to the Software Updates dialog, providing a seamless update experience. Client updates are always installed first and Network Admin then closes to update itself before relaunching. This greatly simplifies things and means that you no longer need to worry about accidentally installing things in the wrong order.

Client updates can now be set remotely

With version 1.0.3 you no longer need to change client settings on each client one-by-one - you can now do it remotely from the admin interface.

FCS Maintenance Pack 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 here.

We constantly strive to make things easier and if you have any suggestions for further improving Network Admin, we'd love to hear them.

FCP Versioner 1.2.5 released - significant speed and accuracy improvements

We've just released a new version of FCP Versioner, bringing it up to version 1.2.5.

FCP Versioner is a backup and versioning utility for Final Cut Pro. It automatically backs up Final Cut Pro projects in XML format and generates changelogs to show exactly what has changed between revisions.

This version is aimed at improving the speed and accuracy of changelog generation and simplifying the results to improve readability.

It features the following notable changes:

Significant improvements to changelog generation speed

While we cannot improve the time it takes to generate an XML file (only Apple can change that), we can improve the time it takes for Versioner to process changes from one revision to the next.

FCP Versioner 1.2.5 performs these tasks significantly faster than version 1.2. As an example, one of my test projects took 3 minutes to generate changelogs for all 20 revisions on version 1.2. This time was reduced to 4 seconds in version 1.2.5, a 45-fold increase. We're not promising a 45-fold increase for all projects, but you should definitely see significant improvements in this area compared with the previous version.

Improved readability

FCP Versioner 1.2.5 now removes extraneous information to simplify the results.

For instance, if you change the start point of a clip on the timeline, version 1.2 notifies you that the start point and the in point of the clip changed. While this is perfectly accurate, it is unnecessary information because changing the start point implies that the in point was changed. Version 1.2.5 now simply notifies you that the start point changed.

Another example occurs when you modify two stereo-paired tracks. Version 1.2 notifies you of the change twice (once for each track) while 1.2.5 only notifies you once, as you would expect.

These are just a few of the many tweaks and under-the-hood modifications in FCP Versioner 1.2.5. It is available for Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 and above (the optional autosave feature requires version 7) for $59 and a 15-day trial is available here.

FCS Maintenance Pack 1.3 Beta 1 released - new utilities 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.

New tool - QuickFix

Ever had a problem with Final Cut Pro but don't know (or care) what it's caused by? There are lots of tools in FCS Maintenance Pack but you need to have a general idea of what the problem is in order to know which tool can fix it.

QuickFix aims to solve this problem by becoming a one-stop solution whenever problems occur. When something goes wrong simply launch it, press the QuickFix button and it will perform a series of common tasks to resolve issues that would normally require launching several tools at once. You can then quickly get back to work without needing to worry about determining the cause of the issue.

Keyboard shortcuts

Now you can perform common maintenance tasks simply by pressing a keyboard shortcut. When used in conjunction with QuickFix, it makes it even more powerful by enabling you to easily fix common problems simply by pressing a button. It makes QuickFix even quicker.

Note: keyboard shortcuts are only supported for FCS Housekeeper and QuickFix in this beta. Support for the other apps in the suite will be added in future betas.

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.

The database is very much a work in progress right now so not every error message is supported. If you receive a message that's not in the database we'd appreciate it if you could use the built-in error message submission system to send it to us so that we can support it in future versions.

File Salvage droplets

You can now create droplets (mini-applications that you can drag files onto) within File Salvage to make it easier to salvage multiple files of the same format at once. Just go to File > Create Droplet, select the relevant source and destination formats and then drag corrupt files onto the droplet.

Growl notification support

If you schedule a task or use a keyboard shortcut it can be difficult to tell when the task is running. If you have Growl installed, FCS Maintenance Pack can now notify you when these background tasks run.

Note: Growl is only supported for FCS Housekeeper and QuickFix in this beta. Support for the other apps in the suite will be added in future betas.



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 1.2.7 instead.

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.

Update: Just to clarify, this will be a free update when the final version is released, so if you buy version 1.2.7 today you will not be penalized for it.

FCS Maintenance Pack 1.2.7 and Network Admin 1.0.2 released

Last week we released FCS Maintenance Pack 1.2.7 and FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin 1.0.2, providing lots of new changes.

FCS Maintenance Pack is a useful tool to optimize and maintain your Final Cut Studio system and Network Admin takes that one step further by providing significant time savings to businesses.

Here are the highlights:

Comments can now be submitted with Crash Analyzer logs

Crash Analyzer has long had the ability to upload Final Cut Studio crash logs to our servers in order to improve our crash diagnosis algorithm. We've now expanded on that by giving you the option to add additional useful information to help us further, such as error messages reported by Final Cut Pro, unusual software or hardware configurations and any other important symptoms.



As an added bonus, system administrators can now submit logs from within Network Admin.

Corrupt Clip Finder file skipping

Corrupt Clip Finder locates corrupt clips in your timeline by opening each one with QuickTime and seeing if it crashes. However, some files don't crash but instead pop up an error message, such as in the case of a reference movie where the media has since been deleted or moved.



In previous versions of the software you would be forced to wait for Corrupt Clip Finder to realize that the file was taking far too long to open before you could move onto the next file, but with version 1.2.7 you can just go to Edit > Skip Current File or press Cmd+K to instantly declare the file corrupt and move on.

Password-protecting FCS Maintenance Pack applications from the admin dialog

The ability to protect FCS Maintenance Pack applications with an administrator password to prevent user tampering has been around for a while now, but before now this would need to be enabled for each application individually. This would be particularly time-consuming if you needed to do this for many computers on your network.

Now you can easily perform this on multiple computers at once, just by ticking a box in the FCS Maintenance Pack pane of Network Admin.

Standalone applications can be updated from within Network Admin

Standalone applications not affiliated with FCS Maintenance Pack (such as FCP Versioner) can now be updated on every machine on the network at the same time via Network Admin's software update mechanism.



This is just a sample of the features, tweaks and fixes available in these new versions. Both products have been used on network television and film productions and have been proven to save time and reduce support costs. Each has a 15-day trial available so that you can test them out.

More information about FCS Maintenance Pack and FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin is available on their respective product pages.