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Kollaborate 3.0 is out now on the cloud, which is a major update to our workflow platform that both delivers new features and sets a foundation for future features to build upon.
We're using machine learning technology to create transcripts of the spoken audio in your videos. Kollaborate will automatically highlight the current sentence as the video plays and you can click on sentences to jump to that point in the video.
Kollaborate uses the transcript to create automatic captions below the video and you can even export them as a separate file in common formats like SRT or VTT.
Best of all, this technology is completely self-contained on our servers. Privacy is extremely important to us so we wanted a solution that protected our users' data and did not share it with third-parties. We needed a solution that would also work for our self-hosted customers, some of whom host in environments with no external internet connection.
While it would have been trivial from an engineering perspective to integrate with something like Google or Amazon's speech-to-text technology like our competitors do, those services do not meet this criteria. After a lot of investigation and some code contributions, we finally settled on Mozilla's DeepSpeech. This is a more complex solution to the problem but it gives us maximum flexibility and the ability to finely tailor the technology to fit our customers' specific use-cases.
Our competitors charge extra for transcription and limit the number of hours per month you can transcribe. Using DeepSpeech allows us to make our transcription service free and unlimited. Transcribe as many files as you like for no extra cost and the only limitation is how quickly our servers can process the queue.
Because our speech models are still being refined, we're calling this a beta so that customer expectations are aligned correctly. You can read more details about the situations the model performs best at here, but the short explanation is that content like podcasts and voiceovers will currently return the best results. That's not to say that the transcription feature can't be used in other situations, but the technology is likely to make more mistakes. Over time we will expand the number of situations in which it performs well.
We're building our models on both open source data and data that more reflects our customers' use-cases. You can help improve transcription by correcting any mistakes and then clicking the Learn button. We don't use your data without permission so it is only used when the Learn button is clicked, and you can specify if we can use the entire file or just the sentences you corrected.
The audio of the file then gets cut up into pieces, given a random filename and uses the transcript you provided for training. We don't share your original audio with anyone and once it's part of the model the audio can't be extracted back in its original form.
Another way you can help is by contributing your voice to Mozilla's Common Voice project. This is a public domain speech dataset used by Kollaborate, Firefox and a variety of other projects to create open and privacy-conscious speech technology. All voice data is useful, but especially when it comes from women and non-Americans, who are currently underrepresented in Common Voice's dataset.
We've made many changes to improve the user interface, the most significant of which is the vertical navigation bar which is designed to balance out the interface and place your content closer to the center of the screen.
If you find yourself needing more horizontal space, hover over the Kollaborate logo at the top left and click the arrow that appears to collapse the navigation bar. The navigation bar will automatically collapse by itself on small displays or when you resize your browser window.
While video is the most popular format used on the site, our customers also upload many other file types such as MS Word and PowerPoint documents. The only way to view these files in the past was to download them.
Now Kollaborate has a specific Document file type that supports file extensions like PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, ODT, ODP. These files will now show thumbnails and be viewable directly in the browser once converted by our servers.
Leaving a comment on a document now tags that comment with the current page number and clicking on a comment will immediately take you to that page.
Columns in List view on the Files page can now be resized or dragged to change their order. You can also right-click to hide them or show additional columns. You can now, for example, show the number of comments a file has next to its name and sort the list by this field.
Advanced Search has been completely overhauled to be more powerful. Use criteria like file size, type or width to narrow down your search. You can even locate files with specific words in their transcript.
Images can now be zoomed and navigated with a lot more control than before. Annotations can be drawn over the image at any zoom level.
Versions can be given custom names like "Rough Cut" or "Fine Cut". To do this, click the purple number next to the filename to view all of the versions, then right-click a version and select Rename Version.
Even though you can leave comments at specific timecode positions and draw over a video, sometimes that isn't enough to get your point across, so you can now attach files to comments. So you can say "I want the color to look like this" and attach a photo, rather than trying to describe it.
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.
We've just launched a public beta of a new tool for self-hosted Kollaborate customers that makes it easy to get up and running with minimal configuration.
Kollaborate Server Manager runs Kollaborate Server and Kollaborate Encoder in Docker containers on your system and handles downloading, setting up and running the software for you. The current release is Mac-only but we will have a Windows version available soon.
The software allows you to easily view logs all in one place, meaning you don't have to go hunting to find the PHP log if a problem occurs.
There are also options to make it easy to edit configuration files and get access to the server through the terminal.
This beta is intended for testing purposes and customer feedback only and we do not yet intend for it to be used in a production environment as we have not yet optimized it for performance and security. However, in the longer term we will be deprecating support for running the software directly on Mac and PC and making it Linux-only, so in future Kollaborate Server Manager will be the only way to run it on a Mac or PC server.
The current beta lacks the ability for Kollaborate Server to send emails and run over SSL, however all other features are operational and you can upload files and use it normally. Kollaborate Encoder is feature complete in this version.
This software requires a valid Kollaborate Server license or trial (contact us if you'd like to sign up for the trial). You can download the beta here.
We're pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting at NAB this year, from April 8th-11th 2019. We will be located in the Lower South Hall at booth SL15205.
We will be showcasing a preview of Kollaborate 3.0, a major update to our cloud workflow platform with lots of new, exciting and powerful features to improve your workflow and make it easier to coordinate with your colleagues and clients.
Use our guest pass code LV3792 to get free access to the exhibit hall (must be redeemed before March 25th).
Kollaborate Server 2.7.3 adds lots of new features and fixes to our self-hosted workflow platform, along with a corresponding update for Kollaborate Encoder.
Renaming a file no longer launches a dialog box or takes you to a different page - it now happens directly in the Files view. This is a better user experience and matches what you would expect in Finder or Windows Explorer.Â
Audio files now show a playhead over their waveform, allowing you to easily skip to specific points in the file.Â
Dates on comments and files now update dynamically to ensure they are accurate without needing to reload the page - i.e. instead of saying "just now" until you hit refresh, it will now say "x minutes ago" automatically depending on how much time has elapsed.
You can also click on a date on a file or comment to toggle between relative and absolute dates.
We've made lots of user interface improvements including new button styles and a new avatar style with a greater range of colors.Â
Server-specific features
Full changelog:
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).
We've listened to customer feedback on our cloud workflow platform and Kollaborate 2.7.2 has a lot of great new features, both large and small, that customers have been asking for.
Kollaborate now supports segmented uploads, meaning that not only can you upload larger files to the site, but your uploads should be both faster and more reliable.
This will soon be the default option on the site but for now it is opt-in. To enable it, head to the beta page and tick the box marked Large file uploads then click Save. Note that this is a per-browser setting so you will need to re-enable it if you switch to a different browser or computer.
Once enabled, segmenting will work automatically for all files over 20 MB. For now the new upper limit is 50 GB per file, but we will likely raise it further as we get closer to making it the default option.
We're keen to hear feedback on this feature, especially from people outside of the US. Your feedback will help us tune it further and make it even faster.
Renaming a file no longer launches a dialog box or takes you to a different page - it now happens directly in the Files view. This is a better user experience and matches what you would expect in Finder or Windows Explorer.Â
Audio files now show a playhead over their waveform, allowing you to easily skip to specific points in the file.Â
Dates on comments and files now update dynamically to ensure they are accurate without needing to reload the page - i.e. instead of saying "just now" until you hit refresh, it will now say "x minutes ago" automatically depending on how much time has elapsed.
You can also click on a date on a file or comment to toggle between relative and absolute dates.
We've made lots of user interface improvements including new button styles and a new avatar style with a greater range of colors.Â
A lot of the changes in this version are on the back-end, including an overhaul of how we manage logins and active sessions. These features may not be noticeable but they pave the way for a lot of exciting things we plan to deliver in the near future.
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.
When we created Kollaborate we set out to encourage long-term subscriptions, with short-term subscriptions intended for situations where you might only work on a project for a few months and therefore not need a whole year's subscription. So for this reason there was a significant price difference between annual and monthly subscriptions.
While more than 80% of our customers are on annual subscriptions, we know that some customers prefer to be billed monthly and have in fact been using our service for years on the monthly plan even though it costs more. Based on feedback we have decided to reduce pricing on the monthly plans so there is less of a difference between month-to-month and annual plans, although it will still remain better value to subscribe for the whole year.
| Plan | Old monthly price | New monthly price | Annual price |
| Freelance | $45 | $25 | $180 ($15/month equivalent) |
| Small Business | $65 | $40 | $300 ($25/month equivalent) |
| Business | $79 | $60 | $480 ($40/month equivalent) |
| Production | $119 | $99 | $780 ($65/month equivalent) |
| Studio | $149 | $129 | $1188 ($99/month equivalent) |
| Studio Plus | $199 | $169 | $1548 ($129/month equivalent) |
| Network | $279 | $239 | $2388 ($199/month equivalent) |
| Network Plus | $379 | $339 | $3599 ($299/month equivalent) |
You can view our entire list of packages including storage space and features here.
Existing subscribers will be charged the new prices the next time their account bills and don't have to do anything to receive the lower price. Customers who were charged within the last 10 days have received a credit on their account for the difference, which will be subtracted from next month's bill (so if you were charged $45 your next bill would be $25 - $20 = $5).
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.
Kollaborate Server 2.7.1 adds some great new features and changes to our self-hosted workflow platform.
You can now customize more of the UI and even use different logos for the site and email headings if you choose.
You can now hide pages completely or only make them available to admins. So for instance if you never use the Dashboard feature it can now be hidden from the UI.
You can also hide features from the player page such as making it so that only admins can see viewing statistics.
By default everyone has the ability to create a project. You can now limit this to site admins only from the Configure page of the admin area.
Kollaborate Server 2.7.1 has the same features as the cloud version, including:
Files are no longer deleted instantly and can now be restored by an admin for up to 14 days. To view deleted files, click the Show dropdown at the top right of the Files page and select Deleted Files (note: only admins can see this option).
Deleted projects can be restored by choosing Deleted Projects from the dropdown at the top right of the Projects page. You will only see projects you created here and they can be restored for up to 14 days.
To protect your content, files can now be given an expiration date from the Metadata page. The file will be deleted once this date passes, but can be restored by an admin for up to 14 days.
You can now view comments in a printable view complete with thumbnails. To do this, click Actions in the player, then go to Export Comments and choose Print. 
There are two new options on the Share page:
Force users to download - This forces the user to download the file instead of playing it in the browser. This is useful for situations where you don't intend to keep a file up for a long time and want to make sure the client downloaded it before it gets deleted.
Automatically relink to latest version - In earlier versions of the site, if you sent out a link and allowed the user to view all versions, the link would still default to the version it was originally linked to even when newer versions exist. This option makes sure that the first file shown is the latest version but still gives the option to view earlier versions.
There is also a new option when emailing a link to send the password in a separate email. This was requested by users who were concerned about link recipients forwarding the link to others.
There are two new Upload Workflow actions:
Don't combine versions - This prevents the uploaded file from being part of a version stack, even if the filename matches that of an existing file in the folder. Files will always be independent with this option switched on.
Remove original file after conversion - This automatically deletes the original file after it has been converted by our encoding servers and replaces it with the highest-quality proxy. This is useful for saving storage space. Note that deleted original files cannot be restored by the new file restoration features.Â
There is also a new File Workflow action:
Set file expiration date - This allows you to automatically change the file's expiration date. This is very useful for creating content lifecycles - you can now create multiple File Workflows and set expiration settings automatically depending on the file's sensitivity or importance.Â
There is also a corresponding update to Kollaborate Encoder. You must install this version if using Kollaborate Server 2.7.1 as older versions are not compatible.
Changes include support for password-protecting encoders and better support for image and multi-track audio files.
Full release notes for Kollaborate Server 2.7.1 and Kollaborate Encoder 1.3 are available on the Updates page or on the Kollaborate Server page 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).
Kollaborate 2.7.1 is now live on the cloud, with lots of great new features.
Files are no longer deleted instantly and can now be restored by an admin for up to 14 days. To view deleted files, click the Show dropdown at the top right of the Files page and select Deleted Files (note: only admins can see this option).
Deleted projects can be restored by choosing Deleted Projects from the dropdown at the top right of the Projects page. You will only see projects you created here and they can be restored for up to 14 days.
To protect your content, files can now be given an expiration date from the Metadata page. The file will be deleted once this date passes, but can be restored by an admin for up to 14 days.
You can now view comments in a printable view complete with thumbnails. To do this, click Actions in the player, then go to Export Comments and choose Print.Â
When linking a subscription to your account from the Linked Accounts page, you can now choose whether the user can automatically access all projects you create. If this box is unchecked, they will be able to create new projects but will need to be specifically added to the Team page of each project in order to see them.Â
Note: users linked in this way will become admins on every project.
There are two new options on the Share page:
Force users to download - This forces the user to download the file instead of playing it in the browser. This is useful for situations where you don't intend to keep a file up for a long time and want to make sure the client downloaded it before it gets deleted.
Automatically relink to latest version - In earlier versions of the site, if you sent out a link and allowed the user to view all versions, the link would still default to the version it was originally linked to even when newer versions exist. This option makes sure that the first file shown is the latest version but still gives the option to view earlier versions.
There is also a new option when emailing a link to send the password in a separate email. This was requested by users who were concerned about link recipients forwarding the link to others.
There are two new Upload Workflow actions:
Don't combine versions - This prevents the uploaded file from being part of a version stack, even if the filename matches that of an existing file in the folder. Files will always be independent with this option switched on.
Remove original file after conversion - This automatically deletes the original file after it has been converted by our encoding servers and replaces it with the highest-quality proxy. This is useful for saving storage space. Note that deleted original files cannot be restored by the new file restoration features.Â
There is also a new File Workflow action:
Set file expiration date - This allows you to automatically change the file's expiration date. This is very useful for creating content lifecycles - you can now create multiple File Workflows and set expiration settings automatically depending on the file's sensitivity or importance.Â
We've improved the UI for the Adobe panel to make it easier to download files and import markers.Â
Note that this is a server-side change so you don't need to update the panel plugin itself.
We've renamed the previous Disable Alerts option to Incognito Mode to make its function more obvious.
Incognito Mode allows you to prevent your actions on the site (e.g. uploading a file or making a comment) from sending email alerts to others on the project. It is available by clicking your avatar at the top right of the screen and toggling Incognito Mode.
This is one of those very simple small changes that can make a big difference. You will now see a blue circle next to folders that contain unviewed files. This can be really useful when working on a big project where lots of changes are happening, so you can just follow the blue dots to find files you haven't looked at yet.
In addition, we have conducted some server upgrades to make the site faster and more responsive.
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 2.7 is a major update to our cloud workflow platform for sharing files and working more effectively with your team.
We've expanded our Workflows feature to include Upload Workflows. Upload Workflows are a new type of Workflow that allow you to set certain actions to occur when uploading a new file. You can choose whether to convert the file to a playable format, add LUTs and watermarks, and burn in data like timecode or the project name over the frame. This works for both videos and still images.
Upload Workflows can be limited to apply only to certain folders, which allows you to setup different rules depending on the folder the file is uploaded to. For example, you could choose to apply LUTs to files uploaded to a Dailies folder and watermarks to files uploaded to a Client Review folder.
You can also use Upload Workflows as a way of validating uploads. So if you require your deliverables to be uploaded as 1080p, you can set an upload workflow to apply a file workflow that will highlight the file red if it is a different resolution.
Upload Workflows are very powerful and we plan to release some videos soon showing more things you can do with them.
What were previously known as Workflows are now called File Workflows to differentiate them from Upload Workflows. You can now automatically email out a link from a File Workflow, which will allow you to do things like automatically send a link to the client after your team has approved the file.
Tasks can now trigger File Workflows when they are completed. This would allow you to, for example, sort task deliverables into a Tasks Completed folder after they are finished or allow others on your team to review them. You can trigger File Workflows for related files and deliverables separately.
Image files can now be converted to web-viewable formats by our encoding servers. There's a default Upload Workflow that will automatically convert unsupported images (e.g. BMPs or DPXs) to JPEGs when uploaded.
Workflows can now be imported from other projects or restored back to the default versions.
(Note that Upload Workflows may not import in their entirety if they depend on files or custom departments that only exist in the other project.)Â
Kollaborate can now import and export markers to Davinci Resolve as marker EDLs.
To import into Resolve, right-click on your timeline in the Media or Edit pane and go to Timelines > Import > Timeline Markers from EDL.Â
Folders can now be dragged in to upload them. Kollaborate will respect the original folder structure and create subfolders accordingly.
Link recipients can now edit and delete their comments for up to 1 hour after posting.
You can now specify how many times a link can be viewed or how many files can be uploaded to a File Request before the link will automatically expire. Links that have hit their expiration limit are highlighted in red on the Share page.Â
You can now see the history of a file directly from the player.Â
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 features page or register for the free 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Projects now show the icon of the most recent file that everyone can access. This only applies to files outside of departments.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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