Perian 1.1.1 released

Perian, the free QuickTime codec pack, was just updated to v1.1.1. It allows you to play back more obscure media in QuickTime such as Flash FLV, DivX, 3ivx and MKV.

Changes:
* H.264 in AVI fixed
* Some anamorphic AVI files are now supported
* Performance problems due to PIC fixed with Xcode 3.1
* Incorrect frame skipping on H.264 intra frames fixed
* Better character set detection
* The update checker is now much more polite
* Several parsing and rendering bugs with subtitles fixed
* Player freezing while loading subtitles with embedded fonts fixed
* Audio fixed for some older MKV files with AAC/FLAC
* Strange values in MKV chapters or video sizes are handled better
* Initial support for SAMI subtitles added
* Worked around a QuickTime bug (#5770288) causing frames to be lost during export
* New codecs: DosBox ZMBV, VP6+Alpha, Nellymoser ASAO
* FFmpeg: Crashing on PPC G3 fixed
* Fraps decoding artifacts fixed

Perian can be downloaded for free from Perian.org.

[via TUAW]

Pro Applications Update 2008-03

Don't know how I missed this. On Thursday, Apple released Pro Applications Update 2008-03 that patches both Compressor and Qmaster to 3.0.4.

Only one fix is included in the release notes but it's a big one:



I'm sure you know the drill by now - don't update in the middle of a project, only update if it's entirely necessary and make sure everything is backed up before you do.

This update is concerning to me for two reasons. Firstly, it requires OS X 10.5.5, completely locking Tiger users out. Presumably 2008-04 will require 2008-03 so will all patches require 10.5.5 from now on? Was 2008-02 the last Tiger-compatible patch for Final Cut Studio? There has been no official word from Apple on this.

Secondly, when you go to the download page it only lists 2008-03 as an option, with 2008-02 nowhere to be seen. How are you supposed to download Final Cut Pro 6.0.4? There's always Software Update but that's not really practical if you have a lot of machines. Apple seriously needs to rethink the way it offer patches to FCS users.

Mac OS X 10.5.5 released

Earlier this week Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.5. There are a lot of fixes but I will just list the ones potentially useful to Pro App users.

* Addresses stability issues with video playback, processor core idling, and remote disc sharing for MacBook Air
* Includes extensive graphics enhancements [not sure what this means really]
* Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.
* Addresses performance issues that may affect initial and in-progress Time Machine backups.
* Fixes an issue in which an incorrect alert message could appear stating that a Time Machine backup volume does not have enough free space.
* Time Machine can now back up items in ~/Library/Application Support.

Usual disclaimer applies - don't update in the middle of a project, don't update unless it's absolutely essential and always have a backup or clone of your system handy in case things go awry.

The iPhone Development Story

Mike Ash has an interesting and witty article about the hurdles he went through when submitting his application to the iTunes App Store.

He sums up at the end:


We are currently at the Step 3: Wait for your account to be verified stage. We have been at this stage for weeks now with no communication from Apple or any company appointed by Apple. And that is why none of our web apps have counterparts in the store as of yet. I fully agree with Mike that the iPhone development and submission processes are not up to the high standards we have come to expect from Apple and I hope this is a temporary phase.

[via TUAW]

After Effects CS4 to drop PowerPC support

There's a post on the Keyframes blog (the official Adobe blog of the AE product manager, Michael Coleman) stating that due to limited time and resources, they have decided to drop PowerPC support in After Effects CS4 in favor of adding new features for Intel users.



So After Effects CS3 is the last Universal Binary version so if you still have a PPC Mac, you'll have to buy it before the new one goes on sale (which is a bit tricky because a release date hasn't been announced). It should be noted that this only applies to After Effects and not Photoshop or the other apps but it's obvious that they will all go that way eventually.

I don't see this as a major issue as the number of Intel users is currently very large and will get even larger by the time CS4 is released. It's a shame for people with old PPC machines still kicking around (me) though, and it's reducing the resale value of the older machines. Universal Binaries were such a great idea but to companies who also develop for Windows and have very large codebases, it unfortunately makes more sense to make Intel-only versions.

What to do if you lose your Pro App serial number

Apple have a new AppleCare doc on their site asking a question that comes up quite often - what do you do if you lose your Final Cut Studio (or other Pro App) serial number?

You need to fax or email them proof of purchase giving details of the product purchased, the price paid, when it was purchased and the name and address of the reseller. I am emphasizing reseller here because the purchase must have been made from either Apple or an authorized reseller in order to qualify. If you bought it from eBay or from a friend, you're out of luck, unless they happen to be authorized.

This actually raises one more question - legal purchasers of Final Cut Studio are allowed to transfer their license to one other person as long as they remove all traces of FCS from their system, but most people sell their software and don't bother to fill in the transfer form. The article doesn't state whether the recipient of the transferred license would be eligible for this scheme, although I would imagine the answer is yes. Apple used to provide a way of offering feedback on AppleCare docs but unfortunately they no longer do this.

Hopefully we'll have another doc up soon answer another common question - what do you do if your disc gets lost, stolen or damaged?

[via LAFCPUG]

Leopard 10.5.4 update

Yesterday Apple released OS X 10.5.4. I'm going to post the full list of changes as it's quite short. I get the impression that this is not the full list of actual changes because Apple asked developers to test more than just these areas in pre-release versions of this patch, unless those additions were taken out for some reason.

General

* Includes recent Apple security updates.
* Resolves an issue with saving and reopening Adobe Creative Suite 3 files on a remote server.
* Includes additional RAW image support for several cameras.
* Addresses an issue that may result in a partially installed X11 application.
* Improves L2TP VPN client reliability.

AirPort

* Addresses AirPort reliability issues with 5GHz networks.
* Addresses AirPort issues that may result in slower performance in Logic Studio or MainStage.

iCal

* Improves overall iCal reliability for meeting requests, cancellation notices, delegation, and syncing with iPhone.
* Resolves an issue that prevents deleting an iCal event without notifying the creator.
* Addresses an issue in which events in all calendars affect availability. A checkbox now enables information-only calendars to be transparent from free/busy lookups.
* Resolves a UI issue preventing delegated calendars from showing up as a separate window.
* Addresses an issue with copying and pasting attendees from one event to another.
* Resolves an issue in which iCal may not delete events after a specified time interval, even when set to do so in iCal preferences.
* Addresses an issue in which To Dos cannot be marked private.

Safari

* Addresses a potential performance issue when loading secure web pages.
* Resolves issues that may be encountered when accessing secure web pages with client certificates that reside on a smart card.

Spaces and Expose

* Addresses an issue in which switching from a space with a Finder window keeps the Finder as the active application instead of the application residing in the destination space.
* Fixes an issue in which dragging an application from the list of application assignments in Spaces System Preferences does not assign the application to the desired space.
* Resolves an Expose issue that may result in only a subset of windows being shown.

Delta installer (88 MB)
Combo installer (561 MB)

The combo updater is recommended for safety. Usual warnings apply - clone your system before installing, don't update in the middle of a project and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Tiger users today received the Security Update 2008-004 patch which was included in the above update for Leopard.

PPC
Intel

This update marks a milestone for me. I always wait until at least version x.x.4 of an operating system before upgrading to it for professional use. This gives Apple time to iron out bugs and improve stability and gives third party developers time to make their software compatible with the new OS. So I will now be thinking about upgrading. It's complicated, however, by the fact that I am still on a G5 PowerMac and have a fair amount of PPC software that cost an arm and a leg to buy, so what I will probably end up doing is buying an Intel Mac Pro and gradually upgrading my software packages one at a time.

Mac Pro and Xserve overclocking tool

This has been going around the internet for the past couple of days. The German division of ZDNet has released an overclocking tool for Mac Pro and Xserve machines running Leopard.

Overclocking is the process of artificially increasing the clock speed of your processor and memory in order to make it operate at a faster rate. For example, you could make a 2.8 GHz processor operate at 3.0 GHz without the expense of purchasing a faster CPU. This is very popular in the Windows world, particularly with hardcore video gamers, who have managed to push CPUs beyond 4 GHz.

However, increasing the clock rate also increases the power consumption and heat output of the CPU. Upgrading the power supply and increasing the CPU cooling may be necessary - areas that may be tricky with tightly-designed Apple products.

I wouldn't advise doing this on a machine that you depend upon every day but it might be useful for a render farm machine where speed is important and the task will be taken up by another machine if there are any crashes or failures.

Another final thing to note is that your system performance will only be as fast as the slowest link in the chain. If you overclock your CPU but have a really slow hard disk or not very much RAM, the performance increase will be limited.

All in all though, this is a very useful tool for Mac users as long as they are aware of the dangers and potential issues. It could also encourage more video gamers to switch to the Mac.

Final Cut Server 1.1 update

Apple just released Final Cut Server 1.1. Here are the fixes:

QuickTime 7.5 and FCP 6.0.4 support - QT 7.5 is REQUIRED for this update. With Final Cut Pro 6.0.4, FCServer can now access the project file directly. It does not need to create a separate XML file in order to access the data. Remember to keep versions on your network synchronized - if you upgrade one machine to FCP 6.0.4 and FCServer 1.1, it is best to upgrade them all.

Updating Checked Out assets - You can now manually update Checked Out assets when not using Final Cut Pro (i.e. DVD Studio Pro, Motion, etc).

Edit Proxy Files - You must reanalyze your 1.0 proxies after installing 1.1.

Final Cut Pro file preferences - These are now respected when opening FCP projects.

Multi-byte character sets - Multi-byte languages such as Greek and Russian now display correctly.

See the Release Notes for more information.

I probably don't need to say this any more but it's always best to - NEVER update in the middle of a project, don't update if you don't need these fixes and always keep a clone for safety.

Pro Applications Update 2008-02 aka FCP 6.0.4

Yesterday Apple released Pro Applications Update 2008-02 which contains Final Cut Pro 6.0.4 and Compressor 3.0.3. It is important to note that this is not a new version of Compressor. It was included in Pro Applications Update 2008-01 earlier this year but I guess it is compulsory for this update so they included it again.

Not a great deal of fixes:
Enhanced Final Cut Server support - If you have Final Cut Server 1.1, you can now access projects directly without converting them to XML first. It would be interesting to see if other applications can use this as well.

XDCAM 422 preset - Changed to include 24-bit audio as default

Capturing HDV clips - With QuickTime 7.5, HDV clips in Capture Now mode can capture beyond the end of the tape. This update now allows you to press Escape to stop it. I'd advise going to Final Cut Pro > System Settings and setting the Capture Now limit to the length of your tape. This stops your disk space being eaten up with blank data.

Usual warnings apply - NEVER update in the middle of the project, don't update if you don't need any of the features provided in this patch and always have a clone of your drive as a backup.

Release Notes

In a future patch I'd really like to see stability fixes for Compressor, Soundtrack Pro and working with Motion clips in an FCP timeline.