This month marked the first time that OS X 10.7 Lion users of our products have been the majority. In total, 91% of our users are running OS X 10.6 or 10.7. OS X 10.5 users make up less than 7% and this number is falling steadily.

With the changes Apple is making to its developer tools, it's getting harder and harder to provide features to users on the latest operating systems while maintaining backwards-compatibility with Leopard and PowerPC users.

We are therefore announcing that we will be withdrawing support for OS X 10.5 Leopard within the coming months. This also means that we are withdrawing support for PowerPC computers, as 10.5 is the latest OS they are capable of running.

All new products will require OS X 10.6 or higher and existing products will be gradually transitioned. Leopard users will always be able to download the latest 10.5-compatible version of a product but they will need to upgrade to OS X 10.6 or higher to access newer versions.

We'd been planning this announcement for a while but with the unveiling of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion today it seemed to be the right time. Overall we think the new OS is a positive thing that provides many useful tools under the hood and we're keen to take advantage of its features.

We've just released our latest iPhone / iPad app, Video Space. Video Space allows you to calculate the disk space taken up by various codecs at different resolutions and frame rates.

It supports a wide range of codecs including ARRIRAW, AVCHD, Cineform, DNxHD, DPX, ProRes, REDCODE and XDCAM.

The interface is very simple - enter the total duration of the video, then select a codec, frame size and frame rate at the bottom and the total space will be reported at the top.

Video Space works natively on iPhones, iPods and iPads running iOS 4.2 or higher and can be downloaded directly from the App Store. We also have several other iOS post production tools available here.

We're always keen to hear feedback on our products so feel free to use the feedback link within the app or contact us directly.

Last week we released Pro Maintenance Tools 2.0.5 and Pro Admin 1.5.3, which are minor updates to our troubleshooting tools for video professionals.

These updates fix several issues with Plugin Manager, update Crash Analyzer definitions and improve Pro Admin stability.

You can read the full list of changes in the Pro Maintenance Tools changelog and Pro Admin changelog.

The full list of error messages now supported by Crash Analyzer's lookup function is here.

Pro Maintenance Tools is an essential toolkit for video editors that allows them to maintain, optimize and troubleshoot their editing systems. Pro Admin extends Pro Maintenance Tools to allow you to remotely manage and troubleshoot over a network.

To find out more, see the Pro Maintenance Tools and Pro Admin pages, where you can view screenshots, user manuals, videos and much more.

Last week we released Pro Media Tools 1.1.1, a minor update to our suite of tools for improving media management.

The most significant changes in this version were made to Video Check, our tool for checking a video file is broadcast-safe.

In response to user feedback, instead of just showing the maximum value that's out of range, the latest version now also shows the percentage of pixels within the entire image that are outside broadcast range. This allows you to see how large an error is.

We've also added support for detecting long frames. These are frames that play for an extended amount of time, which is usually an indication that frames were dropped when capturing from tape.

If your company has a policy that requires content to begin at a certain timecode, Video Check can now be used to flag up movies that don't match.

We've greatly extended the Video Check section of the user manual so it's worth looking at if you need more details on how to interpret the results of a scan.

In Pro Media Tools 1.1.1 we've also fixed a couple of issues with QT Edit and added the option to create timecode tracks from the date embedded in the metadata or the creation date of the file on disk. I've found that the two dates don't match on several of my test files, with some having the correct date in the metadata and some having the correct date in the Finder, so it seemed best to provide both options to choose from.

The full list of changes in Pro Media Tools 1.1.1 is available here.

Pro Media Tools is an essential toolset for video professionals that can save a significant amount of time in post production. To find out more, visit the Pro Media Tools site, browse the features list, watch the video overview or download the 15-day trial.

We've just released Post Haste 2.0.5, a minor update to our tool for organizing your creative projects.

There's a new List parameter type that allows you to specify a fixed list of values for the user to choose from. You can specify these in the Default Value field in preferences, with each individual value separated by commas (e.g. Alpha,Beta,Gamma).

The user will be forced to choose one of these values and cannot type their own.

We've also added a new option allowing you to specify that a parameter is not allowed to be left blank. If selected, Post Haste will not let the user create a new project unless this parameter is filled in.

For more details on the new options, please see the user manual. Post Haste is a free download available here.

Last week we released Pro Maintenance Tools 2.0.4, which adds several new features to our suite of tools for maintaining, optimizing and troubleshooting your editing system.

Repair Adobe Premiere projects

You can now repair corrupt Adobe Premiere Pro projects in Project Repair. This removes invalid characters from the file that can prevent it being loaded.

Improved Final Cut Pro X / Compressor 4 support

We've improved Final Cut Pro X support in Housekeeper, adding the ability to trash several new caches, and also improved Compressor 4 support in Compressor Repair, Housekeeper and Path Manager.

Avid Media Composer 6 support

We're now supporting the latest version of Avid Media Composer in all applications including Housekeeper and Preference Manager.

The full list of changes is here.

Pro Maintenance Tools is an essential toolkit for video editors and is used by studios, broadcasters, production companies and freelancers worldwide. To find out more about Pro Maintenance Tools, see our features page, read the user manual, watch the overview video or download the 15-day trial.

We have many more useful tools for video professionals; see our Products page for more details.

Today we released Pro Media Tools 1.1, a major new update to our suite of workflow and media management tools. There are over 300 changes in this version, which is a free update for registered users.

Here are some of the biggest changes in 1.1:

64-bit

Post Haste

Auto Transfer metadata

You can set the destination path for transferred media according to the metadata you enter into the main window. This allows you to organize copied files on disk according to their camera, reel, the current date or any other useful information.

When the volume is transferred successfully, Auto Transfer can add the metadata to a spreadsheet (CSV) to help you organize your project.

QT Edit Batch Processing

QT Edit can now perform operations on batches of files. Go to File > New Batch and select all of the files you wish to process. Select the tasks you wish to perform (you can perform more than one at a time) and when you're done, click Process.

A new window will appear asking you how you want to save the files. If you select Update existing files, the existing files on disk will be overwritten. This is a very quick process to perform. The other options create duplicates of the files, either in the same directory or in a new one.

Edit Detector overhaul

Edit Detector has been given a major overhaul. It is now significantly faster and more accurate. It is more than twice as fast on my test machine at scanning SD media. We've also implemented a caching system so that it only needs to scan the frames once. Reopening an already-scanned file is instant.

Video Check overhaul

Video Check now has a multithreaded 64-bit architecture that gives it a significant speed boost. The improvements in OS X 10.7 allow us to offer additional features to Lion users such as 10-bit codec support, so consequently Lion is now our recommended operating system for Video Check.

Better collapsing in Timeline Tricks

Now looks like this:

You can still collapse the old way if you prefer. Third-party transparent clips can be added to a blacklist in preferences so that they will not be collapsed.
We've also added support for stripping markers and effects from Final Cut Pro X projects.

New apps in Render Watcher

There are many more changes listed in the changelog.

Pro Media Tools is an essential toolkit for assistants, editors and video professionals alike. To find out more, see our features page, flip through the user manual or check out the video overview.

Earlier this week we released Preference Manager 3.1, which adds some exciting and long-requested features to the application.

After Effects support

Improved Avid support

We've also improved the stability and speed of the software. You should notice a speed boost when trashing and restoring preferences. The full changelog is here.

Preference Manager is an essential tool for managing the preferences of your editing software. To find out more, see our video overview and download Preference Manager free of charge.

Yesterday we released Pro Media Tools 1.1 Beta 3, adding many significant new features to the suite. It includes all of the big changes in the previous betas and also the following major additions:

Dynamic Paths in Auto Transfer

You can now set the destination path for transferred media according to the metadata you enter into the main window. For instance, you could setup the destination path to be Day > Camera > Reel and then enter the relevant metadata values before transferring.

The interface for customizing metadata is very similar to Post Haste.

New Batch Renamer Tasks

Several more tasks have been added to Batch Renamer including Insert Characters at Position and Replace Characters in Range. You can now also optionally Find and Replace file extensions too.

QT Edit Batch Processing

QT Edit can now perform operations on batches of files. Go to File > New Batch and select all of the files you wish to process. Select the tasks you wish to perform (you can perform more than one at a time) and when you're done, click Process.

A new window will appear asking you how you want to save the files. If you select Update existing files, the existing files on disk will be overwritten. This is a very quick process to perform. The other options create duplicates of the files, either in the same directory or in a new one.

Not every function is supported in batch mode and we're keen to hear requests for additional functions users would like to see in the batch window.

Better collapsing in Timeline Tricks

Timeline Tricks can now collapse opaque clips that are obscured by a clip on a higher track. This means that a timeline that looked like this in the previous version:

Now looks like this:

You can still collapse the old way if you prefer. Third-party transparent clips can be added to a blacklist in preferences so that they will not be collapsed.

Video Check progress bug fix

We also fixed the Video Check known issue from the previous beta where progress would happen in big lumps on Lion instead of being smooth, giving the impression that the application had hung if it was a large file. Lion is now our recommended operating system for Video Check and it is the only platform we are offering 10-bit processing support for.

The full list of changes is as follows:

• Auto Transfer - Option to only copy QuickTime movies if they exist on a volume
• Auto Transfer - Ability to set destination path from metadata
  
• Auto Transfer - Improved user interface responsiveness while copying and verifying
• Auto Transfer - Fixed an issue where you were unable to edit metadata after canceling verification
  
• Auto Transfer - Added the ability to disable checksums without disabling file size verification
• Batch Renamer - Insert Characters at Position task added
  
• Batch Renamer - Replace Characters in Range task added
• Batch Renamer - Suffixes can now be added after a frame number
• Batch Renamer - Added an option to search the file extension when performing Find and Replace
• Batch Renamer - The filename no longer appears blank when removing frame numbers from certain filenames
• Batch Renamer - Auto-recalculates when dragging items if the currently selected task is Reorder Frames
• Edit Detector - Fixed an issue where progress happens in big lumps on Lion
• Project Overview - Fixed an issue where marker colors may not display correctly
• QT Edit - Batch processing
• Render Watcher - Fixed an issue where Avid, Premiere or FCP renders may not correctly notify
• Timeline Tricks - Final Cut Pro X support
• Timeline Tricks - Uncomposited clips can now be collapsed
• Timeline Tricks - Transparent third-party filters can be added to a blacklist in preferences to prevent Timeline Tricks collapsing these clips
• Video Check - Filtering
• Video Check - Support for multi-channel audio
• Video Check - Fixed an issue where progress happens in big lumps on Lion
• Improved general stability and reliability
• Fixed an issue where Pro Media Tools may ask you to re-enter your registration information unnecessarily

This is a beta release designed for evaluation purposes. It is not intended for use in a production environment. If you require stability please use version 1.0.5 instead.

You can download the 1.1 beta here. The final release of 1.1 will be a free update for all existing customers.

Last week we released Post Haste 2.0.2 which adds several new features to our project organization tool.

Folder structure importing

You can now import the structure of an existing project folder. Just click the + button in the Template Editor, select Import Folder Structure and choose a folder to import. Post Haste will import the folder and all subfolders into the project but will not import any files. This is a very quick way of setting up a new template.

Parameter locking

Parameters can now be locked to prevent user modification. The parameter will appear grey in the list and cannot be edited in the Project pane. Use the Default Value field in preferences to set a value before locking.

The full list of changes is available here.

Post Haste is an essential tool to help creative professionals organize their projects. To find out more, download the software free of charge and check out the video overview and user manual.