Final Cut Pro 11 is out, and it's underwhelming to say the least

 Alright, FCP11 is out, and it's seriously underwhelming. Apple has been asleep at the wheel for a number of years / releases and that's really a pity.

Adobe Premiere and Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve are on fast update cycles and are now feeling more advanced than FCP. That's a real shame.

What's new? Not much really: Magnetic mask, basically AI powered automatic masking,  and AI powered transcription.

That's it? Yep.

Note that DVR's Magic Mask was introduced 4 years ago, and it got AI powered transcription for at least a full year. PP has had it for even longer. And we already had third party tools and plug-ins doing these two things very well for many years as well.

So FCP is sadly LAGGING behind.

Well there is also Smart AR conform, Auto Enhance Light and Color, Smooth SloMo, Voice Isolation. I hope Apple is way better at implementing these features than the concurrence, because let me tell you, I am not in a rush to try them out. And if they are not substantially better than PP or DVR, I will feel even more let down by Apple. 

Oh yeah there is also spacial editing and export to Vision Pro. Vision Pro is a lame, dead product. No one likes it. So unless you specialize in outputting programs for VP, this FCP "feature" is going direct to the graveyard, and it feels to me it's pulling FCP with it. Bad feeling.

So yes, that's really it, and it feels like nothing new and ground breaking. Still Apple calls it version 11. Really? 10.9 would have suffice. That's one more nail in the coffin of FCP. What's planned for v12, a new logo?

FCPX came out in 2011, we are now heading toward 2025, FCP will be 14 years old, and to me it has stalled. It is more stable, it is still more enjoyable to use than Premiere and Resolve, but the long list of improvements the community has identified and is craving for is not being implemented. Apple does not care. Apple is drinking the cool aid. 

Both Adobe and Blackmagic are listening to their communities and implementing features that are useful to their users. In turn they feel recognized and appreciated. It's also making the apps more enjoyable to use and more powerful. And to me it feels like they are taking over FCP.

At this time I don't even feel I want to upgrade. Why bother? Everybody and his brother are doing AI transcription these days. Will Apple do it any better? It looks very limited at the moment. 

Until I need to do some difficult moving mask in FCP, I think I'll stay on 10.8. 

Blackmagic Design Resolve v 19.01 available

 Resolve 19 is out of Beta, version 19.01 is now available to download from BMD website:

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion

From the release notes:

DaVinci Resolve 19.0.1

About DaVinci Resolve 19

The free version of DaVinci Resolve 19 includes all of the same high quality processing as DaVinci Resolve 19 Studio and can handle unlimited resolution media files. However it does limit project mastering and output to Ultra HD resolutions or lower. DaVinci Resolve 19 only supports a single processing GPU on Windows and Linux and 2 GPUs on the latest Mac Pro.

If you need features such as support for multiple GPUs, 4K output, motion blur effects, temporal and spatial noise reduction, multiple AI-based tools, HDR tools, camera tracker, voice isolation, multiple Resolve FX, 3D stereoscopic tools and remote rendering, please upgrade to DaVinci Resolve 19 Studio.

We hope you do decide to upgrade as your facility grows and you do more advanced work!

What's new in DaVinci Resolve 19.0.1

• More responsive timeline updating when moving a large numbers of clips.
• Smoother playback when using fixed playhead in edit.
• Addressed disabled matte nodes being enabled in duplicated timelines.
• Addressed media management issues when transcoding embedded AAFs.
• Addressed applying clip grades potentially causing unlinked mattes.
• Addressed Windows issue detecting new audio devices after launch.
• Addressed viewer annotation markers not honoring selected marker color.
• Addressed an issue with directional blur at 180º angles.
• Addressed a license activation issue on systems with macOS 15 beta.
• Addressed Dolby audio bus-assign workflows not engaging the renderer.
• Addressed incorrect GetClipProperty script return values for audio clips.
• Addressed issues with executing compiled Lua scripts on Windows.
• Addressed an issue with some shortcuts with the latest Mac updates.
• Scripting API support to query audio mapping for timeline clips.
• Scripting API support to query format for audio tracks.
• General performance and stability improvements.

Pre-Installation Notes

For DaVinci Resolve 19.0, we have taken efforts to keep the project libraries compatible with DaVinci Resolve 18.6.6. While this allows you to access the project library with 18.6.6, individual projects created or opened in 19.0 will no longer be accessible in 18.6.6.

We recommend a full project library backup as well as individual project backups before opening projects in 19.0.

Minimum system requirements for Mac OS

• Mac OS 13 Ventura.
• 8 GB of system memory. 16 GB when using Fusion.
• Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9 or later.
• GPU which supports Metal.

Minimum system requirements for Windows

• Windows 10 Creators Update.
• 16 GB of system memory. 32 GB when using Fusion.
• Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9 or later.
• Integrated GPU or discrete GPU with at least 2 GB of VRAM.
• GPU which supports OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 12.
• AMD/Intel Driver – as required by your GPU manufacturer.
• NVIDIA Driver – Studio driver 550.58 or newer.

Minimum system requirements for Windows for Arm

• Windows 11 for ARM.
• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite series processor.
• Recommended: 16 GB of system memory. 32 GB for 4K or Fusion use.

Minimum system requirements for Linux

• Rocky Linux 8.6 or CentOS 7.3.
• 32 GB of system memory.
• Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 12.9 or later.
• Discrete GPU with at least 2 GB of VRAM.
• GPU which supports OpenCL 1.2 or CUDA 12.
• NVIDIA/AMD Driver version – as required by your GPU.

Installing DaVinci Resolve Software on Mac

Double-click the DaVinci Resolve Installer icon and follow the onscreen instructions. To remove DaVinci Resolve from your system, double-click the Uninstall Resolve icon.

Installing DaVinci Resolve Software on Windows

Double-click the DaVinci Resolve Installer icon and follow the onscreen instructions. To remove DaVinci Resolve from your system, go to the Programs and Features control panel, select DaVinci Resolve, click on Uninstall and follow the onscreen prompts.

Installing DaVinci Resolve Software on Linux

Double-click the DaVinci Resolve Installer and follow the onscreen instructions. To remove DaVinci Resolve from your system, select the uninstall option after running the installer.

Additional Information

You will also need to download and install the latest Blackmagic Design Desktop Video software for monitoring with your Blackmagic Design video hardware. Desktop Video is available from www.blackmagicdesign.com/support.

© Blackmagic Design Pty. Ltd. All rights reserved. Blackmagic Design, Blackmagic, DeckLink, Multibridge, Intensity, H.264 Pro Recorder and "Leading the creative video revolution" are trademarks of Blackmagic Design Pty. Ltd., registered in the U.S.A and other countries. Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems. Avid Media Composer and Avid Pro Tools are registered trademarks of Avid. Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion and Apple Soundtrack Pro are registered trademarks of Apple Computer.

Updated September 04, 2024.

Bitwarden desktop (macOS Apple Store version) does not recognize my email + password combination all of a sudden (with Solution)

 Bitwarden desktop for macOS is acting up today, not recognizing my credentials. I tried several times, no go. I tried to uninstall the app, but then encountered a problem on the Apple Store:

"We could not complete your purchase. Bitwarden can’t be installed on “Boot Mac Mini Intel Catalina” because macOS version 12 or later is required."

So now I can't install Bitwarden, even an older version, because I'm on Catalina 10.15, the new version is for 12 and above, and Apple Store / Bitwarden is not offering to install a previous version.

SOLUTION: go to Bitwarden.com, select Download, Desktop, DO NOT CLICK on MacOS because it will open Apple Store and we are back to our problem.

Instead, Open the drop down menu: "View desktop installation guides".

Scroll down pass the Windows installers to macOS (Mojave 10.14 and later.) There is a link to Standard installer (you can also click on the following link: Bitwarden.dmg.)

Click on the link to download the installer and install manually. Voilà!

On reopening Bitwarden everything works as it should, no more error message with my credentials.

Sata SSD Exhibiting Erratic Speed, Slowing Down Considerably. Why? Read on! For A Possible Solution.

 A word of Caution regarding Sata SSDs In drive dock enclosures.

 One of my Sata SSD started exhibiting erratic speeds, slowing down randomly to a meager 10MB/s, then jumping to 100MB/s, then 200MB/s, to slow down again to sub 10MB/s operating speed.

 I started questioning the dock I'm using, the cables. I swapped the dock for another one, swapped cables, used a different usb connection, no go. Erratic behavior re. operating speed.

 I'm used to a consistent 300-350MB/s with this exact SSD in the same dock, so what's happening? I almost started a RMA with the manufacturer, then decided to test further.

 I wiped the SSD clean, formatted it anew. No change. Again getting speeds in the 240MB/s, to slow down randomly again to 100MB/s and 20MB/s or even less. Swapped dock enclosures again, used different cables, plugged it to a different computer even. Same erratic behavior.

 Could it be the heat? I let it completely cool down, I added an external fan blowing directly onto it. And, same slow erratic speed, out of whack performances.

 Mind you, it didn't stopped working or failed completely. It passed all fix disk and other tests. Just being slow to goddam slow like molasses.

Totally puzzling.

 Then I don't know why I thought about the SSD Sata connectors. What if they were dirty? Now I realize I should have looked with a magnifying glass to see if I could identify any dirt / hair / some crap sticking to the connectors, but I didn't.

 In any case, I proceeded to gently wipe the gold connectors with a piece of cloth, reset the SSD into the dock, fired Disk Speed Test, and what do you know? Full speed ahead!

 So the lesson is: if you are using SSDs in drive docks (or HDDs as well I suppose, although SSDs might be more sensitive to this than HDDs?) and all of a sudden are experiencing erratic, slow speeds, think about checking the disk connectors, and wipe then clean gently with soft cloth before trying anything else. Chances are debris are stuck in there, creating some electrical interference, and somehow are affecting the drive performances.

Gently wipe clean these gold connectors.

Apple Motion 5.8 And Compressor 4.8 Updates

 With Final Cut Pro 10.8, Apple also update Motion to 5.8 and Compressor to 4.8.

Like FCP, Motion 5.8 gets Enhance Light and Color Filter powered by machine learning. But no sign of Smooth Slo Motion powered by ML. Hmmm. Testing soon. The rest is mostly (and welcomed) bug fixes.

Compressor 4.8 gets bug fixes, spacial video enhancements and new Canon codec support.

And that is all folks.

Apple Final Cut Pro 10.8 Update June 20, 2024

 Yoohoo! The day before summer apple releases FCP 10.8! Let's see what's in store.

Final Cut Pro release notes

Learn about current and previous updates for Final Cut Pro on Mac.

Before installing a Final Cut Pro update, verify that your system still meets Final Cut Pro system requirements. Then make sure to back up your current version of the Final Cut Pro application and your Final Cut Pro libraries.

New in Final Cut Pro 10.8

Released June 20, 2024

Final Cut Pro 10.8 includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

• Automatically improve the color, color balance, contrast, and brightness of video or still images using the new Enhance Light and Color effect, powered by machine learning.

• Enable Smooth Slo-Mo to create amazing slow-motion visuals with an AI-enhanced algorithm on Mac models with Apple silicon.

• Stay organized by renaming color corrections and video effects in the inspector.

• Drag effects right from the inspector to other clips in the timeline or viewer.

• Use new filters in the timeline index to quickly identify clips with audio effects, video effects, retiming changes, missing media, or missing effects.

• Search in the timeline index by reel, scene, camera angle, camera name, custom metadata, or effect name.

• Search in the timeline index for user-created roles.

• Search for clips in the browser using new “Starts With” and “Ends With” search criteria.

• Enable or disable timeline scrolling using a new toolbar button.

• Improves timeline scrolling behavior during reverse playback.

• Fixes an issue where captions would sometimes flicker when timeline scrolling is enabled.

• Fixes an issue where browser items would be appear to be renamed when naming a folder.

• Fixes an issue that caused disabling the audio roles of a clip to make the video roles appear disabled.

• Accurately tone-maps HDR video content in 360° view for 360° projects.

• Fixes an issue that could cause ProRes RAW clips to be displayed incorrectly in the viewer on Intel-based Mac models.

• Fixes an issue that caused a freeze frame from a log-encoded clip to appear too bright in an HLG timeline.

• Fixes an issue that caused a disabled Color Board effect to be incorrectly enabled after exporting and reimporting an FCPXML of the timeline.

• Fixes an issue that caused the Space Designer audio effect to show presets as missing.

• Fixes an issue that could cause Final Cut Pro to stop responding when rendering with another app active.

• Fixes an issue that caused switching between the angle viewer and the video scopes to change the angle viewer selection back to “Enable video and audio switching.”

• Fixes an issue that caused Final Cut Pro to stop responding when both a folder and an enclosed item were selected in the browser.

• Adds support for sharing 8K ProRes MXF files.

• Improves support for Canon C2 AVC media.

• Adds support for Canon XF-AVC 1920x1080 59.94i/50i H.264 25Mbps.

• Removes support for disc burning.

• Updates FCPXML to version 1.12.

Get complete step-by-step how-to instructions and information on all features in Final Cut Pro. For a list of recent enhancements in Final Cut Pro, refer to What's New in Final Cut Pro.

OK, so a bunch of interesting things here. Notable to me are these three:

In YELLOW we have machine learning enabled Light and Color Enhancement, and Smooth Slow Motion. I'm very curious about these two, and I will test asap what kind of features and results we can get.

In ORANGE, search expansion, including audio and video effects, missing media, missing effects! Yes! finally Apple! It only took 9 years.

I have a 5 parts rant saga about missing effects in FCP and how extremely difficult it is to track them here: Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4, Part5. So much so that I had to report this to Apple, and likely many of you did as well, maybe, just maybe, Apple listened? But come on, 9 years?... I will be reporting how useful these improvements really are. Fingers crossed.

In RED, here goes the disc burning share option. Oh well, no one burns disks anymore, and when I did I used Toast anyway. I actually never used this once. But I understand it makes some people upset, not fun to loose a tool when you rely on it in your workflow.

Apple is yet again giving us crumbles when we are hungry for a full meal. No improvements on role based mixing or anything of the sort, which to me, and to many advanced users would be the feature to propel FCP to another level. Maybe in 2033.

Focusrite stops development of iOS Control app

 

Real bummer.

And I don't know if they are doing this because they want to push their own hardware controller, or because Apple has been so difficult to deal with that it's not worth the hassle for them.

Do you know anything about the matter?

Adobe, Photoshop (25.6.0), Why Is "Make Frames From Layers" Completely Out Of Whack?

 Adobe Photoshop 25.6.0 weirdness...

Adobe, what on earth are you thinking? I have stills, numbered 001 through 005. I use File / Script / Load Files into Stack.

I select my 5 pictures, click on Sort By Name, and OK.

Photoshop imports all 5 slides and stacks them in order, great. I now have 5 layers with 001 at top, and 005 at the bottom. So far so good.

001 being selected, I click on Create Frame Animation. The Timeline populates with 001 as the first image of the animation, OK.

Then I go to the Timeline hamburger menu, click and select Make Frames From Layers.

Photoshop populates the Timeline with 5 frames, except... they are in REVERSE ORDER! 👀😡 👿 005, 004, 003, 002, 001.

Why Adobe?

So then I have to add a step, select all the frames in the animation, click again on the hamburger and select Reverse Frames. Now it's in the correct order.

This behavior DOES NOT MAKE ANY SENSE. Why would we want to sequence images in reverse order as default? Seriously?

See for yourself.

How To Copy The Names From A Bunch Of Files In macOs Finder, And Copy Them Into Numbers

 In the Finder window, select all the files you want to copy, and Copy (Command + C.)

If you go to Numbers spreadsheet directly and try to Paste the content of the clipboard, it might work, or it might not work. Depending on the file, it will paste the content of the file instead of the names of the files, which is what we want.

For some reason it works with this list of pdfs:

But sometimes it does not work with other files, even pdfs. In other apps, we could use "Paste Special / Paste as Text" or something similar. No such function in Numbers - Hmm, hmm, hello Apple?

So we have to use a workaround with TexEdit:

Open Textedit, create a new document, then select Format / Make Plain Text. Paste the clipboard (Command+V) and the list of names appears.

Copy the list of names from the TexEdit document, and paste it into Numbers, this time it works! The list of names is being copied as text, as we intended.

Final Cut Pro Incorrect Timecode From Sony A1 On Import - Fix

 When importing media from some Sony Cameras, A1 point in case, the timecode is not recognized, all clips start at 00:00:00:00. NO GOOD!!

It appears that Final Cut Pro is expecting the card structure to contain a "PRIVATE" folder. If the Private folder is not present, FCP defaults all Timecode to zero. Dumb.

Here is the YT explanation and fix by Felipe Baez.

Example, this Sony card is structured with DCIM (photos) and M4ROOT (video) folders, the PRIVATE folder is missing:

As a result, FCP default all Clips Timecode to zero. In the list you can see that the Timecode for each clip starts at 00:00:00:00 No good!!!

After copying the content of the card onto my drives, I added a PRIVATE folder at the top of the arborescence and put the M4ROOT folder into it. It looks like this now, the M4RROT folder is inside a PRIVATE top folder:

Lo and behold, now FCP reads the Timecode properly! Whoa!

Note: you have to IMPORT the media. Drag and drop does not work, if you drag and drop media the Timecode is still not recognized no matter what.

Thumbs up to André Fernandez and Felipe Baez, for figuring this out.

Avid Media Composer | First (2)

 Media Composer is not likable, but is Media Composer First usable?

 It is slow to launch. Feels like Premiere on molasses.

 You have to be logged in with your Avid credentials.

The Welcome page opens with a huge advert, and Create Project or Open Project, with a Project Location button.

You cannot alter the Format from the Settings page, Raster dimensions and FR are greyed out.

You must first Go to Source Browser, Select Import, and a Project Properties window will pop up. 

 You can make the same Project Properties window pop up by linking to some media, and then dragging it into the Timeline.

 Available Rasters are HD 1080, HD 720 and SD. Available Edit Rates are 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, and 59.94fps.

 It has the familiar rigid, overcomplicated, over customizable UI. The same familiar cluttered workspace. Concepts and features as same old.

 I just imported my first media, dragged it to the Timeline, and... Media Composer already hangs! What a piece of garbage. Alright, force quit the fomo.

 Restarting the app, taking forever to launch. Open my project, OK things are still there. Playing the clip in the Timeline, interesting the Timecode indicator is not counting frames, it shows 01:00:09:-- 

 OK, whatever, performing a few edits, working fine.

 Now let's try to export. Output, Export to File.

ONLY AVAILABLE FORMAT: Quicktime. ONLY AVAILABLE CODECS: DNxHD (looks like crap),

or h264 (Faster, Best, or Better Quality) and THAT'S IT.

And ONLY AVAILABLE OPTION FOR AUDIO is PCM. Mono or Stereo.

DNxHD or h264 and that's it? HUGE limitation for export right there! I mean really? Avid?

I also read in the forums that THERE IS NO WAY to open MC First Projects in MC Regular. What?

OK, I have to pause right there, I'm not sure this software is worth exploring any further. 

Avid Media Composer | First (1)

 We love to hate Avid.

 Media Composer is great when you are working on a movie with a budget, and a decent post team. For anything else, I stay away. Outside of the cinema niche, the need for speed and the mixed media reality makes Media Composer a nonsensical choice. Media Composer is too slow and too temperamental for smaller projects that need to move at speed.

 You cannot throw any media at Media Composer. Example: link a 4K h264 mp4 file, drop it into a HD timeline and watch Media Composer fail and hang miserably! So you have to first convert heteroclite media to something Media Composer likes. Already you are losing momentum.

 If you are a film students working on your short film, by all means learn and use Media Composer. It's a great learning experience, you must understand formats and codecs, you have to think and prepare your media in advance, you can afford getting stuck and last minute surprises.

 Producers and directors working on your feature narrative or documentary with a decent budget and a normal schedule, please hire me to edit on Avid Media Composer. We will hire assistants and the staff needed to keep the Avid running smoothly.

 Everybody else, please stay away! Use Final Cut Pro, Premiere, or Resolve. Any of these NLEs run much more smoothly compared to Media Composer. Spend less money, less time editing, avoid daily aggravations, keep your hair and your sanity. Trust me.

 With that said, Avid needs new customers and is reviving the free version of Avid Media Composer First, version 2023, with limited features in the hopes to woo new users to the platform. Again, for most projects you will be better served with the aforementioned NLEs.

Go to Avid.com/media-composer and download Media Composer First

Sign-in, or Create an Account  if you don't yet have an account with Avid, it's free.

 Download the installer, it will install Avid Link as well. And then try Media Composer First for yourself.

 What's the experience like? My impressions and comments will follow in a series of posts. Read on!

Vimeo Is Yet Again Changing Its Offering (C) If You Are A Current "Plus" Subscriber

 If you are a current Vimeo "Plus" subscriber, your upgrade plans look like this: Pro, Business, Premium.

Pro gets you the grandfathered Pro plan (not available to new subscribers.) Business and Premium are the same upgrade offers as for Pro subscribers. At least that's consistent.

Again no mention of VOD or video subscription services, just a vague "Sell your videos to fans worldwide". For info, the grandfathered current Pro plan allows for VOD.

Vimeo Is Yet Again Changing Its Offering (B) If You Are A Current "Pro" Subscriber

 Vimeo has new plans with new names and new rules. Depending on your status, new or current subscriber, the offer differs, as does the nomenclature...

For you, current "Pro" subs, this is the current offer to upgrade: Business or Premium plans.

Business and Premium have no upload limits vs. 20GB with the grandfathered "Pro".

Total storage is 5TB for Business, 7TB for Premium, 1TB for Pro.

Premium gets live streaming / events goodies.

Pro, Business, Premium get unlimited stock photos, videos, and licensed music.

Notably, there is no mention of VOD or video subscription, just a vague "Sell your video directly to your fans". What form does this take? No idea.

Vimeo Is Yet Again Changing Its Offering (A) New Subscribers

 Vimeo keeps changing its offerings, now with new plans, and new denominations: Starter (The old "Plus", only different), Standard (Old "Pro", although not quite), and Advanced for live streaming and events. Plus the usual Enterprise, custom, talk to us service.

THAT IS, IF YOU ARE A NEW SUBSCRIBER.

If you are already a "Plus" or "Pro" subscriber, you will get DIFFERENT UPGRADE OFFERS with DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS. See my other posts. Vimeo is so confusingly bad at this.

(A) NEW SUBS

Biggest change: these new plans are all SINGLE TEAM MEMBER. Previous plans had 3 "Pro", or 10 "Business" & "Premium" INCLUDED team members. Not anymore. You have to pay more for additional seats.

Notable change from previous plans: there is now a QUOTA OF VIDEOS ("total number of videos you can have in your account at any given point in time"): 60 for Starter, 120 for Standard, 500 for Advanced. All plans have a 2TB bandwidth per month, no change there.

Prior plans had a total storage limit of 250GB "Plus", 1TB "Pro". And also a limit of 5GB/week upload "Plus" and 20GB/week upload "Pro", without any limits in the total number of videos. These plans are grandfathered at this point for what I can tell.

Standard now has video editing tools, including text based editing, stock photos, videos, and music, and an AI script generator. Starter gains Collaboration tools.

All plans get subscription services (bye, bye OTT), only Standard and Advanced have single video VOD. Sorta like before when you needed at least a "Pro" plan for VOD.