• Final Cut Server,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server

    Podcast Producer on Your iPhone

    PCP Remote is a great little application for initiating Podcast Producer workflows from your iPhone. In the current iteration you can also record audio tracks from the iPhone and use them in workflows as well. Oh, and it can connect to multiple Podcast Producer servers to kick off workflows. Since one workflow can summon another or write data into Final Cut Server, this gives a lot of options for different ways to integrate Podcast Producer and automate a number of items from your iPhone. Great stuff and I for one am really looking forward to the next version as soon as the App Store approves it!

  • Final Cut Server,  Mac OS X

    Problems Opening Final Cut Server client?

    One thing to try, especially if you get an error that Mac OS X is ‘Unable to launch the application.’ is to do a get-info (command-I when clicked on the application) for the application and then check the box for ‘Open in 32-bit mode’. I have actually found running applications in 32-bit mode to resolve 3 different issues, only one of which was with Final Cut Server. Anyway, hope this helps someone else!

  • Final Cut Server

    Rough Cut Editor for Final Cut Server

    Artbox allowed you to generate Final Cut Projects. But that was a feature lost when Apple acquired Artbox and turned it into Final Cut Server. Apparently I’m not the only one that noticed and wanted this feature. Andre Aulich, of ConSol in Germany published a movie awhile back showing how they had developed a similar feature. See it here: http://www.andre-aulich.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/ConSol_RCE.mov Well, now it’s in beta. Contact them at rce@consol.de for a beta of the tool if your interest is peaked!

  • Final Cut Server,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security

    Assigning Poster Frames Manually in Podcast Producer

    Podcast Producer will automatically generate a poster frame for each video that is generated. The poster frame is a frame of the video that is automatically generated and then applied to the video. The poster frame that each video has can therefore be a bit random. However, you can use any image that you like as a Poster frame (also called Poster Image in Podcast Producer). To manually configure the poster frame, open the workflow in Podcast Composer (or do so during the initial creation process). Then click on the Window menu and click on Workflow Inspector (or use the Command-I shortcut key when you’re in Podcast Composer. At the…

  • Final Cut Server,  Xsan

    Customizing the Final Cut Server Webstart on Xsanity

    Xsanity just posted an article I did on customizing the Final Cut Server Webstart. This is the page that you go to in order to install the Final Cut Server client software from your server. The article starts with building links and customizing the URL and then touches on a little customization of the pages towards the end. Hope you find it helpful.

  • Final Cut Server,  Xsan

    Accessing the Final Cut Server Database Remotely

    Before I get started: By remote, I mean from another machine – I sincerely hope that you will not be opening your Final Cut Server database to the WAN.  So again, please be careful with this as there is no security around the database and you will be limiting access via IP for now. This article lays the beginning framework for a series (no promises on when the next in the series will be posted) on clustering the stored role of Final Cut Server, which provides the database (back end functionality) of Final Cut Server. All of this is done using built in tools for Final Cut Server. Don’t do…

  • Final Cut Server

    Final Cut Server Logging

    Final Cut Server provides a wealth of logging information beyond what can be accessed from the “Search All Jobs…” option in the Final Cut Server application.  Search All Jobs will show the contents of the pxjob table of the PostGreSQL database.  However, Final Cut Server stores far more information that can be useful in troubleshooting.  For example, information about any jobs that contain the text ldsd, stored or the actual transcode processes can be found in logs in the /Library/Logs/Final Cut Server directory of the Final Cut Server that start with fcsvr_ldsd, fcsvr_stored or pm_transcoder respectively.  This folder also has a subdirectory, dbinit, which shows all of the logs pertaining…

  • certifications,  Final Cut Server

    Final Cut Server Exam

    I finally got around to taking that Final Cut Server exam this week.  It was pretty straight forward.  I think there is definitely a methodology to writing exams.  I wrote a few for Brainbench and because their structure was extremely laid out really got to learn a lot about the methodology to writing questions. I liked the fact that Apple is adding more and more questions where you click on the appropriate item on a screenshot, I look forward to scenario simulations. Microsoft exams mostly require you to get at least one simulator correct in order to pass the exam, some vendors have gone to simulation-only, but the closest Apple…