New features in CatDV 4
- Support for importing and exporting as Final Cut Pro XML file (providing much greater compatibility with FCP than via batch lists). Includes full support for transferring bins, sequences and subclips both in and out of CatDV, complete with links to the media file (with no need to manually attach media). Export As Final Cut Pro XML File saves to the specified file, while Send to Final Cut Pro is similar but saves the data to a temporary file and automatically imports that file into Final Cut Pro. (Professional edition only)
- Quick Filter search field added to main window. Keywords that you type in are looked for in any logging field. Only those clips that match what you type in are shown. (To reset the filter just delete the contents of the field. To search for an exact phrase enclose it in double quotes.)
- Import As Avid ALE Log File command added. (Professional edition only)
- Support for new Multi-grouping fields (accessible via the User Columns tab of Preferences) which can contain multiple keywords chosen from a pick list.
- Pick list drop downs (such as for Bin, Tape, or user-defined fields) now display a special chooser dialog if you select "Other...". You can either type in a new value or use the filter field to narrow down the number of items which are shown (useful in cases where you have a very large list of values to choose from).
- Double clicking any field label in the Clip Details window will bring up a resizable viewer or chooser window on that field, allowing you to see and enter long field values.
- By default the Server menu doesn't show commands that will modify the database unless you enable them via Advanced preferences.
- Preview files now have a timecode track by default, allowing them to be used in other editing applications. Use the Add Timecode Track command in the Preview Manager to add a timecode track to existing movies.
- Bulk Edit has new option to move values from one column to another, and a safe copy option that won't overwrite any existing data in the destination.
- A new advanced preferences option lets you assign the keyboard shortcuts Cmd/Ctrl-Shift-O and Cmd/Ctrl-Shift-X to your preferred import and export menu command (to best match the editing application you use).
- New command Add Timecode Track in the Tools menu
- Clicking on the timecode field in the clip details media panel lets you type in a timecode value and jump straight to that position in the file.
- Fixes to Verbatim Logger window.
- Various improvements in the Mac OS X version to make the application more "Mac-like" (such as changing the layout of buttons and adding a proxy icon to the window title bar).
- An easier to use toolbar with labels is shown by default, though the original icon-only toolbar can be selected via preferences if desired.
- Exporting movies gives you a new title safe area option to position text and timecode tracks slightly further in from the edge of the frame.
- With Preview search paths, you can define multiple root directories (eg. on a file server, on other machines in the workgroup, on removable media) that will be searched for preview versions of a tape's contents.
- Ability to save self-contained archives, which combine the catalog for a tape with its preview movies (in a form suitable for archiving to CDROM, for example)
- New Manage Preview Movies window allows you to see which preview files are on the preview path and to rename or delete them if necessary.
- Support for importing WMV, WMA and ASF files and extracting metadata from them.
- New Media Information window displays technical data for any media or preview file, including detailed track information and an analysis of dropped frames
- Much improved HTML export, with option to create either a standalone page or an index in the preview directory that links to preview files, plus better control over the page(s) that are generated.
- Improved QuickTime movie export, with control over size and position of text and timecode tracks and the ability to add burnt-in text (such as a copyright message or subtitles)
- Restructured and enhanced Preferences dialog
- Support for generating and playing MPEG-4 preview movies
- New undo support (with multiple levels) and autosaving of catalogs
- Option to use external Live Capture Plus application instead of Live Capture (Mac only)
- Support for equivalent media directories (allowing media files to be located automatically, for example if they were ingested on one machine and are now accessible via a network path)
- Improved handling of media metadata tags (such as author, title, copyright etc.) that are stored in QuickTime, Exif, MP3, or WMV files. These now dynamically appear as new columns under full user control and can be used for grouping.
- Larger clip details dialog with full size display of 320x240 preview movies
- Simple bulk editing of clips by selecting multiple clips then bringing up the clip details window
- Support for Java 1.4 on the Mac, giving improvements such as a brushed metal look and feel and scroll wheel mouse support
- The OMF import option is now included in CatDV Pro
- Extract metadata from protected AAC iTunes files, including cover art
- New command to automatically adjust column widths to fit the data
- Customise views has buttons to move colums to top and bottom
- Improvements to the Final Cut Pro batch list parser (better handling of timecode format, source media path, sequences, master comment fields, etc.)
- It's easier to update an incorrect Media Path
- New preferences option to always play back previews, in preference to full resolution media files
- New preferences option to display data rate in kbits/s or kBytes/s
- New keyboard shortcut to toggle grouping on and off
- New keyboard shortcuts within clip details dialog
- New preferences option to hide less commonly used menu commands
- Support for YYYY-MM-DD date format and 24 fps timecode
- New preferences option to disable automatic thumbnail generation on import
- Option to manually override aspect ratio for DV files (toggle between 16:9 and 4:3)
- Option to re-open last catalog or display catalog browser when launching the application
- Control over duration of still images when included in a sequence
- Option to ignore embedded DV timecode when importing DV media
- Option to quit automatically when last window closed (Mac only)
- Configurable double click actions, including opening any file in its default (external) application or display Media Information
- New Preview File column so you can see which clips have previews
- New Media Folder column that shows current file location
- Suppress irrelevant attributes that add clutter to the clip details dialog table
- Context menu no longer goes off the bottom of the screen
- Keyboard shortcut for help
- Can copy and paste from the Browse Catalogs summary table
- New memory indicator in the status bar
- Numeric keypad keys work in timecode calculator
- Bug fixes related to sequences (eg. saving comments or thumbnails)
- More responsive scrolling by creating thumbnails in a separate thread
- Verbatim Logger has configurable keys and a new command to insert timecode directly into text if desired, rather than start a new clip. It also works with audio files.
- Remember preferred view of each type (list or grid), not just last view shown
- Fixes to Avid ALE export
- Rationalised various keyboard shortcuts
- Display current clip selection with a dark gray background inside movie controller in details dialog and media dialog
- Improved tab navigation within clip details window
- Performance improvements and reduced memory footprint
- Support for DVCPro HD format
- List view uses row striping
- Updated media tab panel in clip details window, including new button to delete unwanted thumbnails
- Format column now shows basic file format of stills, with a new Megapixels column showing a summary of the image size.
- New Preferences command to set the amount of application memory used by CatDV (Mac only)
Points to note
- Less commonly used menu commands are hidden by default unless you enable Advanced menus in preferences.
- The built-in Live Capture command is no longer available. Instead, you might want to look at the new Live Capture Plus application, which runs as a separate application.
- Fading to black between slides in a slide show is no longer available under Mac OS X unless you switch to use Java 1.3.1 in preferences.
- You need to upgrade to Workgroup Server 3.5.0 or later to use CatDV Pro 4.1 as a client.