Rolf Howarth
Forum Replies Created
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Well… it’s no secret that Apple’s focus in recent years has been mainly on consumer products such as the iPhone and iPad, and that enterprise and professional technologies such as Java and even Final Cut have somewhat taken the back seat in comparison.
There are some encouraging signs coming from Apple that they haven’t totally abandoned this segment of the market however, with a widely anticipated major update to Final Cut due out soon, and Apple’s active efforts to support and move over to an Oracle-sponsored Java implementation in future (just as it is on other platforms), not to mention Apple’s commitment to continue supporting Java themselves throughout the life of Mac OS X Lion (ie. at least until the version after the one after Lion comes out, quite a few years hence).
Java certainly isn’t an appropriate platform for writing glitzy iPod games, but it is (and will continue to be) for writing cross-platform vertical applications such as CatDV, which is why it’s still by far the number one choice for scientific, educational, financial and enterprise applications.
As for crashes, these are almost always caused by problems within QuickTime, and as far as I know turning on the protected player option eliminates nearly all of these. I don’t believe we have any problem reports from you on record since you started using the protected player option. If you do still experience problems with that option on, however, then please send both the crash log and the correspond CatDV Error Log to support@squarebox.com and we’ll be happy to investigate.
The other issue I’m aware of that can occasionally cause crashes is extracting thumbnails from certain kinds of files on import, in which case unchecking the advanced preference option “Generate full size thumbnails from file system” can help.
Regards,
-Rolf
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If you haven’t already done so, try checking the “Protected player” option in Advanced Media Handling preferences. Sometimes it’s a particular QuickTime codec that causes problems (eg. when faced with a corrupt file) and with the protected player option (you’ll see a green P instead of a blue Q in the movie controller) playback is done from a separate process so if that crashes for any reason the main application can carry on and relaunch the player automatcally.
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No, I’m afraid that discount only applies to low-end items purchased at the same time via the online store, and it doesn’t apply to server products. It’s kind of analogous to a “family pack” that some companies sell, eg. a 3-user license for Microsoft Office Home Edition only costs slightly more than a single user copy.
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It looks like CatDV is getting a bit confused about mixing UNC and drive based paths and is omitting a backslash. Rather than “\\Archive\PreviewsE” it should be creating a proxy in “\\Archive\Previews\E”. We’ll investigate that issue.
As a general tip though, it’s sometimes a good idea to fill in the Original Location as well as the Preview Path. That way you can have different proxy paths depending on the original media location if required.
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Hi Jason,
You normally need a license for each machine that’s running CatDV, whether actively logging or just searching the database. However, if one person has two machines they’re the main user of (for example, one laptop and one desktop, or one at work and one at home) and they only use CatDV on one or the other at a time then you’re allowed to share a license between the two machines.
The upgrade from CatDV Pro standalone to the Workgroup Server is very seamless. It’s the same desktop application, the only difference is whether you save catalogs to a local file or publish them to the server so they’re available to everyone.
(The only slight inconvenience with buying one then upgrading a short time later is you might end up with separate license codes to manage, eg. a single user and a 4-user license. If you think you’re quite likely to go for a server but aren’t 100% sure you want to commit to that until you’ve tried it, just drop us a line requesting a fully functional temporary evaluation code while you try it out.)
-Rolf
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A “grouping” field is any field that takes defined values, rather than being free format text, and means you easily group all your clips by that field. For example, you can group by audio rate then see all the audio rates in use in your catalog, then click on the 44.1kHz or 48kHz buttons to see all the clips with that rate. We call it grouping, but I’m not sure if there’s a better known term to describe that concept?
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If a pick list is marked as “extensible” then users can enter new values not in the list, so you’ll need to uncheck that option. Also, the delimiter that CatDV uses is a semicolon. If you enter a comma then it will treat that as part of the value.
-Rolf
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Yes, you can do that very easily by creating a user-defined field of type “multi”, then defining the pick list values in the Pick Lists tab of preferences.
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Hi Carsten,
Pricing is always difficult because there are so many variables. To give you a very rough idea, a 5-user Enterprise license starts around $5500, and a 10-user around $8000 (US), with the Workgroup server providing a lower cost of entry below that. But really, it all depends on any training and workflow consultancy you may want, plus things like the Worker Node, 3rd party codecs or transcoders, network installation, capture cards, storage, archive servers, support options, etc.
There are a lot of factors to consider, and every system is different, so you’re best off talking to someone like JB&A or your local systems integrator about your specific requirements so they can help spec a complete solution for you.
-Rolf -
Red flashes and diagonal stripes on playback seem to be an NDVIDIA driver problem introduced in Mac OS X 10.6.6. This will hopefully be fixed in the next OS update!
https://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2676952&tstart=0