Digital Rebellion's FCS Remover app, available here, is a great way to remove either Final Cut Studio or Final Cut Server in order to avoid reimaging a machine. It grabs all related libraries, frameworks and other barnacles.

Apple has issued Pro Applications Update 2008-003, which updates both Compressor and Qmaster to 3.0.4.

However, some of our clients were reporting more qmaster unresponsiveness than before the update, sometimes rendering qmaster irreparably unresponsive (say that three times fast).

Below then is a script that can completely wipe your install of Qmaster/Compressor. You can then reinstall from scratch the AppleQmasterNode.mpkg from the Final Cut Server installation disk, and then use Software Update to get it back to 3.0.4. All this without disturbing a running Final Cut Server. (Obviously, qmaster processes will fail during the reinstall, but if you're at this juncture, your qmaster is probably not working anyway.)

Final Cut Server is a fine asset management system. Its real promise, though, lurks within its system for watching for arbitrary events and triggering actions. At WWDC this June, Apple wowed a few hundred people with a demonstration of this capability. Apple has now released the code and documentation of this demo.

Download the documentation and code in the "Web-Based Review & Approval" section of the Final Cut Server Resources page.

Here's the demo, in short. Using the FCS Client, click an asset's "Send to Web for Review" checkbox. This triggers FCS to compress and export a version of the movie, then add a record to an external database. A Ruby-on-Rails app reads the database and displays the movie in a web page for approval. Once approved, the Rails app sends XML to a drop folder, which is read by FCS, recording approval and completing the round trip.

It is a bit of work to get it working, but the demo touches all facets of FCS. It's a great eduction.

I was on a short vacation last week, so I missed Apple's first update to Final Cut Server. Note that both the server and clients must be updated to QuickTime 7.5 before this release. If you are using Final Cut Pro, you must update to Pro Applications Update 2008-02 as well. There have been significant changes to how FCS handles FCP projects, so all cataloged FCP projects should be reanalyzed by the FCS administrator after upgrading.

As a nice change, Apple has published release notes for Final Cut Server.

• Final Cut Pro project files are now delivered as binary XML files on checkout, which is one bit better than text.
• Checked-out FCP projects can now be returned with additional media, and that media will be added to Final Cut Server automatically. (Other apps, such as Motion or Soundtrack Pro, need to have additional media added manually.)
• FCS no longer eats double-byte metadata, so you CJK users can type away.

Please discuss in the FCS 1.1 forum thread begun by djdan...

Apple announced this morning that Final Cut Server, its "powerful media asset management and workflow automation software for video and film production," is shipping. Availability comes just under a year since the product's original announcement, and just a week before the broadcast industry's NAB expo in Las Vegas.

Features

FCS is perhaps the most complex product Apple has ever shipped. (Xsan may be worse :-) Here's the (editorialized) bullet list:

• Asset cataloging of video, FCP project files, Soundtrack Pro files, DVD Studio Pro files (you get the picture), PDF & stills, iWork, Keynote, and just about any other type of file you can throw at it. (Hey, it's just an index.)
• FCS's index only stores proxies, so source files need to live on real storage. That storage can be anything the FCS server can reach: Xsan, NAS, file servers, and even FireWire drives. But faster the storage (ahem!) the better.
• Project check-in and check-out, with version control, to assist multiple collaborators on a single project. Check-out can be to a mobile environment, and FCS will copy all related media. (And it will do the right thing on check-in, too.)

• Compressor is incorporated, so all that random video footage can be automatically converted into the house codec.
• Simple or complicated workflows, to "move" projects from one user to another as tasks are completed. These workflows can trigger Compressor scripts, transcoding video as required (for final output & delivery, for example).

Requirements

Read these carefully. We'll update this list as we learn more.

• The FCS server must be a Mac G5 1.8GHz or faster and OS X 10.5. No on-board graphics, so no MacBooks or minis. Xserves are OK, you just need to have a monitor or plug in an adapter dongle during installation, to wake up the graphics card. You can unplug later.
• Mac clients can be G4s or faster, but use OS X 10.4.11 or 10.5. Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 is required for FCP integration.
• Windows clients (yes, it works there too) must be XP2 or worse. Some new version of Java is required.

Resources

• Apple's product page
• User Manual
• Admin Guide
• Matt's new book!

What we think

We've had quite a few discussions about FCS over the last year. We've had our share of cynicism, too. And we think that, used in a professional setup, Final Cut Server is going to make a huge impact on the video production world. But, like Xsan, it's going to be a huge headache for those who try to take shortcuts.

Also, like Xsan, we think Apple's going to do a great job marketing a powerful solution to a new market. But folks will need experienced help. And with FCS, setup is everything.

So, after weeks of consideration, both public and private, we've decided to begin building Xsanity into as reliable as resource for Final Cut Server as it is for Xsan. I invite you all to help with your articles, discussions, and wiki posts.

Besides, it's about time we added some color to our logo.

[Update:] the requirement for real graphics cards was an exaggeration.

[Update 2:] maybe it wasn't an exaggeration. At least the server seems to require a real graphics card.

[Update 3:] the correct requirements are now above. Only the server has a graphics card requirement, and it is not too strict.

We're not much of a breaking news blog (see Engadget's live coverage for that), but Apple this morning announced Final Cut Studio 2 and Final Cut Server. FC Server is a brand-new product that seems like Proximity ArtBox + Compressor, but we're not entirely sure yet. We'll post more info when we understand it all better.

Until then, you can follow along in our forum and post whatever you hear.

From the press release:

Apple today introduced Final Cut Server, a powerful new server application that works seamlessly with Final Cut Studio 2 to provide media asset management and workflow automation for post production and broadcast professionals. A scaleable server application that supports workgroups of any size, Final Cut Server includes a cross-platform client that enables content browsing, review and approval from within a studio or over the Internet. Final Cut Server automatically catalogs large collections of assets and enables searching across multiple volumes via an intuitive user interface. Final Cut Server is designed to manage the flow of work, as assets and projects move from producer to editor to artist through the entire production process.

Click the read more link below to see a couple of screenshots from Apple's video.