Final Cut Server

After existing as vaporware for a year, Apple sprang Final Cut Server on us right before NAB. It's now shipping. There are two versions. Feature-wise they are identical. At $1,000, you get a version that will host up to 10 concurrent clients using the server. At $2,000, unlimited folks can log into the server at once.

Seems like since it was first announced a year ago a few important features have been stripped from it. But I'm still pretty excited about this program. It seems like it adds a whole new powerful set of organizational tools for editors and producers. It could help in complex workflows or complex projects where multiple personnel are working with media. Apple is describing Final Cut Server as both an asset management application and an automation workflow program.

The asset management part of FC Server basically sets up a giant database that's a library for any and all media that you have on your Mac's--the library is in one spot (a Mac) but accessible to just about anyone on your network (including Windows users).

For editors, it's easy enough to get started with asset management. Tell it where you keep your Final Cut Pro projects are and FC Server will go through all of the clips in the projects. Any metadata associated with that clip in Final Cut Project will be copied over into FC Server. FC Server will also keep track when a clip is in more than one project--nice if you are ever wondering if you borrowed a clip from one project to put in another when it's time to clear old media off of drives. FC Server creates proxies versions of all this media--basically smaller versions of the original media. These proxies are easy to playback over a network and can even remain on the server when the original media has been deleted. So even if you can't keep all of the original media, you can still see a proxy on the server. Examples of formats for proxies are h.264 and Apple ProRes.

All of the data is fully searchable. Movies, graphics, most any file can be added in FC Server. You can also sort assets under productions. So once you do this, FC Server lets any client access any of this info. Up to 10 concurrent users for the $1K version and unlimited users for the $2K version. The server part of FC Server runs on Mac Pro's, MacBook Pro's, most iMac's, and Power Macs made within the last 3 years or so. But it looks like the client will run on just about any decent Mac and on Windows XP and Vista. That means a producer on a PC can browse through assets through the proxies. Also, FC Server requires Final Cut Studio 2.

In the pre-release info from last year, Apple said that some basic cutting could be done on the client. I can't seem to find anything about that on Apple's website now. I really hope they didn't pull that feature permanently. Editing on the FC Server client would be a great way for producers to be able to do simple assemblies of things. I hope a great feature didn't get cut because somebody at Apple complained that an editing feature would cut too much into sales of Final Cut Studio.

FC Server also tracks movies for approval and notes. Put a movie on the server, and FC Server can host it to any client. That way, a producer can quickly check something out on their PC without leaving their office and then post notes through the FC Server interface. Notes can be attached to a movie and attached at specific time codes. FC Server can also keep track of multiple versions of a project. So editors can make notes on a project, so other folks can know quickly what work has been done.

The automation workflow seems most helpful for encoding tasks. FC Server can watch a folder for any files that pop up. Once a file appears (e.g., after it's been exported from FCP), FC Server can begin encoding it through Compressor or run a script to send to, for example, send it to another app. If you are lucky to have enough to have access to a broadcast server, FC Server can send files there with some extra help available with Telestream's Episode. It's nice that all of these deliverables can be tracked in one place too. For example, I'd use it to track MPEG-2 files encoded for DVD's, which now are stored all over my hard drives.

Final Cut Server also helps you delete and backup media. For example you can delete media directly through FC Server, and it will tell you all of the projects that a clip is used in. It will help you archive media or move projects around the network. I'm not going to cover all of the features in this article. More good info on how you might use it at Apple's website.

OK, so here are some specific ideas about how Final Cut Server could help at Link.

EDITORS
As an editor, I'm always looking for media. Often, I'll need something on another system. Our current solution is for me to network to that computer. Then I have to figure out which project the media was stored in. I can often play back those files over the network. But if the other computer is older and/or busy with a big encode or render, then I might have some problems. With FC Server, I could search by file name, project name, reel # across anything that we've ever edited. Instead of trying to use another editor's computer as a file server, I can check out clips using FC Server's proxy files. So streamlined searching for media. Plus, the proxies can hang around even after the original media has been deleted. So it really opens up the amount of media that I can scan through without relying on tapes. Yippee!

Plus, FC Server sounds like it's easy to get up and running to catalog your existing media and projects. I just tell it where the Final Cut Pro projects are, and it start cataloging and making proxies. Now it's going to take a long time for the server to make all those proxies files--lots of encoding to h.264 to make proxies that are small enough to store and move quickly over the network. That's not going to happen overnight.

PRODUCERS
Producers will have the same ability to search and watch media as editors. Producers can watch through proxies video that's been captured. No more waiting to use a Beta deck or, even trickier at our facility, a DVCam deck. If the footage has been captured then producers have as much access to the media as editors.

Busy producers no longer have to come by the edit room to review materials. The editor drops an exported movie into FC Server, and FC Server creates a proxy. Then the producer can watch the proxy movie over the network. Notes are added through the FC Server client app and are stored on the server.

NEWS ARCHIVES
We have three large projects of monitoring international news. FC Server allows the option of adding proxy movies to a database of news. The FC Server interface allows for a centralized database that is connected directly to actual media. I could see news reports getting converted to h.264 proxy movies. A producer could quickly search for stories, then organize them into a project. This info can be seen by an editor or assistant who can begin converting the video to DV for editing in Final Cut Pro.

As far as I can tell, FC Server is being billed for in-house use I'm not sure how open it is to the internet. Maybe it's not internet-friendly or maybe Apple is being conservative about those features because of security concerns or the hassles of streaming media over the internet. To put that valuable of a server on the internet must carry some significant security risks (not that I'm a network and/or server expert.)

Like the simple editing feature, last year Apple was touting client access over the internet. Now, Final Cut Server doesn't say anything about the internet. I can only hope that internet access to the FC Server is coming in the future.

CAVEAT
OK, as an Apple fanboy, I'm usually onboard with Apple as soon as a product is announced (or even rumored.) But I've been burned before, and it's good to be wary of 1.0 products. Especially something this complex--a giant database with 1,000's of associated media files. I'll look forward to hearing some reports of folks who are actually using it, and even better see it in action. At this point, everything I know about Final Cut Server I've gleaned from their website. If you are interested in the product, I encourage you to check it out--there are some good video tutorials/demo movies there where you can see Final Cut Server in action.