Playhead - New iPhone App for FCP

[Matt Reyer]

Hi all,

Just wanted to let you know about my new iPhone app, Playhead, which allows you to control Final Cut Pro (or Express) from your iPhone.

It's not meant to replace your keyboard and mouse for editing, but rather to allow you to scrub through footage from a comfortable position, rather than sitting over the keyboard.

You can check it out on iTunes here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/playhead/id380858534?mt=8
and on my site here: http://wind-up-toy.com/apps.html

Happy editing! Hope you like it.

PS - if anyone thinks they could really, really use it, I'll consider giving out some promo codes.

Suggestions/comments welcome.

[michael zaletel]

Sounds cool. PM me a promo code please.

-michael zaletel

[Joseph Hutson]

Sounds cool. PM me a promo code please.

-michael zaletel

haha! ditto.

[Joe D'Arcy]

Thanks Matt. I'd appreciate a copy.
regards, Joe

[Patrick Wynne]

Sounds awesome, if you have any more promo codes I'd take one!

[Ramesh Jai]

Me too, me too :)

[sbroock]

Hook me up!

[C. Jagan Mohan]

me to

[Matt Reyer]

M9AXLL9T3AA4
93YJFN446YFK
7MEXYEYFL3WM
R6K9XT79TYYA

Have fun fellas!

[sbroock]

Got the App -- thank you for the code! Can you post a quick explanation of getting the Playhead Agent to communicate with the app? Showing "not connected" in the icon at top of screen.

[Matt Reyer]

1. Install Playhead on iPhone and Playhead Agent on Mac.
2. Make sure Mac and iPhone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network (I am unsure if ad-hoc will work).
3. Start Playhead Agent.
4. Start Playhead on iPhone (if you are using an iOS 4 device that supports multitasking, you will unfortunately have to fully quit Playhead and reopen it by pressing the home key twice, holding your finger on Playhead, and then pressing the minus sign that appears)
5. Go nuts.

Hope it works out. Let me know if you're still having problems.

[STEFANO LORUSSO]

Can I also have a promo code pls?
thanks
Stefano

[Matt Reyer]

I gave the promo codes out to get the ball rolling.

I've got to make some dough to get a RED camera! :smile:

[Matt Reyer]

By the way, if anyone has an idea for a Final Cut/RED app for Mac or iPhone, I would love to hear it. Hopefully I can make it come to life.

[sbroock]

Really nice job! Key was, as you say, completely quitting out of the app first.

For the next version, it would be great if there was a way to close the marker tab after entering a comment with the keyboard. Or perhaps I just missed it.

An even more ambitious feature would be to add an icon that gives you cursor and click control like the logitech app. Then best of all worlds.

[Matt Reyer]

sbroock, are you talking about the subclip dialog? the "add marker" button does not bring up a dialog. Anyways, pressing the "done" button on the keyboard closes the dialog after you've entered a name for the subclip.

Unfortunately Apple does not allow any official way to control Final Cut, so my app merely simulates keyboard presses. I do think it would be nice to offer a way to select different clips in the browser and timeline, but I do not know an elegant way to implement it (a mouse input would be the way to go until Apple allows programmers to control Final Cut directly).

So for the time being, my app unfortunately does not replace the mouse and keyboard for editing.

[Matt Reyer]

Oh, sbroock and any others who have used a promo code, I would appreciate a rating/review on iTunes.

Thanks!

[sbroock]

That's really interesting. I found that if you hit the marker icon twice, it brings up the marker dialogue -- same effect as hitting mm on keyboard. if you then tap your subclip square icon, it bring up the keyboard, and your text goes straight into the open marker window.

I actually tried an experiment -- loading the free logitech keyboard remote app, and running it as an open task with Playhead. Great combo -- if Logitech was iOS 4 optimized.

As it stands, you can trigger events in Playhead, launch logitech and use its cursor control, but when you use task manager to switch back and forth, logitech requires you to reestablish a connection.

I am really impressed with your app.

[Matt Reyer]

Oh now I understand, I thought you meant a marker dialog on the iPhone. Yes, if your playhead is right on top of a marker and you hit the "add marker" button on the iPhone it will do what you said. I will certainly consider adding a way to add a comment to the marker and to delete a marker (the problem is that Final Cut doesn't confirm whether or not

I will also consider adding the mouse functionality you suggested to a future version. Great suggestion.

Thanks a ton for your feedback. (You know, a rating/review in iTunes might help generate more sales, which would allow me to spend more time adding new features.)

[mikeburton]

Just bought it and tried it out. First off, I love the idea of this! I am currently editing a feature right now in FCP and it is a great remote control for doing director screenings.

Here is what I would like to see in the next version. Since there is viewer and timeline control I would like a "Match Frame" button that would send a clip in the timeline into the viewer. For example, director says stop on this particular clip, then show me the head and tail of the clip, having a Match Frame control would be most preferable, the clip then loads into the viewer and I can use my play, FF, etc to navigate without going back to the keyboard. Also, when you make a marker in the app you should have the ability to name that marker in the app ie, the iphone keyboard control pops up.

Anyhow, I have a ton of other controls I'd like to see on this app but for now that would be my number one. Keep up the great work!

[Matt Reyer]

Thanks Mike for your feedback. Yes, Match Frame is definitely a feature I will be adding ASAP. I would love to hear more of your ideas for the app. Thanks to real-world users like you, I can make Playhead the best it can be.

By the way, is anyone having any connectivity problems? I realize the current problem with multitasking, where you have to fully quit the app, which I will try to address in an update soon.

[Matt Reyer]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I submitted the update to Apple today. Here's the release notes.

-(hopefully) fixed multitasking issue with iOS 4 Devices
-updated Set In/Out buttons to the correct icons
-added "Match Frame" feature
-made Viewer/Timeline buttons momentary (so that they can be pressed regardless of which one is selected)
-added navigation between markers
-added "Mark Clip" feature
-added "External Video: All Frames" feature
-added Sparkle updating to Playhead Agent

And here's some promo codes for some lucky people!
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N7PYF9NEAWYY

Let me know if you use the codes.