Sony Creative Software
Release Notes
 
Catalyst Prepare™
October 2023
 
Contents
This document contains information on the following topics:
 
1.0 Welcome
Thank you for purchasing Catalyst Prepare. This document contains information about installing and using Catalyst Prepare.
 
2.0 What's New
Notable fixes/changes in version 2023.2
  • Support for video formats has been added.
  • New look profiles including Cool, Teal and Orange, Vintage, and Warm have been added.
  • It is now possible to use lens breathing compensation with image stabilization turned off, even when camera settings for lens distortion compensation is turned off.
  • A minimum limit for the cropping amount has been implemented to ensure that there are no black borders around the frame when performing image stabilization and lens breathing compensation.
  • Lens breathing compensation is now available for MXF files as well.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the app to crash when opening files in the app after renaming or deleting the contents of the X-OCN folder.
  • Fixed a bug that caused exported LUT files to have sizes of 0 bytes after exporting.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the app to crash when copying clips to the library.
  • Fixed a bug that caused failures to copy spanned AVCHD files on Mac, even when there was sufficient storage space available.
  • Fixed a bug that caused increased shake when applying stabilization to clips shot in active stabilization mode.
  • Fixed a bug that displayed update notifications even when using the latest version of the app.
  • Fixed a bug that caused batch rendering to stop and fail midway when rendering multiple clips.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the app to crash when setting the [SR Live Metadata source] to [External source] when the specified file contained certain characters.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the export of XAVC S clips to fail when batch exporting XAVC S clips alongside XAVC Intra HD or XAVC Intra 2K clips.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented the upload process from completing when uploading files larger than the available space on Ci.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented the status flag from being displayed for clips stored on the Professional Disk.
Notable fixes/changes in version 2023.1
  • Visualization of stabilization data.
  • Improved Copy snapshot to clipboard and Save snapshot functions.
    • Copy snapshot to clipboard and Save snapshot commands have been moved from the More Actions menu to a dedicated Snapshot menu.
    • The Snapshot menu provides access to options for saving snapshots.
  • Mark In and Mark Out buttons have been moved to the main transport toolbar.
  • Added Generate PDF catalog and Generate CSV catalog commands to the Places pane.
  • Added support for exporting clip rotation metadata in the following formats:
    • MXF: XAVC Intra, XAVC Long, and XDCAM (MPEG-2)
    • MP4: XAVC-S
  • Updated OpenSSL to address a vulnerability when parsing certificates when logging in to share clips on Ci (CVE-2022-0778).
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the application to crash when attempting to take a snapshot while the clip was loading.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause rendering to stop when rendering XDCAM MPEG HD422 50 Mbps clips.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause decreased playback performance when seeking in long-GOP based media.
  • Fixed an issue with user Looks on a Japanese OS when the Documents folder was synchronized with OneDrive.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause image corruption when playing back some rendered XAVC S clips.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause Rec.709 (and other SDR clips) to be displayed too bright if LUT Mode was set to Metadata or Off for a previous HDR clip.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the application to crash in the Correct Clip workspace after canceling analysis and analyzing a clip again.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause batch export to fail on some systems with NVIDA GPUs when the Format was set to AVC/AAC (*.mp4) and the Encode mode was set to Optimize encoding speed.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the application to incorrectly identify some interlaced AVC MP4 clips as progressive.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause flickering playback of 4:2:0 XAVC Long clips on Windows systems with Quick Sync Video graphics.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause some IMX files to play back incorrectly.
  • Fixed a bug that caused incorrect End time metadata values to be displayed for XAVC S 120p clips.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause timecode to flicker during playback (macOS only).
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the Analyze button to be unavailable after canceling clip analysis in the Correct clip workspace.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the Corrected crop resolution value to be displayed incorrectly in the Correct clip workspace.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the Mark In and Mark Out controls to be displayed above the timeline in the Correct Clip workspace when multiple clips were selected.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause folder icons to be displayed incorrectly in Browse mode after sorting the contents of the folder in list view.
  • Improved file sizes and optimized audio interleaving in XAVC S renderers.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented the Tab key from navigating among fields in the Export Catalog dialog when using Generate PDF Catalog.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Show save areas and Masking ratio to be displayed incorrectly in 2-up preview mode.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent devices from being ejected after exiting the Correct clip workspace.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause UI text to be corrupted after starting the application for the first time.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause controls in the Correct clip workspace to be unavailable after changing the workspace zoom level.
Notable fixes/changes in version 2022.1
  • Added support for a Cine EI workflow:
    • The Adjust Color workspace now includes an EI mode control that you can use to apply an exposure index automatically using metadata or manually.
    • Files that include LUT metadata now display a badge in the Organize pane and display the LUT on the File tab of the Inspector pane.
    • The Adjust Color workspace now includes a LUT mode control that you can use to apply a LUT automatically using metadata or manually.
  • Added support for lens breathing compensation.

    Lens breathing compensation is supported by an upcoming camera release.

    In some cases, Catalyst lens breathing compensation can be less effective than in-camera lens breathing compensation if stabilization is also enabled. Use the Preview pane to compare the original and corrected clip. You can set Stabilization mode or Compensation mode to Off as needed before exporting the corrected clip.
  • Added support for additional aspect ratios in the Masking ratio drop-down list in Clip Settings. Aspect markers from Sony cameras are supported and preserved even when the clip is rotated.
  • Added support for cataloging clips in PDF or CSV format.
  • Added support for previewing 8K XAVC HS Long 422 clips.
  • Added support for transcoding to XAVC S format with LPCM 48kHz, 24-bit, 4-channel audio.
  • Added support for transcoding to XAVC S Intra or Long 422 10-bit.
  • Updated SR Live video processing to the latest specification.
  • Revised the Color Space display for Rec.709 and S-Gamut clips in the Metadata and Adjust Color panes.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the application to crash when selecting a clip that had been deleted outside of Catalyst Prepare.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the application to crash when attempting to open some corrupt MP4 files.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the application to crash when dragging multiple clips.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the application to crash or a green line to be displayed at the top of the frame when previewing some XAVC HS proxy clips. This issue affected preview only and did not affect source clips or rendered output.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause transcoding to XDCAM format to fail when the Create Sony Professional Disc partitions check box was selected.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the Format for PZW-4000, Eject, and Create XDROOT folder commands to be unavailable if the volume name contained Japanese characters (macOS only).
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent the Stabilization workspace from displaying correctly if the Analyze button was clicked while a clip was loading.
3.0 Known Issues
  • The application may not display if you run the application on a secondary monitor and then restart the application with the secondary monitor disconnected. Hold Ctrl+Shift when starting the application to reset the application settings.
  • When playing 4K clips, the video preview can display irregularities on some systems that do not meet the system requirements for 4K media.
  • ASC-CDL (.cdl) files are not displayed in the Load ASC-CDL dialog when the file is saved in a known folder structure (such as an XAVC or XDCAM volume). Saving the ASC-CDL files in a generic location such as the General folder will allow you to load them.
  • The application may fail to start on some notebook computers with the Intel HD Graphics graphics adapter. Please visit https://downloadcenter.intel.com to manually download and install the latest driver for your graphics adapter.
  • If the application displays “A compatible graphics card that supports OpenCL 1.1 is required for GPU acceleration. Please install updated graphics drivers or install a compatible graphics card.” please try to install a newer graphics driver. If that is not possible, install the Intel OpenCL runtime for CPU. For more information about installing the Intel OpenCL runtime for CPU, please refer to this Knowledgebase article.
  • If playback is not smooth when previewing high-resolution clips, click the magnifying glass in the video preview window and decrease the preview resolution.
  • Metadata cannot be saved in non-MXF files — and some MXF files — that are not in a folder structure.
  • On some systems, transcoding can fail when using Intel HD Graphics Driver for Windows 8.1 version 10.18.15.4279. Please use the latest driver from Intel.
  • Blackmagic Design Desktop Video 10.1.1 or later is required when using an external monitor via a Blackmagic Design SDI or UltraStudio device.
  • Spanned AVCHD clips may exhibit audio and video noise when previewing the transition between clips. Transcoding is not available for spanned AVCHD clips. We recommend that you copy the clips to your local drive before working with them.
  • If you need to format an SxS card, please use the Memory Media Utility.
  • If you need to format or finalize an XDCAM Professional Disc volume, please use the XDCAM Drive Software.
  • Transcoding performance can be slow when transcoding to an exFAT-formatted SxS card on Windows.
  • When exporting a storyboard, the Destination folder exports to your Home folder by default, resulting in a failed export. Choosing a different folder will allow the export to complete successfully (macOS only).
  • In some cases, metadata and mark in/out points that were edited in Catalyst Browse are not preserved after importing a clip into Catalyst Prepare. Closing and reopening Catalyst Prepare will update cached metadata.
  • In some cases, the application can crash if you edit a storyboard before the storyboard has finished loading.
  • On some computers, the application can hang during startup/registration. Updating your graphics driver will allow the application to start normally.
  • When using libraries created in Catalyst Prepare 2.0 or earlier, external folders in the library are displayed as bins.
  • When using DaVinci Resolve to open a Catalyst Prepare project that was exported to Final Cut Pro X format, color-correction information (Lift, Gamma, and Gain) can be imported if the DaVinci Resolve timeline frame rate matches the Final Cut Pro project frame rate.
  • When using Catalyst Prepare 2015.1 to create color presets that contain a Temperature adjustment, the Temperature value will be incorrect when loading the preset in Catalyst Browse or any other version of Catalyst Prepare. You can adjust the Temperature value in the destination application and resave the preset to use it.

    Color presets created in Catalyst Browse or any other version of Catalyst Prepare will display incorrect Temperature values when loaded in Catalyst Prepare 2015.1. You can adjust the Temperature value in the Catalyst Prepare 2015.1 and resave the preset to use it.
  • Catalyst applications can crash on some Windows 10 systems that include multiple GPUs (one AMD GPU and one Intel or NVIDIA GPU). Please check for updated AMD GPU drivers: http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/AMD-Radeon-Software-Crimson-Edition-16.1-Hotfix-Release-Notes.aspx.
  • Hardware decoding of 10-bit XAVC HS clips is supported on Intel Skylake U, H, and S processors.
  • When working with clips from multiple discs in an Optical Disc Archive volume, playback can pause when switching discs. If you experience interrupted playback, copy the clips to a local drive.
  • On some Windows 7 computers using an AMD Radeon GPU, the application can crash during playback when Display secondary window is selected.
  • Spanned clips are not intended for use with Catalyst Prepare libraries. However, a bug permits AVCHD spanned clips to be added to libraries. Inconsistent behavior can occur when applying color correction, adjusting mark in/out points, or adding spanned clips to storyboards.
  • Start and end timecode values are not preserved when exporting a storyboard with Render clips as separate files and Use mark/in points selected.
  • If you want to reset the application's preferences to their default values, hold Ctrl+Shift while double-clicking the application icon. When the application starts, you'll be prompted to reset all preferences.
  • When working with DPX image sequences, the following features are unavailable: renaming, deleting, creating a storyboard from a selection, copying to a library or folder, uploading to Ci, and flash band repair.
  • When copying a clip list and its clips to an XDCAM device via FAM, the clips' UMID data is changed, which breaks media links and will cause the copy operation to fail.
  • Copying growing MXF clips to the PDW-HD1500 via FTP can fail.
  • Attempting to preview a clip with a backslash (\) in the file name will result in a "The media is offline, missing, or unsupported" error message (macOS only).
  • When viewing MXF clips from an XDCAM Station or Professional Disc volume, Catalyst Prepare now reads metadata from the sidecar XML. This improves performance but can result in a reduced set of metadata being displayed in the Inspector.
  • If Catalyst Prepare fails to start due to an invalid license file, you can reset the application preferences to choose the correct license file the next time you start the application:
    • Windows: Hold Shift+Windows while starting the application.
    • MacOS: Hold Shift+Command while starting the application.
  • Some computers running macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) may experience visual inconsistencies, hangs, or crashes when previewing clips with the secondary window enabled.
  • Some computers running macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) may experience reduced performance when applying color correction to a storyboard.
  • When running macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), access to Professional Disc and Optical Disc Archive volumes is not available. Support will be enabled when updated device drivers are released. Please check https://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/software_for_sony_equipment for updated XDCAM Drive Software and Optical Disc Archive Software.
  • If you notice corrupted video preview or decreased playback performance on macOS High Sierra (10.13), please install the latest High Sierra update to ensure your system is using the latest graphics drivers.
  • When transcoding to XAVC Intra, XAVC Long, and XAVC S formats, some Windows PCs may produce an error. Running Windows Update or installing the Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable manually will resolve the issue.
  • When previewing spanned AVCHD clips, you may see blocking noise at the transitions between clips. If you use the Combine relay clips command, the new clip will not exhibit the noise during playback.
  • Deleting clips from a Professional Disc volume can fail if the clips are still loading when you attempt to delete them. Verify the load icon is not displayed in the main video preview window or in the Preview window in the Inspector and then try deleting clips again.
  • Attempting to log in to Ci Workspace using an Enterprise Email (SSO) account fails to log in successfully. We are actively investigating the issue.
  • In some cases, playback performance can be reduced on macOS computers when an NVIDIA GPU is selected from the Video processing device drop-down list in Options. In this case, please choose the Intel GPU from the Video processing device drop-down list.
  • Some computers with an NVIDIA GPUs could produce flashing in the Histogram and Scopes windows. Please update to the latest NVIDIA driver.
  • Clip stabilization could fail for MP4 clips if the lens was detached and reattached during recording.
  • When upgrading from Catalyst 2020.1 or earlier, the application may fail to start on some systems with an Intel GPU. If this occurs, please try the following:
    1. Install the latest Intel GPU driver (reinstalling the same version does not resolve the issue).
    2. Uninstall the Intel SDK for OpenCL.
      • Open your Start menu and click the Settings button.
      • From the Settings menu, choose Apps & Features.
      • Enter "OpenCL" in the box labeled Search this list.
      • If "Intel SDK for OpenCL" appears in the search results, select and uninstall it.
      • Once you have uninstalled the above component, try starting Catalyst Prepare again.
  • When stabilizing a clip using an Intel GPU, some user interface elements could be displayed in white. This issue could be improved by updating to the latest Intel GPU driver. Please note that if this issue occurs, the rendered output of the stabilized clip is not affected.
  • When previewing some XAVC HS proxy clips, the application can crash or a green line can be displayed at the top of the frame. This issue affects preview only and does not affect source clips or rendered output. You can avoid the issue using one of the following workarounds:
    • Turn off Preview using proxy clips in Options.
    • Click the Playback Settings button on the left side of the transport controls to display the Playback Settings controls, and then click the Quality or All Frames button.
  • Clicking the Adjust Color button at the bottom of the Catalyst Prepare window can produce an error when a library clip is selected.
  • Clicking the Adjust Color button at the bottom of the Catalyst Prepare window can open Color Adjustment controls in the Organize view when no library is open.
  • In some cases, Intel Quick Sync Video is not properly initialized the first time the application is started after installation. After you exit and start the application again, Quick Sync Video will work as expected.
  • Some systems running macOS Catalina may fail to play supported media after installing Catalina Security Update 2021-002 (19H1030) due to a regression in the OpenCL framework. Security Update 2021-003 (19H1217) and subsequent updates do not exhibit this behavior. If installing subsequent updates does not resolve the issue, roll back Security Update 2021-002 (19H1030) and then install 2021-003 (19H1217) or later.
  • On Windows systems with some GPU configurations, XAVC S clips rendered in Catalyst 2021.1 and earlier may preview with distorted video in Catalyst applications. The rendered video essence is error free; the distortion is limited to playback in Catalyst applications. You can rerender the clips in Catalyst 2022.1 to resolve the issue.
  • When a clip is exported using the XAVC S Long 422 S-Log2 or S-Log3 color space, some NLEs could recognize the clip as video range and the preview image color could be extended. If the NLE has an input range setting -- such as newer versions of DaVinci Resolve -- you can set the range to Full so the preview image color is not extended. Alternatively, you can use XAVC S Intra 422 or XAVC S Long (420).
  • An exported clip's color space can be displayed incorrectly after overwriting an existing clip with a different color space setting. The correct color space will be displayed after closing and restarting Catalyst Prepare.
4.0 System Requirements
The following lists the minimum system requirements for using Catalyst Prepare:
  • A 64-bit operating system: Microsoft® Windows 10 or Windows 11; macOS 11 (Big Sur)*, 12 (Monterey)*, or 13 (Ventura)*

    * Intel processors only.
  • 2 GHz multicore processor
    • An 8-core processor is recommended for 4K media
    • An Ivy Bridge Core i7 with Quick Sync Video or Xeon E5 processor is recommended for XAVC S media
    • A Kaby Lake Core i7 processor with Quick Sync Video is recommended for 4:2:0 XAVC HS media and required for 8K media
    • An Ice Lake Core i7 processor with Quick Sync Video is recommended for 4:2:2 XAVC HS media and required for 8K media
  • 500 MB hard-disk space for program installation
  • Solid-state disk (SSD) or high-speed RAID for 4K or larger media
  • 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended for 4K or larger media)

    The XAVC Long 422 3840x2160 200 Mbps (Sony) transcoding presets require 16 GB or more RAM. If you're using a dedicated GPU, the presets also require 4 GB or more GPU memory.
  • NVIDIA, AMD/ATI, or Intel GPU with support for OpenCL 1.1 or later with at least 1024 MB of memory or a CPU with SSE 4.2 or higher
    • OpenGL 2.1 is recommended for optimum performance
    • OpenGL 4.1 is required for video stabilization/lens breathing compensation
    • 2 GB GPU memory is recommended for 4K preview, HD rendering, or HD video stabilization/lens breathing compensation
    • 6 GB of GPU memory is recommended for decoding XAVC S or XAVC HS media, and we recommend using the latest GPU driver version from NVIDIA, AMD/ATI, or Intel. macOS provides software decoding of XAVC S or XAVC HS media.
    • 6 GB GPU memory is recommended for 4K rendering
    • 8 GB GPU memory is recommended for 8K rendering or 4K video stabilization/lens breathing compensation
    • 10 GB GPU memory is recommended for 8K video stabilization/lens breathing compensation

    If your GPU supports OpenCL 1.1, please install the latest driver to enable OpenCL on your GPU for the best possible performance. If your GPU does not support OpenCL 1.1, install the Intel OpenCL runtime for CPU. For more information about installing the Intel OpenCL runtime for CPU, please refer to this Knowledgebase article .

    You must provide your registration information to Sony Creative Software Inc., a US company, in order to activate the software. Product requires online registration.
5.0 Installation
The install utility creates any necessary folders and copies all files required by Catalyst Prepare to your computer.
 
  1. Download the install utility from our Web site.
  2. Double-click the file, and then follow the on-screen prompts to install the appropriate version of Catalyst Prepare for your computer.
6.0 Trials and Demos
If you would like information or trial/demo versions of other products from Sony Creative Software Inc., please visit our Web site. You will always find the latest technical information, trials, demos, and product announcements from Sony Creative Software Inc. there.
 
Commercial distribution of the trials and demos requires written permission from Sony Creative Software Inc.
 
7.0 Contacting Sony Creative Software Inc.
Sony Creative Software Inc. can be contacted in the following ways:
 
Customer Service/Sales:
For a detailed list of Customer Service options, we encourage you to visit https://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/custserv.asp.
 
Technical Support
For a detailed list of Technical Support options, we encourage you to visit https://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/default.asp.