An overview of software based signal analysis monitoring for video

Below is a list of the supported file formats for Drastic products that support file based workflows. These include: videoQC, Net-X-Code Server, MediaReactor, Net-X-Convert, and Net-X-Proxy.

 This page provides Drastic documentation downloads, and links to access the demo download forms for our software products.

These are direct links to the documentation for Drastic's software. 

Please note: this page provides information about legacy products (which may no longer exist), and is only here for reference.

For current Drastic products, please see the main site.

Avid's Media Composer, Symphony and NewsCutter software are efficient, powerful industry standard editing systems.  Drastic's MediaReactor Workstation integration allows you to extend and expand the functionality of all three of these products.  The Drastic DDR servers provide extensive content capture options with full DNxHD support and including real time editing while recording without interrupting or breaking up the record file.

This page was created to provide links to the (Legacy) Version 4 installs that included the Assimilate, QuickTime, Final Cut Pro, DirectShow and Adobe Plugins.

These versions are ancient and the links have been removed. If for some reason you need to reinstall MediaReactor prior to the current version, please contact us with details.

Drastic Digital Disk Recorders that include more than one channel of HD or SD I/O (VVW 5002/3/4, VVW 7002, Typhon 2) may be used to combine some or all of the inputs and outputs into a single control channel. In this state only one channel appears to the RS-422, GUI or network control system, but when media is recorded or played, two or more channels of I/O are run locked together.  Please note:  This article has been superseded and it is here for reference only.

This area contains legacy material from previous Drastic Technologies websites. It is provided for reference only, and contains information, products and links that may no longer exist and which are no longer supported by Drastic.

DrasticPreview and DrasticPreview Pro can be called by external applications with command line parameters.  If there is already an instance of the application running, the parameters will be transferred to the running instance, and the called one will exit.  This is especially useful where the workflow requires the system to display particular aspects of a clip in an automated fashion.

(Legacy page) MediaReactor includes tools it uses to automatically check QA translations using industry standard metrics.  This tool, called MRAnalyze, can be used in conjunction with DrasticPreview Pro to provide both objective and subjective analysis of converted or recaptured video material.  This article provides an overview on how these tools work and can be applied to various video workflows.

The IndieCam cameras are small, light, HD and 2K recording RAW bayer pattern cameras.  They provide the raw data via HD-SDI by embedding it into a SMPTE standard signal that can be recorded by most uncompressed recorders.  Because the type marked by the recorder is SMPTE YCbCr 10 (v210 in general), the RAW data cannot be automatically detected.  To use these files in Assimilate SCRATCH and MediaReactor, the system must be set up to re-label these files.

Note: This area describes legacy products. Drastic VVW and Titan Series DDRs, QuickClip, MediaNXS and DrasticDDR software can be used to capture single or multiple frames into a sequence of still images which can be played back in real time immediately after recording. These still image files can be stored into individual, time based directories, or into a single directory.

(Legacy Page) On supported hardware, Drastic software provides control of any up or down video conversion.  This can be set up in real time from the QuickClipXO, MediaNXS, VTRIF, DTReplay or dTouch interfaces.  The parameters and advanced settings in the configurations are provided below.

(This page contains legacy information and is here for reference only) Drastic server software includes an HTTP server for local or remote control/access from a standard web browser. One of the files, FileBrowse.html, allows for file selection from selected drives using the web browser. Depending on the command line, FileBrowse can be used to save, load, add, or open files without direct access to the file system.

If you want to run APIs or WebRTC connections externally, you can configure Apache to act as a reverse proxy using HTTPS on an external port (like 5000). and forward that traffic to an internal HTTP service running on a different port (like 15000). Here’s how to do it step by step:

Net-X -Code, videoQC, and Net-X-Copy provide a number of overlays you can superimpose on the video output. These can be enabled or disabled using various MediaCmd commands, which are detailed in this article.

There is a command line installer for Windows installs which can be used by system administrators, or by other programs calling the Setup program. Here are the details.

Drastic Technologies maintains an account for each of the users who have downloaded a free FlowCaster app from the Google store. This account retains very little actual contact information.

If you prefer to maintain a low profile online though, this account can be very easily deleted once you are done using it. Here is how.

Drastic supports Windows, macOS, and Linux in its product lines, depending on the product level and/or version. Here are details on which products support which operating systems.

FlowCaster can send the following IP stream types: SRT, RTP, UDP, RTMP, NDI, CDI, WebRTC, WHIP, RIST, HLS Live, BLS, and ST-2110. FlowCaster's VirtualCam output can also emulate a webcam so it can appear as a guest in meeting sites like Zoom and Skype. There are many ways to monitor and distribute these streams. This article describes some of the available monitoring solutions and their features.

Drastic Technologies' exclusive H/S Scope allows easy calibration of lighting or cameras to a standard DSC ChromaDuMonde chart. The H/S Scope lets you use chroma values to evaluate a light source's ability to render colors accurately based on the camera's electronic response to the color of the light source.

Flowcaster.live integration with Google Chrome - start, schedule, and invite participants to a new FlowCaster session from within your Google Calendar or Gmail! A lightweight download from the Chrome Store provides quick access to FlowCaster sessions integrated directly into the apps you use every day. Here are details:

Drastic Technologies has created two OpenFX plugins to view the output of Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve editors; the FlowCaster Remote Monitoring plugin, and the ScopeDirect Signal Analysis Tools plugin. FlowCaster provides a comprehensive set of collaboration, review and approval tools for editors, and can create and export session markers to/from Resolve. Drastic's 4KScope and HDRScope signal analysis tools are professional vectorscope/waveform/histogram scopes for audio and video signals.

Is your company already using GoTo for remote conferencing? Do you need to share high quality video in real time with your stakeholders? FlowCaster has added a VirtualCam setting that lets it show up as a webcam in meeting sites like GoTo. Here are details on how to set this up.

Is your company already using Webex for remote conferencing? Do you need to share high quality video in real time with your stakeholders? FlowCaster has added a VirtualCam setting that lets it show up as a webcam in meeting sites like Webex. Here are details on how to set this up.

Is your company already using Meet.Google.com for remote conferencing? Do you need to share high quality video in real time with your stakeholders? FlowCaster has added a VirtualCam setting that lets it show up as a webcam in meeting sites like Meet.Google.com. Here are details on how to set this up.

Is your company already using Microsoft Teams for remote conferencing? Do you need to share high quality video in real time with your stakeholders? FlowCaster has added a VirtualCam setting that lets it show up as a webcam in meeting sites like Microsoft Teams. Here are details on how to set this up.

Is your company already using Zoom for remote conferencing? Do you need to share high quality video in real time with your stakeholders? FlowCaster has added a VirtualCam setting that lets it show up as a webcam in meeting sites like Zoom. Here are details on how to set this up.

Is your company already using Skype for remote conferencing? Do you need to share high quality video in real time with your stakeholders? FlowCaster has added a VirtualCam setting that lets it show up as a webcam in meeting sites like Skype. Here are details on how to set this up.

Drastic Technologies has provided tools and solutions for Adobe editor workflows for decades, and expands on this relationship with the release of the FlowCaster Live Review Panel. The panel is available for free, and provides additional Drastic related features in a dockable panel within Adobe creative software such as Premiere Pro. This page provides details on how to install and use the FlowCaster Live Review Panel.

videoQC can  analyze a video file, and produce PDF, CSV, XML, and HTML reports, along with marker files for editors, and proxy files for viewing. Here are details on the process.

Would you like to use Drastic software in a language other than English? We can provide you with an alternate language interface for most Drastic software. This page explains how.

Using FlowCaster with the www.flowcaster.live site may require some setup for your corporate firewall.  This is especially true if your system is running in a cloud environment like Amazon, Google or Azure.  By default these, and many other environments, completely lock down the internet access.  To use www.flowcaster.live, some standard ports must be opened up. 

Different IP video protocols require different firewall setups.  This article covers the most common ports / firewall access that different IP video protocols require.  

Asynchronous review lets anyone open a www.flowcaster.live session and add feedack via text, telestration, and emoji, and save the session to send off to the next stage of production.  It is similar to synchronous review, but only requires one person at a time, and may be done by each participant at any time.

The synchronous collaborative review workflow lets an operator select a proxy file/timeline from any network storage that is available to all participants and share it with a group of participants so their input and feedback can be saved for later review and implementation.

FlowCaster Live Event Review captures SDI or IP signals simultaneously as high quality MXF files and as time code matched proxy MP4s. This way the creative team can get started working right away with the proxy MP4s from anywhere in the world, and use the decisions to create deliverable assets as the stream is being captured.

Use FlowCaster on the www.flowcaster.live site for real time group review of edit sessions anywhere in the world, without rendering or uploading your media to a server!  FlowCaster.live receives audio/video/captions/time code from the editor's output in real time, while providing a shared area of talk, webcam, commenting, and collaborative drawing (telestration), all time code locked to your edit. 

A comparison of www.flowcaster.live's real time video collaboration tool with other tools in the industry.  FlowCaster.live is the only live edit review workflow that allows for instaneous feedback of edits, high quality over the sholder monitoring, deep integration into Adobe and Avid editors, along with a secure set of web based and local tools to allow time code locked, instantaneous review of all your video assets and sequences.

Drastic's 2110Scope, HDRScope, and 4KScope products provide a ScopeDirect Transmitter for Adobe that allows users to monitor the main output directly from the Adobe creative software such as Premiere Pro without SDI/HDMI or IP Video being used to connect them.  You can take advantage of this feature to analyze the signal through the wide range of signal analysis tools. This article describes how to set up the ScopeDirect Transmitter output though our scopes.

Drastic's 2110Scope, HDRScope, and 4KScope products provide a ScopeDirect OpenIO plugin for Avid that allows users to monitor the main output directly from Avid Media Composer software without SDI/HDMI or IP Video being used to connect them. You can take advantage of this feature to analyze the signal through the wide range of signal analysis tools. This article describes how to set up the ScopeDirect OpenIO plugin output though our scopes.

False Color display mode

Version 7 and greater of videoQC, sdiScope, 4KScope, HDRScope, and 2110Scope all include a false color display mode. False color mode looks at the IRE values in the signal, and assigns a color to each range. Here is a chart describing which color is assigned to which range(s).

This article lists the locations where Drastic software components may be installed, in case the software needs to be removed manually.

Version 6 and greater of Net-X-Code and MediaReactor both support native editing while ingesting for MXF files in Final Cut Pro X.  

Version 6 and greater of Net-X-Code and MediaReactor both support native editing while ingesting for MXF files in Adobe Premiere.  

Most Drastic software is available on Linux x86_64 as well as Windows (32/64) and macOS (32/64).   This article outlines the minimum packages required to run Drastic software. Note: some of the external resources this article had referenced are no longer available, and their links have been removed. For the latest setup information, please contact Drastic.

Our partner TestVid, Inc. offers a full range of video clip sets designed for testing content creation devices and workflows.