GNARBOX updates www.gnarbox.com

We have fully redesigned the Dropbox upload experience to provide users with more robust tools, as well as increased stability. This update enables new features like the ability to select an upload destination, error handling and reporting, task progress in the Task Manager, and an upload report for each task indicating success/failure. This report will include increased error reporting transparency and the ability to retry any uploads that may have failed.

Users will no longer need to use the Dropbox folder on their GNARBOX as their method of upload, but instead can select their destination from existing folders in their Dropbox, and even create new folders. Ultimately this improvement will provide users with more tools to manage their cloud uploads, and bring more transparency to the upload experience.

Check out our updated How to Connect and Upload to Dropbox article.

GNARBOX is now capable of mounting hard drives formatted in APFS.

Users will now be able to toggle on and off the generation of MHL Logs within their backup settings. When this setting is enabled, GNARBOX will generate a .mhl file which is readable in any text editor.

MHL logs are an industry standard tool for production asset management, and can be used in concert with a number of asset management tools. You can learn more about MHLs here.

Check out our updated How to Configure Your Backup Settings article to learn how to enable MHL logs.

We’re excited to have integrated with Frame.io’s cloud-based collaborative editing system, bringing production teams closer to the point of data acquisition by allowing original content or proxy uploading from anywhere with an internet connection.

With the new Frame.io integration, production teams can seamlessly deliver media from the field to Frame.io using the Safekeep App. This unlocks remote collaboration and allows teams to begin editing sooner by giving off-site editors and producers access, no matter where they are. The GNARBOX team has worked directly with Frame.io to tailor the user experience to meet the needs of Frame.io installed base, ensuring the most streamlined upload experience. There have also been extensive speed and reliability tests run, ensuring the integration is optimized to run as fast as possible and with bullet-proof reliability in a variety of network conditions.

The GNARBOX + Frame.io integration enables a variety of workflows, uniquely suited to the needs of several groups, including broadcast/ENG, small production teams and freelance filmmakers.

For Broadcast & Electronic News-Gathering (ENG): GNARBOX provides a standardized delivery system for original or in-camera recorded proxy content to be sent to Frame.io. This workflow can be leveraged in high bandwidth environments using high speed Ethernet to upload original camera footage. In environments where 4G cellular service is available, teams can easily upload in-camera proxies to the cloud. In ultra-low bandwidth environments where cellular service is all that is available, proxies can be generated on the GNARBOX and uploaded to Frame.io to give editors a head start. Also featured in this release, increased file transfer speeds allow teams to offload a 480GB card to multiple hard drives in under 20 minutes, with options to use xxHash checksums and MHL logs for further asset management.

For Small Production Teams:
When using Frame.io to collaborate with a dispersed team, GNARBOX accelerates the ability to put original or proxy project files into the Frame.io cloud for editors, producers and clients to review and comment. This results in teams being able to receive feedback while still in the field, giving the ability to reshoot any sequences or additional footage that might be needed. Production teams can also take advantage of further time savings provided by increased file transfer speeds, for example offloading a 480GB card to multiple hard drives in under 20 minutes with options to use xxHash checksums and MHL logs for their team’s asset management workflow.

For Freelancers: For freelancers who do their own editing, GNARBOX and LumaFusion can be used to create rough cuts of a day, get a step ahead of the editing process and deliver to clients via Frame.io for review. Filmmakers can quickly offload their camera cards to GNARBOX for peace of mind, transcode previews of their footage and then begin working on a rough cut. In LumaFusion, they can assemble a multi-track timeline, apply LUTs and sync audio before delivering a rough cut directly to Frame.io. Clients and producers can then add comments and feedback, all while filmmakers are still in the field.

Check out our How to Connect and Upload to Frame.io article for more information.

New Features:

• Frame.io Integration
• Cloud Manager
• Scaling Pinch Zoom
• MHL Logs
• xxHash64 Checksum
• Support for APFS formatted drives

Improvements:

• USB-C File Transfer Performance
• Dropbox Upload Experience
• Software Reinstall for System Triage

Bug Fixes

• File recorded in Filmic imports from GBX to LumaFusion with incorrect frame rate
• Unable to export large video timeline (5+ mins) from LumaFusion to GNARBOX.
• Unable to use the internet when connected to the local WiFi network in USB-Ethernet mode.
• When viewing file previews, specific file information is being cut-off from view inside of the app.

This software release requires Application (Safekeep & Selects) updates, followed by Software, Firmware and Operating System updates.

How to Update to the New Software

Safekeep & Selects Apps for iOS and Android: 2.6.0.1199 (New!)

Software: 2.6.0.1203 (New!)

Firmware: 2.6.0 (New!)

OS: 2.6.0.1174 (New!)

Significant strides in our copy performance were made by improving our software, allowing us to take advantage of more performance on the hardware side. These speed increases are most recognizable when using USB-C to copy to or from GNARBOX, and when copying from USB-C devices like hard drives or card readers to USB-C external hard drives.

It is worth noting that when copying from USB-C to a USB-C external drive, the faster your drive, the less you will experience a bottle neck. The SanDisk Extreme Pro SSD for example, is a drive that will be able to utilize the full transfer speeds we’ve achieved as it has a write speed above our speed limits, whereas some other drives will be the limiting factor in achieving these new speeds.

Check out our Optimizing Transfer Speeds article to get the most out of these improvements.

This feature enables scaling pinch zoom in both the Safekeep and Selects apps. This pinch zoom utilizes an existing JPEG preview that is rendered on the device by the Photo Mechanic software we utilize for RAW preview, and then is scaled up, similar to what you can achieve in apps like Instagram, Dropbox and others.

This has been one of our most highly requested features since GNARBOX 2.0 launched, and it will allow photographers to zoom in on their images in the way they are familiar with in other image applications, and can allow for an initial focus check on a first culling pass while in the field.

With release 2.6.0, we have completely redesigned the cloud upload experience for GNARBOX. The new Cloud Manager provides a robust chassis to house the Frame.io integration, the improved Dropbox upload experience, and provides the ability to easily scale to accommodate any future additional cloud services.

The Cloud Manager also provides an improved user experience for uploading files to the cloud, giving users more control.

xxHash64 provides users with an alternative checksum algorithm with which they can verify their transfers. With this update, users will be able to choose whether they’d prefer to use MD5 checksum, which has historically been the industry standard verification algorithm, or our new xxHash64 verification.

xxHash64 is a significantly faster algorithm when performing copies and multiple copies, and will allow users to more quickly achieve verification of their copies than if they were running MD5. We recommend using xxHash unless your work explicitly requires use of MD5, as it will be much faster.

Check out our updated How to Configure Your Backup Settings article to learn how to enable xxHash64.

Our team now has the ability to help users reinstall the software on their GNARBOX and perform a factory reset, allowing us to remotely triage issues, and even get users up to date with the latest software if they are unable to update themselves.

If you need to perform a software reinstall, please reach out to support@gnarbox.com and our support team will be able to provide you with instructions on this process.