Removing GoPro Cineform Studio's Menubar CodecStatus

UPDATE:

In the latest version of GoPro Studio (v2.5.7 as of this updated post) on OS X 10.11.3, the method easier, yet a bit hidden.

1. Launch GoPro Studio
2. Hit COMMAND + COMMA to open it's Prefs (or go to the menu bar and select GoPro Studio . Preferences...)
3. Uncheck "AUTOMATICALLY IMPORT FROM GOPRO CAMERAS"
4. The annoying menubar icon should be gone.

Sneaky, eh?

The old post below...

If you have a GoPro camera you've likely installed GoPro Cineform Studio. However it also installed a menubar item that deals with codecs and whatnot. If you've never asked for it to be there and don't use it it can be hard to get rid of it as it shows up every time you boot up. I'm not even sure what it's officially called but at the bottom of the menu it reads Check Codecs or something.

If you look at Activity Monitor you'll notice a process running called "StereoModeStatus" which is located in /Applications/GoPro/Tools/StereoModeStatus.app (technically it's inside the package here /Contents/MacOS/StereoModeStatus).

Now I don't like things being installed without my asking and I really dislike not having a way to uninstall specific things or at least permanently turning them off. You can select to quit the menubar item but it'll come back upon a reboot.

Also note that it's standard operating procedure to be able to hold down Command and then drag a menubar item around and OUT of the menubar. This thing doesn't let you Command + Drag it out of the menubar. Evil.

Here's what I did to get rid of the CodecCheck menubar thing.

Before this however, you can head to System Settings and look for "Cineform" pane and under the Process tab at the bottom you'll see "Show Stereo Status Menu". Now while this will hide the menu, it doesn't seem to always prevent the process from running. If you're like me and want the process to never run, continue reading:

1. Launch Activity Monitor (Hit Command + Shift + U to open up your utility folder and then hit A to highlight it then Command + O to launch it).

2. Look for "StereoModeStatus". Highlight it.

3. At the top of Activity Monitor's window hit Quit Process. Notice the menubar item vanishes. Yay!

4. Close Activity Monitor.

5. Navigate to your Application folder. (Hit Command + A to open it) Drill down to GoPro folder then inside there open up the Tools folder.

6. Right click on StereoModeStatus and select "Compress "StereoModeStatus".

7. After a second you'll see a new file called "StereoModeStatus.zip". This is your backup copy in case you ever need this thing again. Once you've confirmed this .zip file is there right click on "StereoModeStatus" (the original, not the .zip) and select Move To Trash.

It may ask you for your admin password to put it in the trash; further evidence of it's evil nature.

8. Empty your trash (Shift + Option + Command + Delete) and you're done.

Elasty HD

Elasty HD is a bit of software that's hard to categorize. It does common tasks like flip and retime but it has some advanced tracking and stabilization effects that don't look too bad in their sample gallery, although I wish the clips were longer. It feels a bit like a filter set that's run as a separate application.

It's odd that they're charging $39.95 for a beta version with the final version's price set at $59.95. For quick effects or as an additional option to things like Motion and After Effects it could be handy but I'm not sure.

The GUI reminds me of Pixelmator a bit which is a good thing. I'm keeping my eye on Elasty HD but I'm not ready to hand over any money just yet.

You can check out some screencasts of the app in use here.

Aimersoft

There is a company called Aimersoft which apparently has the same software for sale under different names. Total Media Converter and Aimersoft Video Converter are two examples which obviously have the same interface. People have examined the package installers and found the two to be essentially identical, right down to the same Read Me file.

Someone's delved into it a bit deeper and it seems like this company (which goes by a list of different names) has a group of people posting blog posts, comments and reviews (even on bogus review sites they create) to promote their software.

There's info about this mess here.

FCP Manager is $99, Preference Manager, FCP Rescue are free

There's a fourth FCP pref manager app on the loose. This one is called "FCP Manager" from Reinphase Inc and it's $99. What's it do?

Save Final Cut Pro® preference & environmental settings as 'presets'
Launch new Final Cut Pro® projects using previously saved presets specific to users, formats, etc.
Efficiently manage preset files
Group multiple presets into folders
Add title, comments and user information to presets
Protect presets from accidental overwrites
Import/Export presets
Delete and restore Final Cut Pro® preference files
Intuitive and simple user interface

Compared against FCPResuce or Preference Manager which are free, this seems pretty steep to me. Even FCP Attic is only $15.

As "craigkabis" said at macupdate.com "Wow a hundred bucks! Can I have some of the crack you're smoking. $20 would be high for what this does."

Final Cut Server Ships

After much hullaballoo Apple has finally shipped Final Cut Server. Press Release here.

$999 (US) for one server and 10 concurrent client licenses and $1,999 (US) for one server and unlimited client licenses. The requirements can be found here.