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FAQ & Troubleshooting

Quick answers to the things people ask most. Not here? Ask on Discord or use Help → Report Issues... in the app. When you do, please include your support info. See Getting help.

Getting started

Which platforms does it run on?

macOS, Windows and Linux. CutDetectorPro is a standalone app, so there's nothing to install. See Install & Activate.

macOS says the app bundle is corrupt

That's macOS being cautious about an app that isn't notarised yet. There's a short video on the Install & Activate page that shows how to get past it.

A clip won't open

CutDetectorPro reads video through PySceneDetect and OpenCV, so it opens what those can decode. Transcode the clip to an h264 .mp4 and try again. See Import & Sessions.

License

What can I do without a license?

Everything except exporting. In demo mode you can import, detect, review and fix cuts, extract text and play back shots. The export features and Hiero's Apply button need an activated license.

I'm moving to a new computer

Choose Help → Deactivate License... on the old machine, then activate on the new one. See Install & Activate.

My license expired

When a license expires, all of its activations become invalid and a new purchase is required. Until then CutDetectorPro runs in demo mode: exporting is switched off but everything else keeps working. See the pricing page for how renewals and expiry work. Not sure why yours expired? Check the subscription in the customer portal or ask on Discord .

Do I need to be online?

Only now and then. CutDetectorPro re-checks your license about once a week, and keeps working for up to 14 days if you're offline at that point.

Cut detection

I get too many cuts
I get too few cuts
Do I have to analyse a clip every time?

No. The analysis is remembered per clip, and saved inside your .cdui session too. See Re-use a previous analysis.

The clip is long. Can I analyse just a part?

Yes, with a sub-range.

Text extraction

Text extraction doesn't work

Text extraction needs Tesseract, which comes with the app on most systems. Open Help → About CutDetectorPro → Environment to see whether CutDetectorPro found one and where it's from. If it can't find one, clicking a column's icon shows a Tesseract not found message. If it didn't (on Intel Macs, older macOS versions and ARM Windows or Linux, for example), install Tesseract yourself, or point Preferences to the executable.

The text has mistakes
  • Draw the rectangle tighter around the text.
  • Fix repeating mistakes (an "S" read as "$", say) with Search & Replace.
  • Text extraction reads English. Text in other languages will come out with mistakes.

Exporting

The export options are greyed out

You need an activated license. Sub-clip export also needs ffmpeg, which comes with the app on most systems. Help → About CutDetectorPro → Environment shows whether one was found.

Does sorting the table change the export order?

No. You can sort the Shots Table freely, but exports and saved sessions always use the shots in time order.

How do I export only some of the shots?

Tick the Flag checkbox on those shots, then use the Export Manager with Flagged Only.

Speed

Scrubbing is slow

Fill the frame cache: hit the ghost and let Pacman finish.

Getting help

What should I send when I report a problem?

Use Help → Report Issues... and tick Include log files and system info. The report then carries your recent session logs and a system_info.txt: your app, Python, Qt and system versions, your license status, which ffmpeg and Tesseract are in use (and how they were found), the relevant environment variables and where the log and settings live.

Prefer to ask on Discord ? Open Help → About CutDetectorPro, click Copy Support Info and paste it into your message. It's the same text.

Which open-source software does CutDetectorPro use?

The Credits tab of Help → About CutDetectorPro lists every third-party project with its developers, license and version. The license texts, including those of the bundled ffmpeg and Tesseract, also ship with the app in a licenses folder, and the About dialog links to it.