Product Reviews

When Premiere returned to the Mac, it introduced a software-based monitoring tool, with various scopes and meters to ensure the best results from your camera. Sadly, OnLocation isn't available separately, so it'll cost about £700 to add it to your workflow. Furthermore, it's a Windows application and need Boot Camp to run. ScopeBox fills the gap without having to leave Mac OS X, giving Final Cut users access to live vectorscope, RGB and YUV parades, luma and RGB histograms, and a waveform preview.

It omits some of OnLocation's more specialist features, such as stop-frame and motion-activated recording, but the core ones, such as HDV support, monitoring multiple sources and direct-to-disk recording, are present. As the developer recommends, it's worth using the trial to see

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what your laptop can cope with, and though it works on a PowerBook G4, getting the most out of ScopeBox requires a G5 or Intel Mac.

The main window's subdued grey tones keep you focused on important information, and switching to full-screen mode removes further distractions from the Desktop. Video sources are added across the top of the window, while the various monitoring palettes appear in the larger space beneath.

To the right is a context-sensitive area, where you can set camera IRE levels, add title-safe and rule-of-thirds outlines to check positioning, and switch on luma and chroma zebra stripes to check for overexposure and over-saturation.

Palette layouts can be saved and switched between using new menu items, rather than a dialog box, and setting keyboard shortcuts to them means each layout is just a key press away.

ScopeBox will prove its worth at live events, where you have no influence over lighting conditions, though it's also useful in controlled or studio conditions to compare and calibrate multiple sources.

At just over £200, the SD version is affordable, though having to pay almost double to add HD support is a little discouraging. If you've been looking enviously at OnLocation then bear in mind that ScopeBox is cheaper and less wasteful to add to a Final Cut workflow, and it's a native Mac application to boot.