Creative workflows have evolved—remote collaboration, tighter timeline pressures, and shifting industry requirements have changed how creative teams work. That’s why cineSync is evolving too.

Introducing cineSync 5, the next generation of media review. cineSync 5 is built on the legacy of industry-leading cineSync, now redesigned from the ground up to meet the evolving demands of creative review and approval. With cineSync 5, we’re streamlining the review process and supporting more collaborative reviews—both local and remote—while still meeting the highest requirements across security and performance that cineSync users have come to expect over the last 17 years.

With cineSync 5, we now also offer for the first time, a free standalone player. cineSync has always been free to download and install, but previously required a license to use. However, now the player for cineSync 5 – cineSync Play – can be used as a free local player, in addition to being able to be used for interactive review sessions with a cineSync 5 account.

cineSync 5 is available to use today as a free extension for all cineSync Pro users.

Start a free trial to try cineSync 5.

Start a free trial

Download cineSync Play

cineSync Play

cineSync 5 uses our newly designed player, cineSync Play, which can be downloaded and installed for free on any OSX, Windows, or Linux machine. While cineSync applications have always been free to install, cineSync Play is the first version to function as a standalone player. Without logging in, users can access local, frame-accurate playback and review of high-res frame sequences, OTIO and OCIO support, and more.

For the full synchronized, interactive review functionality users expect from cineSync, a cineSync license is required. For the initial release, access to cineSync 5 will be available to all users with a cineSync Pro account. Users will be able to sign up for cineSync 5 using their existing account details, and new users can access cineSync 5 via a trial account.

cineSync Play also comes integrated with any ftrack Studio license, so you can browse media, notes, and information in cineSync Play and then add feedback into your production plan.

“We’re excited to share cineSync 5 with our cineSync Pro users so they can get a first taste of the future of cineSync,” says Rory McGregor, Product Manager. “We’ve improved performance, added new features and workflows, updated our sync servers, and redesigned the UI. With these new features, we’re ushering in a new generation for cineSync—one that will make our users’ collaborative workflows more productive than ever before.”

“cineSync 5 is a significant upgrade on an application that’s already the best in class,” says Jake Morrison, VFX Supervisor, Thor Love & Thunder. “The killer news was the totally overhauled comparison tool with single-key access to shots, interactive and customizable wipe-line, and 0-100% cross-fades. Bonus points for being able to drag anywhere in the window to scrub back and forth with just a hotkey. I never knew I needed it, but now I use it all the time! Congrats to the cineSync team for an outstanding update to an already indispensable tool. They’ve clearly listened to their users—every new feature feels like it adds functionality. Grab it!”

The future of media review

Here’s what you can expect from cineSync 5.

• A new infrastructure designed to meet the demands of today’s creative projects.
• Work more intuitively via a modern UI and faster, more responsive review.
• Local desktop review—cineSync 5’s new player, cineSync Play, can run locally without a license.
• Go in-depth on media with OTIO and OCIO v2 support.
• Support for high-resolution original media, including frame/image sequence playback and OpenEXR support.
• Enhanced production tracking integrations with ftrack Studio and ShotGrid.
• Enjoy improved playback performance when working with large files.
• Access tons of new features: view image layers, access a new text annotation tool, support for separate audio tracks, and more.
• Find more ways to compare media—wipe, A/B, top/bottom, side-by-side, overlay.
• Work in your language—localization is now supported, with the first release translated into Chinese.

With cineSync 5, we wanted to build the foundations for an exciting new future for cineSync. As such, cineSync 5 is an entirely new, completely redesigned version of cineSync, featuring a new infrastructure designed from the ground up. Current users of cineSync will notice many changes to the UI and layout, and will discover new features for more streamlined reviews alongside additions like OTIO support and frame sequence playback, but will recognize all the familiar aspects of the cineSync user experience they’ve come to expect over the last 17 years.

As cineSync 5’s infrastructure is all new (new sync servers, new player, new admin dashboard), the software is not backward compatible with previous cineSync releases (cineSync 4.x). For this reason, we will support both versions of cineSync in parallel for the next six months, at which point full support will move over to the new cineSync 5 infrastructure.

cineSync 5  is available today as a free extension for all cineSync Pro users.

You can learn more about this parallel rollout via the FAQs here