PonZ Contents Viewer

Steps

1. On first launch, click the folder button at the top-left to open the folder selection dialog.

2. Select a folder containing video files (external HDD / SSD / NAS are supported).

3. Cinema video files in the folder are automatically scanned, and thumbnails with metadata are displayed.

4. Additional folders can be added from "Add Folder" in the left panel.

Basic Operations

Click — Select a file. Shooting metadata is displayed in the right panel.

Cmd (Mac) / Ctrl (Win) + Click — Toggle selection of individual files.

Shift + Click — Range select between the last clicked file and the current one.

Cmd / Ctrl + A — Select all files after filters are applied.

Method 1: Keyboard

Cmd / Ctrl + = to enlarge, Cmd / Ctrl + - to shrink

Method 2: Mouse Wheel

Hold Cmd / Ctrl and scroll the mouse wheel to continuously resize thumbnails.

Method 1: Context Menu

Right-click a file and select a ★1-5 rating. Click the same ★ again to clear.

Method 2: Keyboard

With a file selected, press 1-5 to set a rating. Press 0 to clear.

Setting a rating with multiple files selected applies it to all selected files at once.

Using Filters

Use the filter bar at the top of the screen to combine the following criteria:

• Codec — NRAW / R3D / R3D NE / CRM / MP4 / MOV

• Resolution — 8K / 6K / 4K / FHD, etc.

• Camera — Filter by scanned camera names

• Lens — Filter by scanned lens names

• Profile — Filter by color profile (Picture Control / Film Simulation / Creative Style, etc.)

• Rating — Filter by ★ count

• Date — Specify a date range

Click each filter button to toggle ON / OFF. Multiple AND conditions are supported.

Folder Panel (Left)

Click the panel button at the left end of the toolbar, or press Cmd / Ctrl + F.

Info Panel (Right)

Click the panel button at the right end of the toolbar, or press Cmd / Ctrl + P.

Menu Items

• Open in Finder / Open in Explorer — Opens the file location

• Open in [App Name] — Open a still file in a registered external app (details. Shown for single still selection only)

• Send to DaVinci Resolve — Send directly to DaVinci (see below. Video only)macOS

• DaVinci Extract — Extract stills from video (see below. Video only)macOS

• Copy Metadata — Copy camera, lens, ISO, and other metadata to clipboard

• LUT — Apply LUT to individual file (see below)

• ★ Rating — Set ★1-5. Click the current ★ to clear

• Rescan — Re-fetch metadata and thumbnail for selected file(s)

• Capture One — Automatically recognized as a referenced folder

• NX Studio — Nikon's reference-based editing software

• DxO PureRAW — Specialized in RAW noise reduction and lens correction

• Adobe Photoshop — Opens RAW files via Camera Raw

• Any app that can open image files can be registered

Steps

1. Open Settings (⚙)

2. In the "Open With" section, click "Select"

3. Choose an application (select a .app from /Applications)

4. The display name is auto-filled but can be freely edited

Up to 3 apps can be registered. Remove with the ✕ button.

Steps

1. Right-click a still file

2. Click "Open in [App Name]"

3. The selected app opens the file

This works exactly like macOS "Open With" — the same as right-clicking a file in Finder and choosing "Open With." No files are copied or moved. The original file is passed directly to the specified app.

Steps

Click the AI button in the top-right of the toolbar to open the AI Tag Search modal. Tags detected from your scanned footage are displayed as a list with their counts.

Basic Operations

• Click a tag — Select or deselect a tag. Multiple tags can be selected simultaneously.

• AND / OR toggle — Switch using the button next to the search bar. OR matches "any of the selected tags," AND matches "all selected tags."

• Tag search — Type a keyword in the search box to filter tags by name (Japanese and English).

• Clear all — Deselect all selected tags.

Media Mode Integration

Tag counts and search results automatically reflect the current ALL / MOVIE / STILL mode in the toolbar. For example, in MOVIE mode, only tags and counts from video files are shown.

Steps

When tags are selected, the matching file count appears on the button at the bottom. Click "Show N clips" to apply results to the grid. An "AI: N clips" badge appears in the filter bar.

Click the x on the AI badge in the filter bar to remove the AI tag search filter.

Automatic Translation

English tags from Vision analysis are automatically translated to Japanese by Apple Intelligence. Tags are displayed in "Japanese / English" format, and the search box accepts both languages.

Initial Analysis

When scanning for the first time or adding new folders, Apple Intelligence image analysis runs in the background. This may take several minutes to tens of minutes depending on the number of files. Once complete, results are cached in the local database and subsequent searches are instant.

Newly added files are automatically analyzed in the background after scanning.

Requirements

Requires macOS Tahoe (26)+ with Apple Silicon. The AI button is not displayed on systems that don't meet these requirements.

Resetting Analysis

Use "Reset Apple Intelligence Analysis" in the settings menu to clear analysis results and re-analyze all files. Use this if tag accuracy seems off.

Tree / Flat Toggle

Click the Tree / Flat button next to the Folders header to switch between views. Your selected view mode persists across app restarts.

Expand / Collapse

Click the +/- button on each folder to expand or collapse subdirectories. File counts are displayed for each folder.

Drag to Resize

Drag the right edge of the folder panel to resize it between 160px and 500px. Horizontal scrolling is available for long folder names in deep hierarchies.

Steps

1. Right-click a folder.

2. Select "Change Label."

3. Enter a custom label and confirm.

Labels are displayed in amber color next to the folder name, making it easy to identify projects and shoot contents.

Steps

Right-click the folder > "Remove Label" to revert.

Steps

1. Double-click a still image thumbnail in the file grid, or select a thumbnail and press Space.

2. A fullscreen lightbox opens displaying the HD image.

3. For RAW files, the embedded preview JPEG within the file is used.

Controls

• Mouse Wheel — Zoom in / out. Zooms centered on the cursor position.

• Drag — Pan (move) the image while zoomed in.

• % Indicator Click — Click the percentage display at the bottom-left to toggle 100% (actual pixels) view. Click again to return to fit view.

• Esc — While zoomed, resets to fit view. When not zoomed, closes the preview.

Controls

• ← / → — Navigate to previous / next file. Automatically switches to video player when reaching a movie file.

• Space / Esc — Close the preview (Esc resets zoom first when zoomed in).

• 0 - 5 — Set rating for the currently displayed file (0 to clear).

The thumbnail grid scrolls automatically to follow your selection.

Displayed Information

A metadata panel is shown to the right of the image:

• File name / Resolution / File size

• Camera name / Lens name

• ISO / Shutter speed / Aperture / Focal length

• Profile (Nikon Picture Control / Fuji Film Simulation / Sony Creative Style / Canon Picture Style / Panasonic Photo Style / Ricoh Image Tone)

• Date and time of capture

Overview

For Nikon Z series RAW files (NEF), the AF point (autofocus position) used during shooting can be displayed as a red frame on thumbnails and in the still preview.

Thumbnail Display

Toggle ON / OFF via the AF Point item in the right panel (info panel). When ON, AF points are shown as red frames on STILL mode thumbnails. This setting persists across app restarts.

Still Preview Display

The EXIF sidebar in the still preview (lightbox opened by double-click) also has an AF Point ON / OFF button. When ON, the AF point is displayed on the preview image and follows zoom and pan operations.

Displayed Information

• AF point position (red frame)

• AF area mode name (Single Point / Wide Area, etc.)

• AF point coordinates (% position within the image)

ALL / MOVIE / STILL

Use the ALL / MOVIE / STILL buttons in the toolbar to switch the type of media displayed.

• ALL (default) — Show all files

• MOVIE — Show video files only

• STILL — Show still images only

The status bar shows the still image count in addition to the video count.

Steps

1. Click the LUT button (three-circle icon) in the toolbar to open the dropdown.

2. Click "LUT Folder Settings" at the bottom to open the settings screen.

3. Click "+ Add Folder..." and select a folder containing LUT files (.cube / .3dl).

4. If DaVinci Resolve is installed, DaVinci's default LUT folder is shown as a preset. Add it with one click.

Steps

1. Click the toolbar LUT button to see LUTs organized by folder.

2. Click a folder → click the desired LUT.

3. The LUT is applied to all Log footage files, changing the thumbnail appearance.

Removing the LUT

Left-click the LUT button while a LUT is applied to remove it.

To switch to a different LUT, right-click the button and select another.

Steps

1. Right-click a file and open the "LUT" menu.

2. Select a folder → click the desired LUT.

3. The LUT is applied only to that file. Per-file LUT takes priority over the global LUT.

Removing Per-File LUT

Right-click menu > LUT > select "LUT OFF."

Proxy MP4 Scrubbing

If an MP4 file with the same name exists in the same folder as an NRAW / R3D / CRM file (e.g., Z6M_8190.nev → Z6M_8190.mp4), it is automatically recognized as a proxy and enables scrub playback in the file grid.

Proxy MP4 files are hidden from the file list; only the RAW file is shown.

Steps

1. Click the scrub button (filmstrip icon) in the toolbar.

2. A confirmation dialog shows the number of target files. Click "OK."

3. Frame extraction runs in the background. A spinning animation on the button indicates progress.

4. Once complete, hover over target files to use scrub playback.

Steps

1. Double-click a thumbnail in the file grid.

2. The native video player opens in a separate window.

3. If a global or per-file LUT is set, it is automatically applied during playback.

Button List

• Original — Toggle LUT ON/OFF. OFF shows the original footage; ON re-applies the LUT.

• LUT Select — Click to open a hierarchical LUT folder menu. Selecting a LUT applies it instantly.

• Compare (Split) — Split the screen left/right showing LUT-applied on the left and original on the right. Useful for color comparison.

• Apply to File — Save the current LUT as the file's per-file LUT. Immediately reflected in the PonZCV main grid.

• Frame Forward / Back — Move forward/back one frame at a time. Useful for precise frame selection.

• Still Capture — Extract the current frame as JPEG and open the still editor (see below).

• Close — Close the player.

Mouse Controls

Click the video area to toggle play / pause.

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Space — Play / Pause

• ← — Seek back 5 seconds

• → — Seek forward 5 seconds

• Home — Return to beginning (Windows)

Steps

1. Navigate to the desired frame in the video player (use frame-by-frame for precision).

2. Click the "Still Capture" button in the toolbar.

3. The frame is extracted as JPEG and the still editor opens.

4. Adjust color in the still editor, then click "Save" to choose the save location.

Adjustable Parameters

Adjust 8 parameters with real-time preview on the extracted image:

Actions

• Save — Choose save folder and filename to save as JPEG

• Reset — Reset all parameters to default values

• Recall — Recall the parameters from the last save (useful for consecutive captures)

Requirements

• macOS (not available on Windows)

• DaVinci Resolve installed and running

Supported Formats

Full-length Batch Extraction

Automatically extract frames at specified intervals (0.5s to 10s) throughout the entire video.

1. Right-click a file > select "Frame Extraction"

2. Select "Auto" mode

3. Configure interval, output format, and save location

4. Click "Extract"

Range-based Selection

Specify extraction ranges while watching the proxy video.

1. Select "Manual" mode

2. Set in/out points using the start/end buttons while previewing the proxy video

3. Add multiple ranges ("+ Add Range")

4. Configure interval, output format, save location, and click "Extract"

2-Step Workflow

Step 1: With an empty project ready in DaVinci Resolve, click "Send Clips to DaVinci." Resolution and FPS are auto-configured and a timeline is created. LUT settings are automatically applied if present.

Step 2: After grading in DaVinci, choose the export method:

• Current Frame — Export the single frame currently shown in the DaVinci viewer

• Range Extraction — Batch export at specified intervals

Auto-embedded Information

Extracted images are automatically embedded with the following EXIF metadata from the source video:

• Camera manufacturer / Camera model

• Lens name

• ISO sensitivity

• Aperture value

• Capture date/time (accurate to frame position)

• Software tag (PonZ Contents Viewer)

Requirements

• macOS (not available on Windows)

• DaVinci Resolve installed

• DaVinci system LUT folder registered in LUT Folder Settings

Steps

1. Launch DaVinci Resolve and open a project.

2. Select files in PonZCV (multiple selection supported).

3. Right-click > "Send to DaVinci Resolve."

4. A confirmation dialog appears. Click "OK" to start the transfer.

5. Files are imported to the Media Pool and a "PonZCV Import" timeline is auto-created.

Timeline Order

When multiple files are selected, they are placed on the timeline in chronological order by capture date. Files from different cameras are interleaved in time order.

Auto LUT Application

For files with per-file or global LUT settings where the LUT exists in DaVinci's system folder, the LUT is automatically applied to node 1 of each clip in DaVinci.

Steps

1. Select the files you want to transfer (multiple selection supported).

2. Drag a thumbnail and drop it onto the target application window.

Steps

1. Click the cloud button in the toolbar.

2. A confirmation dialog appears. Click "OK" to enable iCloud sync.

3. Once enabled, auto-sync runs at launch and every 30 seconds in the background.

Disabling Sync

Click the cloud button again to show a confirmation dialog and disable sync.

Included Data

• Ratings — ★ changes are immediately reflected to the cloud. Bidirectional sync between PC and mobile.

• File Info — Metadata and thumbnails sync, enabling offline browsing on the mobile app.

• Per-file LUT Settings — LUT assignments per file sync bidirectionally between PC and mobile via iCloud Drive. Timestamp-based conflict resolution ensures the latest change always wins.

How It Works

• Thumbnails, metadata, and scrub frames are all cached in the local DB.

• When a drive is disconnected, an "Offline" badge appears on affected files.

• Offline files still support thumbnail display, metadata browsing, and scrub playback.

• When the drive is reconnected, files automatically return to online status and a differential scan is performed.

After the initial scan, metadata and thumbnails are generated in the background. For large libraries (tens of thousands of files), this may take some time. "Building cache..." is shown in the bottom-right of the status bar while background processing is active.

Background processing does not interfere with your workflow. It automatically pauses during user interaction (clicks, scrolling, keyboard input) and resumes when you stop interacting.

If specific files are not showing, use the "Missing" button in the filter bar to find files with missing data, then click "Retry" to re-fetch them.

"Acquired" counts files where both metadata and thumbnails are complete. Files with metadata but missing thumbnails are counted as "not acquired." The count increases as thumbnail generation progresses.

Drive connections are detected automatically, but macOS may take a few seconds to mount the volume. If the folder doesn't come back online, click the refresh button on the folder.

RAW files are converted using macOS sips. Any RAW format supported by macOS should display correctly. If your camera's RAW files don't work, please share a sample file and we'll investigate.

AI Tag Search requires macOS Tahoe (26)+ with Apple Silicon (M1+). The AI button is hidden on systems that don't meet these requirements. Also ensure Apple Intelligence initial setup is complete in System Settings.

LUT preview only applies to Log footage (N-Log, RED Log3G10, etc.). Files shot in SDR / HLG / Rec.709 standard gamma are not affected. Check the "Color Transfer" in metadata to confirm the file uses a Log gamma.

Please check:

• DaVinci Resolve is running

• DaVinci's system LUT folder is registered in LUT folder settings (the menu won't appear without it)

• You're on macOS (DaVinci integration is not available on Windows)

Please check:

• You're signed in with an Apple ID on macOS

• System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud Drive is enabled

• iCloud sync is enabled via the cloud button in the toolbar

Once enabled, sync runs automatically at startup and every 30 seconds in the background.

Use "Clear All Cache" in settings to remove all thumbnails, metadata, scrub frames, and AI analysis data. Folder registrations and ratings are preserved.

For a complete reset, delete the following folder and restart the app:

~/Library/Application Support/ponz-cinema-viewer/

Yes. Libraries with over 100,000 files are supported. Initial metadata and thumbnail generation takes time, but subsequent launches are fast once cached.

Background cache generation is designed not to interfere with user interaction. It automatically pauses during active use and resumes when idle. Use folder selection and media mode filters to narrow the display for even better responsiveness.