Standalone macOS studio
A native studio for fast looks and batch passes.
Lost Media Emulator for Mac is a standalone app for Apple Silicon. Load a clip or a folder, pick from 128 looks, then tune 116 controls against a live preview. A/B the result, batch a whole folder in one pass, and export ProRes or H.264. No timeline, no Adobe.
One-time · 14-day refund · no subscription
From import to master, in six moves
01
Pick a starting look
Open the library and the 128 looks sit grouped by source: a full film program from Kinetoscope 1894 and tinted nitrate through Technicolor, WWII combat stock and New Hollywood to modern Vision3, each with its sympathetic projector or early TV; then CRT and PVM monitors, VHS and Hi8 tape, broadcast, surveillance, early web. Search by name, or hit Surprise. Each one is a full chain you can push further, not a flat filter.
- 128 looks — 37 film eras, 1894 to modern, plus tape, CRT, codec and glitch
- One dial for preset intensity, 0 to 100%
- Favourites and recents build up as you work
02
Work at the size you deliver
New in 1.2.0: set an Import size of 1080, 720 or 480 and big sources downsample once, at ingest — now for video as well as stills. A 4K clip headed for a 480p VHS look gets edited, previewed and exported at 480p end to end — faster passes, and what you edit is what exports. Never upscales a smaller source.
- Native, 1080p, 720p or 480p at import
- Video and stills preview and export at the working size
- Never upscales a smaller source
03
Tune across 116 controls
Every look opens into the effect stack: nine signal families across seventeen stages, from CRT optics and mask patterns to tape artifacts, film grain and signal noise. Drag scanline strength, bloom, chromatic aberration, phosphor persistence. Switch a stage off to see what it was doing.
- 116 controls across nine signal families
- Live preview updates as you drag
- Toggle any stage to isolate its effect
04
Compare against the source
Split the preview down the middle and drag the handle. The left half stays on your untouched clip, the right shows the graded frame, so you judge the look against the original instead of from memory.
- Side‑by‑side A/B in the app
- Drag the split anywhere across the frame
05
Run a whole folder in one pass
Drop up to 50 images on the batch queue and the current look applies to all of them at once. The set comes back as a ZIP — a quick way to run a shoot's stills, or a whole photo archive, to one consistent look.
- Queue up to 50 images
- One look across the batch, exported as a ZIP
06
Master to ProRes or H.264
Export to ProRes 422 or 4444, H.264 or HEVC, at source resolution or a fixed 2160, 1080 or 720. A validator re-renders on the CPU to confirm the file matches the preview, and you can bake the grade to a .cube LUT for DaVinci or Premiere.
- ProRes, H.264 and HEVC, no timeline needed
- CPU validator checks the file against the preview
- Export the grade as a 3D LUT (.cube)
What you get
- Native macOS app for Apple Silicon
- Live preview, A/B compare and a 128‑look browser
- Batch-process a folder of clips in one pass
- Capture-format and display chains, 116 controls
- Export ProRes or H.264, no timeline required
- Requirements
- macOS 13 Ventura or later, Apple Silicon
Ready when you are. $49.
One‑time purchase, perpetual license, free updates within the version.