Hot Folder
Availability: 1.0.5+
Permute 1.0.5 allows you to select a fixed destination and has AppleScript support, which in combination make it very easy to create a 'hot folder'.
What's a hot folder?
Hot folder is a folder, which is watched and whenever a file is added there, it is processed.
How to create it?
The magic behind it is in OS X and is called 'Folder Actions'. The following tutorial is for 10.6, it works on 10.5 as well, however, some of the menu titles are different, or in some submenu.
1) Create a folder for the input files and a folder for the
output files.
2) In Permute, go to Preferences... (in the Permute menu) and in
the pop up menu "Always save converted items to" select 'Choose
folder...' and select the created folder for output files created
in step 1). Do not select the ouput folder the same folder
as is for the input, as it can result in an never-ending conversion
loop (converted items getting added again)!
3) Open AppleScript Editor (in /Applications/Utilities/) and create
a new script with the following text (experienced users can edit it
for additional functionality):
on adding folder items to thisFolder after receiving
addedItems
repeat with anItem in addedItems
tell application "Permute" to open anItem
end repeat
tell application "Permute" to start queue
end adding folder items to
And save this script to ~/Library/Scripts/Folder Action
Scripts/ - where ~ is your home directory. You may need to
create the Folder Action Scripts directory.
Note that the start queue command only starts the
queue - doesn't wait for the file to be done converting.
4) In Finder, right-click (or Ctrl-click) on the folder and choose
Folder Actions Setup..., which will bring up a list of
scripts and you choose the one, you've just saved.
5) That's it! Drag'n'drop a video file to the folder to see if it's
working.