Frequently asked questions

Hi-Ho is an AI story mining app for documentary editors. Drop interview footage in, and it finds the narrative — emotional turning points, thesis statements, cold opens — then exports a structured timeline to your NLE.

WAV, MP3, AAC, M4A, AIFF, and most common audio formats. For video files, Hi-Ho extracts the audio automatically. We recommend WAV for best results.

Download the DMG from our homepage, drag Hi-Ho to your Applications folder, and double-click to open. On first launch, right-click → Open if macOS asks for permission.

macOS 13 (Ventura) or later. Hi-Ho is a native Apple Silicon app — no Windows or web version currently.

Your media files never leave your computer. Audio is transcribed locally using Whisper. Only the transcript text is sent to the AI for story analysis — never your actual footage.

It means the AI reads your full transcript and identifies story structure: emotional beats, character arcs, thesis statements, turning points, and cold open candidates. It’s not just transcription — it’s narrative analysis.

Fast uses Claude Haiku — quick, good analysis, 1× credit burn. Pro uses Claude Sonnet — deeper narrative intelligence, emotional beat detection, thesis identification. 2× credit burn. Most editors prefer Pro for anything over 30 minutes.

Transcription runs at roughly 10× realtime (a 60-minute interview takes ~6 minutes). Story analysis adds another 1–2 minutes. Total: about 8 minutes for an hour of audio.

Full Mine: complete analysis with story structure, characters, and themes. Story Mine: focused on narrative arc and key moments. Structure: identifies the natural story sections. Audit Mine: reviews an existing edit for pacing and story gaps.

Yes. Whisper supports 90+ languages. The transcript will be in the original language, and the AI analysis works across most major languages. Translations are also available.

Yes. The Story Chat feature lets you ask questions about your transcript in natural language. “What’s the strongest emotional moment?” “Suggest a cold open.” Responses include clickable timecodes.

DaVinci Resolve (FCPXML + markers), Final Cut Pro (FCPXML), Premiere Pro (XML), and any NLE that reads EDL (CMX 3600). SRT subtitles work everywhere.

After mining, click Export → DaVinci Resolve. Hi-Ho generates an FCPXML file. In Resolve, go to File → Import → Timeline and select the file. Your selects will appear on a timeline with markers.

Exports reference your original source files by path. Make sure your media stays in the same location, or relink in your NLE after import.

Yes. Hi-Ho has a direct connection to Resolve — it can read your timelines and tracks, and export structured timelines back with markers and chapter structure.

Buy a minute pack (Starter $5 / Standard $15 / Pro $25). Fast mining burns 1 minute per minute of audio. Pro mining burns 2 minutes per minute. Your balance carries over — no expiration.

Yes — 30 minutes free on signup. Enough to mine a short interview end-to-end before buying.

Absolutely. A typical 2-hour documentary interview costs $1.60–$3.20 to mine. Add it to your post invoice — most clients won’t even notice.

If a mine fails or produces unusable results due to a bug on our end, we’ll refund the credits. Email us at hi@negative.mov with details.

No. Your minute balance carries over indefinitely. Use them whenever you need them.