New Final Cut Studio

AKinDC

Well-known member
So Apple just released a new version of Final Cut Studio containing Final Cut Pro 7.

http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/

Just on first glance, I can't say I'm too thrilled...most of the improvements seem to target high end production, while ignoring us.

As far as i can tell, you still can't set a marker while importing, there's no one touch top and tails, no multi-user interface, no capture directly to timeline...I can go on...
I'll have to look at it in more detail...
 

b-roll

Administrator
Staff member
Here are a couple points from some Apple insiders...

1) Native timeline support for AVC-Intra, meaning no transcode to ProRes as is done now. (this will be good for P2HD folks using the AVC-I codec).

2) It's Intel only, so you'll need a new computer if you've not upgraded recently.
 

MtnShooter

Well-known member
Well, consider this if you're going Apple....

I bought a new Intel MacPro and a 24" iMac in December. I also bought a 15" MacBook Pro just last month. When I bought the first two machines, I purchased I-life or I-Work or something like that. One month later Apple is nagging me to upgrade to the newer version, which was released three weeks after I bought the previous version.

Anyway, so I see this thread here on b-roll.net and I get furious because a month ago I bought Final Cut Studio 2. When I did, I told the salesman I was considering waiting until the '09 version came out. He told me no one really expected it to come out until after Snow Leopard comes out, and at that it's not definite. So I coughed up the $1,200.00.

Now, a month later, Apple want $299.00 to upgrade.

When I called Apple to complain a few minutes ago, the sales guy said there's nothing he can do. So I asked for a supervisor and got one. He told me he'd give me $30 off the $299.00 upgrade, but that's it, because I bought the software from a third-party retailer (Midtown Video in Miami), not from Apple directly.

My rant. Thanks for listening.

BTW: Jesse at Midtown VIdeo is trying to get Apple to be less anal about this. And I can tell you he's been very helpful with every purchase I've ever made from them in the past. I hope he is this time, too.
 

AKinDC

Well-known member
Yeah, Apple is always annoying that way.

I just got my apple training certification for FCP 6 a month ago...now I'm gonna have to pay a hefty fee to re-certify.

I'd be a little happier if it didn't feel more like a 6.5 upgrade than a full 7. I wish they had waited for Snow Leopard.
 

netnews

Active member
I see that one of the requirements is the Leopard OS X. Because of the early problems with Leopard and the Adobe CS3 and the fact that my system is a dedicated edit platform that was working well under Tiger, I never made the upgrade. So now I will have to upgrade the OS X but as AK said "why didn't they wait for Snow Leopard?". I'll have to decide if I want to wait for Snow Leopard to upgrade or if the update to FCP 7 is worth upgrading sooner - the details of the "100 new features" still remains somewhat sketchy although the authoring to BluRay is enticing.

It's not really a significant cost for the OS upgrade, it's just the time & hassle (and hoping for no problems) to upgrade an OS.
 

AKinDC

Well-known member
To be fair, I like some of the new features.
The new export window makes it much easier to output to any format without going through compressor, including YouTube and MobileMe
The new speed controls finally allow you to change a clip's speed in the timeline without rippling the sequence.

Other "major" upgrades leave me cold.
Multi color markers, but I still can't change a track's color?
Fancy wipes...if you happen to have fancy graphics with pre-made mattes and alpha channel.
More ProRes flavors that I don't need.

As I said, if it was just an incremental upgrade, I'd probably be ok with it...but I just don't see a major upgrade there. And I certainly don't see anything that would make me want to run out today and get it. At this point I'll wait to see how it works when Snow Leopard comes out.
 

Canonman

Well-known member
Keep in mind AK, that the points you mentioned only pertain to Final Cut. The other feature updates occur in Motion, Color, and Sound Track Pro. It's the whole suite getting the 100 new features, not just FCP.
 

AKinDC

Well-known member
Keep in mind AK, that the points you mentioned only pertain to Final Cut. The other feature updates occur in Motion, Color, and Sound Track Pro. It's the whole suite getting the 100 new features, not just FCP.
Very true...Motion's upgrade, for instance, actually sounds pretty impressive.
But still...it's been two years since the last major update...I really expected more across the board.
 

zac love

Well-known member
I like the lowered price, which might be the only reason why I go for it, but I feel no urge right now so I don't mind waiting. I also like that you can export & keep working at the same time, BIG plus.

I do think they're missing the boat that DVD Studio can't do Blu-Ray, while not a thing for news, an Editing Studio needs (or will need very soon) Blu-Ray to stay in the game.

I also don't like that (from what I understand) FCP 7 can't do m2t files w/o a plugin and can't do AVCHD w/o transcode. (Maybe I got it wrong, but I'm pretty sure that AVC-Intra=AVCHD is not the case).

Things like Panasonic's HMC150 or Canon's HF series cameras produce a good picture for the price. I would love to have a Canon HFS-100 on the dash of a squad car when doing ride-alongs, but waiting for the massive transcode would be frustrating when Final Cut PRO can't do what many PC based CONSUMER NLEs can.

FCS 3 really needs some free add-ons from Apple to keep their ground in the NLE world imo.
 

Shootblue

Well-known member
There are rumblings that a lot of people are unhappy with the lack of improvements in the last couple editions. Quite a few feel that Apple is falling behind and losing ground quickly in the NLE game.
 

Canonman

Well-known member
(Maybe I got it wrong, but I'm pretty sure that AVC-Intra=AVCHD is not the case).
AVCHD and AVC-Intra are similar in that they are both MPEG4 based. The main difference is the data rate. AVC-I is a higher end format for the big cameras while AVCHD is for the consumer/prosumer cameras with its much lower data rate.

Keep in mind that AVCHD is a highly compressed format that needs a lot of CPU horsepower to edit. That's the reason for the transcode requirement because you can't edit in real time just yet. This used to be the case with MPEG2 until the hardware caught up to it.

That being said, the format does yield some nice images for the amount of compression involved.

cm
 

zac love

Well-known member
Keep in mind that AVCHD is a highly compressed format that needs a lot of CPU horsepower to edit. That's the reason for the transcode requirement because you can't edit in real time just yet. This used to be the case with MPEG2 until the hardware caught up to it.
Hopefully the updates follow the hardware...

I understand all the downsides of HDV, but I was happy that I didn't need an extra hard drive while I was on the road for HDNews. Being able to have 4 days of raw instead of 1 on my MBP hard drive makes up for hearing the fan going while I'm cutting.
 

BoomDrive

Well-known member
Why is it $400 less than FCS2? Is that because they're not offering an upgrade from 2 to 3? I couldn't find an upgrade on B&H's website.
 

zac love

Well-known member
Why is it $400 less than FCS2? Is that because they're not offering an upgrade from 2 to 3? I couldn't find an upgrade on B&H's website.
The new FCS is just cheaper. If you don't see an upgrade, I'm guessing it is because they don't have it in stock yet. Pop on over to Apple's web site & look around there.


I do want to add I just saw a demo for Adobe Production Premium, and Premire looks like it has a lot of things that I was hoping FCP would have by now. I never would have thought it, but I am open to the idea of leaving FCS now.
 

phxtvwatcher

Active member
Finally

The new speed controls finally allow you to change a clip's speed in the timeline without rippling the sequence.
I couldn't believe that they didn't have this an option. I don't know if I'll upgrade to it but it's nice that they finally added that.
 
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