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My God! what has Apple done!
Help. I’m hoping my Apple-FCP guru friend is wrong, but here is what I’m hearing. I work in Creative
Services dept at a large tv station. We LOVE FCP and our MACS. REst of station is PC and “problems
about-especially in NEWS editing with the AVID system.
We have just gotten approval to move our Promotions dept from Avid
to FCP system. Yeah- I think. I have heard that FCP X is NOT backwards compatible- all older projects
are DEAD-useless. A total re-learn of a new interface-now FCP X is like iMovie?- Where did the timeline
go. The nice layers, ease of use! Where is Soundtrack Pro and DVD Studio Pro updates. This is the 1st
time EVER my MAC-based friend has ever-issued the words-of possibly migrating to Adobe Premiere Pro!!! Is this overreacting? We NEVER use iMovie-interface does not seem user friendly. Seems like
“editing for dummies”. Is it time for me to hang it up?
Very Concerned.D’s Video
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30 Replies
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That was the initial reaction for most of us but I gotta say, having read through the manual and watched videos on what IT CAN DO (haven’t bought it yet) its AWESOME! Having said that it IS NOT READY to be implemented into a production environment just yet. This is coming from someone who’s been editing professionally since 1996. I started on a movieola, move to a flatbed KEM, then to AVID, then to FCP. I’ve used FCP professionally since its started. This new version has left some things out (which I understand will be back) but for now its NOT ready for primetime but when it is BOY… its going to dominate the industry like never before. Apple made some MAJOR, MAJOR strides with his. With that, they also made some major blunders. My advice for what its worth, stay with FCP7 until this is ready BUT – if you have the opportunity and the time… start learning it now.
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>This new version has left some things out (which I understand will be back)
That’s the problem. If I Apple would tell us they will be back then I’m OK.
But they, as usual, will not say anything.Bill
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Bill get used to Apple being silent. It’s actually one of the reasons the company has 65bllion in the bank. It’s served them very well to stay as secret as they famously are I think. Doesn’t make it easier though.
I still think the best advise is to wait and see before you invest in a crossgrade to another platform. FCP X is just being born. FCP 1 sure wasn’t ready for primetime either… Until FCP 3 most of the industry looked at it as a toy. History repeats.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski. My Blog: https://blogs.creativecow.net/Jerry-Hofmann
Current DVD:
https://store.creativecow.net/p/81/jerry_hofmanns_final_cut_system_setup8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX – Cinema Displays I have a 22″ that I paid 4k for still working. G4 with Kona SD card, and SCSI card.
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[Jerry Hofmann] “FCP 1 sure wasn’t ready for primetime either… Until FCP 3 most of the industry looked at it as a toy. History repeats.”
The difference is when FCP 1 came out there weren’t 2million + registered users working on it, let’s be serious here.
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David,
You should be concerned. A TV station moving to FCP at this very moment is not a good idea and actually not possible unless you own copies of FCS for all of the seats you want to install on.
The new FCPX is a consumer app and is not remotely suited to a collaborative environment.
The best summary of all the gotchas and implications in this move from Apple can be found in Walter Biscardi and Richard Harrington’s audio broadcast from a couple of days ago. It is an hour and a half long but it is worth the time investment. It really is. You can find it here…
https://podcasts2.creativecow.net/episodes/ipod/1030.mp3
Steadicam & Camera Operator
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Yes, Let’s get real alright. I seriously doubt that FCP X 1.0 is the end of the line for FCP X… That’s the point I’m trying to make. It’s a 1.0 release of a new NLE just as FCP 1 was. It took Apple about 3 years to get to the point where a pro could really use it exclusively. I don’t think it will take as long this time. Because for better or worse, they are not trying to reinvent the code base from the ground up nor port a PC based app (FCP 1 was originally written for PC’s by Macromedia before Apple paid a measly 1M dollars for it).
The point is, this is just the beginning. If you can’t wait, hold on to both for a while or whatever, buy something else…I seriously doubt you’ll lose a client over keeping FCP 7, using both, or running Avid or Premiere or better yet, Smoke.
But the whining around here is getting really old. Enough already. Apple knows the user base is upset. This forum should be for helping people with their systems but the redundant posts of “I can’t use it” does nobody good. It’s not as if Apple doesn’t already know about the holes left in the software they are no doubt working on filling. After all Randy wrote Premiere, Key Grip (which became FCP) iMovie, and the various iterations of FCP along the past decade. He knows full well we need external video et all… We don’t have to tell him. They saved a few bucks porting iMovie code into this new app no doubt, and quite frankly, I don’t think it matters all that much. It’s good code. iMovie is by far the best consumer editing app out there to begin with. I like what this foundation is showing us. I’ve never seen my activity monitor pin the CPU’s with FCP 7, but FCP X does, and it even starts using the virtual cores on my i7. Hey, it’s just the beginning. If you can’t wait or go with a hybrid workflow or whatever. Don’t wait. Nobody’s hold a gun to your head. But there’s no way FCP 7 and it’s code base could become what it needs to become to compete with Adobe’s 64 bit version of CS 5.5. It will compete and then some IMHO.
Jerry
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Jerry –
The issue isn’t whether or not FCPX will be upgraded, of course it will. The issue is who is the target audience for those upgrades. FCPX might be the greatest single user NLE ever made – but that doesn’t help someone who needs a collaborative NLE.
The original post had to do with a small department in a news station wanting to port from Avid to FCP right now — so what’s your advice for him. Port the department to FCPX and then deliver your segments in 6 months to 2 years time when the FCPX is more fully featured. Or should they port to FCP7 and hope to buy enough licenses from various re-sellers around the country before they run out, only to find that Apple has discontinued the Pro Aps upgrader so that they are stuck with Ver 7.0 and can’t get to 7.0.3 which as you know fixes a whole lot of problems.
Or would you tell him not to even think about FCP right now because Apple doesn’t have a workable solution for him (and a lot of other editors) at this time.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions -
Jerry, most of us do not doubt that FCPX will be production ready in time. The big issue but not the only one is for many of us who either work pass material off or work in large production workflows. Imagine you are a shop that needs to install five new seats of Final Cut. What are they supposed to do? You are the CTO in a large production facility and you have been informed that the editing environment that your facility has been based on has been EOL. What are you supposed to do?
If you want to be part of the ecosystem a year from now, you should be trying to figure out what NLE is going to have you best poised to be part of the game and profitable. Final Cut Pro 6 & 7 will still work but the industry will move on and it will not be with FC. Apple could change their approach to FC but I for one will not be waiting and the industry won’t either particularly at the higher levels.
Steadicam & Camera Operator
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Well FWIW, look at the Supermeet presentation. They in no uncertain terms made it clear they intend FCP X for professionals. It’s not ready yet for everyone I’ll agree. It will be I believe. If you can’t wait, don’t. But the whining is getting really old. Apple knew it wasn’t ready for every pro situation from the get go. They know what we’ll need and intend to deliver it according to them. If you don’t believe them, fine. Buy Premiere or Avid or whatever.
Apple is Apple. They’ll be silently doing upgrades and dates… So if you can’t see you’re way to run FCP 7 along side it, or just wait, buy something else. But I’d submit the update/grade cycle for FCP X will be faster than what’s happened historically with FCP. The App store model is a good one too I think. No more lost serials etc.. you can download it again when you perform clean installs etc..
There’s just as much to like about FCP X as there are holes in it. It’s a START. Not the end of the line.
I’ve already posted my original reply and stand by it. If you can’t wait, don’t. If you can, do. Heck, I’ll not be losing clients over this and most likely neither will anybody else. It’s just not that earth shaking a problem. Heck I know of a place here in town that has been using an 8 year old Avid and makes plenty of money with it… you don’t have to upgrade, you don’t have to stay on any given platform. Apple knows what’s missing for the pros and is no doubt working on the code. It will come faster because FCP X is written in Cocoa code. MUCH easier to write and upgrade with. This is why I think updates/ grades will come faster than we’ve been used to.
Jerry
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[Reed Black] “I gotta say, having read through the manual and watched videos on what IT CAN DO (haven’t bought it yet) its AWESOME!”
Reed,
You’re brand new to this site, and by your own admission you neither bought or tested FCP X, yet you’re suddenly qualified to influence readers by characterizing this new product as “AWESOME!”?
Wading in on this or any other subject on which you have zero experience is not a good way to establish yourself here, nor does it do service to anyone.
With all the experience you claim, it would behoove you to reserve issuing advice to others on FCP X and anything else until you have gained at least some firsthand experience with the product.
Does this make sense to you?
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles
https://www.drwfilms.comDon’t miss my new tutorial: Prepare for a seamless transition to FCP X and OS X Lion
https://library.creativecow.net/weiss_roth_david/FCP-10-MAC-Lion/1POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
Creative COW contributing editor and a forum host of the Business & Marketing and Apple Final Cut Pro forums.
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