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FCS upgrade cost -What does the COW think?
I am a new Apple customer, having recently invested $8,000 into a brand new MACpro system to edit video.
I spent 3 months researching products, bought the Mac and FCP Studio in late January, and now — as I start my first real FCP project — in order to have the new “current” version, Apple Support has told me that it will cost me $499 more (that’s ‘more’ as in EXTRA).
This is an excessive price to pay for the upgrade, given the timeframe. This would total to about $1,800 within 3 months of my purchase of FCS-HD.Given this situation, I now doubt whether Version 5.x (FCPstudio1) will be properly patched and maintained by Apple.
I am now stuck with this editing system, and maybe it will serve my needs; but UNLESS I can get this upgrade for a lot less, APPLE will never get my recommendation as being a good company — and in the future I WILL avoid Apple products.
Apple should reconsider a “sliding” upgrade cost for recent purchasers.
This is not whining. This is a very justifiable complaint:
Apple’s previous behavior had given me confidence that an upgrade done within 3 months (or even longer) would not be exorbitant.dg
Thanks to Creative COW for allowing me to express my disappointment.
If this material belongs somewhere else, please advise. -
47 Replies
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Sorry, your argument holds no water. Any knowledgeable person could have, should have, told you that a new version was going to be released at NAB in April. And, even at $500 additional its still a great deal.
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I think $499 is very reasonable. Compare it to the Adobe CS3 upgrade or imagine you’ve bought Avid then you really would be up for some serious cash.
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[decloux] “This is an excessive price to pay for the upgrade, given the timeframe. This would total to about $1,800 within 3 months of my purchase of FCS-HD.”
there is nothing that says you have to upgrade, and many posts here on the cow should have given you the idea to wait until after NAB. Since the software is not released yet you are jumping the gun about an upgrade.
IF you are an FCP user you have now learned what many of us know- wait til after NAB.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows -
I understand your frustration. A couple of thoughts:
If you purchased your present system I assume it will do what you need to be done. I see posts here with people still asking questions about FCP 3, 4, etc. which they are still running. It does what they need to get done. So while there are great new features in V.6, there’s no reason you have to go out and buy it right away.
I used to edit on a Media 100. The annual upgrade/support fee was, if I recall, about 1400 bucks at the time. If you didn’t pay up you got no support, no upgrades. Every year!
I’ve owned FCP 5 since August 05. I’ve gotten what, half a dozen upgrades since, all free except for about $50 bucks for the 5.1 crossgrade. I have no problem with paying 499 for this extensive update.
That being said, a sliding scale based on recent purchases like you suggest would certainly keep folks in your position happier. That would have been nice when they came out with faster, sharper screen powerbooks for less money about six weeks after I bought mine!
Regards,
David -
How much are you charging your clients? If it takes you very long to make up $500 you may consider changing your rates or choosing a different area of business.
-gl
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If he gets the upgrade with Color, isn’t he actually saving $24,500?
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$ 499 is an incredible price for the upgrade.
Anyone who buys Apple hardware or software anywhere near to a release is going to be upset.
I’ve seen it time and again.
The lesson learned is, never buy before NAB with apple very likely doing big releases with hardware or software.
and like the other poster said, be glad you didn’t buy an avid, your upgrade would be thousands more.
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Does this help justify the $500. With the upgrade to 6 you get software originally priced at $25,000. It is called Color.
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It’s a pretty sweet deal, I think. $499 + tax and you get Motion that does “3D” and a brand new app called Color (which used to cost a LOT with those specs) as well as all the other FCP things.
You can wow new clients and learn new skills with all this. You can put it all on your reel and sell yourself with better skills. All of that fo $500!
It’s a great deal. Good for Apple, they could have charged $999 for all that.
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Don’t upgrade. FCP5.1 is extremely stable sans the Media Manager. We just sold a movie to Think Film that we shot on 35mm and edited and delivered to them on D5 – all completely in FCP 5. It wasn’t even on an intel Mac – perish the thought!!!
Until the Meida Manager is rock solid and can take EVERYTHING IN THE TIMELINE (INCLUDING ALL NON TIMECODED MATERIAL LIKE MUSIC, ADR & CG EFFECTS) and create a proper fully functional media managed file that works – then the upgrade is for the mixed media in a timeline and COLOR program only. Everything else seems marginal and trite. I won’t upgrade until I have a good reason to. And a media manager that suits my needs is a big deal.
-DM
G5 Dual 2.5Ghz
OSX4 FCP5
Lots of Ram – Lots of cables – Lots of bills…
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