Hi-End Pro’s still hangin’ on to 7…

[Timothy Auld]

7 could work for many years to come if you are vigilant about not updating any, and I mean ANY software. I still use it to access old projects but find it crashes more and more and more the harder it is pushed. For any real work I’ve moved on to Avid and Premiere CC. And just by way of tweaking the community, FCPX was never a consideration. Editing dialogue in FCPX is like trying to wrestle a bull to the ground by its balls. (They don’t like that.)

Tim

[Shane Ross]

I’m still onlining projects for people with it. And will be finishing an edit for a PBS doc with it. It still works and still does all the great things it has always done. Shoot with older cameras? Have a MacPro Tower? Kona/BMD/Matrox card? Still does everything that needs doing.

The only reason to upgrade, IMHO, is when you need features that your current software lacks. That is when you move on. That’s what made me leap to FCP to begin with. What made me come back to Avid for many projects…and seek out future work on Premiere Pro. I use the tool that completes the task best.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Timothy Auld]

[Shane Ross] “I use the tool that completes the task best.”

And that is the trick, is it not?

Tim

[Oliver Peters]

Yep.

https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-nle-that-wouldnt-die/

https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/the-nle-that-wouldnt-die-ii/

😉

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Mark Smith]

FCP 7 runs on 1 processor and is limited to 2.5 gb of ram, doesn’t work well with native camera files, which is why I have moved on to X.

[Mark Raudonis]

Inertia.

The laws of physics also apply to the actions of humans. An NLE in place tends to stay in place!

[Erik Lindahl]

Love when people blurb things like X cores or X Gb’s out with out backing it up. I just did a UHD-project that rendered FASTER in FCP7 compared to PPCC on a new MacPro. 32-bit vs 64-bit, CPU vs GPU etc. The later isn’t always better. There are reasons to move on for sure but newer isn’t always better. And FCP7 can use way more than 1 core, but probably not 1 CPU of today’s 12-core beasts.

[Mark Smith]

I may have gotten my terms core and processor mixed up but I can tell you on my old mac pro FCP7 never used more than 2.5 gb of ram and only one proc.

I can’t speak to PPCC since I don’t use it at all. I do know that i regularly do things in FCPX that would cause an outright choke or crash in FCP 7, like a long time lapse sequence with 4k photo .jpg stills, and do it with out breaking a sweat. I don’t really care what NLE people use to edit. I’m just saying that FCPX certainly gets the job done faster for me with less sweat. FCP 7, while an oldie but a goodie, feels pretty creaky to me these days.

[Warren Eig]

Um, let’s face it. If you are cutting narrative, it is still very viable as you will be interfacing with ProTools, cuts lists for DI etc., (Some feature editors still use Avid MC5). I have always found it easier to have the footage transcoded at the start to ProRes and then edit. Cutting in h.264 makes no sense unless you like high compression in your transitions.

If you are ultimately finishing for TV or cinema, FCP 7 has tracks etc. that makes this easy. Cutting for Youtube or weddings may be a totally different story. Also, that it uses one processor as someone said and 2.5gigs of ram is academic if you are cutting narrative. It’s just a tool. I’ve used a sync block and Steenbecks and KEMS and I’m not that old.

Warren Eig
O 310-470-0905

email: warren@babyboompictures.com
website: https://www.BabyBoomPictures.com

REEL: https://www.babyboompictures.com/BabyBoomPictures/Reels.html

For Camera Accessories – Monitors and Batteries
website: https://www.EigRig.com

[Darren Roark]

I’ve been noticing recently that editors on long form content who switch between PP and FCP7 are getting used to what the 64bit NLEs are capable of and therefore not following the FCP7 32bit rules.

I’ve been helping out on a doc, all footage was transcoded to prores with each day’s footage on a timeline. Some timelines are four hours, as would be expected, it’s been i/o error ‘out of memory’ city.

It’s like the Louis CK bit about wifi on a plane, once something is possible, it’s just expected.