Moving a Project from Final Cup Pro 5 to Final Cut Pro Express

[Walter Biscardi]

FCP projects don’t transfer to FC Express. It works the other way around.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi

[Tom Wolsky]

What’s exact version of FCP and exact version of FCE?

As Walter said you can’t normally open an FCP profile file in FCE. If you export the FCP project as an XML file, you can usually drag the XML file into the FCE browser to load the content.

The files that don’t open may be in a format that FCE does not use. It does not have most of the format capabilities of FCP.

All the best,

Tom

Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy” DVDs

[Gérard Angé]

Walter,

Thanks for your answer to my post so quickly.

So then, in fact.. FCP Express rather than being a light version built for the road, is more of a training wheels version for beginners.

So the soluition to this problem is to put FCP-5 on the MacBook Pro Laptop which, I was warned by a friend at Apple that the intel processor couldn’t handle the full version of FCP because of heat problems. That’s great planning and great engineering too!

Thanks again Walter.

Very Best of Regards,

Gerard
win-tv.net

[Walter Biscardi]

[gerardange] “So then, in fact.. FCP Express rather than being a light version built for the road, is more of a training wheels version for beginners.”

No, it’s a lite version of the app for folks who don’t want / need all the features of FCP.

[gerardange] “So the soluition to this problem is to put FCP-5 on the MacBook Pro Laptop which, I was warned by a friend at Apple that the intel processor couldn’t handle the full version of FCP because of heat problems. That’s great planning and great engineering too!”

Why don’t you publish your friend’s name out here so we can all find out who this person is as they are completely and utterly incorrect. MacBook Pros are running FCP all day everyday in locations all over the world. That’s some of the worst mis-information I’ve ever seen and if it truly came from an Apple employee, I’m sure the folks from the FCP team who read this forum will be very interested to find out who this person is.

As with just about any laptop, don’t let it sit directly on a table or platform, place it on a raised laptop platform. I have one that I always put my laptops on because they do get hot and if air can’t move across the bottom of it, they will fry.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi

[Tom Wolsky]

“So the soluition to this problem is to put FCP-5 on the MacBook Pro Laptop which, I was warned by a friend at Apple that the intel processor couldn’t handle the full version of FCP because of heat problems.”

That’s so much garbage. I’ve used every version of FCP on a laptop and never once had a heat problem. I wouldn’t use it on my lap in my shorts (not a pretty sight anyway), but that’s got nothing to do with FCP.

All the best,

Tom

Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy” DVDs

[Gérard Angé]

Thanks Tom for your suggestion. I will try that export with XML and see it that works. Question: Is there also a problem with the mpg files and express?

I’m almost to a point to just remove Final Cut Express all together and put FCP-5 on the laptop just to get through the project on Monday. It seems like there are a lot of bugs between these two versions that will be a problems down the road that could affect this project and others to come. The only thing that stopped me from the beginning was the heating problems with the intel chip set… That is another issue. Even with the express version installed I had to take steps to boost the cooling of the laptop with added fan and some internal software changes. I’m sure that other people that workout in the field a lot too must be having the same heating problems… especially in hot climates with no air conditioned place to work in.

Thanks Again Tom,

Best Regards,

Gerard

[Tom Wolsky]

I don’t believe FCE supports any MPEG formats. The material has to be converted to an I-frame format.

The heating problems are unrelated to the application. For field editing Final Cut is not processor intensive. All computers have limited tolerance of heat and warm weather conditions. Certainly laptops

From the MPB tech specs page:
Operating temperature: 50

[Gérard Angé]

Walter,

My thoughts are that “if” Final Cut Express was a truly workable tool for the road. It should be a transparent transition to enable a project to be moved between my G-5 Quad and my laptop in FCE with no problem at all. The design of the software should allow that to happen transparently. All this other stuff about Express not having motion etc. and not having added features, is not what the key point is here. “The Key issue is being able to go in the studio and go out on the road and go back into the studio and get your work done without big headaches. ”

I have found that the laptop is much slower that my G-5 Quad That’s very obvious even with Final Cut Express. Yes! I noticed first hand that there are big performance issues when the temp of the chip goes up. The Intel chip goes into a pre programmed protection mode cycle and the chip slows down! If you are rendering at that time or capturing video it can cause errors. Now I was told that with the FCP-5 version on the MacBook Pro that heating problem only got worse.

And Yes I agree… Danger! Don’t wear shorts and put it on your lap when rendering or capturing video! Ouch!

Walter, what have you heard about people running FCP 5 on their Laptops?

Thanks Again,

Gerard
http://www.win-tv.net

[13]

[gerardange] “Even with the express version installed I had to take steps to boost the cooling of the laptop with added fan and some internal software changes. “

You said that you used some software to help with heat, if this software is in anyway changing the speed of the fans then it can actually do more harm to the computer them good. I have seen software like that where fans out prematurely.

[Gérard Angé]

Thanks for the heads-up

Yes, I downloaded the software off of a link off of the Apple FCP website. It linked to a program the allows you to adjust when the fan comes on. I set the temp lower 12* to start sooner. It seems to help “a little”. I have built a platform with two rails that elevate the laptop 3/4″ and have a 12 volt Whisper fan blowing in from behind, that seems to help the most.

Gerard
http://www.win-tv.net