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

[Tom Wolsky]

If you’re working in FCP, you should load FCP on your laptop on the road. You can install on two machines. There is no advantage in using FCE over FCP. FCE is an application intended for prosumer use with HDV (using AIC) or DV material only.

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

[Walter Biscardi]

[gerardange] “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.”

It does, just not from Final Cut Pro to Final Cut Express. The design idea is for a project to move from FCE to FCP, not the other way around. This has been the design workflow from day one of FCE.

[gerardange] “Walter, what have you heard about people running FCP 5 on their Laptops?”

In my own experience and from what I’ve been told, zero issues. Of course it runs slower than a desktop. The desktops have faster and more processors. My Mac Pro Quad runs rings around my Macbook Pro laptop in every application that it runs on. But FCP runs perfectly fine.

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

[Ben Holmes]

Gerard

I assume you have the earlier version MBP that had a lot of issues with heat. Certainly, my Core 2 Duo MBP runs cooler and quieter than my old G4 powerbook with FCP.

All laptops will run at full tilt when rendering in FCP, or indeed FCE (it’s the same processor work after all, in both apps) so I don’t know why your friend would make such a bizarre claim. Yes, they run hot, but that’s not a reason not to use FCP, something I use frequently on a MBP, and did on my G4. No, it won’t be as fast as a Mac Pro, but that’s the case with all apps on all laptops. Don’t expect any solution, homemade or otherwise to magically improve your render times.

Since you post no system specs, I don’t know how much RAM you have fitted on your system, but I would recommend having at least 2Gb installed. You will find this makes a considerable difference to the laptop’s performance.

Finally, I would question ANY workflow using MPEG as an edit format. It’s not the best solution by a long chalk. Using a short-GOP format like DV will help all your render times in all likelihood, and take pressure off the processor.

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live broadcast.

OB Server 1 HD – Mobile FCP editing done right.

[Walter Biscardi]

[gerardange] “Is there also a problem with the mpg files and express?”

MPEG is not an editing format, it’s a finishing format. You should never edit with MPEG files.

[gerardange] “The only thing that stopped me from the beginning was the heating problems with the intel chip set… That is another issue”

Again, you got very bad information from someone along the way.

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