Risks of installing FCP 7 on a new 2015 iMac running El Capitan?

[Shane Ross]

[Jim Bruce] “What else should I fear?”

That this is the 4th OS release since FCP 7 was discontinued…and every one of those releases goes further away from supporting the app. Each one doesn’t take FCP 7’s functionality into consideration. Compressor doesn’t work….nor Motion, nor QMaster. Color has issues. And FCP 7 itself won’t operate at full capacity…the issues that can happen are random. From sync issues to general crashing. A lot of people don’t report issues, but there is a risk that they can happen…no support is no support.

QT 7 no longer ships, you need to install it separately. QT is the engine of FCP 7, and Apple is stripping more and more functionalities from QT each update.

[Jim Bruce] “Pros/Cons of mini vs Imac?”

iMac…you have a monitor already. The processor will be much better, as will the graphics card. For when you will eventually move to another editing app. And you will have to, eventually.

If you have working computers that support FCP 7…stick to those. You won’t gain anything installing 7 year old software (5 years discontinued) onto a new machine. You won’t see much boost in speed, in fact, you lose a lot of functionality (those three apps stop working). IMHO…if you must use FCP 7, stick to using it on an other computer with a supported OS.

Shane
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[Jim Bruce]

Thanks for your reply, Shane.

The main reason I’m hoping to upgrade CPU is to take advantage of faster/larger capacity Thunderbolt Storage (CalDigit T4 – we will have prob 10 TB of footage when we’re in the can – so we’re beyond the simple 1 firewire drive scenario) and also like the idea of an SSD which should make my ProRes HQ timeline hum smoothly along.

I’ll still have the old systems standing by. Just trying to see what problems lurk before buying a new CPU.

Any thoughts on installing 10.8 on the new iMac to try to work around some of those compatibility issues? (Compressor would be the only bummer for me and I could run that on the old machines – graphics will be done in AE, color at a facility)

Or cloning my current iMac 10.6.4 hard drive and running that from the new SSD on the iMac?

Thanks again,

Jim

[Shane Ross]

[Jim Bruce] “Any thoughts on installing 10.8 on the new iMac to try to work around some of those compatibility issues? “

YOu cannot install 10.8 on a new iMac. The only OS the new machines can run is the one that came out at the time of their release. You are stuck with 10.11 on that new computer.

[Jim Bruce] “Or cloning my current iMac 10.6.4 hard drive and running that from the new SSD on the iMac?”

Won’t work. For the above reason. There is firmware in the OS for all the new hardware the iMac has, and it cannot run the older OS, for that OS lacks essential files to make the computer work.

Shane
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[Robert Withers]

Some people like to count the years that FCP7 is “out of date” which seems a bit of an academic exercise. We can edit on what works for us.

Can old Mac motherboards be replaced to run USB 2 or 3, which are quite fast? Will they address SSD drives? I dunno.

The wisdom of Larry Jordan, which I subscribe to, is to keep old hardware and old OS systems if you want to run old software. That’s why I’m running Premiere Pro CC 2013 on Mac OS 10.8.5 on a Macbook Pro. By the way, this 2013 Macbook Pro has a Thunderbolt connection. Maybe you could find one of these.

Cheers,
Robert

Robert Withers

Independent/personal/avant-garde cinema, New York City

[Shane Ross]

[Robert Withers] “Some people like to count the years that FCP7 is “out of date” which seems a bit of an academic exercise. We can edit on what works for us.”

I still use it for many things…and I online for clients who still use it. It’s very useful. I also happen to keep an older MacPro with supported OS on it for this purpose. Yes, FCP 7 still works, still works well for many editing needs. But trying to get it to work on current hardware and OS versions is the issue…many components break and the core of the app, QT, is gutted.

[Robert Withers] “Can old Mac motherboards be replaced to run USB 2 or 3, which are quite fast?”

No. The only motherboards that work are ones that Apple makes. And the newer boards need the newer OS due to the new components in them…and then you run into the issue of the new OS and old software. Note that your mac already has USB2…but that it isn’t a good connection for video editing. USB3 is…and that can be added to MacPros via a PCIe card.

[Robert Withers] “The wisdom of Larry Jordan, which I subscribe to, is to keep old hardware and old OS systems if you want to run old software.”

YUP! That’s why I have the Old Mac Pro.

[Robert Withers] ” That’s why I’m running Premiere Pro CC 2013 on Mac OS 10.8.5 on a Macbook Pro. By the way, this 2013 Macbook Pro has a Thunderbolt connection. “

I have a 2012 MacBook Pro that also has Thunderbolt…so I too have the best of both worlds. It also has USB3 and FW800…and Ethernet. But yes…I’m needing to upgrade my computer soon…but this one will still work for other needs.

Shane
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[Jim Bruce]

Thanks again for weighing in, Shane…

I haven’t purchased the new iMac I was considering yet – so trying to explore options that remain now that you’ve crushed my (misplaced) dreams of a new iMac running 10.8…

I do have a 2011 Macbook Pro with Thunderbolt – and I need to replace the hard drive anyway – so I could install an SSD and go that way though I do find the laptop with External monitor + keyboard more annoying to work with than just a simple Mac Pro or iMac.

But I’d love to have a 2nd system for helpers – which I guess relegates me to searching for 2012 iMacs of the refurbished kind.

Or rolling the dice on a new system with 10.10 or 10.11.

If all else fails and I have to go FW 800 on the old systems is there any large capacity (12-16 TB) single Firewire drive you’d recommend?

Not trusting those options was what drove me to the Caldigit T4 in the first place.

And daisy-chaining 4 or 5 TB firewire 800s seems like a recipe for unhappiness.

Thanks again for any and all advice.

Jim

[Shane Ross]

I use my MacBook Pro for most of my work. I have it on a pedestal, then connect a keyboard and mouse to it, and that’s one monitor. Then Thunderbolt out to a Thunderbolt Dock, and from there to an external monitor, and then out to an IO card for client monitor and video capture. You can loop a TB Raid in there too if you want…I have two internal SSDs too.

Here are blog posts on that:

https://lfhd.net/2015/03/24/adding-2nd-internal-ssd-to-macbook-pro/
https://lfhd.net/2015/06/13/thunderbolt-docks-a-review-2/
https://lfhd.net/2014/01/20/thunderbolt-expansion/

Shane
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[Tom Matthies]

I just bought a used 2012 MacBook Pro for that very reason. It took a while to find this particular machine, but it was worth it. Just installed an SSD this weekend and loaded it up with 16Gb RAM. I also removed the DVD drive and replaced it with a 1Tb conventional hard drive. I found a Thunderbolt/eSATA adapter to use some of my legacy external RAID drives with the laptop and also found a USB3 to HDMI adapter for a second monitor. In the meantime I keep my old 2009 Mac Pro running Snow Leopard just for FCP7. I haven’t upgraded anything for a while and it’s been rock solid running FCP, Adobe 5.5 Suite and a boatload of utility applications. Not so much as a hic-cup in years. The secret is to get it running well and then DON”T TOUCH IT.

Not my monkeys. Not my circus.

[Jim Bruce]

Thanks for the links to your MBP setup. The Thunderbolt Dock option looks like a cool way to manage the external monitor / TB Raid bottleneck.

Last question – for my 2nd system I found a link to buy a refurbished mid 2011 iMac (MC813LL/A) with SSD from a reputable seller but it comes with 10.9 installed – but when the computer came out (it still has USB 2.0) it was definitely either built for 10.7 or possibly even 10.6

Any thoughts or concerns re: the best path to downgrade to 10.8?

Buy the 10.7 install disks on EBay and then upgrade?

Is there a way to go from 10.9 to 10.8 on the App Store (10.8 is the first version where there were no disks)?

Thanks once again,

Jim

[Shane Ross]

[Jim Bruce] “Any thoughts or concerns re: the best path to downgrade to 10.8? “

You need a stand alone installer for 10.8…like something on a Flash drive. Apple doesn’t sell these. Apple releases the OS as downloads only, and you need to make these yourself. If you can get the 10.8 download..I can link you to how to make a flash drive installer.

[Jim Bruce] “Buy the 10.7 install disks on EBay and then upgrade?”

Apple doesn’t make 10.8 available anymore. They only have 10.11 available. When the latest OS comes out, they keep the previous one up for one month, then remove it. You’ll have to find someone who has it.

Shane
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