Chris Walsh
Forum Replies Created
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The latest CS5 and 5.5 versions are a wonderful change from the past. As a former windows guy, I tried and used six or seven versions of Premiere, and hated them all. I recently had to return to the CS5 version for a project that required .flv output, and was stunned by great the new version was.
All the basics tools are there, and it ran faster than FC7 did on the same 2009 Mac Pro. I didn’t dig too deeply, but the integration with PS, AE, is obviously wonderful. It used my P2 files natively and playback was smooth and pretty.
Codecs are a puzzle for me still. I output old-school animation codec as intermediates since my files were short. Responses to Walter’s post suggest that Cineform is the way to go, but I haven’t dug into it.
Chris Walsh
http://www.musicfog.com
Silver Spring, MD
Final Cut & AVID MC5
Former Windows User and edit* lover -
Thanks for posting. Despite the sardonic tone, the author seems to have tried to make the new event structure work, and seems pretty familiar with similar Apple libraries (Aperture, etc.).
To break a basic organizational metaphor, the bin, that existed before video, let alone NLE’s, seems unnecessarily cruel. More keywords are better, sometimes, but bins work wonderfully, and not just for editors.
This would drive me crazy…I don’t mind learning a new paradigm or software. I mean, I’m going to have to learn new software now that FCS is EOL. Apple is forcing me to pick which new software to learn. FCPX, with its stated limitations and uncertain future release timeline. Adobe, with the payoff of transparent AE integration and speed. Or Avid, which I used and loved years ago. And yes, Apple is forcing me, because sooner or later FC 7 will cease to work for me, maybe it will be Lion or a hardware update, or a new client, but something will come down the line that it can’t do, that I need to do. I don’t see why they had to scuttle the ship.
Chris Walsh
http://www.musicfog.com
Silver Spring, MD
Final Cut & AVID MC5
Former Windows User and edit* lover -
The accompanying video is my favorite part! I’ve watched Pogue’s video podcasts on Tivo for a while — they’re as informative as they are deliberately corny.
Apparently from the video, FCP X will solve all my problems! Except giving me a new alternative for the old imovie ’06 or ’08 “Break Beat” stock track – a great track, but ever since it showed up in a Happy Meal toy it’s a bit too much.
Best of all, FCP X is only $300!
His podcast and written response were prepared with lots of helpful advice, some had to be from Apple’s PR rep or an outside firm.
Chris Walsh
http://www.musicfog.com
Silver Spring, MD
Final Cut & AVID MC5
Former Windows User and edit* lover -
I think videoguys has both promo offers (at least on their home page). MC5 for 995 or Production Premium for 799.
Chris Walsh
http://www.musicfog.com
Silver Spring, MD
Final Cut & AVID MC5
Former Windows User and edit* lover -
Completely agree. The email from Randy re: legacy projects from another thread sealed it for me. They’ve built a “new and better way,” the classic Apple walled garden. Right now they can’t or don’t want to make FCP X talk to traditional timeline based apps, their own or others. Maybe they will in the future, but it doesn’t seem like it’s just a few months aways.
I realize that AV Foundation is revolutionary and future-looking, but if it won’t easily talk to other software, then they built the wrong foundation. Apps that can’t talk to other people’s hardware and software have never fared well in the professional market (not just the post-business), and Apple has to understand that.
So Apple has driven the the FCP bus off a cliff, or as Anthony Gianni said, “The Avid killer committed suicide.”
Chris Walsh
http://www.musicfog.com
Silver Spring, MD
Final Cut & AVID MC5
Former Windows User and edit* lover -
They’re even getting some press attention for the negative reviews:
https://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/06/22/the-final-cut-pro-x-debacle/
Chris Walsh
http://www.musicfog.com
Silver Spring, MD
Final Cut & AVID MC5
Former Windows User and edit* lover -
I would still get an MBP — it will remain the most flexible solution because you can run Avid, Adobe, and Apple software on it. It’s also my favorite laptop of all time, well worth the money. I was a hardcore Windows guy for 20 years, nothing but disdain for Macs (due to some pre-OSX grief). I got my MBP simply to try Final Cut, but have come to love the machine as much as the software.
I don’t think Apple has abandoned the pro market, they just have a different idea of what the pro market needs or wants. Some of the pro market will walk away, but more than anything, Apple has tarnished its rep as the all-knowing Pied Piper of the Post Future. New announcements will be greeted suspiciously, scrutinized, dissected, and beaten to death (even more than usual). The storm around FCP X has just begun, and I think the next few weeks of posts and tutorials will reveal more amazing features and stupefying omissions. In the end, FCP X will be perfect for some, unusable for others, and interesting for the rest of us.
I still think the Mac OS is the most flexible platform for the future, whether or not I’m running a version of FC.
Chris Walsh
http://www.musicfog.com
Silver Spring, MD
Final Cut & AVID MC5
Former Windows User and edit* lover -
Thanks – great read. My favorite note was:
“Preferences need to include the ability to use frames, not just hundredths of a second for all timing decisions.”
Chris Walsh
http://www.musicfog.com
Silver Spring, MD
Final Cut & AVID MC5
Former Windows User and edit* lover -
“Hate” seems a little strong. Disappointment and frustration? Yes.
The frustration with the release of an app with a “Pro” label that doesn’t meet many basic needs and requests of the “Pro” market. It suggests that Apple doesn’t understand what features are important, and that they don’t care to hear it. It confirms fears and rumors, and seeds doubt about future releases. It brings back echoes of similar past cycles with Avid, Adobe, Media 100, Discreet, etc. If they really have pulled FCS on top of this release, then they are going all in.
No one had to have FCP X today. Apple could have polished it a little further or tested, and I’m guessing they would have if these updates were mere weeks away.
I don’t really care one way or the other. FCS meets 90% of my needs today, and if I have some free time and money, maybe I’ll try FCP X. More likely, I’ll wait for a release that is more polished out of the box.
Apple just burned through some of trust and goodwill it had built over FC 1-7, for no apparent reason.
Chris Walsh
http://www.musicfog.com
Silver Spring, MD
Final Cut & AVID MC5
Former Windows User and edit* lover -
I will see whether there’s any way to have anything like a “Viewer” window. My biggest concern with FCPX is not the software, it’s my ability to adapt. I can learn keystrokes or mouse shortcuts quickly (though when I’m tired I do accidentally hit old Avid and Edit* keys). But I don’t think I can adapt to a single viewer for timeline and source.
A few years ago I gave Sony Vegas a real try — it’s got a lot of great features and it certainly outshone the old version of Premiere on windows. But I couldn’t get used to the chop-suey approach of editing on the timeline. Throw a bunch of clips on the timeline and trim, adjust, and filter them there. It worked for certain kinds of projects (short promos etc.) But for anything long it drove me crazy. I like to use the source Viewer as a sandbox, where I can try things – duration, filters, etc. – without having to “undo” them. There are times where I like to gang the timeline and source. I found I just couldn’t take the single window.
So I’m less worried about the features of FCPX, and more worried about whether I can force my brain to accept one viewer.
Chris Walsh
http://www.musicfog.com
Silver Spring, MD
Final Cut & AVID MC5
Former Windows User and edit* lover