[Geert Van den berg]

[MIke Guidotti] “Apple killed FC Server last week along with FCS 3”

I was well aware of this, but I have a hunch we’ll see new server functionality being built in FCPX, the database framework is probably already in there, it just needs to be enabled.

[Geert Van den berg]

[Simon Ubsdell] “It works just fine and all your tracks come through as you would expect them to, vertically configured as they were in FCPX.”

It does not seem completely vertically configured in parellel to the FCPX timeline to me, though it does look somewhat more organized in the demo than I expected after reading the manual, which states that using compound clips can result in in lots of audio tracks in your Pro Tools session.

At this moment organizing the tracks seem not to be a feature yet, so a seperate organizing session in Pro Tools might be necessary, though with the ‘audio role’ meta data parameter which is present in FCPX that might change. But it’s a start.

For larger facilities you might not need automatic duck on every editting station, so that still makes FCPX a bargain compared to its previous pricepoint.

[Geert Van den berg]

I want to add though, that I am also really dissapointed.

I had hoped for a drop-in replacement, with the FCP upgrade, because we’re still on FCS 2 and can really use an upgrade to tap into the power of our newer Mac’s.

And we still layback to tape as well… (demo’s of Adobe of Avid, are also installed!)

[Geert Van den berg]

[Tom Wolsky] “Watch out Logic Pro, you’re the next, becoming GarageBand Pro.”

Well this actually has already happened, I am moderating an audio forum and lots of Logic users have repeatedly used these wordings for every new release since Apple took over from Emagic.

And what triggered these reactions: It’s possible to import your Garageband songs into Logic Pro.

Basically Apple’s move with Final Cut, was to be expected. For every free application, included with the Mac, there’s a ‘pro-sumer’ counterpart.

iPhoto – Aperture
Garageband – Logic
iMovie – FCPX

I also think the reactions are a bit premature. Judging from all the metadata stuff in the app, I’d expect some FC server functionality to be build in the application already but it only needs to be enabled.

I do agree though, that’s it’s a really odd move from Apple to do it like this, while they have a lot of experience with making seemless transitions. It’s almost as Steve Jobs gave over the lead to someone else and thought “let’s see how they’ll do without my intervention”… And now “Hmm, this is not good, I have to search harder for a suitable successor”

[Geert Van den berg]

I think that this spatial conform option is not completely finished. I am also trying to tackle this problem. Not for a real project yet, but without it, the application is even less usefull than it already appeared to be.

ProRes material that is run via Compressor with a 16×9 tag will work in an anamorphic project, but I tried the same thing with the IMX codec, because we have a lot of IMX material on our server and then it didn’t work. (I don’t want to re-transcode all our material anyway, but it was just a test to see if it would work).

When done with a ProRes clip, FCPX also did not have to render the timeline, just as in FCP 7 was the case. If you use distort it will need to render.

Dropping an SD PAL ProRes clip which has been transcoded with Compressor with a proper 16×9 tag will also scale correctly in am HD project, it will need to render for the upscaling though.

[Geert Van den berg]

To stay for a bit on the technical side, because of the AV foundation discussion:

Let’s not forget that it’s also possible to go from iMovie to Final Cut Pro 7 (apparently, I never used iMovie). So it does create an XML/EDL in some way for FCP 7 to reference the files from.

Now FCPx timeline is much more complex than iMovie, but still it does not seem like something that’s impossible to do. Except that it seems only export the basic video and audio clips are ‘easy’ ( what about Motion projects in the timeline?), but basically that would be enough for most professionals. So I don’t buy the ‘not enough information’ remark for Randy Ubillos.

There’s an article on DVcreators.net https://www.dvcreators.net/what-does-the-guy-who-led-the-original-final-cut-pro-revolution-think-of-the-final-cut-pro-x-release/

Which tells that iMovie 08 was originally destined to be some pre-final cut application called First Cut. So again going between the two applications with different frameworks is not impossible. The process of bridging the gap between iMovie and Final Cut was already laid out on the roadmap for years. Basically they have done the same thing before with Logic Pro and GarageBand.

Personally there are some aspects that I like about FCPX and I think we will see some updates soon, but I truly dislike the way the app has been presented and the lack of a roadmap with stuff that will be added soon. Unfortunately I think that most people on this forum have already bought this app (including me) and probably also a lot of iMovie users might have already made purchases so Apple is already cashing again…

[Geert Van den berg]

I think Fibrejet will also work with Media Composer. I haven’t tested it with Avid yet, we’re a FCP shop, but I think I will try it soon due to FCPX.

[Geert Van den berg]

Isn’t Adobe Premiere now built on top of their own Mercury Engine? It can work with QuickTime but doesn’t depend on it. (I am not a Premiere user, so my comment is only based on what I’ve read)

And I’d expect that the inside of Avid software is also not relying on Quicktime. Its main file format is a custom type of mxf and it’s own codec type DNxHD.

So I wouldn’t worry about FCPx pushing these packages in a corner.

[Geert Van den berg]

Maybe multiple installs will be handled via Apple’s iCloud way of syncing devices. Designate one Mac as server. Download once and then distribute on local network.

[Geert Van den berg]

Can Media Express use all the installed Quicktime codecs? How about Quicktime IMX, this codec is also installed with Final Cut Pro.