[Matt Dowling]

Hi Steve,

The new Final Cut Pro is a complete rewrite of the software and because of this, not all the features we need are included in the first release. Blackmagic Design and Apple are working very closely to improve compatibility and to iron out any compatibility issues. Please be patient while we work to improve compatibility.

The good news is you can use the current Blackmagic Design drivers and Media Express with FCP X. It’s worth noting FCP X defaults to ProRes rending and export which is fine if your workflow is ProRes, but if you want to use anything else such as Uncompressed 10 bit, all you need to do is set up your projects when you start them, to use uncompressed as the render codec. You can then import, render and export to 10 bit uncompressed.

With the current version of Blackmagic Media Express, you can capture, batch capture, log clips, import EDLs and master to tape frame accurately.

We are doing a major update to Media Express in the coming week or so which has a lot more specific features for FCP X but for now the current version of Media Express will get you up and running.

If you need real time preview now, you can use a Mini Converter HDMI to SDI or DVI Extender products to provide a real time video preview. When connected to the second monitor port of your Mac, the monitor will automatically work at the selected video resolution and then you can play full screen to this monitor in Final Cut Pro X and get SDI video output.

Regards,

Matt
Blackmagic Design

[Matt Dowling]

Hi Andy,

We have been testing Windows 7 for some time. Our current releases are compatible with Windows 7 32bit and 64bit right now.

So you are all set for your Windows 7 installs.

Regards,

Matt
Blackmagic Design

[Matt Dowling]

Hi Don –

Thanks for the heads up! We should be able to clean that one up pretty quickly.

Regards,

Matt
Blackmagic Design

[Matt Dowling]

Hi Leo –

We currently do not have any plans to support these formats. What equipment would you be using that supports these rates?

Regards,

Matt
Blackmagic Design

[Matt Dowling]

Hi Ben,

This sounds like an issue we discovered yesterday – we posted a 7.3.1 update on the support page that should address this.

Please keep us posted if the update fixes your issue.

Regards,

Matt
Blackmagic Design

[Matt Dowling]

Hi Ben,

I’m not sure if your saw my earlier post to Evangelos – we will be supporting more than 1920×1200 resolutions in a future version of Media Express 2. This will not happen in time for the GM version of the current beta but i do agree it is an important issue we need to address.

This is why we decided to leave the original DeckControl and Media Express V1 in the current installers.

Media Express 2.0 is a far more sophisticated application than DeckControl and Media Express V1, so it could never be as simple or look the same.

Please keep sending us your feedback, we do appreciate it.

Regards,

Matt
Blackmagic Design

[Matt Dowling]

Hi Nick-

I just wanted to get some clarification about the 2K to 1920 feature request.

Are you wanting us to simply crop the 2048×1556 to 1920×1080 or actually scale to 1920? If it is simply crop, that is something we could do fairly easily in a future update.

Thanks,

Regards,

Matt
Blackmagic Design

[Matt Dowling]

Hi Evangelos,

The first release version of Media Express 2 will be locked to 1920×1200. I agree that it needs to support other resolutions, and we are looking at doing that soon but for now we just wanted to get the beta release out to our users and get some real world feedback before we cut a GM.

We appreciate the feedback

Regards,

Matt
Blackmagic Design

[Matt Dowling]

Hi Leo,

We will be doing several small updates to Media Express 2 over the next week or so and part of that may include supporting formats such as Microsoft DV.

We included Media Express 1 in the installers as Media Express 2 is still a beta release and we did not want to leave anyone high and dry if something was to go a skew with the beta builds.

So expect to see several small updates over the next week or so.

Regards,

Matt
Blackmagic Design

[Matt Dowling]

Hi Everyone,

We confirmed there was a firmware bug today – To cut a long story short, the final build with this bug slipped through QA somehow. We have now put measures in place to make sure that never happens again. We are very embarrassed by this and i hope you accept our sincere apologies.

Theo’s suggestion is right about the SDI in “waking up” the unit.

We fixed this issue today and it is now going through a full test over the weekend. We anticipate this will be released Monday.

Again our sincere apologies for the inconvienince we caused to all of you.

Cheers,

Regards,

Matt
Blackmagic Design