[Ryan Holmes]

@Adam

Lion is not necessary for calendar/contact if using iDevices. Convenient? Yes. Necessary? No. You can just as easily use Google services or Micro$oft exchange for the items you need. Granted it’s not as easy a solution.

Or you pickup a spare computer that is upgradable to Lion and you leave your production machine on 10.6.8 running FCP7.

[Ryan Holmes]

+1 to what Michael said. I think he’s exactly right.

Unless you have some reason you have to upgrade to Lion, I’d avoid it. FCP7 is a dead platform – meaning that Apple is not investing anymore time patching, bug checking, and updating the software. If Lion 10.7.3 or 10.7.4 or whatever breaks FCP7 then that’s it. Since it’s working on 10.6.8 (and all your plugins work) then stay there. If there’s some software you need to run under 10.7 (Adobe, or FCPX, or ) then you’ll have to take your chances. But if not, stick with 10.6.8.

[Ryan Holmes]

+1 on Michael as well.

I’ve some problems with Canon’s EOS plugin within FCP (not transcoding the whole In/Out duration). So I tend to stick with Compressor or MPEG Streamclip. You can leave them working and get other stuff done while it transcodes.

[Ryan Holmes]

Mark is right. I should be more specific. You don’t need Compressor 4.0 to encode for Blu-Ray. Compressor 3.5 will do it as well. And he’s laid out the graphics for you to see that.

My point was that Compressor 4.0 has presets for it, is currently being updated and developed by Apple, and is only a $50 purchase. 3.5 is EOL. The differences aren’t drastic GUI-wise, but 4.0 does appear to take better advantage of my multi-core Mac Pro.

[Ryan Holmes]

Compressor 4.0 is only $50 on the App Store. It’s easily worth it in my opinion.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/compressor/id424390742?mt=12

RH

[Ryan Holmes]

If you’re running Compressor 4.0 just use the preset under “Disc Burning.” By default it’s set at 30Mbps with a maximum of 35Mbps (it’s a VBR preset – Variable Bit Rate).

[Ryan Holmes]

I second Jeff’s recommendation. ProRes for everything. One common codec that plays well on Mac and inside of FCP. We commonly use ProRes422 here at our shop for things shot on GoPro’s or Canon 5D/7D cameras. It holds up well if recompressed and does and adequate job for color grading. If you’re doing heavy VFX, like Jeff said, ProRes422 HQ of ProRes 4444 are the way to go. But you’ll need more hard drive space and speed with those codecs.

FYI~MPEG Streamclip can batch process just like Compressor (List–>Batch List or Command+B shortcut). There is very little (if any) quality difference between the two.

[Ryan Holmes]

These articles seem to crop up every time any Apple product starts getting long-in-the-tooth. The Mac Mini is dead, Apple TV to be dismantled, Apple selling off the pro apps division, iPod classic to be dropped…et cetera, et cetera. All lines I’ve heard in the last 3 years. People get worried because Apple doesn’t tell us where it’s headed and sometimes lets products linger longer than expected.

On the other hand, the line of thinking makes sense for killing off the Mac Pro. In so far as Apple makes the majority of its profits from consumer deviecs – iMac, iPhone, iPod, iPad. Further, Apples shuttering of many “pro” aspects (Shake, Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server, XServe, etc.) leads one to believe the Mac Pro may be next. However, Steve Jobs did say at All Things D a couple years ago that while the general trend of computing is moving towards more light-weight, energy efficient machines (much like the auto industry’s move to fuel-efficient vehicles) there will probably always be a demand for “trucks.” I can only assume that in the back of his mind he had the Mac Pro (and maybe the MacBook Pro) listed in his “truck” category. They are heavy-duty machines that are capable of heavy lifting on a scale that a MacBook Air or iMac can’t compete with. I would be very surprised if Apple really did kill off its Mac Pro line. It’s Apple’s “truck” line…unless they are tired of making gas guzzlers…

My $.02

[Ryan Holmes]

Neal reminded me – check out Vimeo’s compression page. It’ll walk you through pretty much any app and how to compress video for Vimeo (but it applies to YouTube or wherever).

https://vimeo.com/help/compression

Ryan

[Ryan Holmes]

Premiere looks to be on the way up. With it’s acquisitions of Irdias and Automatic Duck. I imagine big things are on the horizon for Adobe. FCP7 is a dead platform. It doesn’t hurt to learn it but I wouldn’t dump $1K into purchasing that software + a new Mac. By the time you graduate people will be migrating somewhere – either FCPX, Adobe, or Avid.

If you’re going to learn any software, I’d get on Avid. I think it’s $295 for a student license of Media Composer 5.5 and they give you 4 years of free upgrades as a student.

https://www.avid.com/US/specialoffers/special-offers-Student-Pricing

Majority of TV and film is cut on Avid, so if that’s where you’re aiming I pick up Avid quick. I also see nothing wrong with continuing your use of Adobe (or even getting FCPX). The more tools you know the more valuable you can be to any potential employer or client. Don’t corner yourself into a 1 NLE guy. More tools = more opportunity.

My $.02

Ryan