155 replies to this topic

[TheRealDrew]

Anyone buying FCP X?

I am thinking about it and came close yesterday just to try it - like a moth to a flame. LOL. Have a partition set to go for it. Actually got the Motion, but I have not gone through the paces yet really.

I never upgraded from 6 and now I've no idea what I'm going to do

1.) Final Cut 6 should work for awhile, and if it is working with what you are shooting (same thing I tell myself about FCP 7 and wait for next FCP X ) Maybe Apple is giving the Pros a kiss off, but who knows
2.) Premiere for Mac or Avid
3.) PC and Edius

[jonny shaw]

I'm gonna sit on the fence for a while, I'm on FCP 7, it works fine, I use After Effects for titling and graphics.

Depending on what happens I may actually go back to Premiere Pro, you can edit pretty much anything including raw R3D's, it's a pretty solid platform now compared to what it used to be.

[TheRealDrew]

it's a pretty solid platform now compared to what it used to be.

I got a bit ticked at them when they dropped Apple versions, but I forgave them and have the software. Though like you I am sticking with FCP 7 for the time being.

[peterbkk]

I got a bit ticked at them when they dropped Apple versions, but I forgave them and have the software. Though like you I am sticking with FCP 7 for the time being.

That's one of the interesting things about the (over)reaction to FCP X. You can safely use FCP 7 for at least another year while Apple build out the new FCP X platform.

Regards
Peter

[TheRealDrew]

That's one of the interesting things about the (over)reaction to FCP X. You can safely use FCP 7 for at least another year while Apple build out the new FCP X platform.

Regards
Peter

I think alot of the reaction is naming the product Final Cut Pro X (as many waited for 64 Bit Processing and the rest), while pulling the other things (the Studio and Express), while pulling out many features pros need/want/expect.

If they called it Final Cut Express or iMovie Pro (dropping Express completely from the line) it probably would have sat a little better. Right now it is nebulous, and with people who invested in computers for 64 bit and the pending Lion announcement, alot of people are bumming.

Right now I do what I need to do, and Apple (may/will) change Final Cut X, but the product launch maybe could have been handled better. And I am an Apple Fanboy

[peterbkk]

I think alot of the reaction is naming the product Final Cut Pro X (as many waited for 64 Bit Processing and the rest), while pulling the other things (the Studio and Express), while pulling out many features pros need/want/expect.

If they called it Final Cut Express or iMovie Pro (dropping Express completely from the line) it probably would have sat a little better. Right now it is nebulous, and with people who invested in computers for 64 bit and the pending Lion announcement, alot of people are bumming.

Right now I do what I need to do, and Apple (may/will) change Final Cut X, but the product launch maybe could have been handled better. And I am an Apple Fanboy

100% agreement.

Potentially a great product when complete, but badly positioned in the launch publicity.

Regards
Peter

[uwxplorer]

Maybe I should start another thread, but being a FCE user (not even prosumer) tired of the rendering time on my MBP, I was planning on upgrading both hardware and software. Academic pricing for the new version of FCPX (+Motion+Compressor) = regular pricing AFAIK, i.e. $399.
Academic pricing for Adobe CSS5.5 Production Premium = $599. That's $200 more, but it contains much more functionality than Apple's product.

Now, if I want a MBP 15" with enough RAM and disk, I am running into the $2.5K price tag.
Since Adobe's Suite runs on Windows, I could get an equivalent laptop for $1.6K (Dell equivalent, not including Academic pricing in both cases).

Sounds like a no-brainer, but is it?

[jonny shaw]

It's funny I ran FCP 5 until last year then upgraded and to be honest there was much difference really.

As a part time teacher I can also get the full Master collection through my college for about $80 so CS5.5 is somewhat of a no brainer. I just can't be bothered to go back and relearn PP. Hopefully Apple with sort their sh#$ out soon and deliver what everyone wants.

[peterbkk]

I'm keen to give FCP X a serious try. I can see how I could change my workflow to leverage it's capabilities. Once up the learning curve, most things that I do in FCP 7 should be faster in FCP X.

A couple of concerns:

Cannot port FCP 7 projects into FCP X; does anyone have any idea if this will be possible in the future through an update or a 3rd party product. (Alternatively, are there any other NLEs that will import FCP 7 projects?). Or is my archive of FCP projects now in a dead-end.

With Soundtrack disappearing, how would I put together background, music, narration and effects? In FCP X? Record narration in FCP X? Mix volumes levels across 4 or 5 audio tracks in FCP X?

Import MXF Mpg2 from Canon. I assume Canon will develop the FCP X plug-in soon.

Regards
Peter

[uwxplorer]

For those who are still curious about FCPX but don't want to waste money and time trying it, check out this free tutorial from Israel Hyman (of Izzy Video).
I have used his free FCE tutorial to get started with FCE in the past (and regularly go back to it for refreshers on things I do not use very often) and found it excellent. I just started watching the tutorial and it looks just as good for an introduction.
Note for those interested that he has also released his FCP 7 tutorial for free.
HTH.

Edited by uwxplorer, 29 June 2011 - 06:52 AM.

[SimonSpear]

Yeah 6 is still chugging along on my 07 Mac Pro and 09 Macbook Pro and hopefully it will do for some time (although it definitely seems to have got slower on the MBP than it used to be). I'm not in any hurry to change anything especially if I have to completely re-learn the workflow. I've got far too little time already without wasting days getting to grips with that unless it is absolutely necessary.

When are those memory chip direct brain plug ins going to be ready like in Matrix?? Now that sure would be an Apple innovation!!

Cheers, Simon

[jonny shaw]

I've got far too little time already without wasting days getting to grips with that unless it is absolutely necessary.

Cheers, Simon

Exactly right, to be honest if it ain't broke!

[peterbkk]

Just spent the evening playing with Final Cut Pro X.

Actually, when you force yourself to stop comparing it to FCP 7, it really is a great new app. Different but, in many ways, better. I'm sure, once up the learning curve, it'll be a better, faster way to get a good edit done. But you've gotta forget most of the stuff you learned from earlier FCP versions.

As of now, until Canon release an updated MXF plug-in for FCP X, I need to "log and transfer" the MXF files from the XF100 into FCP 7, transcoding into Apple ProRes HQ 422 format, and then import the .mov files from my FCP 7 scratch disk into FCP X. Works fine but is an extra step.

Regards
Peter

[uwxplorer]

Peter,

I know you are playing with your new toy, but did you try to use .mts files with FCPX? I have read somewhere that the way FCPX "supports AVCHD natively" is by log and transfer only (or whatever it is called in FCPX). In other words, you can't just drag and drop your .mts files from your camcorder into a folder on your computer for future use, you need to have the camera (or a disk image) connected while FCPX is running to be able to use those clips (or use ClipWrap to convert them to .mov files).
Just curious...

[peterbkk]

Peter,

I know you are playing with your new toy, but did you try to use .mts files with FCPX? I have read somewhere that the way FCPX "supports AVCHD natively" is by log and transfer only (or whatever it is called in FCPX). In other words, you can't just drag and drop your .mts files from your camcorder into a folder on your computer for future use, you need to have the camera (or a disk image) connected while FCPX is running to be able to use those clips (or use ClipWrap to convert them to .mov files).
Just curious...

I haven't tried importing mts into FCP X.

I'm just transcribing all my footage, whether from CX550 or XF100 into ProRes and using that in FCP X. Works fine.

Regards
Peter

[peterbkk]

I haven't tried importing mts into FCP X.

I'm just transcribing all my footage, whether from CX550 or XF100 into ProRes and using that in FCP X. Works fine.

Regards
Peter

With my family away and no diving opportunities, I had this last weekend free and clear so decided to use the time to determine my way forward with video editing. I was a bit concerned about all the noise over the release of FCP X - thought that the world of NLE might be coming to an end, and it is not even 2012...

So, for 12 hours on Saturday, I did a head-to-head between Final Cut Pro X and Premier Pro 5.5. Spending roughly 6 hours working in each, I worked on exactly the same project. The project was a short dive trip video that I shot last weekend, including UW and surface footage, some photos, some interviews, and it needed a music track, some titles and a narration track. My goal was to get as much as I could completed in the 6 hours allocated to each NLE.

By Saturday evening, I was convinced that Final Cut Pro X is the right way forward. In the six hours spent on FCP X I got much more of the project completed than I did in PP5.5. Once I had my head around the FCP X paradigm, editing became second nature and fast. Whereas, with PP5.5, I found that I was constantly going to the manual to figure out how to achieve something. I never did mange to get much out of After Effects but, with the new Motion, I was able to make some templates that streamline the title generation in FCP X. The titles I did in FCP X looked much nicer than what I could manage to produce in PP5.5.

(Maybe some of my FCP 7, experience gave me a leg-up with FCP X but the new app is so different that I do consider my head-to-head to be a fair, functional test of the two NLEs - I was effectively starting from scratch with both.)

The key factor at the end of the day was enjoyment. I had a lot more fun with FCP X. The new timeline paradigm with its connectors is a joy to work with. For example, towards the end, I realised that I had put one whole section of clips in the wrong place. But I had already added the narration. But, in FCP X, it just took a few seconds to make the change. Doing everything in one app: video, sound, titles, color, etc, is better than any app-to-app integration.

The other nice surprise in FCP X is how is reveals its capabilities when you need them. When you first look at it, most people with NLE history will think, "this is way too simple to do everything I need to do - not enough buttons, options, menus, etc." But, as you get into it, you find that it has everything you need. I only went outside FCP X for the music track - only because I have a lot of SmartSound albums. One thing I was concerned about was sound editing. I was used to SoundTrack Pro. I thought that FCP X could not do all the stuff I used to do in SoundTrack, like record narration, adjust audio, reduce noise, remove clicks, do some EQ, balance levels across multiple tracks. Well, guess what, I have just finished doing all those things in FCP X. And it was easy.

Once I decided that my future was with FCP X, I then spent most of the day on Sunday finishing the project. 40 minutes of project, done, wrapped up and exported, all in about 15 hours of work, including all the learning time. Not bad!

Only 3 remaining minor hassles:

1. Still waiting on Canon to update the XF plug-in so I don't need to ingest and transform into Apple ProRes before importing into FCP X. Canon say that they are working on it but don't have a date yet. Hope it is before my next project.
2. Have to use Adobe's Encore for authoring Blu-ray disks. I wonder if Apple will do an updated DVD Studio with Blu-ray.
3. Be nice when SmartSound update their FCP plug-in so I can import the FCP markers into the music scoring timeline. Their website says that they are working on it.

I only got FCP X to crash once and, even then, I did not lose anything. Not bad for what is really a 1.0 app.

Final word: for those of you feeling a bit dejected over all the mud that has been slung around over FCP X, I encourage you to to it a real try. Like me, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Regards
Peter

[TheRealDrew]

I wonder if Apple will do an updated DVD Studio with Blu-ray.

If I was going to make a guess, I would guess it ain't happening. DVD SP has not been touched in quite awhile and with the way Apple seems to be heading, I would doubt they will touch DVD SP on any level again. Kind of a shame.

Thanks for the info on FCP X, I am getting close to pulling the trigger on it just to get an idea about what it is all about

[uwxplorer]

Just curious, what are the hardware specs of the machine you used?

[Drew]

Peter
You are absolutely right to test both suites and find out which is right for the user. I made a parallel switch to ADobe CS5 production last year. It is much closer to FCP7 in functionality and GUI than FCPX is.
With the right machine, ADobe 5.5 flies in native editing and efx layering. The ability to scrub natively is awesome! I'll just add that with CS5.5, I'm editing much faster even when using AE, Audition and PP tossing around a project... plus I can open FCP7 projects.
Color is still great but has been left out of FCPX updates. The color correction on FCPX is just not as complete as Color and definitely not close to Da Vinci Resolve (Lite version is going to be free I think).
I do think FCPX is catered for the simpler projects without too much efx or layering. ANd I agree a few of the features like the magnetic timeline and compound clips are very nice but CS5.5 has so many more features including real time native with efx, so there's no big file that's recoded in the background, multi-monitor support (WTF is Apple on?) and the Audition program is just better than FCPX audio functions by a lightyear. Then there's AE's functionality and speed for complex 3D graphics vs Motion's simpler GUI.
I am afraid to pit CS5.5 vs FCPX because a lot of it is down to types of projects and productions. I think as the project gets more complicated, FCSX starts to lose ground rapidly. I tried it for a few weeks now and just can't see pass the Nvidia CUDA Mercury engine speed differential. That doesn't matter for most MBPs but on a desktop, it's like the tortoise and the hare, except the hare doesn't stop to snooze!

[peterbkk]

Just curious, what are the hardware specs of the machine you used?

2010 MacPro 2 x 2.93 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon
24Gb RAM
512Gb SSD Drive
5Tb SonnetTech RAID 5 drive on eSATA
Mac OSX 10.6.8

Regards
Peter