Final Cut Pro X Released

Apple has released Final Cut Pro X today to the Mac App Store. Priced at $299 is this is steal for a pro NLE. I haven't used this updated version yet, but I plan to on my next fanedit which I hope to start in the next couple of weeks.

Compressor and Motion (not sure if these are updated from the current Studio version) are also available for $49 each.

From http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/230812/apple_releases_final_cut_pro_x.html

"The new Magnetic Timeline, a trackless canvas for editing footage, lets you add and arrange clips wherever you want, as other clips automatically slide out of the way. Clip Connections facilitates links between primary clips and secondary elements-such as titles and sound effects-so they stay in sync when you move them."

Wow these two features alone would be worth it. (Time to switch to Mac?) Especially the "Magnetic Timeline"

I've been reading a lot about FCP X -- some good, some bad, and a lot in between. The easier interface is definitely appealing, and the magnetic timeline definitely sounds cool, as does the auditions feature (which seems especially useful for fanediting). But it seems that, for now at least, it means sacrificing a LOT of functionality, including the ability to import files from ANY earlier version of FCP.

Here's Rich Harrington's take on it:

http://www.richardharringtonblog.com/files/fcpx_response.php

As anyone who's read through the Box O' Tutorials has probably noticed, I like Harrington. I don't know him, but I do trust him, and he's very clear about why it's not a good option for editing professionals at this point.

That doesn't mean it's necessarily a bad option for faneditors; it might be a very good one. But the fact that it doesn't play well with AE or PS and that it won't work at all with the graphics card on my mid-2007 MacBook have made it useless to me for now. YMMV.

I'd say there is a lot more negative from the pro community. Conan even had a bit making fun of FCPX. This is definitely a pass for me. We'll have to see if Apple can fix this nightmare software (and PR) quickly.

While the new features sound cool, I really have no serious complaints about FCP as it was before. It's a fantastic program and I can work seamlessly in the timeline, so the improvements, as cool as they seem are not worth the trade-offs for me. Major improvements will be needed before this is a serious contender.

The two big ones for me were 64-bit (speed up render time) and native support for MP4.

Here is an article answering some of the complaints feom the NY Times. This relieves some of my fears, or could it be standard Apple damage control?

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/professional-video-editors-weigh-in-on-final-cut-pro-x/

Thanks for the link, thunderclap. If I'm not mistaken, that's actually the original article that Harrington is replying to in the link I posted above.

If it is I apologize. I'm away from my computer the next couple of days so I'm being lazy and not following links and whatnot. My bad.

No problem. It's actually quite useful to be able to check out the two and compare/contrast.

So far it seems that the loss of flexibility is the major screw-up, limited codecs (even more limited than before), limits on things like custom fram rates and dimensions, loss of previously purchased plugins and interactions with other applications like AE.. just too much control is given up by this, and it really looks like they've screwed over the existing user base by cutting off all support for the older version. Not to mention the limitations on distribution with a download only business model.. it just really seems like Apple screwed the pooch on this one.

Too bad. Initially it looked pretty cool, but this is just par for the course for apple lately. I feel the same way about Apple's iCloud. I am not that impressed by it, but even worse is that they are cutting support for their mobileme service that I have used for years as a great iDisk and hosting site for online media.