Apple Releases Major Update and Free Trial for Final Cut Pro X

[haysoos123]

If the utter disaster that was the FCP 10 launch is a sign of what the "legions of internal marketing and development teams" at Apple are capable of then I think they need to do better in the future.

Yep, hindsight 20/20 and all that. Here's what they SHOULD have done:

1) Release FCP X in its launch state as FC eXpress. Haha, stupid name I know, but you get the idea.
This would have served the purpose of giving us a good preview of what FCP would be in terms of its new ways of handling media and the timeline. People would say "oh, the pro features will come in FCP, but this looks promising!" It gives everyone at least an IDEA of a roadmap.

2) Continue to sell and support FC Studio 3 through Lion updates. This shows commitment, and is the least resource-intensive thing they could do.

3) Continue developing FCP X to add all those VERY NECESSARY features.

4) Release FCP X, I dunno, a year from now feature complete and ready for prime-time. Then, if they wanna kill off FC eXpress because they don't want to maintain two codebases, they could probably do it without too many complaints.

No doubt there would STILL be complainers warning about dumbing-down, but not as many, and apple wouldn't have to do all this damage control. Also, maybe Avid and Adobe wouldn't have offered those 50% off promotions. There would still be a big complaint... mostly WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG, but this strategy would fit in exactly to what most FCP houses are doing anyway: stay on Studio for the time being because it works, and wait for the full release.

 

[charlituna]

You know, Apple made only one mistake with FCPX. They called it Final Cut Pro when they should've called it Final Cut Express.

I agree, to a degree.

They should just be calling it Final Cut. Not Express or Pro. Because the designator implies there is or will be another version. If you have a Pro version, it is expected there is also a non Pro and so on.

But on this case there is. This is it. One software meant to be easy enough for the prosumers but, via plugins etc, able to be powerful enough for the professionals.

 

[mazz0]

Oh, you have to get it from the website? Thought for a minute they might have added trial ability to the App Store!

 

[cosmichobo]

You know, Apple made only one mistake with FCPX. They called it Final Cut Pro when they should've called it Final Cut Express.

Close.

They should have called it Final Cut X Beta.

I'm serious.

That would have avoided a lot of the backlash, as instead of people saying - Apple's new PRO video editor is useless - people would be saying - Apple's beta version of their new video editing software has a lot of potential.

I'm still living in FCP5, which I understand from my university lecturers/tutors to be the first seriously stable version of the software. I can understand and accept that it took Apple several years to get to that point. What I guess people are pissy about with X, is that it is like going back to the days of preFCP5... back to a program that is not suitable for industry use (as is).

I currently work for an employer of 80,000 people, who recently changed to a new payroll system. They had to move forwards with a new software solution, as the old software was unsupported. IMO, Apple needs to affirm their continued support for FCP7, until X is up to scratch.

(Thankfully I believe I read that 7 is once more available, albeit via phone sales only).

 

[BreuerEditor]

Did you even read the article?

Did you even read my post?

According to Apple's FCPX site, it doesn't say a word about FCP7 compatibility.

I said on "Apple's FCPX site"...not here. I read what MacRumors wrote, "users can export Final Cut Pro 7 projects in XML, then import them into Final Cut Pro X", but what I'm saying is on Apple's site. That APPLE doesn't actually say in their "Software Update" section (see below) on their site that it can import FCP7, but merely it can "import and export Final Cut Pro X project and Event information via a rich XML format". My post is saying that I'd like to hear from someone who actually exported an XML from FCP7 and imported it into FCPX to confirm compatibility.

Apple - Final Cut Pro X - Software Update

 

[MovieCutter]

as a cameraman you should keep your hands of from editing leave that to the pros. i work with avid composer since 1995 and with premiere since 2 years. final cut x missing basic needs. you know that. no one need scopes without basic functions like a magnetic timeline.

As an editor you should go out and shoot...it'll make you a better editor. I for one wish I had more cameramen who were editors so they understand how to hold the god damn shot for more than 45 frames!!!

 

[deconstruct60]

That APPLE doesn't actually say in their "Software Update" section (see below) on their site that it can import FCP7, but merely it can "import and export Final Cut Pro X project and Event information via a rich XML format". My post is saying that I'd like to hear from someone who actually exported an XML from FCP7 and imported it into FCPX to confirm compatibility.]

If this XML format is suppose to support "any system to any system" regardless of tool it really shouldn't matter which system the export came from. Likewise folks shouldn't expect a 100% translation either. At this point it would only likely be misconstrued if Apple said "export FCP7 to XML and then import gets you your FCP7" project. It isn't going to get you a 100% copy. It is going to get you something like the structure of the project. If Apple stated a direction to export/import through XML, I guarrantee there would be 3-4 pages of folks whining about how Apple's translator was broken becuase it didn't perfectly translate their project.

 

[dhrlove]

As an editor you should go out and shoot...it'll make you a better editor. I for one wish I had more cameramen who were editors so they understand how to hold the god damn shot for more than 45 frames!!!

I suppose if they can't hold a camera steady longer than 45 frames, I wouldn't give them the title CAMERA MAN.

 

[danpass]

keeps crashing on me

 

[tmroper]

Free trial sounds good to me. There's only so much you can do in the Apple Store with a salesperson by your side who knows nothing about it telling you how great it is.

 

[editornyc]

It's hilarious to me how all you Apple fan-boys will all clamor around a sub-par piece of garbage Editing software and try to find the silver-lining in it.

Seriously, as a professional, (yes an ACTUAL editor for Broadcast Television who has been editing for 17 years and who has lots of experience with what works & what doesn't, is offering HIS OPINION here and all of you who are not in professional broadcast tv and/or movies need not respond to this because your lively-hood isn't hanging on every session you do.)
All that being said, if you want to get your Editing Project done correctly, just use Avid. It does everything this Micky-Mouse FCPX can't.
No waiting for updates to do the most basic functions, no buggy impossible exports that defy physics.
Who has time for that? Certainly not your clients.

Apple has said ********-You to the Professional Industry and this band-aid fix doesn't change that. I am happy that I can say YES to any session, any deliverable and cross-platform export (like OMF/AAFs for Pro-Tools.)
There are no issues with Avid that aren't workable and that flexibility is what will always make it better than FCP.

As for the learning curve that I hear FCP editors cry about, I say this:
Avid was designed for Professionals and that design assumes that you know certain standards that are inherent in the field.
FCP assumes you are new and don't know anything and is going to sweep ALL that (necessary) experience under the rug for you to be "creative."
That's great until the real-world bursts that perfect Apple-bubble and you need to start problem-solving while you edit.
FCP fails most of the time.

That's not me (the grumpy editor) talking, that's what my clients tell me.
Who wants to deal with that?

 

[MovieCutter]

I suppose if they can't hold a camera steady longer than 45 frames, I wouldn't give them the title CAMERA MAN.

You'd be amazed at the amount of stupid footage from cameramen I've had to work with over the last two weeks for an EXTREMELY high profile project...45 frames is an exaggeration of course, but as a shooter myself, I find a great advantage in being both an editor AND a shooter. When I shoot, I shoot for the edit, and basically fill in the timeline as I shoot. As an editor, having shot my own footage, I have PLENTY of angles, sequences, and options, and can only be pissed at myself for not holding or getting a shot.

 

[danpass]

keeps crashing on me

can't even play with it, just uninstalled it

 

[MovieCutter]

It's hilarious to me how all you Apple fan-boys will all clamor around a sub-par piece of garbage Editing software and try to find the silver-lining in it.

Seriously, as a professional, (yes an ACTUAL editor for Broadcast Television who has been editing for 17 years and who has lots of experience with what works & what doesn't, is offering HIS OPINION here and all of you who are not in professional broadcast tv and/or movies need not respond to this because your lively-hood isn't hanging on every session you do.)
All that being said, if you want to get your Editing Project done correctly, just use Avid. It does everything this Micky-Mouse FCPX can't.
No waiting for updates to do the most basic functions, no buggy impossible exports that defy physics.
Who has time for that? Certainly not your clients.

Apple has said ********-You to the Professional Industry and this band-aid fix doesn't change that. I am happy that I can say YES to any session, any deliverable and cross-platform export (like OMF/AAFs for Pro-Tools.)
There are no issues with Avid that aren't workable and that flexibility is what will always make it better than FCP.

As for the learning curve that I hear FCP editors cry about, I say this:
Avid was designed for Professionals and that design assumes that you know certain standards that are inherent in the field.
FCP assumes you are new and don't know anything and is going to sweep ALL that (necessary) experience under the rug for you to be "creative."
That's great until the real-world bursts that perfect Apple-bubble and you need to start problem-solving while you edit.
FCP fails most of the time.

That's not me (the grumpy editor) talking, that's what my clients tell me.
Who wants to deal with that?

As a professional editor for 10 years in international broadcast (Al Jazeera English, CNN, ABC), film, and PR...this made me laugh out loud...literally because it's so true.

 

[KevTCC]

I'm amazed that all these "professionals" with various credits and responsibilities have so much time to spend in front of their computers complaining about software they have decided not to use.....

Kev

 

[chirpie]

As a professional editor for 10 years in international broadcast (Al Jazeera English, CNN, ABC), film, and PR...this made me laugh out loud...literally because it's so true.

I don't know about you, but I would think people couldn't wait for the day they don't have to worry about video levels bleeding into the audio and getting fined because of some lame ass dinosaur technology. The future can't come fast enough.

----------

I'm amazed that all these "professionals" with various credits and responsibilities have so much time to spend in front of their computers complaining about software they have decided not to use.....

Kev

They're just bummed apple didn't do right by them like they claimed they would.

It's all in the marketing. Apple went about it wrong. That's well traveled ground at this point. These same pros may yet be back in the future, but each one of them has a level they're willing to accept before they come back to the fray. I don't begrudge them that.

But the peacocking of resumés is kinda lame.

 

[-AG-]

I'm amazed that all these "professionals" with various credits and responsibilities have so much time to spend in front of their computers complaining about software they have decided not to use.....

Kev

Exactly.

And as a "professional editor" i have decided that it is too important to try and run untested software on my mission critical systems and instead will use it on my personal machines where i can trial it until it does exactly what we need for daily tasks.

Only an idiot would put beta/untested software into a paying production environment.

Plus there is also the fact that my customers don't need to know what editing software i use, unless i am editing in their suites (in which case ill use what they already have).
All they care about is that the end result looks the way they want in the format they request.

 

[MacAddict1978]

confusing behavior

I'm confused. Anyone who says anything remotely negative gets voted down, but then all the people who defend a botched software release get voted up?

Well vote me down please.

This was the equivalent of GM releasing a new vehicle
-without wheels but with breaks
-without seats but giving it seat belts
-a shifter that only goes in neutral, so you have to go all flintsones with your feet to go forward or in reverse

I would totally see favoring improvements... if this were a bloody beta product, but they're charging $300 for it.

When a prior release is actually more capable than it's successor.... yes, that is not something to celebrate when they slowly fix the screw up of a distaster that is the latest Final Cut.

Further, you people voting down the comments of reason probably can't even work iMovie, much less EVER use FCP, because if you did use FCP for a living, you'd be angry.

This was all about putting an already late updated out to hit a dead line. The responsible thing would have been to give it another year of development before a release.

----------

Close.

They should have called it Final Cut X Beta.

I'm serious.

That would have avoided a lot of the backlash, as instead of people saying - Apple's new PRO video editor is useless - people would be saying - Apple's beta version of their new video editing software has a lot of potential.

I'm still living in FCP5, which I understand from my university lecturers/tutors to be the first seriously stable version of the software. I can understand and accept that it took Apple several years to get to that point. What I guess people are pissy about with X, is that it is like going back to the days of preFCP5... back to a program that is not suitable for industry use (as is).

I currently work for an employer of 80,000 people, who recently changed to a new payroll system. They had to move forwards with a new software solution, as the old software was unsupported. IMO, Apple needs to affirm their continued support for FCP7, until X is up to scratch.

(Thankfully I believe I read that 7 is once more available, albeit via phone sales only).

Agreed. You don't take a flagship piece of software and destroy it. Apple had the luxury with OSX to play around because they had no market share and had to do something or go out of business. That's not the case here. Don't piss in Adobe's flower pot left and right and then crap in your own.

 

[caddisfly]

I think I have just been totally screwed....

bought FCP X when it first came out...along with Motion and Compressor. Yes, I read all the articles, feedback, FUD, etc.

But I am brand new to video and have been running it and I love it. Was really pumped about what it could do, etc...even invested in additional storage for current and future projects

yes, it crashes a lot, etc but it always recovered sanely and I was eagerly waiting the update

Now the update comes...

I head to the App Store and click "upgrade" and then the most jaw dropping thing I have ever seen comes up:

"sorry, we cannot complete your purchase because your video card does not meet the minimum specs for this purchase"

Same with Compressor and Motion....

WTFFFFFFF!!!

Not a word of this when I bought it

what is tim cook's email address?

macpro 1,1/ATI Radeon HD 3870
12GB RAM

 

[Rev4]

I'm a little afraid to ask what school is graduating students that don't know the answer to this or can't google it for themselves

Thanks for being a deuchebag about it! Appreciate the help.

 

[AidenShaw]

I'm confused. Anyone who says anything remotely negative gets voted down, but then all the people who defend a botched software release get voted up?

It's best to mostly ignore the vote up/down numbers - as you've noted they don't have much validity on a post by post basis. If a post says "Apple is great" - the fanbois will vote it up. If a post says that "Apple didn't do right here", the fanbois will vote it down. It has nothing to do with the importance of the topic, nor the insightfulness of the post. Lovers are going to love, and lovers will hate anyone who isn't a lover.

Trends, though, are interesting. Some of the strident Apple fanbois are often downvoted to a huge degree, while some of the rational Apple critics are left close to neutral.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I'm confused. Anyone who says anything remotely negative gets voted down, but then all the people who defend a botched software release get voted up?

Well vote me down please.

The Appleonians are a unique bunch. They worship everything Apple and Steve Jobs related. Even if it's no good, they find a way to believe that Apple was right and defend them to the death. A most irrational bunch, to say the least.

 

[darkplanets]

SNIP...

I'm entirely neutral when it comes to this topic since my profession is far from audio/video, and normally wouldn't comment, but your post screams "Sponsored Advertiser" for Avid... you did after all join MR to make this post.

I'm sure FCPX is as ****** as everyone is making it out to be, but let's be honest, isn't that Apple's trend? Almost all Apple software sucks within the first few updates until they add features and/or fix a majority of the bugs. After that they become good or tolerable, depending upon the program.

Maybe it's just me.

 

[Nostromo]

It's best to mostly ignore the vote up/down numbers - as you've noted they don't have much validity on a post by post basis. If a post says "Apple is great" - the fanbois will vote it up. If a post says that "Apple didn't do right here", the fanbois will vote it down. It has nothing to do with the importance of the topic, nor the insightfulness of the post. Lovers are going to love, and lovers will hate anyone who isn't a lover.

Trends, though, are interesting. Some of the strident Apple fanbois are often downvoted to a huge degree, while some of the rational Apple critics are left close to neutral.

I think it has a lot to do with attitude.

If someone shows up and is very negative and you can't take anything out of this post, he'll get voted down.

Constructive criticism on noticed shortcomings seem to get more appreciation.

The difference is particularly noticeable in emotionally charged subjects like FCP X. Some could discuss FCP X's shortcomings / labor in a way that it added to a discussion and showed discussion participants something. The point of view and the quality of the perception gets quite a bit of appreciation.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I realize that by now someone has probably responded to pmz's statement already. I'm just encountering it now and don't have the immediate time to read the multiple pages of the rest of the thread before offering my thoughts.

Did you also know that if you have a knack for shooting and editing, it doesn't really matter what software you use to edit it?

You're right, of course- but only if you operate in isolation by yourself. If you work as part of a team or group or within the structure of a company or production house, it may be another story entirely.

I wish everyone would just realize that, despite what your own experience is, there are certainly plenty of users and plenty of situations where doing things with a certain product, or even more importantly, doing them a certain way, is not simply a matter of choice, flexibility, or preference.

I am not a video professional. But I am an audio pro, and I sure as heck don't want anyone else telling me what I need and what I don't need my tools to do as I go about doing my projects. Shouldn't it be enough for me to say "I need X" and have others believe that that is what I actually need my tool to do, for whatever reason? I don't think anyone is truly just making up unnecessary stuff to make work harder for the developer.

I'm not even really talking about pmz's comments, as much as I am the endless scores of people on-line who keep claiming that other users are somehow wrong, small-minded, old-fashioned, or otherwise working incorrectly when they state what they need and/or aren't getting a certain feature or functionality from a software tool.

If someone says they need "X" from software, what good does it do for me to say "I don't, therefore no one else must need X either."? Everyone's opinion on their own software needs is fair and valid, no matter what your credentials or your specific usage is. If you're a user, you're a user. If you have a need, it's a need. That doesn't mean that they will make or design the software with your need in mind, but your list of needs is valid nonetheless.