Final Cut Studio vs Express

[Gomff]

Hello all
Can someone briefly summarize the differences between these two apps?

I know there must be some quite huge differences, but what are the main ones?

I'm looking to modernize a work-flow which has previously featured an old version of Premier. My needs are fairly common editing tasks but it would be nice to have some basic keying / alpha features as well. Text overlays are also quite important and I see that Express comes with LiveType which seems like it should do a job for me.

Appreciate any words of wisdom....I'd can't really afford to spring for the full version of Final Cut at the moment.

Cheers

 

[GoCubsGo]

I checked it out and it's best summarized here:
http://camcorders.about.com/od/videoediting/a/FinalCutCompare.htm
http://michaelmistretta.com/2008/final-cut-express-vs-final-cut-pro/ (very good read)
http://www.geniusdv.com/news_and_tutorials/2009/07/final_cut_pro_vs_final_cut_express.php (maybe too brief)
http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=31764 ( forum asking and answering the same question ).

I'm not trying to be a jerk but it's best summed up between those 4 threads.

 

[spinnerlys]

Hello all
Can someone briefly summarize the differences between these two apps?

I know there must be some quite huge differences, but what are the main ones?

I'm looking to modernize a work-flow which has previously featured an old version of Premier. My needs are fairly common editing tasks but it would be nice to have some basic keying / alpha features as well. Text overlays are also quite important and I see that Express comes with LiveType which seems like it should do a job for me.

Appreciate any words of wisdom....I'd can't really afford to spring for the full version of Final Cut at the moment.

Cheers

Apple also has some kind of documentation on the features of FCE and FCS.

www.apple.com/finalcutexpress
www.apple.com/finalcutstudio

FCE is able to make matte keys.

Final Cut Studio also comes with some other applications like DVD Studio Pro, Motion, Soundtrack, Color, Compressor and QMaster.

FCE does not support the ProRes Codec.

 

[Gomff]

Thanks everyone so far for the useful links. I should mention that I have Logic 8, which has soundtrack and compressor. I'm principally a 3D graphics artist, so I'm not bothered about importing of 100s of hours of video.

My concern is that I'm going to hit one must have feature that FCE doesn't have and kick myself for it but reading through some of the links posted FCE does seem pretty feature packed.

 

[filmweaver]

I don't believe any of the Final Cut Studio applications are 3D capable, YET.
Maybe the next version that will be out in the near future will be.

 

[DoFoT9]

I don't believe any of the Final Cut Studio applications are 3D capable, YET.
Maybe the next version that will be out in the near future will be.

motion can work with multiple angles, does that count??

 

[spinnerlys]

I don't believe any of the Final Cut Studio applications are 3D capable, YET.
Maybe the next version that will be out in the near future will be.

Motion is being advertised as having 3-D capabilities, but I don't believe Apple anyway.
And I never used those alleged possibilities. Okay, maybe once. But only for a week, the I stopped using. I still visit the MA though, to combat my believes.


Ah, another 21 hours take their toll, I'm glad I'm not Jack Bauer, I would have killed many, many hours that day.

 

[Gomff]

I'm not really bothered about 3D features. What I meant was that I tend to generate my own footage in the form of rendered, numbered Targa sequences. I usually then need to edit these together and sometimes put titles over them or add some sound.

I'm currently working on something though that will require a lot of editing and polish which is why I'm looking at something a bit more capable and up to date.