Final Cut Pro 7, OSX 10.6.x, QuickTime "magic" combo?

Robert Lane · July 20th, 2011, 05:39 PM

The good news is that there's still no compelling - or forcible - reason to be thinking about going into a PC-only environment. We've got at least another 2-3 years before Apple proves it's direction for pros using Apple hardware.

And with TB on-board the speeds we will all enjoy will literally trounce even what an ATTO fiber card could produce - for a fraction of the cost to boot.

But I strongly suggest that NO pro editor switchover to Lion just yet; all this "gestures" technology is already causing headaches with non-Apple software (it will be some time before the multiple versions of gestures becomes standardized - if ever) which means that FCP and PP could have some user-interface issues with the new architecture.

To be clear: Lion is making your OS an iOS-type environment, it does NOT increase productivity, speed or graphics-intensive apps like video work any better. Which means you don't NEED it, it's gimmicky at best.

10.6.5 through .8 works just fine across the board with all the most-used and critical apps we all need to do WORK, so don't rock the boat.

With regard to creating a new category for FCP users migrating to the PP environment; let me see how things pan out with those doing just that in my workshop. If it looks like there'll be more questions than answers then yes, a new category might be very helpful, but so far almost everyone who's made the switch - or is in the middle of it - is not have any major headaches. Partly because Adobe has gone out of their way to provide a HUGE amount of "how to" videos on their webpages for PP which have so far proven to be priceless and timely.

In all honesty, I've never seen any manufacturer in our industry provide so much data and useful information for their user-base about their products before. Apple has never done this, and even Avid nor Sony have provided this level of indirect support. Adobe is absolutely going out of their way to make sure their customers are being taken care of.

If only Apple had learned that lesson years ago we'd not be talking about a migration away, would we?

Tim Dashwood · July 22nd, 2011, 11:33 PM

Shaun,

Apple has acknowledged issues with Seagate hard drives in some of the iMac 27" models sold this month. You should check your serial number on this site. Apple - Support - iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program

Shaun Roemich · July 23rd, 2011, 12:39 PM

Thanks for that, Tim... will check right away... I DO have some LED panel flicker but it is FLEETING and maybe once a day...

OK! All good! THAT is a load off...

Chris Hurd · July 31st, 2011, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Knaggs

Perhaps we should lobby Chris to set up a new sub-forum under the Adobe Creative Suite forum called "Creative Suite for FCP editors"?

We could probably get away with one ongoing thread under this title, and making it a sticky.

Robert Lane · July 31st, 2011, 09:58 PM

FCP 7 with the latest QT updates and 10.6.8 are now completely stable - with these caveats:

- Manually install the latest Flash Player plug-in for Safari; for whatever reason Safari 5.1 has some weirdness with that plug-in and will cause your system to hang on shut-down if you don't manually put in the latest version.

- Java Runtime also has some strangeness with the .8 update; no clear reason for it and Apple has not yet addressed it - not even in the 1.1 update for 10.6.8. Install the latest updates AND, go into your JAVA preferences (Apps - Utilities - Java Prefs) and make sure you have both the 32 and 64-bit versions installed. If not, manually install the latest JRE and that will fix the glitch.

Production Premium is also rock-solid on this combo.

10.7 is totally another story and is not yet ready for professional, prime-time use for any NLE package. Give it a few months for the bugs to clear.

David Knaggs · August 1st, 2011, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

We could probably get away with one ongoing thread under this title, and making it a sticky.

I reckon that's a great idea. There should be quite a few FCP editors picking up Production Premium (I just picked up mine last week) while this "50% off" deal is happening and a sticky would be a workable resource to help with the transition.

It would also be a good place to share all of the tutorials and tips which might be "old hat" to existing Adobe CS users, but might be a complete revelation to an FCS user. Like this one:

No Stupid Questions with Colin Smith - Advanced Noise Reduction in Audition CS5.5 | Adobe TV

I'm still shaking my head and going, "Wow!" over that one. To me, that single feature justifies the price of the entire suite right there. So a sticky would be useful, not only for the "gotchas" but to point out features to the newcomers from FCS which could be otherwise overlooked.

Shaun Roemich · August 1st, 2011, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Lane

FCP 7 with the latest QT updates and 10.6.8 are now completely stable - with these caveats:

Robert, given those caveats and the fact that I CURRENTLY have FCP7 running solidly (it would appear SO FAR...) on OSX10.6.7 would you ADVISE the update to OSX10.6.8? Is there an advantage that I don't see? Of course, I've only been up and running for a little over a week so I haven't found any "gotchas" yet with this setup. The projects that I am working on right now are fairly simple/standard for me. BUT if updating makes sense, I'd like to do it before I have a RIDICULOUS amount of stuff to back-up.

Robert Lane · August 1st, 2011, 05:46 PM

10.6.8 = No advantage over the ".7' release.

Stay on that setup until Lion get's thoroughly worked over - maybe a 7.1 release.

Shaun Roemich · August 1st, 2011, 07:11 PM

I WON'T do a Lion update on the edit system. Nothing for ME there. I'll do incremental upgrades to sort out issues on an edit system but NEVER have I ever done a family upgrade. Well... except OS8.6 - OS9 when I needed to in order to keep running the ORIGINAL FCP running on my original B&W G3 450MHz...

David Knaggs · August 5th, 2011, 02:58 AM

My new custom-order iMac finally arrived last night (after a 2 week wait!) and I migrated everything over. It is running on Lion, of course. I've been checking each app, one by one, this afternoon and am shocked by how many things Lion seems to have "broken".

It has firmed my resolve to NOT upgrade my Macbook Pro (which contains all the same apps) and leave it running on Snow Leopard.

Here is what I've found with Lion:

1/ Cinema Tools - GONE - I just can't get it to open. It quits immediately every time I try to open it.

2/ LiveType - faulty - the Media Browser preview window gives nothing but colourful static when I try to preview LiveFonts, Textures, Objects and Effects. It does preview "Fonts" okay though. When I apply a LiveFont to the track, though, it does show up and seem to work okay. Why is why I classify it as faulty rather than broken.

Of course, there's an outside chance that my graphics card could be faulty (even though everything is brand new).

I also checked the LiveFonts in Motion 3 and they give the same "static" in the Library preview window for about a second and then settle down and display properly.

3/ DVHSCap - GONE - Lion doesn't recognise it at all. Lion doesn't seem to support any PowerPC applications any more as it moves closer towards an iOS-type of scene. I still have an old JVC GY-HD100 series camera (even though I shoot with an EX1R these days) and the most workable way of ingesting the JVC footage was to capture with DVHSCap (.m2t file) and then put a QuickTime wrapper on it using ClipWrap.

ClipWrap opens okay with Lion. I tried to open HDVxDV, which is the alternate way (in the absence of DVHSCap) to capture the .m2t file, but HDVxDV is also GONE under Lion. It quits immediately every time I try to open it.

XDCAM Transfer seems to work okay under Lion. I converted a test BPAV and the resultant QuickTime movie seems fine.

Magic Bullet QuickLooks wouldn't install at all under Lion. Fortunately their website had a newer version which works under Lion, which I downloaded and then it installed fine.

Sonicfire Pro 5 (a great source of music for corporate video) did manage to open, but was so faulty I couldn't get a product with it under Lion. I'm currently trying to find out if there's a Lion update for this software.

I also couldn't open my scriptwriting software, Final Draft, under Lion. Fortunately, they had a specific Lion update on their website and now it works fine.

I guess the "moral" is that software which is constantly supported and updated will be fine under Lion. Older legacy software (especially that which is used for older legacy equipment) has mostly been abandoned and broken.

As I said earlier, I'll be keeping my MBP on Snow Leopard - specifically so I can keep using my legacy software. But for any who doubted the wisdom of Robert's words, I thought I'd give some real-life examples of apps which Lion has either broken or made faulty.

As for me, I installed Adobe Production Premium CS5.5 on the new iMac today. Going forward, I envision that I'll be using only Prod Premium and FCP X going forward (and will drop FCS 2 as soon as practicable).

Why? I only want to deal with software which is supported and will keep functioning properly despite ever-changing and evolving operating systems.

July 20th, 2011, 05:39 PM	#16
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,825 Images: 15	Re: Final Cut Pro 7, OSX 10.6.x, QuickTime "magic" combo? The good news is that there's still no compelling - or forcible - reason to be thinking about going into a PC-only environment. We've got at least another 2-3 years before Apple proves it's direction for pros using Apple hardware. And with TB on-board the speeds we will all enjoy will literally trounce even what an ATTO fiber card could produce - for a fraction of the cost to boot. But I strongly suggest that NO pro editor switchover to Lion just yet; all this "gestures" technology is already causing headaches with non-Apple software (it will be some time before the multiple versions of gestures becomes standardized - if ever) which means that FCP and PP could have some user-interface issues with the new architecture. To be clear: Lion is making your OS an iOS-type environment, it does NOT increase productivity, speed or graphics-intensive apps like video work any better. Which means you don't NEED it, it's gimmicky at best. 10.6.5 through .8 works just fine across the board with all the most-used and critical apps we all need to do WORK, so don't rock the boat. With regard to creating a new category for FCP users migrating to the PP environment; let me see how things pan out with those doing just that in my workshop. If it looks like there'll be more questions than answers then yes, a new category might be very helpful, but so far almost everyone who's made the switch - or is in the middle of it - is not have any major headaches. Partly because Adobe has gone out of their way to provide a HUGE amount of "how to" videos on their webpages for PP which have so far proven to be priceless and timely. In all honesty, I've never seen any manufacturer in our industry provide so much data and useful information for their user-base about their products before. Apple has never done this, and even Avid nor Sony have provided this level of indirect support. Adobe is absolutely going out of their way to make sure their customers are being taken care of. If only Apple had learned that lesson years ago we'd not be talking about a migration away, would we?

July 22nd, 2011, 11:33 PM	#17
Tim Dashwood Wrangler Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Toronto, ON, Canada Posts: 3,637	Re: Final Cut Pro 7, OSX 10.6.x, QuickTime "magic" combo? Shaun, Apple has acknowledged issues with Seagate hard drives in some of the iMac 27" models sold this month. You should check your serial number on this site. Apple - Support - iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program __________________ Tim Dashwood

July 23rd, 2011, 12:39 PM	#18
Shaun Roemich Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia (formerly Winnipeg, Manitoba) Canada Posts: 4,088	Re: Final Cut Pro 7, OSX 10.6.x, QuickTime "magic" combo? Thanks for that, Tim... will check right away... I DO have some LED panel flicker but it is FLEETING and maybe once a day... OK! All good! THAT is a load off... __________________ Shaun C. Roemich Road Dog Media - Vancouver, BC - Videographer - Webcaster www.roaddogmedia.ca Blog: http://roaddogmedia.wordpress.com/

July 31st, 2011, 09:58 PM	#20
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,825 Images: 15	Re: Final Cut Pro 7, OSX 10.6.x, QuickTime "magic" combo? FCP 7 with the latest QT updates and 10.6.8 are now completely stable - with these caveats: - Manually install the latest Flash Player plug-in for Safari; for whatever reason Safari 5.1 has some weirdness with that plug-in and will cause your system to hang on shut-down if you don't manually put in the latest version. - Java Runtime also has some strangeness with the .8 update; no clear reason for it and Apple has not yet addressed it - not even in the 1.1 update for 10.6.8. Install the latest updates AND, go into your JAVA preferences (Apps - Utilities - Java Prefs) and make sure you have both the 32 and 64-bit versions installed. If not, manually install the latest JRE and that will fix the glitch. Production Premium is also rock-solid on this combo. 10.7 is totally another story and is not yet ready for professional, prime-time use for any NLE package. Give it a few months for the bugs to clear.

August 1st, 2011, 05:46 PM	#23
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,825 Images: 15	Re: Final Cut Pro 7, OSX 10.6.x, QuickTime "magic" combo? 10.6.8 = No advantage over the ".7' release. Stay on that setup until Lion get's thoroughly worked over - maybe a 7.1 release.

August 1st, 2011, 07:11 PM	#24
Shaun Roemich Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia (formerly Winnipeg, Manitoba) Canada Posts: 4,088	Re: Final Cut Pro 7, OSX 10.6.x, QuickTime "magic" combo? I WON'T do a Lion update on the edit system. Nothing for ME there. I'll do incremental upgrades to sort out issues on an edit system but NEVER have I ever done a family upgrade. Well... except OS8.6 - OS9 when I needed to in order to keep running the ORIGINAL FCP running on my original B&W G3 450MHz... __________________ Shaun C. Roemich Road Dog Media - Vancouver, BC - Videographer - Webcaster www.roaddogmedia.ca Blog: http://roaddogmedia.wordpress.com/

August 5th, 2011, 02:58 AM	#25
David Knaggs Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 826	A number of apps "broken" with Lion My new custom-order iMac finally arrived last night (after a 2 week wait!) and I migrated everything over. It is running on Lion, of course. I've been checking each app, one by one, this afternoon and am shocked by how many things Lion seems to have "broken". It has firmed my resolve to NOT upgrade my Macbook Pro (which contains all the same apps) and leave it running on Snow Leopard. Here is what I've found with Lion: 1/ Cinema Tools - GONE - I just can't get it to open. It quits immediately every time I try to open it. 2/ LiveType - faulty - the Media Browser preview window gives nothing but colourful static when I try to preview LiveFonts, Textures, Objects and Effects. It does preview "Fonts" okay though. When I apply a LiveFont to the track, though, it does show up and seem to work okay. Why is why I classify it as faulty rather than broken. Of course, there's an outside chance that my graphics card could be faulty (even though everything is brand new). I also checked the LiveFonts in Motion 3 and they give the same "static" in the Library preview window for about a second and then settle down and display properly. 3/ DVHSCap - GONE - Lion doesn't recognise it at all. Lion doesn't seem to support any PowerPC applications any more as it moves closer towards an iOS-type of scene. I still have an old JVC GY-HD100 series camera (even though I shoot with an EX1R these days) and the most workable way of ingesting the JVC footage was to capture with DVHSCap (.m2t file) and then put a QuickTime wrapper on it using ClipWrap. ClipWrap opens okay with Lion. I tried to open HDVxDV, which is the alternate way (in the absence of DVHSCap) to capture the .m2t file, but HDVxDV is also GONE under Lion. It quits immediately every time I try to open it. XDCAM Transfer seems to work okay under Lion. I converted a test BPAV and the resultant QuickTime movie seems fine. Magic Bullet QuickLooks wouldn't install at all under Lion. Fortunately their website had a newer version which works under Lion, which I downloaded and then it installed fine. Sonicfire Pro 5 (a great source of music for corporate video) did manage to open, but was so faulty I couldn't get a product with it under Lion. I'm currently trying to find out if there's a Lion update for this software. I also couldn't open my scriptwriting software, Final Draft, under Lion. Fortunately, they had a specific Lion update on their website and now it works fine. I guess the "moral" is that software which is constantly supported and updated will be fine under Lion. Older legacy software (especially that which is used for older legacy equipment) has mostly been abandoned and broken. As I said earlier, I'll be keeping my MBP on Snow Leopard - specifically so I can keep using my legacy software. But for any who doubted the wisdom of Robert's words, I thought I'd give some real-life examples of apps which Lion has either broken or made faulty. As for me, I installed Adobe Production Premium CS5.5 on the new iMac today. Going forward, I envision that I'll be using only Prod Premium and FCP X going forward (and will drop FCS 2 as soon as practicable). Why? I only want to deal with software which is supported and will keep functioning properly despite ever-changing and evolving operating systems.