Hi, I do a bit of occasional editing....home stuff and a couple of live band DVDs, and a bit of Dance recital stuff....I guess hobbiest for occasional $$$....I've used Pinnacle Studio 10 and Premier Pro on my PC....I loved the simplicity of Studio 10 for quick stuff but occasionaly need at least 2, maybe even a couple of more video timelines....
besides that requirement, I've got 2 HD camcorders (Sony) so I'd like to be able to edit and output (somehow?) in HD as well as SD...
Would I be ok with the imovie that comes with a mac for the quick and easy stuff? and for the multiple timeline stuff, what could I get by with?....Final cut pro, finalcut studio, etc....I'm not even sure what's all out there for the mac etc...
I've got an imac 2.4 with 4 gigs ram and the 24" monitor...
Len

If you have a Mac, you NEED FCPro.

Simple.

Buy it.

Another vote for FCP here. You might be able to get away with the Express version, so check it out and decide.

thanks Eric....What are the differences between the Express version and FC Pro?
Len

They are the same, minus a few features. Plus, FCP comes with the studio, so you get Motion, DVDsp, Soundtrack, color, etc.

FCP vote from me as well.

If not, you could try the Adobe CS3 Suite, with Premiere.

Yes, maybe I might be better off with Premiere for mac as I've used the windows version....however I'm told that FCpro is similar in look and operation?
Len

Since it's not a business expense with dollars riding on your purchase,
I would just get your new Mac and use the free software that comes with it.
Later if you feel you need a higher end solution you can always purchase FCP.
IMHO, Adobe Premiere is still not ready for prime time.

Thanks David....
I'm leaning towards FCP...just have to scope out the different varieties...
I'm pretty sure what's there in ilife 08 won't cut it....
Len

Yes Len,

I'm voting for FCP too.
There's just nothing that can touch it right now.
The learning curve is worth it.
It's got possibilities from the most simple beginnings of editing,
to serious filmmaking.
You will be happy.

David

I've used FCP and Premiere. I like using FCP more. The end. However, granted, I used an older version of Premiere. I was reluctant to switch, but I'm glad I did now.

Premiere and FCP are almost identical. They basically split from the same program and are still similar because, with each release, they copy the best parts of each other. FCP was a big step ahead of Premiere, but then P Pro came along and caught up a bit. At this point, it's mostly personal preference, but if you're a competent editor, I doubt the switch would be a problem. I wouldn't be at all wary of starting a new project on Premiere, and I expect you would do fine similarly if you started with FCP.

I'm not sure David says Premiere isn't ready, though I guess I feel the same way. Certainly not if Pro hadn't come along, but now it's getting closer, anyway. Might even be there. I haven't experienced it enough to comment. FCP is certainly ready, though. It's been used on a couple feature films, for example.

FCP Pro does have some glitches, but I think it is the best software out there. I have not used other systems, but have six years of experience with FCP and use it daily. If you are using a mac system, I think it is the way to go.

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro are NOT the same! Certainly they're more alike than FCE and iMovie, but the differences are significant, though whether they're worth the 400% price difference depends on what you do. Main differences between FCP and FCE (price aside):

FCP only comes as part of the Final Cut Studio suite, which includes very powerful (i.e. very complex) applications like Motion, DVDstudio Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Compressor and Color. FCE comes only with Soundtrack 1.5 (much less powerful that STPro) and LiveType 2. For DVDs you'd use iDVD

FCP can edit and transcode into and from a whole range of professional codecs (such as ProRes, DVCproHD, IMX, HDcamHD etc) and can adapt to almost any resolution up to 2K (soon to be 4K with RECODE I think). It is also usable with a huge range of professional hardware, such as AJA and BMD HD cards, capturing via SDI or HDMI etc. It also supports native HDV editing. FCE is limited to DV and HDV (though only via the Apple Intermediate Codec), and captures over firewire only.

FCP comes with 3 way colour correction built in, and can export directly to Color. FCE comes with 2 way colour correction only.

FCP has full timecode control so you can edit at offline resolution and online at higher quality FCE can only capture on the fly, much like iMovie

There are a host of other differences (e.g.FCP has XML support, open plug in architecture, multicam, open timeline, support for 23.976/24p, 50/60p) but at a basic level the above are the ones that might make a difference to you.

My guess from what you've already said is that you'd be fine with FCE. I think you'll find iMovie beneath you very quickly. FCE shares a lot of killer features with FCP: Multiple sequences, Dynamic RT, Keyframable effects, Digital Cinema desktop, nested sequences, JKL control. The price tag of Final Cut Studio is a lot to justify for a hobby with occasional $$$. Depends how much spare cash you have hanging around.

Thankyou for the indepth report Dylan....Yes, I'm thinking too the FC Express might be enough for me.....as long as I can edit at least two video timelines together at one time....
I'm probably thinking that not only would I never use most of the high-end features of the pro version, but I'm assuming that the learning curve for express might be a bit easier as well....
Len