Apple - Final Cut Pro X - Answers to common questions. (http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/faq/)

Apple has obviously deemed it prudent to release some official statements on some of the most controversial issues! Better than nothing.

• Final Cut Pro 7 will work with Mac OS X Lion (Big news, as many has assumed the opposite)
• Support multicam? "Not yet, but it will. ... we will provide great multicam support in the next major release."
• External monitoring? Third party (as before), and coming - AJA has beta drivers for Kona-card.
• XML-export? EDL, OMF? XML coming, other protocols third-party.
• Assigning audio tracks? Not yet. "An update this summer will allow you to use metadata tags to categorize your audio clips by type and export them directly from Final Cut Pro X."
• Volume license? "Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, and Compressor 4 Commercial and Education Volume Licensing will be available soon via the Apple Online Store for quantities of 20 or more. After purchasing, customers will receive redemption codes they can use to download the applications from the Mac App Store."

Gotta love the webpage introduction:

"Final Cut Pro X is a breakthrough in nonlinear video editing. The application has impressed many pro editors, and it has also generated a lot of discussion in the pro video community."

which should read.

"Final Cut Pro X is an unfinished beta nonlinear video editing. The application has impressed many pro editors who are on our payroll, and it has also generated a lot of dismay in the pro video community."

Get it together Apple. We don't need mealy mouthed FAQ's we need a roadmap of what you are planning to do. Be warned that many of us aren't Apple zealots who worship at the feet of Jobs and don't care less what platform we use. If it means changing to Windows 7 with Adobe then so be it as it would certainly be far cheaper from a hardware point of view. Having made the jump from Premiere/Windows to Mac/FCP, I can easily make the jump back again.

If Adobe started offering FCP upgrade packages in the UK right now, I'd certainly give it consideration. The idea that FCP is somehow more professional than Premiere has always just been something put around by Apple advocates anyway. It's just FCP has seemingly been more widely adopted by the pros. However that is probably about to change.

I read no further than this: "Because of these changes, there is no way to “translate” or bring in old projects without changing or losing data."

I get that the filters will be different. Fine. But all of the cuts and dissolves and different layers could still be brought in.

If they did that, and then gave an on-screen list of things that couldn't be translated, with the timecodes of where it occurred, that would be a very workable solution. (E.g. "Missing 3-way-CC filter at 01:39.43, or whatever.)

They already do it with Pages. That's the great irony! When you bring in and open a Microsoft Word document in Pages, it will open it and give you a list of what it couldn't import or provide such as 'column formatting unable to be ..." or "missing Calibri font" or whatever.

The point being that the Pages software engineers didn't lazily sit back and simply issue an FAQ saying, "Pages cannot open Word files. This is because there is no way to “translate” or bring in old projects without changing or losing data."

No, they just rolled up their sleeves, had a few bright ideas and then provided a feature that could open Word files and provided a list of what it couldn't do, so that you could fix those points with available alternatives.

If they provide something similar with FCP X, opening up earlier FCP projects with a list of missing or non-compatible filters, etc. with the timecodes where they occurred - and if that list could be printed out (so that you can tick them off one by one) - this would be a very viable solution. Especially because a number of the new FCP X filters/effects/titlers might be a big improvement on what you earlier used in FCP 6 or 7!

They've already shown that it can be done with Pages.

It's finally occurred to me that this is the end of FCP7 in given time and that I had better be looking at another NLE to edit with. I wonder how long before FCP7 stops working on my MP or MBP and all the freelance editors and business that I collaborate with.
At this stage with development I'm safe and able to continue cutting but time will tell when this will cease.

I'm going back to AVID... not now, but soon, as I think this is the way forward with keeping a work flow between different editing houses.

If I see a massive change with FCP X I'll give it a go? but for now I'll pass.

Here's a real biggie. Apple have shown they don't care about throwing out old features. So what if at some future date they decide to drop ProRes or even break Quicktime all together? There's a real possibility that a future QT update could take down FCP 7.

That worries me more as I have a lot of projects rendered out as ProRes and naturally everything is a QT file.

I'm afraid I don't have any confidence in Apple at the moment. We need honesty and clarity not FAQ's that try to cover over the issues.

Spot on Marcus!

I don't know if they can ship to England, buy Videoguys (dot com) has a great deal. If you have FCP / FCS and are also eligible for the Adobe upgrade to Premiere Production bundle (a Photoshop copy would work - CS2 or higher, perhaps), you can get the bundle upgrade for around $800 versus $1,100. I would like to thank the Wrangler that mentioned this in another thread. See also this Wrangler's article on a Spring surprise on the home page of DVInfo.net. The bundle includes many programs, including After Effects and Audition.

Of course it's going to be possible to create something to import projects from FCP 7. As we old-time software developers know it's just a SMOP (Simple Matter Of Programming). That SMOP may involve many man years of software development but it's always possible. Incidentally importing an iMovie XML export into FCP 7 leaves behind all the fancy stuff like transitions, titles etc. My guess is that it's likely to be relatively easy to create some translator software that takes an FCP 7 project & creates a basic FCP X project by just importing the clips into the Event Library & marking the in & out points.

FCP 7 is never going to stop working. It's not time-bombed or anything. It's just not going to develop or get new features & there may be a time post-Lion when it won't run on the current hardware because it won't run on OS 10.x which is required for that new hardware. In many areas of real grown-up computing (banks, defence, power utilities etc) computer software frequently gets frozen on a particular version & never upgraded for stability & support reasons.

From these statements from the FAQ:-
"An update this summer will allow you to use metadata tags to categorize your audio clips by type and export them directly from Final Cut Pro X."
"we will provide great multicam support in the next major release."

We can deduce that there will be a minor update this summer (presumably July/August) that will not have multicam & that there will be a subsequent major release (6 months? 12 months? later?) that will have multicam.

Was this also posted before?

Apple - Final Cut Pro X - Key features for professional editors. (http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/pro-features/)

Not sure, where did you find a link to the page?

On the issue of importing older projects..

I'm holding out hope that once Apple releases their XML API some third-party companies will step in and be able to offer some sort of migration solution. Perhaps something that David mentions will eventually be possible..

We're extending both the Adobe $799 and Avid $995 crossgrade promotions through the July 4th holiday weekend. These are fantastic offers from companies that are committed to the professional editors.

Check out these blog posts on Videoguys.com:

FCPX got you down? Videoguys' Options for Final Cut Editors Videoguys Blog - FCPX got you down? Videoguys' Options for Final Cut Editors (http://www.videoguys.com/Blog/E/FCPX+got+you+down+Videoguys+Options+for+Final+Cut+Editors/0x744cb99dd8686b6c5c92478f998c1960.aspx)

Avid - The Professional's Choice. Always was. It's that simple.Videoguys Blog - Avid - The Professional's Choice. Always was. It's that simple. (http://www.videoguys.com/Blog/E/Avid+++The+Professionals+Choice+Always+was++Its+that+simple/0x505f304604d6697fa0e4cc5e6230dddd.aspx)

Adobe gets it and Adobe wants you.Videoguys Blog - Adobe gets it and Adobe wants you. (http://www.videoguys.com/Blog/E/Adobe+gets+it+and+Adobe+wants+you/0x21cf8cc211846f48e0874b9e5073f0ec.aspx)

Gary

I found this one:

Apple - Final Cut Pro X - All Features (http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/all-features/)

which is a comprehensive list of all the new enhancements and features.

I really could use SO much of that in my daily workflow! Big time! The possibilities actually got me quite excited until I remembered the features they left out.

Man, if they were to get their act together ...

As the saying goes "There ain't no money in the cure."

LOTS of technology companies purposely cripple a new product for simple upgrade later. It makes them more money (most of the time). I don't think FCPX will be very successful unless they immediately (like, RIGHT NOW) addess ALL the major issues surrounding the program.

-Casual consumers likely won't see a need to drop $300 for FCPX when they already have iMovie for free.
-As clearly evidenced, Pro, and Prosumer editors will have no qualms going over to better offerings from Adobe or Avid.

I'm curious as to the buy/return rate of FCPX so far, and wether or not its sales can be considered succesful. Every editor I've talked to has essentially HATED it, and MANY are getting refunds.

I'm waiting til the update for mine. For the time being, older iterations of FCP will work for me. And when the updates get released, if they don't give us the things we need, it's off to AVID for me.