Hey,
I was wondering about your input.

Would it be worth that much to upgrade for $479 from Final Cut Studio to Final Cut Studio 2?

I bought the first version of FCS 2 wks. before the 2nd came out.

For what it's worth I'm waiting for a couple of more patches to be released before I make the shift, the only thing at the moment that really appeals is being able to put multipile formats on the same timeline without constantly re-rendering (not sure if my IMac has enough grunt for that to actually work though.) and some of Compressor 3's feature. Color isn't much use considering the specs I am running will not make it worthwhile, and I have heard a few stories that make me think it's better to hold off until it's slightly more field tested before making the leap.

I I had a Mac Pro I would probably be making the shift earlier.

I couldnt agree more. On the apple site, check the specs to determine if your computer is up to par, especially for using Color. They are recommending Mac Pro, quad core for running this app. Im sure it will work at lower speeds on older apple computers, but the site references it being more for faster, newer versions. Check also the discussion forums on apple.com, they have several posts regarding the upgrade and if its worth doing or not. Personally, Im waiting until next year when I completely upgrade my system, then again Im in no hurry. Take care.

I upgraded about 3 weeks ago thinking it was a necessity, but soon found out not much has really changed. If I could do it again, I would've waited longer. I've had some stability issues with studio 2 and some of my footage goes off line and has to be reconnected for no reason at all, which is strange and annoying. Color is cool, but I don't use it that much and the new compressor just looks and feels different but it still encodes exactly the same as its predecessor. There's the new smoothcam filter that is actually really cool, but everything else is pretty much exactly the same from what I can tell. You wouldn't be missing much of anything by waiting a bit to upgrade.

I couldnt agree more. On the apple site, check the specs to determine if your computer is up to par, especially for using Color. They are recommending Mac Pro, quad core for running this app. Im sure it will work at lower speeds on older apple computers, but the site references it being more for faster, newer versions. Check also the discussion forums on apple.com, they have several posts regarding the upgrade and if its worth doing or not. Personally, Im waiting until next year when I completely upgrade my system, then again Im in no hurry. Take care.

For what it's worth, Color is doing allright on my Dual 2,5 G5. Motion with a lot going on is the worst part for me. :)

I'm with Craig and Danny on this one. FCP upgrades have always brought their share of issues for me, so I don't jump into them until I really need to. I saw the FCS2 demos at NAB and was very impressed, but think I can live without the new stuff a little longer. I will probably wait until I get an Intel machine to take the dive, and that will bring a lot of other upgrade issues as well so I'm not in a rush...