Thoughts on new FCP X Sneak Peek

[Heath McKnight]

I hope third party resellers can get some sort of a deal on their websites that allow them to link to FCP X via the Mac App Store, and make a little bit of money.

heath

[Heath McKnight]

Ron,

It isn't as easy, or cheap, to just up and walk away from one major NLE to another. I've used and own Premiere Pro CS5, Avid MC 4.5 and Vegas Pro 10, but I have some much time and experience (if you will) invested in Final Cut Pro, I can't imagine leaving now. I'd have to start from scratch and work my way up. Sure, I've been editing on an NLE for about 13 years now, and I'm sure I'd come around to a new NLE, but it won't be simple.

I'm sure others will have a different opinion, but I can't imagine someone would want to change over everything just to have something else that maybe had a feature 2 years before FCP X. Especially if you've been using FCP for years, like me.

Heath

[Joe Carney]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

And / or a "Thanks" button.

Gosh I hope so. that would be awesome!!!

[Kirk Candlish]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

They don't have the product yet.

Oh they have it. But they don't know how stable it will be by June and what features will be left until an update because they're not ready.

Once the X.0 release master is done they also need the marketing campaigns in place, server allocation for what will be a massive onslaught of downloads and trained support personnel to handle the inevitable calls.

When the iPhone was released and people couldn't authorize them and get service it was AT&T that wasn't ready, not Apple. None the less they don't want another fiasco like that ever again.

[Heath McKnight]

Two words: North Carolina. That massive data farm is ready for the onslaught, because I have a feeling we're gonna see a fairly large app.

heath

[Ron Evans]

I understand your position Heath but if FCP X is so different than the current FCP it will be like starting all over again with a new NLE. I use Edius and Vegas, have my Shuttle Pro V2 set up so that they both operate the same way. Same buttons do the same things on both programs. Have the layouts set up much the same so they look much the same too. Just use the one that has the best feature for the task. I understand your position in not wanting to move but I do not think people who have already had all these features will suddenly move to FCP X just because it becomes available. They already have these features and will not want to move for the same reasons you have detailed. FCP is the one playing catch up. It will either meet your needs with the release of FCP X or not. We will find out when the product is really released. I am sure it will be a nice product.

Ron Evans

[Mitchell Lewis]

We paid $95,000 for our "TurboCube" non-linear edit system back in the early '90's. (that was difficult for me to say to the world)

[Bill Davis]

So you pay $1000 day one. Then a year later you pay another $500. And a year after that you pay another $500.

You think the aggregate value of the SOFTWARE you've now paid $2k for is important?

Open your eyes.

You've got software plus TWO YEARS OF EXPERIENCE and unless you're incompetent, a HUGE head start in skill over ALL the competitors who didn't pay THEIR money on day one.

Plus, if you're any good at what you do, you've likely EARNED ten to a hundred times that amount while your competitors messed around trying to compare software A to software B so they wouldn't feel bad if they had to pay 10% more or get 10% fewer features than some other editor.

Sheesh.

If someone can't see the primary competitive advantage of ceasing to endlessly obsess over this stuff and simply make a damn choice and GET TO WORK - they are doomed in this fast-moving era.

My view, such as it is.

[Heath McKnight]

What I meant was, I can't see someone leaving FCP for another program, because of years of use. Then again, I'm just speaking from my own experience.

FCP (and Avid) is long-in-the-tooth and they're adding in features that are around, and some new ones, too. I think FCP X is gonna be a big hit. But I think I'm now just repeating myself. I try not to be a Mac fanboy, because I know how annoying that is when you want straight talk on software or hardware (RED fanboys, anyone?).

Heath

[Steve Kalle]

Just to chime in on NLE vs NLE: my favorite part of Premiere CS5 is its integration with other CS5 apps with After Effects being the most important to me. For others, Encore's integration is very important. With AE and Premiere, there is so much more you can do and so much faster than any other NLE. I know of the 'Duck' for FCP, Avid and AE but that is another $500 and it doesn't work the same way as AE & Premiere. The benefits of this integration is not well known, yet, I think it is the strongest feature of Adobe CS5.

Btw, speaking from experience, FCP X won't be HUGE HUGE HUGE upon release because soooo many 3rd party plugins must be completely rewritten for the 64bit app. Premiere and AE CS5 are 64bit and I know of many people who did not upgrade for a couple months because their plugins were not rewritten & released upon CS5 release. FCP X will sell very well upon release, just not super crazy like some think.

[Kirk Candlish]

Please quantify 'super crazy.'

You're point as I understand it is that 'Pros' won't immediately upgrade.

Novices and iMovie affectionados will be downloading it because it's finally affordable and there won't be a cracked copy on piratebay.

[Bill Davis]

Originally Posted by Steve Kalle

Just to chime in on NLE vs NLE:

SNIP

Btw, speaking from experience, FCP X won't be HUGE HUGE HUGE upon release because soooo many 3rd party plugins must be completely rewritten for the 64bit app. Premiere and AE CS5 are 64bit and I know of many people who did not upgrade for a couple months because their plugins were not rewritten & released upon CS5 release. FCP X will sell very well upon release, just not super crazy like some think.

Gonna disagree a bit here, Steve.

I understand that for some users, plugins are mission critical. But for others, (myself included) not so much. In fact, in the last 2 months, I've delivered 3 full-length corporate videos, 11 HD broadcast spots, and 3 major company PowerPoint/Keynote presentations. The total number of plugins I've used in that work? NONE.

To me, plug-ins mostly add "fancy" or solve specific problems with field footage. My work typically does not rely on fancy - and after all these years of field production, I try really hard not to leave the field with "problems" I have to fix later.

So while I respect that type of workflow, I suspect I'm far from alone in thinking that there's likely nothing that's going to stop me from immediately diving into FCP-X.

From my seat at NAB, I could tell that the new interface has enough "FCP-like visual references" so I already KNOW what a CLIP looks like and what a TRACK looks like and what the concept of "between those two clips" should look like.

That's the essential beauty of the Apple closed ecosystem. The interface designers already know a LOT about how we (the poor users) expect stuff to look and work.

I expect that like ALL Apple software, I'll essentially load the program up and start double-clicking on stuff — and watch what happens. After a few days you can typically figure out the majority of how Apple stuff works.

Big advantage there!

YMMV.

[Floris van Eck]

Originally Posted by Kirk Candlish

Please quantify 'super crazy.'

You're point as I understand it is that 'Pros' won't immediately upgrade.

Novices and iMovie affectionados will be downloading it because it's finally affordable and there won't be a cracked copy on piratebay.

There is no difference between boxed apps, download apps or App store apps... all will end up on piratebay and other download sites. The thing that does end is the updating through software update of pirated software, and because of the more affordable price, more people will buy it, which will result in more profits for Apple.

[James Campbell]

When you download an app from the Apple App Store, doesn't it act differently than when you download a full exe for PC or a dmg for Mac? I'm not sure you're downloading a file that can be uploaded and is executable on just any computer. I think you're downloading something that Apple then confirms you are authorized to install on a short list of computers authorized via your iTunes account. I may be wrong.

In any case, I think this is one of the reasons why Apple is able to lower the price to $299... I think they'll be more in control of people using authorized copies of FCP X. I'm sure people will find ways around it, but I think it'll be more difficult, and at $299, a lot of people will resign themselves to buying who otherwise would have pirated.

One additional upside to buying via Apple App Store: I can install on all of my home computers with one $299 download. With all other App store purchases, I can install the apps on up to 5 computers.. I don't see why this app would be different, but we'll see.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Bill Davis

Gonna disagree a bit here, Steve.



From my seat at NAB, I could tell that the new interface has enough "FCP-like visual references" so I already KNOW what a CLIP looks like and what a TRACK looks like and what the concept of "between those two clips" should look like.

That's the essential beauty of the Apple closed ecosystem. The interface designers already know a LOT about how we (the poor users) expect stuff to look and work.

I expect that like ALL Apple software, I'll essentially load the program up and start double-clicking on stuff — and watch what happens. After a few days you can typically figure out the majority of how Apple stuff works.

Big advantage there!

YMMV.

If that is how close you have to be then all NLE's I know fit the bill MAC or PC. Very little difference between the timelines on FCP, CS5, Vegas, Edius etc especially as most will allow color changes for tracks features , window layouts and short cut key functions. For the most used functions they can all be set up the same. I know I am on a PC but I have Vegas and Edius set up to work the same way so that I can just switch between them without thinking which one I am using. My Shuttle Pro V2 works exactly the same way for both . Window layouts across my two 24" monitors the same. One just does audio better, the other does multicam better with wider file format support and realtime speed.

Vegas and Edius work with native file formats and will run realtime from the timeline. Edius is more capable in this regard than Vegas.

Big advantage there over FCP !

Ron Evans