That's it for me - Project work disappeared...

[Terry VerHaar]

Ben - If you are talking about just downloading and installing from the App Store, unfortunately, through no fault of your own, that may have led to some of your problems. Here is the detailed instructions for getting FCPX up and running on your machine if you also have FC Studio installed...

Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4: Installation best practices

I did it this way and , so far, no problems.

Best of luck.

[Ben Freedman]

Hi, Terry...

Neither that document nor the update was available when I had this issue. Of course, things may be better now, but that doesn't help. It's like saying 'driving is the leading cause of car accidents'. Using the softwareis the leading cause of crashes... :)

I did what I was told at the time. Why doesn't this document pop up when you run the installer? That's crazy!

Things broke. I'm not saying that things won't be better, just that the software is currently 'untrustable'.

Best,

Ben

[Terry VerHaar]

Ben - I know, I was surprised by it, too. I was just luck enough not to have done much more than start FCPX and quit before I found out about it. If you don't have any luck sort of backing out and starting over, maybe Apple support can get you where you need to be.

Good luck.

[Anthony Trotter]

I've been using Premiere for many years now, recently switched to running PPro on Mac. It's smooth as silk. I have no complaints. It's all that and a bag of chips. Red Giant's Magic Bullet Looks + Adobe Media Encoder has made workflow efficient and look good, too. My company just ordered 6 new work stations to run FCP X, so I'm gonna have to learn FCP X and make it work with my demanding workload and deadlines. Can anyone tell me their experiences and whether or not these are real issues with FCP X:

* Unable to import / work with certain file types like MPEG2 (HDV)
* Limited video capture, Firewire only capture / ingest
* Can't reconnect to "Offline Media"
* Users can't assign audio tracks, must have utility called "Automatic Duck Pro Export" to do so. - This is especially important to me since almost everything I do involves split tracks, foreign language tracks, narration, and multiple levels of background sound.
* No P2 support, or there is some kind of "trick" to capturing / ingesting P2 files.
* Third party software required to export to tape. I still get occasional requests for that and would like to have that as an option.
* Can’t connect an external video monitor.
* Issues with saving / autosaving project
* FCP isn't really the choice for pros, but merely an advanced iMovie application.

[Henrik Reach]

A lot of questions are answered (adressed) here:
Professional Video Editors Weigh In on Final Cut Pro X - NYTimes.com

Some of the issues you list are indeed issues right now, but most assume those to be fixed fairly soon. EDL being about the only thing it seems Apple will not provide at all (but this may also be provided by 3rd party providers as I understand, same with OMF etc.?).

[Brian Drysdale]

I gather FCP 7 has been withdrawn from the market, which seems a strange act by Apple when the replacement seems to be a beta rather than a fully functioning program.

If you're going to introduce a new version of professional software that replaces an established product, you need to make sure it performs all the functions of the old one. Also, at the very least, it should convert the old projects into new versions that the new software can handle.

It sounds like Apple put out this underdeveloped version out to show they're actaully doing something to prevent people moving over to the other NLE systems, which now seem to have been listening to editors who use the programs.

[William Hohauser]

Originally Posted by Anthony Trotter

* Unable to import / work with certain file types like MPEG2 (HDV)
* Limited video capture, Firewire only capture / ingest
* Can't reconnect to "Offline Media"
* Users can't assign audio tracks, must have utility called "Automatic Duck Pro Export" to do so. - This is especially important to me since almost everything I do involves split tracks, foreign language tracks, narration, and multiple levels of background sound.
* No P2 support, or there is some kind of "trick" to capturing / ingesting P2 files.
* Third party software required to export to tape. I still get occasional requests for that and would like to have that as an option.
* Can’t connect an external video monitor.
* Issues with saving / autosaving project
* FCP isn't really the choice for pros, but merely an advanced iMovie application.

I'll answer what I can from juggling work and experimenting with X.

- X can import QuickTime HDV files made with Clipwrap. Raw m2t is not recognized.

- I have only captured HDV thru FireWire with deck control. That works fine. I frequently capture wild sources thru a Canopus A to D converter, that's my next experiment.

- Offline media is re-connectable if you follow Apple's new media protocol. Otherwise the re-connection options you are used to in 7 apparently is not there.

- You have multiple layers of audio available but there seems to be no formal track numbering on the timeline. This is a problem for my complex projects but for the simple ones it works fine.

- P2 is captured thru "import from camera" regardless of where the files are stored before import. Something to do with the P2 file structure or just a weird oversight.

- Removing export to tape is one of those "Apple skips ahead" things that they do from time to time that drives people nuts. Here's the work around: Export the project as a QuickTime file and open it in FCP7. Export to tape is back. I have been doing for a few years anyway as I frequently use an older computer to print to tape so I can get back to work on the main one.

- No external monitor option yet unless you have a DVI to video device that works outside of FCP. Someone else with experience with these devices will have chime in here. I have a second computer monitor that is color corrected with a Spyder Elite device but it's not 100% accurate, maybe 95%. It works fine for me and I frequently output to 35mm film.

- I have not had saving problems since the first crash.

- That iMoviePro tag is not a fair comparison. While it is based on iMovie's 64bit architecture, there so much that this version can do beyond iMovie that I think it's in class by itself. BUT.... it certainly needs work and several FCP7 features brought back. There are so many color filters and other effects included that it could be worth it just as a 64bit effects program. People should think about that as well.

[Steve Kalle]

Add to that list: you cannot purchase more than ONE copy per iTunes account so your boss will have fun trying to buy 6 copies. You will also have to sit and wait for each computer to download from the app store.

You also cannot export audio only or edit multicam.

The writing is on the wall and it is clear as day: Apple intended this app to be a consumer-ish, watered down NLE.

[Louis Maddalena]

Originally Posted by Steve Kalle

Add to that list: you cannot purchase more than ONE copy per iTunes account so your boss will have fun trying to buy 6 copies. You will also have to sit and wait for each computer to download from the app store.
.

I have downloaded multiple copies with my itunes account. Was allowed to do it on all my systems and even run them at the same time.

[Steve Kalle]

According to the podcast with Biscardi and Harrington, if you have multiple users on multiple computers, you need the multi-user license BUT this license is not for sale anywhere. According to them, what you did is not legal according to Apple's licensing terms.

[David Knaggs]

Originally Posted by Steve Kalle

According to them, what you did is not legal according to Apple's licensing terms.

Louis, what you did IS legal. They are all under your own Apple ID for your own computers and I quoted the relevant part of the Apple license agreement in another thread. Walter B. was talking about a different scenario.

Please Steve, this FCP X release has been disappointing and painful enough without adding false data into the mix. I am glad that both Adobe and Avid have such great solutions waiting in the wings. If Adobe were really smart, they'd keep that "Upgrade to 5.5" special open for another 6 weeks rather than having it expire in 4 days. By then, the updates, or lack of them, to FCP X on super-critical features like repairing the connections to your media (the topic of this thread) and importing FCP projects from earlier FCP versions will tell most FCP editors which way the future winds are blowing.

[Anthony Trotter]

Thanks for the info, William. It's really helpful. I'm cautious about investing time into learning a program that can't recognize M2T file which come from my camera. I've never clipwrapped anything and don't feel good about not being able to edit with native files in the timeline. Well, we are going to have six of these brand new FCP X stations and I don't think FCP X can deliver what we need. It's gonna have to meet our deadlines, complex, multi-language demands while at the same time offer compatibility with other formats and platforms. Can plug-ins such as Magic Bullet Looks, Colorista, etc, be used on FCP X or are users limited to color correction / effects contained in FDC X? Thanks again, William

[Eric Emerick]

Originally Posted by Anthony Trotter

I've been using Premiere for many years now, recently switched to running PPro on Mac. It's smooth as silk. I have no complaints. It's all that and a bag of chips. Red Giant's Magic Bullet Looks + Adobe Media Encoder has made workflow efficient and look good, too. My company just ordered 6 new work stations to run FCP X, so I'm gonna have to learn FCP X and make it work with my demanding workload and deadlines. Can anyone tell me their experiences and whether or not these are real issues with FCP X:

* Unable to import / work with certain file types like MPEG2 (HDV)
* Limited video capture, Firewire only capture / ingest
* Can't reconnect to "Offline Media"
* Users can't assign audio tracks, must have utility called "Automatic Duck Pro Export" to do so. - This is especially important to me since almost everything I do involves split tracks, foreign language tracks, narration, and multiple levels of background sound.
* No P2 support, or there is some kind of "trick" to capturing / ingesting P2 files.
* Third party software required to export to tape. I still get occasional requests for that and would like to have that as an option.
* Can’t connect an external video monitor.
* Issues with saving / autosaving project
* FCP isn't really the choice for pros, but merely an advanced iMovie application.

Your company did WHAT!? I can't believe that, it may be the most irresponsible thing I've ever heard in a professional industry. Regardless of how you feel about FCPX, it IS a 1.0 completely re-tooled program. Even if it had 90% of these things all the pro's are complaining it doesn't, it's would still be hard to understand any company doing that. I wish you all the best in that place between a rock and a hard place.

[William Hohauser]

Originally Posted by Anthony Trotter

Thanks for the info, William. It's really helpful. I'm cautious about investing time into learning a program that can't recognize M2T file which come from my camera. I've never clipwrapped anything and don't feel good about not being able to edit with native files in the timeline. Well, we are going to have six of these brand new FCP X stations and I don't think FCP X can deliver what we need. It's gonna have to meet our deadlines, complex, multi-language demands while at the same time offer compatibility with other formats and platforms. Can plug-ins such as Magic Bullet Looks, Colorista, etc, be used on FCP X or are users limited to color correction / effects contained in FDC X? Thanks again, William

First of all, editing a raw m2t file is no fun and will bog down the fastest computers. It always better and faster in the long run to convert m2t or AVCHD into a frame based codec such as ProRes. Especially if there are filters being used.

And if you haven't tried ClipWrap and you are working with a lot of m2t files, you have been suffering needlessly. For $50 it solves a lot of problems.

No third party filter works with X yet but X comes with an array of color filter presets that should be very useful if not actually replacing some of the presets in the effect packages you mention. And they are 64bit filters so your rendering time is reduced if not eliminated. I have not experimented with them yet but they are there.

The program works but is wonky in places and Apple needs feedback from actual users who have taken the time to work the program and understand the methods used. If after a week it turns out you can't edit a multi language program with it, then you are correct but I can think of one method right now but I would need to test it before passing it along. And I think your bosses should have bought one program to experiment with not six.

[Anthony Trotter]

Eric, “the most irresponsible thing I've ever heard in a professional industry” is a bit harsh. The decision was made long before the stuff hit the fan with FCP X. There are many involved in this decision, most of whom have been relying on Final Cut for a long time and know the program well.
William, thanks for your feedback! As I mentioned, I’ve been editing with Premiere for a long time. And cutting m2t with premiere on a Mac has been smooth as silk, better than raw from XDCAM EX. I’m actually going into FCP as a relative newbie. Up untill FCP X came out, I was looking forward to mastering the program. Now, I dunno….