FCP vs FCE Question at DVinfo.net

Tom Cadwalader · April 26th, 2009, 06:47 AM

In a very broad sense, is it safe to say the FCE is a somewhat downscale version of FCP. By that I mean they edit the same way, but you get more features with FCP or is there a lot more for the extra money in FCP?
Thanks for your patience and help.
Tom

Nick Gordon · April 27th, 2009, 04:18 AM

In a broad sense, yes - the interfaces are the same, but Pro gives you more of what Express does.

However, Pro comes as part of FC Studio with a bunch of other apps, including Cinema Tools and Soundtrack Pro.

The distinction is supposed to be that Express is fine of prosumers and students, but Pro is what you want if you're into full professional production, especially if you'll be going to export to film.

This Wikipedia entry is a decent summary

Final Cut Express - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tom Cadwalader · April 27th, 2009, 06:16 AM

Thanks for the reply Nick. I checked out the link. Found it very helpful.

Les Wilson · April 27th, 2009, 06:45 AM

If you're asking because you want a step up from iMovie, then FCE is the next step. If you want to step up your production values over the next few years and do paid projects for clients, you may want to consider FCS.

What the Wiki page didn't cover are things in FCS that are not in FCE. When I looked at this back in the FCE 3 days, the main deal breaker for FCE was missing batch capture. When efficiency and multitasking is important to you, batch capture is a big time saver. With FCE, you preview the tape, set your in/out points then capture. Hummmm deeee dummmm slurp coffee..... kill a few minutes, rinse and repeat for each clip. With batch capture, you set the in/out points for all the clips on the tape, hit capture and come back later. All your clips are captured and organized into a folder.

Maybe they added batch capture to FCE in later versions, dunno. Anyway, ferreting out the features FCE does not have my be the most revealing and helpful for you.

Bill Pryor · April 27th, 2009, 03:47 PM

Last time I looked, FCE only worked with 60i too. If that's not a concern, you can finish a movie on it OK. There is some color correction but more limited. You don't get Motion, which is very useful for lots of things. Also you don't get DVD Studio Pro, so you'd be limited to the free iDVD; same for sound.

Nigel Barker · April 28th, 2009, 12:05 AM

With Final Cut Express you also don't get the ProRes intermediate CODEC.

Tom Cadwalader · April 28th, 2009, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

With Final Cut Express you also don't get the ProRes intermediate CODEC.

Can ProRes be added?

Scott Anderson · April 28th, 2009, 08:48 AM

No, ProRes cannot be added to FCE. FCE is limited to the codecs most commonly found in consumer/prosumer cameras: DV, HDV and AVCHD.

Intentionally crippled, you may say? Yes....but, there has to be some difference between a $200 product and a $1300 product.

Final Cut Studio includes: Final Cut Pro (editing), LiveType (titling - also in FCE), Cinema Tools (format conversion pulldown removal and film workflow management), Motion (2D and pseudo 3D motion graphics), Color (color correction), Soundtrack Pro (advanced multi-track audio mixing/editing and loop-based music creation), Compressor (compression for web & DVD) and DVD Studio Pro (advanced DVD authoring).

Considering everything it includes, Final Cut Studio is still one of the best values in media software. Take Color, for instance. Before Apple bought the software from a company called Silicon Color, it was a product called Final Touch. It's basically a quarter-million dollar DaVinci system in software. The Final Touch license was $1000 (SD), $5000 (HD) or $25,000 (2K). That's well worth the price of admission alone.

There's really no difference in the learning curve between FCE and FCP. The interface is practically identical. There's a much steeper learning curve in learning all the other Pro Apps, but you will be richly rewarded with a full-featured media production suite that allows you to do practically anything.

Tom Cadwalader · April 28th, 2009, 06:11 PM

Thank you all for the replies. They have been very helpful.

Tramm Hudson · May 7th, 2009, 11:44 AM

Does Final Cut Express support control surfaces like the Behringer BCF2000 or the Mackie MCU Pro? I don't see anything in the manual that discusses configuring FCE to use them, but would like an easier way to do final audio mixing on multiple tracks.

April 26th, 2009, 06:47 AM	#1
Tom Cadwalader Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Cheboygan, Michigan Posts: 79	FCP vs FCE Question In a very broad sense, is it safe to say the FCE is a somewhat downscale version of FCP. By that I mean they edit the same way, but you get more features with FCP or is there a lot more for the extra money in FCP? Thanks for your patience and help. Tom

April 27th, 2009, 06:16 AM	#3
Tom Cadwalader Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Cheboygan, Michigan Posts: 79	Thanks you Thanks for the reply Nick. I checked out the link. Found it very helpful.

April 28th, 2009, 06:11 PM	#9
Tom Cadwalader Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Cheboygan, Michigan Posts: 79	Thank You Thank you all for the replies. They have been very helpful.

May 7th, 2009, 11:44 AM	#10
Tramm Hudson Wizard Status Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: New York, NY Posts: 239	Control surfaces? Does Final Cut Express support control surfaces like the Behringer BCF2000 or the Mackie MCU Pro? I don't see anything in the manual that discusses configuring FCE to use them, but would like an easier way to do final audio mixing on multiple tracks.

April 27th, 2009, 04:18 AM	#2
Nick Gordon Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Milton Keynes, UK Posts: 166	In a broad sense, yes - the interfaces are the same, but Pro gives you more of what Express does. However, Pro comes as part of FC Studio with a bunch of other apps, including Cinema Tools and Soundtrack Pro. The distinction is supposed to be that Express is fine of prosumers and students, but Pro is what you want if you're into full professional production, especially if you'll be going to export to film. This Wikipedia entry is a decent summary Final Cut Express - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

April 27th, 2009, 06:45 AM	#4
Les Wilson Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Boca Raton, FL Posts: 3,014	If you're asking because you want a step up from iMovie, then FCE is the next step. If you want to step up your production values over the next few years and do paid projects for clients, you may want to consider FCS. What the Wiki page didn't cover are things in FCS that are not in FCE. When I looked at this back in the FCE 3 days, the main deal breaker for FCE was missing batch capture. When efficiency and multitasking is important to you, batch capture is a big time saver. With FCE, you preview the tape, set your in/out points then capture. Hummmm deeee dummmm slurp coffee..... kill a few minutes, rinse and repeat for each clip. With batch capture, you set the in/out points for all the clips on the tape, hit capture and come back later. All your clips are captured and organized into a folder. Maybe they added batch capture to FCE in later versions, dunno. Anyway, ferreting out the features FCE does not have my be the most revealing and helpful for you.

April 27th, 2009, 03:47 PM	#5
Bill Pryor Contributor Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 4,449	Last time I looked, FCE only worked with 60i too. If that's not a concern, you can finish a movie on it OK. There is some color correction but more limited. You don't get Motion, which is very useful for lots of things. Also you don't get DVD Studio Pro, so you'd be limited to the free iDVD; same for sound.

April 28th, 2009, 12:05 AM	#6
Nigel Barker Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Posts: 3,531	With Final Cut Express you also don't get the ProRes intermediate CODEC.

April 28th, 2009, 08:48 AM	#8
Scott Anderson Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 327	No, ProRes cannot be added to FCE. FCE is limited to the codecs most commonly found in consumer/prosumer cameras: DV, HDV and AVCHD. Intentionally crippled, you may say? Yes....but, there has to be some difference between a $200 product and a $1300 product. Final Cut Studio includes: Final Cut Pro (editing), LiveType (titling - also in FCE), Cinema Tools (format conversion pulldown removal and film workflow management), Motion (2D and pseudo 3D motion graphics), Color (color correction), Soundtrack Pro (advanced multi-track audio mixing/editing and loop-based music creation), Compressor (compression for web & DVD) and DVD Studio Pro (advanced DVD authoring). Considering everything it includes, Final Cut Studio is still one of the best values in media software. Take Color, for instance. Before Apple bought the software from a company called Silicon Color, it was a product called Final Touch. It's basically a quarter-million dollar DaVinci system in software. The Final Touch license was $1000 (SD), $5000 (HD) or $25,000 (2K). That's well worth the price of admission alone. There's really no difference in the learning curve between FCE and FCP. The interface is practically identical. There's a much steeper learning curve in learning all the other Pro Apps, but you will be richly rewarded with a full-featured media production suite that allows you to do practically anything.