FCP Upgrade Problems? at DVinfo.net

Mike Scoboria · May 13th, 2005, 01:47 PM

Ran a search on this and didn't come up with much.

Has anybody who has upgraded to Final Cut Pro 5 encountered any problems?

Also, would there be any reason to hold off on upgrading now (ie. additional features in upcoming versions of FCP)?

Deniz Turkmen · May 13th, 2005, 01:54 PM

I don't think FCP 5 has been released yet. At least, the FCP Studio hasn't been. My order status from Apple says it's supposed to ship in early June.

Craig Terott · May 13th, 2005, 02:18 PM

Forgive me for my negitive outlook on this but all you have to do is look at the Tiger message boards to see how well that one is going. I really like the multicam in FCP5 - they hooked me like a bass on spinner bait with that one ...but I think it's wise to let the dust settle. I mean - doesn't Apple have enough beta testers out there without my list of gliches.

Yep, by the time I get that production suite - there will be about 60 meg worth of fixes & updates right there ready to be downloaded.

Boyd Ostroff · May 13th, 2005, 02:43 PM

No, FCP 5 is still not shipping yet. In fact, the interesting thing is that their website still says it will be 4 to 6 weeks before it's available. When they announced it several weeks ago they were also saying 4 to 6 weeks. I wonder how long it will take before the wait is less than 4 to 6 weeks? ;-)

I have to agree pretty much with Craig. I'm in the middle of a big project and that's no time to try out either a new operating system or a new NLE. Next fall I'll think about making the switch...

Kurth Bousman · May 13th, 2005, 03:25 PM

If you need HDV , buy now . If not , follow Boyds' advice and take your time. If you're just doing dv , then v3 is more than adequate. If you need a 24p timeline , then v4 is great. But if you want to edit HDV now , then preorder 5 because it will do native HDV editing. Kurth

Boyd Ostroff · May 13th, 2005, 05:17 PM

The only caveat there is the FCP 4.5 really runs much faster than FCP 3 and gives much more real time capability. I recently upgraded from FCP 3 to 4.5 and there's a huge difference. Version 5 should be terrific... after we've had a chance to get some real user reports. And until we hear otherwise that will be "4 to 6 weeks"...

BTW, Apple just posted an update to FCP 4.5 and the other "pro apps" which provides bug fixes. There are separate patches for both OS X 1.3.9 and OS X 10.4. See their website here:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...acosx1039.html
http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...macosx104.html

But for me personally, since I'm at 10.3.8 and nothing's broke.... I ain't gonna fix nothing! :-)

Kurth Bousman · May 14th, 2005, 09:32 AM

You're right about that Boyd but it depends on what machine it's running on- you never know when some little upgrade will send you into the nether zone . I just bought a mac mini running 10.3.8 and tried to load nattress' new 2.1 demo into fcp3- no go. It will load 2, and 2.1 will load into fcx2 - I'm sure , when I drop a line to Mr. Nattress he'll be able to say - oh , you just have to do that but it's another thing on the list of life to take care of. As you know upgrades with fcp are not cheap. I've got a registered fcp 1 I'm about to upgrade to the studio package , when it's released ( I think there's no academic discount for this one ). I figure from version 1.25 to 5 is finally a good investment for 7 bills. I try to stay happy with the version of program I have running and not always keep chasing after that golden goose egg , 'cause usually those costly upgrades are connected to more costly hardware upgrades to see the benefits. take care Kurth

Loye Miller · June 8th, 2005, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Scoboria

Ran a search on this and didn't come up with much.

Has anybody who has upgraded to Final Cut Pro 5 encountered any problems?

Also, would there be any reason to hold off on upgrading now (ie. additional features in upcoming versions of FCP)?

I just upgraded my system from FC 4.5 HD to FCP 5 prod suite and there were some issues. First off, anyone owning an AJA IO box has some work to do - mainly clearing EVERYTHING from previous versions of FC off your system first before installing FC 5 (instructions on exactly what to do are available from AJA tech support). Not doing this will result in loss of video out from the box after installing FC 5 AND the new set of drivers available from AJA's website (without the new drivers all of the codecs associated with the IO are gone).

Next there are issues with plug-ins and favorites not coming through in the upgrade (though following AJA's instructions will clear all favorites away regardless so be aware to back these up and not simply delete them). After upgrading to FCP 5 I had lost all of my motion and color correction favorites (a nice collection of presets that I miss dearly), as well as my plug-ins such as Boris Red and Magic Bullet. I've looked at the readme files on the install disc and also on Apple's website and can find no mention of this though the vendor that I buy my gear from thought this sounded a bit familiar. I hope that answers to this problem are forthcoming.

My machine is a dual 1.25 gig G4 mirror door with FW 800. On this machine I've found that FC 5 will not allow the timeline to be spread across my two edit monitors as all previous versions did. This is not an issue with a G5 as I've tested it on one. This might be attributed to the video card that is in the G4 (Radeon 9000 Pro), which is not a supported card for Motion. I will be replacing this with a 9800 Pro in the next couple of days and we'll see what happens there.

As for what new features might come in future versions its hard to say though a few much anticipated things have been integrated into FC 5. The general buzz that I've been hearing is that upgrading to FC 5 now is mainly needed by those who have a multi camera project or an HDV project coming up soon - or anyone who simply wants to keep up with new software and new features. I'm overdue to get into Motion and this was my motivation along with enhancements to DVD SP 4 and it's HD DVD support. It was simply time for me to go to the full production suite.

Boyd Ostroff · June 8th, 2005, 02:21 PM

Motion should run on your G4 if you get the graphics card upgrade, however it will be pretty slow. I run it on a dual G5/2.5 and it even seems slow (a fancier graphics card would help). I was surprised to find that it even runs on my 1ghz 15" Powerbook, people had said it wouldn't. I can do simple things on that machine, but wouldn't take on a big project. If you get serious with Motion you'll start wanting a G5 real soon... :-)

May 13th, 2005, 01:47 PM	#1
Mike Scoboria Regular Crew Join Date: May 2003 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 26	FCP Upgrade Problems? Ran a search on this and didn't come up with much. Has anybody who has upgraded to Final Cut Pro 5 encountered any problems? Also, would there be any reason to hold off on upgrading now (ie. additional features in upcoming versions of FCP)?

May 13th, 2005, 01:54 PM	#2
Deniz Turkmen Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: CA Posts: 166	I don't think FCP 5 has been released yet. At least, the FCP Studio hasn't been. My order status from Apple says it's supposed to ship in early June.

May 13th, 2005, 02:18 PM	#3
Craig Terott Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Glendale, AZ Posts: 691	Forgive me for my negitive outlook on this but all you have to do is look at the Tiger message boards to see how well that one is going. I really like the multicam in FCP5 - they hooked me like a bass on spinner bait with that one ...but I think it's wise to let the dust settle. I mean - doesn't Apple have enough beta testers out there without my list of gliches. Yep, by the time I get that production suite - there will be about 60 meg worth of fixes & updates right there ready to be downloaded.

May 13th, 2005, 02:43 PM	#4
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	No, FCP 5 is still not shipping yet. In fact, the interesting thing is that their website still says it will be 4 to 6 weeks before it's available. When they announced it several weeks ago they were also saying 4 to 6 weeks. I wonder how long it will take before the wait is less than 4 to 6 weeks? ;-) I have to agree pretty much with Craig. I'm in the middle of a big project and that's no time to try out either a new operating system or a new NLE. Next fall I'll think about making the switch...

May 13th, 2005, 03:25 PM	#5
Kurth Bousman Major Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: san miguel allende , gto , mexico Posts: 644	If you need HDV , buy now . If not , follow Boyds' advice and take your time. If you're just doing dv , then v3 is more than adequate. If you need a 24p timeline , then v4 is great. But if you want to edit HDV now , then preorder 5 because it will do native HDV editing. Kurth

May 13th, 2005, 05:17 PM	#6
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	The only caveat there is the FCP 4.5 really runs much faster than FCP 3 and gives much more real time capability. I recently upgraded from FCP 3 to 4.5 and there's a huge difference. Version 5 should be terrific... after we've had a chance to get some real user reports. And until we hear otherwise that will be "4 to 6 weeks"... BTW, Apple just posted an update to FCP 4.5 and the other "pro apps" which provides bug fixes. There are separate patches for both OS X 1.3.9 and OS X 10.4. See their website here: http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...acosx1039.html http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...macosx104.html But for me personally, since I'm at 10.3.8 and nothing's broke.... I ain't gonna fix nothing! :-)

May 14th, 2005, 09:32 AM	#7
Kurth Bousman Major Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: san miguel allende , gto , mexico Posts: 644	You're right about that Boyd but it depends on what machine it's running on- you never know when some little upgrade will send you into the nether zone . I just bought a mac mini running 10.3.8 and tried to load nattress' new 2.1 demo into fcp3- no go. It will load 2, and 2.1 will load into fcx2 - I'm sure , when I drop a line to Mr. Nattress he'll be able to say - oh , you just have to do that but it's another thing on the list of life to take care of. As you know upgrades with fcp are not cheap. I've got a registered fcp 1 I'm about to upgrade to the studio package , when it's released ( I think there's no academic discount for this one ). I figure from version 1.25 to 5 is finally a good investment for 7 bills. I try to stay happy with the version of program I have running and not always keep chasing after that golden goose egg , 'cause usually those costly upgrades are connected to more costly hardware upgrades to see the benefits. take care Kurth

June 8th, 2005, 02:21 PM	#9
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	Motion should run on your G4 if you get the graphics card upgrade, however it will be pretty slow. I run it on a dual G5/2.5 and it even seems slow (a fancier graphics card would help). I was surprised to find that it even runs on my 1ghz 15" Powerbook, people had said it wouldn't. I can do simple things on that machine, but wouldn't take on a big project. If you get serious with Motion you'll start wanting a G5 real soon... :-)