Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!!

Robert Lane · September 11th, 2016, 10:26 PM

Josh: While Resolve has it's core color-correcting functionality built-in, you definitely don't need any external control panels or special knowledge to use it's color-correcting features. It's basic color correcting panel is just as easy - but far more powerful - than the 3-way color corrector in FCP 7. (see screenshot)

The best thing is, nearly 95% percent of of Resolve's functionality is fully available without limitation - for free!! Seriously, you should download the latest version and try it out, you've literally got nothing to lose.

And for those hanging onto the "old stuff", I get it. I'm still using - and will use FCP 7 for quite some time simply because I've mastered it and it's so damned fast and easy for me to use. But in all honesty after less than 1 hour total time on DaVinci Resolve 12.5.2 I'm already convinced it will become the FCP 7 replacement going forward. It's just too damned powerful, quick and intuitive NOT to make it my primary tool going forward.

Lightworks is definitely a curiosity and over the years seems to have been well developed so I plan on giving it a whirl also, but considering how established Black Magic - and DaVinci have become in the industry I'd be hard pressed to believe anything else would be a viable replacement for FCP 7. For now.

Josh Bass · September 12th, 2016, 01:12 AM

I'm sure Resolve is very nice and if forced to move on that's probably the first thing I'll try. Just don't have a reason to right now. Don't edit a whole lot and when I do it's almost exclusively EX1 footage.

I didn't realize Resolve had a simple color wheel. . .thought it was all nodes and other craziness.

Brian Drysdale · September 12th, 2016, 05:48 AM

Although when considering Resolve 12.5, ensure your computer is powerful enough, it's pretty demanding.

Robert Lane · September 13th, 2016, 09:10 PM

It's only demanding if you push it to it's high-end capabilities, by NOT using pre-conformed footage or turning on background renders (which by default Resolve wants to auto-render your timeline in 5 seconds of inactivity). So if you set it up properly and bring in easy-to-handle footage, such as ProRes 422 then it's no more demanding than FCP 7 was (is).

I just purchased a late-2014 iMac w/24GB of RAM and it sails through edits much smoother than FCP ever did - and oh my god, *especially* with the built-in titling tool!! Holy cow, even Boris in FCP7 wasn't this simple to use - or as powerful!!

And to be clear, you DON'T need the external control surface/s to use the color-correction capabilities. That too requires a high-end system and fast external drives.

My whole point on this thread is and will be (as I create the assets for the actual review) aimed squarely at the FCP 7 user-base that just can't pull the trigger on anything else BECAUSE we don't want to lose our workflows, functionality or ease of editing.

So if you're a PP, Avid or Lightworks fan already then D.R. 12 may not interest you. But if you're a dyed-in-the-wool FCP guy and want to move forward with something that looks, feels and plays like a new version of FCP would have, then this is definitely up your alley.

Brian Drysdale · September 14th, 2016, 01:43 AM

Although, you should also bear in mind that using workflows for FCP7 may not be getting the best out of a different NLE, which may have more streamlined methods of doing these operations.

Yes, I gather just using the editing function of Resolve 12.5, is less demanding than the full colour suite.

Robert Lane · September 14th, 2016, 06:28 AM

It's a matter of opinion, which is why there are different tools out there. DVR isn't *exactly* FCP 7, nor should it be. It's what we all hoped Apple would have created for us, instead Black Magic did it.

The best way to describe DVR and it's capabilities are that it's a familiar workspace the FCP 7 editors can get their head around *quickly* rather than reinventing the wheel with totally different layouts and workflows (which is what PP has always felt like to me) while offering up a faster, more logical workspace with easy access to all the primary functions and a quick methodology to "go deep" should the user choose to.

If DVR wasn't so damned logical in it's approach to NLE work I wouldn't be sharing it.

Brian Drysdale · September 14th, 2016, 07:59 AM

Resolve 12.5 seems to have elements of a number of other NLEs, starting more or less from scratch has the benefit of seeing what works and doesn't work in other NLEs and making use of them.

Boyd Ostroff · September 18th, 2016, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Lane

I just purchased a late-2014 iMac w/24GB of RAM and it sails through edits much smoother than FCP ever did

Thanks for the info on Resolve Robert. I now have El Capitan on an external drive with Resolve and the FCP free trial. Wasn't sure whether my 16gb 2012 2.5ghz i5 mini (with 1.5gb Intel HD 4000 graphics) would be able to run Resolve, but it seems to work fine with some 480i clips that I imported. Same for FCP. Haven't tried anything beyond a brief play yet.

I am nowhere near ready to make the switch to either of these programs, but it will be good to start thinking about the future. Since my last post, I gave up on using my MacBook Air as a primary editing machine, I could not get the OWC Thunderbolt dock to work reliably. So I re-purposed the mini, which has been a media server for the past couple years. It's a bit slower than my MacBook Air and it doesn't have a SSD, but it has all the ports I need, like firewire for my tape deck.

Was pleasantly surprised that I could boot the Mini directly from a clone of my MacBook Air, and Final Cut Pro 6 runs very nicely on it under MacOSX 10.8.5. I am going to stick with this for awhile; it's stable and I have a large quantity of legacy DV tapes to ingest. At this point, I don't see much advantage to upgrading since I'll be working with SD footage for awhile and need firewire for capture/external video monitoring.

Boyd Ostroff · September 27th, 2016, 09:04 PM

After a lot of messing around, I now have Final Cut Pro 6 running nicely under MacOSX 10.8.5 on my Mac Mini and using a BlackMagic Ultrastudio Mini Monitor for external video. Even though Blackmagic says you need at least MacOSX 10.9 for the Mini Monitor, it has been working fine on 10.8.5 and I can choose it as an external audio and video device in FCP.

I also have the Final Cut Pro X free trial running under El Capitan and it also works with the Mini Monitor. As a test, I used 7toX to translate my current project from FCP 6 to FCPX and it did a pretty good job. I might be able to get used to FCPX with a little practice.

But I'm not sure if my Mini is really up to the task. Everything seems to work fine, but I noticed that the image on the external monitor was a bit ragged, and discovered this was because FCPX was defaulting to only showing one field. Showing both fields makes it look fine, but playback is not completely smooth, it is dropping frames, and this is only a 480i SD project.

My Mini is the 2012 base model, dual i5 2.5ghz (Geekbench score 6773) with 16gb RAM. FCP6 has no problem playing back both fields at full quality on this machine. Maybe there are some other settings to tweak to get smooth playback in FCPX? Will keep playing around with this, but mainly I'm just happy to have everything working well in FCP6 on the Mini now.

September 11th, 2016, 10:26 PM	#16
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 2,826 Images: 15	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! Josh: While Resolve has it's core color-correcting functionality built-in, you definitely don't need any external control panels or special knowledge to use it's color-correcting features. It's basic color correcting panel is just as easy - but far more powerful - than the 3-way color corrector in FCP 7. (see screenshot) The best thing is, nearly 95% percent of of Resolve's functionality is fully available without limitation - for free!! Seriously, you should download the latest version and try it out, you've literally got nothing to lose. And for those hanging onto the "old stuff", I get it. I'm still using - and will use FCP 7 for quite some time simply because I've mastered it and it's so damned fast and easy for me to use. But in all honesty after less than 1 hour total time on DaVinci Resolve 12.5.2 I'm already convinced it will become the FCP 7 replacement going forward. It's just too damned powerful, quick and intuitive NOT to make it my primary tool going forward. Lightworks is definitely a curiosity and over the years seems to have been well developed so I plan on giving it a whirl also, but considering how established Black Magic - and DaVinci have become in the industry I'd be hard pressed to believe anything else would be a viable replacement for FCP 7. For now. Attached Thumbnails

September 12th, 2016, 01:12 AM	#17
Josh Bass Slash Rules! Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 5,472	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! I'm sure Resolve is very nice and if forced to move on that's probably the first thing I'll try. Just don't have a reason to right now. Don't edit a whole lot and when I do it's almost exclusively EX1 footage. I didn't realize Resolve had a simple color wheel. . .thought it was all nodes and other craziness. __________________ The Bass' camerawork The Bass on IMDB

September 12th, 2016, 05:48 AM	#18
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,154	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! Although when considering Resolve 12.5, ensure your computer is powerful enough, it's pretty demanding.

September 13th, 2016, 09:10 PM	#19
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 2,826 Images: 15	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! It's only demanding if you push it to it's high-end capabilities, by NOT using pre-conformed footage or turning on background renders (which by default Resolve wants to auto-render your timeline in 5 seconds of inactivity). So if you set it up properly and bring in easy-to-handle footage, such as ProRes 422 then it's no more demanding than FCP 7 was (is). I just purchased a late-2014 iMac w/24GB of RAM and it sails through edits much smoother than FCP ever did - and oh my god, especially with the built-in titling tool!! Holy cow, even Boris in FCP7 wasn't this simple to use - or as powerful!! And to be clear, you DON'T need the external control surface/s to use the color-correction capabilities. That too requires a high-end system and fast external drives. My whole point on this thread is and will be (as I create the assets for the actual review) aimed squarely at the FCP 7 user-base that just can't pull the trigger on anything else BECAUSE we don't want to lose our workflows, functionality or ease of editing. So if you're a PP, Avid or Lightworks fan already then D.R. 12 may not interest you. But if you're a dyed-in-the-wool FCP guy and want to move forward with something that looks, feels and plays like a new version of FCP would have, then this is definitely up your alley.

September 14th, 2016, 01:43 AM	#20
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,154	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! Although, you should also bear in mind that using workflows for FCP7 may not be getting the best out of a different NLE, which may have more streamlined methods of doing these operations. Yes, I gather just using the editing function of Resolve 12.5, is less demanding than the full colour suite.

September 14th, 2016, 06:28 AM	#21
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 2,826 Images: 15	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! It's a matter of opinion, which is why there are different tools out there. DVR isn't exactly FCP 7, nor should it be. It's what we all hoped Apple would have created for us, instead Black Magic did it. The best way to describe DVR and it's capabilities are that it's a familiar workspace the FCP 7 editors can get their head around quickly rather than reinventing the wheel with totally different layouts and workflows (which is what PP has always felt like to me) while offering up a faster, more logical workspace with easy access to all the primary functions and a quick methodology to "go deep" should the user choose to. If DVR wasn't so damned logical in it's approach to NLE work I wouldn't be sharing it.

September 14th, 2016, 07:59 AM	#22
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,154	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! Resolve 12.5 seems to have elements of a number of other NLEs, starting more or less from scratch has the benefit of seeing what works and doesn't work in other NLEs and making use of them.

September 27th, 2016, 09:04 PM	#24
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! After a lot of messing around, I now have Final Cut Pro 6 running nicely under MacOSX 10.8.5 on my Mac Mini and using a BlackMagic Ultrastudio Mini Monitor for external video. Even though Blackmagic says you need at least MacOSX 10.9 for the Mini Monitor, it has been working fine on 10.8.5 and I can choose it as an external audio and video device in FCP. I also have the Final Cut Pro X free trial running under El Capitan and it also works with the Mini Monitor. As a test, I used 7toX to translate my current project from FCP 6 to FCPX and it did a pretty good job. I might be able to get used to FCPX with a little practice. But I'm not sure if my Mini is really up to the task. Everything seems to work fine, but I noticed that the image on the external monitor was a bit ragged, and discovered this was because FCPX was defaulting to only showing one field. Showing both fields makes it look fine, but playback is not completely smooth, it is dropping frames, and this is only a 480i SD project. My Mini is the 2012 base model, dual i5 2.5ghz (Geekbench score 6773) with 16gb RAM. FCP6 has no problem playing back both fields at full quality on this machine. Maybe there are some other settings to tweak to get smooth playback in FCPX? Will keep playing around with this, but mainly I'm just happy to have everything working well in FCP6 on the Mini now.