What's this worth? FCS2 new in shrink-wrap

[Chris Hurd]

Howdy from Texas,

In the "stuff that needs to leave the house" department, I have a brand new, unopened, still in the shrink-wrap Final Cut Studio 2. Can y'all please tell me what it's worth -- if anything -- so that I can list it for sale properly.

It's not compatible with today's MacOS, I know that. Which OS does it need? It starts at OS X 10.4.9 but goes up to what? And isn't there a processor limitation?

I've also got four FCP books to go with it. This box is gonna be heavy. Thanks in advance,

[Boyd Ostroff]

Hey Chris,

I still have my copy of this.... it was a long time ago but I'm pretty sure you gave it to me! :) This is the one that includes Final Cut Pro 6. There was one update to "legacy" FCP - version 7 (part of Final Cut Studio 3 I believe). I thought about upgrading at the time but there were very few new features and it was expensive, so I passed and have used FCP 6 for many years until finally getting FCPX last year.

As for compatibility, the "gotcha" is that the installer for this version is not a universal app, so it requires Rosetta and Apple dropped support for that with MacOSX 10.7 (Lion). Now it's only the installer that needs Rosetta however, and there are some work-arounds - I think you'll find old threads on that topic right here. I've also read that the installer actually *is* a universal app, but there's something about the way Apple packaged it that it doesn't appear to be universal. Not sure how relevant that is.

Anyway, if you have already installed Final Cut Studio on an old machine, it will be properly moved to a new one by the Mac Migration Assistant. I have it running under Sierra (MacOS 10.12) on my MacBook Air in fact but don't really use it there. I'm not sure if it works with High Sierra.

So if someone bought it today, the easiest way to install would be to do it on an old computer with MacOSX 10.6 or earlier, then "migrate" it to their new system. If that's not an option, then use the search feature here to find old threads on installing without Rosetta. IIRC, you need to copy the installation disks to your computer and manually copy the contents of the package files in the correct places.

I'm not sure about the other programs in Final Cut Studio 2. Have heard that DVD Studio Pro still works but haven't tried. I have used the old version of Motion and it still worked. Compressor also works. Color might be a problem with newer graphics chips. I have my quad mini set to dual boot into either Sierra or Mountain Lion (10.8.5). Everything works fine in FCP 6 in that version and I still have a lot of old projects that I need to access there. My experience is that it's much more crash-prone than FCPX and just doesn't run as smoothly. Also a few odd glitches like missing scroll bars (or something like that). I had Soundtrack running for awhile on MacOSX 10.8.5. All the legacy versions of FCP are 32bit and can only access 4gb of RAM.

Now as for "what is this worth"... most people wouldn't find it useful. But for someone with an older computer that doesn't support FCPX, it could be very useful. One might also assume that such a person has a very limited budget for software however. ;)

[Cary Knoop]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

I have a brand new, unopened, still in the shrink-wrap Final Cut Studio 2. Can y'all please tell me what it's worth

Looking at the actual sold copies by bidding on eBay I'd say $20 - $30.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

And isn't there a processor limitation?

Thinking about this some more.... I don't believe there are any processor limitations, but there's another installer issue with graphics chips/cards. The installer checks your GPU against a list of approved cards and aborts if it doesn't match. Unless you are installing on a machine from 2008, it probably won't recognize your GPU. There were kludges to get around this also I think. It should actually run fine on newer machines, it's just an installer issue.

[Gary Huff]

It belongs in a museum!

[Chris Hurd]

Many thanks, Boyd, that was exactly the detailed info I was looking for. Much appreciated.

The box with FCS2 and four books weighs 25 pounds... I think the cost to ship probably exceeds its value!

But, good to know all this. I might be able to find a new home for it yet.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Maybe someone here would be interested? https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/apple-collectors.6/

[John C. Chu]

I remember spending a couple hundred dollars for this, NIB from a private seller, reasoning this plus the upgrade price for the *next version* of FCP made it cheaper than buying the full version outright.

Then Final Cut Pro X came out for $299.

I remember spending a whole afternoon installing the studio, since there were multiple discs to feed the Mac.

Edit: I just remembered I shipped this via United States Postal Service Book Rate (since it is books and software) and it wasn't too bad for the buyer on eBay. Lots of older Mac users that would be happy to get this.

[Chris Hurd]

Thanks fellows,

Are the discs CD or DVD?

I don't want to want to break open the shrink-wrap to find out.

[Boyd Ostroff]

There is no marking on the discs themselves to answer that, but the manual makes reference to "inserting them into your DVD drive". My recollection is that they are DVD's, but I don't have any DVD drives currently connected to a computer to confirm.

Here's the contents of the box. I actually really liked the hardcopy manuals - almost all of them are for Final Cut Pro 6.

[Chris Hurd]

Great. Thanks Boyd!

[Boyd Ostroff]

Found this: https://support.apple.com/kb/sp535?locale=en_US

That's 59gb of stuff in the box, so they have to be DVD's. Also note that a DVD drive is specifically required for installation.

___________________________________

•4 GB of hard disc space is required to install all of the Final Cut Studio 2 applications
•An additional 55 GB of hard disc space is required to install all optional templates, content, and tutorials (may be installed on separate discs):

•9 GB for DVD Studio Pro content
•8 GB for Motion templates and tutorial media
•24 GB for Soundtrack Pro audio content
•12 GB for LiveFonts and LiveType animated elements and templates
•2 GB for Apple Pro Training Final Cut Studio Tutorials media

[Pete Cofrancesco]

They’re dvds. Funny how something that cost so much is virtually worthless. I still use DVDSP. I installed the whole suite on an old os (can’t remember which version) on 2009 Mac Pro. Yosemite is the newest OS that it runs stable. Used it on Sierra but High Sierra completely killed it. It’s irritating how they abandoned software and frequency the update the os an how tightly its tied to FCPX. I recently upgraded to FCPX, surprised how buggy it is.

[Doug Jensen]

Speaking of expensive gear becoming worthless, I threw a $50,000 Betacam in a dumpster last week.

So I have an unopened box of Avid Symphony 6. Anyone care to guess what that might be worth?

[Keith Rollinson]

That must have been a BVWxx - ow!

As far as the Symphony - if your box includes a dongle, it might be worth a few hundred $, as dongle replacements are I believe around $500. If it's just SW, it could also have value if it allows you to upgrade to current version. Best to check w/ the Avid Customer Advocate, Marianna Montague - marianna.montague@avid.com. HTH.