Final Cut Pro X named PCMag's Editors Choice for high-end video editing
After its third minor update, Final Cut Pro X has been awarded "Editors Choice" for high-end video editing by PCMag for "loads of power, ease-of-use, and no-wait performance" and its "highly usable and precise interface."
After its initial launch last summer, the new Final Cut Pro X met with vocal resistance from a series of seasoned editors who targeted specific feature omissions compared to the previous Final Cut Pro 7 release, along with a variety of interface changes.
Over the past six months, a series of reports, some apparently driven by competitive public relations by Avid and Adobe seeking to exploit the situation to win back market share, have derided the new version of Final Cut Pro by calling it "iMovie Pro" and playing up a massive migration away from the video editing package.
Despite incorporating a powerful new 64-bit foundation and simplified workflow, Final Cut Pro X was missing several features the previous version had and which many editors needed, including XML import, multicam editing and broadcast monitor support.
The latest 10.0.3 update addresses the last of these major request, but as PCMag notes in its review, "with each feature restoration, Apple has not just brought parity with earlier support, but has rethought it, making it both more powerful and easier to use."
The review points out that XML 1.1 enhancements in the latest update provide "even more detail, to the point that it has enabled a new plugin, 7toX (from Intelligent Assistance), to import projects from Final Cut Pro 7—addressing a huge concern of the existing user base."
The review highlighted differences with competing high end video editing packages, including Corel VideoStudio Pro X4, Adobe Premiere Pro and Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD, noting both pros and cons to using Apple's latest version of Final Cut Pro.
It concluded, "the gains made in the rewrite far outweigh the subtractions in what is, in effect, a completely new application. Thanks to both performance and ease-of-use features, pros may find that the same tasks take a fraction of the time they took in previous versions.
"Final Cut Pro X is a delight to work in compared with other serious video editing software. Final Cut Pro X brings the prosumer loads of power, ease-of-use, and no-wait performance."
The reviews "bottom line" predicted that professionals will "eventually be won over by Final Cut Pro X's significant speed and usability advances."
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
Gag me with a spoon. Final Cut Pro X still blows and as a professional editor you'll never catch me using it. People in this town are switching back to Avid in droves.
Yup. Apple could turn FCPX completely around, though the damage is done, it was a big f-you to the industry.
Unfortunately Apple's "pro" wing is pretty much dead, the mass appeal and $$$ of the prosumer is just too enticing for them.
Have the editors actually used FCP X? It can suffer from quite a bit of lag, even on high end Mac Pros. Try keeping more than a few events or projects open. Try exporting to Compressor. Try using compound clips liberally.
No wait, my ***.
Ps I like the software quite a bit and its multicam implementation is the best around but apple still has some real performance issues to address.
Gag me with a spoon. Final Cut Pro X still blows and as a professional editor you'll never catch me using it. People in this town are switching back to Avid in droves.
It's £199, avid is thousands, it hope it's better than FCPX at that price.
Pricing for Media Composer 6 starts at $2499, with upgrade pricing from $299. Pricing for Symphony 6 starts at $5,999, with upgrade pricing from $499. An academic version of Media Composer 6 starts at $295 for educational institutions and students. Final Cut Pro (excluding Final Cut Pro X) users can purchase Media Composer with free online training for $1499.
The new Avid Vantage Program will be available during the fourth quarter of 2011 to Media Composer, Symphony, and Pro Tools users for $149 per year.
It's £199, avid is thousands, it hope it's better than FCPX at that price.
That's nothing when you're cutting $800k+ commercials let alone multi-million dollar features...
That's nothing when you're cutting $800k+ commercials let alone multi-million dollar features...
Maybe that's why FCPX is a prosumer application now and has a price tag to match.
That's nothing when you're cutting $800k+ commercials let alone multi-million dollar features...
Exactly. Huge professional post-houses have always used Avid.
Avid's install-base was always bigger than FCP, too.
It's £199, avid is thousands, it hope it's better than FCPX at that price.
Pricing for Media Composer 6 starts at $2499, with upgrade pricing from $299. Pricing for Symphony 6 starts at $5,999, with upgrade pricing from $499. An academic version of Media Composer 6 starts at $295 for educational institutions and students. Final Cut Pro (excluding Final Cut Pro X) users can purchase Media Composer with free online training for $1499.
The new Avid Vantage Program will be available during the fourth quarter of 2011 to Media Composer, Symphony, and Pro Tools users for $149 per year.
You'll more than make up for the extra purchase price based on the time it saves you in the edit bay from a workflow standpoint.
It's currently impossible in FCPX to have multiple editors working on the same project at the same time. This is a MUST in the real world.
That's nothing when you're cutting $800k+ commercials let alone multi-million dollar features...
The price of FCPX is Apple passing the savings on to you not an indication of its relative value.
The reason Avid and the other pro software makers are so expensive is that their business plan is to sell a few copies at a really high price. Apple on the other hand has the opposite model - sell millions of copies at a really low price. Either way each company covers their expenes and hopefully makes a small profit.
Final Cut Pro X still blows and as a professional editor you'll never catch me using it.
Yup. Apple could turn FCPX completely around, though the damage is done, it was a big f-you to the industry.
Enjoy not even bothering to download the free trial and see just how wrong you are. Ignorance is bliss, it seems.
Avid's install-base was always bigger than FCP, too.
Are their any reputable stats for this claim or is it just speculation? I'm curious.
Are their any reputable stats for this claim or is it just speculation? I'm curious.
Avid's PROFESSIONAL install base was and is now more than ever bigger.
Are their any reputable stats for this claim or is it just speculation? I'm curious.
I thought it was common knowledge.
Avid has had the professional market for years. Hollywood movies and TV shows typically use Avid.
Remember when it was a big when the first Hollywood movie was cut on FCP?
That only proves that Hollywood uses Avid.
FCP made inroads into the pro-market... but Avid has had it locked up for quite some time.
Avid's PROFESSIONAL install base was and is now more than ever bigger.
Again, reputable stats of this claim?
if some of the posters on this thread are right, Apple is looking more toward the prosumer down the road with this product and their hardware as well.
Some people including myself have questioned whether Apple intends to continue the Mac Pro line. One thing to consider is that Apple added 4K resolution capabilities to FCPX. I have not tried it, but I'm guessing running 4K on an iMac or MBP might be a bit sluggish. Unless the consumer computers are capable of smoothly editing and playing 4K I think Apple will continue to sell the Mac Pro and hopefully release a TB version soon.
Basically, if you develop a project in something like Avid, if you chose to switch to FCPX, is it possible to import the part finished project from Avid? I guess in the same way you can open a Microsoft Word document in Pages (albeit with some errors more often than not).
What I'm wondering is, if Apple do fix the perceived problems with FCPX (and even make it better than Avid, though with the price difference it would seem the target market is very different), is it possible for users to swap back in?
Thanks in advance, and apologies if this is an overly basic question.
I thought it was common knowledge.
Avid has had the professional market for years. Hollywood movies and TV shows typically use Avid.
Remember when it was a big when the first Hollywood movie was cut on FCP?
That only proves that Hollywood uses Avid.
FCP made inroads into the pro-market... but Avid has had it locked up for quite some time.
Just show me the numbers. I don't necessarily disagree, I just think it would be pretty close. I have both Avid and FCP but never cut a Hollywood film however do a fair amount of FCP commercial video work. I think there may a rather large number of other similar users who are part of the installed base.
I thought it was common knowledge.
Avid has had the professional market for years. Hollywood movies and TV shows typically use Avid.
Remember when it was a big when the first Hollywood movie was cut on FCP?
That only proves that Hollywood uses Avid.
FCP made inroads into the pro-market... but Avid has had it locked up for quite some time.
This is indeed true. Even when Final Cut was on its prime, Hollywood still used AMC mostly.
That's one of the actual arguments that supports Apple's decision to move forward this way. Final Cut Pro was never as feature complete as AMC. It was only cheaper and for most of the work, it was enough. But for the highest end work, it wasn't.
So Apple again does what they do best, release a software, which is weaker than the best of the best out there, but sell it for the fraction of the price. That's what they did with the first Final Cut, and that's how Final Cut gained traction in the first place.
Since there are obviously some editors here, I wonder if you could answer a question for me? I can't find a decent answer anywhere on the web.
Basically, if you develop a project in something like Avid, if you chose to switch to FCPX, is it possible to import the part finished project from Avid? I guess in the same way you can open a Microsoft Word document in Pages (albeit with some errors more often than not).
What I'm wondering is, if Apple do fix the perceived problems with FCPX (and even make it better than Avid, though with the price difference it would seem the target market is very different), is it possible for users to swap back in?
Thanks in advance, and apologies if this is an overly basic question.
Why the heck would you want to... but no you can't. You'd probably have to do it from scratch. It was semi possible to switch between the two with Automatic Duck before (a third party app) - but there were always headaches which brought me back to to the original thought of why the hell would you want to..