Okay guys & gals, I'm getting ready to bite the bullet and purchase FCP HD 5.0. Should I wait for an upgrade announcement or am I safe to buy it now?

Buy it now. There is no sense waiting for an upgrade announcement unless you know for a fact that one is coming.

I think Apple has been offering upgrades about every year. IIRC, last year they announced FCP 5 in January but it didn't ship until 6 or 8 weeks later. And with each new release there are new bugs.

I would agree about buying now. My guess would be they'll have a lot of other goodies and MacWorld in January and not announce a new FCP... but what do I know? And aside from that... is the current version of FCP missing something that you need? If not then go for it.

My guess would be a new FCP in April at NAB.

It all depends on what cameras you're using ( or want to use in the future ) If you're thinking of using a new canon or panasonic , then I'd wait. Use a older version for a while , 'cause they're will be a upgrade to support the new panys' and canon xlh1 . If you're using a new sony hdv, then 5 is great. We've seen 2 or 3 minor finetunings to 5 already. If you're just planning on shooting dv , then I'd use an old version . If you're using a dvx , you need 4. For regular dv , 3 is fine. I've owned 1, 3 , and 5 . Even 1.2 is a capable dv editing program.Kurth

For regular dv , 3 is fine.


I used FCP 3 for a long time and it was great back then. But it is really a MacOS 9 application adapted to OSX, not running natively. It doesn't take advantage of the faster CPUs and hardware arithmetic chips. Almost nothing works in realtime under FCP 3 and it can't send realtime over firewire to an external monitor unless it has been rendered (or is clean with no fx, speed changes, etc).

I would strongly recommend against FCP 3, unfortunately it's a real "dog" by today's standards. FCP 4 (which can be upgraded to 4.5 - FCP HD - for free) is as far back as I'd go. You will see a huge speed increase there vs FCP 3.

Or you might want to consider just getting Final Cut Express and then upgrade to the full pro version later. 90% of what most people use FCP for, they could just use FCE. That way you'll at least have your chops wet in the meanwhile.