need some help please...
 

Hello all new guy here....
Ill try to make this short n easy! I have many years of audio, lighting and stage production experiance but just recently got into DV. I am working on a couple of projects and bought myself a canon HV40. I also bought a Macbook pro .... an older one with 2.2 GH dual and right now 2 gig of RAM. Its up-gradable to 6 gig. So NOT cutting edge, but I THINK workable....
So I now need editing software... My goal is to be able to edit HD and 24p and less... Id also like to be able to in the future take some side free lance jobs editing and maybe shooting. So here is my problem.... NO ONE is crazy about final cut X ... I dodnt think its even an option... Final cut 7 IS, but its pretty pricy.... Final cut express MIGHT work, but it has lots of limitations.... so how about an older version of FCP or FCS ? Iv been researching this for a few days now and its really confusing...
So bottom line.... Is there a FC out there that will run decent on my Mac, edit HD and 24P, maybe make DVDs... And do a decent job editing documentary style films from my HV40? (of course it needs to support "old school" tap format with this camera....)
Suggestions?????? Ideas????

Thanks in advance !

Re: need some help please...
 

As Apple is currently selling FCS3 again through their tele-sales division you might want to go that route. FCPX is not bad, not super great either, so don't discount it yet. FCS3 is a very solid package. Certainly you should check out Adobe's offerings with their demo versions although personally I don't like them as much as FCS3 or FCPX.

Re: need some help please...
 

I'd consider adobe cs5.5 because of the 50% off. Although I'd agree that it's clunkier than final cut, it does come with after effects and photoshop which are good programs. I'm going to be using adobe until FCP X gets it's act together because I do like it's smoother interface.

Re: need some help please...
 

is final cut studio 2 just TOO old? What would it NOT have or do that would be worth paying at least twice the price for studio 3 or FCP7 ? Iv tried to find a comparison of the different flavors of FCP and studio and as yet havnt found one.....:/

Re: need some help please...
 

OR... what about just FC express for now and jump into 7 later or heck X if they ever get that thing straightened out??? I really need something decent NOW that will run on the laptop I already have....

Re: need some help please...
 

The differences between FCS2 and 3 come in things like rendering speed, the quality of the chroma-keyers, the interfaces and abilities for Soundtrack Pro and Compressor and other things like that in the package. Final Cut Pro itself is mostly the same. For basic editing FCE will do you fine and if advanced DVD authoring isn't needed, iDVD will work. FCE uses the older AIC codec for HD footage which is decent but not as good as FCP's ProRes that is now an industry standard. Be sure to check that the forms of 24p and HD you intend to work with are doable in FCE.

Re: need some help please...
 

I'd add that if you do decide to go with Final Cut Express, then you might as well go with FCP X (for $100 more). FCP X can do everything that FCE can and more (faster everything and uses ProRes). Plus they'll be updating FCP X hopefully soon. The only caveat is that your Macbook Pro has to support 64-bit which my current laptop (first generation Intel Macbook Pro) doesn't.

In anycase, I wonder if you can even purchase Final Cut Express anymore.

As much as FCP X is missing lots, for short corporate videos and events delivered on the web, FCP X gets it done faster for me than Adobe.

Re: need some help please...
 

No question really. Just get FCP 3 not 2. Lots of bug fixes in 3. It's the version to migrate from to FCP X or whatever. You can freelance with FCP 3 skills.

EDIT: I mean FCS 3 not FCP 3.

Re: need some help please...
 

wow I think this is one of the best forums Iv ever been in! just good straight forward answers to questions! Thank you all so much. BTW, you can find any of these programs on amazon and other places... sometimes even "used" copies for a bit less.
I really thought about this today and think Im going to go with FCPS 3.... I can always upgrade FCP to 7 or X from that I think if I need to.... I think that will do way more than I need to do right now but be a great starting point for me to grow into the newer stuff.

Thanks guys!

Re: need some help please...
 

My post was sloppy. To be clear, I meant Final Cut Studio 3. That equates to FCP 7.

Yes, it has plenty of stuff you may never learn. So do most software packages like Photoshop, Word and Pages. That shouldn't stop you.

Re: need some help please...
 

Ok! So after all you guys help, I got a copy of final cut studio 3.... It seems to run fine so far on my older Mac, even with only 2 gig of RAM. I should be able to max that out to 6 in a couple weeks or so. Iv scoured the youtube site looking for good FCP 7 basic instruction.. some are good and some not so great... lol Im just not going to pay what some of these online schools charge to learn a piece of software in a week or 2.... But Id love to find a site with decent free instruction....
Anyway, Im very happy going with studio 3... think it was the best choice after all.
Thanks so much again.