Upgrade to FCP X or switch to competition?

[Andrew Stone]

Steve, thanks for the heads up but I made my purchase already. I've delayed long enough. Got some books coming and installing a fresh boot drive for the occasion.

Really looking forward to the next year with Premiere Pro. Adobe is obviously pulling out all the stops and reinvesting heavily into Premiere's future.

[Dean Sensui]

What I have right now, Final Cut 7.xx and the FCP suite, works just fine.

When FCP X is ready to go I'll consider upgrading. But until then, the tools I have do the job, as they have over the past several years.

[Mark Kenfield]

I for one, really liked the iMovie 2008 interface, it seemed like a wonderfully intuitive way to edit at the time (but just needed all of the proper professional tools around it), that's what I assumed FCPX was going to be... sadly that turned out not to be the case.

With MPEG-4 codecs all over the place these days, I'm really starting to feel the strain with Final Cut Studio 2 - so 64-bit processing is finally a big deal, but FCPX just doesn't have all the basic tools I need. So I've upgraded my CS3 Production Premium package to CS5.5 and will be looking into learning Premiere Pro in the coming months.

My frustration at having to learn a new system is substantial though.

[Deborah Gallegos]

Originally Posted by Mark Kenfield

I for one, really liked the iMovie 2008 interface, it seemed like a wonderfully intuitive way to edit at the time (but just needed all of the proper professional tools around it), that's what I assumed FCPX was going to be... sadly that turned out not to be the case.
...

Mark, I was wondering if you could elaborate on this a bit more, please? I actually like the iMovie interface, too, and was hoping FCPX would be as you described with "all of the proper professional tools around it."

Thanks, Deborah

[Monty Wentzel]

Originally Posted by Steve Kalle

Editing WITHOUT Tracks is NOT the future. If FCP X is the future, then why didn't everyone say how amazing iMovie 2008 is with its nearly identical trackless interface?

You want to talk about what the 'Future' is: compare what Adobe is doing to what Apple has done. Apple has killed off several critical FCS programs including Color. Adobe has purchased IRIDAS SpeedGrade and other assets AND has just announced a partnership with Automatic Duck. Currently, you can use Premiere Pro for all projects big and small from hobbyists to feature film projects. You can NOT do the same with FCP X. You can spend time learning a program which limits what work you can take or you can learn a program which interfaces with all other PRO applications.

If the future is FCP X, then why are HUGE numbers of broadcasters AND film/broadcast schools dumping FCS for Premiere Pro and Adobe Production Premium?

FYI, Premiere Pro CS5 and CS5.5 can import FCP projects without a problem and PPro even has a setting for FCP shortcuts so the transition is much easier.

As far as what Apple intended FCP X to be: they had tons of info from beta testing which is identical to what people have been complaining about since X's release. This means that Apple never intended FCP X to compete in the Pro marketplace because they completely ignored the Pros who beta tested it. Combine this with the fact that FCP X is an upgraded iMovie, and you can see that Apple is targeting a very large base of hobbyists and advanced amateurs in the millions rather than the Pros in the tens of thousands.

The above comment scares me. It makes me think snapple has bailed on us in lieu of more sales to non-professionals. What makes business sense may not make common sense, but business beats to a different drummer and many times loyalty isn't part of the equation.

I think Steve nailed it. Now I will sit back and see if a clear winner surfaces for replacing my snapple program with a true professional NLE program.

Snapple doesn't deserve my business anymore, but I still need to wait and see because no program is perfect, but snapple is past just having bugs, it sucks.

Monty

[Steve Kalle]

Originally Posted by Dean Sensui

What I have right now, Final Cut 7.xx and the FCP suite, works just fine.

When FCP X is ready to go I'll consider upgrading. But until then, the tools I have do the job, as they have over the past several years.

But in a couple years, you will never be able to open your FCP projects again (when the next OS is released and breaks support with FCP 7 and FCP X will never be able to open FCP 6/7 projects).