By SteveJack
I’ve often wondered if the outcry we hear about things like iPhone antennas comes from actual users or *gasp* from Apple’s competitors who would naturally benefit if the general public were sufficiently confused.
It’s not that difficult to place an idea into the media and then watch the echo chamber ratchet it up to ridiculous levels.
After the ludicrous “Antennagate” stories finally died down, I pulled my iPhone 4 out of my pocket and looked at it. What I saw was only the most reliable and receptive iPhone I’ve ever owned (and I’ve owned them all). As usual, a mountain was made out of a molehill.
So, I have to wonder where the “backlash” over Final Cut Pro X is coming from? Keep in mind that Final Cut Pro X carries an amazingly low $299 price, especially compared to competitor’s now quite old-fashioned-looking and performing offerings.
Advertisement: Students, parents and Faculty save up to $200 on a new Mac.
Is all the noise we’re hearing today really coming from Final Cut Pro users who still have their previous Final Cut version(s) and already know how to properly and rationally submit feedback to Apple?
Or is it coming from non-Final Cut Pro users who see the $299 writing on the wall and realize that they’ll soon very likely have to learn something dramatically new and different from outside their comfort zone? Apple’s previous Final Cut Pro versions have not stopped working, nor has Apple stopped work on FCP X – in fact, they’ve just started working with a paradigm-shifing, extremely strong and powerful foundation upon which to build. Have a minute of patience, please. I heard the same sort of whining when we went from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X and some had to be dragged kicking and screaming. People stopped crying over Mac OS 9 in short order, too.
Or who perhaps some editors feel a little bit threatened that “non-pro” users will be able to edit so well for so little? And/or perhaps it’s coming from Apple’s now price-demolished competition who simply cannot crunch their numbers and make them come out profitably if Apple is going to offer Final Cut Pro X for $299?
All it takes to give something a 1-star Mac App Store review is to purchase the app. If the Acme Editing and Overpriced Annual Service Contract Company felt threatened enough, I wonder how many copies and what kind of reviews they’d give to Final Cut Pro X? Gin up a bunch of them and the “news reports” about Final Cut Pro X would certainly mention how many one-star reviews it received, right? It might even make FCP’s Wikipedia entry (it has). So easy to do. Much easier than creating a compelling product at a ridiculously low price that offers professional-level editing tools to so many, that’s for sure.
I really have to wonder exactly who’s really “outraged” over Final Cut Pro X and why. I can’t prove anything, but I’ve seen enough in the past to have strong suspicions today.
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and a regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section. (He also has over 16 years of professional linear and non-linear editing experience. – MDN Ed., June 25, 11:15am EDT)
Related articles:
Conan blasts Apple’s new Final Cut Pro X (with video) – June 24, 2011
Answers to the unanswered questions about Apple’s new Final Cut Pro X – June 23, 2011
‘Professional’ video editors freak out over Final Cut Pro X – June 23, 2011
Apple revolutionizes video editing with Final Cut Pro X – June 21, 2011
Stop drinking the Kool Aid.
Fry it instead!
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/14/fried-kool-aid-hit-fair-chicken-charlie-says/
We don’t have to drink it anymore. State Fair’s are now offering “Fried Kool Aid.” Options are good.
Great minds think alike.
Steve Jack hits the nail on the head again.
Final Cut X is garbage…pure and simple…apple said eff the pros, we’ll give it to consumer market, and leave us all stranded. My editing company is switching over to Premier despite the “price-tag” because of the compatibility, and lack of codex on FCX. The interface is for a dad filming is kid on an iphone, not for someone using 5D or the Red. Sorry to say, but they cut themselves out of the industry.
None of your hypothesis is true SJ. The hyped up complaints against FCP X were fanned by Conan because Color made his hair look more gingery than usual.
real production people in Television, etc. will never upgrade their workflow to Final Cut Pro X on the first day of release. Editors in the middle of a project would never, never, never, never risk upgrading in the middle of a project.
I don’t believe this backlash story for a second.
Maybe they wouldn’t start using it mid-project but I’d think they would download it and look it over.
Well, I did, and love it.
Robert David, you love it because you’re most likely an amateur who doesn’t know any better.
Totally agree Final cut Pro X is crap and any one who likes it could only be making amateur videos, seriously i think its more likely the competition got a job at apple to help sabotage the program LOL i dont think this but seriously this reporter is really not the brightest
right on..me too…it’s the best…and it will only get better!!
I’ve been a MDN reader and commenter for years (see previous username Macslut before you went to WordPress).
I’ve been a Final Cut user since before it was publicly available. Even used it when it was being developed at Macromedia.
I downloaded FCPX on day one. I’m migrating over to it, starting with small personal projects first and should be fully migrated soon.
However, there are significant problems with FCPX that seriously affect Pro users. I’ve only pointed out a couple here on MDN (just Import and Export).
Why are people being vocal?
Because Apple and others listen, and we have very valid complaints.
If you’d got a studio set up with a variety of template projects that can’t be used in FCPX despite it’s ability to import iMovie projects, you’re head is probably throbbing once you’ve downloaded the non-trial and discovered this or any of the other Pro-user issues.
Hopefully, the vocal response will get Apple moving sooner rather than later on some of these issues, and influence how they handle upgrades in the future.
You are not going to speed up or slow down Apple.
Apple will release updates when they are ready.
All you’re going to accomplish is trashing Final Cut Pro’s reputation.
Sorry, but the new FCPX is incredible. Avid users will have to switch and learn it because it is probably going to really dominate the entire market. Now, even budding editors and amateur directors have access to a PRO level tool for $299.00. It really gets no better than this. First Aperture discounted on App Store and now FCPX. We are entering into a golden age of super powerful pro apps. Wannabees should fear. Brick and mortar and software packaging and distribution companies should also fear. Software is back. The killer app of this decade? The App Store.
totally agreed. I would wager that 99% of all the whiners are Avid or Adobe people scared to death of the “THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING” nature of a $300 pro editing package. so keep using your old software and quit griping. meanwhile, the rest of us will glory in Apple’s brilliance and master this new, outstanding software suite.
Nope…not all. For example I’ve use Final Cut Express because I don’t need a full featured pro app, but something more than iMovie. Having no “Express” option at a lower price point simply sucks. Seems others using FCE are not happy either.
BTW, my i5 iMac isn’t happy either. 😉
FCPX is the same price that FC Express used to be.
But Apple already HAD iMovie … which is for someone who wants to do an easy, quick edit.
Why dumb-down final cut, when you already have a dumbed down video editing program?!?!?!
Now they basically have two versions of iMovie, both for amateures… but one that has a few additional features and tweaks.
thank’s ploogman…I was not going to get it (fcpx) because of all the bad talk….but now i will.
You don’t really know what you’re talking about, do you? In order for Final Cut Pro to dominate the pro market it needs a pro set of features. Final Cut X doesn’t cater to professionals, rather to prosumers. Pros don’t want consumerized crap. It isn’t bitching for the sake of bitching and it isn’t Media Composer users and Premier users being “worried.”
What a silly statement. If you truly knew what you were talking about you would know no one choses an exclusive editor. You use whatever tools will do the job the most efficiently. Final Cut is merely a screwdriver in a toolbox. And FCPX is NOT a tool which can compete with Media Composer and Premier. The only reason to use it now is its price point.
A little background on me: I am an Apple fanboy, I’ve used Final Cut Pro since version 3, and I spend my time in the pro world of video work. Most of the complaints are valid, but some are very knee-jerk. As much as I love Apple and back their decisions, this one is a flop.
Correct Chase. But with an addendum. Production house will NOT BE switching to FCPX anytime soon. They wouldn’t anyway. But the COMPLETE lack of pro features almost makes this a non starter. Unlike when InDesign came out lacking features but offering compelling new ones FCP’s competitors are neither standing still nor shit canning pro features.
Multicam is a biggie. So is non centralized media storage and logging. Thee are many others but those are the biggest for me. I frequently work with 10 or more cameras on a shoot and work with 3 or more people in post. Not being able to import PSD layers separately is another huge deficiency. Anyone who thinks tedious work arounds for workflows honed over the past 5-10 years is feasible has never had to work on a deadline. Or charged $250 per hour for post production work. These are features most home users neither know nor care about. For professionals they can be deal breakers.
And I have projects that are over 6 years old that clients occasionally want revisited and reworked. Just about everyone in the business has this happen. With no upgrade path I will now need to keep an old copy of FCP7 on a workstation for just such occasions.
And before you think we’re primadonnas you should know that at least half of my clients (tv stations, etc) require EDL export, as well as print to tape. And more than a few require you to do the editing and post production work using their tools. Meaning Avid, Vegas, etc. If they don’t switch to X and choose something else (which they will if X doesn’t fix these PROBLEMS quickly enough) then I will have to also switch. David Pogue’s work arounds for multicam editing are a complete joke. Even if the did come directly from Apple.
I am a professional editor. Most of my plugins are in Final Cut 7. I used to use one editing software. Now i am using 2. I started using Premiere Pro CS5 because of their Mercury Engine which allows me to keep editing instead of having to render each clip. I was hoping Final Cut Pro X would allow me to go back to using 1 program. Sadly its not incredible, we will not have to switch and learn it. Avid still dominates the high end market of editors and Permiere Pro CS5 is better than final cut pro x. Its Mercury Engine is (keyword) fast! Final Cut Pro X background rendering causes the software to run slow. The whole idea that Apple is taking Manual tasks such as organizing folders and bins and sequence or the fact that you can’t turn off the magnetic time line annoys me. I am not a rookie. I hate imovie. Film shoots aren’t just events.. scenes aren’t just events. Calling things events shows the disconnect apple has with its core audience. Adobe CS6 is rumored to have closed captioning built in.. Now this is a feature that actually helps professionals insted of us spending 1000 dollars on a closed captioning house so we can get a project ready for broadcast we can do it right from the editing program. that is something a professional would want. Not a slick magnetic time line… The reason why the program is 299 is because its not worth 1000 dollars. Plain and simple.. Even if they can fix this program to compete with Avid and Premiere Pro by the time the editors have jumped shit which they are doing is massive amounts right now… there would be no reason to go back.
Apple is hedging their bets on consumers becoming prosumers. However, one thing they failed to think bout is the cult like environment of hollywood. Once the industry has moved on tradition sets in…
At this point Apple has to reassess the situation and rebound in a very dramatic way.
Hell hath no fury like an evangelist scorned. I have no stake in FCPX (hell, I didn’t know people were up in arms about this until yesterday), and what follows is not about its awesomeness or its weaknesses.
MrEdofCourse wrote a rational comment explaining why he (and/or others) are vocally complaining about it, and your reply basically tells him to shut his trap and don’t complain because it’s damaging the product and Apple’s reputation.
By that logic you should just shut up about the all of Apple’s competitors, because you aren’t complaining or providing useful feedback, you’re ridiculing them from what you’ve seen or read, but probably never actually tried (which we often accuse Apple haters of doing), as MrEdofCourse at least has as part of his work.
There’s a right way to submit feedback to Apple and a whole bunch of wrong ways.
There’s feedback, and then there’s venting. As long as the venting isn’t hyperbolic, it’s as legitimate a way as any to get grievances heard.
Whether one uses one or both ways to get the word back to Apple (or any company) depends on 1) the severity of the perceived problem to the customer, and 2) Apple’s (or their customer service reps’) response to it, if any.
Take the (overblown) iPhone 4 antenna issue. A lot of people were pissed off not because of the issue itself, but because 1) unlike a lot of other phones with similar issues, this one occurred when holding it naturally (yes, naturally–I hold it like that, and even Apple’s own iPhone ads at the time showed that particular hold); 1a) people rightly expect Apple gear to “just work” under normal use, and 2) Steve Jobs’ response (he’s never denied it) of “Just don’t hold it that way” was unbelievably arrogant and dismissive.
Sorry but sometime’s you’re just too pissed off at what appears to be Apple’s lack of commitment to pros and their livelihoods to do anything but storm the palace gates.
Make no mistake. I use Apple products when they are the best tool available. I will switch when they are not. Stop drinking the Kool Aid from the moat, MDN. Pros are pissed. We were promised an upgrade so that we could keep using theyre products to help us make a living. They renegged. I’m still at the wait and see stage. I can continue using FCP7 for awhile yet. But I can’t wait forever. If my next capture devices arent supported I will be switching. We’ll see how they support 7 going forward…
Correct: The middle finger is my favourite.
MacDailyNews, Your silence is deafening. This thread is preposterous. I read MDN religiously, but in this case, I cant believe the blind defense of this Apple Blunder.. BLINDLY even caring about Final Cut Pro X reputation, or defending Apples speed to respond. And it makes obvious that MDN staff has no idea of what a professional needs in BROADCAST video. The Decisions it takes to plan a suite. to Budget, and trust that APPLE will support your investment in the future. Apple better remember one thing. WE graphics experts kept APPLE alive in the 90’s when their stock was $6/share, and Apple was hanging on by a thread… WE bought OVERPRICED computers when there were options. We watched many graphics companies abandon the Mac Platform for PC. Well, this FCP X release is a slap in the face to us loyal PROS. There are PLENTY of Options. The Computing power is basically on the same level, PC or MAC, (yes, Mac OS is better)… The point being, the LAST people you need to piss off are the loyal PROS who command the Creative AIRWAVES and can say NICE THINGS or BAD THINGS… Graphics Pros MADE APPLE COOL. We have to be able to tell our clients that we have the BEST and can GET THE JOB DONE. SO APPLE gives us the BEST or will be a cheezy phone company…gadget company at best. I see MDN doing a cover up and crapping their pants. This is NEWS. I just Googled over 500 articles about this vs 2 in MDN. You should be all over this debacle.
THIS IS A break in the FOUNDATION of APPLE.. Maybe JOBS was asleep at the Wheel.. I’m tired of the “PROP APPLE” game. I do not need to pay top dollar for ANYTHING Apple. There are PLENTY of competitors. THEY picked the perfect VOCAL audience to piss off with this rather queer release. Anyone giving this release anything more than a 1 star is obviously not a broadcast pro. Funny, If those “enthusiasts” who like FCPX ever progress in their careers, they will find they need more than FINAL CUT PRO X…
This release is Behind the curve, and leaves APPLE with no 64bit solution for TRUE production houses, Colleges, small businesses, HUGE networks, studios, more. Tired of blindly praising Jobs and CO. Just watch. I bet you see the biggest apology ever from APPLE. If not, then APPLE looses much of their entire PRO creative community. Take Note Apple and MDN, It take years to build trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
You speak of “reputation” as if Apple were some Middle School girl going through puberty. Calling Apple names does not harm Apple’s reputation. Apple is consistently called names by lots of people and has been called names consistently ever since the dawn of the Apple computer company. And Apple’s reputation cannot be harmed by that.
Instead, Apple has harmed the reputation by deciding to refuse to update Final Cut Pro. What Apple did was to modify iMovie and call it a professional application, giving it the name of Final Cut Pro X.
And the professionals who actually edit video are all shocked at the result. Gone is the ability to import from tape—something that has always been a given and will be a part of everyone’s workflow until everyone’s cameras are all upgraded to whatever it is that iMovie Pro will import. Also gone is the ability to work with RED Cine files, or any professional film gear. Gone is Color. Gone is Motion. Gone is the professional suite integration. Gone is the _reason_ to make Final Cut Pro the center of a multiple purchase of Mac Pros to outfit a high-end edit facility.
The industry will simply move on, bypassing the usable tool that Final Cut Studio had become, leaving the Macromedia code in the dust. Instead, the video wedding crowd will use it as iMovie Plus, which is what Apple actually released.
I will say that Apple doesn’t understand the film and television world and did not learn anything I tried to tell Apple back in the late 1990s. At the time, I was working at a big television network and they had a shootout between professional video editing applications. I called up a contact at Apple and told them that they needed to get in there. They placed a Mac with Final Cut in the “shootout” room and then didn’t include anyone to demonstrate the application.
What they did not understand at the time and what they still don’t understand now is that, if you make a killer application (like Final Cut Pro was) you can sell hundreds and thousands of high-end Macs. I told them then, that if the network I worked at adopted Final Cut Pro, that the other two major networks would, too. And their affiliates would. And other countries’ networks would. And this would literally cause Apple’s market share in the computer market to ramp up dramatically.
But what has happened at Apple is that they have decided that they are not a computer company, they are an appliance company. And appliances don’t need killer apps, they serve just one or two functions.
In making this decision, Apple has done just what AT&T, Verizon, British Telecom, Rogers Cable, Comcast and other companies have done. They have besmirched their own reputation. The real reason why everyone is complaining so much is because nobody understands this paradigm shift at Apple. Apple has always been this really nice, friendly company that innovates and comes out with better and better products.
So Apple’s reputation cannot really be trashed by complaints. There have always been complaints. But Apple’s reputation may be completely ruined by Apple. Everyone’s complaining because Apple has done this to itself.
One thing I kept noticing over the last 4-5 months: commentaries on the Mac news sites were swamped with people first claiming to own a Mac/iPhone/iPad and then poo-pooing something and recommending a switch to Windows/Android.
It happens far too often to not be orchestrated – just today (on MacNews.de) people complained about Final Cut X and that their collegues would all consider switching to Windows … yeah, right. As if Final Cut has suddenly stopped working, or the competition has a killer product hidden somewhere …
Exactly. The second someone starts off with “I’ve been a Mac user forever but…”, or “I love my Mac, but…” I pretty much dismiss them as a troll.
This need to validate their comments by listing their entire user history just reeks of “fake user” to me.
FCP7 has not stopped working BUT:
It has been static for about 2 years.
It is limited to 4 gigs of RAM.
It does not make use of multiple cores well (if at all)
So…. Not a great situation.
Similar to:
SJ trying to convince developers that webapps were the way to go for iPhone.
Apple ending the Xserve line.
Imagine, if you can, the transition to intel without having Rosetta ready to go on day one.
Apple has not officially announced future support for some key features they need, and they fear being left with no upgrade path.
I’m sorry, nope. I love Apple and am a proud fanboy, but the new FCP really is missing some stuff that would make it “pro.” Though no reason to panic. They’ve already said they’ll be adding those features. The gripes are not JUST from competitors. That’s just a wee-bit silly.
I don’t use FCP any version at all but I do agree with the overblown BS about the antenna. Specially from competitors whose products are affected in a similar way. That was pure BS. Good thing the consumers were smart enough to see through that.
Me thinks we’re all defending this a bit too much. The software’s cheap, buy it if you like. Don’t like it, stick to the previous version or just move on. If Apple’s not crying over potential lost sales (potentially of some 200 pro customers worldwide over a decade maybe), why should we?
I love most of my Apple stuff over more than 25 years. I have used Final Cut for years. I am by no means a pro but I do understand the complaints. There is no conspiracy to get users to switch. Geez what an idiotic comment! Typical of a fanboy rather than an adult . Apple is just a huge money making company it’s not your secret buddy. They will address some issues and not others just like any other company. They are in business to make money. They do it Steve’s way. If you like it fine if you don’t use someone else’s product. They will change things only if it benefits them. And that’s ok because they are a business. But please don’t get on here and carry on like Apple cares like your mom does because they do not!
That’s clear and logical.
I stopped reading your comment after the first “fanboy” reference. Clearly you may have said it again, bit I’d stopped reading.
Really, old chap, it’s the equivalent of Godwin’s law in any software/hardware debate. No matter how cogent your analysis it’s lost to me.
Can the ad hominem, and maybe you’ll get listened to.
Then replace “fanboy” with “investor”
You are a fanboy?
At least is is not bloat ware like Adobe’s CS5 Maybe they should take some advice from Apple and rewrite somethings from the ground up?
… in something other than Flash.
Yes, like Illustrator. Still blows after all these years
Adobe already rewrote Photoshop from the ground up as 64-bit Cocoa…released over a year before Final Cut Pro X. Premiere, already a ground-up rewrite when brought back to the Mac, has already been 64-bit/full multicore/no render or transcode needed, a year before FCP X was released with those features. Why could Apple not do their rewrite without losing features?
Why did FCP X take so much longer than Adobe to reach 64-bit? Why is Apple so lazy that they cannot rewrite a pro app without dropping the pro features?
Just last night my friend who runs a Mac-based video production company talked about moving away from FCP. He said while the FCP X price point is $299, to add back some of the features he REQUIRES for his business would raise the price back up several hundred dollars and it still would not do the job. And he talked about his friends whose $$$$ of FCP plug-ins are all made invalid by FCP X. The problem is not $299, it is an app with missing features. The problem is not unhappy competitors, it is unhappy Apple FCP users. Unhappy Mac users.
As a FCS user it’s not really a price cut. By the time we buy FCP X, Compressor, Motion and whatever other components/plugins Apple decides to splice out if the suite the price will be at least as much as a standard upgrade. If not more.
I’m sticking with what I have until the full set of apps are out and plugins are available & known to not be buggy. I tend to be an early adopter and actually used OS 10.0- not Sys 9 as much as possible back in the day, but not this time.
I’d test Lion on my LR Mac mini before the MacPro, but lacking Front Row and no suitable replacement yet, I guess I’ll set up another HD and dual boot to test Lion.
Yes I agree completely. This is a fantastic product release. Of coarse it is version 1, and everything is new, but it is very good. Because it is so different there will be no doubt lots of bitching but in the long run Apple will have really upped the bar.
Steve Jack is completely off. I am a professional film editor editing two major documentaries right now. I am also a big time mac fan boy. I own an Mac Pro, Mabook Pro, Ipad, Iphone, and I was the first one telling people to switch to FCP over from Avid (the major competitor in the pro editing space). Thats said, there are major problems with this release where I am, as an early adopter, unable to upgrade to FCPX.
People are angry because, like me, they are excited and they NEED improvements in Final Cut Pro. I am editing a documentary right now with 200 hours of footage, because FCP 7 is 32 bit I have to use multiple workarounds to not hit the 4gb RAM limit. The promise of 64 bit FCPX was that I would not have to worry about that any more, no more “out of memory” errors, etc. The sad reality is that this release is 1 step forward and 5 steps back.
Every major motion picture does their mixing and color correction outside Final Cut. Right now there is more or less no way to do this cutting in FCPX. I cannot export an EDL, an essential for sending my cut to a colorist, I absolutely cannot export my audio tracks to a mixer as they no longer have a tool for OMFs and AAFs. And finally there is no way for multiple editors to cut on the same process with the same media.
I am not as livid as every other pro editor because I am a fanboy, I believe Apple will come through for the pro segment and it will be in the next year or year and a half.
That said this is literally unusable on an pro production. Please stop with the conspiracy theories about price point, etc, there are very legitimate problems with this release, Apple’s secretive nature makes it all so much harder for us to plan out what to do in the future. If Apple came out and said up front that by a certain date we hope to have XML Import and Export, Multicam, EDL OMF and AAF exports, so sit tight, everyone would calm down. As of now we have heard nothing, and many assume these wont come. We need to hear something from Apple about a roadmap, otherwise people will jump ship.
SteveJack has that paranoid mindset always looking for conspiracies.
I am the BIGGEST MAC SUPPORTER of all time. Check my history, MDN. But Apple has royally f—ed us over. I use FCP and have since 1999 because of its TRACKS. And they’re gone in FCPX. It’s a TOTALLY FOREIGN IMOVIE interface now. They have changed this why??? As i’ve said elsewhere, changing/updating old projects is essential. They didn’t develop backwards compatibility WHY? I use custom gradients all the time, edge blurring, transitions on multiple tracks, composite modes, motion blur, shift-and-hold all the time. These are all gone WHY?
The scary thing is that Apple clearly doesn’t care about us. They care about selling iPads, iPhones now. Every pro Mac user has to think long and hard if they want to stick with this company. I cannot underestimate how hurt I am, and for the first time in my life I realize that in order to be heard I have to tell other people to NOT BUY APPLE PRODUCTS. Maybe if enough of us do this they will notice, and restore the functionality, track paradigm and full backwards compatibility to FCP. But for now Apple has turned 10+ years of evangelists (which pretty much every FCP user was) into Apple haters, overnight. Great work Randy.
You are right…and wrong. I understand your frustration because FCP X is indeed missing some critical components needed by a number of editors. Your comment that “The scary thing is that Apple clearly doesn’t care about us.” is, however, over the top. Apple spent years and millions rethinking how the process of editing might be improved in the coming decades. This release falls short in some critical areas, it is a disappointment, some areas may need to be re-thought, but like the first OS X, it has the underpinnings to grow far more robust than the legacy FCP does. While your frustrations are shared by many (obviously), they do not constitute the universe of FCP users. I use FCP and this new release has turned me into an “Apple hater.” Take a breath and explore FCP X a bit more fully. I am already seeing on chat and support boards many people discovering that tools they thought were gone, are simply changed, and the capabilities to achieve a result still there by a different method, most often simpler and faster once you know about it. I agree, however, that Apple needs to address the some of the collaborative interchange capabilities pretty quickly.
Right on, Jeff. Every reaction that goes beyond the points you made is sensationalist. Any reaction that falls short of your points is ignorant and apologist.
“Ignorant and apologist” like the writer of this article!!
Jeff, your upgrade is the Avid DS. Instead of a separate compositing application (Motion) it’s in the DS. Instead of a separate application for a colorist, DS does color well. And DS also does incredible audio editing.
Fun thing is that it works a whole lot like Final Cut Pro. So you don’t have to learn the Avid Media Disposer, you can just go to DS. There are two downsides:
DS has not kept up with the plethora of file-based media, so you have to “rinse” that kind of media through Media Composer (and you get a license for that purpose) first. And DS runs only on Windows (which will probably run just fine on your Mac Pro) so you will have to deal with an operating system that is not as well-designed as OS X.
But Avid as unlinked DS from proprietary hardware, so the software can be run on anything qualified to run it and Windows 7. Oh, and DS does deal with RED Cine—something Apple seemed to drop out of iMovie Pro.
OK, so its missing a few bells and whistles… every 1.0 release does.
FCPX is AWESOME! It has cleaned up all the BS workflow (IMHO) with a huge intuitive leap! I think it took me 5 minutes of reading the built in help to understand the approach, I was interrupted…
Apple released it early, I thought, so that everyone could get their hands on it and start learning, playing and providing constructive criticism to help build a better product.
Perfect for me, I’m just getting back into the creative world, 10 year break (from IT/IS), I did training video production for NYCDEP back in 1990. That was all tape back then, DVD was not the medium of choice,… I think everything went to UMATIC all done with FCP 1.0.
The HollyWeird types are upset, that represents about 1% of the market. Soon they will all forget and wonder how they did anything with FCP Studio. LOL
Motion is sick, it allow you to do so much my head hurts! Even supports MIDI !!! (not sure the old one did)
It’s completely justified, and based on the comments from Post Houses that use FCP7 on a daily basis, many are planning to switch already. http://www.winstonhearn.com/home/2011/6/23/apples-response-to-the-final-cut-pro-x-release.html
Look, I’m just as much an Apple fanboy as the next guy (first mac was a blue and white G3) but Apple has really screwed up on this one. If they don’t right the ship, and I mean soon, they could stand to loose a TON of market share. If anyone thinks they are too big to fall, just ask Media100. They were the early De-Facto standard for affordable editing suites. One bad product roll-out and everyone bailed. I expect Avid and Adobe to gain some of their lost market share back unless Apple provides a long-term fix.
Overnight I’ve gone from the biggest Mac fan to someone downloading the free trial of Premiere CS5.5. NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS DID I THINK I WOULD DO THIS. BUT APPLE HAS THROWN AWAY EVERY DROP OF BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TREASURE I’ve invested in FCP since 1999.
Dear inflexible, stuck-in-a-rut thinker,
Good riddance. You and Adobe deserve each other. Luddites.
Dear “A Real Editor”
You’re a moron.
That’s it. It’s about as valid and constructive a comment as you made, anyway.
Oh Puh lease Give it rest astroturfer. No one (with any sense) is buying your nonsense.
It is a groundbreaking app at a bargain price and will likely devastate Adobe’s and (what is left of) Avid’s user bases.
Anyone who is stupid enough to believe the astroturfers folderol will be run over by the FCP X users who jumped on early and learned (the admittedly) new pipeline.
(just like the fools who clung to media composer were, a decade ago)
The only astroturf is you posting the same stuff under different names. Read the reviews on the Mac App Store. None of that is astroturf as each one had to buy the damn software before reviewing. Unless Apple changes direction they have lost the professional market entirely. They might get some teenagers posting Flip videos to YouTube but that will be their market. Professionals, who spend millions to make millions, will go elsewhere. They are already doing it.
Not astroturf — the cold reality of Mac users who were there when Apple needed us in 1999. And now Apple is not there for us now.
I’ll be trying both trial versions of Adobe and Avid software asap. Because there’s no way in hell I’ll use FCP X until Apple restores FCP 7 functionality.
If you have to switch, why not switch to something that will be there in 5 years? I’ll bet anyone that FCP X (as it is now) will be the iWeb of video editing software. Cancelled when they see what a waste of everyone’s time it was.
WHY COULDN’T APPLE JUST REWRITE FCP7 FROM THE GROUND UP KEEPING WHAT ITS USERS LOVED???
yeah yeah, you are either a astroturfer or perhaps even more pathetic just an (apple) hater
You go get yourself a copy of premiere, and don’t let the screen door hit you in the butt.
I have only had a day with FCP X however I find it’s (objective) paradigm shift in interface, revolutionary (though clearly VERY different and sometime baffling, well… till you RTFM;-) However- it’s performance & flexibility are nothing less than stunning….
Features are easy to add and alter, core performance is not. FCP X is the future, but you go ahead and cling to the past I am sure it will work out fine for you.
Dude, thank you for introducing me to my word of the day, “folderol.” That word is exquisite. lol
OK, so its missing a few bells and whistles… every 1.0 release does.
FCPX is AWESOME! It has cleaned up all the BS workflow (IMHO) with a huge intuitive leap! I think it took me 5 minutes of reading the built in help to understand the approach, I was interrupted…
Apple released it early, I thought, so that everyone could get their hands on it and start learning, playing and providing constructive criticism to help build a better product.
Perfect for me, I’m just getting back into the creative world, 10 year break (from IT/IS), I did training video production for NYCDEP back in 1999. That was all tape back then, DVD was not the medium of choice,… I think everything went to UMATIC all done with FCP 1.0.
The HollyWeird types are upset, that represents about 1% of the market. Soon they will all forget and wonder how they did anything with FCP Studio. LOL
Motion is sick, it allow you to do so much my head hurts! Even supports MIDI !!! (not sure the old one did)
I am with you SJ, the Apple product release bashing pattern is all too familiar by now. Haters and bashers come out in droves to swamp related sites and blogs with similar bogus posts as if many are copied from a few legit posts.
I am very pleased with my fcp x. It’s excellent in what it does and the price is just outstanding. Does it have drawbacks? Of course, but I can live with them until Apple corrects them.
User complaint here.
I’ve been editing video since before going out on my own in 1985. I learned to go from linear to non-linear when the first reasonably priced Avid system came out. In my second generation Avid, I was sick of the buggy software and being screwed by their outrageous charges.
When FCP 1 came out, I made the transition immediately. It was effortless, because FCP used familiar conventions.
I’ve upgraded to every version of FCP, as soon as it came out. Since projects could be imported into newer versions, I had no problem keeping costs down for major clients (that have annual projects requiring me to start with the previous year’s timeline).
Since going HD, the present FCP is showing it’s age with memory leaks, out of memory errors, crashes, agonizingly long render times. So… I was ready for the new version to answer all those issues. I heard great things about FCPX at NAB, and determined to upgrade again.
I have an Indie film project in house that I am color grading. Great time to cut down on the rendering, so I buy FCPX the first day. Guess what? I can’t import the project. Even if I could import, I still couldn’t use the Magic Bullet filters required. Even if I could do the import and filters, I can’t use my $1k BlackMagic Design monitor card to get to my grading monitor.
So, there’s a bit of frustration going on here. If it had been advertised as a beta version, I would have waited for some maturity. However, having spent $300 to find out I can’t use it, has me feeling hosed.
I want to believe!
And as much as I hate Avid and Adobe, I find myself considering looking at their offerings. If FCPX winds up not maturing as it should, I have obtain other tools to protect my business and income.
I don’t want to. I love Apple and have a buttload of their stock.
It just seems like Apple is becoming a lot like the US school system. Worried so much about inclusion that the high achievers are short changed from excellence. But, as someone noted earlier, it their company… they can do as they wish. We’ll have a lot higher quality videos going to YouTube and CNN iReport.
My fear is that someday I’ll be embarrassed to admit to peers that I ever used FCP. I hope not. I want to believe, so I’ll give them time to sort it out (but not as long as this last “upgrade” took).
Very well said!
Yup.
And as for the raving about the $300 price rag – Hasn’t FCP, as a stand-alone product, always costed about $300-350? (When it used to be available as stand-alone.) I think so.
I think the backlash to the backlash is due to some people posting hyperbole or falsehoods. It’s one thing to point out features it is (currently) lacking, or point out that existing workflows won’t work with the new product. It is the people saying that NOTHING can be done with it (although there is plenty it can do), or making up a list of things it CAN’T do (when it actually can).
Could some comments be coming from Avid etc.? Sure, but FCP X is really missing some features that people who work in broadcast need. Sure tapeless workflow is great indie filmmakers and their fancy RED cameras etc. but if you work in television you will be finishing and shipping on tape. And trust me, the upgrade cycles in broadcast are not going to tapeless anytime soon on a large scale.
Also for anyone who finishes on a da vinci or has sound done in pro-tools FCP X is pretty useless (you can’t for example define which tracks voice over vs. music etc. go on).
I’ve read a lot of articles on this and apparently Apple is going to be adding many of these features back in in the future – and then it will be good for professional workflows – but as it stands now, this is a huge (and great) update for indies, but a no go for anyone working in broadcast etc.
“Sure tapeless workflow is great indie filmmakers and their fancy RED cameras etc.”
Ya, But FCP X doesn;t support RED yet euther 🙂
As a longtime FCP-user I was quick to download it. Checked it out quickly on a small macbook. Disliked it – thought it seemed dumbed-down. But I started a new project the next morning on the big-rig and has been working with it constantly. Sure there are v1.0 bugs but no show-stoppers. The resulting video is certainly “pro”-looking to me and I have never been able to work so fast with the old FCP.
1) I think a lot of the negative reaction is from users who haven’t taken the time to read the manual. They may find their ‘missing’ functionality is actually not missing, but ‘moved’ or reworked.
2) Apple would have been smart to let FCP users know that FCP X would be a major shift and some users may want to consider keeping FCP 7 around for certain tasks.
3) Yes, I think Antennagate and other negative stories are aided by Apple’s competition. They need something to slow Apple down.
4) As an editor who has moved away from older tech and embraced an HDSLR workflow, I LOVE the new FCP X. The new timeline and file organization is fantastic once you take the time to understand how it all works.
In every real professional production or post-production organizations, the cost of an editing software not really a concern on this Avid/Adobe/FCP X level. All the surrounding components, equipments cost a lot more than the price difference of the FCP X and an Avid Media Composer. So the mentioned conspiration theory seems a bit too far at least. The FCP X 1.0 release would require the whole media industry changed overnight or in the next few months which is impossible and it will not happen in the forthcoming years. It is not the same like using cds instead of floppy disks. It is a whole lot more complex issue.
How on earth any manufacture could release a video editing software with color correction on a way where there is no way to monitor the result on a proper video monitor for proper grading? It is just not an acceptable “compromise” for any editor and producer if the want to distribute their films other than Youtube or Vimeo.
How about another conspiration theory? What about if all the negative opinions are valid and true but all the positive opinions and reviews are driven by Apple some way or another? It does not seem to be less believable than Stevejack’s theory?
We are a small studio and have been a Adobe CS drone for quiet a while, we mostly use Premier as its a cost effective web video editing solution once bundled with the master collection. The expense of FCP software and supporting hardware has been a major factor in it being used in our studio. With the $299 price point and speed improvements on non pro hardware we will be moving to FCP X, this is a surgical slash to adobe’s throat. Apple has just grown is market from Pro, to semi pro and home user with this price point.
It is clear that FCP X in this present form is designed for small studios where the output of the production workflow is web or DVD/Blu-Ray, not broadcast and do not have to collaborate other department or facilities.
All the tens of thousands of editing systems using FCP 7 or 6 around the world in television stations and serious production facilities will have to look elsewhere if they want to change their soon the be retired editing systems, at least in the foreseeable future.
It is pretty clear Apple do not think they are important potential customers for FCP X.
Wow. What a bunch of ridiculous opinions. So you really think that Avid or Adobe is going to spend $300 a POP to give the software a bad rap in the app store? And, if you follow the list serves, MOST of the people who think FCP X sucks are professionals who have relied on FCP for a long time and love FCP. I personally have owned Apple products since BEFORE Mac, including the ORIGINAL Mac and have been on FCP since version 2. Let me tell you that Apple has truly screwed the professional user. That’s a fact. I realize that professional apps aren’t really your specialty, so it’s understandable that you are misinformed, but the rest of it is … well, are you off your meds by any chance?
Talk to some professional editors before you “speculate” horseshit from Apple pr.
THEY HAVE THROWN AWAY WHAT WE LIKE ABOUT FINAL CUT. What is so hard to understand?
If Lion didn’t have the Finder, just the Launchpad, where would you stand, MDN? Would you say, “This is faster and more efficient, Apple knows best”? What change would be too arbitrary for even you?
I adore Apple.
I work in the professional TV/Film industry.
FCPX gives the finger to high end professionals. It doesn’t make certain things difficult, it makes them IMPOSSIBLE. Properly color grading, exporting to tape, these are two essential things, and FCPX provides no way to do them. (The “Integration of Color” is a joke. Anyone that knows about color grading will agree.) You CAN send your timeline out for audio sweetening to programs like ProTools, but it requires a $200 plugin from a 3rd party.
That’s 3 things FCPX can’t do. And those are 3 things that Professionals need.
Not want. Need.
FCPX doesn’t make those 3 things difficult. It literally makes them impossible.
I’ve never touched Avid. I hate Premiere. FCP7 is a programI love. FCPX is nifty, but not once you hit a certain level. It is NOT a professional program. Close. No cigar.
Your article would carry some weight were it not for the overwhelming number of complaints from professionals who cited — for example — the inability to upgrade previous FCP projects. Time will yet tell, but don’t denigrate those legitimate gripes and disappointments put forward by an otherwise loyal community.
It is not because of some conspiracy. When you can’t even monitor color critically you are in deep kimchee. It looks promising, but it is going to lose a lot of users that need more than it offers to other apps, primarily Premiere Pro while and if it comes up to speed. I’m using Premiere for native file support and Media 100 Suite because it just works. M100 is one editors should look at. I have to use FCP 7 with my AJA ioHD. Does anyone at Apple care? I like my iPhone, but I can’t make a living with it.
FCP must have sold like crazy within the first few days to video-edting “pros”! How else can you explain this large number of lengthy, seemingly well-informed complainers? Heck, not only must it have sold in large numbers, but I’m beginning to wonder how these people ever got by all these years without the new FCP?
Are you implying that our dismay is programmed? OK. I’ll add my voice. Grief must be expressed or it turns poison. So you can disregard everything that comes now…
I have been editing using FCP since 1999. In that time I have created untold numbers of projects for my clients.
The program was getting long in the tooth for the last couple of years. And yes, we “pros” were anxiously awaiting the update, hoping for a competitive boost to our businesses.
I bought as soon as I became aware it was available. 2 hours later my world caved in, but I also know no one would understand or care.
Through all the years of upgrading, Apple and FCP made sure I never skipped a beat.
So I thought surely it must be me. I must be the problem. So I bought 11 hours worth of training, only to discover that the program itself is hobbled and can never be made right.
And now this what I’m faced with. I’ll just use terms that non-pros might be able to understand:
11 years worth of projects I can no longer open. Big deal-killer and one that will never be addressed because trackless editing is dead.
Basic editing functions such as keyframing, gone.
Trackless makes it impossible to complete your edit with any reasonable certainty that the video is behaving as you expect it to. It adds all the disadvantages of iMovie.
Pre-made themes instead of the former ability to roll your own.
No preview out to a reference monitor. Perhaps clients don’t need to see what you’re doing.
Needless cloning of original source material, stuffing up your hard drive. Big deal-killer.
All projects you’ve ever created stored in RAM at all times will eventually cause the program to just stop working. Big, silly deal-killer.
I could go on and on and on and on. The point is that this program is not built for professionals. If you’re just starting out, have nothing to change, will only be delivering to the web and your output will be a seldom-to-sometime thing, this could indeed be your program.
But there is a dark side to all this. We were the ones who gave Apple the reputation you so desperately cling to and which has given you a conspiratorial outlook on those of us who’s hearts have been broken by this betrayal.
And I wonder, will a mere phone maker be able to rouse the same evangelical zeal that this magnificent crazy company once did for all of us whose careers were built on and prospered with FCS for the last decade?
The LEGITIMATE RAGE against Final Cut Pro X is its inability to open and work with, or translate, projects from previous versions of Final Cut Pro. I can’t think of a more stooopid thing to do.
Otherwise, the big problem is the new learning curve. Most of the previous features are present but buried. At the very least it is extremely obtuse for the programmers to treat this as a unique and new application, leaving previous users lost and confused.
Apple: This is called user-alienation and user-hostility. Bad show. Of course previous users are going to be ticked off.
Otherwise, it is evident that the new version is a step forward in overall usability and simplicity, which is entirely laudable and important. Bravo in that respect.
You’ve gotta love the reasoning of MDN and its disciples: “WTF, someone is criticizing an Apple product?! What…and it’s been underlined by loads of self acclaimed professionals?! But…but, it can’t be; Apple never releases anything that isn’t perfect! OMG, THIS MUST BE THE MINIONS OF THE JEALOUS COMPETION!!!!”
And please don’t give me the “but the Cohen’s uses FCP” or “Murdoch did this and that onit”. I mean, George Martin mixed Sgt Pepper on a beast of an analogue 4channel mixer back in 67- does that mean that todays Neve or SSL should pack and go home?
On an unrelated note, I’m not an editor, but work in VFX environments (mainly Smoke and iQ) and am not being paid to type this.
Now, even though Apple (or make that OSX) is dearly loved among many colleagues, Apple definitely lost a huge chunk of credibility back when they pushed the joke that is Motion, and EOLed Shake (and knifed Tremors). Sure, many agencies tried to stay with Shake because it was so damn good, or turned to Nuke, Fusion, Toxik & co. Still, being burnt like that also means a certain loss of trust in Tinseltown. And lets face it – just like this FCPX stunt Apple just now so delicately pulled off, it’s only a matter of time until Logic will be dumbed down to please the garageband crowd (or EOLed all together).
One have to understand that Apple never intended to become a producer of professional software. (Believe me, they barely make any serious money with this division anyway, compared to, say, iWork). So, instead, they’re milking the possibly best technology out there for ideas, eventually making it dead easy to use for the casual user. And they happen to be amazing at this part as well. (Well, Kai Krause’s daughter disagrees, though.)
Needless to say, but for the shareholders it’s great news that Apple is on a roll with their 3-button approach, where everything is based on glossy templates, poofs, swoosh etc (just ask any casual user!) However, if you’re looking for cutting edge tools, and a rock solid pipeline based on industry standards where you can rely on swift changes and updates when a function isn’t delivering as promised – look elsewhere!
Im sorry; I know this isn’t exactly the forum to post this, and that users like me will always be a minority. But hey, I just thought that I’ll give an alternate view to the current discussion, nonetheless. So, there.
Tl;dr:
Apple doesn’t really care too much about professionals, and as such, it’s very dangerous to rely on their longterm consistency. Still, their software are often a joy to work with, and often comes with interesting solutions to everyday problems.
Cheers,
Happy camper here with fcp x thus far. Needless to say, there are missing support for old features and functions, however new concepts, models, features, and performance enhancements more than make up for the drawbacks. It’s a steal at $300.
I have submitted my list of suggested enhancements to Apple, and let them know how much time I can wait for the enhancements and hope they take it into account. Meanwhile, I actively work with others in my local user group to find workarounds.
Excellent, lonex. That’s how you go about voicing your concerns to Apple. I’m sure they carefully listen to your concerns and will respond in kind. Meanwhile, enjoy your FCP X. I very much enjoy mine.
Gosh, all this negative comment about FCPX. Apple chose to come out with a radical new way to manage digital video, which I might add, is the way video is going. Apple never touted FCPX as an upgrade. As for the cost, it is a pittance compared to other solutions. I see people complaining about how the new software does not handle old NLE tape based files. The reality is that the new system depends on digitized video. Capture the current tapes you have and place them in a digital library. It makes things much easier.
You can capture your tapes, output to quicktime and away you go. I am amused by some of the arguments I have heard. Does anybody really want to base their future on tape? Do you really need a monitor to do color correction for digital monitors? It was a huge factor when we all used Never the Same Color (NTSC) monitors to calibrate what the color would look like in that robust 255 level arena.
Maybe I am just not an alarmist about this stuff. I see no real impediments. As for multicamera, I see no reason why you cannot just capture with the three cameras and bring the files in electronically, then perform the rapid edits from the digital files.
Apple did not erase FCP 7 from your system. It is still there and it works. Tell me how Apple did something wrong in coming out with a Pro solution for digital content? I am sure it is frustrating to have built a tape based system over the last 10 years to have it rendered obsolete. Many of you still depend on tape-based services and you will wind up moving to something else. That is okay too.
I remember when Apple dropped floppies. I anticipate that they will deep six the DVD drive within a year as well. It will be okay.
Bill….WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN TAKING??
“I see no reason why you cannot just capture with the three cameras and bring the files in electronically, then perform the rapid edits from the digital files.”
Do you have any concept what multicam editing is?
There are times (antennagate, etc.) when I would agree completely with this opinion of SteveJack.
But not this time.
I am not a professional film editor, however I am quite familiar with the industry and those who use FCP. I have no doubt that the hue and cry over FCPX is mostly due to two things.
1) A number of details/features that many (most?) editors rely on have been dropped. Some have just been moved around as Dave Pogue states, but most are gone.
2) FCPX is such a radical departure (not just under the hood or in missing features, but in the UI… in how you use it) that it is extremely disconcerting to its target user base… or a goodly portion of them.
I understand why film editors are upset, I understand why Apple released FCPX the way it is. You don’t need a “conspiracy” to explain the bruhaha going on. It’s the same sort of thing that went on with the old version/new version iMovie transition, only at a “professional” level.
I would be very surprised if Apple didn’t expect some sort of reaction like this. If they didn’t, then maybe they ought to vacate the pro industries.
Who is outraged? PROFESSIONAL TV EDITORS LIKE MYSELF. This software is JUNK. Editing crappy cat videos and your buddies skateboarding don’t compare to editing for broadcast and moving through hundreds of hours of footage at lightning speed. This software is CRAP and professional editors are not impressed with the obvious downgrade that this software offers.
The backlash against FCP X is mainly coming from professionals who rely on Final Cut Pro to earn their living.
Is FCP X going to be an awesome app for editing videos? Overall it probably is. Will people be able to make money with it? Yes, certainly. Will Apple improve on some of the “problems”? Yes, in time I’m sure they will.
But there are some big issues. When FCP launched more than a decade ago the market for Non Linear Editors was pretty small and dominated by just a few products. Most Television and Film editing was on Avid, and the rest was things like Media 100 and Lightworks.
FCP made a big impact, but it took a while to gain trust (and some important features) and really break into the film and TV market. But as of last week it was a big contender – Media 100 has basically died, Lightworks went quiet and has since become a free product and Avid’s market changed hugely. If you are editing TV for broadcast (programs or commercials) you’re either using FCP or Avid Media Composer. In feature films Avid still leads, but FCP also made a big impact there.
However in the last few years FCP has been falling behind the curve a little – 32bit was becoming an issue, and it’s support for new video formats are also not so great. An update was hotly anticipated.
Before I go on though it’s important to understand that, while it’s a “Pro” product, only a fraction of FCP users are actually editing TV and Film. From Apple’s perspective most of FCP’s users are not “pros” in that sense (many still earn money from it anyway, but don’t have the same needs as the film and TV industry).
For these people FCP X has real and serious flaws. It is also a big disappointment for those were were imagining it to be the next evolution in the professional NLE they were used to.
Perhaps the biggest insult in the FCP X launch, though, is that Apple has killed FCP 7 at the same time. Apple will no longer sell the Final Cut Studio package, and has in fact instructed some resellers to return current stock. For people who have built their businesses on FCP they have learned in the last few days that they can’t upgrade to latest version of the software (yet?) and that the software they rely on is totally EOL. They can’t expand their current setups to include new edit suites, nor can they rely on they current software to continue working on new OS versions or hardware.
No doubt fans of some competing applications are taking some delight in this farce, but the response is coming loudest from those who feel Apple has foresaken them with this upgrade.
On it’s own FCP X is a great app with some very interesting features, it is also Version 1 software. For those not working within the demands of high volume commercial television and film editing it will probably be great and offer lots of benefits. But it is also supposed to be a Version 8 application for a large number of professionals who have very specific needs.
For what it’s worth, I’m a professional film and television editor with dozens of credits and thousands of hours of work to my name. I’ve used Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer extensively.
This has to be the most ridiculous article I’ve read on the subject. I’m an owner of a post house and motion graphics shop. With about a dozen people working here from producer, editors, animators, and audio engineers. Why don’t you message me and ask ME what I think? You can even come visit if you like. I’ll walk you through the paces of WHY Final Cut Pro X is a far, far cry from being ready to go to work in our studio. Did you honestly miss all of the technical features that are MUST HAVES for pro studios?
Honestly…. people not in the industry should just shut their mouth…. because it’s making you look ignorant.
Steve, I’m still laughing! Even Apple executives know that they made a mess! It’s the worst marketing nightmare I see in ages! In a year (ASAP all new Macs will be Lion-ized) we’ll be forced to throw all our Aja and Blackmagic cards, our shared storage stuff and whatever… Unless we move to Adobe… That’s the sad story.
1) this article is a f*cking joke.
2) you clearly aren’t a pro editor or someone who is even saavy with cutting video and the technicalities of editing
3) 1 and 2 are both evident through this article.
FCP X is for the consumer, it’s a very beefed up iMovie. Apple is shifting their pro model to suite all users. No more pro vs the everyday user. The real pro editors are complaining about FCP X because, let’s face it, it falls short. I would be hard pressed if the Cohen Brothers and other big time hollywood elites will be editing motion pictures with FCP X. I miss the days when Apple products were like a small cult of people.
I bought FCPX and love it. It is exactly what I was looking for, but I am a home consumer, not someone with deadline responsibilities.
My take on all this is that it will work to my advantage. Apple will make the changes, at least many of them, and that makes FCPX stronger. Go over to the iMovie discussion list at Apple, and look at the calm, rational conversations. A couple of years ago we were furious at the introduction of iMovie 08, as it wasn’t that good. I hope in a year or so things settle down the same way. And if some Pros need to move to another editing program for their specialized video editing needs, how is that a black mark against Apple? I wish Apple had set up discussion boards for FCPX for prosumers, so we could be spared the venting.
You nail it, Steve. The majority of the complaints are from haters, bashers, and competitors (scared sh*tless of FCP X powerful capabilities and fabulous price, a combination they simply can’t match).
Notice that these bogus complaints are very similar to each other, starting with some fake claim about being loyal Apple users for xx years with yy products on zz devices to try to establish credibility and then on the same breath enumerate a litany of familiar complaints (they copied from a few legit posts), and then some mention of competitor products, and finally some emphatic statement about switching to the competitor products.
Like clockwork, the same bashing pattern repeats with each Apple product or service release – iPhone, iPhone 4 (antenna gate), iPad, etc. The funny thing is haters and bashers always end up eating dirt every time. This time is no exception.
You got it chemix. I can’t say it any better. Don’t forget the use of capital letters and insults by haters and bashers with the hope to attract more attention. They just put people off from reading their same old, tired posts.
“Don’t forget the use of capital letters and insults by haters and bashers with the hope to attract more attention. They just put people off from reading their same old, tired posts.”
So true.
Chemix, how OLD are you? How many Youtube videos do you post a month? What do you smoke?
What “competitors” are you talking about??
The complaints are from former “Fanboys”, that is ONE reason why they are so angry at being BETRAYED by Apple.
Why don’t YOU, little chemix, go EDUCATE yourself on what these user are complaining about.
When you think about how many truly PROFESSIONAL users of Final Cut Pro are in the industry if just 1% of them take the trouble to go online and post a complaint then you have thousands of “whiners” and no NEED for your fictitious “competitors”.
Delusion at its finest. This was so ridiculously written it almost comes off as satire.
I think it’s time Steve Jack took the tin foil hat off and got out of his Mother’s basement.
Wow, what a huge bunch of IDIOTS and a completely IGNORANT article!
The professional market of users for FCP 7 have been a very patient and extremely loyal bunch of high-end users.
Who we seem to have in this forum are a bunch of Fanboys who have no deep knowledge of FCP in an INDUSTRY SENSE.
What THEY needed was an incremental improvement in what FCP 7 and the Suite had ALREADY set as a standard, plus 64 bit harnessing of all the stuff they have loaded on their high-powered Macs.
They were ADOPTERS of FCP! They bucked the industry to adopt FCP 6 and 7 over other professional editing solutions. But then that requires for many of them the FCP Server, too, at $999.
These guys and gals are the last ones going to kick Apple in the teeth. They were giving Apple tons of valuable feedback over the past couple of years and Apple, in turn, had been promising an even bigger, faster 64 bit version of FCP PRO.
After all, how many of you numbskulls have been using FCP 7 for the past few years in an INDUSTRY environment?
Where workflow with other editors, colorists, conformists, audio editors, etc, was the daily workflow needed for Business.
You jerks have NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!
Just to post some of the comments I have seen reveals your babyish ignorance.
FCP X is iMovie Ehanced.
It is not Final Cut PRO….PRO
It is NICE, very NICE for an iMovie editor.
But, in just ONE area…think about it. Adobe announces a brandnew paradigm in Photo editing. They close down the last version of Photoshop and tell you come see what we smart people have done for you Photo experts.
Your PSD files will not open in new improved Photoshop.
Enjoy the New World!
This is just ONE of MANY areas where Apple has completely lost it–the new PROFESSIONAL Final Cut does NOT open FCP files!
I would tell you to go read guys like Walter Biscardi and Richard Harrington if you want to educate yourselves but that would be useless.
This stuff MUST be way, way over your little heads.
You know what you need, local TV spot editor? More CAPS LOCK. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Just like you add more font styles, font colors, and slather on the water drop transitions, you tasteless amateur.
Stop whining local TV spot editors.
Real professional editors understand and wield the power of the simple cut – which FCP X does perfectly well, thanks.
“Film Editor”, your moniker says it all.
This comment is where you, once again, demonstrate that this subject is completely over your head.
“Real professional editors understand and wield the power of the simple cut – which FCP X does perfectly well, thanks.”
Duuhhh… thanks for educating the guys who don’t understand the POWER of the simple cut. I guess the issues of FCP Pro project files which can be exported cross project to other editors and specialists such as color correction editors, music and audio editors, and shared using several simple but powerful xml standards just seem like so much nonsense to a real cuts-only man such as yourself.
Did you know that a project can have more than 2 tracks? Maybe 16, 20, 24 or more on a project? They have to be exported for real fine control and they have to arrive intact for the audio editor-sweetener to work with and go back to the same project intact when done.
Your toy, mr Film Editor, can not hope to do that.
Many other issues, many that are project breakers for people working on daily television, television movies, movies, commercials.
But please, post some videos to educate us on the power of single cuts. We ALL want to learn from Film Editor.
Steve Jack you aren’t a pro, you have no idea what you are talking about. If you ever had to deliver an actually show to a television network or worked in a real post production environment you would have a clue. But you don’t. It isn’t just about stringing clips together, it is an entire workflow you don’t understand. Nor will I waste my time explain to the other commenters – who can go back to playing angry birds.
The rest of the commenters here are teens and twenty year old who watch TV but have never made anything that has been on it.
In response to just continue to use FCP 7 – that’s not an option. Many large post facilities lease their equipment. For those of us who are pursuing a new lease in FY2011 FCP 7 is not sn option.
The biggest issue for large post facalities with FCP X is the file management issues. When your facility has multiple editors and rooms, and the rooms are shared a program like FCP X that does not support multiple users with shared storage is useless.
It is no coincidence that in the months building up to FCP X Apple dropped 3 key product lines for large post houses; Xserve, Xsan, and Finsl Cut Server.
Get over it people! Video postproduction services as a market are in terminal decline. Consolidation in the entertainment business where studios are moving more and more post-production in house.
• Decline in revenue last decade: -24.9 percent.
• Forecasted decline in revenue in the next decade: -10.7 percent.
• Forecasted decline in the number of establishments next decade: -37.8 percent.
In other words Apple sees the writing on the wall and is looking to expand the addressable market of Final Cut, read prosumer, rather than watch Final Cut sales decline along with the overall industry.
Those of you above and elsewhere that threaten to move to Avid or Premiere go for it I think Apple is VERY happy to let Adobe ONCE AGAIN become the leader in yet another industry in decline. Avid will be right up there with InDesign! Outstanding strategy there!
It seems those who love FCP X are the ones shooting their friends skateboarding, BMX on the weekends and posting them to you tube and thinking their film editors. Yes, you do some pretty cool things but it doesn’t make you a pro film editor. Apple, Canon, Nikon has made it easy for anyone to think they are professionals. The problem, the real professionals CANNOT use FCP X. Think of all the hollywood movies edited with Final Cut 7 ( Final Cut Studio 3), No Country for Old Men, True Grit, Curious Case of Benjamin Button to name of a few of many, NO WAY they are going to be editing in FCP X, because it’s NOT a professional editor. It has nothing to do with local TV, etc. Apple has shot themselves in the foot or perhaps they don’t care and are becoming to big and mainstream.
No the product is just a complete disappointment and a major step back from FCP7. That stated with a decision of learning this or making the transition to a new Pro editing platform, I installed Adobe Production Premium on Saturday and am moving away from Apple.
i actually like the look and feel of the 3GS better 🙁
I will only speak from a professional editing standpoint. We produce 10 – 28:30 programs per week reaching a worldwide audience of over 1 billion people. We use Final Cut ‘Pro’. We have 7 yrs worth of project files that will become useless were we to stay with Final Cut. Amature – I think not. Afraid of learning something new? I think not.
Believing in Apple any longer? I think not!
lol, a conspiracy theory! Great spin to a bad spin 😉
Sounds like the oilindustry bashing climate change or polution……
Offcourse the competition won’t shed a tear about the bad reviews, but this theory surely belongs to the religious fanatic fantasies…
Some people say: “it’s just version 1.0 so it makes sense it’s incomplete.”
This is ridiculous reasoning: did you ever get an UPgrade that offered far less possibilities? Even Microsoft doesn’t do that :-p (Although their Vista came close: more options, but less speed, lol.)
A 1.0 version can contain silly bugs and errors or miss a certain solution or outdated option, but this is just incomplete for serious pro-users.
I think it’s either a premature release or just a move to conquer the prosumer market (which is probably far greater than the pro market).
I work with both Final Cut and Premiere Pro and contrary to some beliefs: they don’t differ that much (Premiere is not a retarded version of FCP (anymore (5 years ago FCP had more options)), like some Apple-users seem to think, and FCP is not just for ‘fanboys’). At the moment possibilities (looking at FCP7) are mostly the same, but PPro CS5.5 is 64bit, can handle multiple cores, can use far more than 4GB, has native support for most codecs, works perfectly with After Effects, Photoshop, etc and let’s you import your FCP7 projects and keyboardshortcuts. In that regard FCP-users were looking forward to this new version: FCP7 can’t keep up with CS5.5 anymore. (Although most of them won’t be aware of it: they just see things getting slower as projects get bigger) And that’s why they are disappointed.
People claiming they ‘hate’ a certain program are primitives who still think on ‘tribe-level’. One should really try something to see how it works and decide which functions are useful and needed. Years ago I didn’t like Avid, because to me, it worked counter-intuitive, but I don’t hate it. Their last version is said to be more ‘drag and drop’ like FCP and Premiere. Maybe I would like it better now?
The differences between NLE’s are the user interface (learning curve), options (workflow needs) and the hardware/plugins it supports (investments): in the end it’s all cutting, pasting and grading.
All serious editing platforms should have (more or less) the same options and hardware support, so after the learning curve the output can be ‘the same’.
Let’s face it: at the moment FCPX lacks in hardware support and options and thus it can’t garantee the output pro users need.
To keep the FCP7-users on board Apple should get the pro-plugins ready real fast. It will be awkward to admit to uncle Joe he can edit and render faster than your expensive pro-system…
I don’t believe in ‘tribes’, I believe in the right tools for the job. One should look for what works best and how it connects to the workflow. (I have both FCP and Adobe-oriented clients and work on location a lot.)
At this moment I can imagine people are considering moving to another NLE. The key-question seems to be: Are you willing to wait for Apple’s next move or do you want to move on now?
Both ways could be dead-ends within 5 years… or both ways can lead to great productions…
Let me end with some comforting words to the people who think Apple is a divine brand, but got a bit disappointed:
Apple moves in mysterious ways 😉
Typical “Apple can do no wrong” fanboy, I’ve asked our jr editors to work through competing options and write up reports. Apple has shown it has no interest in the pro market and it’s time to move on. It’s clear iOS / Appstore is pretty much the only thing they care about now. Not bad for their business but bad for ours.
I’ve noticed the iOS/AppStore focus too, seems like Lion is just the iPod-ifying of OSX. Nothing wrong with the iPod, but I’m not going to be editing with it. Clearly they’re making moves based on the market interest in portable devices.
Final Cut X blows and is really just a rewrite/upgrade of iMovie,
– No one asked for an idiot proof magnetic timeline
– No one asked for the redesign of the entire interface
– No one asked for the removal of many professional features
– No one asked for constant background rendering
– No one asked for bells and whistles for the dumb masses
We just wanted a faster 64 bit version of Final Cut Pro that could utilize more ram and more processors.
My guess is Apple has abandoned the professional editors market and is happy pumping out awful programs for home videos and amatuer. They’re following the smell of money.
I think professionals will have to look towards Adobe Premiere, which is a bummer, but Apple has blown it!
There is a simple fact for so much backlash, the new program is not very good. When you introduce a program to a large group of Professional Editors for and it does not provide them with the tools they need then you are going to get some negative feedback. To suggest that other companies are putting negative feedback about the program is simply wrong, they don’t need to. If you have taken the time to learn the program which I have. You will quickly realize that it does not cut it as a professional editing tool. Do you really think that all the professional editors who have switched are doing it just for fun. Final Cut Studio 3 needed more speed and greater integration and users of the suite were keen and eager for Apple to provide that for them. Apple did not and that is why there is a backlash. If Apple had been open and honest about their intentions for Final Cut Pro X then all of this bad press would not have occurred. As for Apple’s competitors they don’t need to do anything Apple has done enough to make most professional editors switch.
Image if your beloved iPhone was redesigned and updated with the following features.
1. You could no longer store contacts
2. The keyboard would work but apple decided to rearrange the letters and omit a few that they figured you did not use very often.
3. You could only make calls to other iphones – they did announce that you might be able to make calls to other companies in the future but they were not sure when.
That is what Final Cut X is like.
IIi have been using Final Cut Pro since 3.0 was release many years ago. IIInitially it was OK, but not really a contender to AVID. But over the past 4 years or so it has matured into a very capable, maybe the best, editing system out there and at a very fair price. Besides working as an editor III have helped set up 2 middle sized post production facilities so I know what I am talking about.
Currently II work for a major international TV Station and our entire company, in every region of the world uses Final Cut Pro.
I have to admit that I am very disappointed with this latest release. it is clearly not a pro app, not by a long shot. It is impossible to use in o ur work flow and i doubt it ever will be possible. We have 35 edit suites working off one giant SAN server. Final Cut X would not work in that environment. And if you add the problems with OMF, external monitors etc Ii doubt it ever will.
And yes -people are pissed off. Our management is not happy at all. Changing from Final Cut to Premiere or Avid world wide will cost tens of millions of dollars and royally screw up a lot of other work flows.
Someone mentioned that you can just keep the old Final Cut and dont worry about it.
Well its not that easy. When Future MACs cant run the program anymore then what?
We have a year max to swap and it will be very painful. And expensive. We have to send a lot of people to training.
Just in our office, APPLE has managed to turn pretty much everyone here from MAC lovers into MAC haters. And I’m one of them.
i read once that Apple are “skating to where the puck will be”. while this explains why they appear to be heading off to an empty part of the playing field, communicating to team members is also a big part of game strategy.
Storytelling and content creation on a worthwhile scale is not a single user endeavour, Our entertainment culture has grown to rely on COLLABORATION among specialists.
Treating those specialists like they are buying a pound of suasages at the butchers by throwing out relationships built on trust of supply is about as big a mistake as releasing the puck mouse with the first iMacs. hehe maybe that’s whatbthe writer meant.
Be interesting to see how they get out of this marketing moebius strip they have created. Their ‘marketing cool’ is built on film students wanting to use what the storytellers at the top use. Throw away what the top relies on very quickly gets noticed by the wannabes at the bottom
As a professional editor with 16 years online experience, you should know that not a single U.S. network accepts file based deliveries at this time. Bravo, MTV, Spike, you name it, they all require tape masters. FCP X has no tape I/O ability. Tell me, how do I deliver a show finished in FCP X to a network?
Larry… don’t try to confuse SteveJack with facts. In his world, Apple made the product… therefore it must be perfect for professionals. Any tools left out must be because real professionals do not need them. Apple knows best… all hail Apple!
Yeah… I’m a media professional as well. We have an 8500 sq ft studio with three full-time edit bays. We produce several episodic shows for broadcast networks. I even invited SteveJack to come out and see our studios first-hand… and I’d show him why FCP X isn’t even remotely close to ready for a pro environment. He (laughingly) declined.
Oh… and Apple’s official response to the ‘issues’ hardly made us optimistic. The choices they used for their wording made us even more leery that they ever intend to address these issues with any real solutions.
What-a load of twittle-tattle! Your article seems to reflect exactly the same arrogance Apple sometimes displays to its customers. And why? because I am an editor with some years of experience under my belt, who knows if I do change to FCP X now, I am going to loose work. The programme is simply not ready to be taken seriously by many of us who happen to produce corporates, features or documentaries.
Unless Apple get’s their act together and starts listening for a change, me along with a battalion of people I know, will drift away to the competition (e.g. Premiere; Avid Media Composer). And why? Because to put it simply it provides us with access to options in an ever evolving world.
Don’t get me wrong. I have been an unconditional fan of Apple products for many years and no doubt Apple will soon wake up. I just hope it won’t be too late.
LightWorks is now FREE with all the features FCP eX, forgot to include, I don’t hear LightWorks having a backlash.
It’s that they turned an outdated, but awesome professional program intlo a consumer APP.
Never heard of LightWorks? Go watch Shutter Island or the Departed. (It’s legacy goes back to Pulp Fiction and Braveheart.)
Have you used FCP X? I have and it’s not just empty anger. The editing process SUCKS. Yeah I said it.
Everything slip sliding around. When I add things to the timeline they attach to other things in the TL and deleting one thing will delete everything it’s added to.
Keyframing effects is NOT POSSIBLE. You are stuck with Apple’s chosen effects. You can do some retiming in Motion but you have to port things back and forth.
Importing Motion SUCKS. You must make it a template (not flexible considering how many motion materials I need each project).
Saving sucks- I’m completely at the power of the computer. It could decide to not save anything for 5 minutes (I’ve had to redo over 10 minutes of work more than once)- autosave? It’s a lie.
Old Projects? Useless- you gotta start everything again. Imported footage? Only useful in FCP X- otherwise you’ve gotta reformat using Compressor (Droplets are notoriously unreliable).
New layout and ideas? It’s clearly focussed on the home user. How often does ANY editing require his/her family photos or their jogging mix in their iTunes library in a paid gig?
It’s cool- they’re clearly said they don’t give a damn about their professional base and that we should all shove off to Adobe, AVID, or whatever. They’ve taken a big step and destroyed their core business- clearly they are going for the majority of the population.
They’ve done this before- remember the confusion and disbelief when they refused to support Flash on their mobile phones (Flash was the most important web design tool used at the time)- Flash was used for EVERYTHING at the time.
I’m sad because 6 years of study has been for nothing- good thing I’ve got some Premier and After Effects (etc) to fall back on.
right.. and Sarah Palin is really smart.. it’s just the media that makes her look bad.