Final Cut Pro X

Shaggy wrote:

What no serial number? FCPX will be download glory for the pirates!

Don't be ridiculous - it has the same copy protection of all the App Store apps...

Patrick

lol you are being sarcastic right?

We all know how well that is going.

I remember the good old day SGI days. The protection was a very expensive workstation and tie in with the CPU ID.

:)

EVERYBODY....back to work!

Going off at a tangent, please excuse if somebody has already mentioned this . . . . .

Apart from curiosity, the announcement of FCP X has created a certain amount of controversy, with old hands claiming that it probably dumbs things down a bit and worrying that there may be some vital things it can't do.

So wouldn't it make sense for Apple to allow Demo Downloads like it does for Aperture, so that prospective purchasers could have 30 days to see whether it suited their workflows?

For many people $299 is quite a large sum to spend on the gamble that it may be suitable.

Where do you get the demo download of Aperture?

http://www.apple.com/aperture/trial/

Thanks Ian. Perhaps Apple will do that.

SoCal, I work with some higher ed reps from Apple regularly, and they say even they won't know anything until the day FCP X is online for download. But yes, your Apple rep is who you need to stay in close contact with.

"For many people $299 is quite a large sum to spend on the gamble that it may be suitable."

You're kidding me, right? I'd be embarrassed and deemed shameful if I pointed out the ways that $299 can be wasted on utterly frivolous purchases -- this is the restaurant tab for a dinner out for an average American family. Own a Playstation?

If this paltry amount is a "large sum", first: definitely the $4 download of iMovie for iPad2 would be the way to go, since there is also a camera built into the device; shoot, edit, master and upload to YouTube from the same handheld tool. No one will be able to tell the difference. (Believe me.)

If $300 ... I'm still trying to wrap my head around this... is THE obstacle... *mental spluttering*... uh... that's actually my hourly rate under some circumstances...

I guess it must be true, then that this is a race to the bottom. Someone who would worry about $300 in this industry would be like the Trabant-owner worrying about how to finance their vehicle in a Grand Prix race. Maybe a little bit unclear on the concept of what is actually going on at the level that is described as "professional" -- but maybe that term has been co-opted in the same way that "broadcast quality" was diluted to meaninglessness.

PS I just received a bulk email advertising "rotoscope, matte painting, etc." services "Hollywood/Mumbai" for between $3 and $8 an hour. I wonder what the individual 'artists' toiling away, like battery hens, are paid.

jPo

On this occasion I am definitely not joking!

$299 may be nothing to you or other profligate professionals working in large studios, but you have to remember that Apple intends this app to be used by amateurs as well.

I am prepared to concede that $299 is a very attractive price, but if the app is rendered unsuitable because it can't perform a specific task needed by the user, that money is a lot to throw away.

Can I assume you wouldn't bat an eyelid if you lost a wallet containing $299.

I am by no means on the breadline but I would not be happy at losing even £1 . . . . . which may account for me not being on the breadline.

Ian R. Brown wrote:

I am prepared to concede that $299 is a very attractive price, but if the app is rendered unsuitable because it can't perform a specific task needed by the user, that money is a lot to throw away.

Can I assume you wouldn't bat an eyelid if you lost a wallet containing $299.

How can you compare not researching a product properly and making a stupid mistake to losing a wallet, other than it's another stupid mistake? I'm sure all the information will be available to make an informed decision. And if you're an amateur, iMovie rocks.

Could not agree more with Geoff on this one.

The last thing I want to do is portray a 'pro snobbery', but Final Cut PRO has always been made for a pro audience, and this trend will (hopefully) continue. Long live the pro apps. iMovie is (and for a long time has been) an awesome app for any who may question the jump to FCP/X.

IMHO $299 is a steal if it delivers everything from FCP7 and more with a new UI and all the background rendering goodness we've seen so far. Look around the competition, you'd be hard pushed to find a decent consumer level app for this money, let alone an industry standard package capable of handling 4k.

The big investment with FCP has always been the machine, and if you've already got one, I honestly can't see why anyone would moan about pricing. Features and direction, maybe. But that's all to come clear in the coming weeks.

Just my 2

"$299 may be nothing to you or other profligate professionals working in large studios... "

I looked this word up to make sure I understood precisely in what manner I was being insulted.

1. utterly and shamelessly immoral or dissipated; thoroughly dissolute.

2. recklessly prodigal or extravagant.

If $299 is utterly and shamelessly immoral, dissipated, thoroughly dissolute, recklessly prodigal and extravagant...

and a quid is somehow on higher moral ground... I can't imagine. Besides, I run my own small company, just like a lot of single-hand sweat-shop owners that I know in this "new normal" ha-ha "business" world, and you'd blanch, I know I do, at the list of uncollected receivables in my ledger which probably aren't ever going to materialize. The trouble is that most producers share the same psychological traits as problem gamblers... at least, that's my observed conclusion of 35 years in video/film as a professional.

If Apple really intends or expects their new application to function on all levels, they are guilty of McNamara-ism and we will have the horse-designed-by-a-committee (a "camel", for those unfamiliar with the aphorism) foisted on us. Also, ie. the All-In-One F-111 attack aircraft. It did everything... sort of... okay-ish, kinda, but nothing brilliantly, and the Navy rejected it immediately, because it was too big for carriers. aw, too bad, by the way, how many billions wasted? Get this, though... it was designed VietNam-era, but it was almost completely unsuitable for that conflict.

To be honest, I am beyond caring one whit about this introduction -- it is what it is. Apple will attach the electrodes, hoist the New Prometheus to the roof, wait for the lightning, exclaim that "It Lives!", and release it into the wild. We've learned to live with plutonium... no reason to believe the earth will not continue to turn, at least until solstice 2012.

And now I'm going '10-100' on this topic.

jPo

"...you have to remember that Apple intends this app to be used by amateurs as well."

Really? Where did you read or hear Apple say "FCP X will be great for amateures!"?

"...but if the app is rendered unsuitable because it can't perform a specific task needed by the user..."

This is why you do your homework before spending money on a product. You don't go buy something just because, especially if you're a professional. You see what others think about it, read the reviews, drop my your local FCPUG one night.

As far as the industry going downhill, I'd have to strongly disagree. Professional work is still professional level work. There are MORE genres and levels of work being done, but the top end is still the top end. Just because more backyard indies are around, and many of them very good and geting recognition, does not in any way take away from the higher end professional editor. Unless he/she can't do any better and has good reason to feel threatened...