Alternatives to Final Cut Pro (the new version is a disaster)

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Alternatives to Final Cut Pro (the new version is a disaster)

Okay, like millions of others that have been setting your hair on fire since the bizarre version of iMovie Pro, or sorry, I mean Final Cut Pro, I will need to migrate my work to a different editing application. I will obviously use Final Cut Studio 3 for a few more months before I uninstall that too.

So let us discuss alternatives that you all recommend. The closest one that I can find is Adobe Premiere as it resembles final cuts interface. What are your experiences with it?

I have already purchased Avid for our media studio to replace FCP but are considering other applications too. Any recommendations would be highly appreciated.

And please do not try to advertise FCP X as a good product when it isn't. I have given up hope on the FCP application because I cannot see Apple releasing a version for it that will be an "upgrade" of the pro series, rather than a massive downgrade like the X version.

Posted on Jul 5, 2011 6:25 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 5, 2011 6:55 AM in response to Felexion

Avid and Adobe are the only viable professional editors that run on Macintosh. If you want to do Windows, you'll need to troll around other forums.

bogiesan

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Answer 2

Jul 5, 2011 7:00 AM in response to Felexion

Here's my part of my reply to another thread.

from: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3156216?answerId=15544363022#15544363022

"Since you're just starting out, my advice to you would be to start learning actual professional editing software and I'd further strongly suggest that you do that on a different platform than a Mac. If you can find FCS 3 and have a decent system to run it on, great; you can use that as well. But I'd plan for an Apple-free future if you want to make a living in video post-production.

I don't make these statements lightly; after all these years using Apple products, I find it's just a sad fact."

-DH

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Answer 3

Felexion Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 5, 2011 7:09 AM in response to David Harbsmeier

Excellent reply. Although the issue here is that me personally, and the media company that I run have been using Mac computers since the 90s. Therefor to change the OS would be to drastic. Looking at the situation, I guess I will migrate to Adobe Premier and Avid.

And yes, I am very aware of Apple's extreme measures to milk its users of money the past years. Just look at how they are advertising the Apple Store to be an excellent addition to the features of OSX Lion. I must admit that I laughed so much when I read that.

Eventually though, I might consider leaving the OS entirely.

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Answer 4

Felexion Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 6, 2011 7:34 AM in response to Felexion

Out if curiosity, has there even been a positive reaction to Apple's decision to go this abtract with the Final Cut Pro series? All the articles I have read around the web have been negative.

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Answer 5

Jul 6, 2011 7:42 AM in response to Felexion

There are some enthusiastic reviews but the credibility is questionable and they are usually wrapped in disclaimers like "I'm not a professional video editor, I don't even know any."

bogiesan

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Answer 6

Felexion Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 6, 2011 8:01 AM in response to Felexion

I see. I still do not understand the purpose of this version. Does it actually have ANYTHING that is improved to prior version? Or is it purely a version that has downgraded the app to iMovie standard?

I really am doing my best to look at this positively and find a way to stick with the FCP series, but I cannot work it out.

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Answer 7

Jul 6, 2011 8:47 AM in response to Felexion

During my search for an alternative solution I stumbled across this one: Lightworks

http://www.lightworksbeta.com/

However - since I am bound to a Mac for now, I couldn't actually try it out myself. Have any of you guys tried it? By the looks of it I think it may well be worth to keep an eye on it.

Isn't it sad that we live in a world where even a free of charge, open source, public beta of a NLE system is more appealing than Apple's latest "greatest" Final Cut?? 😢

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Answer 8

Jul 6, 2011 10:38 AM in response to Felexion

>And please do not try to advertise FCP X as a good product when it isn't.

Haven't you heard? Apple is going to fix everything that's missing and/or broken with their new, ground breaking software!! I so excited I can't wait.

btw, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale. Any takers?

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Answer 9

Jul 6, 2011 11:53 AM in response to David Harbsmeier

add to the list

Smoke $15,00-00

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/smoke_2012_top_reasons_to_buy_us.pdf

Media 100 $595-00

http://www.media100.com/

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Answer 10

Jul 6, 2011 12:55 PM in response to Felexion

We're going to wait it out a little bit longer with FCP 7, but eventually we'll probably need to move to Avid or Adobe Premiere. I've personally edited on both. The differences amongst the major pro editing programs now is hugely overstated, IMO. If you can edit on one, you can edit on them all.

While I prefer Avid, Premiere makes more sense given our current workflow, hardware & software setup. Apparently Premiere CS5.5 is pretty good.

Both are offering crossgrades at the moment, FWIW. I believe Avid Media Composer can be had for 1K, which is less than what it normally goes for.

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Answer 11

Jul 6, 2011 12:59 PM in response to David Harbsmeier

Hadn't taken my thoughts that far yet (see: David Harbsmeier's post). Interesting.

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Answer 12

Felexion Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 6, 2011 2:10 PM in response to David Harbsmeier

David Harbsmeier wrote:

>And please do not try to advertise FCP X as a good product when it isn't.

Haven't you heard? Apple is going to fix everything that's missing and/or broken with their new, ground breaking software!! I so excited I can't wait.

btw, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale. Any takers?

I hope that you are being sarcastic there. In fact, I can't find a reason why you wouldn't be. It is absurd to expect us to wait for Apple to add whatever that is missing. So... we wait a year or two for a new FCP, and we are given a light version of it. Now, while the competitors are evolving with media technology, Apple is "fixing" what is broken and missing. Does that sound like the type of company you want to bet your career on?

I have been using Macs since the very old black and white Mac CE ones. And I have been a part of the evolution of all their OS version and also all the FCP versions. Yes, I even have the original FCP v1 on an old harddrive somewhere. The production company that I have been running here in the UK have been using OSX and FCP for over 10 years now. By being a part of Apple's entire product release journey, this is by far the worse upgrade (if we can even call it that) in history.

It is as if someone from Adobe came into their office, disguised as the manager for their creative direction, and told the team "Hey guys, lets just remove stuff from FCP until it reaches a point where it equals iMovie and we are set to go!". Then this Adobe character goes back to his real office and says "Hey, look at those dumb Apple people falling for this trick, there is one main competitor drained in the toilet!". I can't see this going in any different way. I say that Apple needs to focus their resources on the person who made the decision of making FCP X... I can assure them that with proper research, they will find that that individual is not who they say they are. Well, it is either that, or this individual is the biggest idiot that the company have hired... ever... but I didn't want to say that directly, as that would be rude.

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Answer 13

Jul 6, 2011 2:45 PM in response to Felexion

One of my online buddies recently quipped,

> Won't it be an odd world when Apple completes its dominance of the
> consumer market, and all the creative/non-consumer user types are on
> PCs?

That's just too whacky for me; I'll always want to use the MacOS. But, you know what? I can almost envision a professional workplace setting where my iPad is the primary interface to a video editing system that uses two or three large flat displays.

bogiesan

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Answer 14

Aug 4, 2013 5:15 AM in response to Felexion

Thank you for the topic.

Yes you are right.

I have been struggling with that FCP X for the whole year already!

With that spinning wheel of death and so many other technical problems, and the biggest problem is:

There isn't anyone there to help identify what's wrong with it!

Lets look for better alternatives rather than wasting time.

Good luck.

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Answer 15

Nov 24, 2016 12:00 AM in response to Felexion

Final Cut Pro is not very easy to use for non-professional users. I don't like to use its new version too. So I tried to find Final Cut Pro alternatives on the internet. I found that besides using Adobe Premiere and Avid, we can also use other programs like Videopad video editor, iMovie, Filmorg, and so on.

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