Final Cut Studio 5 - Upgrade?

google final cut studio 3 and see who is selling

Ebay has plenty

Just to add to Gary's advice, I don't believe the academic version is eligible for upgrade, so when you do your eBay search, look for the full FCS retail version. (Amazon also lists some availability.)

Russ

There is/was no FCS HD 5. There was FCP 5, and FCP HD (which was version 4.5) and there was FCS 3, which was the last version of Final Cut Studio available from Apple - discontinued in 2011. FCS (Final Cut Studio) was the package of apps that included FCP (Final Cut Pro).

-DH

Angela,

Yes, Final Cut Studio will definitely install and run perfectly well on 10.7…and from what others have reported it will run on 10.8 as well.

Final Cut Pro X has almost nothing in common with the earlier versions. Rather than getting into the pros and cons of the software, I'll just say that having experience with legacy versions of FCP isn't much help…it's that different.

Again, if you buy FCS 3, make sure you buy the full retail version and not the upgrade. I'm 99% sure the academic version of whatever you have will not upgrade.

Russ

Final cut 5 is for power pc only. They did a crossgrade to 5.1 which could work on intel machines. When fcp6 came out it woyld work on either platform. FCP7 which is part of FCStudio 3 is intel only.

FCX is just a glorified imovie with so many missing features plenty of people are leaving it alone. It seems aimed at the youtube kids and not professional editors.

I'm actually looking at a full copy of Final Cut Studio 5.1 as I type this... no HD markings, but there were HD markings on the Final Cut Studio box. If I had a box with FCP5 in it that said Final Cut Studio and had HD in the corner, I might think it was Final Cut Studio HD 5...

What Beep should be looking for is Final Cut Studio (2009) a.k.a.

"The New Final Cut Studio" or

"Final Cut Studio 3"

Pretty good guess, eh?

Studio 5.1 (which was a Universal Binary release so it would run on your current system) is probably really hard to find by now, so I'd advise that you skip it and get either FSC 2 or FCS 3. FCS3 is the last release of this paradigm and has better codec support and some improvements. It may also be more available. In a pinch, either will get you where you want to go.

Good luck!

This is an exceptionally subjective (and emotionally charged) question. For some of us the "old school" workflow and style of FCS is important, even crucial. To others the 'iMovie on steriods" style is just as good, even desireable. It very much depends on what you do and how you work.

For me it's FCS all the way, but then I'm just a little indie post guy who has to pay his own bills. I work a lot in Color, which is not supported in FCP X. The alternative color grading systems are out of reach financially. And I've been on FCP for 10 years.

FCX, on the other hand, is getting all the development dollars so it is definitely is the future. And it does some things extraordinarily well. I expect if I was on a field reporting team I'd take FCP X over a hot lunch. In time it may be the standard but right now it's an 8-speed automatic transmission while I need a 4-speed manual transmission with a transfer case and 4-wheel drive.

Take a hard look at FCP X. If you never really got started with your original FCP, it may be just as easy to convert. In the end it will probably be less expensive and better supported as long as your needs match up.

Best of luck

http://www.photoethnography.com/blog/2011/08/installing-fina.html