I am in the process of wanting to upgrade from FCE 2.0. I have the option of upgrading to FCE 3.5 or FCE 4. Which of the two should I choose? Is there an advantage of one from the other? I just purchased a Canon HD recorder which uses SD cards to record the video. I'm currently using an intel core duo iMac and Power Book. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Final Cut Express 3.5 and 4.0-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
Your profile says you are using Snow Leopard (10.6.8) and a Canon camcorder that records to SD memory cards (probably AVCHD video, right?) You should go with FCE 4 for both reasons.
FCE 3.5 would be ok on Tiger or Leopard. And the only HD format it works with is HDV. No SD card camcorder that I know of records to HDV. Most of them are AVCHD. And you need FCE 4 for AVCHD video.
Your profile says you are using Snow Leopard (10.6.8) and a Canon camcorder that records to SD memory cards (probably AVCHD video, right?) You should go with FCE 4 for both reasons.
FCE 3.5 would be ok on Tiger or Leopard. And the only HD format it works with is HDV. No SD card camcorder that I know of records to HDV. Most of them are AVCHD. And you need FCE 4 for AVCHD video.
Thank you MartinR for the reply. The recording system on my video camera is MPEG4-AVC / H.264, which if I'm not mistaken is the same as AVCHD, correct? I also understand FCE 4 was made to run for, and is supported by 10.6.8. If this is true, I'm leaning on FCE 4.......Thanks again.
Hi again,
MPEG4-AVC/H.264 and AVCHD derive from the same family of standards but they are not necessarily the same. It depends on how the camcorder manufacturer implemented the choices available in the standards. Look for the AVCHD logo on your camera & manual; if it's there, you have an AVCHD camcorder.
FCE 4 supports AVCHD but FCE 3.5 does not. Also, FCE 4 is fine on both Leopard (10.5.x) and Snow Leopard (10.6.x). I have it running on both versions of OS X, and it works flawlessly.
Final Cut Express 4.0 vs 3.5
