Apple Unveils FINAL CUT EXPRESS 4 With AVCHD Support!

[Jerry Jones]

http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/

Final Cut Express 4 lets you edit footage captured in the most popular formats — including AVCHD.* Simply connect your camcorder to your Mac, preview and select the AVCHD clips you’d like to import, and start editing your video. No need to worry about formats, frame rates, or conversions. Final Cut Express 4 provides an open format Timeline that handily accommodates DV (both NTSC and PAL) and HD footage simultaneously and in real time. Just drop video into the Timeline and edit away.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[ND66]

Oooooooooo!

But what's this about?

* AVCHD video requires a Mac with an Intel processor.

Looks like windows programs should fallow soon, no?

.

[Jerry Jones]

That only means this version of Final Cut Express requires an Intel Mac as opposed to a "Power PC" Mac.

But even those Mac users who are still using Power PCs can edit AVCHD using a cheap software utility called "Voltaic," which is available here:

http://mac1080hd.com/

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

Yawn.

Vegas has had AVCHD support for quite a while now. And the latest update allows pretty much anything with a *.mp4 tag to not only imported but edited. For example I can bring in mp4 files created in Nero Recode.

How's that Mac system working out for you Jerry?

[wkulecz]

Too bad Vegas dropped support for Windows 2000.

Based on what I've read at www.camcorderinfo.com the quality of AVCHD isn't there yet when compared to HDV.

I've been tempted by HDV in the Canon HV20, but it seems to have editing issues becasue of missing video flags in the HDV data.

Maybe next year.

I hate XP and despise Vista, so I'm leaning toward a Mac for my next editing upgrade. I was ready to upgrade to Vegas 8, but luckily I read the fine print before taking advantage of the upgrade off Sony Emailed me.

--wally.

[Jerry Jones]

Vegas...

Sadly, Vegas runs on Microsoft Windows Vista:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139663/article.html

With Microsoft planning to release the next version of Windows, code-named Windows 7, in late 2009 or 2010, there remains a strong possibility that businesses might skip over Vista altogether.

Microsoft Windows Vista is a "dead OS walking."

The Microsoft Windows Vista "death watch" is described in this Dvorak column:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2209837,00.asp

Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP because Vista has simply not shown any life in the market. We have to begin to ask ourselves if we are really looking at Windows Me/2007, destined to be a disdained flop. By all estimates the number of Vista installations hovers around the number of Macs in use.

How did this happen? And what’s going to happen next? Does Microsoft have a Plan B? A number of possibilities come to mind, and these things must be considered by the company itself.

So what went wrong with Vista in the first place? Let’s start off with the elephant in the room. The product was overpriced from the outset. Why was it so expensive? What was special about it? All the cool and promised features of the original vision of Longhorn were gutted simply because it was beyond Microsoft’s capability to implement those features.

Vegas? Might be a decent application, but -- on Microsoft Windows Vista -- it's relegated to people who may not know there is something better called Mac OS X Leopard:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

From what you say Jerry the Mac OS is really something. Competition is always a good thing.

As you know I love XP and the super fast, stable systems I can build on the Windows platform for very little money. I absolutely love my 3.2GHz Core 2 Duo system with Vegas 8 for video editing. It's fast as heck and really inexpensive. Shoot I bet I could build my system today for LESS THAN $600. A comparible Mac system would cost at least 4 times that much. Probably more but I don't have the time to price compare. Do they even sell 3.2GHz Core 2 Duo systems?

Anyway it's always easy to pile on the 800lb gorilla as witnessed by how people jump on Intel and Microsoft. I have no love for either of them. I use their products when they suit me and stay away from them when they don't.

As for Vista. I don't really care if that operating system does get skipped. I'm very happy with XP. Bought a retail version when it first came out for $80 after all the rebates and have been bouncing it from computer to computer since then. Love it. That's the nice thing about the retail version, you can move it from computer to computer. I read the upgrade list for Vista and didn't see anything particularly interesting. Same thing for Leopard. I don't get all this "love" for operating systems. As I've said before I don't even notice mine. I just run applications on it and be done with it. If it's stable and easy to use I'm good to go.


So anyway Jerry how IS your Mac experience going? How's that new system working out? Surely you aren't typing these posts from a dreaded Windows box right? It would be crazy for you to use a box you despise so much. You do a lot of MS bashing and Apple idolizing so I'm sure you're not using an MS product right?

Please do tell.

[Jerry Jones]

For users of Corel's MediaStudio Pro 8, Microsoft Windows Vista is a key reason for switching to the Apple Macintosh platform... with its FREE multimedia suite (iLife '08) included:

http://www.apple.com/ilife/

...and only $199 for the brand new AVCHD-enabled Apple Final Cut Express 4:

http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/

Key advantages:

1. Final Cut Express 4 is inexpensive ($199);
2. Final Cut EXpress 4 provides training for use of APPLE Final Cut Studio, which is far more widely adopted by professionals than Sony's Vegas;
3. Apple's base multimedia software programs -- iMovie '08, iDVD '08, iPhoto '08, iWeb '08, and GarageBand '08 -- are FREE with every new Macintosh.
4. The Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) -- key for the editing of various long GOP formats -- is FREE with every Macintosh ($250 minimum for the Windows equivalent).

By cutting off any option for MediaStudio Pro 8 users to upgrade to a newer, faster Microsoft Windows Vista computer, Corel actively encouraged literally thousands of MediaStudio Pro 8 users to migrate to APPLE.

If I'm faced with...

1. Having to learn a new NLE;
2. Having to buy a new computer.

...then why on Earth would I choose a Microsoft Windows Vista computer with a more expensive ($584.95) Sony Vegas program that is not as widely adopted as Apple's Final Cut Studio or stay on the outdated Windows XP OS?

As soon as the new Apple Macintosh ultra portable ships in January...

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/11/12/ultra_portable_apple_notebook_to_splash_down_at_macworld_expo.html

...I will be editing on the APPLE Macintosh OS X Leopard platform.



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

As for Vista. I don't really care if that operating system does get skipped.

[Brian Ellis]

...I will be editing on the APPLE Macintosh OS X Leopard platform.

So all your blurp is based on what you read and not from practical experience. You know what I call that? Male bovine excrement!

[Jerry Jones]

So all your blurp is based on what you read and not from practical experience. You know what I call that? Male bovine excrement!

You haven't been paying attention.

I've already mentioned in other threads that a member of my family has...

1. Macbook (the black model):

http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/9194000/wo/WK5ijexGLBcf24UOhLNk1G1bJwF/1.?p=0

2. Mac mini (the fastest model):

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

So I have lots of experience testing these machines.

The Macintosh OS smokes Microsoft Windows Vista.



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

Jerry,

So now you're making the switch when the ultra portable ships? I thought it was when Leopard came out. Anyway that's quite a small screen and weak system to be your editing computer. And I'm sure that sucker will cost about twice what a comparable Dell system would cost for the hardware performance. But to each his own. Too expensive for me but I guess if you're rolling in it... I have a Dell 1400 system with a 14.1" hi definition widescreen, 2.0GHz C2D, 120GB drive, DVD RW optical drive, 2GB RAM, etc... and it cost me $900 after all the discounts. Of course the software was free as I just installed the stuff I use on my desktop over to the lappy.

If you're worried about "what everyone edits with" which seems to be your main concern then you can go with Premiere. I really don't care what everyone else uses. I tried out a buch of NLE's and liked Vegas for a number of reasons I won't get into now. Truth be told you can get the job done with just about any modern NLE out there unless you are editing a big time movie so after that's it's what interface and features you most prefer I think. The really strong multitrack audio and the fact that you can drag and drop FX and things on the fly while the video is playing in Vegas are the big selling points for me. I've been with it since Version 3 with an audio only version and upgrade every few revisions so cost hasn't been too bad. Plus the Vegas (and Sony in general as I have Sound Forge too) regristration process seems to be pretty liberal as I've never had a problem installing it on quite a few of my systems.

[Jerry Jones]

Very positive review of APPLE's Final Cut Express 4:

http://www.macworld.com/2007/11/firstlooks/fce4/index.php

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Well, I won't be switching *completely.*

After all, I have...

1. Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8;
2. Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus;
3. Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 11.

That's a pretty powerful toolset on my Windows XP laptop.

But each program has its unique frustrations.

1. MediaStudio Pro 8 doesn't run well on Vista; there's no official Vista support.
2. VideoStudio 11 Plus is limited;
3. Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 11 has this amazingly frustrating plug-in called "Bias SoundSoap" that triggers a maddening "Code 4 XML Error" message during the Studio Ultimate initialization if you merely switch your Internet access from an ethernet adapter to a wireless network card. It's just an incredible outrage and Pinnacle's so-called "patch" for this issue doesn't work. I'll be going round and round with Bias tech support for the next quarter century.

So I suppose I'm reluctant to try yet another Microsoft Windows non-linear video editor, Mark.

Microsoft Windows -- and most Microsoft Windows software developers -- blow chunks, in my opinion.



Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

Jerry, So now you're making the switch...