And while the big bucks are still in broadcast, that is also changing. Look at the music business. Alternate venues are growing daily and you’re right, they don’t pay in many cases, but with inventiveness and perseverance, a living can be made if that’s what you want.

The point is I’m not a post house. I don’t want to edit commercials. I’m a writer and a musician. That pays my bills. I can now expand my creative horizons more easily, I can enhance my other products and I can feed my creative spirit. I’ve acknowledged that for professionals this last week has been a bitter ride. And although the piper may not know which way is home, I no longer have to mortgage my future to follow him.

Best wishes.

Good luck – and keep your good attitude.

I hear you. And the bad news might be that this is exactly what Apple wants. Leave the high-end and broadcast to Avid, and they’ll take the rest.

Is this a PR disatster for people like you? Yes. I think they could have been more up front about what they were doing and certainly could be more forthcoming with details and a timeline of future enhancement.

Do you have options? Yes, but you obviously won’t like them as they involve money (lots more that FCP Studio) and a new learning curve.

Apple should have kept support for FCP7 alive, but this doesn’t seem to be their priority or even possible, what with Lion coming and the crazy pace of computer technology development and where they see their future growth. Certain sectors are getting left in the dust. And I appreciate that the taste of dirt is not good.

For some of us however, FCP X opens new horizons.

First, you can’t color correct. Oh sure, you can fantasy-color-correct – for your little computer monitor. But how do you hook it up to a broadcast monitor? How do you hook up to your vectorscope, your waveform? You can’t. So any color correction you do is basically mental masturbation. Enjoy.
Second, you can’t send out audio for audio sweetening. And audio is at least 50% of what you “see” in video. So now everything you shoot is limited by what audio controls you have within FCP X. No ability to export to ProTools or Logic. No access to faders and industry-leading compressors, limiters, EQ, etc.
Third, you can’t share the edit or even individual clips. Not with Smoke. Not with Avid. Not with Premiere. Oh, and not with Final Cut Pro 7. If that isn’t the single stupidest thing I’ve ever seen, it’s the second. So, in other words, once you start “creating” in FCP X – you’re stuck. There’s no way to improve your workflow – without starting over. Period.
That, to me, is unforgivably asinine,
Fourth, Apple said it would blow us away. In a sense, it did. But not in the way I expected. Being blown away doesn’t bring to mind images of needing packing tape criss-crossing my skull to keep my head from exploding – out of pure disgust. Apple just proved to the world that it doesn’t have a clue. All this time we thought FCP’s success was because Apple “got it.” Apparently, Apple just got lucky. So embarrassing, for those who thought otherwise.

Here’s what Apple had right – in the early days:
1) open hardware architecture so we could get uncompressed HD in and out for the price of an AJA card and fast raid, – that was nothing short of amazing.
2) interconnectivity through XML and OMF support -allowing a wonderful buffet of programs – some costing 10 to 20 times what FCP cost – to contribute to the post-production process (even with the recently released Autodesk Smoke for mac, allowing FCP projects to be brought into Smoke for more refinement).
3) an interface that could be customized, and was built with the inherent ability to do almost any task – 3 different ways. Most hobbyists, casual users have no clue about this last feature, but people who make their 10-hour a day living with this, can fly. I can make changes to my timelines so fast, that sometimes I finish the task before my client is done expressing what they want done. Multiple techniques to achieve common goals means speed, regardless of task and mood.

So when Apple got a chance to build it again – from the bottom up – they released this little program that only has meaning to those with no OTHER resources or interests and who have non-broadcast/non-feature (ie web and DVD only) audiences.

With FCP X, all outside resources are wasted. Period.

To emphasize: once you start a project with FCP X, you are stuck, you are alone, and you are limited. Not to mention deaf and blind (broadcast-wise).

So here’s my question. Is Apple smart or clueless?

If smart, then this is a gross anomaly that will be quickly fixed, and we’ll have to forgive them for foolishly calling this an upgrade to anything. But how long do we wait to find out if they really understand? 1 month? 2 months? 6 months? You see, the reality distortion field works both ways. They may be convinced this is the single greatest advancement to mankind!
And if they are stupid . . . well the answer is obvious.

You do realize that very quickly, clients everywhere are going to notice that no-one is producing broadcast work using FCP’s “upgrade,” right? They’re going to see that FCP is dead in the water, waiting months for the most secretive company on the planet to whisper what their next intentions are. Right? And those same clients are already seeing the continued advancements taking place with Avid, Adobe Premiere, Vegas, or whatever else is out there. So what is going to be the perceived value, especially amongst those well-heeled clients, who care how their projects are handled, and who must have faith that whatever new requirements they bring, that their favorite post house can handle it? How will they feel about having their projects handled by an antiquated, and practically EOL’d FCP 7?
In the past we could say, “It’ll be upgraded soon. It might be slow, but look at all the stuff we can do, and we’re not charging for render time. We’ve got you covered.”
Now, what do we say? “Heh, heh. Yeah it’s slow. But here’s a copy of FCP X you can take home to your kid to play with! Want another mocha?”
I mean, let’s face it. FCP 7 was just pronounced the last version of FCP. If you have any street smarts, that is.

Apple calls it FCP X, because that’s how marketing works. But maybe the ‘X’ is just the logical nomenclature for ‘Not!’ Yeah, I like that better. At my office we’ll call it “Final Cut Pro – Not.”

Apple has very little time to address a dwindling audience, as we now must pursue focused developers that can write code that is superior to Apple’s – even when working on Apple hardware! Developers that would put our business ahead of their desire to build cute little cell phones, for instance.

Apple may not know it yet, but many FCP users know that “Pro” is supposed to be short for “professional” – not “prolapsed.”
Welcome to Final Cut Pro – Not. The “prolapsed” version of what used to be a decent piece of kit.

1 / 2.35 = .42553191

42.553191%

And BTW, I usually edit in Vegas Pro 10 on a Bootcamp drive on this same computer, which has been 64-bit for years, incorporates many of the “new” features of FCPX, does OMF, EDL, multi-cam and defaults to just the viewer window but has the option of both a viewer and canvas window, if you choose. And it is blazingly fast, both on the timeline and in exports, or renders, in Vegas parlance.

Why couldn’t Apple have just bought Vegas from Sony (aren’t they sitting on a load of cash these days) and ported it to the Mac. And changed the awful name…

Apple always said “Think Different”. FCP X certainly follows that philosophy and I pray that Apple doesn’t get cold feet because of all the negative press, and continues to refine a really wonderful editor.

And yes, I guess there is a new Mac in my future.

Good review Andrew. I don’t think you will be changing your mind. This is the equivalent of the HDSLR revolution in my mind. So far the quality looks really good although I do need to work with it some more.

I think I’ll wait a few months before making the decision to buy FCPX or not. Right now, I’m hearing nothing but cries of “iMovie Pro” and “unprofessional” from all the professionals that went ahead and bought it right away. Granted, I don’t think it’s anywhere near time to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so I’ll wait and see how the workflow evolves in the months to come. In the meantime, hopefully Apple will listen their professional customer’s pleas and offer updates(free ones, of course) to help them launch this into a serious video editor!