Opinion: New Final Cut Studio Not Worth Upgrade
Apple as a company is generally pretty good at making great products, and marketing new features as compelling selling points, but the new Final Cut Studio lacks the usual incentive. Let’s take a look at the new features in Apple’s high-end video production software suite.
Final Cut Studio has been around for a number of years, gaining traction on it’s Avid counter-parts. Being used by large-production companies for feature films, or short goofy clips by high school and college students, Final Cut serves a broad audience with its suite of editing, creation, and manipulating tools.
*Note: To be fair, we haven’t yet gotten our hands on the software, this is working from the advertised feature list from apple.com
Final Cut Pro 7
Final Cut gets the bump to the big 7.0, and while it offers a number of small new features, I was hoping to see a stronger feature set for a big version change like this. Apple calls it “the year’s most stunning new release.” If this is the year’s most stunning new release, it’s going to be quite a disappointing year.
- Current Final Cut users will be happy to get an improved export system called “Easy Export.” This one was common sense: allow users to continue working on a project while it’s encoding in the background. I’m excited for this, but it seems like something that should have been done in the first place.
- Apple is heavily touting it’s ProRes codec family as a big feature, and while a more extensive codec family is useful when working with multiple types of clips, I hardly see it as a big feature.
- Apple is parading better integration with iChat and Cinema Tools, support for more formats, more effects and transitions, and blah blah blah… None of these features are so earth shattering I would pay $299 for the upgrade.
Motion 4
I don’t event know what to say about Motion. No major updates to the interface, no major new features, just more of the same tacky templates, particle emitters, and preset patterns.
- Lots of other small little useful tools Motion has had for years made better…
Soundtrack 3
Soundtrack got the most new features of all the apps in my opinion, which is sad for this video-centric suite.
- Soundtrack sounds like it got a bunch of tools to repair common audio problems with just a few clicks. This will be refreshing change, as before it could be clunky to make smaller edits in a large timeline.
- Soundtrack 3 improves integration with Final Cut to make it a more useful counter-part in the editing workflow. Make precision edits to dialogue levels on two tracks to that they match perfectly. Another great feature, but it always seemed like a feature destined for Soundtrack, nothing that will change how you use the advanced multi-track editor.
Color 1.5
A lot more of the same. Color grows up a bit, and gains… you guessed it: tighter integration with Final Cut.
- Not much to report. Come back next version.
Compressor 3.5
- Compressor gets a bit of a facelift, and I understand that it’s hard to improve an encoder. Compressor does a better job of handling batch jobs, gives you better batch templates to work with, and a great 3rd-party-plugin system to let you better write your own custom workflows.
- Compressor supposedly now gives “pristine” format conversion, including excellent SD-to-HD up-conversion. A plus, sure, but it’s hard to quantify what “pristine” format conversion means in comparison to what Compressor used to be.
DVD Studio Pro 4
- To be honest the Apple website doesn’t really say much about DVD Studio Pro of consequence. It touts features already available in the software for years, and just more of the same.
- Blu-ray support? I’m guessing (and your guess is as good as mine). Compressor supports it now, so it leads one to believe that you would be able to burn Blu-Ray images at least. No where on the site does it say that it does though, and no Macs currently support Blu-Ray media, or have drives to read/write the discs.
Conclusion
I’m honestly at a loss of words as for what to say about the new Final Cut Studio. By no means do I think they’re bad programs, I think they’re all excellent, but there are no compelling features to justify the upgrade. It adds better inter-app integration, it offers some improved sharing features for popular formats and services, and just improves over-all. There’s honestly not much to report.
Either Apple did a terrible job advertising new features on their website, or the new suite is just the slightly more-polished version of Final Cut Studio 2 it sounds like. If users were planning on buying Final Cut Studio already, they should go for it, there are some useful new fixes and tie-ins, but it’s not really worth the upgrade from the current version.
I just spoke to Apple about this as I only bought Final Cut Studio 2, 3 months ago. I think it’s a ridiculous price for the upgrade, it’s also £70 cheaper in the US than the UK. Thanks Apple.
I called and had a chat with the very friendly sales person who informs me that Apple offer no rebate whatsoever to customers who recently bought the software (except in the last two weeks…) and that there is no where to register a complaint about them as an organisation.
I am at a loss to understand how a company can charge so much for such a basic upgrade, the software is great but the company who make it are pirates.
This article was probably one of the worst I’ve seen on MacApper in a while. It’s trivial, superficial, and very poorly written. You clearly aren’t professional video editors or regular Final Cut users; at least you’ve admitted that you haven’t even used FCS3 yet.
I’ve been using Studio 3 for a week, and have used Final Cut Pro for years before this. The $300 upgrade cost is perfectly justified and reasonable, for two main reasons.
1. iChat Theater. Thanks to this new feature, my production company can demo a video to a client without any hassle, exporting, or sharing – just open iChat and start playing the Final Cut timeline. This will probably *save* us money in the end, since we had been looking into file sharing services with enough storage and bandwidth to accommodate large and frequent video files.
2. New Exporting Features. It renders in the background. Anyone who’s ever exported a video out of Final Cut can attest to the long wait times and inability to do anything else in the application while waiting for the export to complete: thus, usable time (and therefore money) are lost. If for any reason I have to export what I’m working on and send it to someone else, I don’t have to take a break for an hour or more (depending on the length and size of the video).
Professional video editors are currently rejoicing over the new ProRes codecs, especially those who use RED cameras. Color has seen some necessary and worthwhile upgrades, as has Motion.
Clearly, the consumer writing this article expects every release of Final Cut Studio to be something so revolutionary that it blows everyone away. What can Apple add to the application to make it revolutionary? A new UI for Final Cut Pro, maybe? You can pay for the lost time as professional editors with deadlines have to waste time unlearning the interface they’ve used for years and trying to learn something that may look a little big more Mac-like but doesn’t offer them any more features.
Don’t make criticisms on anything unless you have the proper authority to do so.
The new features and improvements in FCP 7 alone make this upgrade a steal. Many plugin packages cost more and offer none of the basic creative and time-saving improvements this update does. Any editor making their living in FCP concerned that this a less-than-exciting update should watch the free tutorials at ripple training, especially the improvements in the speed tools, blu-ray support, and the new codecs. While overdue, some of the new abilities are very well implemented and answer a lot of the most basic weaknesses of the application. I can’t wait for my package to arrive.
Woah, thats a lot of anger from your previous commentor. I saw a product demo for FCS 3 last night, and was unimpressed. I didn’t see a lot different from FCS 2. The ichat feature is of little use to me. Red cameras are great but I don’t use them. The exporting features are nice, but they don’t exactley get me excited.
I started editing on Avid 10 years ago, and am now using FC. What amazes me is that after 10 years, more ram, faster processors, render times are still so slow. Maybe Apple could do something to dramatically improve that. How about making the interface in some of their apps a bit more intuitive? If they could do that, then Í’d be impressed.
I saw a number of slightly gimmicky features at the product demo last night, as well as, other features that I could see would be of benefit to others. But for me not a lot. Make the software easier to use, make it work faster. Keep the quality high. Get the basics right.
I’m not too proud to ask for these things, and I’ve been at this for a long time.
Wow, I have to totally disagree with this article. As a professional video editor FCPS 3 has many new features that make it an essential upgrade for me. And there seems to have been absolutely no research done as to the new features of FCPS 3, as the talking about DVD Studio Pro and Blu-ray shows.
DVD Studio Pro has not been updated, and has no blu-ray support, but there is now blu-ray support built into both Final Cut Pro and Compressor using some pre-existing templates, and you can burn Blu-ray material on a standard dvd for playback in a blu-ray player.
As the other commentator said, iChat theater is a huge addition, especially for any editor who is working remotely or has a client that is far away. This alone would be worth the upgrade.
Improved markers with ripple delete and colorable tabs make working with large projects much easier.
Improved speed change support is another essential feature I will use every day, as it’s ability to easily transfer those keyframes to motion to do better slow motion (though I wish this was integrated into Final Cut Pro itself).
The floating timecode window is another feature that will make my ever day life better while editing.
Global transitions also will make my life easier every single day.
With Color, the addition of 4K support is a huge feature, especially for this working with RED.
And with the price drop this upgrade has gotten even more affordable and useful. As a full time editor these new features alone will make every day easier, and more efficient, and that alone makes this an essential upgrade.
I also disagree as per the points made above. One more thing… I paid $350.00 just to have audio software that would do true RMS leveling. That feature alone is worth half the price of the upgrade. I don’t have it yet, but it’s high on my list.
Unless I’m mistaken Motion now has 3D shadows and the like which is a big deal for many people. A lot of people I know are pretty excited about BluRay authoring (although most grumble about DVD Studio Pro). For people dealing with clients and doing back and forth the iChat features are cool as well – but clearly not interesting for everyone.
First, I’m still using 5.4. Not proud of that, but it gets me through and then some. I LOVE FCP. I’ve had my PowerMac G5 twin 2.0 for almost 5 years and haven’t had a single issue. It’s time I get an intel-based machine. I don’t know how anyone can write an article about an upgrade they have never used?? WTF?
Sounds to me like the workflow and background rendering is worth it well enough. I’m not editing on RED (yet) but I plan to and this sounds like the revision to the software that many were hoping for.
I’m excited to get this setup. I’m sure it’s great!
I am a frequent user of all the Final Cut apps and have been for years. I never said these were bad apps, I love them. That being said, every Final Cut user has their quips, and there is definitely room for improvement in all of these apps.
I’m generally working with shorter news packages, so I don’t feel the need for iChat theater, and so the colorable tabs and a number of other additions don’t do much for my use. I know a number of colleges and news stations that use FCP for their news packages, and in most newsrooms iChat theater can be useful, but its just as easy to walk into an editing bay and look over a package.
I also did say I hadn’t gotten my hands on it. The point was that there aren’t enough tangible features to justify such significant version jumps. I’m not looking for a re-write, or earth shattering features with every new release, but to justify upgrading an entire lab full of machines, I need some incentive. Apple didn’t market it well on their site in my opinion. When I get into an apple store and get my hands on it, I’m hoping to be more impressed.
Don’t upgrade then! It doesn’t seem like you need any of the new features. Your current version seems to be doing the job fine.
Rejoice in the fact that they have dropped the upgrade price way down, even if you have an older version than FCS2. When FCS4 comes out, you’ll be able to get the latest version for a much cheaper price!
well there is some truth to everything that was said here>
The only thing I think they have to do ……it’s speed up the render…it’s REAL slow….
I hope SL does something.to help it (fcs3)
This is one of the best link-bait articles I’ve seen in a long time. But it’s just that: link-bait, with almost zero substance or insight to warrant such a provocative headline.
If you seriously cannot see how none of the new features and workflows in FCS3 will save you hours of time (at least save you enough time to make the miniscule $299 upgrade cost worth it), then you are not a serious user of Final Cut Studio. And if you are not a serious user of Final Cut Studio, then you honestly shouldn’t be writing something with the authoritative title of “New Final Cut Studio Not Worth Upgrade”, because it you truly don’t know what you are talking about.
There is valid argument to be made regarding whether FCS3 deserved the full-point version number increases that some of the apps got. I *do* consider many of the “new” features to be just massive bug-fixes. But it is absolutely undebatable that combined, the new “features” of FCS3 will significantly save any serious editor or content creator both time and money, and if that isn’t worth $299 to you, then you aren’t a professional user of FCS. In which case, the title of your article would be true: But it would be true only for people like YOU.
Apple clearly listened to the constant complaints that people like me (who aren’t just “frequent users” of FCS, but actually use it on a DAILY basis) have been whining about for years. This is the first release of FCS/FCP where whiz-bang features took the back seat to major improvements to long-standing issues that previously made the lives of professional editors a living hell (in particular, the Media Manager, Send-to-Color integration, speed-changes, markers, etc).
You claim in your followup that you aren’t expecting “earth shattering features” in upgrades, yet right in your article, you dismissively say “blah blah blah… None of these features are so earth shattering I would pay $299 for the upgrade.” The most interesting (yet unsurprising) thing about your screed is that not ONCE do you ever mention what kind of features you’re looking for which *would* make the insignificantly small $299 upgrade price “worth it” to you.
As it stands, this article is Not Worth the electrons required to display it on one’s computer screen.
Hi
I totally agree with this article, i was shocked to see no new features but just integrated 3rd party compatibility and speed improvements, these should be updates not in a UPGRADE, anyone who disagrees with this article is been hypocritically blind to the facts mentioned here on all that., the new FCP is nothing new at all no matter how much people think they saved in there company, features and improvements are what you pay for in a upgrade., those other updates are more less for professional standards.
everyone stop complaining……make money with what you got….fcp works fine..
I’m going to upgrade. It’s common for major applications to upgrade every two years or so, especially in video when things change rapidly. I think subsequent incremental upgrades within this new suite will be free, so there’s continuous development that users will benefit from in the next two years. Although there might not be anything obviously earth-shattering, there’s probably a lot of accumulative back-end improvements that all add up.
i just wanted to say that nobody has mentioned the new ‘open timeline.’
this alone, without having the software yet, is enough to make me upgrade, even with all of the other (maybe) negligible goodies.
if you’ve made anything on a video camera in the past 5 years, there are chances you are dealing with multiple frame sizes and rates, and your life is miserable trying to do something as simple as edit a reel for yourself.
this is pretty revolutionary, sorry. being able to mix ntsc with pal, hdv with dv, i mean, even like, vhs footage with xdcam…this is just not to be overlooked, at all. this makes everything easier for anyone who works in video, whether you are a commercial editor, documentarian, or found footage artists…you can take all your stuff and export in one click…
read the specs better next time.
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