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Many of us have been using Apple’s Media Asset Management solution Final Cut Server (FCSvr). Despite its shortcomings like missing rough cut editor, no native tape support for archives, lack of decent UTF-8 level 3 support when importing and exporting XML files, even today, almost two years after its last update and more than six months after Apple has dropped it, Final Cut Server seems to be the best asset management and workflow automation system for FCP7 clients. Yet, though Apple still sells Final Cut Studio (FCS), sooner or later it won’t run on the latest Apple hardware anymore, so we need to consider switching over to FCPX, Adobe Premiere, or probably Avid Media Composer as soon as Apple drops FCS support with their latest hardware.Final Cut Server doesn’t support project files of these editors (apart from Premiere using FCP7 XML structures), so a big part of its functionality can’t be used with the latest editors. In addition, Apple won’t fix any FCSvr bugs anymore, so you can’t really add functionality to your FCSvr based workflows. Long story short, you might want to consider replacing FCSvr with a modern Asset Management and Workflow Automation solution sooner or later.There are a couple of tools you might wanna look at, e.g. Cantemo Portal DAM, CatDV, ConSol* FocalPoint, Flavoursys Strawberry.
Softron Media Services today announced immediate availability of MovieRecorder Control 2.1. With MovieRecorder Control 2.1, users can now create multicam clips for Final Cut Pro X automatically. MovieRecorder is the natural companion to Final Cut Pro X when working in a multicam environment. It is a Macintosh based multi-format, multiple input video, acquisition software that supports Edit-while-ingest. It supports multiple SD and HD formats, either compressed or uncompressed. With the appropriate hardware, multiple streams can be captured on one single MacPro (up to 8 SD or 4 HD streams) using the corresponding number of MovieReorder licenses. In addition to its multiple channel ingest efficiency, MovieRecorder's multicam feature allows users can to start editing the multicam clip while the file is still being recorded.
We finally get a tool to do what we thought would be possible from FCPX v1.0.0
When Apple released the latest Final Cut Pro X update there was a very important 3rd party utility released right alongside the 10.0.3 update that finally allowed the importing of legacy FCP7 projects into FCPX. It wasn’t entirely surprising that it was Intelligent Assistance releasing 7toX for Final Cut Pro. I say that because they had already created Xto7 (to move projects from FCPX to FCP7) and are arguably the best company for creating high-quality XML workflow tools for the FCP universe. There’s been tons of blog posts about 7toX for Final Cut Pro since its introduction but most of them are nothing more than a here it is here’s the link kind of thing, including one of my own. Many have taken a simple sequence to try this conversion but my thought was to throw everything at 7toX for Final Cut Pro and see how well it did ... or didn’t work.
Of course the most surprising thing is still that Apple didn’t build this capability directly into FCPX from the beginning but it’s better to get it late from a 3rd party rather than never get it at all.
You know the back story, so let’s jump right in. Apple recently released Final Cut Pro X 10.0.3 which offers several new features, most notably multicam, advanced chroma keying, XML 1.1 and a beta version of broadcast monitoring. I don’t have the hardware to test the last new beta feature, so I’ll focus on the first three.
On the other features, the Cliffs Notes version is this: The new multicam feature is fabulous, miles ahead of Final Cut Pro 7 and well ahead of Premiere Pro. Advanced chroma keying has some nice new twists, but I’d trade them all for an 8-point garbage matte effect. And, XML 1.1 looks pretty anemic from where I sit, though this isn’t an important feature for what I do.
Marquis Broadcast today announced the launch of X2Pro Audio Convert, its cutting edge conversion application for delivering Final Cut Pro X projects to Avid Pro Tools for audio finishing.
X2Pro uses Marquis’ Media Highway, the core technology employed by Marquis’ media integration products, to integrate Final Cut Pro X into professional audio workflows. X2Pro converts the exported Final Cut Pro X XML into an AAF file, which Avid Pro Tools can open as a session, delivering seamless integration between the two applications.
In this special article, we take a look at how one company supplies a national US broadcaster with half hour shows cut exclusively on Final Cut Pro X. Advantages, disadvantages, the workflow and more. The timing for this article is pretty apt, a perfect response to news that the once Apple poster child of FCP in television, Bunim Murray has decided to switch back to Avid.
This is a question and answer session with Dustin Hoye, the Lead Editor/Developer at Sour Squirrel Studios who kindly spent time with us to give us an insight on how FCPX performs for broadcast. He edits 'The Next Bite' which is aired on Tuesdays and Thursdays on NBC Sports Network (Formerly Versus Network) at 1:00pm Est and 10:00am Est.
- Shared operation on media files with Bin Locking for Avid and FCP - Virtual media files: no copies, no double media, full security - Edit with all stations directly on Sony XDcam, Panasonic P2 and Quicktime files in any codec supported by your edit system. - AMA for AVID network wide available. Faster AMA then in normal use. - MXF project based. Easy archiving to LTO5 - Professional access rights management with reporting. Can also take ADS - ProTools and Pyramix audio support - Scalable system - Fully shared editing on the Omneon MediaGrid - EVS compatible - Uniform MediaBrowser Read on combination with Harmonic MediaGrid here : http://bit.ly/rdPJ2M
I was a little shocked to find people posting on Twitter and Facebook that they had tried to import Final Cut Pro 7 XML into Final Cut Pro X with the new “import XML”. That would be like opening a Word document and complaining that it didn’t translate from Spanish to English while opening the file. So that brings us to the specifics of translating xmeml to fcpxml (FCP 7 to X respectively) or going from fcpxml to xmeml. Jon Chappell did a great job of explaining the differences in his blog post, but the important point is that the XML must relate to the data structures that it is trying to represent. So when we come to going from Final Cut Pro X to FCP 7 we are immediately struck with the fact that FCP X has Events (media) and Projects (timelines), each with its own XML file, while FCP 7 puts them all together in one XML file. Because FCP X and FCP 7 are so different it will be impossible to ever do a truly perfect translation, just as all other inter-NLE transfers lack full fidelity. Import FCP 7 XML to Premiere Pro and say goodbye to most of you metadata (all Master Comments are lost, in fact all but scene, shot, take and description are lost). Also say goodbye to all your tiles and expect only imperfect mapping of filters and transitions.
Given that Apple say that Final Cut Pro has been rewritten from the ground up, it is very likely that it stores its information in a database that will be available to other applications and users. It is likely that multiple users will have access to the database at the same time.
That means new collaboration opportunities.
Doremi propose un nouvel outil très intéressant pour Final Cut Pro : exporter directement son montage en DCP (package pour le cinéma numérique). Cet outil est notamment dédié aux vidéastes indépendants qui veulent bénéficier d'une projection numérique en salle de leur film. C'est en fait le logiciel CineAsset qui est maintenant livré avec un plug-in pour FCP.
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A look at Jason Rose and his Tactile Interface Movie Editing (T.I.M.E.) machine. It's a touch-enabled system on top of a flat-screen running Final Cut Pro X.
TitleExchange Pro is a unique tool which makes complicated things simple and fast when juggling with subtitles.
It's probably the most advanced tool available for the Apple platform to interchange subtitle information. Using it with Apple's Final Cut Pro makes this NLE the most flexible editing software package in the world when it comes to subtitles.
If you ever wished to get your titles out of Final Cut Pro into DVDSP (or another DVD authoring application), as text file for a translation bureau, get titles into Final Cut Pro from another source like DVDSP, STL or a file from the translation bureau, or ceate a QT movie with all your Final Cut Pro subtitles without the need of rendering, add captions to your YouTube videos or just "equalize" your Final Cut Pro titles TitleExchange will be your "one stop" tool.
Don’t believe everything you read about the new FCPX multicam. It is good, well thought out and it presents a whole new set of tools when dealing with multicam setup that makes it the leader of the pack. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say Apple reinvented multicam editing with this release I would say they rethought it. The truth is there’s really only so many ways to effectively edit multicamera products. Once you’ve gone through what can be a tedious setup process then it’s basically switch the cameras to the angle you want. It makes the most sense to use some kind of split where you can see more than one angle at a time and that’s what FCPX does, what FCP7 does and what Media Composer does. I’m not exactly sure how Adobe Premiere Pro does it but I do know it only works with 4 angles while FCPX can work with 64.
What a day yesterday was, the 10.0.3 update for Final Cut Pro X set the Internet alight. We thought we would take a look at the third party announcements that might have been overshadowed by the news from Cupertino. News from AJA, Blackmagic Design, Intelligent Assistance, Marquis, GenArts, Red Giant and more.
Apple has addressed some of the criticisms leveled by broadcast editors at its Final Cut Pro X with the new release of v10.0.3, a more significant update than would normally be in an incremental .0.3 version, writes David Fox.
The update introduces multicam editing (lost in the move from FCP 7), adds advanced chroma keying, and enhanced XML 1.1 for a richer interchange with third party apps and plug-ins (of which there are many). It also includes beta support for broadcast monitoring via Thunderbolt devices and PCIe cards.
Matrox Mojito MAX is an SDI/HDMI/analog HD/SD video and audio I/O card with an onboard Matrox MAX H.264 encoding accelerator for editing applications (FCP, FCPX, Media Composer 6).
Project X₂7 - an import translator for Final Cut Pro 7 - translates the brand new Final Cut Pro X Project XML (fcpxml) and converts it for import into Final Cut Pro 7. Your Final Cut Pro X Project becomes a Final Cut Pro 7 Sequence, in a new or existing project. Project X₂7 (Project 10 to 7) allows you to take your Final Cut Pro X timeline (Project) to Final Cut Pro 7, Color, Adobe Premiere Pro (and then via dynamic link to After Effects) or other Final Cut Pro 7 XML workflow tools. Via Final Cut Pro 7 you can also link to Soundtrack Pro (sadly Soundtrack Pro's project format has never been published), to Motion 4, or to OMF output for ProTools.
o is Final Cut Pro X finally ready for pros? Apple released Final Cut Pro X version 10.0.1 on September 20. Highlights include XML import and export, enhanced control over the export of audio and video files, Xsan integration, and GPU-accelerated export, as well as a downloadable trial version. I looked at the new features and quickly discovered that all that glitters is not gold, though there are some valuable nuggets in the release, particularly relating to performance. At the end of this article, I’ll post a list of features that I consider essential for professional use so we can track Apple’s progress over time.
Chris Kenny has been doing some delving and discovered that there are references to Python and AppleScript in the Final Cut Pro X app. This would be a big step up from the current method of sending commands via Apple Events.
There are also references to XML import and Final Cut Pro XML import, which implies that they will be two different formats. This makes sense, as the structure of FCPX projects has changed significantly (no more bins and no concept of tracks for instance) and there is a greater focus on metadata.
Neither of these are publicly accessible right now but they show that Apple has at least experimented with these functions and it is likely that they will be enabled in a future release. There has been speculation that import of FCP7 projects or XML may never come as the project formats are too different, but I think it's likely that we will at least see an FCPX-specific exchange format at some point in the future.
It's Amazon S3 based, and seems to have a good approval workflow and integration with FCP. Add an API to it and you get a MediaSilo killer ?
On the eve of Apple's cancellation of the Xserve, Active Storage, makers of the ActiveRAID storage system, announced the ActiveSAN appliance to provide an upgrade path for Xsan users. The ActiveSAN appliance uses Intel Nehalem hardware and utilizes Linux and the Quantum StorNext SAN file system.
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