Customer Reviews

Apple Final Cut Studio 2 Upgrade from Final Cut Pro (Mac) [OLD VERSION]

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Final Cut Studio is a fantastic suite of products, and the package just got sweeter with the release of FCP Studio 2.

Motion 3 and Color are the standouts, in my opinion, providing unprecedented power for their respective capabilities in anything remotely approaching this price range. In addition, the whole suite provides a level of interoperability that's unparalleled, and blows away any competition in the industry today.

Given the suite's fantastic breadth and depth of functionality, however, the newest iteration of the core application of the bunch, FCP6, does come off as a bit disappointing by comparison.

While the Open Timeline and ProRes 422 are notable and worthy enhancements to the FCP canon, the app nevertheless continues to be hampered by some long-standing Achilles' heels, including various media management and UI issues. While everyone has their individual list of pet concerns, few knowledgeable users would argue that notable limitations don't exist.

Especially considering the two-year "hiatus" from FCP's last major release, this is an unexpected bit of a letdown. Clearly, the hard-working Apple team focused the bulk of their efforts on the other apps, and the results do show there (as noted above). [It's also worth noting that seasoned editors who've had experience on other platforms besides FCP, and who are accustomed to more demanding workflow situations as a matter of course, tend to be more mindful of shortcomings than the majority of users who may have used nothing but FCP, simply by virtue of a greater spectrum of experience.]

However, none of this is to take away from the FCP Studio apps' overall high level of quality, tremendous synergy, and unbeatable price point. For the money, it is hard to imagine a better value in the world of post-production today.

This is the FC Studio to get if you need the software for a nonIntel processor. It's the last upgrade from Apple for the G5 Power PC. I upgraded from Studio with Final Cut 5.1 and can now use most of the newer plugins as Final Cut Studio is more graphics friendly.

Final Cut Pro is a good editor, but it suffers from one fatal flaw which is that the Quicktime movies it exports don't look anything like what you see when editing. The Editor is designed to show you what the movie would look like on a TV screen, but if you're producing for the web then you have no idea what the final output will look like until you do it. The results are always washed out and low contrast. There's no way to tell Final Cut that you're working on a web video, so don't screw with the colors - just show me what it will look like on a computer screen, not a TV.

I recently purchased and installed the Final Cut Studio Upgrade. The difference from Final Cut 4.5 is amazing! The products in the suite are tremendous! I used the studio without a hitch for the first couple of weeks. A few days ago, I installed recommended Apple updates, and now all of the sudden, my serial number is invalid!!! I paid good money for a suite I cannot use. The Apple website provides no 'real' support. There are no email addresses, no phone numbers, and nothing in the troubleshooting that addresses my problem! The only potential support I can find is to purchase Applecare for Video. Why do I need to PURCHASE support when I already paid for the product. The product should work and the support should be included!!!