Apple Final Cut Studio 2 Upgrade from Final Cut Pro (Mac)

Other products by Apple

Product Features

• Craft the perfect story using a tightly integrated and innovative suite of products created specifically for video editors.
• Mix and match source material--both formats and frame rates--in real time using the new open format Timeline in Final Cut Pro 6.
• Easily create sophisticated 3-D environments with depth and realism using the real-time 3-D multiplane compositing tools in Motion 3.
• Fly through audio editing and mixing, create immersive soundtracks, and easily conform audio to video edits using the new, streamlined interface in Soundtrack Pro 2.
• Produce sophisticated, fully interactive, studio-quality DVD titles with drag-and-drop ease using DVD Studio Pro 4.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 13.6 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000PGS3CQ
• Item model number: MA887Z/A
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 16, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,063 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

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Product Description

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Final Cut Studio 2 Upgrade from Final Cut Pro delivers an integrated post-production solution that lets you move effortlessly from editing to color grading to creating motion graphics to sculpting audio to multiformat encoding and DVD authoring. This powerful new version features Final Cut Pro 6, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Compressor 3, DVD Studio Pro 4, and Color, the newest member of the suite.

Editing Unleashed
Final Cut Studio 2 helps take you beyond mere editing. Discover the intuitive power of new creative tools designed expressly for Final Cut Pro editors. Rapidly move through editing to motion graphics, audio editing and mixing, color grading, and delivery--all as a natural extension of the work you already do.

Final Cut Studio 2 puts a powerful new version of Final Cut Pro at the center of an integrated post-production workflow. Final Cut Studio 2 includes Final Cut Pro 6, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Compressor 3, DVD Studio Pro 4, and Color--a brand-new application for professional color grading.

Craft the perfect story using a tightly integrated and innovative suite of products created specifically for video editors.

With XML to share project data and QuickTime to seamlessly move media between systems, Final Cut Studio 2 can fit into virtually any production pipeline or newsroom.

It's a Final Cut World
Independent filmmakers. Hollywood film editors. Corporate video and event producers. Editors with hourly deadlines cutting broadcast spots or network news. Hundreds of thousands of creative professionals all over the world have made Final Cut Pro their first choice for editing. It has rapidly become an industry standard.

Building on this success, Apple has designed each application in Final Cut Studio 2 with Final Cut Pro editors in mind. Start working quickly with intuitive tools and familiar interfaces. Whenever you're ready for precise control, a comprehensive set of features is just a click away.

The Editor's Choice
Final Cut Studio 2 is fast, fluid, and flexible. Use a laptop on location and a desktop in the studio. Start with the tools you already use today and extend your reach when you're ready. Final Cut Studio 2 has everything you need in a single product.

• Edit. Use Final Cut Pro 6 for native editing of virtually any format--from DV and SD up to HDV, XDCAM HD, DVCPRO HD, and fully uncompressed HD. Or use ProRes 422, a new post-production format from Apple that offers uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes. Drag clips with different formats and even different frame rates into the new open format Timeline.

• Animate. Create stunning 2D and 3D motion graphics in real time with Motion 3, the fastest and most intuitive way to animate and express your creative vision. Just drag and drop to make dramatic particle effects explode into 3D space; form vector-based paint strokes with the swish of a pen. New Motion master templates let you edit text and drop in video without leaving Final Cut Pro.

• Mix. Record and edit dialogue, add music and effects, and complete your mix with ease. Soundtrack Pro 2 lets you work faster than ever in its new streamlined interface. You can even produce in surround sound using innovative visual tools. If you make changes to your edit in Final Cut Pro, you can rapidly update your audio mix with the powerful Conform feature in Soundtrack Pro.

• Grade. Give your production a signature look or create a consistent feel for shots from different sources. Color is the newest member of the Final Cut Studio family, offering professional color grading that can elevate the quality of any production.

• Deliver. Use Compressor 3 to create pristine-quality output for a wide range of delivery formats--including the web, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, and broadcast servers. A streamlined new interface lets you batch-process encoding with point-and-click ease. If film is your destination, use Cinema Tools 4 to output film lists that combine timecode and keycode in a single list. Or use DVD Studio Pro 4 for professional DVD authoring and mastering.

Post-Production Without Walls
Final Cut Studio 2 is not just a product. It's a platform. Open standards encourage innovation, giving developers and partners the freedom to create custom solutions. With XML to share project data and QuickTime to seamlessly move media between systems, Final Cut Studio 2 can fit into virtually any production pipeline or newsroom.

Whether you're working in a group of 2 or 200, Final Cut Studio lets you collaborate with ease. Share media seamlessly across multiple workstations with Xsan. Use Final Cut Server--with or without Xsan--for media asset management and workflow automation that is deeply integrated with Final Cut Studio 2. Whether you're cutting commercials, editing feature films, or pushing out the nightly news, Final Cut Server helps you work faster whenever you're working together.

Final Cut Pro 6 One timeline. Infinite possibilities.

Mix and match source material--both formats and frame rates--in real time using the new open format Timeline in Final Cut Pro 6.

Create exactly the look you want for your projects with the complete set of professional color grading and finishing tools in Color.

Easily create sophisticated 3D environments with depth and realism--with the real-time 3D multiplane compositing tools in Motion 3.

Fly through audio editing and mixing, create immersive soundtracks, and easily conform audio to video edits using the new, streamlined interface in Soundtrack Pro 2.

Deliver your best work quickly and easily to virtually any format, encoding hands-free on your local Mac or across a network of connected Mac systems with Compressor 3.

Produce sophisticated, fully interactive, studio-quality DVD titles with drag-and-drop ease using DVD Studio Pro 4.

The first choice of professional editors worldwide, Final Cut Pro 6 delivers high performance digital nonlinear editing, native support for virtually any video format, and facility-class extensibility and interoperability. Its workflow extends through the other Final Cut Studio applications and Final Cut Server for even more power. Whether you're working solo or collaborating with a team, Final Cut Pro gives you more creative options and technical control than ever before, including:

• Broad format support
• Incredible real-time effects
• Comprehensive editing tools
• Expanded power as the hub of Final Cut Studio
• Open, extensible architecture

Color Color grading is in the house.

Color grading involves more than color correction. Just as different soundtracks can make a particular scene feel humorous, romantic, or menacing, the look created by a color grade can radically alter the tone and mood of a sequence. Color, Apple's new professional color grading application, makes it easy for editors to create signature looks for projects ranging from short video pieces to full-length theatrical films. Color offers the following key features:

• Real-time professional color grading
• Dramatic color effects
• Cinema-quality signature looks
• Final Cut Studio workflows

Motion 3 Now playing in 3D.

Motion 3 takes the complexity out of 3D by extending the 2D tools you already use. With its intuitive interface and rich toolset, the only limit is your imagination. Send particles exploding through space. Swing cameras around an object with breathtaking ease. Squiggle a vector-based paint stroke in 3D through the cosmos. Motion 3 lets you create 3D motion graphics with drag-and-drop ease, startling performance, and unprecedented color fidelity. This powerful upgrade to Apple's award-winning motion graphics software features:

• An intuitive real-time design environment
• Flexible animation tools
• 3D motion graphics done right
• Breathtaking filters and effects
• Numerous time-saving features

Soundtrack Pro 2 The next wave in audio post.

Soundtrack Pro 2 offers unprecedented convenience and power to editors. Fly through audio editing and mixing with a new, streamlined interface that combines the multitrack Timeline and Waveform Editor in a single view. Easily create immersive soundtracks with innovative surround sound tools. Automatically conform your audio edit to changes made in your video edit. With its familiar interface and intuitive tools, Soundtrack Pro is the Final Cut Pro of audio post-production.

Key features of Soundtrack Pro 2 include:

• Streamlined multitrack interface
• Professional editing and dialogue tools
• Intuitive surround sound
• Automatic audio conform process
• Intelligent workflows

Compressor 3 Create once. Debut everywhere.

With increasing demand for media distribution in multiple formats--ranging from HD broadcast to an iPod screen--it's more important than ever to be able to output files efficiently while keeping quality high. The streamlined interface of Compressor 3 lets you quickly configure batch processes for encoding to a wide range of industry standard formats. Or create format and standards conversions at pristine quality through sophisticated optical flow technology. For the ultimate high-speed workflow, set up distributed encoding over a shared-media network powered by Xsan.

Key features of Compressor 3 include:

• Streamlined encoding workflow
• Industry-standard encoding support
• Pristine format conversions
• Distributed encoding

DVD Studio Pro 4 Simply powerful DVD authoring.

DVD Studio Pro 4 makes it easy to extend your creative vision to every aspect of DVD authoring. Whether your project is simple or sophisticated, you'll enjoy using familiar, easy-to-use tools to produce the perfect presentation of your SD or HD content. A comprehensive set of advanced features is available whenever you want more control.

Key features of DVD Studio Pro 4 include:

• Intuitive design environment
• Professional authoring tools
• Versatile DVD mastering

Post-Production Workgroups
Collaborate with a small team of editors in a boutique post-production facility. Or build a custom workfl ow for a global news network. Whether you're sharing a small number of media assets over a LAN or supporting hundreds of editors on a SAN, Final Cut Studio makes it easy for everyone to work together.

Shared Media Assets
Small workgroups can share media over a LAN or WAN by copying assets from a shared volume to a local workstation. For a scalable high-performance shared storage solution, Final Cut Studio editors can collaborate over a Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN) powered by Xsan.

With Xsan, every editor on a project has concurrent access to source media files and never needs to transfer assets between workstations. Each Mac system accesses shared files on the SAN as if the storage were directly attached. Xsan can support hundreds of concurrent clients and can easily be expanded to provide more storage capacity and bandwidth as your needs grow.

Asset Management and Workflow Automation
Meet Final Cut Server, Apple's powerful new media asset management and workflow automation software. Final Cut Server takes the headache out of managing large collections of media files, then extends to tracking job status, managing reviews and approvals, and automating complex sequences of tasks--all with Apple's legendary ease of use, and all in a single product designed to work seamlessly with Final Cut Studio.

Final Cut Server combines server software designed to run on Mac OS X with a cross-platform client that runs on either Macintosh or Windows-based computers. Collaborate over a LAN or WAN with a small number of users, or leverage the power of Xsan to share media across a large number of workstations.

Product Description

Venture beyond mere editing with Final Cut Studio 2. Discover the intuitive power of new tools designed expressly for Final Cut Pro editors. Editing, motion graphics animation, audio editing and mixing, color grading, and DVD authoring are all part of the flow. Final Cut Pro 6 is at the core of a powerful and fully integrated post-production process that also includes Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Compressor 3, and DVD Studio Pro 4--and introduces Color, an advanced color grading application.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Studio apps rock; FCP still could use a bit of work, May 20, 2007

By	Ron Diamond (Joshua Tree, CA) - See all my reviews

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.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good for broadcast, bad for web video, April 1, 2009

By	B. Greenstone (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

5 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Final Cut Great! ... Support is not!, August 8, 2007

By	William R. Mcleod (Doha, Qatar) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!!!