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| Apple Final Cut Pro HD: Is This the Ultimate Editing Upgrade? |
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June 4, 2004
My first impression upon hearing the announcement of Final Cut Pro HD was that Apple had released a separate application dedicated to HD. Throughout that day, in fact, I received support phone calls and e-mails asking me that very question. The program's start-up screen states "Final Cut Pro HD 4.5," so this is without question an update from the prior version of Final Cut Pro.
Where, you might ask, does the HD come from? Even more exciting than the simultaneous announcement and release of a version upgrade was the announcement of a collaboration between Panasonic and Apple bringing to market a new flavor of high definition television production: DVCPRO HD over FireWire. (See article on page 60.)
It is now possible to shoot 720p (24 or 30fps) or 1080i (30fps only) on the Panasonic VariCam HD camera, insert the tape in the new Panasonic AG-HD1200 deck ($25,000 with FireWire and SDI interfaces) and capture a 100MB/s HD stream through FCP HD. Compression algorithms make it possible to capture, edit and play back this HD material on a single ATA or even FireWire drive. You heard me correctly. No costly RAID. Just an out-of-the box drive. I could hardly believe one of the stations in the Panasonic booth where a demo artist was capturing DVCPRO HD on a PowerBook to a FireWire drive. Please note here, parenthetically, that it is not recommended to operate a FireWire drive on the same bus as the capture device. Use a Cardbus adapter in your PowerBook or a PCI FireWire card in your desktop machine.
Once captured to disk, the DVCPRO HD footage is in a 4:2:2 color space and has a data rate of about 13.7MB/s. Let me add that many operations can be performed in real time! Last but far from least, FCP HD supports under/overcranking in the Panasonic VariCam.
This new flavor of HD did indeed spawn some discussion on the NAB show floor. One user commented to me: "This is not real HD. It is only compressed HD. I am an HD purist and I will accept nothing other than uncompressed 4:4:4 HD. Anything else is not genuine." I must say that was definitely a minority opinion. Virtually all editors, content producers and even vendors of third-party HD capture cards agreed that DVCPRO HD is a viable broadcast option and one that will open up new vistas in HD content creation. I found the end result stunning, whether viewed on computer monitor, HD CRT, HD plasma or even HD projection displays.
The addition of DVCPRO HD expanded the list of sequence presets in FCP. An additional new feature of the upgrade is also reflected in that expanded preset list. Many shooters whose work is destined ultimately for film prefer shooting in PAL because of the proximity of 25fps PAL to 24fps film. Apple has recognized this preference by including a DV 25 PAL @24 preset. FCP HD now allows capture of PAL footage at a standard 25fps but edited with a 24fps time base. The editor can then export an EDL at 25fps for the negative cutter with no conversion necessary other than the "Conform 25 to 24" command found in under the Tools menu.
Granted, these first two new features are more specialized; the typical user will immediately ask, "Since I am only doing DV/SD/HD via capture card, why do I need to upgrade?" The answer is simple. You need to upgrade. An unnamed Apple representative told me, "This is the most stable version of FCP 4 yet. It was beta tested extensively in-house, as well as by some of our most talented outside testers. This is a must-have upgrade."
A less touted but equally significant announcement is the collaboration of Apple and Grass Valley to create a newsroom editing solution based on Grass Valley Digital News Production hardware, FCP HD and Xsan.
Final Cut Pro HD in general has greater stability. Additionally, a major bug in the autosave function has been fixed. While still just supporting the AE 3 API for After Effects plug-ins, FCP HD has greater compatibility with those existing plug-ins. More RT effects are now available, including six filters and two transitions that are now RT, depending upon the system.
FCP HD displays timecode in a different manner from prior versions. There is a View Native Speed option for speed-adjusted clips that can be applied to either the clip time or the source time modes. In the Project Properties dialog, you can set global timecodes on a per-project basis. Within a sequence, it is possible to set independent timecode rates and timebase settings, which is what the 25@25 setting is accomplishing.
In place of the single Timecode Print filter there are now two filters: Timecode Reader and Timecode Generator.
There are now three possibilities within the Trim Edit window. Dynamic trimming remains the same, but with a new shortcut key (Shift-Command-D). New to FCP HD is Trim with Sequence Audio, allowing audio preview of all sequence audio tracks while trimming within the Trim Edit window. It is also possible to invoke Trim with Edit Selection Audio, which solos the track(s) currently selected in the Timeline for trim edit.
Print to Tape and Edit to Tape no longer require the lengthy re-renders of previous FCP versions. And Print to Tape will start the recording on a compatible device without user intervention.
Media Manager has been greatly improved, not only in its reliability but also in terms of new options. Media Manager has a new checkbox called "Include master clips outside selection." This option permits more accurate trimming of clips and allows the choice of not including master clips outside the current selection in the Browser to be recognized by Media Manager.
Now for my favorite. The Digital Cinema Desktop Option allows full-screen monitoring on an Apple Cinema Display set as the main display (i.e., the display that has the menu bar). That means that if you have two displays connected to your Mac, the Cinema Display can function as a full monitor, even up to HD resolution. Even if you have only one monitor, you can toggle between available displays.
I must mention some of the new features in the adjunct programs as well. Compressor is now updated to version 1.2 and includes the long-missing MPEG-1 codec. It further includes a preset for DVCPRO HD to MPEG-2 for creating breathtaking DVDs from this flavor of HD. Cinema Tools 2.2 includes a column for TC 24 ALE files in addition to the DV PAL 25 @24 mentioned above.
I've saved the most breathtaking for last: There is no longer any need to render in LiveType! Merely save your LiveType project and import that project file into FCP HD as you would import any clip. Then render within FCP HD, avoiding rendering twice (once in LT and once in FCP). Now return to LT, change the project and return to FCP HD. Poof. The changes update dynamically. An undocumented requirement here is that you must check Render Background in the LiveType Project Properties window for the background to be imported into FCP HD, owing to the use of QuickTime Components to accomplish this magic.
Final Cut Pro HD requires OS X 10.3.2 or greater, providing further incentive to those users who have not yet switched to Panther to upgrade their OS to Apple's latest and fastest.
FCP HD is a must-have upgrade for all FCP 4 users. It should also turn the heads of those pondering inclusion of Final Cut Pro in their editing toolboxes. The five-year-old application has achieved maturity, showing its strength in every area, from DV editing to HD production to newsroom workflows. Apple has yet another reason to be proud of its substantial accomplishments. t
The author of several books and technical editor of still others, Ned Soltz is often on the road with his Powerbook G4 and mobile FCP studio. Catch him at home or on the road at nsoltz@aol.com.
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