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In this installment, instead of running down my meeting list in order from start to finish, I?m going to go start with what I think are the coolest things I saw today.
Apple
Oh how I hate airlines! Two years in a row I missed the Apple press event, am I a now so sorry that I did. The good news is I did have a one on one with Apple today to cover their major announcements at the show.
First up ? Final Cut Pro HD. If you weren?t paying attention and haven?t run to the Apple website, you must go now. Not only does Final Cut Pro HD support Hi-Def video, it does it over FireWire. While HD and many of the HD flavas have been the buzz of the show, HD over FireWire tops them all. DO YOU KNOW HOW COOL THIS IS??!!?? With Apple?s announcement that they are supporting the HDV format, DVCPRO HD, and standard def fares, independent filmmakers, videographers, and independent houses across the country can now jump on the HD bandwagon, and edit it in Final Cut Pro HD without having to purchase a secondary card. I?ve said it before, and I?ll say it again, HD isn?t the future, HD is now, and NAB 2004 has proven that.
After you get over the giddiness that is FCPHD over FireWire, one quickly finds that there are many other improvements in this NLE system. First, a tighter workflow with several other of Apple?s products has been introduced. For example, with LiveType you don?t have to render the project to bring it into FCPHD, you can simply bring the project into the editing app. What?s more if you need to make a change, simply jump back into LiveType, make the change and save it, and instantly it updates in Final Cut Pro HD. THIS ROCKS! Granted, you still have to render the file in Final Cut Pro to get it to play back, but still, for those wanting to speed their workflow this is an amazing update. This same increased workflow is also present in Motion, Apple?s other major announcement at the show, but I?ll get to that in a moment. While I am still talking about LiveType, it too has been improved upon offering several improvements, content, etc.
Word from Paul Saccone is that Final Cut Pro HD has been optimized for the G5 system, and is amazingly fast. This is evident in the real-time playback we were seeing in the demonstration. For those of us sorry souls who are still on the G4, FCPHD users will still see increased performance over the old Jaguar OS build. Maybe if I?m good Santa Jobs will send me a new G5 system for Christmas?
With the support of HD, Final Cut Pro has also made it easy for those of us who want to see that footage at full screen size, without having to shell out $3-5k for an HD set. You can now view your HD footage full screen on your Apple Cinema display ? even if you only have one. While in full screen mode on your primary Cinema display, you still have the ability to play, rewind, and fast-forward through your Timeline. If you are fortunate enough to have two Cinema displays, you can send the HD preview to that monitor while still editing on your primary screen. While there are differences between the LCD Cinema display and a phosphor/plasma HD screen, it gives you a close enough picture of your end result. This is a huge savings.
I was mistaken in one of my earlier diary entries when I said FCPHD was a full release. David Nagel steered me wrong. Final Cut Pro HD is only a .5 release making my earlier prediction that FCP would turn into 4.5 at the convention a true statement. Unfortunately, FCPHD still does not have support for multi-camera editing, something I really wish I had this last year as I edited a multi-cam television series for one of our local cable channels. I was told it is still on the list, but with increased positive feedback from users, it can become difficult to decide which to move to the top of the list. I really hope this happens in the next release.
Want even more good news about Final Cut Pro HD? If you are a current registered user of Final Cut Pro 4, all you have to do is run Software Update and you?ll be playing in HD land. That?s right Apple is making this update FREE OF CHARGE to registered FCP4 users. If you are still on the old 1, 2, or 3 versions, Apple does have a nice upgrade price plan for you. If you don?t upgrade to this latest version, I would seriously question your mental faculties.
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