The majority of the professional editors that I know are upset at the rumor that tape capture will be dropped from the new version of Final Cut Pro (FCP X.)
I was too. But then I did some testing, and I found that it can be much better to capture in another program, because you can EDIT WHILE YOU CAPTURE!
I demonstrate in the following video:
In the best possible situation, Apple would write a separate batch capture program/utility instead of relying on AJA/BlackMagic but I think that is a long shot.
Either way, ingest while you edit (something that Apple mentioned during the sneak peek at the SuperMeet is possible, even from tape, with FCP.
I will post more on this topic later. First I have to rant about Apple using my iPhone to spy on me (us.)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Why no BluRay?
Just a few hours to go till we see the first glimpse of the new Final Cut Pro, and people have been asking me my thoughts regarding DVD Studio Pro and if it will finally include BluRay authoring.
Sorry Charlie. It isn't going to happen.
Allow me to elaborate...
Many years ago, before there was such a thing as BluRay, or even High Def for that matter, I worked for a company called Astarté.
We made an awesome program to author DVD's called DVDirector. It cost up to $10,000 and was a combination of software and one or more hardware cards (PCI.)
My boss at Astarté was the mighty Mike Evangelist who would eventually become the Director of Product Marketing at Apple.
So, given my history, I think I am as good a source as any to comment on the BluRay situation, and since Steve has already said several times that he does not personally believe in BluRay:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/14/steve-jobs-calls-blu-ray-a-bag-of-hurt/
That means there will never be BluRay drives offered in Macs, and DVD Studio Pro (if it even continues to exist) will not support BluRay authoring.
Steve Jobs does not ask people what they need, and then create it for them, he tries to predict the future and then convince the world to follow.
When it works (The Mac, firewire, ipod, iphone, ipad) he changes the world.
When it doesn't work (Apple TV, Mac TV, Apple Lisa) he changes course.
But he "never" changes his mind. And iSteve has dismissed BluRay.
Apple as a company is far less concerned with supporting Pro video users, than they are trying to lead a new video revolution. Let's face it, they could have bought AVID years ago, or at the very least, they could have crushed them 3 years ago when AVID was so close to bankrupcy that they had to pull out of NAB.
But they didn't, and the reason is simple: AVID's run on Macs.
Big media companies buy expensive MacPros to run AVID's, so why would Apple kill a company that helps sell high end Macs? They won't, and they won't buy AVID either. The pro video market is relatively small, and filled with whiny hollywood types that are notoriously needy and cheap. Not a high-growth market.
Nope, Steve Jobs will stick to what he does best -- Create new worlds, that he can control.
And he will never control BluRay, so it's dead to him, Fredo.
What say you?
Sorry Charlie. It isn't going to happen.
Allow me to elaborate...
Many years ago, before there was such a thing as BluRay, or even High Def for that matter, I worked for a company called Astarté.
Our Trade Show Booth.
The $10K version.
My boss at Astarté was the mighty Mike Evangelist who would eventually become the Director of Product Marketing at Apple.
My Old Boss.
That was because in 1999, at NAB, Apple purchased our little company.
We quickly set about re-working DVDirector into DVD Studio 1.0 and we were ready to go in just a few months after the acquisition. It was a good thing too, because Astarté had a few hundred DVD creating professionals who had invested $10K in our products and they were stuck waiting.
They were waiting for the "Apple Version" of DVDirector to be released so that they could get some critical bugs in the program fixed. Bugs that were causing them to lose money. It was my job to support these users during the transition, and believe me it was no picnic listening to these people on the phone, pissed-off, day after day.
The Apple Version of DVDirector.
And we had a new, much improved version (DVD Studio Pro 1.0) ready to go. I would have it running on my G4 laptop (something impossible with ANY other DVD authoring program at the time) and I would be talking to some frustrated Astarté user about how the new version would fix all the bugs, as soon as it was released, but, there was a problem...
You see, Steve Jobs wanted a free program that he could bundle with iMovie, that would allow anyone to make a DVD. And it just didn't exist.
It took our programmers almost a year to create iDVD, and Apple would not release DVD Studio Pro until iDVD was ready. So all those Professionals who had invested $10,000 were just ignored for almost a year, so that Steve could create the consumer DVD revolution.
The Little Program that caused all the trouble.
Most of them didn't/couldn't wait a year to get paid (there were professionals remember, not just enthusiastic Apple supporters) so they jumped ship and brought competing programs (mostly from Sonic Solutions.)
Thank you Steve!
This sad little tale has been repeated several times since, as Apple has bought great Pro Video products and little by little strangled them to death by releasing "dumbed down" versions while the people who invested in the expensive versions, eventually got the shaft.
Have you seen this missing child?
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/14/steve-jobs-calls-blu-ray-a-bag-of-hurt/
That means there will never be BluRay drives offered in Macs, and DVD Studio Pro (if it even continues to exist) will not support BluRay authoring.
Steve Jobs does not ask people what they need, and then create it for them, he tries to predict the future and then convince the world to follow.
When it works (The Mac, firewire, ipod, iphone, ipad) he changes the world.
When it doesn't work (Apple TV, Mac TV, Apple Lisa) he changes course.
But he "never" changes his mind. And iSteve has dismissed BluRay.
Remember these?
But they didn't, and the reason is simple: AVID's run on Macs.
Big media companies buy expensive MacPros to run AVID's, so why would Apple kill a company that helps sell high end Macs? They won't, and they won't buy AVID either. The pro video market is relatively small, and filled with whiny hollywood types that are notoriously needy and cheap. Not a high-growth market.
Do I look like I'll compromise?
Nope, Steve Jobs will stick to what he does best -- Create new worlds, that he can control.
And he will never control BluRay, so it's dead to him, Fredo.
What say you?
Friday, April 8, 2011
The New Final Cut Pro
Well, it is finally here:
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/shullfish/story/are_you_ready_for_fcp_x/
And, as usual, I will hold off judgement on this until I actually see it on Tuesday.
But from the info that my sources are giving me, I would bet on the following:
1. Final Cut Pro 8 will be completely different:
Obvious, maybe... But the new version will be completely new from the ground up. It may be called FCP 8 or FCP X or whatever, but it will be a completely new piece of software written specifically for OS 10.7 (Lion) and will not work with older OS' or processors.
2. FCP 8 will be an "editing & finishing" product:
The current version and all the previous ones, were for editing only. That's why we now have Final Cut Studio, because you currently need an entire suite of applications to finish a program. But I believe the new FCP will be more like Smoke, or Avid DS -- You will be able to edit, color correct, composite, create titles and 3-D effects, AND audio post, then conform/output to DVD/web/iphone etc. ALL WITHOUT LEAVING FCP. That means no more round-tripping between applications (and all the headaches/bugs that brings.)
Imagine Premiere and After Effects and ProTools combined into one, and you will have an idea what I am talking about.
3. FCP 8 will be optimized for a single, computer monitor:
So many people run FCP on a laptop, or a single large (27" or above) lcd, that Apple will optimize FCP 8 to work well on 1 screen. Not to say that you won't be able to run multiple displays, but the "unibody" look will be prevalent.
4. Tape is Dead, Long Live Tape:
FCP 8 will only support out-putting to tape, not capturing. Don't get mad at me, I don't like it either, but I am hearing this from too many people to ignore it. In practice, this is not that big a problem, as MOST professional tape I/O inside FCP, is handled by 3rd party capture cards/devices anyway (AJA, Decklink, Motu) and all of them have separate batch capture utilities.
Also, most of the professional acquisition devices used today are not tape based (Film, Red, HDSLR's, SxS, P2.) In fact, video tape seems like a consumer video technology right now. (HDV anyone?) Not to mention the Tsunami has destroyed HDCAM SR tape for the near future at least.
http://www.televisionbroadcast.com/article/115606
This "crazy" move may turn out to be a prophetic one by apple.
But the Professional Editors won't like it, because it forces change, and Pros hate to change. If something works, and it is making you money, why take a risk on a new workflow/technology? This is the one feature that is prompting some people, who have seen the new version, to say that Apple is abandoning the Pro market. In fact, the reverse could be true - the pros could abandon FCP because it is too new. The newest versions of Avid and Premiere are evolutionary. The New FCP will be Revolutionary.
5. FCP 8 will be Real Time:
Everything will be realtime. Effects, compositing, color correction, audio effects, titles. The amount of realtime capability will, of course, depend on your system horsepower, but for most of us, rendering will only be done on output.
6. FCP 8 will be Format Agnostic:
You will select the canvas size before you start working, but all decisions about compression, frame-rate and color-depth will be output decisions, just like it is in After Effects, Motion, etc.
You will be able to mix all frame rates, frame sizes, compression ratios while editing. And everything will still be realtime.
7. FCP 8 will be iPad/iPhone integrated:
Not only will you be able to stream to the iOS devices, real-time, while editing (iChat Theater), but they will also act as input interfaces for FCP. Just like they can for PhotoShop:
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/04/11/adobe-introduce-photoshop-touch-sdk-and-3-ipad-apps-for-photoshop/
8. FCP 8 will be networked/distributed:
You will no longer need to buy Final Cut Server separately, because it will be included, or at least the functionality will be. Also, like compressor, FCP 8 will be able to distribute rendering for output among nodes on your network. This is supposed to work now, when sending to compressor from FCP, but it has big issues working in the real world. I also think that FCP 8 will have the ability to share Projects among multiple editors natively. Like having AVID's Unity/ISIS built in. I think this will be a feature of the Lion OS, used heavily in FCP 8. You won't need to purchase a separate copy of XSan to effectively share projects anymore.
In Summary:
Let's face it, the number of studios/tv stations who COULD use FCP to replace AVID is relatively small when compared with the number of people who dream of being the next Spielberg while posting their videos on YouTube. So from that point of view, it almost makes sense that Apple would risk pissing off the very high-end users (like me) by throwing out everything FCP has become in the last 12 years, and starting over.
But that's how you start a revolution.
Apple creates worlds, and the current digital, non-linear, pro video world was created by, and still runs on AVID, even though I wish otherwise. That's why I think that instead of continuing to compete with AVID, Apple will try to create a new paradigm for video creation, and hope enough users will adopt it.
If it works, Apple will once again own the marketplace like they did with the iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. None of those devices were CREATED for the "Pro" market, but they all were adopted by them, and are now an essential parts of doing business in the creative world.
The same thing happened by accident when Canon created the HDSLR, and pros started using them for film making. They were not really a pro camcorders, but people made them pro, by using them to get paid.
Will this be the case for FCP 8?
Time will tell.
To Be Continued.>
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/shullfish/story/are_you_ready_for_fcp_x/
And, as usual, I will hold off judgement on this until I actually see it on Tuesday.
But from the info that my sources are giving me, I would bet on the following:
1. Final Cut Pro 8 will be completely different:
Obvious, maybe... But the new version will be completely new from the ground up. It may be called FCP 8 or FCP X or whatever, but it will be a completely new piece of software written specifically for OS 10.7 (Lion) and will not work with older OS' or processors.
2. FCP 8 will be an "editing & finishing" product:
The current version and all the previous ones, were for editing only. That's why we now have Final Cut Studio, because you currently need an entire suite of applications to finish a program. But I believe the new FCP will be more like Smoke, or Avid DS -- You will be able to edit, color correct, composite, create titles and 3-D effects, AND audio post, then conform/output to DVD/web/iphone etc. ALL WITHOUT LEAVING FCP. That means no more round-tripping between applications (and all the headaches/bugs that brings.)
Imagine Premiere and After Effects and ProTools combined into one, and you will have an idea what I am talking about.
3. FCP 8 will be optimized for a single, computer monitor:
So many people run FCP on a laptop, or a single large (27" or above) lcd, that Apple will optimize FCP 8 to work well on 1 screen. Not to say that you won't be able to run multiple displays, but the "unibody" look will be prevalent.
4. Tape is Dead, Long Live Tape:
FCP 8 will only support out-putting to tape, not capturing. Don't get mad at me, I don't like it either, but I am hearing this from too many people to ignore it. In practice, this is not that big a problem, as MOST professional tape I/O inside FCP, is handled by 3rd party capture cards/devices anyway (AJA, Decklink, Motu) and all of them have separate batch capture utilities.
Also, most of the professional acquisition devices used today are not tape based (Film, Red, HDSLR's, SxS, P2.) In fact, video tape seems like a consumer video technology right now. (HDV anyone?) Not to mention the Tsunami has destroyed HDCAM SR tape for the near future at least.
http://www.televisionbroadcast.com/article/115606
This "crazy" move may turn out to be a prophetic one by apple.
But the Professional Editors won't like it, because it forces change, and Pros hate to change. If something works, and it is making you money, why take a risk on a new workflow/technology? This is the one feature that is prompting some people, who have seen the new version, to say that Apple is abandoning the Pro market. In fact, the reverse could be true - the pros could abandon FCP because it is too new. The newest versions of Avid and Premiere are evolutionary. The New FCP will be Revolutionary.
5. FCP 8 will be Real Time:
Everything will be realtime. Effects, compositing, color correction, audio effects, titles. The amount of realtime capability will, of course, depend on your system horsepower, but for most of us, rendering will only be done on output.
6. FCP 8 will be Format Agnostic:
You will select the canvas size before you start working, but all decisions about compression, frame-rate and color-depth will be output decisions, just like it is in After Effects, Motion, etc.
You will be able to mix all frame rates, frame sizes, compression ratios while editing. And everything will still be realtime.
7. FCP 8 will be iPad/iPhone integrated:
Not only will you be able to stream to the iOS devices, real-time, while editing (iChat Theater), but they will also act as input interfaces for FCP. Just like they can for PhotoShop:
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/04/11/adobe-introduce-photoshop-touch-sdk-and-3-ipad-apps-for-photoshop/
8. FCP 8 will be networked/distributed:
You will no longer need to buy Final Cut Server separately, because it will be included, or at least the functionality will be. Also, like compressor, FCP 8 will be able to distribute rendering for output among nodes on your network. This is supposed to work now, when sending to compressor from FCP, but it has big issues working in the real world. I also think that FCP 8 will have the ability to share Projects among multiple editors natively. Like having AVID's Unity/ISIS built in. I think this will be a feature of the Lion OS, used heavily in FCP 8. You won't need to purchase a separate copy of XSan to effectively share projects anymore.
In Summary:
Let's face it, the number of studios/tv stations who COULD use FCP to replace AVID is relatively small when compared with the number of people who dream of being the next Spielberg while posting their videos on YouTube. So from that point of view, it almost makes sense that Apple would risk pissing off the very high-end users (like me) by throwing out everything FCP has become in the last 12 years, and starting over.
But that's how you start a revolution.
Apple creates worlds, and the current digital, non-linear, pro video world was created by, and still runs on AVID, even though I wish otherwise. That's why I think that instead of continuing to compete with AVID, Apple will try to create a new paradigm for video creation, and hope enough users will adopt it.
If it works, Apple will once again own the marketplace like they did with the iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. None of those devices were CREATED for the "Pro" market, but they all were adopted by them, and are now an essential parts of doing business in the creative world.
The same thing happened by accident when Canon created the HDSLR, and pros started using them for film making. They were not really a pro camcorders, but people made them pro, by using them to get paid.
Will this be the case for FCP 8?
Time will tell.
To Be Continued.>
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