Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Before the middle of 2007 , Apple propose three distinct tiers of TV - editing computer software . iMovie HD ( ) catered to novice , but its evolve feature and full-bodied plug - in living have mass ’s trueness long after they throw the “ beginner ” label . At the other ending of the scurf , Final Cut Pro ( ) gave professionals the advanced features needed to edit in the big leagues . light in between those two options , Final Cut Express , using the same computer code bag as Final Cut Pro , offered pro - even editing for people who had hit iMovie HD ’s cap and wanted more editing control and alternative .
The release of Final Cut Express 4 redefines that tiered social structure . The crinkle between iMovie — in this compositor’s case , the completely revamped iMovie ’ 08 ( ) — and Final Cut Express is now a little blurry , make the latter not just a replacement stride - up , but an accessory that can make up for iMovie ‘ 08 ’s shortcomings .
This does n’t mean that Apple has dumbed down Final Cut Express , although Apple ’s determination to slay the Soundtrack app and fix the number of include styles for LiveType are unfortunate omissions . Rather , Final Cut Express 4 and iMovie ‘ 08 are tie together more closely than the two apps have been in the past . As a consequence , that tie beam could work as a catapult to propel editor from iMovie ’ 08 to the Final Cut family .
Final Cut Express 4 can reference clips from your iMovie ’08 Event Library, but clips imported into iMovie at the Large (960-by-540) size display resolution artifacts (which you can see at the left side of the screen in this figure).
iMovie ‘08 compatibility
concluding Cut Express HD 3.5 ( ) let you open iMovie HD project right away . thing have gotten more restricted with the new reading of Final Cut Express . You prefer File - > Import - > FCP XML for iMovie and locate an XML filing cabinet that you would have first export from iMovie .
last Cut Express 4 can reference clip from your iMovie ’ 08 Event Library , but clip imported into iMovie at the Large ( 960 - by-540 ) size presentation resolution artifacts ( which you’re able to see at the remaining side of the screen in this figure).Final Cut Express make a fresh sequence that control the rootage video files in the web browser and a movie in the Timeline that has the same edits as in iMovie . Any subsist modulation are converted to crossbreed Dissolve transitions in Final Cut , and the loudness grade of the video clips are retained . Everything else is ignored — sound effect , separate audio clips ( such as background music ) , photos , Ken Burns Effects , picture adjustment , cropping and resize background all disappear .
When you import an XML Indian file generated from iMovie , Final Cut Express references the source footage . This is n’t unexampled behavior , but combined with iMovie ’ 08 and its capability to store your entire depository library of video , you may utilize iMovie as a footage storehouse : abridge together a quick assembly in iMovie , export it as FCP XML , and then bring it in to Final Cut Express to save some time .
In the new Log and Transfer window, you can review clips while others in the queue are being ingested.
AVCHD
In another nod to the consumer market place , the signature tune feature of Final Cut Express 4 is its power to import footage from tapeless camcorder that stash away footage on memory cards , small-scale DVD record , or build - in hard disks in the AVCHD ( Advanced Video Codec High Definition ) format . This characteristic is n’t useable to owners of one-time Macs , however ; you ’ll necessitate an Intel - based Mac to import AVCHD and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard for AVCHD footage captured to DVD . AVCHD uses MPEG-4 contraction to stash away the picture onto those medium , which necessitates a newfangled interface element for Final Cut Express : the Log and Transfer window .
In the raw Log and Transfer window , you’re able to review clips while others in the waiting line are being ingested . Honestly , this is how importing picture should make , and it approaches Final Cut Pro ’s ability to log video from tape before importing it . When an AVCHD camera is connected , the cartridge holder in its store come out in a list with thumbnails and continuance . you could preview a clip , mark in and out distributor point to specify which section gets take in , and enter logging information . Best of all , as you ’re choosing the footage , it can be tossed into a waiting line for processing . Final Cut Express can ingest while you ’re reviewing other clip , or you may intermit the waiting line and lay aside the ingest operation for when it ’s more commodious .
Part of the reason for queue material is that Final Cut Express does not spell the AVCHD footage natively . As with HDV footage , AVCHD is transcoded to Apple Intermediate Codec ( AIC ) for redact within the plan ; this is the same behavior you ’d see in Movie ’ 08 and Final Cut Pro 6 . Why not do work with AVCHD directly ? To attain its level of densification , AVCHD stores a full flesh of video only twice per second ; intervening material body are made up only of the differences between keyframes . net Cut Express builds those flesh during the transition to AIC , so the program is expend processor power on editing and playback , not in generating frames on the fly ball .
If the first clip you drag to the open format timeline is in a different format than the one you specified in Quick Setup, Final Cut Express offers to change the sequence’s format.
The transcoding footstep does tally metre to the ingest process . For a unsubdivided instance , a one - minute clipping accept 1:34 to take on my 2.33GHz MacBook Pro ; ingesting several clips add up around six minutes in duration took 6:27 . That ’s not a serious focal ratio hit , and no doubt public presentation will change by political machine , but it ’s not as quick as you might hope when go digital information from a camcorder ’s memory to your Mac ’s hard disk .
( Incidentally , Final Cut Express willnottranscode the aboriginal .MTS single file directly ; it needs to take the footage from the camcorder . However , a $ 30 usefulness calledVoltaiccan do the line outside Final Cut Express ; it works on PowerPC Macs , too . )
Unlike iMovie ’ 08 , Final Cut Express ingests AVCHD footage at its full answer , as you would expect . In fact , if you ’re using iMovie as a video monument for eventual importee into Final Cut Express , be certain to import the footage at full resolution ; iMovie ’s 960 - by-540 declamatory size bring out obtrusive artifact in Final Cut Express .
Interestingly , Final Cut Express ’s tapeless footage support extends only to AVCHD , not to television shot with camcorder that save to MPEG-2 formatting . In direct contrast , iMovie ’ 08 can import both .
Open format timeline
If the first clip you drag to the undecided format timeline is in a different format than the one you condition in Quick Setup , Final Cut Express offer to change the chronological sequence ’s format . Final Cut Express 4 inherits Final Cut Pro ’s open format timeline , making it easier to collect clip of disparate format in the same project with a minimum of fuss . I had no bother mixing standard DV , AVCHD and HDV ( all of them having been transcoded to AIC at import ) , QuickTime footage from a digital still television camera , video recorded from my laptop computer ’s build - in iSight tv camera , and PAL ( 25 frames per second ) footage into a widescreen high - definition NTSC ( 30 frames per 2nd ) successiveness .
concluding Cut Express take on that you want it all to work seamlessly , so it automatically scales footage to fit the framing . That can result in reduced figure of speech lineament when bestow stock - definition footage into a high - definition episode , but the outcome is better than watch a postage - stamp sized DV clip in the heart of the screen ; plus , Final Cut Express offer plenty of ascendance when it derive to resize and repositioning cartridge clip within the visible area anyway .
Also convenient is Final Cut Express ’s ability to exchange the format of a sequence based on the first clip you tally to the timeline ; you do n’t have to remember to change the Easy Setup setting before you redact .
FxPlug and omissions
Current Final Cut Express user , as well as iMovie ’ 08 exploiter bemoaning the deficiency of third - political party plug - in support , will appreciate support for FxPlug plug - ins , which open up the world of third - party plug - in that presently bunk in Final Cut Pro . Version 4 include more than 50 FxPlug plug - ins that augment the other effects included with Final Cut Express .
But some user may not prize a duo of pregnant omission in the newfangled version . Final Cut Express HD 3.5 included the Soundtrack app for marking movies , which you wo n’t notice in version 4 . Apple claims that user were accomplishing the same project in GarageBand , but since Soundtrack 1.5 was build from the computer code groundwork of Soundtrack Pro , it offered more options and better performance . As such , the Export for Soundtrack menu item is gone from Final Cut Express . However , if you have Soundtrack from the Final Cut Express HD parcel , you could still practice the course of study with version 4 .
Final Cut Express still include LiveType 2 , but it ships with far few LiveFonts ( prebuilt animated trend ) and other effects than what was offered in the old variation . If you ’ve elevate from the older version , the library of LiveType effects works with the young version .
Macworld’s buying advice
The motion with any climb is whether the young version is worth it , or if you could get along amercement with what you presently own . With Final Cut Express 4 , as always , the resolution depends on your situation . evidently , Version 4 ’s AVCHD support is a haulage if you own a new tv camera that dash in that data formatting . As an upgrade from Final Cut Express HD 3.5 , however , version 4 is n’t compelling unless you need AVCHD support or FxPlug plug - in . If you ’re an iMovie user tactile sensation limited by its capabilities — or you ’ve take to hop the revamped iMovie ’ 08 wholly — Final Cut Express 4 is a great way to jump into semi - professional TV editing at a fraction of the cost of Final Cut Studio .
[ Jeff Carlson is the managing editor in chief ofTidBitsand the author ofiMovie ’ 08 and iDVD ’ 08 for Mac OS X : Visual QuickStart Guide(Peachpit Press , 2008 ) . ]
