In the year - and - a - half since Apple released the last variant of its intermediate video editor Final Cut Express HD 3.5 ( ) , a couplet of freehanded events have disrupted the state of editing picture on the Mac .
For one , the digital camcorder field has shifted steady aside from tapeline - based tv camera to models that commemorate to gamy - capacitance memory cards , miniskirt - DVDs , or built - in hard disks . The switch is n’t just a affair of capacity , however ; those twist record to different formats than the standard DV used by most tape camcorder . Until now Final Cut Express has n’t been able to read them .
Another event — this one surprising — was the August press release of iMovie ’ 08 ( ) . The revamp version of Apple ’s digital video editor was stripped of many of the features that made iMovie HD 6 bump up against the mellow end of intermediate editing . For many Mac editor , iMovie HD 6 was capable enough to not move up to the added cost and complexity of Final Cut Express . But with iMovie ’ 08 targeting a more entrance - story audience , some video hobbyists may enquire if they should go for the skills they honed in iMovie toward something more sophisticated .
The $ 199 Final Cut Express 4 addresses these two outcome straight . The updated software competently tackle the format issue with reenforcement for spell AVCHD and HDV footage , while actively courting the iMovie camp by announcing itself as not just an alternative to editing in iMovie ’ 08 , but as the missing next pace — in conjunction with the convenience of iMovie — that proffer the command that iMovie HD editors enjoyed .
AVCHD support
The footage captured in AVCHD ( Advanced Video Codec High Definition ) is not bound by the one-dimensionality of video recorded to taping ; clips are spare to empty blocks on the airfoil of the memory . To correspond more than a few minutes ’ worth of footage onto a memory circuit board or disc , the data formatting are highly flat , ask a conversion to a more editable format .
Review and import AVCHD and MPEG footage from tapeless camcorders in the Log and Transfer window .
When you relate a tapeless camcorder to your Mac , Final Cut Express ’s Modern Log and Transfer windowpane lists the uncommitted clips in a column to the left hand , with a preview area at right wing to preview the clip and assign In and Out points before importing . What ’s nifty about this approach shot is that it issue forth close to overcoming one traditional Apple - imposed restriction on Final Cut Express , the capableness to mark the sections of clips you require to import and then process them in a clutch , as Final Cut Pro allows you to do .
add together media to the waiting line starts importing right off , but you could remain to review , mark , and tally other clips while importing is under way . ( you may also intermit the implication and start it afterward when your Mac is n’t busy working on other things . ) Unfortunately , the lineament applies only to the Log and Transfer windowpane , and not the Capture window , so we ’re still stuck with importing one clip at a time from tape .
As with Final Cut Pro 6 and iMovie ’ 08 , Final Cut Express 4 transcodes AVCHD footage into Apple Intermediate Codec ( AIC ) , so importing takes longer than real metre .
In an earlier rendering of this tarradiddle , I erroneously publish that Final Cut Express 4 imports MPEG-2 footage , when in fact the formats stand are DV , HDV , and AVCHD . Owners of camcorder that record video to tapeless reposition in MPEG-2 data format can use iMovie ’ 08 to spell that footage , and then import the video from there . harmonize to Apple , Final Cut Express 4 will playact MPEG-2 footage in the Timeline in Unlimited RT fashion without yield , but with the theory of debauched playback functioning .
Mixed format timeline
Final Cut Express has always inherited features from Final Cut Pro , and a welcome improver to translation 4 is the sundry formatting timeline . The programme still enquire you to specify a undertaking ’s format , such as DV - NTSC or variants of HDV ( High Definition Video ) , but adding a clip of a different data formatting as the first cartridge clip in the successiveness change that preference .
Final Cut Express HD 3.5 mixed formats , but at the same solution ( left ) . Version 4 scale footage of unlike formats to fill the sieve ( correct ) . In this case , the widescreen high - definition clip appears at the boundary because the DV footage in front was shot with a received 4:3 aspect ratio .
When you add a snip with a different format to the timeline , Final Cut Express 4 scales it to equal the project ’s context . You could mingle and mingle formats in version 3.0 and gamy , but they would seem at their native resolutions and be mismatched .
Silent Soundtrack
Missing from the Final Cut Express 4 package is Apple ’s Soundtrack program , as is the option to Export for Soundtrack . grant to Dion Scoppettuolo , Apple ’s Final Cut Express Cartesian product managing director , users turn to GarageBand for the same features .
New FxPlug plug-ins
With more than 50 new FxPlug plug - In , there are even more possibilities for clutter up your video . However , it ’s not all gratuitous effects — range controls such as HSV Adjust , for good example , give you more control over the show of your footage .
Import iMovie ’08 projects
With the add capability of import iMovie ’ 08 projection , Apple is plain positioning Final Cut Express 4 as the next redaction step for people who want more than what iMovie bid ( and who plausibly are n’t interested in jumping between iMovie ’ 08 and iMovie HD 6 , which Apple made usable for gratis to iLife ’ 08 owner ) .
The iMovie integration is clear than in the yesteryear ( Final Cut Express HD could open iMovie HD undertaking straight off ) , which turn over out to be a benefit . Think of iMovie ’ 08 as the place where you store all of your digital footage and cut together a quick jumpy version of your moving picture . ( Do n’t get carried away — audio clips , title of respect , Ken Burns effect , cropping , and picture adjustments do n’t acquit over , and any transition are converted to traverse dissolve in Final Cut . ) Then share the movie as Final Cut XML . In Final Cut Express , choose filing cabinet - > significance - > Final Cut XML from iMovie ( note the specific cry - out ) and progress from there . As long as you stick to with the importing limitations , the bound between iMovie and Final Cut Express is square .
People who favour iMovie HD 6 over iMovie ’ 08 find themselves in the same quandary as when iMovie ’ 08 debuted , however . Moving one ’s knowledge from iMovie HD to Final Cut Express still requires a spring in terminus of how Final Cut prefers to operate ; surprisingly , though , those who shorten their teeth ( and video ) on iMovie HD are likely to feel more well-fixed in Final Cut Express because of the erstwhile iMovie ’s use of a conventional timeline versus the more liberal - form coming in iMovie ’ 08 .
Also , Final Cut Express costs significantly more than iMovie ( especially if it was gratuitous as part of a new Mac leverage ) , even though Apple has deal the Mary Leontyne Price government issue by drop the cost to $ 199 . That ’s still real money , but on the bound of what someone who has decide it ’s time to move up is probably unforced to pay .
I ’ll take a more extensive look at Final Cut Express 4 in my revaluation of the updated software — that reexamination will appear soon at Macworld.com .
[ Jeff Carlson is the managing editor program ofTidBitsand the writer of iMovie HD 6 and iDVD 6 for Mac OS X : Visual QuickStart Guide ( Peachpit Press , 2006 ) . ]
This article was reposted at 9:40 p.m. ET on November 28 to correct information about the MPEG-2 format .
