As I was installing a further free update (10.4.4) to FCPX I got a notice about Legacy Media not being supported in further upgrades to this software.
This is not good news for television stations that rely on media being ingested from anywhere at anytime let alone archive houses who rely on media being stored from various sources, especially older material.
I think this is a very stupid move once again by Apple who like to dictate trends like HD-DVD production not to mention UHD-DVD production.
Apple decided many moons ago that the world was no longer going down the road of DVD production especially Blu-ray DVD production forcing many of us to switch to Adobe Encore.
Now they are deciding what can be viewed and can’t be viewed in future updates of FCPX like Sony HDCAM-SR footage, GoPro shot in the CineForm format and Avid DNxHD/DNxHR format and their vague comments about “footage shot with many other older cameras or files modified with older software.”
I love this platform and would be very sad to have to switch to the likes of Resolve but Apple are deciding this for us rather than making a workaround to keep everyone happy.
As it stands FCPX never gave you an option to ingest older SD footage and you have to rely on Blackmagic’s Media Express if you want to ingest from tape.
Philip: As you know, FCPX has completely leap frogged over the other NLE’s into the future. What ever minor inconveniences you might discover, are far out weighed by the speed, reliability, and ease of use of FCPX. As a producer and director I really appreciate being able to open and use this software without having any IT help. You can always take that older footage and transcode to get into FCPX.
I don’t know what’s up with Apple anymore. I was furious when Apple dropped its support for Quicktime for Windows. This lead to the stripping of Quicktime from my school computers making a lot of the Adobe software crippled. Removing support for Cineform and Avid DnX ensure that broadcast houses will stop using FCX (if they ever were using it). FCX is a very capable bit of software but less pros and enthusiasts will continue to use it if they continue down this road.
Spotted this over the weekend and posted on Apple and Adobe forums. Have spoken to a few very large corporations who archive old content and they are in panic mode and now consulting their IT and suppliers. The issue is with the OS not just FCPX and so will effect Premier, amongst other apps. I was advised to keep an old Mac running an older OS and version of FCPX and use as a conversion server. Bloody brilliant Apple. Hopefully someone will find a fix, in the mean time lets all start humming the theme tune to the Muppet Show as it sums up Apple.
Apple is a sick company and we are jacked by the fact that it is still ahead of the others in some fields. But Apple plays with its loyal customers, ties them down to its own software, and then ditches them without as much as a by your leave. I am not aware of the issue you have mentioned but it is so typical of Apple’s take it or leave it approach.
They lost me when they went to X. I use premiere and never looked back.I did just buy the latest Macbook pro as I had trouble finding a Laptop PC with any decent speed. Shame it’s only got USB C ports. Users seem to be secondary in design/function decisions by Apple. There stock took a dive recently and wonder if they realize the professionals working with their tools are not hostages.
So pleased I have never owned an Apple product of any type. I like making my own PC with the parts I want not be told what I can and cannot do by the manufacturer. The fact that Quicktime is used in lots is a pain but now at least it is being removed from lots of PC products.
The stock pressure is coming from potential downturn in iPhones with all the competition.
Depending on your area there are plenty of very capable PC NLE’s. I use EDIUS, also have Vegas and Resolve Studio. Lots have storyboard functionality etc, traditional timeline approach or a mix.
Yes, I have an Android phone.
Best thing I ever did was ditch FCP Studio and jump onto PP CS6,
Second best thing I ever did was not get sucked into the FCPX bandwagon with all its magnetic timeline sales talk
while other were pulling their hair out for years trying to get it to work.
I find it hard to believe that fellow professionals continue to blindly follow Apple, so why are they still complaining?
And Apple haven’t shot themselves in the foot at all, they continue to laugh all the way to the bank.
Keep pulling your hair out Apple boys and prepare for FCPXX, rumour has it that you can edit from the Apple watch while you monitor your heart rate.
They’re dropping 32-bit codecs at OS level, nothing to do with FCPX. This is to dump reliance on legacy software (and almost certainly is heralding the coming of their own custom desktop silicon which won’t need to be supporting these legacy formats. Third party software will be able to bridge the gap and convert the older formats to ProRes, they just need to have the codec support built in and not rely on the AV Foundation frameworks (or really get any OS optimisation). They announced this at least a year ago, maybe two. It’s no surprise. Will affect all MacOS-based NLEs.
@Chuck @Justin – good to read your useful comments amid the rest of the time-wasting vitriolic nonsense from other people not capable of seeing the wood for the trees.
I don’t see this being a huge issue, its very easy to batch export/transcode those legacy format files into PrRes or other flavours as you wish.