Pro video blog…Produced by Philip Johnston DoP/Editor

Apple have indeed lost the plot as today it has been reported to me that Final Cut Pro 8 has been further delayed till August 2011, this is a major blow if it is true for all FCP users as 64bit has been further shunted into the autumn of 2011. If this story is true I for one will be switching to Adobe CS5 before the end of this year as I can no longer afford to wait for Apple to come up with the goods.

Premiere Pro has come a long way in the last few years and Adobe has been adding many future proof features like a plug in for 3D called Cineform neo 3D HD that allows you to edit 3D footage straight from the timeline and view it in 3D. Another feature is 7 streams of HD if you use the nVidia’s CUDA technology and achieve real-time playback for Quicktime dSLR, and AVCHD footage.

Apple’s backward thinking has made Blu-ray an almost impossible route for them to go down, while Adobe has embraced Blu-ray and made it a seamless part of Encore their DVD authoring program.

While the switch will be a dear one it will take my 12 core MacPro up to a new level and utilise the 64 bit technology as it was intended by Apple in the first place. I am not looking forward to the learning curve but having come from Premiere Pro many years ago it shouldn’t be that bad.

One other reason for cutting Final Cut Studio is the now antiquated DVD Studio Pro 4 one of the best in it’s time now a sorry state of bugs that keeps me from even opening it up looking for ghost files that no longer exist.

I will remain a Motion fan as it’s just as easy to send footage to Motion as it would to After Effects.

It was not a coincidence that the BBC have chosen to go down the Adobe route when they already have editors using Final Cut Pro, thankfully for them Adobe brought Premiere back to the Mac so the switch over won’t be as bad other than installing new software.

One other thing that saddens me is the sneak peek of “Lion” the new so called OSX…lame is the word that springs to mind, I can’t see any feature that will set the heather alight unlike previous major upgrades…I think the writing is on the wall for Apple unless they seriously re invent themselves.

UPDATE : Since writing this I seem to have lost the plot as well thanks to J Ball for pointing out my spelling error, as of today I have now installed the nVidia Quadro FX4800 in my MacPro one further step in my own death nell for FCP !

FURTHER UPDATE : As of March 2011 it seems Apple are to bring us Final Cut Pro 8. The reason I did not make the move was for 2 reasons…Paul Joy found that his final output was compromised using Premiere Pro in other words the quality was not as good as Final Cut Pro, secondly if it ant broke don’t fix it.

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Having been working in the video business since 1988 I have amassed a great amount of knowledge of both the kit and production values over the last 30 years.

17 thoughts on “Apple to delay FCP-8 till August 2011 “The writing is on the wall”

  1. Why would you jump ship just because an update isn’t happening when you think it is? Is your current software suddenly going to stop working and you’ll be left with nothing?

    In what way can’t you afford to wait for Apple to “come up with the goods”? Are you losing out somehow by using the current version of FCS?

    I just don’t understand. This rant sounds like a petulant teenager, however.

  2. FWIW, after Apple’s Lion event last week I was frustrated, albeit expectantly, that there was no mention of Pro level apps or users. I promptly emailed Steve, sjobs(at)apple(dot)com, and a few hours later I had a response from his iPhone. My research has made me believe that it was a legit email from him.

    I said:
    “I just got done following the Engadget broadcast of your event.

    It seems that Apple is not paying much attention to the pro level apps and users. I use Final Cut Studio daily for instance, is there anything coming anytime soon to update those?

    Is Apple leaving the pro level apps behind?”

    And shortly there after I received this response:
    “Nope. Stay tuned.

    Sent from my iPhone”

    I know this is no proof, but it gives me hope. As easy as it is to imagine them focusing on the consumer level products more and more, it’s not like them to let another company, Adobe for instance, take over territory that they have owned for a while.

  3. Anyone can post claims like this, I can claim this to be a lie and Apple is releasing FCP studio 4 in march 2011. Adobe is being sold to Microsoft and they are dropping premiere because they are buying AVID as well.

  4. I have to agreed. When it comes to FCP blueray support and the VDSLR thing. The writer seems to have a chip on his shoulder.

  5. There is not part of the BBC that decides which editor everyone in the BBC will use. Maybe one bit of the BBC has chosen Premiere but means nothing to the rest of the BBC.

    BBC News have just gone with Quantel for their new BH system and if you want to do anything remotely craft based (ie. not bish bosh news cutting) there’s only one other editor the system caters for. Yep – FCP….

  6. I have had to learn FCP and come from a Vegas background. I would be interested to know why BBC chose premier over Vegas.

  7. Yeah, it’s amazing to me that Apple can come up with a whole new iOS in a matter of *months* but they don’t put enough people on FCP to be able to address even the existing problems. I’m looking into Premiere.

  8. “It was not a coincidence that the BBC have chosen to go down the Adobe route when they already have editors using Final Cut Pro, thankfully for them Adobe brought Premiere back to the Mac so the switch over won’t be as bad other than installing new software.” ….

    THIS IS UTTER RUBBISH!

    The BBC is definitely NOT going down the Adobe route, not for serious production editing at least.
    Where Premiere is being used (and where it’s being used in the main, is by non-editing professionals) is to prepare programmes for the web, be it the internet or iPlayer.

    For the last few years the BBC has been rolling out FCP as its replacement for Avid. As nice as Avid is, it doesn’t fit comfortably in to the BBC’s Mega-hyper-super-dooper video server plan. Final Cut does.
    FCP is very very happy to sit on Quantel’s server technology, and Quantel is the BBC’s main provider of that technology.

    Why FCP?
    Simply put, it integrates in to the new infrastructure being built in the Corporations new facilities around the UK, and its deeply popular with the editors. Editors are very conservative, and so too is the BBC.

    If there is a problem for the BBC, it has nothing to do with the current version of Final Cut Pro.
    So much so, that if there where a PC/Windows port of FCP it would be on a every BBC desktop, in every office across the globe.
    Rolling FCP out across its programme platforms will continue apace, the real headache for the Beeb begins, when Apple introduces a new, very different version of Final cut!

  9. I think you will find lots of Feature Films are cut on Avid and Lightworks. But I am sure Mr Jobs is glad to see you worshipping at his alter;).

  10. I to know Vegas as well as FCP. Problem with Vegas is it does not really have a ‘Studio’ (no After Affects/Motion Etc) and I think going between Vegas and FCP/Avid is a problem. The other thing is it does not run on Mac. Not a big problem unless you have hundreds of computers/support contracts.

  11. I believe they had 2000 licences but I have not heard which bit of BBC it is.

  12. spell check needed please:
    “death nell”. Poor nell, when is the execution date for this poor woman?

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