Final Cut Pro 5

[rose-o]

I'm working for a company that is willing to send me to some classes and learn me some real video editting software! :p

We currently dabble in Final Cut Express which is old I know. I believe it has been updated and now grouped into a video/audio/motion/DVD editting software package called Final Cut Pro 5. We need to use all of these aspects in our video production.

Has anyone used this package yet? Any commendations?

Thanks!

[Tyger]

rose-o,

I've just started using it, but I'll be taking a class very soon. Since you know express it'll be a good steup to learn the studio edtion. It's complete as you mentioned you can do audio as well as text effects and now HD compatible if you are getting into that. Premiere Pro is a great app as well but not for mac, seeing that you have used express i would think you are on mac platform so FC5 is your best bet.

Sorry I can't tell you more as it is still new to me too. Anything specific you wanted to know?

[rose-o]

That is good feedback, let me know when you take the class and how much you learn. I might (if it all works out) go to a five day class in the Chicago land area. We'll see though.

Do you (or anyone else?) know if the DVD part of Final Cut 5 lets you build DVDs that automatically open when put into a computer?

Yes I am running a mac.

[Patrick Shannon]

Final Cut Pro in itself doesn't have a DVD part.....you can't make a DVD from it by itself. It's companion DVD Studio Pro is just for that purpose and you can make a DVD like any regular commercial DVD.

If you have Final Cut Pro 5, Apple is offering a heck of a deal to upgrade to the Universal Binary version of the Final Cut Suite (Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Motion and Soundtrack) at $99. I just received my upgrade, but I'm currently on vacation in the Ozarks and I won't be able to get at it until I get back.

[rose-o]

We decided to buy the whole studio for final cut and I'm taking a class to learn how to use Final Cut Pro. I'll post how it goes!

[rose-o]

Hey everybody! I am back from that class and man did I learn a lot!!! It was pretty easy to catch on. A lot of the same key commands (if you into that sort of thing) are the same as adobe products. It really looks harder than it is. If you have to do video editing I would highly recommend it!!! And if you got the cash and the computer to get it!

[jimking]

Did they give you a crash course on DVD StudioPro?

[rose-o]

Not really, we did talk about it but he didn't show us anything. Got a question? We did talk about Soundtrack Pro.

[jimking]

I use Final Cut Express and DVD StudioPro. The reason I mentioned DVDSP is because it's a different animal. FCE is intuitive and very similar to FCP but DVDSP's logic is different but powerful. It's one thing to edit and quite different in creating the DVD especially when compressing the file which can be done several ways. Such as Quicktime Pro or Compressor, Bitvice etc.. And often this is where the learning curve comes into play. I would not rely on the supplied manual for DVDSP, get one written by the pros that goes into more detail. Here is a website that is very handy.
Some of the people here are Hollywood editors and authors of the best books on the subject out there. If you use these folks be very descriptive about your question or they may ignore you. But I've learned alot from these folks. www.2-pop.com

[rose-o]

thanks for the tips!