Apple used the NAB broadcast show in Las Vegas to announce on Sunday its latest suite of video-editing apps - the Final Cut Studio 2 bundle. This is due in May priced at £849 (inc VAT) in the UK and $1,299 in the USA. Upgrades from V1 will cost £329 (US$429), those from Final Cut Pro or Production Suite will be £449 (US$699).
Significantly, the package is considerably cheaper than Adobe's recently announced editing suites. No less significant, the premium that UK buyers are expected to pay over those in the USA is massively less.
Over here, the price for Final Cut Studio 2 is £70 more than in the USA (when taking VAT out of the equation).
With Adobe's nearest equivalent, the £1,568 Production Studio Premium package, which sells in the USA for $1,699, the UK ex-VAT price (£1,334) is a whopping £481 more than US buyers are expected to pay. See this HEXUS.lifestyle news piece - Adobe ripping off UK again with latest CS-family software?
As well as new versions of the five key apps - Final Cut Pro (now V6), Compressor (V3), DVD Studio Pro (V4.2), Motion (V3), Soundtrack (V2) - the Mk2 suite also gains a new tool for colour-grading, plus support for ProRes 422, a 10-bit/4:2:2 colour-space post-production open video format.
The colour-grading tool - called Color - is said to offer a logical, task-based workflow and provide over 20 customisable templates to speedily create a unique mood for any particular project.
Color app (click for larger image)
ProRes 422 is reckoned to produce "stunning HD quality at SD file sizes". It's claimed to allow editors to "mix and match virtually any video format and frame-rate on a single timeline without transcoding" and allow for efficient working across a network and even on a MacBook Pro laptop out in the field.
FCP 6
With V3 of Apple's encoding app Compressor, there's said to be better support for Codecs such as MPEG-2 and H.263, along with a new streamlined interface and simplified workflows that make encoding and delivering in multiple formats easier and more efficient. Drag-and-drop presets are claimed to make it ultra-simple to create video for the web, DVD, mobile phones, broadcast TV and, of course, iPods and the new Apple TV network media player.
The third version of Motion, Apple's motion-graphics program, extends functionality into 3D, further challenging Adobe's ultra-powerful After Effects app. New camera behaviours are reckoned to "add depth and realism with drag-and-drop simplicity".
A new image-path tool is said to automatically map any image or effect to the path of any other object. Adobe After Effects has long offered powerful path-mapping so this enhancement of Motion, though long overdue, is a highly-significant enhancement.
Over 1,500 new samples are provided with Motion 3, including professional stock images, animated line drawings and vector artwork.
The interface of Soundtrack Pro 2 has a rejigged interface and this is paired with a number of enhancements, notably new multi-track editing and recording tools; a "heads-up spotting display" said to lets editors precisely align effects and dialogue with video; and new flight-checker tool, Conform, for synchronising track changes between picture and sound.
Sound Track Pro 2
At NAB, Apple also announced Final Cut Server - a scaleable server application said to supports workgroups of any size and provide a cross-platform client that enables content-browsing, review and approval from within a studio or over the Internet. See Apple introduces Final Cut Server.
Check out Apple's Final Cut Studio 2 press release, consider the relative pricing of Apple vs Adobe (see Adobe ripping off UK again with latest CS-family software?), then let us hear your take in the HEXUS.community.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this articleHEXUS.lifestyle - press.releases :: Apple Unveils Final Cut Studio 2
HEXUS.lifestyle - press.releases :: Apple introduces Final Cut Server
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External.links
Apple USA - Final Cut Studio 2 home pageApple UK - home page
Apple USA - home page
