Product Reviews

If there was ever a time for Apple to aggressively target its Switcher campaign at video makers, it's now. Many a fancy has been tickled by HDV in recent months, but after adopting the new format, most editors find themselves in need of a new editing system. Single-processor machines don't cut it for HDV on the Windows platform, and a suitable dual-processor system could well cost a few hundred pounds more than Apple's-top-of-the-range Power Mac. This, coupled with the keenly priced and comprehensive Final Cut Studio bundle, is sure to make the Mac platform more attractive to editors who have never before considered jumping ship.

First on Final Cut Pro's list of new features is HDV support. Unlike Final Cut Express, though, the program supports native HDV Mpeg footage as well as the bulkier 'intermediate codec' used by Final Cut Express. While Express' new features seemed to stop at HDV support, Pro's list goes much further to make this one of the most impressive updates yet. Multi-channel audio support allows you to import up to 24 tracks at once (as long as your Mac has a suitable interface), and it now supports 24-bit audio at 96kHz, so it's directly compatible with many hard drive-based multi-track sound recorders.

It also supports audio control surfaces for controlling sound mixes with physical sliders and knobs. This is all welcome stuff, but we're disappointed that Final Cut still doesn't have a surround-sound mixer (something that's now standard in Windows applications such as Vegas, Premiere Pro and Liquid Edition). Back to the good stuff, though: Final Cut Pro 5 has a multi-camera editing tool that can work with up to 16 angles in real time, and as many as 128 if you don't mind waiting for the Multiclip to render.

Final Cut Pro's working

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environment encourages customisation, from the addition and removal of function buttons to keyboard shortcuts. The program's core editing interface is largely unchanged: its cutting tools have been comprehensive and intuitive for some time; media management tools are first rate; there's support for multiple nested sequences within a single project; and a standard source/edit interface and familiar NLE (non-linear editing) workflow keeps the learning curve friendly for those with no video editing experience. What has changed is the list of media formats that can be used in Final Cut Pro, including native HDV, DV, IMX, DVCPRO HD, DVCPRO. It can also import CinemaTools, iMovie and Final Cut Express projects.

Effects have always been one of Final Cut Pro's strengths. Handling of layered PSD files is good, although layer effects might need to be rendered before import. There's also a massive array of transition effects and video filters. Final Cut makes an effort to play all effects in real time, although its performance largely depends on the power of the host Mac. Rather than just quitting playback, though, it gradually degrades picture quality and frame rate in an attempt to maintain steady playback.

Finished projects are easily sent back to tape or exported as QuickTime files, and the addition of Apple Compressor allows Mpeg-2 encoding for DVD, too. What we would like to see, though, is a plug-in architecture to enable direct Timeline output to third-party encoders such as Sorenson Squeeze or Innobits BitVice. As always, a lack of Mac-based encoders from Microsoft and RealNetworks creates limitations when preparing media for the web. QuickTime still doesn't stand up against RealVideo or Windows Media as a streaming format, but it's the only one of the three that can currently be prepared on a Mac.

Compared with the cost of similarly featured software on Windows, Final Cut Pro seems somewhat overpriced as a standalone application. As part of the Studio bundle, though, things are weighed up just right. Final Cut is still an impressive program, and does almost everything its competitors can. Making the jump to Final Cut should be easier and more attractive than it has ever been, but until surround sound mixing is introduced and WMV and RealVideo encoding is made possible, some editors will still cling tightly to their Windows boxes.