The Editblog on PVC by Scott Simmons

The first update for FCPX gains some big features

Today was the day that many of us who’ve been following the Final Cut Pro X saga have been waiting for. An update hit the Mac App Store this morning that took FCPX to version 10.0.1. That update is small in number (more on that in a bit) but rather big in features as there’s quite a lot that Apple has stuck into this first update to FCPX. Chief among those things is XML support that introduces a new FCPX specific flavor of XML. Second would be Roles, a new way to tag and label clips that looks to be one of those FCPX think different ideas that has real potential. And even more.

Before we look at some of those new features it’s worth noting something that Apple listed on their FCPX update page:

We have seen Apple mention that multi-cam was coming but this was the first official mention of “Broadcast-Quality Video Monitoring.” While we don’t know exactly what this will mean we can hope that it is proper support for AJA, Matrox and Blackmagic video hardware. If Apple really wants the “pro” market to use FCPX it has to give us a way to use existing hardware to view externally on client monitors. I had a web delivery job just a couple of weeks ago that we had planned to cut in FCPX but as we setup that morning the client was surprised when I told them they’d have to pull a chair up to the edit desk for viewing since FCPX couldn’t display on my client monitor. That stopped that edit dead in its tracks and we used Premiere Pro.

It’s also unique in that it’s more commenting from Apple on future products which is almost unheard of. This is twice they’ve done that with FCPX alone. I’m sure that’s a reaction to Adobe’s recent sales growth, Avid’s now ongoing Final Cut Pro 7 and X crossgrade as well as the buzz around FCPX that has a lot of editors looking at other options. They know people are jumping ship. read more...