Video Editing Software Review:
Apple Final Cut Studio 2

Mark Montgomery
September 2007

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Apple Final Cut Studio 2 has grabbed a good deal of attention in the world of video editing - ­rightfully so. A lot of anticipation and energy were focused on the pre-NAB announcement. Now that the box is finally here, we're equally excited to do this Final Cut Studio 2 review. But, before we get started, it's important to note that Color, the newest addition to the Studio package, will be reviewed separately to give more attention to this new application. Now, off we go.

Final Cut Studio 2 comes with a lot of bells and whistles, including 55GB of additional templates, content and tutorials. Mix that in with the required 4GB of hard drive space for the applications, and you might be in need of a new hard drive. Sure, you could just install the applications, but the fun stuff is in the extra content. Also, you'll need to have at least a PowerPC G4 1.25GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, which might push out a few of you with older machines. Check the full tech specs for more information.

Our Final Cut Studio 2 review has been conducted on a Mac Pro with two 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors, 8GB of RAM and running Mac OS X (version 10.4.9). That's well over the system requirements.

One of the biggest additions to the new Final Cut Pro 6 video editing software is the ProRes 422 format. Apple has developed a new HD video format that helps reduce file sizes, while keeping a pristine quality. In other words, ProRes 422 looks uncompressed, but it is, in fact, very much compressed. This results in what Apple claims to be an "uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes." For most enthusiast users, ProRes 422 will have little effect in your day-to-day editing. Where we see ProRes doing the most good for our readership is opening the doors to FCP editors who want to freelance for post-production houses. ProRes 422 can make it entirely possible for anyone with a relatively modern Mac computer running FCP 6 to edit ProRes 422 footage that's housed on fairly standard hard drives. That provides opportunities for new talent, assuming that professionals adopt ProRes 422. Based on what we've seen and tested, we can't help wondering: why not?

The ProRes 422 codec preserves the full width of HD video (i.e., 1920x1080 and 1280x720), meaning it doesn't re-sample the resolution. The codec also works in 4:2:2 chroma sampling and 10-bit sample depth. This means video pixels hold a good amount of color information and respond more naturally to scenes with gradients (e.g., a sunset). Lastly, ProRes 422 is an I-frame-only codec, meaning editors can edit frame accurately. All these specs suggest that you'll have a much more comfortable editing experience with ProRes 422 if you've got some processing power.

Video editing software must also be able to handle mixed formats these days. Final Cut Pro 6 is capable of just that, and it's ridiculously easy to import and position mixed formats in a sequence. Having this compatibility can be a real time saver. Better news, as of the Final Cut Studio 2.0.1 update, there is log and transfer support for AVCHD.

Final Cut Pro 6 continues to be a well-rounded video editing application. However, if we can be just a little nitpicky, we would have liked to see more user-friendly advancements in media management. We did take notice and appreciate the media management changes that were made in Motion 3, however, which adds a collect media function that moves all the content associated to a project into a folder. That should help new users, but naturally the best method is to be well organized in the first place.

Compositing can help give your video project much-needed pizzazz. Apple has added 3D motion graphics to Motion and still maintains a relatively simple user interface. Yet, given all the functionality and user-defined variables, Motion 3 can still be overwhelming, especially for those with no prior animation experience. For most users, the templates are a great place to begin, especially for anyone who is new to Final Cut Studio. Venturing off into other directions will take time and practice. Apple has some short web tutorials for Motion 3 on the apple.com website, but they only scratch the surface of what can be done.

We made a few title sequences in Motion 3 by modifying existing templates. The new Advanced Keyframe Editor is more suitable for precise animation, as compared to the earlier versions of Motion. This is something we are pleased to see. It seems to us that Motion 3 equals, if not surpasses, the functionality of Adobe After Effects, at least for that second tier of graphic animation (i.e., lower thirds, title sequences, etc.). Throw in the 3D environment, and editors using Final Cut Studio 2 will have much more creative freedom with motion graphics than ever before. Just be mindful, however, of your system requirements for this application. It might be time to look for more RAM.

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