NAB 2011 was all a-flurry when Apple announced it was finally releasing a new updated version of it’s Final Cut Pro editing software program, and the flurry hit a fervor when they announced it was going to be a completely new rewrite.  In fact, there was little left but standing room at the Final Cut Pro User Group’s Supermeet in April when Apple’s VP Randy Ubilos and Peter Steinhauer hit the stage.

Now, the excitement is back again with the announcement of Final Cut Pro X’s availability in the App Store today. If you’ve also used Apple’s motion graphic editor, Motion or Compressor in the past, they have new versions also available in the App Store for only $50 each. However the big news is that for only $300, you can digitally download Apple’s new program to see if all of the new features have been worth the wait.

Speaking of features, Apple’s got a laundry list of new one for their latest release. The new Final Cut Pro uses a “magnetic timeline” to allow editors to move clips around without losing audio or video tracks due to overlapping. It also has the ability to correct footage as it’s ingested for audio, color, and motion issues – features that were once part of different applications within the Final Cut Studio suite.

Final Cut Pro’s interface has also been majorly overhauled with only three real windows left: a preview area, a new media browser, and an editing timeline. In a way, this new “upgrade” makes the program feel a bit more like After Effects or iMovie than what people have come to expect from Final Cut Pro.

Apple has also added the ability to edit footage even before it’s been transferred and can categorize your footage based on people’s faces and what type of shot it is. A handy tool for sure. You can also assign all kinds of metadata and keywords to your footage in order to be able to find areas of your footage quickly and easily. Apple also included the ability to “audition” clips with different effects before applying them and claims to have more presets than ever before for their effect library. Lastly, there is now an option to group together audio, video, and transitions into single clips called a “Compound Clip.” This is very similar to nesting but allows for easier access to the elements inside of the group for easy tweaking.

One of the most applauded features of Apple’s presentation back in April was the ability for Final Cut Pro X to utilize the full power of Grand Central Dispatch and the 64 bit architecture. This means that Final Cut Pro X can render everything in the background all while utilizing multiple cores of power – something that no editing application does incredibly efficiently.

Though there are a lot of great new features to Final Cut Pro’s upgrade, there have been a few noticeable features that many users have already found to be missing. One of the biggest is the lack of support for projects from previous versions and the inability to import XML or EDL. Also, Apple got rid of support for tape based ingestion and export, making it difficult to use for the many editors that still need to use tape in their workflow. Lastly, Final Cut Pro has also lost the multicam feature that many live event videographers used to make editing a large amount of clips a little simpler.

Videomaker awarded Final Cut Pro X our “Best of NAB” award for editing software at this year’s National Association of Broadcasters tradeshow in Las Vegas. With its low price, faster renders, and complete redesign, Apple was a clear favorite in this field.

Of course, with all of these new features, almost every editor will want to find out if the software is worth the wait. Actually, we’ve been wondering the same thing ourselves. Thankfully, Videomaker reviewer Ben Balser has an advance copy of FCP X and is working on a review of the program for Videomaker as we we speak. Watch for that review coming soon to see if the new Final Cut Pro will be a game changer for Apple or simply game over.

http://www.videomaker.com/r/527

Adobe announced Premiere Elements 9 software for both Windows and Mac which is a first for the Mac platform.

Premiere Elements users can take advantage of an easy-to-use Organizer, which acts as a media management hub, where both video clips and still photos can be accessed in one convenient location. The software easily imports a variety of file types from different devices including the popular Flip Video camera and video from HDSLR cameras. Users can quickly find the best videos with the Auto-Analyzer that automatically tags the most interesting, highest quality video footage – eliminating the hassle of clicking through dozens of clips to find the great ones.

With Premiere Elements 9, users can create eye-catching videos in just minutes, easily fix audio problems, automatically trim away bad footage, stabilize shaky shots, and correct bad color and lighting. Once users select the footage they want, movies can be created instantly or enhanced with professional flair in just a few clicks or with simple drag and drop effects, like the Cartoon Effect, which turns any video into an animated feature. Optimized performance also makes editing and viewing smooth, even in HD. In addition, friends and family can experience an interactive DVD-like viewing experience on the Web or share directly to Facebook and YouTube via interactive albums.

For added convenience, now Adobe Premiere Elements 9 Windows and Mac users have the option to purchase Plus, which offers 20GB of storage for automatic online backup and sharing (up to 15,000 photos or four hours of DVD-quality video), as well as ongoing deliveries of creative extras sent directly to the desktop software.

Adobe Premiere Elements 9 for Windows and Mac is available now at www.adobe.com for $100.

Boris FX recently announced the availability of Boris AAF Transfer, a new plug-in designed for seamless transfer of Apple Final Cut Pro sequences to Avid Media Composer.

Editors can use Boris AAF Transfer to transfer an entire live Apple Final Cut Pro program sequence with media, markers, cuts, dissolves, filters, and audio preserved. The transferred sequence can be edited and finished in the Avid Media Composer timeline without returning to Final Cut Pro. Editors can edit Final Cut Pro sequences live in Media Composer – either on the same system or any other Macintosh or Windows Media Composer system.

Boris AAF Transfer Feature Highlights:

• Alpha Channel Support: Transfer still images and video clips while retaining alpha information, preserving the alpha channel. The transferred sequence appears exactly the same in Media Composer as it did in Final Cut Pro.
• Boris Continuum Complete Compatibility: Transfer Boris Continuum Complete filters and transitions that were applied to clips in the Final Cut Pro timeline while retaining all of the keyframed changes. The BCC filters are seamlessly transferred into Media Composer as long as the corresponding BCC filter or transition effect is present in the Media Composer host where the transferred sequence is opened.
• Motion Tab Support: Boris AAF Transfer translates many of Final Cut Pro’s Motion Tab features including basic motion, crop, opacity, and speed.
• Text Generators: Convert Final Cut Pro’s built-in text generators into Avid Title Tool effects.
• Time Effects: Boris AAF Transfer supports many of Final Cut Pro’s time-based effects.

Boris AAF Transfer is available now through through the Boris FX web site at www.borisfx.com for a $299 or $399 when bundled with the Boris XML Transfer plug-in for Adobe After Effects. Boris AAF Transfer supports Final Cut Pro 6 and higher and Media Composer 4 and higher. A free, full-functioning 14-day trial version is available for immediate download from www.borisfx.com.

Just a few short days ago, news came out that the firmware for the Panasonic Lumix GH1 got hacked. Now typically, you’d think that was a bad thing, and typically, you’d be right. However, in this case, that is far from the truth. Instead, the firmware hack for the GH1, made by Tester13, allows it to take MJPEG videos with a bitrate of up to 50 Mbps. That’s right; 50 Mbps. This is a higher bitrate than even the Canon 5D Mark II can take right now, with it’s average of 35 Mbps meaning cleaner footage with less artifacts. With the ability to shoot at 50 Mbps, video on the Panasonic Lumix can come out with almost no visible compression at all. The gradients in the footage look smooth and natural, and the detail is, for a lack of a better word, astounding. As an added bonus, since the GH1 scales and processes data by binning individual pixels rather than using line skipping, giving it a cleaner image than a 5D when downscaled from its 12 MP sensor. Also with this hack comes some groundbreaking workflow improvements. Using the 32 Mbit AVCHD mode with this hack, you can edit the native 24p footage natively on a Mac and PC in a fraction of the time.

All this comes at a small price however. First, the camera will often have card read/write errors due to the high bitrate and of course, fills up a CompactFlash card really fast. Also, playing this high bitrate footage will cause many computers to choke. Of course, as a firmware hack, there is at least a small potential that your camera’s hardware could be adversely affected by allowing it to do something it shouldn’t. Lastly,  the sensor size of the full frame 5D compared to the smaller APS-C makes for a greater chance for noise.

Nonetheless, hacks like these do effect one thing: they show camera companies how badly their users want these functions in their cameras. You sometimes have to wonder why they don’t just outright develop these same hacks into upgrades that their users can have. It would be a great chance to score some points with consumers that want to get the most out of their cameras and wouldn’t be of any harm to those who would never use the feature. Other cameras such as the Canon 1D Mark IV could also benefit from a small upgrade too. I mean can somebody tell me why Canon still hasn’t gotten rid of the auto gain control in the 7D and 1D too? Hopefully these companies will take a hint and start providing the relatively easy features that users want out of their cameras so that they can feel good about their purchases and feel good about staying loyal too.

Avid announced today that Media Composer and Symphony software now supports the new Snow Leopard OS X.
This added support enables customers to upgrade to the latest operating system without worrying about Media Composer and Symphony compatibility. Furthermore, those purchasing a new Mac system for faster processing, reliability and ease-of-use (shipping with Snow Leopard) will now have support for Media Composer and Symphony software as well.

Here’s a rundown on pricing/availability:
• Current Avid customers (version 4.0 and higher) can access the version update online at no additional cost. Additionally, any customer with a valid support contract also gets the free upgrade.
• For new software licenses or to purchase upgrades, visit the Avid store or local reseller.
Avid is also continuing to offer a 30-day trial version of Media Composer software for those interested in checking out the latest features in version 4.0.