In my previous piece on how I set up a new Mac I included Final Cut Studio with the footnote that I was looking forward to a day when I no longer felt the need to install it.
I think that day is today.
Reasons You Think You Need Final Cut Studio 3
Opening .fcp project files
While it’s true no other program can currently read a Final Cut Pro v1–7 project file, it’s also true that at this point you should not have a reason to. If you are still using FCP 7 to cut then this article doesn’t apply to you, as I’m sure you are smart enough to have a system frozen on 10.6 Snow Leopard. If your concern is opening your old project files, set aside half a day to go through your archive and open each project, select all sequences, media, and elements in the Project window, and chose File > Export > XML
.
.fcp
file. That was always my biggest concern as well. Here’s the thing, though – it’s 2015. Final Cut Pro 7.0 was released in July 2009 and the final release (v7.0.3) was released in September 2010. Have whoever sent it export an XML and you can then bring that forward into a more modern application.
You’re so freakin’ fast in Final Cut Pro 7
I get it, you know all the keyboard shortcuts and are finally a Jedi master at every corner of FCP 7. You hang out with Bruce the Wonder Yak
You learned just enough DVD Studio Pro to make a DVD
That’s great, so did I. Take a look around and ask yourself if you really need to be making DVDs anymore.
They still use Final Cut Pro 7 at your job
This is a weird situation. The reality is that you may not have the choice of what software you use at work. The reality also is that at this point you are working slower by using such old software. That should be a relatively easy case to make to the higher-ups. Point out that the software is no longer supported by Apple and likely won’t run well on newer machines as they are purchased and you have a pretty solid argument. If they don’t get it…new job?
Reasons Why Sticking With Final Cut Studio 3 is Bad
- Apple has moved on. Software as complex as an NLE needs to be patched and updated. There are always bugs, there are always newer hardware requirements, and there are always newer video formats. This is not a calculator app that will be fine with the same functionality forever.
- Final Cut Pro 7 is a 32-bit application. This means the amount of RAM it can use is severely limited.
- QTKit is deprecated by Apple.
- Final Cut Pro 7 only supports a handful of mostly older video formats.
- Final Cut Pro 7 is terrible with H.264.
- Color 1.5 will crash if you look at it the wrong way and has almost no support for modern video formats.
- Compressor 3 is embarrassingly slow when compared to Adobe Media Encoder or even Compressor 4, not to mention the many other better transcoders out there.
- I don’t think I really need to mention Motion and Soundtrack Pro, do I?
Caveats Moving Forward
I ripped my Final Cut Studio 3 installer discs into .dmg
files and saved the serial number with them so I no longer physically need the box or discs. You should do the same with your copy
If you’re like me, however, you’re ready to move on. So long, Final Cut Studio!
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Use Version 5 ↩
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Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe AfterEffects DaVinci Resolve, 7toX, Baselight, Scratch, Lightworks, and more ↩
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So much better than those Avid “Bus Errors” ↩
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The correct answer: no. ↩
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Even Adobe has left Encore behind as it was last updated with CS6. ↩
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Like, 3 GB. Even if you have 64 GB installed :( ↩
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Besides a shady bar in Culver City the size of a hallway. ↩
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In a perfect world you would never cut with an H.264 encoded file. It’s not meant for that. We don’t live in a perfect world, and often you’ll be asked to use GoPro or iPhone or other non-awesome camera footage. Having a modern program that can at least work with H.264 is necessary. ↩
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I did my own in depth test one time before making the leap and trust me it’s true. No, I didn’t write any of it down. It was for me. ↩
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I am of course speaking of legally purchased copies. Stop using cracked software and pay for it like a damn professional. ↩
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This is very easy. Download from the App Store and the Installer app will automatically launch. Quit it, and find it in your
/Applications
folder. Move it out to your Desktop and run it from there. If you don’t move it, the installer will delete itself as the last step after installation. You can also always re-download it. ↩ -
I have no source for this. ↩