FIRST

Apple has quietly notified developers that it is preparing to offer volume purchases for business customers via the App Store.

MacNN has more about this.

The significance of this is that volume purchases of Final Cut Pro will no longer be tied to individual iTunes accounts. This might also presage the arrival of volume pricing and distribution for educational customers.

SECOND

I’ve had emails or phone calls from three different resellers telling me that Apple has notified resellers that it is offering them a one-time, two-day opportunity to buy as many copies of Final Cut Studio (3) as they want.

While this is not the same as putting FCS (3) on the open market, it does mean that the product will be available from selected retailers for a while longer. If you need licenses, contact your favorite, non-Apple store reseller.

THIRD

A large number of Final Cut Pro editors are thinking about switching platforms. Last week, my podcast – the Digital Production Buzz – had a series of discussions on switching to Avid. (Details here.)

This week, we have the product manager for Premiere Pro on the show, along with a recent Final Cut Pro post house that switched to Premiere. (Details here.) If you are thinking about switching, listen to this show first.

Larry

My blog this morning – Who’s Accountable – touched a nerve because, in addition to the people that commented directly on the blog, I’ve also had several private conversations with Apple and people who are very, very upset with Apple.

What’s become obvious over the last week, is that the way the Final Cut Pro X launch was handled has totally overshadowed the features of Final Cut Pro X.

Over the last several days, I’ve been consumed with trying to decide what to do – stay with Final Cut or move to another platform. If I switch, what do I switch to? What advice should I give to others trying to make the same choice?

As my office will attest, all this internal debating has not made me a pleasant person to be around.

Let me share my thinking with you — then, you can decide for yourself whether you agree or disagree.

First, let me say that I think the launch of Final Cut Pro X was very badly handled. As I’ve written, I don’t think Apple needed to cancel Final Cut Studio (3) as abruptly and coldly as they did. They should have given us more time to make an orderly transition. They were thinking as a technology company, not as editors managing a decade of assets.

Canceling Final Cut Server, even though it was incompatible with Final Cut Pro X, has unnecessarily jeopardized companies building a business on that platform.

Apple never does things accidentally, so they will disagree with me. Probably strongly disagree… I remember a remark one of the people at Apple told me before the launch, in that they were expecting a lot of controversy over the new version of Final Cut Pro.

Well, we can certainly agree about that.

I also think that Apple seriously erred in not providing a conversion utility between Final Cut Pro 7 and FCP X. The one-two punch of canceling FCS (3) and an inability to convert old projects dominated the discussion far more than the merits of FCP X.

Apple will disagree, but the launch did not take the feelings and passion of editors properly into account. And damage was done.

On the other hand, there are some very cool new features in Final Cut Pro X. Some editors are writing and telling me how much they are enjoying the new program. (Just as other editors are writing to tell me, at length, why they are moving to Avid or Adobe.)

There’s a lot of passion on both sides. And both sides have some truth behind them.

But, let’s look at a few more points:

* Apple said in their presentation at NAB that FCP X redefines video editing for the next ten years. There is lots of additional development planned.

* Apple told me that because FCP X is distributed via the App Store, they can update the program much more frequently than when it was sold as a package on DVD.

* Apple wrote in their FAQ that they are already working on adding new features, such as XML and multicam, to the product and releasing updates quickly.

* Apple has stressed that FCP X is designed to provide a feature set for professionals, and not just as an upgrade for iMovie. (I am not saying they MET the needs of professionals, but a look at the architecture of FCP X reveals features that no iMovie user would ever need.)

* However, it is also self-evident that Apple needed to provide a clear and consistent upgrade path to iMovie users who were totally lost trying to understand how Final Cut Express works. Apple feels that it is possible for one product to meet both needs.

As I wrote in an earlier blog – Moving Forward – the first rule of business is to stay in business. All of us should keep an eye on our options. Check out what Avid, Adobe, and Media 100 are offering. If you feel you can’t wait, then switch.

But I would also suggest that many of us would benefit by taking a deep breath and giving Apple a chance to live up to their promises for the program.

Final Cut Studio (3) still works.

It took Avid, Adobe, and Apple many years to evolve their programs to their current feature set. I’m willing to give Apple a few months to get their act together and fix what’s broken with FCP X.

I’m going to stay with Final Cut Pro for a while. Work at learning the new version. Give feedback to Apple on what they need to do to improve things. And share what I learn with you.

Final Cut Pro X has a lot of exciting potential – but, for many of us, that potential is not yet realized.

The burden is on Apple to deliver on their promises, update the program quickly, and repair the damage they did during the launch. The proof is in the program.

If they succeed, great. If not, Avid and Adobe will still be around in six months.

Larry

The release of any new hardware is exciting; as we saw last week with the release of the new MacBook Pros.

However, the stunning news is the new Thunderbolt (née Light Peak) I/O technology. The ONLY reason this exists is because of the Pro market. The greatest novelist, or spreadsheet junky, in the world has absolutely no reason to get excited about this. FireWire meets their needs perfectly.

But for people pushing pixels (or waveforms) this is a birthday present come early.

WHAT IS THUNDERBOLT?

Thunderbolt is a very, VERY fast I/O (input/output) communications protocol (10 Gbps or 1.25 GB/second) that supports both hard drives and monitors. This is faster than anything else on the market.

Apple’s Thunderbolt white paper states:

For time sensitive data, such as video and audio during creation and playback, data transfer can be critical to the success of the work. Thunderbolt technology was specifically designed with video and audio applications in mind with inherently low latency and highly accurate time synchronization capabilities.

Currently, Thunderbolt is supported only on MacBook Pros. However, I have every expectation that this connection protocol will be added to all future Mac systems. (I don’t see it being added to IOS devices simply because they don’t hold enough data to require these kinds of transfer speeds. Well, at least not yet.)

Today, Thunderbolt connects two devices using copper wires, but the protocol has already been developed to support optical fiber as well, which provides longer cable runs and faster speeds; though without the on-board 10 watts of power.

The great news is that, unlike FireWire and USB, the protocol does not slow down when you have multiple devices attached to it.

Additional features include:

• Dual-channel, each 10 Gbps
• Bi-directional, equally fast in both directions
• Dual protocol, PCI Express for hard disks and DisplayPort for monitors
• Daisy-chain-able, supports up to six devices per channel
• Woks with both copper and fiber cabling, fiber allows longer cable runs
• Low latency, very, VERY short delays in transferring signals
• Delivers up to 10 watts of power over copper wiring, but not fiber, to support bus-powered devices. (Though this is not enough for most hard disks)

In short, this is some amazing technology!

For those that want an overview, here’s the relevant page from Apple on the technology: http://www.apple.com/thunderbolt/

For those that want more technical details, here’s Intel’s website on the new protocol: http://www.intel.com/technology/io/thunderbolt/index.htm

Here’s an additional analysis from Storage Newsletter: http://www.storagenewsletter.com/news/connection/analysis-intel-10gbs-thunderbolt

HOW FAST IS IT?

Remember the first time you saw Han Solo go into warp drive in Star Wars? It’s THAT fast!

It is:

• 10 gigaBITS per second (10 Gbps)
• 1.25 gigaBYTES per second (1.25 GB/s)
• More than twelve times faster than FireWire 800
• More than twenty times faster than USB 2
• Faster than USB 3, mini-SAS, FibreChannel, and all flavors of SCSI.

It is dazzlingly fast.

(This chart was published on Apple’s website.) PLUS, the spec calls for speeds ten times faster – up to 100 Gbps – in the near future. (No, not next week.)

Keep in mind that the only way you can take advantage of this new system is using a RAID. A single hard drive, no matter how large, does not begin to provide the speed offered by this new protocol. To take advantage of all the speed, you’ll need to invest in a RAID system.

UPDATE – Mar. 3, 2011

Adam Lloyd Connell sent me the following link to an EndGadget demo using Final Cut Pro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCz_c_rDAXw

WHAT SUPPORTS THUNDERBOLT NOW?

Apple’s three latest MacBook Pros.

That’s it. No other hardware is currently shipping that supports the protocol.

On the other hand, until Apple ships a device containing this protocol, there is no incentive for any hardware manufacturer to create devices to support a protocol that doesn’t exist. First, Apple needs to ship something, then, the rest of the technology world can start to support it.

As always, this will take some time before we see actual products ship.

WHAT WILL SUPPORT THUNDERBOLT IN THE FUTURE?

Both Promise and LaCie have announced new hard drive systems that will support this protocol and both will be shipping in a few months.

I also sent emails to friends in the hard drive industry and every single one of them is frantically studying the new protocol so they can add it to their product line.

My expectation is that we will see Thunderbolt support on hard drives – more specifically RAIDs – sooner than on monitors. With nothing from any vendor before NAB in April. I expect most shipments to start in the early summer.

As one hardware vendor wrote:

Thunderbolt is THE hot topic of discussion everywhere. What happened is that when it was being developed, Apple went to Blackmagic Design, AJA, Promise, Western Digital, LaCie & even CalDigit to see if they’d be interested in being 1st onboard the tech, so it’ll be interesting to see what AJA, BMD & the rest will come out with. We already know Promise has a 4 bay and a 6 bay TB product line called "Pegasus" which doesn’t ship till April and LaCie has a new TB 2 bay, that I know of.

I don’t think it’ll kill FireWire anytime soon & our mini-SAS 8 bay product is still selling very solidly and will continue to do so at nearly 1000 MB/s with the ATTO R680 card.

CAN THUNDERBOLT BE RETROFIT ON EXISTING COMPUTERS OR STORAGE?

No.

Based on what I’ve learned so far, support for Thunderbolt can not be retrofit into current RAID technology. It requires a new chipset from Intel on both the computer and RAID to support the protocol. Also, the chipset does not look like it can be added via a PCIe card into a MacPro.

WHAT DOES THUNDERBOLT MEAN FOR THE FUTURE?

Thunderbolt is absolutely, and only, designed to meet the needs of the Pro market. No consumer needs speeds this fast – they can use it, they can appreciate it, but they don’t NEED it. Pros do.

To me, this is a strong indication that Apple has not forgotten the needs of Pro users. Which is a very good thing — for all of us.

Larry

Last week, Apple invited a few folks, including me, to a short meeting in Cupertino where they previewed the up-coming version of Final Cut Pro.

While I am under NDA and can’t talk about what I saw, I CAN tell you the meeting happened and that it showcased the new Final Cut Pro.

While the invited crowd was small, it was a Who’s Who of leaders in the post-production community. I felt like I was standing on the red carpet at an awards show, watching all the stars walk past.

There will be LOTS to talk about as this project gets closer. For now, I recommend you subscribe to my monthly Final Cut Studio newsletter – because I’ll share all the news that I’m allowed to share in there first.

Tell your friends … its gonna be a great year.

Larry

P.S. If you feel the urge to email me for more information, keep in mind that Apple’s lawyers are bigger than your lawyers. So, until Apple lifts the NDA, I’m telling you all I can … for now.

It’s been at least a week since I received any "Final Cut is Dying" emails, but that didn’t stop one person – who will go unnamed – from asking:

I have continued to wonder about Apple’s plan for FCS going forward. I’m thinking out loud here now. [ Insert a series of hypothetical market conditions and potentially missing Final Cut software features here ] then I would bet heavily that Apple had decided to retire that software.

This, and many other emails like it, set me to thinking this last weekend. Five years ago Final Cut Pro – and the other Professional Applications from Apple – were the top of the heap. Apple promoted them mercilessly. Apple leveraged its way into Hollywood with them. These applications were everywhere and those of us using them walked like gods upon the earth.

Well, OK, maybe that last sentence is a bit of rhetorical fancy, but you get the point. We were top dog.

Times changed. First came the iPod, then the stunningly successful iPhone, then the market-changing hit — the iPad. And the ProAps slid off the top shelf.

However, just because the ProAps are no longer top-of-mind at Apple does not mean they are dead. Or dying. They just aren’t the darlings they used to be. And many of us are feeling the lack of love.

The situation, to me, is analogous to a new baby arriving in a family. The other, older kids are still loved. But the new arrival gets all their parent’s attention; and us older kids are feeling decidedly left out.

If you suddenly found yourself running Apple you would have to be brain-dead not to do everything in your power to leverage the success of Apple’s mobile devices, but that doesn’t mean you would put your existing kids up for adoption just because you have a new baby.

It is the nature of technology for new software to have features that older software lacks. Apple has successfully done this to other companies in the past. Now, other companies are returning the favor. Technology is built on this cycle of "one-upping" the competition. And, as in the past, it will be Apple’s turn in this cycle in due course.

But, I want to suggest that the recent brouhaha over Flash is a really good indicator of why Apple can’t afford to let the ProAps fall too far into disrepair.

The principle use of iDevices is to consume media. While editing video using them is possible, I do not want to make a living editing video on an iPhone. Before you start protesting, think about the last time you bought a brand-new computer monitor to use for editing video in your suite. Was it smaller or bigger than your existing monitor? Possible is not the same as preferable.

Now, let us assume that Apple decides to abandon Final Cut – or not upgrade it – or sell it – or in some other way give it up.

That means that other companies – OUTSIDE of Apple’s control – will have primary responsibility for editing video and other media. There’s nothing to prevent these other companies from inventing codecs that don’t run on iDevices. Or redesign their editing software so that it doesn’t support Macs. Why would they do this? To make the iDevices less successful and move the Mac back to the periphery again. The only company that has a permanently vested interest in keeping Macs successful is Apple – and as their recent financials indicated, they are selling more Macs than ever before.

Creating a professional video editing system will never be a main-stream, mass-market, top-of-mind consumer megahit. But without it, playing videos on all these fabulous mobile devices are at the mercy of the market.

Microsoft and Adobe didn’t get together recently to discuss how much they like Apple. Given the opportunity, they would be happy to boost their own fortunes at the expense of Apple.

You and I, in the same position, would do the same.

So why, then, would Apple ever consider ceding the tight vertical integration it has now with Final Cut Studio creating media using Macintosh computers for playback on iDevices? One thing Apple never does is give up control when it doesn’t have to. Control over media creation is critical to Apple so that they can guarantee that media can be created for and played on all their iDevices regardless of what the competition does.

Even if Apple loses money on every Final Cut Studio they sell – and they don’t – giving up Final Cut would be an incredibly stupid political decision. A decision which could cost Apple control over the very devices that are making the company the most money it has ever made in its corporate life.

Apple is many things, but stupid isn’t one of them.

I’m not saying that Final Cut can’t be improved. It certainly can and I hope it is. But I am saying there are a lot of steps between top-of-mind and dead.

Naturally, this sent seismic tremors throughout the Final Cut community. (Personally, I’ve lost count of how many times one rumor site or another has cried that Final Cut is dying. This is, apparently, good for ratings.)

First, the blog post takes Apple to task for missing a rumored release date. This is like being blamed for not accomplishing something you never said you would do in the first place.

Second, it rehashes old rumors about layoffs on the development team. As we have discussed here in the past, the staff layoffs did occur, but they were not in development.

Third, it rehashes old rumors that Apple is turning FCP into a “prosumer” application. These were rebutted by Apple, no less, within days.

So, while it is exciting, I’m sure, to imagine that the sky is falling, more informed speculation leads us to entirely different conclusions.

Apple does not preannounce products. Apple does not, in almost all cases, comment on rumors. Apple has on several occasions reiterated its support for Final Cut Studio. Apple recently updated four of the applications in the suite — which, to me, indicates on-going development. You don’t update programs you are looking to kill.

Philip Hodgetts has written a detailed, and I think, essentially accurate account of what’s going on behind the scenes with Final Cut Studio.

Neither he, nor I, are privy to any Apple secrets. Philip is just very, very good at reading tea leaves.

You can read it here.

Larry

These improvements do NOT include full support for Snow Leopard, but do fix a variety of problems in Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Color 1.5, Compressor 3.5, and Apple QMaster.

My philosophy on bug fix updates is to wait a few days to make sure these didn’t break anything, then update.

You can view Apple’s announcement here: support.apple.com/kb/DL949

AppleInsider published a full list of the bug fixes here: www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/09/15/apple_updates_quicktime_for_windows_pro_applications.html

There are a variety of FCP fixes that I’m pleased to see, including the improved support for AVCHD, fixing the XML carriage return bug, and fixes to QMaster — a program that needs a LOT of improvements.

The easiest way to update – after waiting a bit, just to be “sure” – is using Software Update.

Larry

Pro Applications Update 2010-01 is a revision to Final Cut Studio (2009). This update includes Final Cut Pro 7.0.2, Motion 4.0.2, Color 1.5.2, Compressor 3.5.2, Apple Qmaster 3.5.2 and Cinema Tools 4.5.1. The software improves overall stability and addresses a number of other minor issues. This update is recommended for all users of Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server, and Logic Studio.

Just as a note, Soundtrack Pro is not updated in this release.

You can find more information here:

www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/download/

As always, whenever Apple releases something new, I wait a bit before upgrading. You know, just in case….

However, there are lots of small bug fixes here that make this seem a worthwhile update – and I appreciate Apple’s willingness to tell us what they are. (For a complete list, see below.)

I installed this update yesterday and things seem to be running fine. If you are running Final Cut Pro 7.0.0, I strongly urge you to upgrade. If you are running Final Cut Pro 7.0.1, upgrade as your projects and schedule allow.

According to Apple:

Issues addressed in this update include the following.

Final Cut Pro

• Fixes an issue with clip duration when removing reverse speed.
• Fixes an issue with the Log and Capture window that could prevent the window from closing.
• Fixes an issue with HDV to Apple ProRes capture via FireWire creating a QuickTime movie with no extension in the Finder.

Cinema Tools

• Fixes an issue with importing telecine logs.

Motion

• Fixes stability issues when using Motion on computers with limited graphics or system memory.
• Addresses issues with filters returning rendered results at lower quality.
• Fixes an issue with the Checkerboard generator rendering incorrectly in 3D.
• Corrects an image corruption problem when rendering complex projects in 32-bit float after applying a motion blur.
• Fixes issues with aspect ratios of shapes in projects created by choosing File > Import as Project.
• Improves the rendering precision of intersecting objects in some 3D scenes.

Compressor

• Corrects disk size limitation messages when burning a project to an AVCHD dual-layer disc.
• Fixes issues with long chapter names and titles not appearing correctly in disc templates.
• Fixes issues when inserting a DVD-R or BD-RE disc with data already present.
• Addresses issues with saving and changing music channels and video using surround sound.
• Corrects color shift when transcoding image sequences.
• Fixes an issue with WAV audio files when transcoding an image sequence.
• Addresses an issue with upload to MobileMe with files containing reserved characters.
• Corrects a problem when burning a Blu-ray or DVD disc from a Final Cut Pro sequence with 5.1 surround sound.
• Fixes an issue with display of password-protected movies on iPhone.
• Addresses a pixel aspect ratio compatibility issue.
• Improves stability when processing large batches.

Color

• Fixes an issue with CFX nodes not being imported when choosing File > Import > Color Corrections.
• Addresses several problems with the loading and processing of trackers.
• Fixes an issue with the green channel on video scopes displaying an incorrect value.

For more detailed information about the changes in an application, choose Release Notes from the application’s Help menu.

I don’t think these rumors are true and wanted to share my thinking with you so you can decide yourself.

First, a very important point: Apple HAS NOT told me what they are doing. In fact, they have not even dropped any hints in my direction. If they had told me, it would violate our agreement for me to even tell you that I know what they are doing. I don’t know — this blog is simply my thinking about the situation Apple finds itself in.

Let’s look at where Final Cut stands today. The last major upgrade was two years ago, with a series of minor upgrades over the last 18 months. So, Final Cut is due for a significant upgrade sometime this year.

However, the current version of the operating system is 10.5.x. Apple has already announced that a brand new, optimized, OS 10.6 will be out this year. Why would Apple make a major release of Final Cut Studio to support an operating system that is about to be replaced? While no one knows when 10.6 will be released, March strikes me as a poor time when Apple could wait a couple of months and release it, with great fanfare, to all their developers at the World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) later this spring. There’s nothing going on in March that is so compelling as to force Apple to release the OS early.

The new OS will have, according to Apple, an entirely re-engineered version of QuickTime (QuickTime X) in it. Since Final Cut and QuickTime have been conjoined since birth, this means that Apple would have to make two major FCS releases: one to support the version of QuickTime current in March, and a second major release to support QuickTime X released with OS 10.6. Apple is a huge company with vast development resources, but two major releases in the same year for Final Cut Studio don’t make any sense to me.

As well, two new features in OS X 10.6 are also relevant: 1. Snow Leopard will only run on Intel/Macs, and 2. It only uses Cocoa in its user interface. The impact of these two statements on Final Cut is profound.

First, because Final Cut runs on both PowerPC and Intel systems, it will need to be significantly tweaked to run Intel-only. Second, Final Cut’s user interface is written entirely (or darn near entirely) in Carbon, a soon-to-be-outdated programming language. Both of these statements mean that for the last couple of years, Apple’s developers have been very, VERY busy re-programming almost every line of code in the application to convert the application to support Cocoa and Intel. This is a HUGE project, affecting millions of lines of code. The process of getting the bugs out will be lengthy. To do all this work, simply to release a “temporary major release” in March doesn’t make sense.

So the reason I tend to think we won’t see a Final Cut Studio release in March — or April, for that matter — is that there is no benefit to Apple to release a new version of Final Cut until after the new version of Snow Leopard (10.6) is out. Releasing a new version now, means Apple would need to release a second major update in a couple of months.

While Apple has the ability to do this, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when trying to allocate development resources.

So, if you want my opinion of what is going to happen – AND REMEMBER, NO ONE HAS TOLD ME ANYTHING – I think we will see Snow Leopard in June and a shipping version of Final Cut Studio in July.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. As always, let me know what you think.