Final Cut Express HD

Written by Philip Roy | 12 January 2005
Posted in Apple

UPDATE Kicking off what he described as "The Year of High Definition Video", Steve Jobs and Apple computer today announced Final Cut Express HD (interestingly to a silent audience at the Macworld keynote), a major upgrade of its advanced video editing application.

Combined with the announcement of iMovie HD and the existing Final Cut Pro HD, Apple continues to lead the industry by delivering a complete line of HD video editing solutions. Priced at only $299 (USD) and available in February, Final Cut Express HD also includes LiveType for stunning, HD-quality animated text and graphics and Soundtrack for custom musical scores.

"2005 is the year of High Definition Video, and Final Cut Express now delivers stunning real-time HD editing and advanced titling and soundtrack creation tools to customers at the same affordable price," said Sina Tamaddon, Apple's senior vice president of Applications.

Final Cut Express HD users can now capture professional-quality HDV over a single FireWire cable, without requiring any additional software or hardware. Whether it's with DV or HDV content, the RT Extreme engine in Final Cut Express HD allows users to instantly preview effects, filters, transitions and multi-stream composites in real time, without rendering. Final Cut Express HD also supports Digital Cinema Desktop, a feature that enables HD and DV preview monitoring on a primary or secondary Apple Cinema Display.

With LiveType, Final Cut Express HD users can add sophisticated, HD-quality animated text and motion graphics to videos quickly and easily. LiveType includes 27 animated LiveFonts, 150 pre-configured effects and a variety of customizable templates, backgrounds, textures and objects that can be added to any Final Cut Express HD project. Final Cut Express HD also supports direct timeline file placement from Motion, Apple's revolutionary high-performance, real-time motion graphics design program for a smooth, integrated workflow.

Final Cut Express HD includes powerful sound editing tools including 99 audio tracks, real-time volume and audio filter adjustment and a voice-over tool. Additionally, Final Cut Express HD now includes Soundtrack, Apple's innovative music creation software that allows any user to easily compose high-quality musical scores for their video without prior musical training. With more than 4,000 royalty-free, professionally-recorded instrument loops and sound effects, Soundtrack allows users to see their video as they compose, automatically matches audio loops regardless of tempo and key and provides real-time arranging and mixing. Soundtrack also supports Final Cut Express HD score markers for perfect video-to-soundtrack synchronization.

iMovie users can now step up to Final Cut Express more easily than ever. iMovie projects can be imported directly into Final Cut Express HD with all of their effects, transitions and audio levels intact. iMovie users can utilize the advanced functions of Final Cut Express HD to enhance their videos with more powerful effects, video layer compositing, dynamic text and graphics and custom music.

Final Cut Express HD offers a professional editing environment with a customizable user interface, real-time compositing and effects, 99 video tracks, cutting-edge tools for titling, color correction and audio, and flexible output options. Whether their final project is output back to a DV or HDV device for direct playback through a home theater system, saved as a QuickTime movie for distribution over the web or exported to iDVD or DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Express HD users can easily produce professional-looking results. All of the projects and skills learned in Final Cut Express HD are also directly transferable to Final Cut Pro HD, making it a smooth transition to professional video production.

Technical requirements

Macintosh computer with a 500MHz or faster PowerPC G4 or G5 processor (550MHz for PowerBook G4, 450MHz for dual PowerPC G4 or G5) and an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) graphics card compatible with Quartz Extreme
Mac OS X 10.3.7 or later
QuickTime 6.5.2 or later
384MB of RAM (512MB required for RT Extreme and Soundtrack)

HDV