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Apple Final Cut Studio 2 is like the proverbial elephant and the blind man - your impression depends upon where you touch it. For this review, I'll touch Final Cut Studio 2 where I live and practice in the world of DV and HDV - not uncompressed HD and 4K - with an emphasis on getting long-form tutorials, weddings, and concerts done efficiently and well, rather than wreaking the last bit of potential creativity from a well-funded 60-second spot or full-length movie.
Fortunately for me, and those who join me in this space, there's a lot to like about Final Cut Studio 2. Let me touch on some relatively self-explanatory items, and then dig into what I see as the most significant components of the new suite. I'll focus on Final Cut Pro, Compressor, and Color. (For more on Motion 3, see Frank McMahon's review on p.30 of this issue, and look for Gary Eskow's review of Soundtrack Pro in an upcoming issue.)
For the record, I tested on a to-die-for Mac Pro with two 3.0GHz dual-core Intel Xeon processors with 8GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon X1900 driving one 23in. Apple Cinema display. The Matrox MXO drove the preview monitor, providing high-quality, realtime previews free from the interlacing artifacts displayed in Final Cut Pro's native preview window. Let's jump into the key new features in Final Cut Pro 6.
Mixed format timeline
Previous versions of Apple Final Cut Pro had problems handling clips with differing formats on the same timeline, which manifested in slow preview, potential aspect ratio distortion, and occasional instability. A common workaround was to convert all clips to a common format beforehand, which created a workflow hassle and consumed lots of disk space.
In Final Cut Pro 6, once you choose a preset for your sequence, you can add clips of nearly any resolution, format, frame rate, or standard (NTSC or PAL) with realtime preview. Final Cut Pro 6scales the clip upwards or downwards as necessary to fit the resolution and aspect ratio of the sequence, adding letterboxes rather than distorting or cutting the clip. No conversion takes place until rendering; everything simply works in realtime. If you're working with mixed formats, this feature alone more than justifies the...