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Apple's Final Cut Pro 4.0 is far more than an upgrade from version 3. True, the application has been enhanced in several significant areas. Version 4, however, encompasses far more than an NLE application.
Apple bundles four additional supporting applications. To create dynamic titles, Apple's LiveType application supports animated fonts. To create soundtracks, Apple includes Soundtrack. You can use Apple's new Compressor application to handle a wide range of encoding jobs. To support film production, Apple has bundled its second generation of Cinema Tools. And in 1,500 words, I'm going to provide you with an in-depth review of all the new software - not.
Reality dictates that I cover only a few significant enhancements to FCP. On p. 51, Frank McMahon provides a comprehensive review of Soundtrack.
Final Cut Pro 4 introduces an entirely new realtime architecture that Apple calls RT Extreme. The architecture supports both software- and hardware-based accelerated realtime effects. RT Extreme takes advantage of multiple CPUs and is optimized for the G4 and G5 Velocity Engine. Unlike FCP 3, which supported only one or two streams of video, RT Extreme supports multiple streams. The number of streams, of course, is limited by your system configuration. The faster the system, the more simultaneous streams of video you can work with in realtime.
After clicking the RT Extreme popup menu in the Timeline, you can choose between two sets of options. Select Safe mode and Final Cut Pro 4 provides guaranteed perfect playback of realtime effects. Select Unlimited mode, and FCP plays as well as possible multiple streams of video. When Unlimited is selected, almost 200 FCP effects, filters, and transitions can be used in realtime.
If you select Low- or Medium-quality video playback, you will see "preview-quality" realtime effects. Conversely, if you select High-quality video playback, you will see full-resolution, full-frame-rate playback of realtime effects. Apple claims that many effects can be output to tape without having to be rendered when you select Safe mode and High-quality video playback.
I decided to experiment with RT Extreme using the dual-1.4GHz G4 PowerMac that Apple sent me for this review. (The PowerMac had a single ATA100, 120GB drive.) I used DV25 material and created a dozen short clips that I placed into a Sequence....