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FCPX 10.3 is working very well on my Hackintosh. I'm particularly happy with the first incarnation of multicam as it syncs on audio and doesnt rely on you having all the same in/out points as with fcp. Works quite well so fare. So long as you give it a lot of time to import the media and sort out the syncing.

@alcomposer

I have the base 13" so single card. Just got Lion and FCP installed. It's running much better than the older system. And this one has the 8800GT in it. Haven't installed Kona drivers, yet. Turning off waveforms in the Library greatly helps lag time on both systems.

I feel like this is the first time I've been able to get to really work in X since it was announced because the 10.0.3 update doesn't crash on me like the first ones did.

Good luck with the 5770 and 8800 combo. I'm very curious to know how it works. I can't install another vid card in my system because of the Kona. Maybe I could swap the 8800 and 5770 between systems... hmmmmmmm....

@alcomposer My 5770 system runs pretty slow with X (the old dual-dual core). Right now I'm setting up my 2008 8-core with an 8800GT and Lion on a repurposed hd. Looking forward to a speed increase.

My Macbook Pro seems to run X better than the dual-dual core.

@itimjim let's hope! what are you finding the be some of the downsides of owning a hackintosh? is there a lot of fiddling when you have to update? wondering, do you know if I could use a Kona card on one?

@5thwall As we know from apple- regardless for the Hackintosh... if apple change architecture then all the old macs will be EOL... (as in G3-G4-G5 etc) oh how I miss altivec!

5770 is good, and low power too.

You can put together a dual quad core (xeon E5620 2.4GHz 12MB cache) with 32GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 2TB storage and a Quadro 4000 for around $3000 US.

You're probably looking at $6000 from Apple for the same. But yes, no shiny aluminium tower. Mines actually in a a 19" rack mounted case in a 14U server cabinet. No one is walking off with that!

@alcomposer about Hackintosh.

I'm running a 2 year old rig with OS X Lion with CS 5.5, and the damned thing is amazing.

Specs: i5 750 Quad Core (2.6GHz), Asus P7P55D, 16GB RAM (1600MHz) ATI 5770 1GB Corsair M4 SSD (64GB) - OS and Apps 500 GB x 2 7.2k SATAII - Storage Hazro HZ27WC (27" 2560x1440, IPS - same as iMac)

The price to put all of this together is buttons in comparison.

Ok, some good FCPX news tonight for a change. I tested multicam and it seems to be very intuitive. Mind you, I tested it with just 4 clips but here's the cool part... I used a Canon SD600, a Canon SD1100, and the GH2. I set the Time and Date on each cam to the same. Hit record for a minute or two. Mid-way through, I power-cycled one of the cams and then started recording it again. And they all synced up without having to do any legwork. Apparently, X can see the time-date stamp now, so that's a big help if you're helping shoot a friend's wedding and get stuck with a couple of different consumer cameras. Nice to know you have options, now. X also uses the audio to sync, so most likely, the two in combination will give you frame accurate sync between cameras when FCP lines them up.

Cutting the multicam clip was very easy and actually (dare I say) intuitive. You can create a master audio track and only cut video. A master video track and only cut audio. Or both.

Oh, and 7toX works fairly well. I transfered a 10-minute story that I cut for a news show on PBS. All the clips moved over and the sequences, too. There were a lot of little issues in the sequence. But the major things, like frame accuracy and layers, all seemed to transfer. But, the timeline was buggy. Lots of weird connection points with no clips attached. Philip said he's aware of it, so my guess is, there's a fix on the horizon. Also, b-roll clips didn't come through in the timeline with audio attached. So, I had to match-frame them and re-cut them in. All in all, it's a good start.

Needless to say, I didn't have a client sitting over my shoulder and I don't know yet how you can f&! things up or un-f&! them up if you need to. But, let's just say, it was a good night and leave it at that ;)

@alcomposer it's a dual-dual core 3ghz. An older one. I have an 8 core as well, but it has to run FCP7. I'd upgrade the 8-core to Lion with a new drive, but they're too expensive now, so I'm waiting.

Ive been working as a video editor at a broadcaster in the UK for some time and I have to say there is very little confidence over FCPX.

I hope this is resolved soon or I'll be out of a job.

Ive heard it will be, and we will find out at the trade shows this year about FCPX goodness and also Mac Pro updates. We'll see, I dont trust Apple one bit to deliver anything!

Hey all right, I'll explain my reason for disliking FCP X... I was actually looking forward to it, A LOT, at first. I was hoping that Apple would repeat their success with Logic 8, which simplified the whole interface (without removing features) and was released at half the price of the old one. But the more I heard, the more I was worried. When it came out, it lacked so much that I wondered how Apple could release a product like that, so well, honestly the word I'm looking for is betrayed. Apple had made a software that was a such a downgrade in pro features that I need. I do a lot of multiple sequence editing (especially with FX heavier work, as it speeds up time for me) and I need XML and OMF support for sending to sound editors (I rarely do audio work myself) and that I couldn't export my timeline into After Effects for grading and mastering. It was a software that I and a majority of professionals couldn't use, at all. But now you say it was a "public beta" or a software "in development". I see your point, but being the son of an art director, it's still just sugar coating for saying that "it sucked when it came out". It's more accepted with consumer software, as development times tends to be shorter (with updates released often, a lot of patching and newer versions coming about every two years) but not with pro software. Here is an audience that uses software until an upgrade is absolutely needed (as with FCP 7 users) and we expect something that comes out and works straight out of the box. Having a lead time of 7 months is REALLY bad marketing in the pro circuit, because during that time, most people will in the best case stay with their old systems, or in the worst case, as their new software is sub-par move over to something else. Apple lost A LOT of customers with FCP X (a lot of production companies I work with have been FCP based but are now only Premiere based). The reason I'm so bitter about it is that Apple basically betrayed me. I loved FCP 7 when it came out and was a strong user for it, only wanting to switch now as it was really becoming way too slow... But alas, Apple for once did not deliver and they lost me.

I started my editing career on Avid some time ago but over the last few years I've been editing on FCP on live sports events, I even used LW on a Profile hardware base until the switch to HD sunk that! (loved LW)

I'd like to say that the use of FCPX on outside broadcasts for major companies like Sky has been discussed a lot recently but it really hasn't. Sky have seemed to of gone down the Avid route now, which is a shame because FCP7 integrated with EVS servers far easier than Avid does when you only need one edit or so. There are people who believe in FCPX has being perfect for the live OB environment but since we have no option to integrate with hardware servers that proliferate the OB scene because it lacks the XML then it has been largely dropped and Avid has filled the spaces.

FCPX is an interesting tool but in the area of media I work in the lack of proper media management has caused it's demise. It's one thing being able to search your local iTunes and another thing being able to connect to proper kit like EVS servers or large tapeless media servers such as the ones used at Sky. Without those sorts of features it can't be taken seriously by major broadcasters and all the while that it lacks these things it is being replaced by units that can like Avids, even if they are harder to work with as an Editor.

It will take years to get it's foot back in the door unless something amazing happens.