Hoping to add some clarity to all this. As an editor of over 10 years and an "avid" FCP editor since v1.25, I can say that I was appalled when I saw X revealed at NAB last year. Since then, I have become more neutral on the topic. There are features in X that I really like and there are features that I absolutely hate.

The success of an editing app, for me, is all about the timeline. I am not a fan of the magnetic timeline, but I do see some potential there. However, when I see workflow tutorials like this one, I get a little happier about the future of X: http://library.creativecow.net/payton_t/FCPX_Editing-During-Playback/1

I've said this on other forums, especially over at Creative Cow, but my biggest gripe is how Apple marketed and released X. As someone who has made a career off of FCP (and fought long and hard using my battle-earned skills) I felt like its release was a major body-blow. I'm not referring to its lack of features when it was released, rather I'm talking about it's potential effect on my income.

I'm open to learning new and old tech. But every time I sit down to Avid and Premiere, something just feels completely unintuitive.

With Avid, I feel locked into their vision of editing. It's a vision that was born out of the needs of the film editor and the limitations of computers in the 90's. While I've had the pleasure of working on a flatbed Steenbeck, those editing allegories are, unfortunately for some, a thing of the past. Please understand that I am not saying that Avid is bad. Quite to the contrary, I think it's pretty amazing. It's just not built for my tastes and preferences.

Premiere has lots of potential. I love it's integration with AE and PS. It kind of feels like what FCP 8 might have been. But I also would need 16GB of RAM and a better GFX card to run it. Both of which I refuse to purchase until we figure out what's happening with the future of the Mac Pro.

At the end of the day, I'm most frustrated because Apple created a negative industry impression about FCP. It was a long battle to get FCP accepted by producers and post houses. With Bunim-Murray moving back to Avid, it will be a longer battle to get it back. The way I see it, that's one less place I am qualified to work (until I get my Avid chops up to my FCP chops).

Today's update, I hope, is one step in that direction. For now, I'm still working in FCP7 and 6 and learning Avid in my spare time. I've been tinkering with X and today will be happy to sit down and see if it's more responsive and reliable on my 2007 Mac Pro. Really looking forward to broadcast video out, but not sure if drivers are needed from AJA. Curious to see what the new crop of bugs are, too.

@Shaveblog FTW!

@010101 Thanks for the kind words. I completely agree and I think we're on the same page. Had a funny feeling that Steve's health had something to do with the way it was announced. It kind of feels like they are figuring out how to do business again since his passing.

I spent the day with 10.0.3 and I can say that it's more stable but still not ready for prime time for me. On my Dual dual-core 3Ghz tower with 8GB ram and a 1GB nvidia card with cuda, it's sluggish with broadcast video output through my Kona 3. The AJA drivers released today are betas, though, so I'll keep checking to see when they update those.

I purchased Philip Hodgetts' 7toX and I can say that, for the most part, it works. A little buggy in terms of what comes over. But, he is actively fixing it. If you have a simple timeline, it looks like it will do the job. it will also bring over an entire project which is quite nice.

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.

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.

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!

@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.

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 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.

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!

@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!

@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?

@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.