Cheap Apple Final Cut Pro 4.1 [Old Version] (Software) (Macintosh) Price

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Customer Reviews of Apple Final Cut Pro 4.1 [Old Version]

Professional, impressive features tainted with complexity
Final Cut Pro 4 is undoubltely the hyped "creme de la creme" of video editing software available from Mac, hence it's expensive price tag. If you are accustomed to ease, instinctive interfaces then you might want to think again when considering the purchase of this product. Although its wide variety of dazzling effects and features is truly amazing, this power hungry program is definetely not for the faint of heart. If you're a professional that has the paitence to accustom yourself to perhaps the most bizzare complex editing interface (i.e. simply having so many features can almost be a negative aspect) then this program is certainly for you. If you are use to feeling confident with an editing program "right off the bat" then consider reading up heavily on the manual and perhaps taking a training course before even using the program, because it's loaded with myriad features. Although, while working with the program at school I never experienced any crashes or major bugs, I'm sure there are definetely some annoying ones (any editor knows that more complex and abundant the interfaces/features are, the more likely the chance there is room for programming errors).

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Despite the Hype, FCP 4 is a Step Down for Many Power Users
Unfortunately, several time-saving, creativity-enhancing features that I was accoustomed to in FCP 3 were removed for FCP 4. Functional draft renders, my favorite (albeit flawed) feature from FCP 3 no longer exist. This is quite an area of debate, but experienced editors should see why the new (largely useless) rendering system is far inferior to the previous one. The life-saving Shift-F function is also gone, the new "automatic" capturing system makes file management horribly inconvenient, and the online help file has been replaced with a cumbersome .pdf document. Support for Adobe Photoshop files is still poorly implemented. The bundled LiveType program is also much more awkward to use than one might expect from how it's been marketed. (LiveType is not an integrated extension of FCP, but a completely separate--and SLOW--application.) At this point, I feel I am a less efficient editor for having made this upgrade. Why Apple could not build on what they had instead of dropping helpful features is beyond me.

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Regardless of what you hear...
I have been editing for 20 years. FCP on a Dual 2.0 Ghz G5 is the best editing solution for the money I have ever seen. It blows away the $75k+ systems that I have used for less than a tenth of the price. FCP at less than $1,000 and a G5 at $$$$$$$ is all you need other than a camera. You can make broadcast quality video with this simple setup. $$$$$$$ for computer and software plus $$$$$$ for a camera that will hold up to a $$$$$$$Betacam... give me a break!!