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From:Apple
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#36 |
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7 of 11 customers found the following review helpful:
 disappointing, 2008-05-03
Final Cut Express is a difficult program with a steep learning curve and is in stark contrast to the beautifully human engineered Imovie program. When I saw the title "Visual Quick Start Guide" I expected just that. Instead I have labored to page 170 and just started to learn about the browser. I expected to see a quick initial guide showing how to do a first editing job followed by more detail on each step. Instead I had to labor through endless detail on basic features first, which are easily forgotten by the time basic editing (page 221), trimming edits (page 319) or creating transitions (page 389) are discussed. A concise description of basic editing is sorely missing. May be this book is useful as an encyclopedia for the program, but "learning Final Cut Express the Quick and Easy Way" is a completely misleading description.
6 of 6 customers found the following review helpful:
Not ready for AVCHD yet, 2008-04-29
This software crashes when importing AVCHD files from certain cameras, my Panasonic HDC-SD9, for one. I had to buy additional software to read and convert the files before importing them into FCE4.
Also, although it reportedly supports AVCHD files, it does not support their 5.1 surround audio, and as of right now, it doesn't support full 1920x1080 resolution.
Currently, FCE4 only supports a maximum resolution of 1440×1080. Video can be exported as 1920 from FCE4 using Quicktime Conversion, but not without interpolation.
2 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
 Impressive. Time to learn., 2008-04-27
(Note that when I compare "iMovie" with FCE-4 below, I am referring to timeline-editing versions of iMovie).
I've used timeline versions of iMovie for years - to quickly create movies at home, and video presentations for work. I sometimes wanted more power than iMovie had and I wanted to stay with timeline-based editing. So, I gave FCE-4 a try.
FCE-4 has an impressive professional feel with a UI that is an extension of iMovie's. FCE-4 has a longer learning curve compared to iMovie, though this is not a criticism - it has more features. But be ready for that. Having never used any prior version of FCE, the tutorial book "Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Express 4" by Diana Weynand, was key in ramping-up.
I am still learning it, but am impressed at FCE-4's technical capabilities. I've taken some side-tracks to learn more about "movie-making" generally (lighting, sound, story, etc). This is all part of it and is fun and educational overall.
Compared with iMovie, FCE-4 is a significant step in capabilities, and also in terms of time investment to learn it.
10 of 10 customers found the following review helpful:
Upgrading from iMovie? Read this, 2008-04-15
Final Cut Express is a very powerful video editing package. If you are thinking about making the step up from iMovie (as I did), you need to understand that the level of sophistication and power in this package is exponentially greater than that of iMovie. If your video editng experience is limited to iMovie, don't expect to be able to install FCE and be off and running in an hour or two. You'll need to plan on investing some real time to learn the program.
This is in no way a criticism of FCE - it is as advertised, a "light" version of Final Cut Pro, which is used by professionals everywhere. I just want your expectations to be set properly. You'll need to invest in a third-party manual, as only soft copies of documentation are included, and they are for reference only, not for training. Just be CERTAIN that the manual you get is for the FCE 4 - there aren't many available as of this writing.
FCE is a very expansive and powerful program; just don't expect the type of plug-n-play results you got from iMovie. You'll need to spend time to understand the numerous differences in how iMovie and FCE operate.
10 of 10 customers found the following review helpful:
Great product, 2008-04-10
This is a great product for the money. I have used a few editing programs on Windows and also iMovie extensively ('08 and older). While I like iMovie, I was looking for just a little more control. So i bought this program.
At first, the interface seemed a bit dated (in comparison to Aperture, itunes, imovie, etc). However, after using it for a few hours I cam to realize the interface is very functionality and componetized based on task. I actually grew to appreciate the logic of the interface with use. So don't be scared away by this simple thing.
Second, I hate having to learn new editing software. Personally, I don't think any of my iMovie knowledge transferred between programs. They are not in any way the same. However, I was able to compose a 2 hour DVD (with about 5 unique segments) in about 4 hours. I also spent an additional 2 hours familiarizing myself with the concepts and features of the program. So this isn't bad. In a few hours I had good video, edited, with nice transitions. I exported everything and created the DVD in iDVD. All this worked wonderfully together.
I highly recommend this program to those who plan to do a lot of video editing. iMovie is great if you want to create a few simple one-off movies. However, if you have larger projects and want to be guaranteed you have control, go with this program.
The only thing I wish is that the DVD came with a video tutorial. I think the idea of EXPRESS means it does appeal to newer users and possibly those new to video editing. Some tutorials would go a long way. [...]
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