[caleach]

What, if any, is the difference between the new final cut express and the education version of final cut pro?

[direktor]

Originally posted by caleach:
What, if any, is the difference between the new final cut express and the education version of final cut pro?

The education version of FCP is just like the full version, AFAIK.

Express lacks the ability to use anything other than DV clips and capture, which is a non-issue for the vast majority of hobbyists. It's a very good line to draw to separate price points, I feel.

[buddhabelly]

not to mention the fact that you can't use the edu version of pro for ANY commercial work.

[Eug]

Originally posted by direktor:
The education version of FCP is just like the full version, AFAIK.

Express lacks the ability to use anything other than DV clips and capture, which is a non-issue for the vast majority of hobbyists. It's a very good line to draw to separate price points, I feel.

I've never used any of these programs really (since I'm an iMovie kind of guy), but have had a chance to play with Express.

Express can import .mpg mpeg-2 files. It seems to ignore .m2v files, but will import (some of) them if you just change the .m2v to .mpg. As far as I can tell it doesn't seem to like .mp2 audio files though.

[tr]

Originally posted by Eug:
I've never used any of these programs really (since I'm an iMovie kind of guy), but have had a chance to play with Express.

Express can import .mpg mpeg-2 files. It seems to ignore .m2v files, but will import (some of) them if you just change the .m2v to .mpg. As far as I can tell it doesn't seem to like .mp2 audio files though.

hmm...that sounds pretty cool. i didn't think it would allow import of mpeg2 files. does it allow import of muxed mpeg2 files? so you mean i can take some mpeg 2 files (demux them, if need be, convert the audio to aif)) and import into express, then edit?


tr

[Eug]

Originally posted by tr:
hmm...that sounds pretty cool. i didn't think it would allow import of mpeg2 files. does it allow import of muxed mpeg2 files? so you mean i can take some mpeg 2 files (demux them, if need be, convert the audio to aif)) and import into express, then edit?

Like I said, I don't use these programs so I can't tell you all the details, but...

What I did was just take a movie trailer MPEG-2 which had been ripped directly off DVD on a PC (sans audio) and drop it into Final Cut Express. To my great surprise, it worked, although I had to change the name from .m2v to .mpg. The files needed to be rendered (I guess decoded) to be editable. I have not yet tried a similarly ripped muxed .mpg file yet though.

However, what confused me is the fact my own .mpgs (ripped from some DVD-RAM camcorder footage on a PC with DVD Movie Album) are ignored by Final Cut Express. These are muxed files, but demuxing them to .m2v and .mp2 (with ffmpegX), and converting the .m2v to .mpg doesn't seem to help. Final Cut Express simply ignores them. Does Final Cut make use of type codes in the file info? Or are my camcorder files simply not a close enough format? I note that while these files do natively play fine in QuickTime on a Mac, my QuickTime 6.0 in Windows chokes on them. Windows Media Player plays them fine though. To use them in Final Cut Express I have to QT Pro export them first to .dv (which I do anyway since I use iMovie 2).

The other thing I haven't figured out is why if I take than same .dv clip and export it from Final Cut Express for use in iDVD as a .mov, it looks like crap even if I use the highest quality settings. Pixelation galore. OTOH, if I export it with iMovie it looks very good.

Re audio:

.mp2 files are ignored by Final Cut Express (which is a shame), but it does accept .aif, .wav, and .mp3 files. (I believe iMovie only accepts .aif and .mp3.) You can convert from .mp2 to all three of those formats with iTunes.