wtf, mate?

[Reinhold]

What the fuck is up with this dude?

From Amazon.com Reviews of Final Cut Studio:
1 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

Final cut - a mess, June 3, 2005
Reviewer:    James S. Dodds - See all my reviews  
     

I have only used FCP in this package, and that extensively. After experiencing virtually every editing product on the market, and being a Mac fanatic for years, the fuss over FCP totally escapes me. It does what the other editors do, but adds a burdensome level of complexity based on its attempts to "automate" the editing process. The learning curve is steep, and any given command can set into motion a cascade of unwanted events.

The product has the WORST browser in the business. There is no view that allows both icons and comments, icons do not conveniently position themselves, bins and folders are feebly designed, and there is no indication of whether a clip has been used on the timeline. Indeed, there is a "find" function that allows you to search out used clips, but that is telling of the entire design: essential editing tools that should be at your fingertips require a myriad of steps to perform. I just finished a show with about 800 clips and media management for a complex show is a nightmare with this product. If you don't believe me check out the browser on any competing product. Apple should fix this.

If you place a clip on the timeline it writes over other clips. What were they thinking? Why make an editor that defaults to a destructive mode? This is especially a problem if you have a long clip - it will obliterate a clip you can't see further down the timeline, or split one above or below. The clever, fancy implementation of three-point editing to me looks like linear editing; indeed, everything about this product restricts the way you work, or forces you to second-guess what the editor will do next. You have to THINK HARD to use this software - keyboard commands are painfully delicate, requiring you time when you hit the keys relative to moving the clip. Sorry, when I've got a script, a client, and a pile of tapes the editing software shouldn't take that much attention - getting your mind off the interface is what Apple is supposed to be about, right?

Getting to the filters and effects, the controls and parameters are set by a set of rather spartan-looking sliders and rubber bands that have the advantage of keeping the interface consistent - but here, it's a disadvantage. Different effects may best be implemented by dedicated graphic buttons, sliders, and graphs, each uniquely suited to its task. There's nothing intuitive here. There just isn't the happy, well-thought out filters and effects controls that you see in Premiere, Media 100, or others.

The good news is that the software does the job and is very stable, although I have found Apple's support team to have a poor knowledge of the product. Sadly, after 20 years on a Mac I just bought a PC for editing. This product has been embraced partially because it's a Mac product, and we all love Apple, but there is simply better editing software out there.

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After years of being a mac fan, he BOUGHT A PC TO DO VIDEO EDITING.  imo He's either lying or a special kind of stupid.

Your thoughts on this review and FCP?

[Gamblour.]

it's funny, I feel the same way he does, but that's only because I've used FCP once. I decided I needed to learn it by brute force, so I created a short a went to editing. I've only used Premiere before, which I did honestly find to be easier. In the five hours of editing with FCP, I didn't figure out until the end how to separate sound from video. The learning curve for me was about five hours, switching gears from Premiere to FCP, from PC to Mac.

The only way this guy's review would make sense is if he went from Premiere to FCP and never learned how to compensate.

[Reinhold]

that's an acclimation thing, though... not an ease of use thing. the same argument could be made when switching from any application to any other application with a similar purpose.

to say it's grossly inferior the way he did, though... it's puzzling to me.

[polkablues]

The only problem I've ever had with Final Cut Pro is that it gets awfully cramped on my 17-inch monitor, even when I close all but the basic necessity windows.  Not that Premiere's any better for that (actually, it might be a little worse), but there you go.

Once you learn a lot of the keyboard shortcuts for FCP, the ease of use jumps through the roof.

[mutinyco]

Guy's an idiot. Either he doesn't know what he's doing or it was planted by a FCP rival. FCP is inherently intuitive. The first time I used it 3 1/2 years ago I'd had no prior experience with digital editing -- just traditional flatbed cutting. And I was under the gun. I immediately figured out what to do and did it. It was designed to be logical.

Avid, on the other hand, is very much illogical. That's because it's been evolved from an archaic system over the last 15 years -- and in doing so has maintained many of its idiosyncrasies. You could not sit down and just understand it without prior knowledge. Of course, once you do, it's the Bentley of digital editing systems.

[killafilm]

and I find if you're used to editing with Avid it's very easy to set-up FCP to act/look the way your used to... for much cheaper and with other programs that integrate easly.

[md]

any program that youve only used a couple times will be frustrating....i was editing on a pc based adobe premiere system...it kept crashing and i kept hearing so much good news with macs and fcp....so i bought one and truthfully going back to pc, although fully capable and possibly just as good if not better for editing whether your using vegas, premiere pro, whatever...i just like the mac osx platform much better.....thats not to say it wasnt uncomfortable to get use too at first along with final cut pros one track transitions (which are similair to avids) compared to the a/b style that premiere has....actually you can choose between either style in premo....but after using fcp since 1.5 and now on 5...and really getting to know alot of the keyboard shortcuts the program is incredible easy to work within, making my workflow pretty easy...best part is it doesnt really crash....and its alot cheaper than avid systems.....but go with what works best for you, because no one really cares at the end of the day if you cut on an etch a sketch or commodore 64

[polkablues]

...best part is it doesnt really crash....

Every editing program on every computer system I've ever used has been crash-prone... Mac OSX with FCP was the least, but that might be because I was using it on the most powerful, expensive computer setup I've ever seen in real life.

My motto is, if it's not crashing occasionally, you're not editing hard enough.

My other motto is, save every three minutes.

[mutinyco]

auto-save...

[md]

the autosave function in fcp had a bug a couple versions back i believe...but year your right, its instinct that i click apple s after I render something...but honestly it doesnt crash....well atleast not when it is most critical