Gear Talk & Video: Final Cut Express 41 min read

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We took a look at Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 in yesterday’s article, and today we’ll look at something else new Apple has to offer — Final Cut Express 4, basically a scaled down FCP, available at a newly lowered price of S$369 (US$199), which previously sold at over $100 more.

FCE4 is Apple’s offer to middle-range editors who have outgrown iMovie and are looking for something more. It is still simple enough for first-time editors to grasp, and with a similar layout to FCP, paves the way to its parent product, which now has over a million users worldwide.

Apple has a number of videos released on their website on the new FCE4.
One of the major new features of version 4 includes the Open Timeline (see the demos from Apple in the videos linked above) — now supporting AVCHD. Clips of mixed formats ranging from standard-definition DV to AVCHD can now be dropped onto the same timeline and worked on seamlessly.

Projects made on iMovie can also be imported into FCE for advanced options and access to FxPlug effects and filters for a more polished finish.

It also supports both 1080i and 720p HD resolutions, and will automatically perform the necessary scaling, cropping and frame rate adjustments. Its new simplified setup will also automatically configure the sequence settings based on the first clip dropped onto the timeline.

Final Cut Express also comes with LiveType2, Apple’s dynamic title creation software and is also available as an upgrade at just S$188 (US$99).