Final Cut Pro 11 is out, and it's underwhelming to say the least

 Alright, FCP11 is out, and it's seriously underwhelming. Apple has been asleep at the wheel for a number of years / releases and that's really a pity.

Adobe Premiere and Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve are on fast update cycles and are now feeling more advanced than FCP. That's a real shame.

What's new? Not much really: Magnetic mask, basically AI powered automatic masking,  and AI powered transcription.

That's it? Yep.

Note that DVR's Magic Mask was introduced 4 years ago, and it got AI powered transcription for at least a full year. PP has had it for even longer. And we already had third party tools and plug-ins doing these two things very well for many years as well.

So FCP is sadly LAGGING behind.

Well there is also Smart AR conform, Auto Enhance Light and Color, Smooth SloMo, Voice Isolation. I hope Apple is way better at implementing these features than the concurrence, because let me tell you, I am not in a rush to try them out. And if they are not substantially better than PP or DVR, I will feel even more let down by Apple. 

Oh yeah there is also spacial editing and export to Vision Pro. Vision Pro is a lame, dead product. No one likes it. So unless you specialize in outputting programs for VP, this FCP "feature" is going direct to the graveyard, and it feels to me it's pulling FCP with it. Bad feeling.

So yes, that's really it, and it feels like nothing new and ground breaking. Still Apple calls it version 11. Really? 10.9 would have suffice. That's one more nail in the coffin of FCP. What's planned for v12, a new logo?

FCPX came out in 2011, we are now heading toward 2025, FCP will be 14 years old, and to me it has stalled. It is more stable, it is still more enjoyable to use than Premiere and Resolve, but the long list of improvements the community has identified and is craving for is not being implemented. Apple does not care. Apple is drinking the cool aid. 

Both Adobe and Blackmagic are listening to their communities and implementing features that are useful to their users. In turn they feel recognized and appreciated. It's also making the apps more enjoyable to use and more powerful. And to me it feels like they are taking over FCP.

At this time I don't even feel I want to upgrade. Why bother? Everybody and his brother are doing AI transcription these days. Will Apple do it any better? It looks very limited at the moment. 

Until I need to do some difficult moving mask in FCP, I think I'll stay on 10.8. 

Apple Final Cut Pro 10.8 Update June 20, 2024

 Yoohoo! The day before summer apple releases FCP 10.8! Let's see what's in store.

Final Cut Pro release notes

Learn about current and previous updates for Final Cut Pro on Mac.

Before installing a Final Cut Pro update, verify that your system still meets Final Cut Pro system requirements. Then make sure to back up your current version of the Final Cut Pro application and your Final Cut Pro libraries.

New in Final Cut Pro 10.8

Released June 20, 2024

Final Cut Pro 10.8 includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

• Automatically improve the color, color balance, contrast, and brightness of video or still images using the new Enhance Light and Color effect, powered by machine learning.

• Enable Smooth Slo-Mo to create amazing slow-motion visuals with an AI-enhanced algorithm on Mac models with Apple silicon.

• Stay organized by renaming color corrections and video effects in the inspector.

• Drag effects right from the inspector to other clips in the timeline or viewer.

• Use new filters in the timeline index to quickly identify clips with audio effects, video effects, retiming changes, missing media, or missing effects.

• Search in the timeline index by reel, scene, camera angle, camera name, custom metadata, or effect name.

• Search in the timeline index for user-created roles.

• Search for clips in the browser using new “Starts With” and “Ends With” search criteria.

• Enable or disable timeline scrolling using a new toolbar button.

• Improves timeline scrolling behavior during reverse playback.

• Fixes an issue where captions would sometimes flicker when timeline scrolling is enabled.

• Fixes an issue where browser items would be appear to be renamed when naming a folder.

• Fixes an issue that caused disabling the audio roles of a clip to make the video roles appear disabled.

• Accurately tone-maps HDR video content in 360° view for 360° projects.

• Fixes an issue that could cause ProRes RAW clips to be displayed incorrectly in the viewer on Intel-based Mac models.

• Fixes an issue that caused a freeze frame from a log-encoded clip to appear too bright in an HLG timeline.

• Fixes an issue that caused a disabled Color Board effect to be incorrectly enabled after exporting and reimporting an FCPXML of the timeline.

• Fixes an issue that caused the Space Designer audio effect to show presets as missing.

• Fixes an issue that could cause Final Cut Pro to stop responding when rendering with another app active.

• Fixes an issue that caused switching between the angle viewer and the video scopes to change the angle viewer selection back to “Enable video and audio switching.”

• Fixes an issue that caused Final Cut Pro to stop responding when both a folder and an enclosed item were selected in the browser.

• Adds support for sharing 8K ProRes MXF files.

• Improves support for Canon C2 AVC media.

• Adds support for Canon XF-AVC 1920x1080 59.94i/50i H.264 25Mbps.

• Removes support for disc burning.

• Updates FCPXML to version 1.12.

Get complete step-by-step how-to instructions and information on all features in Final Cut Pro. For a list of recent enhancements in Final Cut Pro, refer to What's New in Final Cut Pro.

OK, so a bunch of interesting things here. Notable to me are these three:

In YELLOW we have machine learning enabled Light and Color Enhancement, and Smooth Slow Motion. I'm very curious about these two, and I will test asap what kind of features and results we can get.

In ORANGE, search expansion, including audio and video effects, missing media, missing effects! Yes! finally Apple! It only took 9 years.

I have a 5 parts rant saga about missing effects in FCP and how extremely difficult it is to track them here: Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4, Part5. So much so that I had to report this to Apple, and likely many of you did as well, maybe, just maybe, Apple listened? But come on, 9 years?... I will be reporting how useful these improvements really are. Fingers crossed.

In RED, here goes the disc burning share option. Oh well, no one burns disks anymore, and when I did I used Toast anyway. I actually never used this once. But I understand it makes some people upset, not fun to loose a tool when you rely on it in your workflow.

Apple is yet again giving us crumbles when we are hungry for a full meal. No improvements on role based mixing or anything of the sort, which to me, and to many advanced users would be the feature to propel FCP to another level. Maybe in 2033.

Final Cut Pro: Incompatible Audio Units Found - Force Validate Audio Units / Plug-Ins

 Mac M1, macOS Sonoma 14.3

Got an Incompatible "Audio Units Found" each time I launch FCP. In my case because of TC Electronic LM2n audio plug-in V1.1.4 which according to MusicTribe / TC Electronic is not compatible with M1.

 According to MusicTribe / TC Electronic V1.2.0 is compatible with M1s.  OK fine, I downloaded the correct version from this page. Search for LM2 and download V1.2.0, or the newest version.

I ran the Uninstall LM2n.command to get rid of the old version, and installed the new version. And I got... the SAME "Incompatible Audio Units Found" message on FCP launch! 😠

 Next I deleted Final Cut Pro Preferences (Launch FCP while holding Command + Option.) Clicked the Delete preferences button. And... SAME message. 😡 I guess this step is not useful.

Sticky, pesky message, even though I upgraded to the M1 compatible V1.2.0 of the Plug-In.

OK, so the way to do this is to force Final Cut Pro to rescan all Audio Units by clicking the "Validate on Next Launch" button in Preferences / General:

Click on Audio Units: Validate on Next Launch.

 Bizarrely when you click on this button, nothing happens or shows that it's being selected. But, on restarting Final Cut Pro, it DOES go through all the AUs and validates then. In essence it's instructing FCP to perform a force validation of AU audio plug-ins.

 And this time, lo and behold... They PASSED! And now I can use them in FCP, no problem.

 So if you believe you have the correct version of an audio plug-in, but FCP is flashing the message, do try the force validation as it might fix the problem as it did for me.

BlackMagic Design Desktop Video Updated To 12.8, Now Works On macOS Sonoma 14.2.1... But Only With Resolve...

 DV version 12.7.1 was broken with Apple update to Sonoma, not even launching.

BMD just updated their DV app to version 12.8. It is now recognized by Macs M1s with macOS Sonoma 14.2.1.

Shows up in system report, good.

Launching fine, great.

Version 12.8

It works fine with Resolve, I can output to my external monitor without problems, so that's progress.

It shows in Resolve settings, and it outputs playback just fine from Resolve!

--- Now it still does not work with Final Cut Pro... 😩 Weirdly the Video Standard for Final Cut Pro is empty. Nothing under the drop down menu, it's empty. 😕

No way to select anything in FCP Video standard. That's not normal.

In FCP Playback settings, no way to select BMD output, it's not there.

--- It doesn't work with Premiere Pro either... Even though in Premiere case, it shows in the Playback settings.

Blackmagic Playback available from Premiere's preferences.

It shows in Premiere, but no output...

So, some progress, but it looks to me that Sonoma 14.2.1 is still blocking the output to Blackmagic devices.

I feel BMD has figured it out for Resolve, since it's outputting on playback no problem, but Final Cut Pro nor Premiere is able to output.

In the Read Me document, BMD state that Sonoma, listed devices and listed softwares are supported, but that's not entirely the case in my experience. 😞

About Blackmagic Desktop Video Software

Welcome to the Desktop Video software for macOS!

This software includes everything you need to set up your DeckLink, UltraStudio and Intensity for video capture and playback with your macOS computer.  

What's new in Desktop Video 12.8

New features and bug fixes for DeckLink IP models:

• Fix an issue where Rec.2020 video was incorrectly tagged.

• Ensure audio is passed through during keying.

• Add support for PTP follower only mode.

• Fix an issue where audio is captured on the wrong channels.

• Fix an issue where corrupted video is sometimes received during loopback capture.

• Ensure all flows are stopped after a video format change on the source.

• Fix intermittent issue where black video is captured after changing video input format.

• Fix issue where network settings would sometimes disappear in Setup utility.

• General performance and stability improvements for all models.

Minimum System Requirements

• macOS 14.0 Sonoma or later.

• macOS 13.0 Ventura.

• macOS computer with either Thunderbolt or PCIe slot.

• 8 GB of system memory.

Note: The following products are supported on macOS Ventura and Sonoma:

Apple silicon and Intel Macs:

- DeckLink Duo 2

- DeckLink Quad 2

- DeckLink Quad HDMI Recorder

- DeckLink 8K Pro

- DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G

- DeckLink IP HD

- DeckLink IP HD Optical

- DeckLink IP/SDI HD

- DeckLink Micro Recorder

- DeckLink SDI Micro

- DeckLink Mini Monitor HD

- DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K

- DeckLink Mini Recorder

- DeckLink Mini Recorder HD

- DeckLink Mini Recorder 4K

- DeckLink SDI 4K

- DeckLink Studio 4K

- UltraStudio Recorder 3G

- UltraStudio Monitor 3G

- UltraStudio HD Mini

- UltraStudio 4K Mini

- UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3

- Intensity Pro 4K

- DeckLink 4K Pro

- DeckLink 4K Extreme

- UltraStudio 4K

- UltraStudio 4K Extreme

Intel Macs only:

- DeckLink Mini Monitor

- DeckLink HD Extreme 3

- DeckLink HD Extreme 3D

- DeckLink SDI

- DeckLink Duo

- DeckLink Quad

- DeckLink Studio

- UltraStudio Express

- UltraStudio Mini Monitor

- UltraStudio Mini Recorder

- Intensity Pro

- Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt

Third Party Software Support

• DaVinci Resolve 17 and 18.

• Fusion Studio 17 and 18.

• Apple Final Cut Pro.

• Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2022 and 2023.

• Adobe After Effects CC 2022 and 2023.

• Adobe Photoshop CC 2022 and 2023.

• Adobe Character Animator CC 2022 and 2023.

• Autodesk Flame 2024.

• Avid Media Composer 2023.

• Avid Pro Tools 2023.

• The Foundry Nuke (Intel Macs only).

If you have installed the drivers prior to installing any of these applications, we recommend that you uninstall and reinstall the drivers. This will ensure that all relevant components are installed in their required locations.

Additional Information

Please check www.blackmagicdesign.com for additional information on third party software compatibility and minimum system requirements.

Some applications may use third party code under license. For details please refer to the included "Third Party Licenses.rtf" document.

Copyright 2024 Blackmagic Design. All rights reserved. 'Blackmagic Design', 'Blackmagic', 'Blackmagic Cloud', 'DaVinci Resolve', 'Fusion', 'Fairlight', 'Ultimatte', 'HyperDeck', 'DeckLink', 'HDLink', 'Videohub', 'Intensity' and 'Leading the creative video revolution' are registered trademarks in the US and other countries. All other company and product names may be trade marks of their respective companies with which they are associated.

Updated January 24, 2024.

Something is up with h264 encoding on Final Cut Pro 10.4.1, Compressor 4.7

 h264 encoding using either Compressor 4.7 or FCP 10.4.1 on M1 with Sonoma 14.2.1 are showing blockiness with busy/semi busy imagery.

It wasn't like this with previous versions on FCP/Compressor/Pro Video Formats/macOS that I recall.

 h264 encoding behaves very poorly compared to Adobe Media Encoder. I tested both on the same ProRes master, Apple output is dirty where AME is relatively clean. Same data rate, using the default settings.

I tested previous versions of FCP/Compressor on the same machine: Monterey and Ventura, and results are the same: blocky, sloppy, prone to artifacts on certain images.

It was not like this before: I looked at the same h264 export I did in June 2023 with FCP 10.6.6, Pro Video Formats 2.2.5, and Ventura, it was clean throughout. Same machine.

Something happened since, and now it's screwed. What is going on Apple? Anybody seeing a similar problem on their setup?

Below are 4 frame exports of the same image:

1. ProRes export
2. h264 export from FCP
3. h264 export from Compressor
4. h264 export from Adobe Media Encoder

Superimposed to the original sequence. Opacity switched to Difference, and Midtones Exposure pushed to 100%.

1) ProRes

2) h264 Final Cut Pro

3) h264 Compressor

4) h264 Adobe Media Encoder

5) h264 DaVinci Resolve

ProRes looks the best as expected. Clearly Media Encoder h264 output looks much better than Compressor, Final Cut Pro, and Resolve h264 outputs 😵.

Final Cut and Resolve are close, both doing a sloppy job at encoding h264 compared to Adobe Media Encoder. Compressor is the worst of all 😩.

NOT GOOD APPLE!! Not great Blackmagic Design!!

My Final Cut Pro Vertical Videos Exports Look Blurry! Why?? It Has To Do With Custom Destinations

 I was using a previously created custom settings preset to export a vertical video in FCP and my export was really blurry.

 I just updated to Monterey 12.6.7 and immediately thought the update broke my custom presets/destinations.

It only happened with vertical / portrait videos, in this case 1080x1920. Horizontal / landscape videos were unaffected.

See for yourself:

On the left, blurry export using previously created destination/custom preset. On the right, export using Export File (default) and how it should look: crisp. (Click on the photo to see it properly.)

This shit happened on FCP Share/any previously created custom presets/destinations, and in Compressor as well if I used any of the previously created custom presets.

Creating a new custom preset worked just fine in Compressor and in FCP as well after adding the presets as destination. Exporting to File, using h264 or ProRes was not affected, just custom presets, and only the ones that I created before (or so I thought) 12.6.7 update.

And it was not just the custom h264 presets, previously created custom ProRes presets were blurry as well, less so, but still visibly blurred.

And it was not a case of a corrupted Project. I created a brand new vertical 1080x1920 Project and the same thing happened.

Horizontal / portrait videos, ex. 1920x1080 below, were not affected:

On the left, export using previously created destination/custom preset. On the right, export using Export File (default.) They both look fine. (Click on the photo to see it properly.)

So to me it looked like all custom presets created in Compressor prior to Monterey 12.6.7 were now screwed when exporting vertical videos... 🤬

Or were they?

Not so fast grasshopper!! I was quick to blame Apple on this one, in fact I was the one to blame!

What was the cause of my torments then?

Simple: I created and saved custom presets that LIMITED THE RESOLUTION TO 1920x1080. 

You see the problem? My vertical video that's 1920 pixels tall was resized to 1080 pixels tall, of course it was blurred! On top of this I had modified the Quality settings of my saved presets which COMPOUNDED THE BLUR problem.

And actually, if I had looked at the Inspector within Quicktime Player, I would have seen that the video had a resolution of 608x1080... Way smaller than the Project's 1080x1920 resolution.

And so, that's why horizontal 1920x1080 videos exported just fine with the old presets still. And why creating a new preset, leaving the resolution to the default 4K, exported just fine as well.

That's it, a small thing indeed. So next time your export looks blurry, maybe it's just a setting somewhere in your custom presets.

By the way, last tip on this topic, after it's imported as a destination inside FCP, no matter how you modify the custom preset into Compressor, it will not update as a destination in FCP. You have to go to Add Destination, select the preset you want to update, click Change, and point at/select the updated preset within Compressor's list.

Modifying the preset in Compressor does not update automatically inside FCP. To update a destination, click Change. Select the modified preset and click OK.

That's it. Happy Exports!