upgrading to 5.0. 4.5 projects ok?

Hey all -

I am upgrading my G4 system to FCP5 from 4.5. I was hoping to wait and see if all projects would finish up, but one is crossing over (I have a client bringing in a project for finish this week that was done on a 5.0 system and, of course, my 4.5 will not read it, therefore I need to do the upgrade now). What are the gotcha's in this work flow, and will my 4.5 projects come across?

I remember hearing about the default 5.0 settings for graphics and stills that need to be changed for best quality. Any thing else? Tips on this upgrade so I don't screw myself?

Thanks in advance

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
Greybox, LLC
www.greybox.CC

Do yourself a favor! Install FCP 5 on a different hard drive with Tiger and leave 4.5 on a Panther hard drive. It could be a temporary internal or even a Firewire. Just don't try to go back and forth between 4.5 and 5 and 4.5. It will be nothing but a big PITA. You can always use another disk drive and this solution can save you many hours of grief.

I guess my basic question is, like on an Avid system when you upgrade versions, I can open, say, Xpro 4.6 projects in 4.8. Does FCP alllow this as well or do 4.5 projects have to stay in 4.5 and no ability to be opened in 5.0.

FCP4.5 projects can be opened by FCP5.0, but you have to upgrade it first -- it can't remain an FCP4.5 project file. In other words, if you work on the project file in FCP5.0, you can't go back to using FCP4.5 on that file unless you want some major headaches.

One thing I always do when I upgrade project files is that I back it up first (sometimes two or more copies, clearly labelled and dated) and put the backups away somewhere safe. That way, if something goes awry with the upgrade, or if I need to retrieve something using the older version, I go to the backups.