FCS3 -- Final Cut Studio 3

I, like a lot of you, I'm sure, spend a lot of time looking around the web and doing research on FCP and new technology, etc.

On scarletuser.com, the new forum for the upcoming 3K red camera, I ran across these post pieces that started my mind a' racin':

Member:
"Personally, I have, like, and use Final Cut Studio....
on an iMac G5.
Being forced to "upgrade" to one of the Intel macs could delay the usefulness of the camera..."

Senior Member:
"Looking forward to 64-bit OS, You need to drop the PowerPC architecture. One of the reasons for delay in FCS3 and Adobe's CS4 is the need to change the core programming architecture used in order to take advantage of the 64-bit OS. I don't see this effort being further complicated by including "retro-support" for dead technologies...

So, that sounds like FCS3 will only be for Intel Macs. Any ideas on this?

--
Eric Harnden
Quintessential Studios
---------------------------------
[wordpress.quintessentialstudios.net]
[twitter.com]

I think so, if the circulating buzz is to be believed. 1) Snow Leopard will drop support for ppc, making the new OS lighter and faster. 2) applications that rely on carbon libraries will have to be updated.

[www.larryjordan.biz]

That said, an update on MM is long overdue, and I believe that was one of the fundamental source code issues... Also, once you see the tremendous speed of multiple core rendering (Compressor 3 rendering on 8 cores), and if you can bring that kind of power over to FCP... You're likely to stop work on a G5.



www.strypesinpost.com

It is almost certain that FCS3 will be Intel only. Assuming Apple history stay the same.

Michael Horton
-------------------

If we assume FCS3 makes its debut at NAB next year ? maybe, maybe not, but it's a fair guess ? then it will have been nearly three years since Apple discontinued the Power Mac G5. So dropping support for that architecture seems pretty reasonable to me.

But remember that you saw those notes on a Red forum. The Redcode QuickTime plug-in has always been Intel-only. I don't know whether that's because those guys can't get the necessary performance out of PowerPC chips ? a distinct possibility ? or if it's because they just don't want to bother supporting an obsolete architecture. In either case, it's safe to assume that if you want to buy a Scarlet, you're going to need an Intel Mac, because the software necessary to use it (from Red, not from Apple) won't exist for any other architecture.

Anyone who has been on Apple knows that the reason that Apple has never ported FCP to PC is because FCP sells CPUs. I agree with Apple's strategy, even though I am a G5 user. Nobody holds a gun to your head and forces you to upgrade to FCS3, right? If you want the newest software toys, you always need to pay for the newest CPU.

That's the way it is.

Dan

Don't matter to me.

Nothing I do with FCP requires more than my G5... which is a mighty workhorse.

But I am convinced that I am going to need to part with the G5 when I leave for Europe.

the mac cpu is the dongle for final cut