Cheapest posssible option to run Final Cut Express?

Can anyone tell me the cheapest way to get set up with Final Cut Express?
Thanks

Not sure if you have a computer or not, but take a look at the minimum requirements for FCE
http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/specs.html
then click on the "store" link and put together a computer. If you already have a MAC, then FCE should cost you $200.
You really haven't given much information on what you want.

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I'm running Final Cut Express 2. How can I move entire project and application from one internal hard drive to another? Ran out of space on one drive. Thanks.

I'm running Final Cut Express 2. My video project is 95% done and I've run out of space on my 500g internal hard drive. How can I (1) move the complete FCE program and video to my unused 250g internal hard drive and operate it from there and (2) how do I then purge all the FCE info from the 500g drive without losing anything from the 250 drive?
Also, is it possible to change the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 when the project is finished? If so, how? I now know this all should have been done before I started. Thanks for the help.

1. You can't move the application. It must remain on the system drive. Move your capture scratch folder to the external FireWire drive and use the reconnect function in the project.
2. What's the media 16:9 or 4:3?

Running Final Cut Express on an XP

Is it possible to run Final Cut Express HD on a XP system?? I'm not sure.

no, FCE is MacOs only.

ATI Radeon x1600 good enough to run Final Cut Express HD?

I just bought a MacBook Pro about one month ago and everything works great until I try to run Final Cut Express. Basically I have one small error that reads "You need an AGP graphics card." I think to myself I just bought a $2000 computer, won't it run Final Cut Express. I just wanted to know if this is really true, and if so, where can I purchase an AGP graphics card?

No Problem chrisjocanis !
When you get the error message hit the "esc" key and FCE should open normally.
However, it will probably work very slowly etc.
You need to upgrade to FCE 3.5 Universal Binary which is specially designed to work on Intel powered Macs (and older ones).
Ian.

Run Final Cut Express through Apple Remote

I am trying to capture a lot of video clips and to do that I have set up a couple of Mac Minis with tape decks connected and want to run them from one work station through Remote Desktop. Trouble is the Mini won't run Final Cut Express unless a monitor is attached. It does not recognize the video card being installed without the monitor. Is there a solution I am not seeing? Any ideas would be welcome.

We shoot hours of video everyday on mini dv camcorders. The tapes are then captured via Final Cut Express to a G5 Mac Pro connected to a dv deck with firewire. Clips are then mpeged and stored on a server for everyone to use in their research in the office. The tapes are about an hour each and I want to capture more than one at a time without setting up a bunch of workstations for one person to man. I want to have three or four decks connected to three or four computers all running Express and I want to operate those computers through Remote Desktop without monitors on those computers. This all works, I have set it up and done it with a couple of G5 Mac Pros but when I bought a Mini to save space and cost the Mini will not open Express without a monitor connected to it. Is there an easier way to capture video than I am thinking. I welcome any advice.

Mac Mini - Running Final Cut Express - Output to a 2nd display

Anyway of using Final cut Express to output to a 2nd display on a Mac Mini. I know out of the box it only supports either vga or dvi (1 monitor).
What does final cut express require for this option to work? A 2nd video card?
Thanks

hey there,
i believe Matrox has a device called 2 heads to go. never used it but it reads well. you might want to Google "Matrox", go to their 'site & investigate. also if you're editing SD DV, you can use your cam FW'd to the Mac & set to DV in & VTR/VCR mode & connect the cam to a TV or monitor. i used to do this w/ my iMac.
good luck.

Can I run Final Cut Express on a MacBook?

I'm interested in purchasing Final Cut Express, but I have been told the program will run very slowly on a MacBook with only 2 GB of ram. It is it worth purchasing Final Cut without adding 2 more GB of ram to my MacBook?

I have FCE and a super special "black" macbook 2.4ghz intel core 2 Duo with 4 GB of ram installed. FCE runs just fine. For the most part rendering does not take very long at all, of course this depends what you are rendering and how long the actual media is. I would say that I am VERY satisfied with the way it runs. (but I was smart and spent the extra 100 bucks on the super special, extra fast, blackbook). Also, when someone who works for a company is suggesting you need to spend more money for better performance...well think about it...its true...but do you really need everything to render lightning fast. I tend to do a rough cut, then I tighten everything up, and save effects and adjustments that take a "reasonable time to render" til the end. Then you render and have some milk and cookies. Next thing ya know, you've had a nice snack and your sweet film is rendered...and you have money in the bank. But honestly, *runs fine*. Hope this helps.

I run Final Cut Express 4.0.1; I shoot with a Sony HDR-CX260V. How do I import from the camera directly to Final Cut, without having to go through the intermediate step of using iMovie?

I use Final Cut Express 4.0.1; I shoot with a Sony HDR-CX260V.
How do I import from camera to Final Cut without going through the intermediate step of using iMovie?

If you shoot in one of the following modes you should be able to Log & Transfer directly into FCE:
HD: 1920x1080/60i (FX or FH mode)
HD: 1440x1080/60i (HQ or LP mode)
SD: 720x480/60i
1080/60p (PS mode) seems to be the default mode in your camcorder. FCE only supports progressive video in 720p50 or 720p60. That's probably why you have had to import via iMovie.
It would be better to upgrade to Final Cut Pro X, the version currently supported. FCE was discontinued over 18 months ago and is not supported on Lion or Mountain Lion.

Latest advice on creating .flv advice from Final Cut Express?

IN our newsroom, we have a recently purchased MacBook Pro running Final Cut Express 4.0.1 for the creation of videos for our website - problem is the the website can only take .flv files and they can be no larger than about 20 MBs. I have looked at most of the posts in this forum on creating .flv files, but I wondered what the llatest, best advice for doing this is? I know that:
1/ I can export a .mov file and just change the extension to .flv, but that creates a file as large as the original .mov file - too large for the website.
2/ The powers-that-be did not include Adobe Flash on this computer so I am supposing I cannot use Adobe Flash Encoder as a standalone app.
3/ DV Kitchen looks like it might work, but it is $79 and has a lot of bells and whistles we don't need. Plus, the beancounters will have to approve the purchase.
4/ What other cheaper options can create an .flv file from a FCE .mov file that would squeeze it down to about 20 MB?
Thanks, Douglas

If you dont have Flash the only worthwhile converter for flv is Sorenson Squeeze:
http://www.sorensonmedia.com/video-encoding/

Final Cut Express on new IMAC

Will the new 17' Imac run Final Cut Express WELL? Or do you really need to go for the Power PC option. Any advice would be great.

I think there may be a little confusion here.
The iMac has always been able to run FCE well. It has plenty of power and is ideal unless you are a professional who needs every last bit of speed.
However, the G5 that came out in November had a different graphics card and required either a free update or the hack mentioned by Jean-Pascal.
The latest Intel powered iMac that was introduced in January can be given the hack to make FCE work but it is likely to be rather slow and unresponsive.
To get the best results from an Intel-iMac you need to wait for the new version of FCE which many expect to appear in the next month or so.
To reiterate - the iMac has more than enough power to run FCE though the addition of another 512MB of RAM is recommended.
Ian.

G4 and Final Cut Express installation problems

Thank you in advance for any help you can send my way. Any will be greatly appreciated.
I have a PowerMac G4 (gray) tower. Recently, under the advice of a Mac tech, I installed a 200GB harddrive and a Sonnet's Tempo ATA133 PCI card so that I could successfully install and run FinalCut Express. Now not only do I have the previous installed but I also have 1GHz CPU Speed, 1GB of RAM, DVD/Superdrive, Mac OS 10.4.3 and more than enough memory for the installation.
So now for the two strange parts:
1) When trying to install Final Cut it says that I cannot install the software because I lack the hardware.
2) And now I noticed in my System Profiler it says that my Machine Name is "Power Mac G3 (PCI graphics)" which I know it is not!
Do I have the wrong PCI card? Did I install it wrong? Am I missing something?
For your reference, listed below is what is required to run Final Cut Express:
Minimum Hardware Requirements
• A Macintosh computer with a 500 MHz or faster PowerPC G4 or G5 processor (550 MHz for PowerBook G4, 450 MHz for dual-processor Power Mac G4 or G5) and an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) graphics card compatible with Quartz Extreme
• 384 MB of RAM (512 MB required for RT Extreme and Soundtrack)
• For HDV: A Macintosh computer with a 1 GHz or faster PowerPC G4 or G5 processor and 1 GB of RAM
• 1 GB of available disk space for application installation
• 5 GB of available disk space for Soundtrack content
• 9 GB of available disk space for LiveType content
• DVD drive for software installation
Minimum Software Requirements
• Mac OS X 10.3.7 or later
• QuickTime 6.5.2 or later
Thanks again.

HI Coyote,
This could prove to be a problem. You definitely need 65MB of VRAM to run FCP. And FCP is a fairly sophisticated video editing program and takes time to learn. Unless the iBook has DVD burn capability, which I doubt, even with an older version of iLife, you wouldn't be able to burn to DVD's. But you could use iMovie, which is part of iLife to view video that's been uploaded to the iBook. Another potential problem is, I think this particular iBookG4's factory drive is 60GB. Video editing requires huge amounts of drive space to run without crashing. iLife 05 requires 4.3GB of drive space. iLife 05 requires 256MB of RAM, but runs much more efficiently with 512MB.
So, you have several glitches. Limited drive space, limited memory, insufficient VRAM, and no DVD burn capability. You wouy also need a camcorder that is compatible with the iBookG4.
I wish I had better news... here is a link to Apple's information for minimum requirements for iLife 05: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306338
Carolyn

Final Cut Express on MBA 11"

Hi there,
Anyone know if I would be able to run Final Cut Express on my Macbook Air 11" 1.4Ghz...? Just a bit of basic editing on standard def footage, nothing too fancy.
Cheers,
Nick

You've probably already looked over the FCE system requirements at http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/specs.html ... there's only one thing listed that won't work on the mini: "Some FxPlug filters are not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors". I don't use FCE so I can't comment on if this is important or not.

Final Cut Express On Macbook 13" core duo ?

Im thinking of buying a macbook quite soon, the white 2.0 ghz one with 1gb of ram and 100gb HDD but i was wondering if they can run Final cut express as i do alot of video editing and i want editing on the go with the macbook, but i am unsure whether it will work or not because of the macbooks graphics engine,?????/??
many thanks, lewis

You need to be really careful with reviews like this. You might want to note that this review only shows rendering and encoding which does not require the graphics processor. It does not elaborate on the MacBook's performance when it comes to actually using Final Cut Pro which does require the graphics processor to peform at a certain level. Notice the lack of comparison with things like FCPs real time effects and the like?

Good substitute for Final Cut Express?

I tried a free month of Final Cut Express over a year ago. When done I found that the version I got If I bought was a newer version. I presume the two versions involved were 3.5 and 4.0. So I must have tried 3.5.
I liked it a lot! It would have been $200 as I recall. Now I find that It's no longer available. It had all the function I want and I cannot afford to pay for Final Cut Pro considering the relatively small amount of "work" I intend to do with it. I've since upgraded to Mountain Lion and it appears I cannot run Final Cut Express on this system. Plus, my iMac is mid 2010 with 4gb memory.
Is there some app out there that can do what FCE did?
One function in particular was very useful to me as a musician -- being able to stretch the audio from my Zoom recorder to match the audio/video from my camcorder.
Thanks for the help.

Hello David
Quick question which may be helpful for Bruce:
I'm familiar with the controversy over the original release of FCX. There was great disatisfaction and disappointment because the first release appeared to be more of a glorified iMovie. Many professional features were replaced with templates creating a 'dumbed down' platform, (nothing like FCP).
Many FC Pro users were outraged. Many abandoned FC, and went with Avid.
Is it true Apple admitted to a 'flawed design' with X, and put back a lot of Pro features that were missing?
Thanx
Mike

Final Cut Express? Macbook?

Yes, I am buying a blackmacbook with 1gig of ram, and a 200gb hard drive in june! now will a black macbook run final cut express? (in like dec. ill updgrade to 2gigs of ram) but does it work? any video tests or reviews? Thanks

The disk that contains your computer’s operating system is called the startup disk or boot disk. In addition to the operating system, the startup disk also stores your applications (such as Final Cut Pro), your application preferences, system settings, and other documents. Since the files on the startup disk are your most critical data, maintaining the startup disk is vital.
Since digital media (especially high data rate video) makes your disks work harder, you should use dedicated disks for capturing and playing back your digital video and other media files. Consider your media disks as storage units that work long, hard hours, while your startup disk keeps your system properly organized. If a disk is going to malfunction, it’s better if your critical data is separate from your replaceable media files.

Cheapest posssible option to run Final Cut Express?

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