Less and less camcorders compatible with FCE ?????

Question

Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm looking at a lot of the 2007 HD consumer camcorders and there are less options available for MAC users. Even those at the $1600 mark. Are we going to see a decline in FCE use because APPLE is not stepping up to the plate? I mean c'mon, the APPLE compatibility list is so old, can they at least look at some new models and stick them on the list? I eman it's not alot. Look at the new Panasonic consumer camcorders, not many in HD but are they compatible? I'm hearing that are not with FCE, whereas the older GS models and others were? Whats the true story with this?

Answer 1

Hi(Bonjour)!
The compatibility list is obsolete, and in my own opinion it's give more confusion than information.
As prices go down for HDV consumer camera, the spec of camcorders going in the same direction.
Recording on hard disk or DVD allows to minimize the form factory of camera and the cost of the camera itself.
Push record, push stop, eject the DVD and watch the result on your TV: that's the consumer way to make movie.
In the vast majority, consumers do not edit movies ( do you remember plain 8mm film? "no editing" for the mass, same thing for VHS video) .
So camcorder's company focus on this mass of consumers: they simply don't need editing capability.
FCE is not used by the vast majority.
FCE is aimed toward prosumers and professional market: those persons do editing in an extensive way and the use prosumer or professionnal gears. Gears that use the reliable and mature system: DV (in all flavors) and HDV recorded on...DV tapes.
I'm pretty sure that the next generation of iMovie will support newer recording media (it actually support DV, HDV and mpeg-4(a mass consumers format) before apple PRO applications like FCE.
Michel Boissonneault