Final Cut in action with the Coen Brothers

Multiple Academy Award winners last night the Coen brothers speak about color and their use of Final Cut on Apple's site. Watch the video here.

XSAN 2 For Final Cut Pro

In the first major upgrade to its Storage Area Network (SAN) file system, Apple on Tuesday introduced Xsan 2, adding a new feature called MultiSAN and making it easier for first time users to get up and running.

“The feedback we’ve heard from customers is that a SAN is too difficult to setup, so one of the goals in this release was to make SAN simpler,” Eric Zelenka, senior product line manager server & storage software, told Macworld.

One of the ways Apple has accomplished this is with the SAN Setup Assistant, which is integrated into Mac OS X Leopard Server or as an application that can be run on its own. When first setting up Mac OS X Server, a fourth option automatically appears if you have a Fibre Channel card installed. The setup assistant will do all the heavy lifting for you, setting up everything including Open Directory permissions.

Xsan 2 also includes a new feature called MultiSAN for users who need to access multiple Xsan volumes from the same workstation or server. Zelenka pointed to examples like a newsroom with separate SAN volumes for production and broadcast.

“Tens of thousands of businesses, from small video post-production houses to large data centers and TV stations, use Xsan as their clustered SAN file system,” said Zelenka. “Now with Xsan 2, businesses can efficiently share and access their data faster and easier than ever before.”

In addition, Apple said that Leopard Server features such as iCal Server, Mail Server and Podcast Producer, can now integrate with Xsan 2 to support clustered file systems, improving performance and scalability and reducing the impact of a service outage from the loss of any one server.

Xsan 2 has also been qualified with third-party RAID storage hardware from Promise Technology in configurations tuned and optimized for Xsan.

Apple has qualified Xsan 2 with Xserve, Mac Pro and Apple Fibre Channel PCI-X cards. Xsan 2 requires that Mac OS X version 10.5 or Mac OS X Server version 10.5 software be installed and will support qualified Fibre Channel switches from vendors such as Brocade, QLogic and Cisco, and RAID storage hardware including Xserve RAID and Promise VTrak E-Class RAID subsystems.

Apple discontinues Xserve RAID

Apple on Tuesday quietly discontinued its Xserve RAID enterprise storage product line. It disappeared from the online Apple Store shortly after the company introduced Xsan 2 this morning.

However, Apple struck a deal with Promise Technology to have its RAID systems qualified for use with Xsan 2, so users are not left out in the cold. Apple said the Promise product delivers on the features its customers have been asking for and it also delivers significantly greater performance.

“We decided to focus our efforts where we could add most value, with Xserve, Xsan and Leopard Server,” Apple spokesman Anuj Nayar, told Macworld.

Customers that already own an Xserve RAID will still be able to add Apple storage too. While the RAID system itself has been discontinued, the company will still sell modules for it.

“Xserve RAID is still available while supplies last and we will continue to sell the 500 and 750GB drive modules,” said Nayar. “For new RAID purchases we recommend the Promise VTrack E-Class subsystem.”

Each VTrak RAID 3U subsystem supports up to 16 integrated 3.5-inch SATA or SAS drives and an expansion chassis that can deliver another 16 SATA or SAS drives, for capacities up to 24TB per configuration. The system also comes with dual redundant active-active, failover/failback RAID controllers, 4Gb Fibre Channel connections to the host, RAID 5 and RAID 6 support, with global and dedicated hot spare hard drives.

According to Promise the VTrak E-Class RAID subsystem delivers outstanding performance for general server and video storage workloads, reaching up to 1400MB/s of sequential read performance and 617MB/s of sequential write performance in a RAID 5 configuration with redundant controllers. When configured with Apple’s Xsan 2 clustered file system and Final Cut Studio 2 video suite, the 32-drive Vtrak subsystem delivers up to 6 streams of 8-bit uncompressed high definition video, 22 streams of ProRes HQ compressed HD video and 26 streams of 8-bit uncompressed SD video.

Even with its exit from the enterprise storage market, Apple says it is committed to the overall market.

“Apple continues to deliver innovative hardware and software products for customers in our core professional markets,” said Nayar. “We announced Xsan 2 today, upgraded Xserve last month and have recently released a groundbreaking new version of OS X Server, packed with new features.

Apple Not AT NAB 2008 !

Apple said Thursday that it won’t have a booth at this year’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show in Las Vegas, confirming a report posted at the TVTechnology Web site that Apple was scaling back its presence at the event aimed at video professionals.

The NAB Show is an annual gathering of broadcasters, television production companies, and video pros. This year’s trade show is slated for April 11 to 17 in Las Vegas.

Apple has had a large booth and a significant overall presence at the NAB event for many years, often using the venue to launch new products aimed at the professional video market. At last year’s show, the company introduced the Final Cut Studio 2 suite of applications, including a new program called Color. Apple has released high-end hardware, such as the 17-inch MacBook Pro, at NAB.

Given how recently Apple updated its professional video programs, it was unlikely that the company had another major release up its sleeve. Still, the lack of a booth on the show floor is a surprise, given the importance of the video market to Apple’s business.

“Apple is participating in fewer trade shows every year, because often there are better ways for us to reach our customers,” Apple spokesman Anuj Nayar told Macworld. “The increasing popularity of Apple’s retail stores and Apple.com Web site enable us to directly reach more than 100 million customers around the world in innovative new ways.”

Indeed, apart from the announcements last month’s Macworld Expo, Apple’s most recent product unveilings have taken place at press-only events organized by the company.

Nayar would not confirm whether Apple plans to skip NAB entirely, or to have some presence at the trade show even if it doesn’t exhibit. At last month’s NAMM show for music professionals, Apple did not have a booth, though representatives of the company did attend. Musician Herbie Hancock demonstrated Apple’s MainStage during a private briefing for professional musicians at NAMM.

Last year’s NAB show drew more than 111,000 attendees and more than 1,600 exhibitors, according to the event’s Web site.

Apple Releases Final Cut Studio 2!!

Apple Unveils Final Cut Studio 2!
Best Pricing on Final Cut 2 Studio 2 Here

Major Upgrades of Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Motion & Compressor; and Introduces “Color”

NAB, LAS VEGAS—April 15, 2007—Apple® today unveiled Final Cut Studio® 2, a significant upgrade to the industry’s leading video production suite that delivers new creative tools designed expressly for editors. Final Cut Studio 2 includes Final Cut Pro® 6, which introduces Apple’s ProRes 422 format for uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes and support for mixed video formats and frame rates in a single Timeline; Motion 3 featuring an intuitive 3D environment, paint and new behaviors; Soundtrack® Pro 2 with dozens of innovative tools for multitrack editing, surround mixing and conforming sound to picture; Compressor 3 delivering powerful batch encoding for multiple formats with a single click; and DVD Studio Pro 4.2 for SD and HD DVD authoring. Final Cut Studio 2 also introduces “Color,” a professional color grading and finishing application for ensuring consistent color and creating signature looks.

Best Pricing on Final Cut 2 Studio 2 Here

“Final Cut Studio 2 was specifically designed to enable the rapidly growing community of over 800,000 Final Cut editors worldwide to animate, mix, grade and deliver their work as a natural extension of the editorial process,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “Final Cut Studio 2 is the most powerful production suite on the planet.”

At the core of Final Cut Studio 2 is Final Cut Pro 6, the latest version of Apple’s Emmy award-winning editing software which includes a new Open Format Timeline that lets editors mix and match virtually any video format and frame-rate in a single Timeline without transcoding. ProRes 422, a new full raster, 10-bit 4:2:2 post production format produces stunning HD quality at SD file sizes, making it ideal for working efficiently across a SAN or on a MacBook® Pro in the field. Companies including Panasonic, Sony and RED are embracing ProRes 422 as they continue to innovate on the next generation of cameras. Final Cut Pro 6 also includes optical flow based SmoothCam technology to remove unwanted or jarring camera movement with simple, easy-to-use tools. Deep integration with Motion includes the ability to edit Motion templates with video drop zones and editable text fields directly in Final Cut Pro.

Best Pricing on Final Cut 2 Studio 2 Here

New to Final Cut Studio is Color, which puts a logical task-based color grading and finishing workflow in the hands of every Final Cut Pro editor. The primaries in Color include advanced color correction tools such as gamma, lift and gain adjustments, as well as custom R, G, B and luma curves, and the secondaries provide the ability to isolate specific areas of an image with soft-edged mattes and custom-shaped vignettes, which can be tracked with ease. Professional scopes provide precise monitoring of chrominance and luminance values via waveforms, histograms and new 3D scopes. Color includes over 20 signature looks which can be customized to create a unique mood for any given project, and offers a seamless roundtrip workflow where projects can be sent from Final Cut Pro 6 directly to Color for grading, finishing and final rendering with 32-bit float 4:4:4 image processing.

Motion 3, the latest version of Apple’s groundbreaking motion graphics software, takes all the familiar Motion tools and extends them to a 3D environment. New camera behaviors add depth and realism with drag-and-drop simplicity. Vector based paint tools allow editors to easily create brushes with color, particles, video or pictures. A simple, yet highly precise match moving tool automatically maps any image or effect to the path of any other object. New retiming behaviors enable editors to slip and slide retiming effects on the Timeline without keyframes, while new audio behaviors allow users to easily create animations that respond to soundtrack volume and frequency. Motion 3 includes over 1500 new design elements including professional stock imagery, beautifully animated line drawings and stunning vector artwork.

Best Pricing on Final Cut 2 Studio 2 Here

Soundtrack Pro 2, a brand new version of the audio editing application in Final Cut Studio 2, features powerful new multitrack editing and recording tools in a streamlined interface that simplifies every aspect of the audio post production process. Soundtrack Pro 2 introduces a breakthrough heads up spotting display that lets editors precisely align effects and dialog with picture. Advanced take management tools enable editors to quickly combine pieces of the best takes to craft seamless performances. Stereo and surround mixing tools enable users to create 5.1 and stereo mixes in the same project, saving time and eliminating costly errors. Editors can work with a royalty-free library of over 5,000 professionally produced foley and sound effects, including over 1,000 surround sound effects and evocative multi-channel music tracks. A powerful new Conform tool enables users to synchronize and track changes between picture and sound editorial.

Best Pricing on Final Cut 2 Studio 2 Here

Compressor 3, the latest version of Apple’s industrial strength encoding tool, comes with a new streamlined interface and simplified workflows that make encoding and delivering in multiple formats easier and more efficient than ever. Powerful batch processing and job chaining capabilities enable editors to create pristine quality output for a wide range of delivery formats with a single click. Compressor 3 extends support for industry-standard codecs such as MPEG-2 and H.264 to include new drag-and-drop presets for delivery to broadcast television, web, iPod, Apple TV™, DVD and mobile phones. Dynamic filters applied during pre-processing now support timecode overlays, audio/video fade in and out, and animated watermarks that can be applied directly from Motion projects.

Apple today also introduced Final Cut® Server, a powerful new server application that works seamlessly with Final Cut Studio 2 to provide media asset management and workflow automation for post production and broadcast professionals.

Best Pricing on Final Cut 2 Studio 2 Here