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Take Video Further
Every new Mac ships with iMovie as part of the iLife suite, but you're ready to take your home movie editing further. Apple's Final Cut Pro X is a natural next step that provides you with many of the same features the pros use priced for a home enthusiast's budget!
Final Cut Pro X is powerful video editing software for video enthusiasts and creative business users who want a pro-level interface with the value of an all-in-one moviemaking tool. Apple's powerful moviemaking package now supports the latest AVCHD cameras, features an open format Timeline, and offers sophisticated effects and filters.
Pick the Right Computer
Your Mac may already be powerful enough to start building a home video workstation with Final Cut Pro; check the System Requirements to make sure. If you need to upgrade your computer, both the iMac and MacBook Pro make excellent home movie powerhouses. Each comes standard with four cores of processing power necessary for the next step in video, fast hard drives to capture and edit your footage, discrete graphics cards for turbocharged renders and visual effects, and the new Thunderbolt port for connecting to high speed storage devices. Portable or Desktop, it's up to you!
Import Your Video
Many video cameras can connect directly to your Mac using FireWire or USB 2.0; if your camera lacks this feature, or if you want to bring in video from other sources, you may need some additional hardware. If your camera or other video source is analog, (VHS, SVHS, VHS-C, Hi8, etc.) the Grass Valley ADVC-110 DV Converter can connect you directly to Final Cut Express's capture process and convert that video to DV. Alternatively, if you plan to output your video for the web, iOS, or Apple TV and want to cut down on time consuming conversions, the BlackMagic Design Video Recorder uses custom software and hardware to convert your analog video to the H.264 format. If you prefer to shoot video on a digital SLR camera, make sure to stock up on SDHC or CompactFlash cards to capture every moment. Both the iMac and MacBook Pro have built in SD card readers, but if your DSLR uses CompactFlash or another card format, it's a good idea to get a high speed card reader so your camera is free to shoot new footage while you import.
Store Your Project
Although most Macs come with fairly large, fast hard drives, using a fast external hard drive is usually best for working with video. Video editing can place a lot of strain on a hard drive, which can generate lots of heat that can shorten the life of your internal drive. Because of this, it is important to use an external drive that is designed to withstand the rigors and performance requirements of video editing; LaCie, G-Tech, Glyph, and CalDigit each make drives that are designed for this purpose. For now, FireWire 800 is a good choice for an external drive interface because it transfers large files at higher sustained rates than USB 2.0, but stay tuned, because many manufacturers have announced Thunderbolt products that offer transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps!
Control Your Software
Final Cut Pro is easy enough to control with a keyboard and mouse/trackpad, but you can make it even easier to control with additional input devices. One of the more useful peripherals available is an external jogwheel, such as the Contour Design ShuttleXpress, which makes navigating long or detailed products down to the frame a breeze. These often have programmable buttons as well, allowing you to keep your hand in one place while making complicated edits or trimming video clips. For serious editors, we also offer custom keyboard skins and keyboards with all of the default Final Cut Pro commands printed and color coded right on the keys. This is a great way to quickly learn all of the keyboard shortcuts in Final Cut Pro that save you time!
Learn the Ropes
As intuitive as Final Cut Pro can be, there is still a learning curve from iMovie. Because of this, it can be helpful to learn the basics, and even some really helpful tips and shortcuts for folks who know the software best. Since Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro share so much in their interfaces, many of our Seminars and Demos, while focused on Final Cut Pro, can be really instructive in techniques and products that will help you! If you'd prefer one-on-one training, at your home or in our store, our Training Department can custom tailor training for you. If you'd like to get more advanced, you can sign up for Final Cut courses with Manhattan Edit Workshop, who will provide you with intensive classes and options for certification. On the other end of the spectrum, do-it-yourselfers can still get some pointers from the Apple Pro Training Series book that is chock full of lessons on every aspect of video editing in Final Cut Express. Apple also provides Final Cut Pro Tutorial resources which are not only helpful in learning the software, but provide a useful preview of what Final Cut Pro can do.
Share Your Work
After spending so much time working on your masterpiece, share it with the world! Most Macs come with a DVD burner, so you can easily create a DVD video using Roxio Toast. If you have some seriously large projects and you want to stick with optical media, a Blu-Ray drive can burn up to 50GB of video for playback on HD video systems. Since you can export video in H.264 format from Final Cut Pro, you can also share it on your HDTV using an Apple TV, or take it with you on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
Ask Us How
Call us at 212-929-3645, email us at info@tekserve.com, or stop by the store, and we can help you build a home video editing solution to take the next step in video editing. We look forward to helping you create your masterpiece!
| 25 products foundSort by: $ → $$$ | $$$ → $ | A → Z | Availability | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | Download Apple iMovie '11 from the Mac App Store for $14.99 | $14.99 | AvailableDigital Download |
 | Download Apple Compressor 4 from the Mac App Store for $49.99 | $49.99 | AvailableDigital Download |
 | Download Apple Motion 5 from the Mac App Store for $49.99 | $49.99 | AvailableDigital Download |
 | Download Apple Final Cut Pro X from the Mac App Store for $299.99 | $299.99 | AvailableDigital Download |
 | iLife '11 Retail- Includes iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, iWeb and iDVD | $29.00 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Logic Keyboards Final Cut Pro Skin Cover for All MacBook and MacBook Pros | $29.95 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Moshi Cardette USB 2.0 Media Card Reader & USB 2.0 Hub - Silver | $34.95 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Contour Design ShuttleXpress USB Multimedia Controller - Black | $45.00 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Contour Design ShuttleXpress USB Multimedia Controller - Silver | $45.00 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Final Cut Express 4.0 | $49.00 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Digistor 25pk Spindle of 25GB BD-R Blu-Ray Media | $49.95 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Class On Demand Complete Training for Final Cut Pro | $80.00 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | ElGato USB 2.0 Video Capture | $99.00 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Sony MDR-7506 Large Diaphragm Professional Headphones, foldable | $99.00 | Out of StockCall for Availability |
 | Roxio Toast Titanium 11 For Mac | $99.00 | Order NowShips in 2-3 business days |
 | Digistor 25pk Spindle of 50GB BD-R Blu-Ray Media | $129.95 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | BlackMagic Design- Video Recorder | $141.55 | Special OrderShips in 3-10 business days |
 | Grass Valley ADVC-110 DV Converter | Add to cart to see price | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | LaCie 12X External d2 Blu-Ray Drive - USB 2.0 & FW400 | $349.99 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | LaCie 1TB Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Portable Hard Drive 7200rpm | $449.99 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | LaCie 2TB Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Portable Hard Drive 5400rpm | $549.99 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Final Cut Pro 100 Course Offered By Manhattan Edit Workshop | $850.00 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Apple iMac 21.5" 2.7GHz Quad-Core i5/ 4GB (2X2GB)/ 1TB/ AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB/ Magic mouse/ Apple wireless keyboard/ Thunderbolt | $1,499.00 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Apple iMac 27" 2.7GHz Quad-Core i5/ 4GB (2X2GB)/ 1TB/ AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512MB/ Magic mouse/ Apple wireless keyboard/ Thunderbolt | $1,699.00 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
 | Apple MacBook Pro 15.4"/ 2.2Ghz Quad-core Intel Core i7/ 4GB (2X2GB)/ 500GB 5400RPM/ SuperDrive/ Glossy Display | $1,799.00 | In StockShips in 1 business day |
| 25 products foundSort by: $ → $$$ | $$$ → $ | A → Z | Availability | |||