The first key thing to note about Final Cut Pro is that the interface is unchanged. Although I had a 2-hour product briefing from Apple, I couldn’t actually test the product before submitting this column, so I’m simply reporting what I saw and heard. There are more than 100 new features spread over the suite, but here I’ll focus on Final Cut Pro and Compressor. Fear not, however (are you sitting down?): The suite upgrade does enable a modest level of Blu-ray Disc authoring.
All suite components were upgraded (to varying degrees) except for DVD Studio Pro-which, as you may recall, wasn’t upgraded in the previous suite either. You can upgrade to the new suite from any previous version, even Final Cut Pro 1.0, for $299. By now you’ve heard that there’s a new version of Final Cut Studio shipping from Apple, aptly called “the New Final Cut Studio.” What’s new? Well, it starts with a new price of $999, $300 less than Final Cut Studio 2.
