Technical Specifications

Minimum
System
Requirements

Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better.
2GB of RAM (4GB of RAM recommended).
OpenCL-capable graphics card or
Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later.
256MB of VRAM (512MB of VRAM recommended).

Display with 1280x768 resolution or higher.
OS X v10.6.8 or OS X v10.7.2 or later (OS X v10.7.2 or later for broadcast monitoring).
2.4GB of disk space.

Application

Broadcast monitoring of video and audio with third-party PCIe and Thunderbolt I/O devices.¹
64-bit architecture to take advantage of more than 4GB of RAM
Background rendering using GPU and CPU
ColorSync-managed colour pipeline
High-precision floating-point render in linear-light color space
Uses Grand Central Dispatch to tap into all available processors

Full-screen, real-time preview playback of SD, HD, 2K and 4K media on main screen or an attached LED Cinema Display
Customisable keyboard
Full Unicode support
GPU-accelerated exporting.
Full-screen view in OS X Lion.

Editing and
Timeline

Multicam editing with automatic sync and support for mixed formats, mixed frame rates and up to 64 camera angles.
Magnetic Timeline automatically keeps material in sync, prevents clip collisions and eliminates gaps.
Clip Connections keep secondary material in place while trimming and moving the Primary Storyline. Choose to hide or display Clip Connections in the timeline.
Compound Clips allow complex compositions to be simplified into a single clip.
Auditions combine multiple clips into a single clip to see alternative takes, colour grades or effects in context.
Duplicate a clip inside an Audition for comparison of different effects on the same clip
Edit while importing media in the background.
View material in Filmstrip or List view with a mini-filmstrip and metadata columns.
Skimming functionality enables fast viewing of large amounts of material.
Skimmable projects in Project Library enable viewing before loading.
Mix frame sizes, frame rates and formats in the same timeline up to 4K in real time.
Edit at 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 or 60 fps.
Create the correct project setting with the first edit.
Insert, Overwrite, Replace, Append and Connect with keystroke or drag and drop.
Extend edit to Skimmer position.
Split edits with J and L cuts in the timeline.

Split edits with J and L cuts in the timeline.
Top and Tail in a single keystroke for news and documentary editing.
Direct access to iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto and Aperture through Media Browsers.
Timeline Index for timeline navigation and the selection of items based on text searches and other important metadata.
Position tool for moving and deleting media in the timeline and leaving gap.
Clip Markers that include to-do items that can be checked off when tasks are completed
Snapping to Playhead, Skimmer, Clips and Markers.
Replace with Gap
Lift from Primary Storyline
Create Storyline to consolidate B-roll into a single unit
Insert Placeholder
Insert Gap
Numeric entry of precise clip durations
Blade tool for adding edits
High-quality, real-time vectorscopes, waveforms and histograms
Record Audio tool for adding narration
Six Clip Appearance presets for timeline display
Multi-Touch gesture support
Organise, view, mute and export based on automatically assigned or custom Roles metadata.
Customise project start time.

Trimming

Inline Precision Editor allows skimming of media around the edit before trimming.
Basic timeline trimming
Trim tool for advanced timeline trimming functions
Ripple and roll

Slip and slide
Lift and ripple delete
Dynamic 2-Up trimming with Show Detailed Trimming Feedback enabled
Keyboard and numeric moving and trimming

Effects

Advanced chroma keying with controls for colour sampling, edge adjustments and light wrap.
Shared Render Engine with Motion and Compressor
Add multiple effects and transitions within a range selection.
Multistream real-time effects in SD and HD formats
Alpha-channel support in real time
Integration with Motion for advanced motion graphics work
Use “Open in Motion” on any effect, modify in Motion, and save as new in Final Cut Pro.
Numeric and keyframe control for precise animation and effects
Copy and paste motion and effect attributes to multiple clips.
Access music, sound effects, transitions, filters, colour looks and generators through Media Browsers
Over 150 advanced 2D and 3D title templates
Over 90 high-quality transitions
Over 125 sophisticated animation templates with video drop zones created by a top Hollywood effects company
Over 110 filters, keys, blurs and colour looks

28 backgrounds, elements, solids and textures
Trim, crop and Ken Burns effect
Distort tool with keyframes and onscreen controls
Transform tool with keyframes and onscreen controls
Stabilisation effect in real time after background analysis
Rolling Shutter correction to improve DSLR video
Spatial Conform to make different aspect ratios fit into a project seamlessly
Retime tool for speed changes controlled in the timeline for entire clips or selected ranges
Rewind, Instant Replay and Speed Ramp in a single click
Three Retime quality settings: normal, frame blending and optical flow
Preserve audio pitch when changing speed
Find and Replace Title Text
Show Title/Action Safe Zones for positioning titles and effects
One-step transitions for Secondary Storylines.
Conform Speed to change source media frame rate to the project frame rate in one step.

Audio

Subframe audio keyframing
Support for audio samples up to 192kHz
Real-time OS X Audio Units and Logic plug-in effects included
Support for 64-bit third-party Audio Units plug-ins
Keyframable audio levels and effects
Adjust audio filters in real time during playback
5.1 surround monitoring and keyframe control for panning
Preset animations for 5.1 surround panning such as Back to Front, Rotate, Create Space, and more
10- or 31-parameter EQ built into each audio clip
Match Audio for smoothing out EQ from different microphones
Audio enhancements for volume normalisation, background noise removal and hum removal, for both 50Hz and 60Hz

Audio analysis during import option to remove serious background noise and flag medium-level issues for enhancement
Over 1300 royalty-free sound effects included as a separate download
Individual audio channel control for enable/disable and configuration
Audio skimming with pitch preserved
Fade handles at the head and tail of each clip
Audio pan controls
Disable and solo controls
Audio waveform display in viewer and timeline
Logarithmic audio fades
More than 100 audio filters
“Show Reference Audio Waveforms” preference to see original waveform height when adjusting volume in the timeline
VU meters that expand as needed

Color Correction

Unique Color Board with controls for saturation, exposure and colour
Match Color for precise shot matching in one click
Balance Color instantly improves skin tones, removes colour casts, and expands dynamic range of bright and dark regions of the image.
Keyframable masks with size, rotation and softness adjustments

Adjust inside or outside of colour mask
Unlimited numbers of colour corrections per shot
Save and reuse colour settings presets
20 Color Board presets
Over 20 advanced colour Looks in the Effects Browser

Supported
Formats and I/O¹

Apple ProRes family, a 10-bit, full-width VBR codec that supports all major frame sizes and frame rates from ProRes Proxy to ProRes 4444
Resolutions supported up to 4K frame sizes
Background transcode original media to ProRes 422 or ProRes Proxy for better performance
Create Camera Archives from any folder of media for importing into Final Cut Pro.
Import Camera Archives from third-party video capture cards and software.
Import from Apple devices including iPhone, iPod touch and iPad 2.
Import projects and Events from iMovie.
Sony IMX, XDCAM, XDCAM EX, XDCAM HD and XDCAM HD422 import supported with additional Sony software
FireWire device control for streaming capture for tape-based HDV, DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50 and DVCPRO HD
Export presets for Apple devices, including Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and Mac
Export presets for YouTube, Podcast Producer, Facebook, Vimeo, CNN iReport and email
Export and burn DVD, AVCHD disc, and Blu-ray disc.²
Apple-designed menus for DVDs and animated menus for Blu-ray discs
Export as Image Sequence
Export as HTTP live streaming for Internet streaming to mobile, Wi-Fi and broadband.
Export to uncompressed 8-bit and 10-bit 4:2:2.
Export audio as AAC, AC3, AIFF, CAF, MP3 and WAV files.
Import and edit layered Adobe Photoshop files.

Native editing³ support for:

H.264 from GoPro and iFrame cameras
H.264 from DSLR cameras
Broadcast Wave Format
DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50 and DVCPRO HD
HDV
Panasonic AVC-Intra, including AVC-Intra 100 and AVC-Intra 50
Sony IMX, XDCAM HD, XDCAM HD422 and XDCAM EX
JVC-created XDCAM EX
Canon XF MPEG-2; ingest supported with additional software
AVCHD, including Panasonic AVCCAM and Sony NXCAM
Uncompressed 8- and 10-bit SD and HD
Apple Intermediate Codec
Still images including PSD, BMP, GIF, RAW, JPEG, PNG, TGA and TIFF
Compressed audio including AAC, AIFF, BWF, CAF, MP3, MP4 and WAV
XML import and export for collaboration with third-party finishing tools and media asset management systems.

Media
Management

Media relink to manually connect projects and Events to files that have been moved or modified.
Content Auto-Analysis attaches useful metadata during import.
Range-based keywords for creating custom searchable metadata
Create Smart Collections for automatically organising clips based on selected criteria.
Keyword Collection created by importing a folder of media
Mark ranges as Favorites or Rejects for sorting and sifting.
Media management tools for moving and copying media
Render file deletion per project
Move and Merge Events functions
Consolidate Project Media for moving media to another system
Extensive search, sort and sift capabilities in the Event Browser

Transcode Media function allows a choice between optimising to ProRes 422 or creating ProRes Proxy media in the background while editing.
Group clips by creation date, date imported, reel, scene, duration or file type.
Group Events by year or by year and month.
Show date ranges in the Event Library.
Arrange clips by name, take or duration.
Reveal clip in Finder or Event Browser.
Custom comment fields
Preference for connecting to proxy or original high-resolution media
Send-to-Compressor integration
Import media and use both Events and projects directly on Xsan.