CUPERTINO, CA - Apple (www.apple.com) made a number of announcements at NAB, including updates to Final Cut Pro that bring multicam editing to the tool. Apple began its NAB event with a tour of its new Tiger operating system. The OS adds 200 new features, including support for 64-bit applications, and incorporates the new QuickTime 7, which lays the ground work for HD and new media applications. QuickTime 7 supports H.264, a next generation MPEG open standard that scales video from cell phone quality all the way up to HD. HD quality video, essentially, can be played back at SD rates of just 8.5mbps.
Final Cut Pro 5 is now capable of handling numerous formats, including DV, uncompressed SD, IMX, native HDV, DVCPro HD, and uncompressed HD. The new version offers hundreds of realtime effects and transitions. Its Dynamic RT Extreme feature allows the host computer to makes sure the highest possible preview quality is always available.
Version 5 offers offers multichannel audio (24-channels I/O) at 24-bit, 96kHz resolution. Its multicam editing features allow users to edit on the fly, group up to 128 sources, and playback/preview 16 sources simultaneously. Realtime effects can be scrubbed both forwards and backwards.