One focus of the discussion will be Matrox MAX technology, which provides faster than realtime H.264 encoding for Blu-ray, the web, and mobile devices. Matrox MAX is a feature of the Matrox CompressHD accelerator card and in the Matrox MXO2 series of I/O devices for the Mac.

The event starts at 18h00 at the VFS Cafe and registration is required.

My dear friend and Final Cut Wizard, Martin Baker has just published his first ebook, Final Cut Pro Killer Secrets.

I was honoured to be asked to tech edit the book so I can personally attest to the quality of the information held within. Even if you think you know FCP inside and out, there’s sure to be at least one vital nugget of information that once discovered you’ll never know how you lived without it. It’s really that good a book.

Still not convinced? You can download a sample chapter to test the waters. I’ll be very surprised if you don’t crave more. And at US$19.00 it’s a steal.

First of all I’m sure that you’d all like to join me in wishing our fearless leader, John Christie all the best as he steps down from his role as VFCPUG President. After several years of diligent and outstanding service John leaves us to focus on his role as Vice President, Post Production at Paperny Films. It’s not an understatement to say that the group would not exist without John’s passion, initiative and drive. Many of you will have seen his presentations over the years and will recognise just how much the community has benefitted from his presence and generosity.

For those of you wondering why I’ve been so quiet of late, it’s actually been a year of changes for me too. I’ve been spending more and more time working outside of Vancouver in my role as an Apple Certified Trainer and Pro Apps Mentor Trainer. In the last 12 months I’ve taught classes in cities across North America, Europe and the Middle East. It’s been a facinating experience, connecting with diverse groups and communities, learning about how they use the Pro Apps to support the unique requirements of their workflow. I’ve also been spending a fair amount of time with Final Cut Server — more on that in a moment.

And so to the future. The first meeting of the new era is going to held at Emily Carr University on Granville Island at 7:30pm on Thursday 22nd January 2009 (North Building, Room 245). Doors open at 7pm.

The initial agenda includes the following presentations:

• The Best of Final Cut Pro 6
• Final Cut Server and You
• Just how cool is MXF4mac?
• Final Cut Q&A

The good folks at ANNEX|PRO will be providing refreshments and there will be door prizes from MXF4mac, Larry Jordan, GeeThree and Emily Carr University.

I’ve been working with Final Cut Server (FCSvr) for the last few weeks and was very fortunate to have a seat in the first public Train-the-Trainer in Cupertino last month. Unfortunately I’m going to be in Europe when the show roll into these parts, but if you’ve been wondering what all the buzz has been about then this would be one not to miss.

“We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”

Perfection is currently manifest as built-in support for Microsoft Exchange, a new “set of technologies” called Grand Central, which will enhance multicore processing, increased support for 64-bit computing to take advantage of the theoretical limit of 16TB of RAM, QuickTime X and OpenCL (Open Compute Library), which will leverage the power of modern GPUs for “general-purpose computing”.

Before you rush to the new Apple Store in Pacific Centre Mall to pick-up your copy, Snow Leopard is not scheduled to ship until next year*, and Apple are careful to state that “[a]ll features are subject to change”.

So while we have to wait, my interest is certainly piqued and viewed alongside the recent postings for Cocoa programmers to join the Pro Apps development team (here and here), there would seem to be exciting times ahead.

*Which is probably a good things as at today’s prices, you’ll need to start saving for all that RAM now.

He also took the opportunity to announce that the number of licensed FCP users has passed 1 million. That’s a lot of folk cutting video (legitimately).

With all the changes at NAB this year, the 7th Annual FCP SuperMeet, offers one opportunity to see an official Apple presentation. Richard Townhill will be in attendance to speak about the latest news with Final Cut Studio and deliver the first “public demonstration” of Final Cut Server.

Other presenters include Red, JVC, BlackMagic Design, Ripple Training’s Steve Martin on CS3 integration and Noah Kadner on the Phantom High Speed Camera. The evening will round off with the traditional raffle, which currently boasts over US$90,000 (!) of prizes, including the Final Cut Studio Master Certification training packages from Witz, I mentioned yesterday.

If you’ve yet to buy your ticket for the SuperMeet, there are less than 100 remaining.

Next week I’m making the trek down to Las Vegas for NAB. I’m really interested to see how the FCP ecosystem fares. With Apple stepping back from the fray, I think there’s greater opportunity for the third-party folks to step forward.

The FCP SuperMeet will be one of the highlights of the week I’m sure. If you’re planning to attend, you may want to take note that Witz are offering 2 Final Cut Studio training packages. The winners of which will be able to select from a range of courses to complete the requirements for Final Cut Studio Master Certification.

*While I’m on the subject, Centigrade the short I edited last year, has been nominated for a Leo in the Best Short Drama category.

Courtesy of Apple

After months of eager anticipation, followed by weeks of furtive whispers about the elusive application that never was, Apple finally began shipping Final Cut Server this week.

Final Cut Server is a media asset management and workflow automation solution, announced with some fanfare at NAB 2007. Alongside the standard overview of the main features, the Apple web site provides a 40 page PDF and a collection of video tutorials.

It’s more difficult to get excited about a product away from the buzz of a big show and there’s a lot to digest, but if Final Cut Server is able to deliver what it promises, these will prove to be exciting times.

My next Apple Certified Final Cut Pro course in Vancouver is scheduled for 12, 13, 14, 17 and 18 March. The course covers the range of features available in FCP 6, including core setup, understanding and adjusting preferences, capturing video and audio, trimming techniques, audio editing, Compressor, finishing and final output.

Course fees are CDN$1795+GST, but if you contact me directly through the VFCPUG site, you’re eligible to receive a 10% discount. Diana Weynand’s essential, Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro 6 is required and can be purchased when you register for the course.

I’ve been on the road the past couple of weeks, Paris followed by Dubai (I know!) and I’m very much looking forward to returning to the stunning Opus Hotel in Vancouver for this next round of courses.

This week I teach my first Apple Certified Soundtrack Pro 2 course for Witz. To mark the occasion, we’re offering special pricing, CDN$1395, which includes Martin Sitter’s new Apple Pro Training Series: Soundtrack Pro 2 book.

The course covers the breath of features available in STP and participants gain hands-on experience with the application to edit audio files, repair recordings, perform multitrack mixing, synchronize audio and video, analyze and fix common audio problems.

The course will be held 14-15 February at the fantastic Opus Hotel.

Please use the contact form to reach me for additional details on how to sign-up and receive the 10% VFCPUG discount.

While there appears to be considerable disappointment about the move and some speculation about what the ramifications are, reports suggest that these companies simply intend to refocus their efforts to connect with their clients in other ways.

On this week’s Digital Production BuZZ podcast, Michael Horton of LAFCPUG confirms that the FCP Supermeet is happening as scheduled and that Apple’s attendance is confirmed. His comments got me thinking that, of course, while Apple may not have its own booth, FCP is certain to be well represented by industry partners and providers of 3rd party solutions.

QuickTime 7.4.1 is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users is available through Software Update or by direct download. If you are downloading from the Apple site, be aware that there are different versions depending on which operating system you’re using:

• QuickTime 7.4.1 for Leopard
• QuickTime 7.4.1 for Tiger
• QuickTime 7.4.1 for Panther
• QuickTime 7.4.1 for Windows

To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

UPDATE 08 February 2008: QuickTime 7.4.1 fixes this issue.