Possible Upgrade to FCPX and a new Mac Pro on the release of macOS Sierra.

There are rumours spreading about a big upgrade to Final Cut Pro X and it could be in October and maybe involved with a New MacPro. Indications are that features of macOS Sierra (10.12) will allow new internals for Final Cut Pro.

Let’s look at the background.

Quicktime is about to fade away, over time it will be replaced by The AVFoundation framework. As part of building applications Xcode, Apple’s development system, checks to see if the code uses old or depreciated OS features. It uses a API Diffs file to look at all code. The QuickTime part shows that the API headers have been removed. The AVFoundation part shows a lot has been added. Current applications will work in the meantime, but will need to be updated at some time. Here is an opportunity for FCPX to jump in with the release of macOS Sierra and specifically October’s FCPX Creative Summit 28-30 October.

Siri by way of Sirikit, understands context: “Show me interview clips… show me those with dual mono” will only show interview clips with dual mono – not first one selection of clips followed by all clips with dual mono. This kind of automation would work well with scripting. This paves the way for FCPX to use this Scripting functionality. Apple has released a new guide on that subject: The Mac Automation Scripting Guide.

New “Photos.app” feature that allows automatic generation of ‘Memories” . The new Photos.app will recognise content of meta data in a photo or a clip, not just photos of a specific person, but also other content like different type of animals, even similar landscapes, like beaches or paddocks. In the new ‘photos.app’ this content can be grouped together and automatically made into a video, It appears that this same technology can make automatic videos from selected clips in a video library.

Thanks to information about these new features from Alex 4D

When will Apple release a new Mac Pro?

Maybe the FCPX Creative Summit 28-30 October will be a good time for Apple to announce or release a new MacPro and tie that with the new Operating system and an upgrade of FCPX.

Code in Mac OS X El Capitan hints that a new Mac Pro (one with 10 USB 3 ports) could arrive soon.

The code ithat offers a hint that a new Mac Pro may be on its way is a reference to a new Mac that’s codenamed “AAPLJ95,1” within El Capitan, according to Pike’s Universum.

The current Mac Pro is similarly codenamed AAPLJ90,1 so it’s plausible that the code refers to a new version of the professional-level workstation.

Another clue that this is the Mac Pro is the fact that the code hints that there are 10 USB 3.0 ports on the new machine, and only the Mac Pro has anywhere near that many ports. (Currently there are 4 USB ports and 6 Thunderbolt 2 ports on the Mac Pro, while the iMacs have 4 USB and 2 Thunderbolt.)

It’s been nearly three years since the current MacPro went on sale. As the Verge observes in an editorial::

“This is without a doubt the future of the pro desktop,” Phil Schiller said when announcing the Mac Pro on stage in 2013. Did he mean that this was the precise model Apple expects professional users to use literally forever?

It’s about time, then, for an update to the Mac Pro. Of course, Apple hasn’t announced an official launch date for the next generation of Mac Pro systems.

But there is a Creative Summit in October at Cupertino from 28th October to 30th October great opportunity to announce a New MacPro and or update to FCPX at the keynote between 10.30 and Midday.

Working on something big.

Finally I noticed a comment from Larry Jordan in his weekly Blog; 15th August:

“I still love Final Cut, but Apple hasn’t updated it in a while because they are working on something big.”

Does that not say something from a FCPX commentator who is usually “in the know”

 

On another related note:

Apple App Store Subscriptions and Final Cut Pro X

 A further series rumours could see us being presented with a subscription model for Pro Apps in the Future. Apple has announced that developers making apps for sale in the iOS, Apple TV and Mac app stores can now offer subscription pricing for any app:

Apps in all categories on the App Store will be eligible to offer in-app purchases for auto-renewable subscriptions to services or content.

Apple has recently been developing iMovie as a customised version of Final Cut Pro X with professional features turned off and with additional consumer-focussed features. They are currently the same application with different UIs activated depending on whether it is running as a consumer application or professional application.

This is an opportunity for iMovie to be retired and FCPX Basic (with the features of iMovie) to be free and Professional features to become part of a subscription model.

If Apple adds a subscription payment option for Final Cut Pro X. Apple would need to decide what happens when customers no longer want to pay their subscription fees (which can be annual, monthly or even weekly).

In the case of Adobe Creative Cloud users, if they stop paying Adobe, they can no longer open CC apps to view their projects or make any changes.

Apple have the option of going different ways with Final Cut if the subscription is stopped:

• Final Cut reverts to the last full version paid for.

• Final Cut reverts to a ‘no modifications, just export’ mode.

• Final Cut reverts to the iMovie feature set.

This would allow changes to existing projects to be viewed or completed in iMovie.

If Apple did introduce a subscription pricing to their professional applications, they have some options:

• Next versions of Final Cut Pro X only available by subscription.
• Future versions of Final Cut free for those who bought / buy it.
• Some features only needed for high-end or industry-specific workflows could be unlocked by subscription

Thanks to comments from by Karen Haslam | 08 Aug 16

So, will there be an update to FCPX to take advantage of those new features in macOS Sierra (10.12), The possible new MacPro and October summit.

Over all lot’s of indicators but nothing announced at this stage – here’s hoping.

Finally the possibility of subscriptions for FCPX ????

What do you think?.