G5-Optimised Versions of Final Cut Pro Unveiled

Apple Unveils G5-Optimised Versions of Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro and Shake Playback of Seven Fully Uncompressed SD Video Streams

CUPERTINO, California‹November, 2003‹Apple® has unveiled G5-optimised versions of Final Cut Pro ®4, Shake® 3 and DVD Studio Pro® 2 which have all been fine-tuned to take advantage of the incredible performance and architecture of the Power Mac® G5 and Mac OS® X version 10.3 ³Panther.²

The new version 4.1 of Apple¹s Emmy award-winning Final Cut Pro now delivers simultaneous playback of seven fully uncompressed standard definition (SD) video streams with real-time effects using a dual 2.0 GHz processor Power Mac G5 and Xserve® RAID. The new G5-optimised Final Cut Pro 4.1, Shake 3.0.1 and DVD Studio Pro 2.0.2, with the new Compressor 1.1 update, are immediately available for current Final Cut Pro 4, Shake 3 and DVD Studio Pro 2 customers as free software updates from www.apple.com/software/pro.

³With the new releases of Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro and Shake, we have optimised our suite of professional applications to tap the advanced architecture of the Power Mac G5, and the results are unprecedented for both real-time and rendering performance,² said Rob Schoeben, Apple¹s vice president of Applications Marketing. ³All this performance is available at a fraction of the cost of systems requiring dedicated hardware.²

While broadcast professionals will benefit from this new industry-leading SD performance of seven fully uncompressed streams, DV editors will benefit from the groundbreaking ability of Final Cut Pro 4.1 on a Power Mac G5 to deliver five simultaneous streams of DV video in safe-mode without the use of any additional hardware. In addition to the real-time performance, Final Cut Pro 4.1¹s rendering is now almost twice as fast at 32-bit floating point render jobs on a Power Mac G5 when compared to a Power Mac G4. This breakthrough performance removes the barrier of long render times and allows broadcast and post-production professionals to work at higher levels of quality faster than ever before.

³Using other tools, we would need days, even weeks to produce DVDs for our clients. Final Cut Pro 4 and DVD Studio Pro 2 give us the flexibility to deliver the highest quality of work without requiring us to spend a fortune on additional hardware,² said Sven Krong, co-founder and president of Click Media, an interactive communications agency with clients such as Fox, Warner and Dreamworks. ³After previewing the new G5-optimised versions of Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro, we are blown away by the results. We now have the horsepower to deliver stunning results to clients in a fraction of the time it used to take and all at a cost we can afford.²

DVD Studio Pro 2.0.2 with the Compressor 1.1 update delivers a significant performance leap for encoding projects from Final Cut Pro 4.1 into MPEG-2, supplying the highest quality for DVD authoring. Compressor 1.1 completes high volume and repetitive encoding tasks up to 55 percent faster on a Power Mac G5 when compared to a Power Mac G4. The integrated workflow between DVD Studio Pro 2 and Final Cut Pro 4 saves time and hard disk space while delivering pristine-quality video by removing the need for an intermediate export file thereby eliminating generational loss.

Shake 3.0.1 for the Power Mac G5 and Panther continues to set the standard for advanced compositing and visual effects with an extensive toolset specifically designed to handle the most complex tasks in the industry. Shake 3.0.1 is now optimised to render up to 45 percent faster on a Power Mac G5 when compared to a Power Mac G4. The image processing engine can now handle massive amounts of data even faster and with better results. Free distributed rendering on Panther enables any artist to produce film-quality content at unprecedented speeds.

Together with Logic 6.0, Apple now offers its entire suite of professional applications optimised to leverage the performance advantages of the Power Mac G5.

Pricing & Availability Final Cut Pro 4.1, Shake 3.0.1 and DVD Studio Pro 2.0.2, with the new Compressor 1.1 update, are available immediately to current Final Cut Pro 4, Shake 3 and DVD Studio Pro 2 customers as free software updates from www.apple.com/software/pro. Final Cut Pro 4 is available for $2,069.00+GST and DVD Studio Pro 2 for $1,035+GST through Apple Authorised Resellers. Registered Final Cut Pro users can upgrade to Final Cut Pro 4 for $815+GST and registered DVD Studio Pro users can upgrade to DVD Studio Pro 2 for $415+GST. Shake 3 is available for Mac OS X, Linux and IRIX via selected Authorised Resellers. Full system requirements and additional information on this suite of professional applications can be found at www.apple.com/software/pro.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators and creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.

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