Home

Final Cut Express 4.0

Don't bother

Written by AS from Perth

Jun 4, 2009

This would be great if it actually worked.
I bought it, installed it, and have had it spontaneously quit and perform unprogrammed and uninitiated edits a dozen times already. This is no exaggeration.
The program looks fantastic, but so far does not deliver any of the useful features and editing control I bought it for.
If you want to upgrade from imovie '09 wait for version 5 or go back to version 3.
I am most severely disappointed with apple for the first time ever.

63 of 164 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Adobe Premiere was better for me

Written by JB from BURRINGBAR

Mar 21, 2009

I was a Premiere user and i find this Final cut program annoying and confusing.. I will really have to persevere with it to get ease of use and speed up. I realize that I need to spend allot of time with it for that to happen. If you are a beginner in film editing i wouldn't recommend this program.

43 of 114 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Too hard to use

Written by JS

Feb 27, 2009

After using iMovie HD (my favorite) and iMovie 08/09 (useless dumbed down versions of the full feature iMovie HD), I decided to try Final Cut Express. Unfortunately, I find this is too difficult to use, and was told by Apple that it is recommended that users must take a class (which are not cheap). This sort of defeats the user-friendly reputation and experiences I have had with Apple over the years.

My advice is, if you are a professional videographer or have a background in video, this software is probably fine. If you are an amateur, the learning curve will be fairly long, and require formal training. I am very disappointed in this product (which is rare, as most Apple products are of the highest standards, intuitive, and easy to use).

124 of 211 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Not worth the money & certainly not worth the HEADACHES!

Written by KP from Pinal County

Dec 9, 2008

I did NOT do enough research prior to buying Final Cut Express 4 - it should be
relabeled "Final Cut - DEPRESSED" - as depressed is what you'll feel when you find out just how little FCE can actually do!

And for all of the folks that say - "You just need to learn how to use it" -
Listen - In MY opinion - it should be WAY more user friendly than it is!

I HAVE worked with PC based video editing programs (AVID & Pinnacle) for the last 5 years,
and making the switch to FCE is like already knowing how to
drive a car really well, BUT THEN - You have a stroke!!
You already KNOW what you want - you just cant make the system DO what you want...or it takes 5 steps instead of one... FCE is a very frustrating program.

Hopefully, Final Cut Pro - or Studio will do more of what I WANT - for the price - it'd better!!!!

The old saying is SOOOOO TRUE!!!!

Ya Gets What Ya Pay For!!!

87 of 198 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Apple, I'm disappointed

Written by AT from Williamstown

Oct 21, 2008

Why? you have cut out soundtrack, one of my favorite parts of this bundle that i used very often. livetype is now pathetic, with few extras to make great titles with, and there are hardly any big updates. all this new software does is take away features. this is not an upgrade, it is a DOWNGRADE. go to ebay and buy final cut 3.5 if you think you've out grown imovie, don't waste you hard earned cash on this junk

75 of 100 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

No .mov import? Are they kidding

Written by RD from Houston

Oct 13, 2008

I was so looking forward to this and have outgrown imovie. I get home and it doesn't support .mov importing. Everything I have is .mov and there is nothing that converts at the same quality as the original so thats it, a wasted $200.

It might be a great product if it could import .mov otherwise its 100% a waste.

75 of 101 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Not Worth Upgrading

Written by WM from meridian

Sep 24, 2008

I am a film student, and have used studio and express. 3.5 works great if you are only using DV and HDV. There are no new features in 4.0 that make it worth buying.

52 of 80 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Do not buy this product

Written by MW from Niles

Sep 13, 2008

What a piece of garbage. I thought the strength in Apple was their graphic arts programs, but this Final Cut Express doesn't even come close to the quality of the PC based Pinnacle software. I have tried multiple ways to get my home movies that I converted to DVD to import into Final Cut Express and it will not work. I continue to get error messages, with no solutions.

53 of 135 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Sticking with Windows version on Parallels

Written by LS from Nashua

Sep 9, 2008

FCE has a learning curve and then you find you can't do things you could on Windows versions like attach DVD chapter marks to Mpeg2 or other formats than QT Movies that are very large. It's not as intuitive to use as a package like Cyberlinks Director which I'll run with parallels. It allows everything to be done in one pass to make a DVD. Plus Apple doesn't have a trial download and won't take software returns so you need to read the user manual or something before committing.

47 of 81 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

I want my money back.

Written by JS from Texarkana

Sep 4, 2008

After upgrading from 3.0 to 4.0 I lost more than half of what I had.
More than half of the special effects were no more. Gone. How is possible
to sell an item that is less than its previous product was ?????

Now I am in a mess trying to get 3.0 loaded back on. and I am out $100.
boy, Apple didn't even kiss me.

122 of 155 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Not worth it unless you are really making films

Written by SW from Kettering

Aug 9, 2008

This is a joke. It's not intuitive unless you have take a class or studied the manual. You can't use iTunes music in the video like you can in iMovie. It's cumbersome to make manipulate video like you can in iMovie. I spent the $199 thinking I'd recover some of the features they took out of iMovie when they made it "better" only to realize that it set me back a bunch of money and time.

61 of 110 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Unbelievably difficult

Written by AK from HAYFIELD

Jul 17, 2008

I cannot tell you at how difficult this software is to understand if you are upgrading from imovie08. I got to grips with imovie literally in seconds. This is so un-intuitive you would not believe.

I am a complete Mac convert who is not happy. Apples video tutorials gloss over the important starting points like when you import an XLM file from imovie, how come it says unrendered?? I rendered the thing for iDVD. So how do you render it. The tutorial doesn't mention anything about rendering? Also how do you add a soundtrack back in that's lost when importing from imovie. It just doesn't say anywhere. Or am i just a bit simple?????

47 of 109 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

I don't get it

Written by JM from ANCHORAGE

Jul 16, 2008

This is the most frustrating software I've encountered in 30 years of using a computer. I'm sure it works, I just can't figure out how. I'm not normally a manual reader, but I've been forced to the manual for Final Cut. The manual is 1,000 pages long....I'd say this is software for a person who is learning to edit by taking a class and having an instructor to explain it. But for the lone wolf on the wild frontier, better find something else.

47 of 82 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Buy Adobe instead

Written by PL from Tukwila

Jun 2, 2008

While the editing abilities of Final Cut Express are okay, many of your projects will be destroyed due to FCE's badly designed file management system. It will not only put different parts of your project into different folders, making them very hard to find and rename into something useful, but should you rename or move even one file then Final Cut will throw a computer version of a temper tantrum and corrupt your project file, forcing you to start over again from scratch. And forget about archiving. I have worked on several projects using Final Cut and not once was I able to archive a project then open it again to do more work. Final Cut works on the premise that all video and editing will remain on your computer for all time, untouched, and that you will never need to archive anything in order to open up space for another project. It doesn't matter how good the editing features are when the file management part of the program is so badly made that projects self-destruct.

I'm demanding my money back and using it to buy Adobe video software, _they_ know the importance of archiving and user-friendly file management.

300 of 453 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Very disappointed

Written by JF from Palm Beach Gardens

Jun 1, 2008

The features of FCE4 actually led to my acquiring my first MAC. I had been happily using Adobe Premier Elements on my PC, but felt the need to move to the next level. My immediate problem was that the application could not "see" my relatively new Panasonic camcorder, no matter what source I turned to. The software specs should be MUCH more specific about its compatability limitations, and you should have your dealer go over these limitations with you. There should be some demo footage and tutorials included so it is easier to get some utility out of the program...as it is you are on your own, and it is not at all an intuitive program...even if you are accustomed to other editing software

198 of 309 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

Do Not Buy This Until BUG is Fixed

Written by NM from Northampton

May 30, 2008

I bought this and it worked well for the first week. Then a BUG in the software stops you from opening projects. Loads of people are upset by this (SEE THREAD) and I have lost over 6 projects. Apple have fixed this BUG with Final Cut Pro but not with Final Cut Express 4. Why? Do we not matter?

The unreliability is shocking. I don't trust this software anymore. BEWARE!

236 of 359 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

where is Soundtrack ??

Written by ES from Carouge

May 28, 2008

Every update of FCE you do, less you have ? Where is Soundtrack.... I need soundtrack, I bought FCE because soundtrack was in, now it's out... the less Apple can do is a soundtrack update to Pro....

Thank you to provide this update (for free of course)

80 of 121 people found this useful

Final Cut Express 4.0

What the ....

Written by TC from Austin

Jan 19, 2008

I went from Movie Maker to Final Cut Express... I thought I had some skills, I guess I was wrong. DO NOT move to Final Cut without training. Not worth it. Neither simple or intuitive.

120 of 242 people found this useful