Apple updates Final Cut Pro X, Motion & Compressor in push to win back pro users

Alongside a new marketing push from Apple to promote its professional-grade video editing software, the company also pushed out a trio of software updates on Thursday for Final Cut Pro X, Motion, and Compressor.

The new updates are free for those who have already purchased the applications, bringing the version numbers up to Final Cut Pro X 10.0.8, Motion 5.0.7, and Compressor 4.0.7. While the updates for the latter to are comprised mostly of bug fixes, the additions to Final Cut Pro X are more substantial:

• Support for Sony XAVC codec up to 4K resolution
• Option to display ProRes Log C files from ARRI ALEXA cameras with standard Rec. 709 color and contrast levels
• Resolves an issue where some third-party effects generated green frames during render
• Resolves performance issues that could occur with certain titles and effects
• Time reversed clips render in the background
• Ability to use key commands to adjust Clip Appearance settings in the timeline
• Ability to view reel number metadata located in the timecode track of video files
• Mono audio files in a surround project export with correct volume levels
• Drop zones no longer reset to the first frame of video after application restart
• Fixes a performance issue which resulted from selecting multiple ranges on a single clip
• Fixes an issue where the Play Around function did not work properly on certain clips when viewed through external video devices

As for the changes to Motion, the following items are included in the latest update, according to Apple:

• Resolves an issue where some third-party effects generated green frames during render
• Resolves performance issues that could occur with certain titles and effects
• Fixes a stability issue when splitting layers in the timeline
• Fixes an issue where launching a plug-in with a check box could require multiple clicks
• Fixes a stability issue with CoreMelt plug-ins

Finally, the following are what Apple has listed as new in the latest update to Compressor:

• Removes 1GB file size limit for uploads to Vimeo
• Fixes a stability issue when playing back certain MPEG-2 files
• Fixes a stability issue in Qmaster when processing multiple jobs

The updates coincide with a new campaign that Apple kicked off on Thursday aimed at winning back video editors to Final Cut Pro X. Video professionals were quite vocal with their dissatisfaction when Apple released the "X" update to its video editing software, as they believed it was inferior to its predecessor.

Thursday marks the eighth update to Final Cut Pro X over the last two years, as Apple has continued to incrementally restore features that were removed in the latest update, as well as add entirely new ones. The last major update came in October and added RED camera support.