Apple has unveiled new G5-optimized versions of three of its professional creative apps. Final Cut Pro 4, Shake 3, and DVD Studio Pro 2 have all been updated to take specific advantage of the G5 processor in Appleis Power Mac G5. The updates are free to owners of the current versions of those apps. From Apple:

Apple today unveiled G5-optimized 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 "Panther." The new version 4.1 of Appleis 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-optimized 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.

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 4.1is 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.

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 optimized 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 optimized 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 US$999 and DVD Studio Pro 2 for US$499 through The Apple Store, Appleis retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Registered Final Cut Pro users can upgrade to Final Cut Pro 4 for US$399 and registered DVD Studio Pro users can upgrade to DVD Studio Pro 2 for US$199.

Shake 3 is available for Mac OS X, Linux and IRIX through Apple Authorized Pro Film and Video Resellers. Shake 3 for Mac OS X comes with unlimited render licenses for US$4,950, and Shake 3 for Linux and IRIX for US$9,900 along with annual maintenance of US$1,485. Existing Shake for Linux, IRIX and Windows customers have the option to double the number of their existing Shake licenses at no additional cost by migrating them to Mac OS X.

You can find more information on the new unit at Appleis Web site. You can order it directly at the Apple Store. For other online retailers, check out our Help TMO Grow page for retailers with TMO affiliate programs.

Apple is also offering a discount of US$300 when customers buy a new Mac with Final Cut Pro 4 and DVD Studio Pro 2. For those just buying the software, Apple is offering a discount of US$150 when purchasing Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro together. You can get details on the offer at Appleis site.