Apple Unveils Final Cut Pro X with 64-bit Support

Apple Intros Final Cut Pro XApple took over the Final Cut Pro User Group Supermeet at the NAB conference to introduce Final Cut Pro X Tuesday night. The new version of the professional video editing application will include 64-bit and OpenCL support, and can edit content in native formats instead of first transcoding.

The new version of Final Cut Pro will take advantage of Apple’s Grand Central Dispatch to offer better performance since all cores in a Mac can be used to process video and effects. FCP X will also offer 4K resolution-independent playback support, includes a magnetic timeline feature that automatically moves clips to new tracks to avoid conflicts, uses non-destructive ColorSync color management, and allows for timecode keywords in clips.

Final Cut Pro will be gaining a new user interface that borrows some from iMovie, includes smart collections to automatically organize media assets, offers background rendering, supports face recognition like iMovie, and more.

Apple didn’t show off new features in other Final Cut Studio suite applications, but company representatives did hint that the other titles should be getting updates, too.

Final Cut Pro will be available in June through Apple’s Mac App Store for US$299. Previously, Final Cut Pro cost $999.

[Thanks to TechCrunch, Macworld and The Loop for info on FCP X.]