Apple on Tuesday released new versions of its Final Cut Pro 4, DVD Studio Pro 2 and Shake 3 applications, all optimized for the Power Mac G5 and fine-tuned for Panther. The new versions of the applications — Final Cut Pro 4.1, Shake 3.0.1 and DVD Studio Pro 2.0.2 — are available for download from Apple’s Web site.
“Our customers are really happy with the performance they had with our pro apps and today they will be over the moon,” Richard Kerris, senior director of Pro Application Marketing, told MacCentral. “The performance that we’re getting now with the optimized version of our pro apps is just incredible.”
The new version of Final Cut Pro gets the biggest improvement with its Panther and G5 optimization. Apple notes that on a dual-processor 2.0GHz Power Mac G5, Final Cut Pro 4.1 can now simultaneously play back seven fully uncompressed standard definition (SD) video streams with real-time effects. DV editors can play five simultaneous streams of DV video in safe-mode without needing additional hardware, according to Apple. Rendering is almost twice as fast at 32-bit floating point render jobs compared to a G4, as well.
DVD Studio Pro 2.0.2 and Compressor 1.1 also offer performance improvements encoding Final Cut Pro 4.1 projects into MPEG-2. Apple said that Compressor 1.1 can complete high volume and repetitive encoding tasks up to 55 percent faster on a G5 than a G4. Shake 3.0.1 sees a 45 percent increase in G5 rendering compared to the same job on a G4.
Final Cut Pro 4 costs US$999; DVD Studio Pro 2 is priced at $499. Shake 3 for Mac OS X costs $4,950 for unlimited render licenses (Shake 3 for Linux and IRIX costs considerably more).
In related news, Apple is offering bundle deals on new Macs purchased with Final Cut Pro 4 and DVD Studio Pro 2 and Final Cut Pro 4 and DVD Studio Pro 2 purchased together without a new Mac. Details are available from Apple’s Web site.