Final Cut Pro: How to Upgrade to Final Cut Pro 1.2.5

It is important to know when it is appropriate to upgrade. Generally, you should never upgrade in the middle of a project. While the Final Cut Pro update process is fast and automatic, recreating necessary preferences and other small changes that happen during the updating process make it an undesirable task to perform when you are in the middle of an edit. In all cases, you should finish your project first, output it to tape, then upgrade Final Cut Pro after the project has been successfully delivered.

If you are using Digital Video (DV) and want to take advantage of the new YUV rendering capabilities of Final Cut Pro 1.2.5, you should finish your project first. Output to tape, then upgrade. Import your project file into the new version, update the project file, re-render it, and output this final version to tape.

Important: Do not install an English version of Final Cut Pro 1.2.5 on a localized version of the Mac OS. Doing so results in extension conflicts.

Installation Requirements

Hardware Requirements

• Power Macintosh G3 computer with a 266 MHz processor or faster (300 MHz processor or faster required for DV)
• PowerBook G3 computer with a 300 MHz processor or faster
• 128 megabytes of RAM
• CD-ROM drive
• 6 Gigabyte A/V rated drive (16 GB recommended)
• ATI built-in video on G3 models or later (required for DV)
• Apple FireWire or other QuickTime compatible digital video card for capturing video from an external source or exporting video to tape.
• The correct FireWire or device control cable and any additional cables you may need for connecting your deck or camcorder to your computer.

• Final Cut Pro 1.0, 1.0.1, or 1.2.1 (The Final Cut Pro 1.2.5 updater updates any of these versions.)
• Mac OS 9, Mac OS 9.04 recommended
• QuickTime 4.1.2 or later (A QuickTime Pro License is included with the Final Cut Pro CD).

Final Cut Pro 1.2.5

The Final Cut Pro 1.2.5 updater may be found in the document:

120026 Final Cut Pro 1.2.5: Document and Software

Mac OS 9.0.4

If you are using Mac OS 9 and have not updated to Mac OS 9.0.4, the necessary Mac OS updater is located in the Update Mac OS 9 folder on the Final Cut Pro CD. If you do not have Mac OS 9, you must install it first before running the updater.

Before You Run the Updater

Before opening the updater, it is important to follow these guidelines:

• Turn off any security software that you may have installed on your computer.
• Turn off any virus-protection software that you may have installed.
• Do not interrupt the installation process; doing so may result in an incomplete installation and will require you to reinstall Final Cut Pro.

Potential Issues when Running the Updater

• When a custom icon is attached to the previously installed version of Final Cut Pro, the 1.2.5 update fails. To resolve this issue remove the custom icon.
  
  Follow these steps to remove the custom icon:
  
  1. Click the Final Cut Pro application icon to select it.

  2. Choose Get Info from the Finder's File menu. A new window appears. The custom icon is located in the upper left corner of the info window.

  3. Click the icon to select it.

  4. Choose Clear from the edit menu. This deletes the custom icon. You can now run the Final Cut Pro 1.2.5 update.

• When the name of the previously installed Final Cut Pro application has been changed, the 1.2.5 update fails. To update Final Cut Pro, rename the original 1.2 version of the application to "Final Cut Pro" All three words must be capitalized, and be separated by spaces.

Before you open the new version of Final Cut Pro for the first time, do not forget to readjust its memory allocation, as it was reset by the upgrade process. For additional information on allocating additional memory, see article 58630 "Final Cut Pro: Allocating Memory".

Now you're ready to open Final Cut Pro, but before you start editing be sure to check the following preferences to make sure that they are correct, since the preferences from your previous version of Final Cut Pro have been moved to the desktop in preparation for deletion:

1. Make sure that the Scratch Disk Preferences are set to the disks you intend to use for video capture.

2. Double-check that the Device Control method is correct for your configuration (DV or Serial).

3. If you are using a serial device for control, you should recalibrate the timecode offset.
For additional assistance in calibrating serial timecode, see article 25154, "Final Cut Pro: How to Calibrate Serial Timecode".

4. If you are using a third-party video capture solution, you should set your "Capture Input" and default Sequence Settings appropriately.

When updating projects from prior version of Final Cut Pro, an alert box appears with message asking if you want to delete all render files associated with that project. If you have DV footage captured using Apple FireWire you should do this because Final Cut Pro now uses YUV rendering for DV video; rendering with much higher quality than before.

The Final Cut Pro Device Qualification page can be found at http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/resources/devicelist.php

If you are using an analog capture card, check the Final Cut Pro Device Qualification page to determine if it takes advantage of YUV rendering. If you have a third party capture solution that does not work with YUV rendering, you should not delete your render files because there is no advantage to rerendering them.

System Software Installed by the Final Cut Pro 1.2.5 Updater

These system software extensions are installed by the Final Cut Pro updater, overwriting any previous versions:

• FireWire Enabler 2.4
• FireWire Support 2.4
• QuickTime FireWire DV Enabler 2.2
• QuickTime FireWire DV Support 2.2

Final Cut Pro introduces several new features in version 1.2.5:

• Capturing, editing, and exporting of 16:9 wide-screen video
• YUV processing to preserve the values of the original video material
• "Make Reference Movies," enabling the use of pointers to source video files, saving both rendering time and disk space

These are some of the known issues that have been addressed in Final Cut Pro 1.2.5:

• Edit Decision Lists (EDL) now get proper timecode when exported with subclips.
• When recapturing PAL media, Final Cut Pro no longer attempts to recapture more media than requested.
• There are memory improvements for better performance with large projects.
• There is better reel name substitution