Final Cut Studio 2: Compressor 3 - Technical Specifications

Final Cut Studio 2 - Part Numbers

Retail

MA886Z/A

Upgrade from Final Cut Pro

MA887Z/A

Academic

MA886Z/A

Minimum Requirements to Install All Final Cut Studio Applications

  • A Macintosh computer with a 1.25GHz or faster PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, Intel Core Duo, or Intel Xeon processor

  • 1GB of RAM

  • An AGP or PCI Express Quartz Extreme graphics card (Final Cut Studio is not compatible with integrated Intel graphics processors)

  • A display with 1024-by-768 resolution or higher

  • Mac OS X v10.4.9 or Mac OS X v10.5.5 or later

  • QuickTime 7.1.6 or later

  • A DVD drive for installation

Available Disk Space

  • 4GB of disk space required to install all applications (Final Cut Pro, Color, DVD Studio Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Motion, Cinema Tools, LiveType, Compressor, and Apple Qmaster)

  • Additional 55GB required to install all optional templates, content, and tutorials (may be installed on separate disks):

  • 9GB for DVD Studio Pro content

  • 8GB for Motion templates and tutorial media

  • 24GB for Soundtrack Pro audio content

  • 12GB for LiveFonts and LiveType animated elements and templates

  • 2GB for Apple Pro Training Final Cut Studio Tutorials media

Recommended Configurations

The following are recommended for all applications:

  • 2GB of RAM when working with compressed HD and uncompressed SD sources

  • 4GB of RAM when working with uncompressed HD sources

  • A display with 1280 x 1024 resolution or higher

  • 4 GB of hard disc space is required to install all of the Final Cut Studio 2 applications

  • An additional 55 GB of hard disc space is required to install all optional templates, content, and tutorials (may be installed on separate discs):

    • 9 GB for DVD Studio Pro content

    • 8 GB for Motion templates and tutorial media

    • 24 GB for Soundtrack Pro audio content

    • 12 GB for LiveFonts and LiveType animated elements and templates

    • 2 GB for Apple Pro Training Final Cut Studio Tutorials media

*Some features require additional hardware. Capturing HD resolution video using the ProRes 422 format requires a Mac Pro with an Intel Xeon processor or a G5 Quad computer and a qualified third-party capture card. DV, DVCPRO 50, and DVCPRO HD output requires a FireWire-enabled camera or deck. SD output via FireWire requires an AJA Io. Please contact your Apple Authorized Reseller for information.

Compressor 3

High-Performance Encoding

  • H.264 Apple devices, web, mobile devices, and HD DVD

  • Compatible I-frame insertion

  • Full QuickTime support

  • MPEG-2 encoding

  • MPEG-1 encoding

  • MPEG-4 encoding

  • Distributed encoding with segmentation options

  • Two-pass VBR encoding for MPEG-2

  • Provides Dolby-certified encoding to Dolby Digital Professional AC-3 format

  • Accepts QuickTime (single-channel or multichannel), AIFF, Sound Designer, and WAV files

  • Advanced chaptering for AppleTV and podcasting

  • Closed caption support for QuickTime and MPEG-2

  • Scaling and down-converting

  • Standards conversions

  • Retiming

  • Preview with split-screen comparison

  • High-quality image processing

  • More than 100 presets included

  • Automated encoding with droplets

  • Automatic and custom cropping

  • Automatic and custom padding

  • 14 image processing filters: brightness/contrast; highlight, midtone, and shadow color corrections; deinterlacing; gamma correction; noise removal; sharpen edge; black/white restore; watermark; text overlay; timecode generator; fade in/out; and letterbox

  • Four audio filters: dynamic range; peak limiter; Apple: AUGraphicEQ and fade in/out

  • Post encoded files to iDisk or FTP

  • Reverse Telecine

  • Deinterlacing

  • Droplets for automation

Dolby Digital Professional Encoding

  • Dolby-certified encoding to Dolby Digital Professional AC-3 format

  • Accepts QuickTime (single-channel or multichannel), AIFF, Sound Designer, and WAV format sound files for encoding

  • Support for all channel formats from mono to 5.1 surround sound

  • Automatically creates 2.0 or 5.1 based on number of channels in the source media file

  • Confidence decoding for preview of AC-3 files

Video Filters

  • BlackWhite Restore

  • Brightness and Contrast

  • Color Correct Highlights

  • Color Correct Midtones

  • Color Correct Shadows

  • Deinterlacing

  • Fade In/Out

  • Gamma Correction

  • Letterbox

  • Noise Removal

  • Sharpen Edge

  • Text Overlay

  • Timecode Generator

  • Watermark (Image, animated with QuickTime or Motion files)

Audio Filters

  • Dynamic Range

  • Peak Limiter

  • Apple: AUGraphicEQ

  • Fade In/Out

Input Video Formats

  • QuickTime

    • Apple ProRes 422

    • Animation

    • BMP

    • Video

    • Cinepak

    • DV

    • DVCPRO

    • DVCPRO HD

    • H.261

    • H.263

    • H.264

    • JPEG 2000

    • M-JPEG A

    • M-JPEG B

    • Photo JPEG

    • Planar RGB

    • PNG

    • Sorenson 2

    • Sorenson 3

    • TGA

    • Uncompressed 8- and 10-bit video

  • MPEG-1

  • MPEG-2

    • Elementary

    • Program

  • MPEG-4

  • AVI

Input Audio Formats

  • QuickTime

    • AIFF

    • Sound Designer

    • WAV

  • Dolby Digital (AC-3)

  • Soundtrack Pro STAP

Over 100 Presets

  • Apple Devices

  • Podcasting

  • Advanced Format Conversions

  • Audio Formats

  • SD DVD

  • HD DVD

  • Motion Graphics

  • Web

  • Modify Apple presets

  • Create your own

Apple Qmaster

  • Provides distributed encoding and rendering for DVD Studio Pro (via Compressor) and Shake and image-based rendering applications

  • Distribute jobs to up to 10 nodes

  • Segment jobs to multiple computers or send complete movies to single nodes

  • AutoCluster provides easy setup for unmanaged services

  • Create virtual render farms by turning on services to split processor performance

  • Control managed services with Qadministrator

  • Scheduling allows additional Mac systems to be used during off-hours

  • Specify cluster storage location to be on local disk or Xsan

  • Note: AVI, 3G, Dolby Digital, and AIFF cannot be segmented to multiple systems

Output Video Formats

  • AVI

  • QuickTime

    • Animation

    • Apple Pixlet

    • BMP

    • Video

    • Cinepak

    • DV

    • DVCPRO

    • H.261

    • H.263

    • H.264

    • JPEG 2000

    • M-JPEG A

    • M-JPEG B

    • Photo JPEG

    • Planar RGB

    • PNG

    • Sorenson 2

    • Sorenson 3

    • TGA

    • Video

  • MPEG-1

  • MPEG-2

    • Elementary

    • Transport

    • Program

  • MPEG-4

    • M4V

    • M4A

    • MP4

  • Sequential TIFF and TGA

  • 3G (3GPP)

Output Audio Formats

  • QuickTime

    • AIFF (PCM)

    • AAC

    • Alaw 2:1

    • Dolby Digital Professional

    • IMA 4:1

    • Linear PCM

    • MACE 3:1

    • MACE 6:1 QDesign Music 2

    • Qualcomm PureVoice

    • uLAW 2:1

  • Dolby Digital (AC-3) 2.0 and 5.1 surround sound

  • MP3

  1. Copy protection requires that you output your project to a replicator. Macrovision requires that users work with a Macrovision-certified replication facility or execute a Macrovision usage agreement. Check with your replicator for costs and minimum quantities

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