Lots of good stuff for this you week, but, first, a heads-up. My article last week comparing Adobe Media Encoder and Apple Compressor had a number of significant errors in it that I need to correct. I spent the week talking with the folks at Adobe and researching Apple's website so that my rewrite would be more accurate. If you read the article, please read it again as virtually all of it has changed.

And, if you sent links to a friend, send them the link to this one, too. My heart was in the right place, but my methodology was flawed. Sorry.

I've got another major media management article on Final Cut Pro this week, plus a nice backgrounder on video compression.

Plus, some cool Short Notes, a great Buzz interview and, as always, an update to all our Top 3 lists.

But, first, the big news.

On Friday, Apple released a small update to Final Cut Pro X, taking it to version 10.1.1. The new version is designed to fix bugs that appeared in the release of the major 10.1 release. No new features were added.

• Preserves media files if an external drive or network is disconnected while consolidating a library
• Resolves an issue with loading audio content in the Music and Sound Browser
• Fixes a stability issue when applying a Motion effect with Scroll Text behavior
• Faster switching between proxy media and original or optimized media
• Improves Timeline responsiveness with very large projects

This update means that the "GarageBand workaround" to get audio files to appear in the Media Browser is no longer necessary.

My recommendation is that if you have version 10.1, go ahead and run the update. Updates are available through the Mac App Store > Updates tab.

Last week, I compared Adobe Media Encoder to Apple Compressor. Then, in conversations and research this week, I discovered I had made a variety of errors in methodology which totally skewed the results.

So, I redid all the tests and completely rewrote the article based on all the new stuff I learned this week. This version has a lot more details, better pictures and more accurate tests.

Whether you read the article last week or not, you should read this one - it is much better.

With the 10.1 update to Final Cut Pro X, media management has totally changed.

In this fourth of four articles on media management, I look at the process of library, media and project back-up and restore.

(Smile...) Every time I practice this, it gets better.

This is a fairly short video, based on last week's webinar, that explains what is important, and what isn't, when compressing video. If you are looking to understand the basics, you need to watch this.

This video applies to any video compression software, not just Compressor.

Here are the most popular articles, webinars, and audio interviews for the past seven days across all my websites.

Articles

We expanded this list to the Top 4 for more variety:

• New Mac Pro: Adobe Media Encoder vs. Apple Compressor 
• Media Management is the Biggest Change in Final Cut Pro X v10.1 
•  Apple Releases Final Cut Pro X v10.1 
• Product Review: Promise Technology Pegasus2 RAID 

For an index of all our articles, visit here.

 

Webinars

• #115: New Features in Final Cut Pro X 10.1
• $111: 3rd-Party Plug-ins for Final Cut Pro X
• #97: Advanced Audio in Final Cut Pro X 

This list is based on the webinars watched most often by our monthly subscribers. For a list of all our webinars, visit here.

 

Digital Production Buzz Audio Interviews   

• Josh Apter: Shooting Video on an iPad 
• Tom Coughlin: Latest Trends in Storage
• Elaine Kwok: An Inside Look at Promise Technology RAIDs 

For a list of all the audio interviews we've conducted on The Buzz, visit here. 

With the release of Final Cut Pro X v10.1, Apple also updated Compressor to version 4.1 An all new interface, improved compression settings and better monitoring. So much changed, in fact, that we went back and re-recorded all our training for the new version.

• Better organized
• More informative
• Tighter focus on making your images look great.

These days, everything we do ends up on the web.
Which means that if we don't know how to compress our video to make it look good, all our work during production and post is wasted.

In this in-depth video training, Larry Jordan shows you how to make the most of Apple Compressor 4.1.

Whether you are a new or experienced, this training will help you make your media look and sound great!

Larry Jordan

Larry Jordan & Associates

P.S. I always love hearing from you. Feel free to write.