Blog Archives

This morning, Apple released new versions of Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor. Here are the details, along with links to the full release notes.

Sometime in October, Apple will release the latest version of the macOS: Ventura. First announced at the 2022 WWDC in June this version, like every macOS update, features a variety of new features and apps. Still, while this is exciting, …

This week, Apple released a minor update to Final Cut Pro (v 10.6.4), Compressor (v 4.6.2), Motion (v 5.6.2) and iMovie. Here are the details.

Apple Compressor can analyze the technical settings of a media clip and, in some cases, allow you to change them. This illustrated tutorial shows you how.

Video bit depth makes a difference when you are creating effects, color grading or working with HDR material. Here’s an explanation of what bit depth is and when to care about it.

Based on a reader’s comment, this compares image quality between three different source codecs (ProRes, MPEG-2 and H.264) compressed into H.264 using Apple Compressor. This also illustrates how many CPU and GPU cores were active.

Apple updates Final Cut Pro (v10.6.2), Motion (v.5.6.1) and Compressor (v.4.6.1). Here are the details.

This is an excerpt of a recent PowerUP webinar called “Ask Larry Anything.” In this short tutorial, Larry Jordan explains what makes video frame rate conversions so difficult.

The New Mac Studio computer is stunning. But, is it for you? Here’s what you need to know to configure it for video editing – yet save money at the same time.

In this article, I compare the compression speed of Apple Compressor, Adobe Media Encoder and ffWorks (ffMPEG) on an Intel system versus a new M1 MacBook Pro. Along the way we also discover that speed is not dependent upon how hard the CPUs are working.

Here’s a list of the top 20 most-read media and video editing tutorials on Larry Jordan’s website from Jan. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2021.

Yes, the new M1 MacBook Pro is very, very fast. But, the M1 did not win every race when tested against a 2013 MacBook Pro and a 2017 iMac. These twelve tests are a good comparison between performance benchmarks and real-world media processing of the improvements you can expect if you upgrade to these new systems.

Recently, Apple updated Compressor to version 4.6, where a highlighted feature is automated Watch Folders. In this video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how these work and how you can use them to automate compression of video, audio or still images exported from any media application.

Watch Folders are an important new feature in Apple Compressor 4.6 that can speed your workflow. Here’s an illustrated tutorial on how they work.

On Oct. 18, 2021, Apple updated Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor. Here’s a complete list what’s new and what’s fixed, based on Apple’s release notes.

On July 8th, Apple released bug fix updates for Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor. These updates included no new features. Here’s the list.

Apple updated Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor last week and both Final Cut and Compressor got a flurry of new features. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to reduce the file size of an animated image sequence. We do this without losing any video quality, by using indexed color and Apple Compressor.

Apple updated Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor last week and both Final Cut and Compressor got a flurry of new features. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to control what metadata is embedded into your movies during compression using Apple Compressor. This is a very useful technique when security or privacy are important.

New with the 4.5.3 update to Compressor are compression settings which simplify cropping and compressing square and vertical media. These new settings simplify the conversion of, say, horizontal media to vertical making it easier to repurpose existing assets for new uses.

Last week, Apple released updates for Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor. Both Final Cut and Compressor added new features, while all three applications saw significant bug fixes. Here’s the full list of what’s new.

“Ask Larry Anything!” is a free-form conversation about technical questions of interest to video editors. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to create a custom compression setting, using Apple Compressor, to create a 10-bit HEVC video file with surround sound.

“Ask Larry Anything!” is a free-form conversation about technical questions of interest to video editors. In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to embed labels, called “metadata,” into video files during compression using Apple Compressor that can be viewed later during playback. These files could be ProRes, MP4, MP3 or QuickTime.

When it comes to updating the operating system on my main production Mac, I’m a laggard. This is by intent. Still, I finally decided it was time to upgrade. Here’s what I learned in the process.

Both the new M1 and existing T2 chips from Apple support hardware-assisted encoding and decoding of H.264 and HEVC media. Here’s how to enable them in Apple Compressor.

Two “Top Ten” lists of tips and techniques from “The Inside Tips” for 2020. The first is by number of views, the second is by reader ratings. These cover Adobe and Apple software, along with codecs, media, visual effects and production.

“Should you upgrade?” is the wrong question. Here is a better answer on when to upgrade to Big Sur – along with links to help your transition go smoothly.

Apple released minor updates for Final Cut Pro and Compressor, along with stability improvements and a name change.

Apple has expanded hardware acceleration on recent makes. Here’s what you need to know to vastly improve the speed of video compression.

Video compression is essential to all media today, from social media to broadcast to streaming. In this video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how job chaining in Apple Compressor can save significant time when applying multiple compression settings to a source file.

Video compression is essential to all media today, from social media to broadcast to streaming. In this video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use Apple Compressor to crop or reframe a video clip prior to media compression.

Video compression is essential to all media today, from social media to broadcast to streaming. In this video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to apply both still and moving watermarks to compressed video using Apple Compressor.

Video compression is essential to all media today, from social media to broadcast to streaming. In this video tutorial, Larry Jordan shows how to use Apple Compressor to create a custom compression setting for use in Apple Final Cut Pro X.

With the release of macOS Mojave and continuing into Catalina and Big Sur, older media codecs are no longer supported, nor displayed. Here’s a simple technique to find and transcode outdated files using Kyno.

Today, Apple updated Final Cut Pro X (10.5), Motion (5.5.) and Compressor (4.5) to support new computers with Apple silicon, along with a variety of bug fixes. Here’s the list.

I first wrote this article to work-around a bug in Final Cut Pro X. But, Apple fixed the bug. Now, this is a step-by-step guide to importing chapter markers into Apple Compressor, which is useful for media created outside of Final Cut Pro X.

This article details what I learned trying to access often corrupted digital images that are 15 – 25 years old. It illustrates the software I use to recover images, video codecs that are obsolete and techniques I used to preserve media for the future. This covers AppleWorks, PICT, PhotoCD, JPEG, TIFF, audio, and video media.

You exported your video file only to find that it is WAAAY too big! Here’s an explanation of file sizes, codecs and media workflow for beginners.

Apple release bug-fix updates to Final Cut Pro X (10.4.10), Motion 5 (5.4.7) and Compressor (4.4.8). Here’s what was fixed and what’s still broken.

I first wrote these “Media Planning Guidelines” as a series of bullet points to help us think about media and the storage necessary for video editing. In this article, I expand these to explain my thinking to help you make better media decisions for your next project.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan discusses the impact of video frame size, frame rate and codec on storage capacity and video editing, whether you use Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro X.

In this short video tutorial, Larry Jordan explains why converting video frame rates often causes video playback to stutter, whether you use Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro X.

Apple Compressor 4.4.7 now supports creating a wider range of proxy files. This illustrated tutorial explains what you need to know, how it works and which to choose.

There is difference in how the same color is displayed in Premiere, Final Cut and QuickTime. This made worse when looking at media on a P3 display. Here’s what you need to know.

Apple Silicon – new CPUs from Apple – were announced at WWDC 2020. Here’s Larry Jordan’s take on what this new hardware means to media creators.

An illustrated tutorial on how to create a highly-compressed HEVC movie with transparency (alpha channels) using either the macOS or Apple Compressor.

A detailed look at video compression speeds in both Mojave and Catalina for both Apple Compressor and Adobe Media Encoder. Cool charts are included.

A video compression speed and file size comparison using Apple Compressor between macOS Mojave and Catalina. This will be of interest to video editors and media creators.

Apple updated Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor on Dec. 10, 2019. Here’s a list of what’s new and where to find release notes for past versions.

A general analysis of when to use H.264 vs. HEVC for media compression, along with a recommendation for media creators.

A detailed look at the speed differences between a Mac i5 vs i7 system for video compression into H.264 or HEVC codecs. The results are surprising!