Basic Overview
If you need a great editing application with a load of pro-level features at an affordable price, FInal Cut Express (FCE) is your best bet. It's got far more juice than iMovie, much better interface and usability than Premiere, and a better price than Final Cut Pro. Granted, the program is a bit tricky to learn if you've never used Final Cut Pro, it's not impossible to learn and there are a few good books out now that will make the learning process less painful. Please take a moment to check out Apple's spec page on FCE: http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/specs.html.

This review will mainly compare FCE with iMovie, since many iMovie users are contemplating moving to FCE. For a comparison of FCE to Final Cut Pro features, I recommend the following site: http://www.dvshop.ca/software/finalcutcomp.html.

FCE vs. iMovie
The difference is like night and day. There are many types of projects that would be easier to do on iMovie, but once you get past a certain level of complexity, FCE is the only way to go. For short, simplistic projects (like basic family videos and the like), I'd recommend iMovie. It's pure simplicity and ease-of-use are hard to beat. For longer projects, and those that require more advanced compositing and effects, FCE is where it's at. Here are some of the major differences in the two applications:

• Color Correction — FCE has really great color correcting tools built in. This allows for completed projects to be corrected to conform to various color standards, such as TV Broadcast specifications. Color correction is a must on professional projects.

iMovie has color-adjustment capabilities, but there is no way to guarantee what the final output will look like on a TV.

• Audio Editing/Effects — FCE allows for up to 99 audio layers. This comes in handy on projects that require lots of sound effects, as well as music and the audio from the original source. Additionally, FCE includes built in methods to perform audio fades and pans, a 3-band EQ, and audio effects (like reverb). Also, FCE includes a feature so that a voiceover can be recorded directly to the timeline.

iMovie allows 2 audio tracks in addition to the source video's audio (for a total of three tracks). iMovie also has a suite of sound effects from Skywalker Sound.

• Transitions/Effects/Titling — FCE really takes the cake in this category. Although I liked the transitions in iMovie, FCE's transitions are more tweakable and there are more of them. FCE also has many more useful video effects than iMovie, as well as a host of great filters that alter the look of the video (from very subtle changes to radical alteration). FCE's titling features are also better than iMovie. Although iMovie makes titling virtually idiot-proof, the final output generally looks rough, and there are too many restrictions on font size and positioning. Not so with FCE.

• Compositing — FCE allows for 99 layers of video and/or graphics. This allows for complex effects that just aren't possible any other way. FCE also supports Photoshop's PSD file format. Each layer in an imported PSD file is placed on it's own FCE layer. This allows for DIY transitions, like crossfades, and custom graphic inserts into the project (among other things). FCE also supports motion keyframing, which is essential in complex compositing and animation effects.

By contrast, iMovie offers almost no compositing capabilities out of the box. There are some iMovie plugins that allow for picture-in-picture and other effects that show two video streams simultaneously, but these cost extra and aren't terribly flexible. iMovie does not support keyframing.

Performance
Apple says you need at least a 300Mhz CPU to use FCE. I think that's a little low. I use FCE on a 700Mhz G3 iBook, and it can be a little sluggish, but not enough to make working with it difficult. I think you could probably get away with a 500Mhz G3, but that would be about the bottom end. FCE does also support real-time effects rendering so that you can see what an effect will look like before you apply it, but it requires a 500Mhz G4 to do this. I've seen FCE running on a dual-G4 800Mhz, and it really zipped.

I did some testing with a 30-second clip to see how long it takes to apply effects and output to file. In general, effects took about 20 seconds to apply to the test clip. That rating is per effect, because you can add several effects to the clip and apply them simultaneously. So, if you applied three effects, it would take about 60 seconds to complete. File output for the test clip took about 10 seconds to write a FCE movie file. Your mileage will vary based on hardware configurations.

Plugins
There are tons of fancy plugins for FCE, and it will use most of the plugins that work with Final Cut Pro. FCE can use any plugin that is based on FXScript, so be sure to check on that before you spend money. It WILL NOT use After Effects plugins.

The Verdict
FCE is a great option for DV filmmakers on a modest budget. It has all the features needed to capture, edit, and finish movie projects in a professional manner. For $299, it's the best pro-level editor there is. Final Cut Pro has a few more features (especially for those who are using film rather than DV as their source material), but none that will be missed by amateur filmmakers.

UPDATE
I forgot to mention the one thing that really bugs the crap out of me about this program. There is no "batch capture" feature, so to speak. You can log a list of in and out points, but that will result in a capture of the entire range of video with "markers" inserted that allow you to easily chop out the bad parts. But still, one has to ask: "Why the hell would you set up logging if you can't batch capture?" I really don't know. Highly annoying, but not really a deal-breaker.


Recommended: Yes