Prior to the Final Cut Pro X unveiling and release last year, Apple showcased some of the new features to a small group of professional videos editors. This was in order to prepare these editors for Apple’s drastic change in their direction for professional video editing. Those meetings were off the record, but today, Apple held on-the-record meetings with some of the industry’s noted professional video editors in order to describe more new features coming to Final Cut Pro X. According to video editor Larry Jordan, Apple has provided him some background on Final Cut Pro X’s performance thus far, and a look into the future.

One of the major changes with the initial release of Final Cut Pro X was its exclusivity to the Mac App Store. Jordan asked Apple why the App Store provides a better expierience over boxed software, and Apple’s response covers security and flexibility:

I asked what the benefits were to using the Mac App Store for distribution, and was told that it provided a wider end-user license, greater distribution flexibility, and supported Apple’s focus on security through “sandboxing” applications. Apple wants customers to feel secure purchasing software through the Mac App Store.

Apple then told Jordan that they have an update coming later this year with new features and enhancements. While none of the new features were actually demoed to Jordan, Apple is planning to include Multichannel Audio Editing Tools, Dual Viewers, MXF Plug-in Support, and RED camera support. Jordan says that the current audio editing tools in Final Cut Pro X are “weak” so he is “excited” to see what Apple will add to the software later this year. Dual-viewers will be an important feature that allows video editors to easily compare two clips. Jordan describes how Apple will improve MFX support:

FCP X has been able to read MXF files (think XDCAM EX), but not the native MXF wrapper that contains them. In the past, it needed to convert MXF to QuickTime. In the future, FCP X won’t need to make this conversion. Apple was quick to stress that this was not a move away from QuickTime, instead it was adding support for a common video format.

Native RED camera support is also making its way to FCPX later this year. RED Cameras shoot in a mode called “4K” mode, which is several times better than today’s 1080P HD standard. Apple did not specify a release date other than later this year.

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