HD For Indies

Think Secret is reporting the following:

iMovie 5 is expected to be renamed iMovie HD with its new support for HDV, panoramic 16:9 aspect ratios, and MPEG-4.

in their article on MacWorld Expo San Francisco 2005 (coming up in January 10-14)

This, combined with the report earlier this year at IBC in September when Apple surprisingly announced features of the next version of Final Cut Pro (HDV support, DVCPRO HD 1080i50 support, IMX suport), makes me think that it MIGHT be MAYBE possible that the next version of Final Cut Pro might be splashed at MacWorld. It would be awkward/embarassing to have features in the consumer iMovie HD that weren't present in the professional Final Cut Pro HD. But NAB in April is really the show for that kind of thing. Have to wait and see. Maybe they will announce but not ship until later, so NAB could be release time for FCP 5, good press attention for that. Sometimes Apple previews and releases months later, sometimes they drop the bomb and ship immediately. Have to wait and see.

After posting this, a reader wrote in to point out that the X-San delay might have something to do with this - that maybe they wanted to launch X-San & FCP 5 both at the same time. But MWSF is SO not a video show, NAB is....

I will be attending MWSF and hopefully blogging from the show floor, wireless access permitting.

-mike