**** FCP7 Upgrade? ****

Hey gang! I'm going to buy a copy of Final Cut Studio Pro 3 Upgrade. Yeah, I know... old school, but I'm not ready to give on up on 7 just yet. Anyways, I want to confirm that the upgrade requires the older Studio version? I've received mixed info... one editor said it can be installed on it's own and doesn't require an older version. I would appreciate your input. Thaaanks!

Not sure if the upgrade version will work stand alone, I understood that the upgrade price was if you already had a full licensed copy of a qualifying product, Final Cut Studio 2 as example,

You say you are not ready to give up of FCP7, but really it is time, soon codecs will not be compatible, as it is FCP7 is 32bit, locked to 4GB of system RAM, and really is not fit for modern systems or workflow.

The cost might be more or less the cost of a Final Cut Studio X, that works on modern systems, having used both, I cannot recommend FCP7 as a viable system since the introduction of FCP X 10.1, then 10.2. FCP7 is a tired outdated system that has served well, but really it is long in the tooth.

Really the only "benefit" of FCP7 is that it has the very same track layout of the ugly twin sisters Adobe and Avid...Tired stale timelines from 1980...

Agreed, give up the ghost and learn FCPX properly. You'll save time, effort, frustration, money.

I've been using FCP since version 1.0. I've been a trainer since version 4. I've consulted for a decade. Retired IT engineer. I've worked with Apple on many occasions. I've done more FCS upgrades than I can remember. That said...

The "upgrade" versions, ALL version of FCP legacy and FCS, require an existing FULL version to be installed. If not, then you MUST enter the serial number of the FULL version you're upgrading from.

There is no other way to do it. If you don't have a previous FULL version installed, or have the serial number handy, you won't get an update to install, PERIOD.

Thank you both for your feedback. I'm really going to look into FCPX or Premiere.

FCPX, as PPro's outdated coding is already making it lag behind FCPX in abilities.