Digital Trends

Continuing to bridge the gap between dumbed-down editing applications and bank-breaking professional ones, Final Cut Express 4 brings a handful of new features down to the consumer level.

While professionals wrestle with powerful video editing solutions like Final  Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere, Apple gave amateur video enthusiasts a new option on Thursday with the release of Final Cut Express 4. The latest version of Apple’s consumer-level video-editing suite keeps the same simplified interface as its predecessors, and adds more flexibility in handling HD video, access to hundreds of plug-in effects, and the ability to import iMovie projects.

To accommodate for the growing number of HD cameras shooting video in slightly different formats, Final Cut Express 4 has been improved to allow editors to mix and match all of them on one timeline. It can handle conventional-resolution DV, as well as the high-def HDV and AVCHD formats in both 1080i and 720p resolutions.

Other bells and whistles include 50 new plug-in filters, including soft focus, vignette and light rays, as well as tweaked audio controls that allow users to play with levels without distorting the final product. Editors upgrading from the ultra-simplistic iMovie ’08 application will also have access to all of their old projects with a new import feature.

Apple Final Cut Express 4 is available immediately through the Apple Store for $199. Owners of old Final Cut Express versions can upgrade for $99.