I feel it only fair to warn you that I too suffered many of the issues you are dealing with. It took me a long time and much hair puling before i “got FCP”

Its important, however, to distinguish the “gee i wish fcp did this function like avid” comments from the “what were they thinking/wow is this broken” comments:

1. the title tool is really lame, thats why people say “FCP has a great text tool, Its called Photoshop!” Live Type is good too, even for simple lower thirds. also I use edit B Subtitle. you still cant see video under the type while you compose, but it has a few more controls then the text tool.

2. capture tool needs work. Buy a cheap black and white monitor, and run the Timecode display from the VTR to the Monitor. Or just run the Timecode display to another input on your main color monitor aka the b side. thats what i do

And under “capture settings” you can change device control AND capture format without having to exit the capture tool, as long as its a preset.

3. I used to use a sytem where you could right click on a clip and open the effects control window. I had to get used to the FCP way. Its hard for me to describe how i got around it, i just did. One thing you can do is use the recent clips button on the viewer, and that will load back in whatever you had before.

HOWEVER Sometimes when i have my clip in the viewer, and i am manipulating it, I have to click on the ‘video” tab before i see the update – that is not right, and is probably a bug

4. agreed, this is stupid, and what limited resources apple seems to put towards fcp should be spent fixing these kind of things. I believe a workaround is to use Undo somehow

5. If you are ever bored, or want some interesting reading during lunch, just search the Creative Cow forum on Final Cut
Pro for the term Media Management. nuff said!
Most people dont use it, larry jordan has some tips on how to use it so it works http://www.larryjordanbiz.com

6.the trim tools are what they are. FCP is a tool pallette style NLE, like adobe premiere. Why? Maybe its a shallower learning curve. Maybe its lack of original thinking. Who knows
Once you start using it a lot it becomes easier. You just autoamtically start tapping the right buttons. BTW whenever you perfomr slipping sliding trimming etc, a little window will open up next to your cursor displaying how many frames you are moving AND the duration.

Frankly I am surprised you arent commenting on the whole ‘cannot split an existing transition” thing (What Were They Thinking!) or the outpoint displayed frame thing, which at least in avid you can change.

Anyway, What may not be obvious is that FCP is easier to use if its all you use. The money you save in buying fcp compared to avid you can spend on more storage so you can capture everything at full rez, offline at full rez, and online faster! (no recapturing) There is a third party app to move jobs from avid to fcp, and it works pretty well. Its called Automatic Duck

So, talk to your clients about offlining on fcp, Keep using fcp as much as you can, read the Cow and 2 pop and other forums on FCP out there. and it will get easier.

hope this helps

Click on the Faster Effects Editing episode