Can MBA or Macbook play Final Cut Pro files?

[zub3qin]

If I am given some video files which are going to be made by final cut pro, what format would they be in (the standard format- i know it can export to any type) and is a MBA 13 or a current MBP able to at least play the video?

how about the old macbooks (black)? C2D, 2.0 GHz 2GB RAM integrated graphics?


I just want to play the video, not edit it....... but I have heard that anything that requires Final Cut needs to be a high end Macbook Pro. Is this really true?

 

[spinnerlys]

If they have been edited in FCP, they should come as .mov files, either using the ProRes or Apple Intermediate Codec. The later is also used to compress video in iMovie and FCE, thus you might be able to play those at least. If they come using the ProRes codec, you might be out of luck.

If you only watch rendered sequences and not the raw footage, maybe ask the editor or editing assistant to provide you with .mov files using the H264 codec for video and AAC for audio, as those are playable via QuickTime Player, even without FCP installed on the same Mac.

Btw, FCP does not really need a high end Mac, even my 2008 white MacBook with 2.4 GHz can use that software. And the Intel GPU does not really come into play inside FCP, as FCP is more CPU than GPU dependent. Motion and Color need a proper CPU though to run okay.

 

[zub3qin]

If they have been edited in FCP, they should come as .mov files, either using the ProRes or Apple Intermediate Codec. The later is also used to compress video in iMovie and FCE, thus you might be able to play those at least. If they come using the ProRes codec, you might be out of luck.

If you only watch rendered sequences and not the raw footage, maybe ask the editor or editing assistant to provide you with .mov files using the H264 codec for video and AAC for audio, as those are playable via QuickTime Player, even without FCP installed on the same Mac.

Btw, FCP does not really need a high end Mac, even my 2008 white MacBook with 2.4 GHz can use that software. And the Intel GPU does not really come into play inside FCP, as FCP is more CPU than GPU dependent. Motion and Color need a proper CPU though to run okay.

I think it will be raw footage using ProRes-
Is there no "lite" program to simply play these files on an older Macbook like mine?

Thanks!