Well, I have finally reached the end of this long and frustrating process, the outcome is not the one I wished for. I originally started this quest when I located the proDAD Mercalli software for sale on the AV3 Software website where it is for sale as either a SAL version or as a plug-in for Final Cut Express, I also saw this information on other sites I visited.

When I failed to get the package to work properly I followed this up with AV3 Software and proDAD and as readers of this blog will know there has been a protracted process of trying to get the software to work, following all the advice I have been given. The SAL version did not satisfactorily export to AVI format in spite of this being a menu option and the plug-in version for the mac didn't run at all.

Today I received the following statement from proDAD support:

"You use Final Cut Express (without Support at the moment). Please use Final Cut Pro. But we have in the next time support in Final Cut Express"

So there it is. Those few words said it all, in spite of all that was advertised the fact is that Final Cut Express is not supported by the proDAD Mercalli package and as I have demonstrated, at least on my up-to-date iMac and current version of Final Cut Express, it simply DOES NOT WORK.

I hope if nothing else that by documenting my experiences I might have saved someone else all the grief I've had. proDAD are presently unable to give a timescale for the implementation of support for Final Cut Express. Perhaps if that information does become available a comment could be put on this blog for people to read if they arrive here via one of the search engines.

And here endeth this ongoing review, back to the drawing board, I think I'll forget this project.