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time to go to fcp?
I have been editing with Premiere forever but I am so tired of the instability. I am thinking of going with the MAC Pro and learning Final Cut. Has anyone used both and what are your thoughts? If I know premiere well, will it be a big jump to learn FCP. How about the MACs…are they as stable as everyone says? I know they are way more expensive than my PC. How about Motion vs. After Effects? Also are the compressors in FCP significantly better than in PP? I would really appreciate any advice on this from someone who has already been there.
Thanks! -
10 Replies
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what sort of stability problems are you having? Our Premiere Pro computers have the odd problem, but it is mainly the PC, not Premiere that screws up.
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Both platforms have issues. If you check other forums you will see that there are just as many problems on both sides.
I have worked on both and I can say that I do NOT like Mac at all. The Mac crashed more on me then any PC ever did.
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Oh yeh, eternal question 🙂
I’m now editing with PPRO on PC with P4HT, 2GB DDR, SATA2. I have PPRO crashed less than 5 times a month (On this PC, I’m editing weekly 0,5 hour length tv show). I know it isn’t mac and FCP, but for me it’s ok. Recently I’ve tired mac and FCP because I’m going to upgrade to intel dual core. But I wasn’t sure on which platform and I’ve heard tales about mac stability an anything else… I would consider without doubt that OS is a thing which needs to get accustomed. But just few word about fcp. If you’re going from PPRO to FCP forget about mp3, it’s not professional :), forget about any image sequence:) you’ll need to convert it with quicktime, and another great things you’ll know what to change speed, or still exporting is not so simple as you could think of it. And if you about stability – try to import, lets tell, about 60 psd into your fcp project and look how stable it becomes 🙂
But what I should say, find a place to try PPRO on new PC and find a place to try fcp on G5 or smthng and consider yourself.
For me – fcp is ok if you’re going from 6.x Premiere, but not from PRO. -
I edit with both, and I will always prefer PPro. Both systems are stable for me, but I think a stable PPro is a result of a stable computer. I’ve had my PC crash just as much as the Mac.
FCP and PPro are very similar, so you shouldn’t have that tough a time going from one to the other. I think PPro is far better to work with, and the integration with the other applications make editing easier.
Motion is nice, but it’s no After Effects.
If your only problem is stability, then in my opinion, I’d stick with PPRo, and just upgrade your computer. I use PPro all the time, and it’s rock solid for me. For what it’ll cost you to get a Mac with all the software, you could easily get a new Dell or HP workstation that’s really powerful and keep the software that you have. If you’re not using the current versions of PPro and the rest, I would really recommend upgrading.
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I have come to realize that many people who are reporting constant issues with Premiere are either:
1- Using their editing / motion graphics computer as a personal computer as well. Your editing computer should theoretically only be running one application at once, with no internet connection or antivirus.
2- Using a custom cheaply build PC with spare parts dropped off by the neighbour 😉
I’m not saying that Premiere never crashes, but it only has crashed about 4 times for me in the past 5 years. After Effects has never crashed on its own. I won’t give that same rave review to Encore, this thing needs to be rebuilt from the ground up…
But for affordable editing PP2 and AE are the way to go.
My two bits.
Vince
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I’ve used both quite a bit. Both have their own issues. Stability for me
has been very good for both in general, but there are some (different) things
on each that seem to be killers. Depending on what kind of work you are doing
and who/if you need to trade metadata with for finishing (may not be a issue)
may make more of a difference. FCP in general is more robust in getting metadata
out and to a audio or video post house for finishing for instance. PPro and
the Adobe suite is so great for working with one another it’s amazing. That’s
the MAIN reason I use PPro. FCP for me has been better with long projects
with thousands of clips (project opens faster, saves don’t take 10+ minutes,
project file isn’t 100+ MB as in PPro) but it too gets bogged down eventually.As for AE v. Motion, they are really two different programs and actually can
complement each other well if you can swing both (if you have a Mac!). I’m not
sure what you mean by the compressors being better/worse- they each have
access to good and bad. PPro seems to render faster for me for exporting
MPEG 2’s and review encodes, but that will vary wildly system to system and
is like comparing Apples to oranges. 🙂 One thing really cool about FCP and
QT is that you can use reference movies to move data from one app to another
which really cuts down rendering time. Of course Adobe’s full integration
is even better, but if you want to do all your encoding say in Squeeze,
exporting your final movie in PPro v. FCP, FCP wins hands-down for being
able to export just a reference movie. This is really huge for large projects
and for using another program to set up a batch render for example. I think
there are frame serving apps or plugins to let PPro do a similar thing if
that’s important to you.It really comes down to what kind of work you’re trying to do and your own
personal preferences. If you feel PPro is too unstable but are otherwise
happy, it might be worth trying to figure out what’s up with your system-
in my experience they both crash but not too often if each is in good order.If you do change, picking up FCP after using PPro shouldn’t be too hard,
they’re very similar. There are lots of small differences and different
idiosyncrasies to each but they are both capable editors and the final
product is almost always what we as editors are judged by anyway. Unless you
are totally frustrated by PPro’s lack of ability to perform some specific
task that FCP may do better and your clients/work are suffering because of
it, it may be worth just figuring out what’s up with your system crash-wise.Just my .02 cents!
-Troy Murison
Seattle, WA -
Hmmm…as I read Troy’s post I realize I can’t add to, or modify any of it.
…I’ll just say “ditto” as it mirrors my experiences.
IMO, a very fine and objective post, Troy.
Thank you.
TimK,
Director,
Kolb Productions,Creative Cow Host,
Author/Trainer
http://www.focalpress.com
http://www.classondemand.net -
[lisaj] “How about the MACs…are they as stable as everyone says?”
If they say that the Macs crash as well, then it is as stable as everyone says 🙂
[lisaj] “How about Motion vs. After Effects?”
These are 2 completely different things…
Aanarav Sareen
premiere@asvideoproductions.com
https://www.asvideoproductions.com/techtalk -
The past responses are what you would have to expect when asked on a Premiere forum; it is a little one sided but expected. Try the same question on a Mac or fcp forum and you will get the reverse.. yes it can be very daunting, and never take anybody’s word for it; you have to try the different hardware/software yourself. But as has already been said, jumping ship isn’t a real solution if you are not really sure what the initial problem is.
I have been using Premiere since 4 (I still have the floppy discs to prove it) and many times during its evolution, frustration has led me to the expensive approach of ‘jumping ship’ only to find I was worse off than where I was. Times have changed since P4 and ALL NLE software has evolved, not to mention the hardware. And on the subject of hardware, the only advantage I have found with Mac over PC is there is far less hardware configerations to deal with on a Mac so the enigma of a crash is far less complex to resolve. Now don’t get me started on PC’s dependency on Microsoft… a very sad situation indeed. Mac has OSX, PC has SUX!
I have tried (and invested in) just about all from Avid, FCP, Speed Razor, Discrete, Media 100, Edius, Vegas, etc and have returned to my NLE origin in between each one. Now finally I have settled on Premiere and push it to the limit with HDCAM and I am not even considering looking at anything else.
Baz
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>>”I have been using Premiere since 4 (I still have the floppy discs to prove it)”
Yeah, I remember trying to zoom in a picture in P4. Looked about as smooth as dollying with a camera tied up to the back of a camel… yes I did ride on a camel once 😉
Vince
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