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Avid Finally Drops Free Media Composer Software — Here’s What to Expect
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It really begs the question, why do so many FCPX users really hate Avid and Avid users? It certainly doesn’t seem that the feeling is reciprocal. And before someone chimes in with the reaction of 6 years ago – that largely came from FCP “legacy” users. From what I can tell, most Media Composer users have been indifferent towards FCPX, until they’ve had to deal with it in a job situation, just like they were with “legacy”. We’d all be better off if everyone could dial back on the rhetoric.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Oliver Peters] “It really begs the question, why do so many FCPX users really hate Avid and Avid users? It certainly doesn’t seem that the feeling is reciprocal. And before someone chimes in with the reaction of 6 years ago – that largely came from FCP “legacy” users. From what I can tell, most Media Composer users have been indifferent towards FCPX, until they’ve had to deal with it in a job situation, just like they were with “legacy”. We’d all be better off if everyone could dial back on the rhetoric.”
Mac/PC, Chevy/Ford, Playstation/Xbox… why do any flame wars exist?
I belong to Facebook groups for all the A’s and there are members of each community that revel in throwing shade at other NLEs and their users.
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[Oliver Peters] “It really begs the question, why do so many FCPX users really hate Avid and Avid users?”
I don’t think this is true at all. Especially not “Avid users”. There are passions on each side, some more passionate than others. It’s a natural result of having a forum open to all “debates” and all topics. It’s like our version of the bar scene in the original Star Wars move.
Personally, I feel a lot of animosity towards Avid is it’s stance that “if you want to be a ‘pro’ you have to use Avid and many “pros” (including myself) laugh that off as totally false and arrogant. And those of us who have been in the business for over 20 years and dealt with Avid’s corporate arrogance back when it WAS the only game around feel no sense of sympathy to its’ current situation.
I hold my dissatisfaction at Avid mainly over the DS debacle. Those companies (like the one I worked for at the time) that invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the product just to be killed off (mostly because of the fact that it wasn’t enough like Media Composer) hold no love for Avid Technologies. So those folks who say “well, be careful, Apple may just kill FCPX like the did FCPL”, talk to me about having two DS stations in my two regional shops (our entire company had over a half dozen) and going from an amazing company like Softimage to Avid, to being promised that DS will be THE HD solution for Avid (whoops, Symphony users then had a sh**) to “there will be full support for DS” to killing the product. Like I said, my sympathies are limited. And now I am sure a lot of ex-Symphony users feel the same way.
I have no issue with Avid editors. I was one, I still have the product “just in case” and I still own a few shares of Avid stock (just for morbid curiosity). And if Avid makes some sort of comeback in the non-niche markets, I will use it again.
[Oliver Peters] ” We’d all be better off if everyone could dial back on the rhetoric.”
This I can agree with. There are some who love to stir the debate pot (looking at you, Oliver! ☺ ) and that just ramps things up…
Oh yeah, Avid|First….
Scott Witthaus
Owner, 1708 Inc./Editorial
Managing Partner, Low Country Creative LLC
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
[Scott Witthaus] “And those of us who have been in the business for over 20 years and dealt with Avid’s corporate arrogance back when it WAS the only game around feel no sense of sympathy to its’ current situation”
I’ve been through all of it. And yes, the company suffered from arrogance, but not any more than most other manufacturers. However, during its most arrogant times, I also found many within the company that were incredibly helpful, so for me, it was never all bad. But Avid was never the only game (EMC, Lightworks, Media 100, Quantel, etc.) – it was just the one that succeeded.
[Scott Witthaus] “I hold my dissatisfaction at Avid mainly over the DS debacle. Those companies (like the one I worked for at the time) that invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the product just to be killed off (mostly because of the fact that it wasn’t enough like Media Composer) hold no love for Avid Technologies.”
I understand, but the sales just weren’t there for DS. Take a look at Smoke on the Mac. Not much of a different situation really. But that’s just the nature of technology. Look at all the investments we’ve made over the years in camera, VTRs, switchers, etc. Priced a D2, Digibeta, or HDCAM deck lately? ☺
[Scott Witthaus] “There are some who love to stir the debate pot (looking at you, Oliver! ☺ )”
Guilty as charged. Thought-provoking, but not insulting, I hope. My aim is always to be even-handed whenever possible, without being a cheerleader either.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Oliver Peters] “ut Avid was never the only game (EMC, Lightworks, Media 100, Quantel, etc.) – it was just the one that succeeded.
“Fair enough. But as an ex-EMC user, the only real move back at the time was to Avid. And to pay the six figure price for their turnkey solution.
[Oliver Peters] “I also found many within the company that were incredibly helpful”
There are still a couple hanging on. At least until the next round of layoffs….
Scott Witthaus
Owner, 1708 Inc./Editorial
Managing Partner, Low Country Creative LLC
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
[Scott Witthaus] “Fair enough. But as an ex-EMC user, the only real move back at the time was to Avid. And to pay the six figure price for their turnkey solution.”
In the early days, some, but not all, of their systems were 6 figures. But remember, that included very expensive drives (for that time). Also Lightworks was in the same ballpark. And as I recall, the original DS (before Avid) was at least $80K without storage. Remember, that at the time, a decent online bay with decks, CG, and DVE was a $500K-$1M investment. So paying $100K for a Media Composer wasn’t unrealistic.
For me personally, it was a great opportunity, for which I’m thankful. As a linear editor at the time, knowing Avid gave me the opportunity to cut films, which I wouldn’t have otherwise had, since I wasn’t cutting on film. And of course, the comparable systems for film and TV show editing prior to Avid were systems like Ediflex or Montage, which weren’t cheap either. By comparison, Avid was relatively affordable.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
As someone who was both an Avid editor and, later, a facility engineer during the first 12 years of Avid, I share a similar disdain for them.
For those who experienced the pain of their hardware and EOL decisions, keep in mind that, for many, this was at a time when the costs for making moves for a facility were exorbitant. These days, even though there’s still some pain involved, the cost of changing NLE or some aspects of infrastructure are trivial BY COMPARISON.
Avid shows little interest in expanding their MC base. Perhaps that’s be design since they’re really a hardware/storage/enterprise company these days.
I think some hoped that First might have been a move to expand their base. That’s not the case.
It may be a training tool to keep the MC talent pool from shrinking which could be a very serious problem given the small broadcast/film niche they serve.If it were a tool to expand their base one might be able to upgrade to the paid version to finish a project. Not currently possible. It could be the tool where one begins to cut on and then moves to a facility to finish. Not currently possible. This might even upset facilities as people might do the meat of their editing “off site,” using facilities only as finishing locations. Dare not upset their niche (at the expense of expanding it).
Yes, they’ve mentioned future project compatibility but like so much else about Avid’s behavior, I’m skeptical about that actualization.
Personally I see First as a reactive move to avert the risk of talent pool lose by attrition. As younger editor grow up on Premiere Pro, FCPX and, in time, Resolve (if it progresses to that point as an NLE), the niche market may be willing to move. The move in NLEs may result in moves in infrastructure as well (which would hit Avid even harder).
While Adobe, Apple, Blackmagic, seem to be trying to expand their base, each with different motives and business models, Avid’s posture continues to be defensive.
Of course there’s no reason to have animus for a defensive company for anyone who uses other tools expect perhaps those who are primarily proficient on other NLEs seeking new opportunities has Avid base continues to erode relative to the entire professional market using video.
Basically it’s “die already Avid” so we can have those jobs without having to learn an NLE that’s designed for the ’90’s with a few bolt ons to stay technically viable.
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[Oliver Peters] “And as I recall, the original DS (before Avid) was at least $80K without storage. Remember, that at the time, a decent online bay with decks, CG, and DVE was a $500K-$1M investment. So paying $100K for a Media Composer wasn’t unrealistic.”
Back then, it didn’t matter if you were a good editor or not, but how large your credit line was. When FCP-L came out I can remember the howls from Avid shops and editors saying “it’s so cheap now every college student can be an editor”. My response was “just be a better editor and your clients will stay with you.”. How many linear shops went under because they had to compete with NLE shops while still under the weight of loans on linear bays. I worked for one that we had to take voluntarily through re-org. Basically we had dead-money on Henry’s and Hals that no one wanted to use anymore. DS killed alot of that market in our company.
We also heard those same howls from linear editors who were threatened (and some extinguished) by Avid and EMC. I remember cutting a show on Avid for NASA at a studio in a public TV station. I was moving stuff around, un-doing, quickly saving version….all the advantages that an NLE brings to the table. This was the first Avid in the area and I had a bit of a crowd around me watching. So after all that, I had actually had to render out a dissolve and an older editor/engineer (because sometimes they were the same person) sniffed and said “give me a switcher and a T-bar and I could have done that in real time…” and walked off. Head in the sand…and now we have Resolve for free. The race to the bottom is over.
But I digress…what were we talking about again? 😉
Scott Witthaus
Owner, 1708 Inc./Editorial
Managing Partner, Low Country Creative LLC
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
[Craig Seeman] “For those who experienced the pain of their hardware and EOL decisions, keep in mind that, for many, this was at a time when the costs for making moves for a facility were exorbitant.”
And I lived through those early days as someone participating in making the buying decisions. I also worked through the earlier decade when prime rate was over 20%. So it’s all relative. There were certain early pioneering endeavors that were fraught with problems, like early shared storage. So it wasn’t an easy time for company or customer.
[Craig Seeman] “If it were a tool to expand their base one might be able to upgrade to the paid version to finish a project. Not currently possible. “
Correct. Not in THIS version. It’s a 1.0 product. I suspect that will change.
[Craig Seeman] “Basically it’s “die already Avid” so we can have those jobs without having to learn an NLE that’s designed for the ’90’s with a few bolt ons to stay technically viable.”
See, that’s an attitude that I simply can’t comprehend. That’s just the same as people saying “Apple, die already, so we can all use PCs, because they are better”. Seems like the same irrational sentiment.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Oliver Peters] “[Craig Seeman] “Basically it’s “die already Avid” so we can have those jobs without having to learn an NLE that’s designed for the ’90’s with a few bolt ons to stay technically viable.”
See, that’s an attitude that I simply can’t comprehend. That’s just the same as people saying “Apple, die already, so we can all use PCs, because they are better”. Seems like the same irrational sentiment.
“It might be coming from animus but I do think there’s real workflow issues to contend with. Some people really don’t like MC/Symphony and would prefer not to have to learn it if they want to climb the broadcast/feature film ladder.
Regarding Apple, I think some don’t like being tied to Apple ProRes which creates ajada when you have to export to it on Windows or, having to deal with importing/exporting FCPXML in certain cross platform workflows. Perhaps there’s some annoyance also when one runs into one of those (few?) facilities that have gone FCPX and then being forced to learn it to work there.
I think it is rational when you can’t avoid something interfering with your work that you’d just wish would go away whether it’s Avid or Apple.
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