Avid – RIP!!!!

[Mark Raudonis]

Nevo,

Anyone who attended NAB in April saw this competition played out in the “Booth Wars” as Avid and Apple were literally across the aisles from each other. I think it’s safe to say that Apple kicked Avid’s butt at the show. However, AVID has been working overtime since NAB to make up lost ground (at least here in LA). They’re doing more focused marketing to industry players than I can ever remember. Avid’s message kinda feels like “remember who brought you to the dance”. Whereas Apple’s feature set delivers all the excitement of a couple of teenagers sneaking out of the dance to go makeout in the car.

AVID lost me with their botched release of Adrenaline 1.0. We’re now an all FCP/X-SAN shop with close to a hundred seats. Yes. One hundred.

mark

[Matthew Brunn]

What about Media100? I cut on that system for years and I’ll never go back, do you hear me NEVER!!! For months I kept using M100 keystrokes instead of FCP ones. Well, people like what they like. Some people like the work flows in these various systems and it doesn’t pay to change their workflow or equipment, at least for them. FCP has dominated the world I’m in. ALL people except one that I know, have gone to FCP. All have dropped Avid, Vegas (yes, even switching platforms) Premiere and Media100. Avid will remain a dominate player in the NLE but all thing s change with time. My 2 cents.

Hope this helps-
Matthew
Dual 500 G4
OSX 10.3.5
Ram 1.38
FCP 4.5/AE 6.5/DVDSP3

[Paul Nevison]

obviously avid has been a pioneer in the industry and is a solid product in its various incarnations….i guess what i was shocked at today was the night and day approach the two companies are taking….Apple brimming with excitement and useable features and generally putting the ‘wow’ into user requests ie sure they gave us multicam – but it’s not just some frumpy version – its the younger sleeker, sexier model!!!

by comparison the avid stand was tired, ho hum and the products look equally tired (i cant get over how ugly and clunky it is to work on a PC now, when compared to the elegant approach apple takes to the whole picture from workflow to asthetics) . it just amazes me in the comparison of the two companies…if i was looking for a new solution I know which one would be grabbing my attention!!!

if avid got their butt kicked at NAB as you mentioned – then they must enjoy it as they looked like a second rate solution at the production show in London.

this is not avid bashing just an observation that is becoming clearer by the day!

system 1 G5DP 2.0 / 2.0G RAM / OS 10.3.8 / QT 6.5.2 / FCP HD 4.5 / CineWave 4.7 / Cinewave RT Pro/ Pro Digital Plus & Pro Analogue BOB

[Marc Poirier]

As nevo mentionned, it all comes down to the individuals and their preferences, but if you want to make an objective decision, I think FCP is the right one… As many of you, I used to be PC freak, editing on AVID, because the market wanted that…Until I accidentally fell on Apple and FCP… one word… WOW… I’ve realized that if I’m to work on a computer 10 – 15 hours a day, why don’t I go for something that’s exciting… Which is what Apple, FCP and all the Mac world has brought me since november 2004 (yes I’m a mac baby)… I was proud to tell my clients that I was using AVID… Now I’m proud to say that I’ve sold my AVID for FCP…

Long Live Apple!!!

snif snif!! that was beautifull! 🙂

markyyy

[Mrvideo]

[nevo] “this is not avid bashing just an observation that is becoming clearer by the day!
“

It was pretty obvious at NAB that Apple is eating AVID’s shorts. The favorite story by the last day of NAB was that AVID did not have to clean their floor carpeting durng the show once while Apple had to replace theirs every night after the first day.

I spent enought time around the Apple booth to know that lots of editor types came through the AVID booth and stopped at the Apple booth for a very long and hard look at the Studio.

Soundtrack Pro is the BIG hit of the softwares at NAB from the editing side of the house.

If you take notice, AVID is running around dropping prices trying to convince users that their product is still the best. I guess if you still believe that paying more for a product makes it the best, then AVID is the best.

But it is not about the pricing so much as the product quality. It has taken Apple over 5 years to get Final Cut Pro marketed and technolized to match the need for todays editing chores. AVID has lived with that tired interface because they obviously don’t know what to do with it.

In the late 1970’s when I saw IBM hit the skids as a formidable company, I realized at that time that company image had finally become an unimportant feature of selling a product. Just look at Microsoft today. They will be gone in another 20 years because they care more about money than quality. It always happens. ALWAYS in time.

[Mitchji]

[MrVideo] “Just look at Microsoft today. They will be gone in another 20 years because they care more about money than quality. “

Hi,

And they don’t know what quality is.

Best Wishes,

Mitch

[Christopher Wright]

Microsoft gone in 20 years?? Not a chance my friends.

[Scott Witthaus]

Avid is in a real quandry. FCP is its first ‘real’ competition to its core product line it has ever had. I had an Avid rep place a demo Adrenaline system in my shop when he heard I was looking at another FCP system. I played on it, got the pitch, but honestly could not see the value over FCP5 when looking at the toolsets and prices asked. Avid now feels that Adrenaline is thier answer to FCP5, where 2 years ago, XpressPro was the company’s answer. Of course the list on the Adrenaline was over $50k. I have put in a request for a new CP suite and will be interested to see the price comparison.

Avid will not go away any time soon. It is a great product, and has a huge installed user base. But for the postproduction industry, Avid has a real problem dealing with the competition Apple is throwing at them. At NAB, Avid had no consistent message, and seemed to be stuck in the mud when being compared to what Apple was doing.

All in all, its good for us editors!

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
Greybox, LLC
Richmond, VA USA
http://www.greybox.cc

[Michael Bugera]

After fiercly defending Media 100 for over 6 years I’m finally moving my post to FCP exclusively. Mainly because FCP HD & Panther/Tiger finally gave me the stability I needed after suffering through the quirks of earlier versions. However, quirky or not, what’s made FCP such a force today is that Apple wasn’t afraid to throw their product out there and let the industry tell them how to perfect it. (The price doesn’t hurt too) I suspect Avid has enjoyed it’s “leader in the industry” status for so long that it may be hard for them to get their heads around this. But they do have the benefit of much market saturation.

Unfortunately for Media 100 they came out with their $75,000 masterpiece at the same time everyone else came out with their $999-2,000 masterpieces. All that hard work on R&D flushed due to bad market timing. And it’s only this year that they seemed to have figured it out, but now no one (myself included) cares. I saw their latest product at NAB and I left depressed, thinking what could have been if they’d introduced this FCP-like product 2 years ago (or even last year). The shame is, they still have the best codec on the market. What a waste!

Apple and FCP have shown that a truly great product can be made if you check your ego at the door…except when you’re at NAB. Then you gloat.

Bugsy
Reformed M100 editor
FCP 4.5
G5 Dual 2.7

[Seawild]

Yo, is this Chris Wright of Open Road in DC?