Avid vs Final Cut Pro

[Shane Ross]

Search the forum. We go over this about once a month.

I am an Avid user and FCP user. They are both good. They both have their good points and bad points.

They are both just tools. The type of job determines the tool I’ll use.

But really, search the forum.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Shane Ross] “But really, search the forum.”

I’ll second that and make sure you go back at least one year. This has been discussed over and over and over and over…..

As Shane says, both have strong points and weak points. All depends on your workflow and what you’re doing. Neither makes a person a great editor. Good storytelling makes a person a great editor.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

“The Rough Cut,” an original short film premiering December 7th in full High Definition in Atlanta.
rsvp@biscardicreative.com to reserve seats.
https://www.theroughcutmovie.com

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Anders Haavie]

I am a hardcore fcp user, but have used avid quite alot for broadcast stuff. I think Avid has some stuff that is quite nice, but in general I find doing complicated postproduction INSANELY much easier on the fcp. Avid has got some of the basic things worked out (like the media manager).. but FCP is 100 light years ahead of Avid when it comes to smart workflow with codecs and “fancy” stuff.

This is just my opinion.. avid vs. fcp debates usually end up as flame wars, so I guess you should check out at the avid discussion forum as well… if there are any guys around there any more.. (THAT WAS A JOKE !!)

Anders

[Craig Seeman]

Avid Media Composer user from 1990-2001. Switched to FCP. I like the basic compositing in FCP much better than Avid. I like FCP’s non modal way of doing things. I like FCP’s scalability and cost. I do not like FCP’s Media Manager.

[Debe]

You’ll likely come across this in your search…but just in case…

I highly recommend either taking a FCP course, or at the very least, running through the Peachpit Press Pro training books.

The most frustrating thing I found about learning FCP, after having been an Avid editor for 8 years, was trying to force FCP to work like I knew Avid did. My insane “Avid workarounds” that I used for the first 3 years on FCP was a HUGE disservice to my clients and to me.

I took the Apple Certified Training to get new bearings, and after I really began to understand just how different FCP is from Avid, I really began to appreciate FCPs strengths, and to deal with it’s weaknesses. I highly suggest you do what you need to do to avoid having to force FCP to do what Avid does. Whether that is taking Apple Certified Training courses or self-guided training, the sooner you can “think in FCP” instead of “translating FCP into Avid” first, the happier you will be!

I still use both Avid and FCP. I appreciate each app’s strengths, and try to accept each app’s weaknesses. When I’m lucky, I get to choose which one I want to use for certain projects, and having that flexibility makes for all the difference in how successful my projects are.

I am unsatisfied with the Media Manager, but the integration of LiveType, Motion, SoundTrack Pro and DVD Studio Pro make for a workflow that in my experience is not paralled in Avid. The ability to easily import images larger than raster is a HUGE selling point for me.

debe

[Chris Wyatt]

The biggest difference between Avid and FCP as non linear edit packages is directly related
to the FCP Media Manager – there is NO backend database for managing clip media in FCP.
Until this is directly addressed there will never be a solid networked management system like Avid Unity for FCP.
Without a unique ID generated and regenerated for all project related media in FCP I can’t see this gettting fixed in a hurry.
The quirky thing about this is that XML seems to have huge promise as a platform for doing procedural editing tasks – much
more powerful than AAF.

Best Regards please excuse the acronym ranting
Footagehead

[Mark Raudonis]

[footagehead] “Until this is directly addressed there will never be a solid networked management system like Avid Unity for FCP. “

Mr. Footagehead,

Have you ever heard of X-SAN?

https://www.apple.com/xsan/

Mark

[Francois Xavier]

I think the big difference the “philosophical gap” is in the nesting of sequences in Fcp without non nesting in avid

Documentary Director & Editor
Paris /France

[Chris Wyatt]

[Mr. Footagehead,

Have you ever heard of X-SAN?]

Yep, and had to provide training and support for a few companies using it.
Not bad for a network file storage pool.
Just the cigar box without the cigars.
To repeat myself NO network media management support for collaborative editing.

And to be clear about your response – you believe X-SAN is a contender for Avid Unity?

Best Regards
Mr Footagehead

[Shane Ross]

Mark Roudonis, who replied earlier, uses X-SAN to manage 100 FCP systems…with X_Serve Raids managing over…what, 14TB of storage? I forget. Mark was kind enough to give me a tour. All 100 FCP stations have access to the footage.

That’s right…ONE HUNDRED systems. Bunim Murray Productions. MTVs The Real World, FOXs The Simple Life.

XSAN is designed for editing. It is Apple’s answer to Unity. Of course since Avid and FCP function differently, the network will too, but