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Before you get too comfy in your switch . . . .
Before you get too comfy in your switch . . . . I had some thoughts that might throw some concerns at some people.
Apple is moving to AV Foundation. It may be possible that at some point . . .
That will give FCPX an advantage on Mac
That Avid and Adobe may also have to go through a major change if they need to support it.
That Apple, which controls Quicktime, may muck with that in ways that impact Avid and Adobe negatively.Of course there’s no way to know the likelihood of the above but if some you think Apple is somehow “sinister'” or has an industry wide shift as its ulterior motive one might wonder about other moves they may make regarding Quicktime and AV Foundation.
Just very wild speculation . . . but Apple moves to Apple’s advantage.
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105 Replies
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Hi
Isn’t Quicktime EOL’d since v7.*? -
[Paul Dickin] “Isn’t Quicktime EOL’d since v7.*?”
And think about where that might lead as far as impact on other NLEs.
I honestly don’t know where it will lead . . . but at this point there’s no Quicktime 10 on Windows either. I think Apple has a plan.If one observes how Apple acts as a business you have to wonder if there’s a bigger impact they are working towards. FCPX is a piece of the puzzle as is Lion and AV Foundation. I think there’s also reasons that they dumped nearly all products that were built from outside acquisitions. I think there’s stuff that’s been in the works for some long time and it’s why ProApps development slowed since 2007. They tend to start projects and experiment long in advance of releases such as making an OS work on Intel long before they publicly announced that move, for example.
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But why did they release this version without basics everyday needs like XML, EDL, OMF and tape control support? Why didn’t they just call this Final Cut X Express and tell us Final Cut Pro X is coming?
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Apple is moving to AV Foundation. It may be possible that at some point . . . Avid and Adobe may also have to go through a major change if they need to support it.
Avid’s ONLY business is “pro” video – news, broadcast and film. What are the chances they will design an AV Foundation NLE that will alienate their entire user base? None.
That isn’t quite as true for Adobe, but I think the chances are very low there as well.
Your whole Apple-centric post misses the point, and here I’m going to quote something Simon Ubsdell wrote a few days ago –
Contrari-wise we look at Apple (now) and we see a business that only happens by chance to be traveling the same path as we are. Somehow we have chosen to ignore this for a number of years – suddenly the truth of it is inescapable. We have everything to lose, they have virtually nothing. Whether or not they are committed to carrying on along the same path as us, we have been made aware of how precarious the relationship is on our side. We have been very lucky so far, but now we realize that it was indeed luck all along.
(https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/335/8894)
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions -
I think this, FCPX already includes the foundation even though it’s incomplete in many if not most other aspects. I think Apple’s thinking long range and they are in a situation where they can take a short term “hit” to get there.
I also don’t think Apple pulled FCS2009 because they thought FCPX was an adequate replacement in its current state. I don’t think they are that badly managed as a company. Personally I think there may have been financial, contractual, licensing obligations they wanted to exit from as quickly as possible. Again, I believe this is tied to the fact that Motion and Compressor, which continue, are “in house” products as is the new FCPX. They dumped nearly everything that had acquired code.
I also think that AV Foundation replacing Quicktime is a big part of the puzzle. I’m speculating that Apple’s leverage on Quicktime may impact the rest of the Post industry. I think AV Foundation will play into this as well.
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What I’ve been wondering is the implications of AV Foundation in the bigger picture. I wonder how AV Foundation will be supported in the PC world? I can remember not too many years ago when quicktime was very difficult to deploy to the broader market due to integration problems with PC’s. As there are so many iGadgets that are tied to PC’s, I wonder what Apple’s solution is for that? Lion’s release this month should be quite telling. I truly hope they don’t decide to EOL QT support for the bigger world of PC.
Aside from that, I think a pretty fair segment of the “professional” market will be migrating from the Apple platform altogether after this FCP(su)X release. At least, a fair segment of the folks I’ve talked too and read post from.
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
[Herb Sevush] “Your whole Apple-centric post misses the point -“
I think Craig’s point is that if you’re going to switch, you might as well think about a full platform switch as well. Apple is effectively killing quicktime as a format (for AV Foundation). Adobe and Avid if they decide to continue releasing their software on Mac will eventually have to shift to AV Foundation as well.
-mattyc
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“That Apple, which controls Quicktime, may muck with that in ways that impact Avid and Adobe negatively.”
They already have… Apple mandated Adobe use an updated QT API when they went to develop CS4, the result is you can’t render over an AFP or SMB network if your resulting file is a QT over 2.15 GB. This has thrown a huge wrench into a lot of peoples pipelines. I am well familiar with the recommend work arounds, the fact is this worked for over a decade and now is broken and the workarounds are not convenient for a lot of people. Apple acknowledges this bug and Adobe has publicly stated the two companies are trying to work together but it’s Apple’s issue to fix.
So yea, hopefully there isn’t a repeat of this kind of thing, but this bug certainly took people by surprise.
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[Herb Sevush] “Avid’s ONLY business is “pro” video – news, broadcast and film. What are the chances they will design an AV Foundation NLE that will alienate their entire user base? None. “
Does Avid depend on Apple Quicktime at all?
Re: Simon Ubsdell’s comment
“Contrari-wise we look at Apple (now) and we see a business that only happens by chance to be traveling the same path as we are.”Apple has been known to try to steer people down a path. They may not succeed but that’s been part of their recent DNA. Apple, in many respects, seems to steering into becoming a media conglomerate of sorts (amongst it’s many paths) and I think they are looking at dominating in various areas and are working in the long view of things.
I think Quicktime (it’s decline) and AV Foundation may play a role in that. One can observer the “Flash” battle with Adobe to see that. Some superficial hints may also be in the presets in Compressor 4 for http live streaming.
If Apple controls Quicktime and other NLEs are using it, they have leverage.
Apple’s Pro Res has also moved into a point of leverage as well, not that there aren’t alternatives . . . but you really have to watch how Apple moves long term. Look at the hardware now dependent on ProRes and that Apple is now licensing it on the encoding side on Windows.I’ve always thought one of the most important games I learned as a kid was Connect the Dots. In this case the Dots may not be numbered so we may connect them differently and, thus, have different pictures. I’m simply offering this as mine.
Look at what Apple can leverage and see where that might lead. Again it doesn’t mean they’ll succeed but one should observe the Dots and try connecting them in different ways.
Some might say Apple has become a consumer company but some might say they are becoming a media company as well.
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[Marvin Holdman] “Aside from that, I think a pretty fair segment of the “professional” market will be migrating from the Apple platform “
Short term maybe depending on what Apple does. How many Post professionals on Windows use Apple’s Quicktime?
[Marvin Holdman] “I wonder how AV Foundation will be supported in the PC world?”
That’s actually a key question.
Notice how ProRes is being handled. Apple just recently started licensing it on software encoders on Windows. One might wonder the path that’s taking and why is that happening now as opposed to why not sooner. Note the hardware products that rely on ProRes as well.
Between Quicktime and ProRes Apple is developing/had developed things that a lot of the post industry is dependent on.
I can’t help but thin Quicktime, ProRes, AV Foundation are key to some of Apple’s decisions and the impact may be felt across the industry.
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