Does Final Cut Pro 6 hurt you AVID guys?

[Aaron Neitz]

You know, we’re a 6 seat FCP shop with 2 Avids.

I use FCP. But Avid, while more expensive, still has overall better tools. Especially for the effects-heavy edit.

Stop picking fights. FCP 6 is hardly a revolution.

[Richard Martz]

No. But the price is revolutionary. Oh…I worded it that way on purpose to get a rise out of Avid folks. I also have used AVIDS for nearly 15 years now and love them. But I remember when I had to pay $1000-$4000 per year for the priviledge of calling AVID to tell them their machine was broken. And I have never felt appreciated as a customer of AVID. Not so with APPLE.

Richard Martz
MagicMartz Media

Final Cut Pro HD
Kona LH
After Effects
PhotoShop
Illustrator
Lots of other Fun Stuff!

[Kevin Downer]

I’ve never understood this “us vs. them” mentality. We’re not cults, we’re all editors. Most of us in order to survive are fluent with FCP and AVID these days (being the most entrenched platforms in post). I have edited in both platforms extensively and both have their benefits and faults. I wonder if the Moviola and Steenbeck users had this rivalry…Any ways on with the question.

It may be a loaded question but worth facing. No doubt clients will be asking similar things.

I was pretty impressed with Apple’s offerings with FCP Studio 2. They made some very good acquisitions to the bundle and Motion in 3D was much hungered for.

Color is the only real thing that made me sit up and take notice. It is an amazing program that compares to the Symphony Nitris color tools. It may not be real-time but the features are a real eye opener. No doubt lower end AVID users will be screaming for Symphony Color correction tools which the company cannot provide without alienating their higher-platform users who shelled out big bucks for these features. That is a big issue that needs to be addressed.

Past the glamour though, the actual FCP editing program seems to have had very little done with it for actual day to day editing requirements. After 2 years this is a shame. For AVID users this is undoubtedly a blessing in disguise. For all the wow-features Apple introduces, AVID relies on it’s less media-splashy features that has made it such a solid editing platform for a reason. Apple does keep chipping away though so AVID needs to start getting innovative again to make it stand out. The ball is very much in their court now.

In reality, a competent editor can work on either system, work around the issues of both platforms and produce great work for any medium, long or short. Weigh the needs, choose the tools and get the job done. FCP Studio 2 isn’t going to turn your computer into a finishing suite magically overnight without some major investments.

[Zach Cobb]

[Kevin D] “In reality, a competent editor can work on either system, work around the issues of both platforms and produce great work for any medium, long or short. Weigh the needs, choose the tools and get the job done. FCP Studio 2 isn’t going to turn your computer into a finishing suite magically overnight without some major investments.”

What he said!

[Grinner Hester]

It only hurts the Avid guys not learning FCP.
It does hurt the Avid houses who are still financing. Competitors having better tools for less money can easily put a dent in things.
The bottom line is any freelancer should know all the tools they can. Makes em more marketable. Every post house has to be looking ahead to their next purchase. Avid not having anything new and all other NLEs changing with the market makes it pretty easy to weed out at least one company next time around.

[Ted Levy]

You remind me of thousands on the Yahoo! stock message boards who get a bad reputation for relentlessly pumping the stocks they’re invested in and bashing the stocks they’ve shorted. Their posts don’t make much of a contribution to anyone else on the boards.

I think some on this board are way too tolerant of your indiscriminate, knee-jerk Avid basher and FCP pumper attitude.

[Rep_eric]

“No doubt lower end AVID users will be screaming for Symphony Color correction tools which the company cannot provide without alienating their higher-platform users who shelled out big bucks for these features.”

When has that ever stopped them before?

[Grinner Hester]

well, unfortuinatly I have well into six figures of stock in Avid in the form of purchasing their products and none in apple

yet

I tell ya what, Ted. My name is on every one of my posts. You can see that before ya click what I have written. How ’bout you just ignore those posts? May save some frustration on your part.

[Galen Yeo]

grinner is right…FCP is about competition and competition is about affording choice to the end users. The gaps are closing in, and when production companies are looking at upgrading not one, but several Avid machines – FCP makes a lot of sense and dollars. No-one’s estimated the cost of FCP on Avid’s business.

I’d like to see better adaptability along Avid’s product line which is now has more bugs than it has for a while. FCP isn’t perfect, but for the price, it’s damn good value.

[Grinner Hester]

At this point, it really does look like revaluating the price of DS is the best way to respond to consumer demand. I don’t see their next in line product being capable of hanging with FCP any time soon. When people are offlining on symphony and onlining on FCP, somthings kind of wack. DS is sound, proven and capable. It’s just out of reach for most due to it’s price point. If Avid were to start selling these for 40k and lower Adenaline’s price to a place where it isn’t as offensive to work around the bugs they may hang on to some clientele.
They’ll always sell boxes of software off store shelves. I don’t think this is where the gripe is.