FC Server vs. Avid Unity

[Rick Dolishny]

Even Avid Unity or ISIS takes a full time crew to keep aloft. SAN based media management is a dream that in reality is a nightmare for many.

I would say wait until it actually ships and get a proper demo then.

The demo video of the LA CBS affiliate is stunning, I forwarded it off to many colleagues, but on the Avid side we’ve seen it all before. Wait until it actually ships, personally it’s way too good to be true!

– Rick

[Russell Lasson]

FC Server is really, really new. There are going to be a lot of really cool features for people who acutally have to manage media. It’s going to be a learning process for both Apple and us, but it even at that, it’s going to help me spend less time managing media and more time editing. (That’s only because it will be a lot easier for me to get others to manage that instead, not that the time is going to go away.)

-Russ

[Dom Silverio]

FC Server is not ‘really, really new’
https://www.proximitygroup.com/page.php?pg=products_artbox

It was Proximity’s Artbox. It is one of the few asset management software for post product that is out there.
Unity is NOT an asset management software. It is a SAN. A SAN is basically a storage (hardware) sharing (networked) system.

Unity allows not only drive sharing (the most basic SAN feature) but also dynamic project sharing.

Because the way Avid structures its project files (an Avid project is actually a folder that consist of separate files each bin and settings), it is possible to share the same project among several editors.

FCP’s project is one file. Thus true project sharing is not allowed (at least currently?). Thus XSAN is your typical SAN, sharing through read/write permission at virtual volume sharing. Drives appears as network storage to the G5 FCP station. Your read and write permission is governed by XSAN server.

Now this brings us to FC Server and its Avid counterpart – ISIS.

These media management softwares allow you to track your assets across multiple networks (multiple SANs possibe) and is not limited to audio/video. This can be text, pictures and music. Etc.

Artbox supposedly had limited timecode based media management feature (while it tracked TC, what you can do with it was limited). It supported other metadata well (dates, comments, formats, etc). Maybe Apple has changed this. Report from NAB, it seems most of the change is superficial (aka skin).

We will see. Avid ISIS is a much bigger beast that is targeted for much bigger enterprise (like Olympics, Holywood Studios, CBS News Network – not just local affiliate). It was smart of Apple to show FC Server is viable for CBS LA affiliate since the target audience is probably smaller setups (boutiques and such) – thus the pricing.

[Andrew Kimery]

To split hairs here, Avid’s Interplay would be more along the lines of Final Cut Server as ISIS is pretty much a newer and more feature filled version of Unity, AFAIK.

-A

[Dom Silverio]

You are correct. I was mistaken. I assumed that ISIS was needed for Interplay (which it does not seem to be).