FCP X – food for thought

[Andy Field]

CBS BBC and others are installing X for one reason

It is inexpensive

No yearly licensing ..pay once and done

I work in one of the big networks and see the decisions from the inside. Many more inexperienced one man/woman bands doing simple cut cut field editing with simple two channel news sound mixes. You can most of that on an iPhone with iMovie

They can’t find experienced X editors because

A. They aren’t paying experienced editor rates
B. Experienced editors are doing long form narrative or doc work on larger more complex mixes requiring in app track managemement CC. Effects round tripping. Etc. …something the experience folk feel more comfortable doing in other NLE’s instead of learning a new paradigm

For large news operations…X is primarily a budget decision foisted on staff that must learn and use it …I know staffers who say they have no choice. Companies area saying. “Live with it”

Andy Field
FieldVision Productions
N. Bethesda, Maryland 20852

[Jim Wiseman]

A couple of faults with this logic, Andrew. The Mac runs most software that Windows does, including Adobe. You don’t have to run Apple hardware or software if you don’t want to. I am free to rent Adobe Creative Cloud, but for all the reasons that read like an overflowing dead letter box, I never will.

The second is that Adobe nor Microsoft had Steve Jobs who saw that the synergy between creating a company that developed hardware and software in tandem multiplied the value of each. Controlling a platform designed to promote the strengths of both of these elements would create a tremendous advantage. Adobe will never make hardware, so as an alternative you are stuck with Microsoft and Intel, and numerous embodiments thereof. Frankly, I doubt that any major computer platform/software developer will match the potential of Apple as long as we are practicing this art/craft. Whether Apple is no longer completely hypnotized by the profits of the iPhone is another factor. But I would rather throw my lot in with a company that is extremely profitable, by almost any measure, than with one that is marginal.

The race to the bottom is concerning. For those working the high to middle high-end, it would seem they are the ones most vexed by this. Glad my high-end was a few years ago. Now I just want to get some work done with as little interference from the corporations-that-be as possible using my own media assets and paid for software, access to which I can count on. That is looking like Apple/FCPX and a possible curveball from Blackmagic Resolve/Apple, with Media 100 backing up home plate like an alert, if slightly arthritic, third baseman. Adobe could have won the World Series, but their potential winning home run was stabbed before going over the fence. I was betting on them. Should have paid more attention to their hitting coach. Or the fans.

Jim Wiseman
Sony PMW-EX1, Pana AJ-D810 DVCPro, DVX-100, Nikon D7000, Final Cut Pro X 10.2.1, Final Cut Studio 2 and 3, Media 100 Suite 2.1.6, Premiere Pro CS 5.5 and 6.0, AJA ioHD, AJA Kona LHi, Blackmagic Ultrastudio 4K, Blackmagic Teranex, Avid MC, 2013 Mac Pro Hexacore, 1TB SSD, 64GB RAM, 2-D500, Helios 2 w 2-960GB SSDs: 2012 Hexacore MacPro 3.33 Ghz, 24Gb RAM, GTX-680, 960GB SSD: Macbook Pro 17″ 2011 2.2 Ghz Quadcore i7 16GB RAM 250GB SSD, Multiple OWC Thunderbay 4 TB2 and eSATA QX2 RAID 5 HD systems

[Andrew Kimery]

[Jim Wiseman] “A couple of faults with this logic, Andrew. The Mac runs most software that Windows does, including Adobe. You don’t have to run Apple hardware or software if you don’t want to. I am free to rent Adobe Creative Cloud, but for all the reasons that read like an overflowing dead letter box, I never will.”

My point was you have to own a Mac if you want to run Apple’s software. No mandatory Mac purchase would mean no free OS, no pay once, upgrade forever ProApps, etc.,. Apple came down like a ton of bricks on Psystar (the hackintosh company) because Apple’s business model is centered around selling hardware. If Apple’s software was cross platform I would probably be running a new PC tower right now as opposed to stretching as much life as I can out of a 2009 MP while figuring out what my next major computer purchase is going to be.

[Jim Wiseman] “The second is that Adobe nor Microsoft had Steve Jobs who saw that the synergy between creating a company that developed hardware and software in tandem multiplied the value of each. Controlling a platform designed to promote the strengths of both of these elements would create a tremendous advantage. Adobe will never make hardware, so as an alternative you are stuck with Microsoft and Intel, and numerous embodiments thereof. “

Two different paths where one isn’t inherently better than the other though. I’m not sure what hardware synergy would have been applicable to Adobe. Hardware accelerator cards? Isn’t that what Media100 hung their hat on and got killed once ‘off the shelf’ computers became fast enough? Entire computers? They would have been crushed like the rest of the PC makers in the race to the bottom started by Dell. I/O cards? That’s such a booming market that the leaders (AJA and BM) have branched out into cameras, field recorders, etc.,. Even Avid, which for a couple of decades required it’s own hardware, finally opened up to third part I/O out of necessity.

Apple provides a great ecosystem provided that one only want/need what’s provided by Apple’s ecosystem. On the flip side one has a plethora of options outside of Apple’s ecosystem but one has to make choices and one probably won’t end up with a an experience as seamless as Apple’s. To each their own.

[Jim Wiseman] “But I would rather throw my lot in with a company that is extremely profitable, by almost any measure, than with one that is marginal.”

Though the profits come from a different source so how important is your business? One one hand Apple has a ton of money, but on the other hand BM, Adobe, Avid, etc., all depend on post/production for their very existence. No right answer, just different pros/cons.

For myself I don’t feel comfortable hitching my wagon to any one star (which is why I’m not a fan of the ‘ecosystem’ trend that’s happening). I very much like Walter Soyka push for more open standards so it’s easy/easier to transfer projects between different venders.

[Jim Wiseman] “The race to the bottom is concerning. For those working the high to middle high-end, it would seem they are the ones most vexed by this. Glad my high-end was a few years ago. Now I just want to get some work done with as little interference from the corporations-that-be as possible using my own media assets and paid for software, access to which I can count on.”

I think it should be concerning to everyone because races to the bottom almost always result in reduced competition which is bad for consumers. The fear you, and others, have expressed about what if all software goes subscription only is a direct result of the race to the bottom of software prices. For example, if Apple wasn’t giving way OS X would Microsoft have shifted Windows to a subscription model?

[Shawn Miller]

[Andrew Kimery] ” For example, if Apple wasn’t giving way OS X would Microsoft have shifted Windows to a subscription model?”

Probably. I don’t think OSX does much to move them one way or another, other than being another Office delivery platform. I get your point though, Andrew. When consumers are protected from the costs of developing quality software by subsidized offerings, they tend to expect that applications should be good and inexpensive… with free updates. That’s why I continue to believe that the only companies that will offer perpetually licensed software in the future will be; very small shops, niche developers, open source projects and companies that can subsidize dev costs with other revenue streams.

Shawn

[Jim Wiseman]

[Andrew Kimery] “My point was you have to own a Mac if you want to run Apple’s software. No mandatory Mac purchase would mean no free OS, no pay once, upgrade forever ProApps, etc.,. Apple came down like a ton of bricks on Psystar (the hackintosh company) because Apple’s business model is centered around selling hardware. If Apple’s software was cross platform I would probably be running a new PC tower right now as opposed to stretching as much life as I can out of a 2009 MP while figuring out what my next major computer purchase is going to be.”

I know that was your point, Andrew. And that is precisely my point. I like that model. So does Blackmagic. I would be using Macs regardless. I am sold on UNIX based OSX and reliable Mac CPUs. The hardware plus software model is inherently more flexible and hence has greater profit potential than one or the other alone. One begets the other. Results in larger R&D budgets. Apple is obviously making beaucoup bucks on hardware, but the profits from iTunes and the App Store are certainly nothing to sneeze at. Ask the music industry. Regarding the software we are interested in, FCP Legacy sold an awful lot of Macs and I’m sure was profitable on it’s own. It drove me out of the Avid business in Hawaii. If that is an unfair competitive model, it is one that Jobs & Co. came up with and an awful lot of people seem to have liked. I have no doubt that Apple is doing well with Mac sales and FCPX and other software they and others have developed. FCPX probably has more upside than Legacy. That doesn’t keep you from running Adobe or Microsoft applications on the Mac or other platforms either. Adobe and MS were featured presenters at the intro of the iPad Pro. There is a reason those companies are cross platform. There is a huge and growing market in Apple devices. To your other point, speaking of being hit by a ton of bricks, that is exactly how I felt when Adobe announced subscription only.

[Andrew Kimery] “Two different paths where one isn’t inherently better than the other though. I’m not sure what hardware synergy would have been applicable to Adobe. Hardware accelerator cards? Isn’t that what Media100 hung their hat on and got killed once ‘off the shelf’ computers became fast enough? Entire computers? They would have been crushed like the rest of the PC makers in the race to the bottom started by Dell. I/O cards? That’s such a booming market that the leaders (AJA and BM) have branched out into cameras, field recorders, etc.,. Even Avid, which for a couple of decades required it’s own hardware, finally opened up to third part I/O out of necessity.”

There is a great deal of difference between add in cards and Computers and OS. I’m very happy to have AJA and Blackmagic dominating I/O. I put together a lot of ABVB Avid systems with external chassis, and no one was happier to see them go. (Other than the profit margins!) We are going to a file based world at any rate. Only MS could have had the resources to do a CPU/hardware business combined with their software, but they were happy to have the monopoly on only the OS and were quite content to let others build the hardware, a business at which they have never been very successful. Jobs put together the talent, capital and vision to do both. Grant Petty is on a similar path.

[Andrew Kimery] “For myself I don’t feel comfortable hitching my wagon to any one star (which is why I’m not a fan of the ‘ecosystem’ trend that’s happening).”

I am certainly not falling for any one ecosystem, especially in the area of software. As long as it runs on my Macs, I’m happy. All the software I need does. You can see what I’m currently using below, and it looks like Resolve 12 will be next. Pretty sure I have a path to the future in there somewhere, and I’m also quite sure Apple will be around as the platform.

[Andrew Kimery] “I think it should be concerning to everyone because races to the bottom almost always result in reduced competition which is bad for consumers. The fear you, and others, have expressed about what if all software goes subscription only is a direct result of the race to the bottom of software prices. For example, if Apple wasn’t giving way OS X would Microsoft have shifted Windows to a subscription model?”

I still believe that Adobe could make very good profits selling perpetually licensed software along with rentals for those for whom it makes sense. I bought licenses every year. Most all creatives did. They have lost customers with rental, even though the ones that remain are in a true sense, captured. Microsoft has such a lock on the enterprise and other users that they could easily be profitable providing the Windows OS for many years to come. Where else will enterprise customers get their OS? Or Office? Their biggest problem is having missed most of mobile where the majority of the profits are headed. We’ll have to see how that misjudgement works out for them. At any rate, it is what it is, and we will have to deal with it as will all of these companies. I’m afraid it is just straight up capitalism, with all of it’s virtues and faults.

Jim Wiseman
Sony PMW-EX1, Pana AJ-D810 DVCPro, DVX-100, Nikon D7000, Final Cut Pro X 10.2.1, Final Cut Studio 2 and 3, Media 100 Suite 2.1.6, Premiere Pro CS 5.5 and 6.0, AJA ioHD, AJA Kona LHi, Blackmagic Ultrastudio 4K, Blackmagic Teranex, Avid MC, 2013 Mac Pro Hexacore, 1TB SSD, 64GB RAM, 2-D500, Helios 2 w 2-960GB SSDs: 2012 Hexacore MacPro 3.33 Ghz, 24Gb RAM, GTX-680, 960GB SSD: Macbook Pro 17″ 2011 2.2 Ghz Quadcore i7 16GB RAM 250GB SSD, Multiple OWC Thunderbay 4 TB2 and eSATA QX2 RAID 5 HD systems

[Jeff Markgraf]

Hi Andy.

You probably can’t name your network, but I’m curious which part of the network you work in: news or entertainment or sports or “other?” Sounds like news.

I ask because I find that different divisions, at least here in LA, tend to have different needs and decidedly different points of view regarding editorial. Even with increasingly harsh cost cutting, getting network people in LA to wrap their heads around FCPX is still incredibly difficult.

[James Culbertson]

What if the debate were actually over, and we had nothing left to do but edit? I have not checked in for a couple of months, but I see I have not missed anything.

[Michael Gissing]

The debate is over when someone makes the perfect NLE that suits everyone. Not happening!

[Scott Witthaus]

[James Culbertson] “What if the debate were actually over, and we had nothing left to do but edit? I have not checked in for a couple of months, but I see I have not missed anything.
“

You’re right, James. Same sh**, different day. I can’t figure out what the “debate” is anymore either.

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Andy Field]

I work in news….and we are increasingly getting away from in house expensive to maintain server systems (aka Avid/Unity) and more portable field based one man band shoot and edit on the fly operations. FCP X is inexpensive and perfect for young not set in their ways predictors. Premiere pro is a close second and an easier transition for legacy FCP or Avid editors.

Andy Field
FieldVision Productions
N. Bethesda, Maryland 20852