FCP X or AVID??

[Mark Bein]

[Rob Pitman] “with the massive reductions on Avid at the moment”
If money is a concern, better check usual upgrade pricing before making a decision

[Geoff Dills]

Why do you feel compelled to switch? The only reason I would give up on X is if I felt Apple was not going to finish building it. I think they’re in this for the long haul myself and I find the workarounds worth the aggravation. The picture quality improvements alone convinced me.

One of the first things I did when I got X was to export my current fcp7 project in pro res, load it on an X timeline and put it on YouTube. The difference in the quality was clear. No more gamma garbage. The images looked exactly like what I edited. The version I put up from 7 was darker, had a lot more blockiness.

Best,
Geoff

[Neil Patience]

Depending on the work you do I would say learning Avid can only be a positive as it opens up more opportunities. As a freelancer I would lose out if I only knew one or the other. Certainly in the UK, where I work Avid is still the dominant system with many post houses and broadcasters although FCP has made big inroads in the last 5 or 6 years. FCPX has pretty much made itself irrelevant to those particular environments in its current form. That of course may well change as it develops.
For the Macbook Pro Media Composer is what you will need. If you want external monitoring and deck control etc then you have the choice of Matrox MX02 or the Kona IO Express. I have used both and prefer the Kona but there is lots of info around about those options for you to choose what bests suits your workflow.
You get both Mac and PC software with Avid and you can load it on both platforms, dongle control means you can only use one at a time though.
I have it on both a Macbook Pro and a Mac Pro and just switch the dongle over depending on where I need to work.
There is nothing quite as sophisticated as Color in the Avid package but in terms of the rest you will not find it lacking.
One word of advice if I may, I have taught “crossover” lessons for editors going both Avid-FCP & FCP-Avid. Its pretty tempting to try and make one work like the other but either direction thats only going to get you frustrated. Accept the differences and you will have a much easier time.
For me Avid wins over FCPX without question but that is the environment I work in – for others it may not be the same, you will be able to stick with FCP7 too for a good while if FCPX doesn’t suit. If you can afford it and it can be part of the bigger picture for you then now is a good time, enjoy it.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Michael Phillips]

Media Composer is very versatile from creating web content to studio A level features. The first thing to do is download the 30 day free trial:

https://apps.avid.com/media-composer-trial/

Also, this page has some high level bullet points on MC advantages, and information on the crossover promotion:

https://www.avid.com/US/specialoffers/fcp-mc-promotion?intcmp=AV-HP-S2

Michael

Michael Phillips

[Daniel Frome]

A lot of people here keep saying “wait, don’t switch” … but, well YES, that’s kind of what professionals do when they are faced with the future that’s been laid in front of us. We’re brand and software agnostic and will switch to whatever suits our needs.

I hadn’t used Media Composer for about 5 years but I took advantage of the crossgrade promotion. It’s a different piece of software, but it’s better. Simply put. That doesn’t mean I dislike Premiere Pro or FCPX — in fact, I would use them too if they happened to be the better tool for certain projects — but they aren’t in most cases.

Learn them all. You obviously don’t know how to use AVID yet but you should, regardless if you need it right now.

[Steve Connor]

Certainly worth a try of the 30 day free version. Some people pick up Avid very quickly and find the keyboard workflow better than FCP and PPro’s tactile workflow.

I started editing on Avid when the first ones came into the UK, I used it for a number of years but since switching to FCP, Avid feels like editing in handcuffs, but that’s just a personal opinion 🙂

However I think it’s only going to consolidate it’s position as the standard in the higher ends of the industry, despite Adobe pushing hard.

Steve Connor
Adrenalin Television

Have you tried “Search Posts”? Enlightenment may be there.

[Chris Conlee]

Rob,

What type of work do you do? For certain types of work, FCP X will be more than suitable. Before making a recommendation, it would be useful to know what you need from your editing application. Do you need deck control? Do you need to track film numbers? Do you need to export your audio for additional sweetening and mixing, or do you do your own mixing in app? Are you solely involved in file-based material with delivery restricted to the internet? No job is any more “professional” than another, but they have different needs.

Chris

[Joe Moya]

In FCPX’s current state… it does not have the level of editing capability as compared to AVID or PPro.

The only real way to know if AVID is what you want is to download a trial copy and try it out… same is true for Adobe PPro.

What you have is a migration decision. And… if FCPx is as easy to learn (verdict still out) as Apple claims… then, you should have no problem going back to FCPx in the future is AVID or PPro turns out to not work for you. However, I seriously doubt that will be an issue with either PPro or AVID. Either will most likely work since all three (AVID, ADOBE and FCP)are cousin-like in the overall workflow process of editing.

Learning AVID will give you certain advantages when it comes to using it on a “Hollywood” or “TV” level of editing. While Adobe’s PPro Production package is definately a work horse of the CG/compositing industry.

AVID is good… and adaptable… but, it is also the most different in it’s UI when compared to FCP…so, the learning curve may be a bit higher than if you were to move to Adobe. If you are looking for an editing application that is comparible to FCP – either Adobe’s PPro or AVID’s MC5 will work.

AVID’s key advantages are powerful abililies, stability and flexibility. It’s key disadvantage (sorta’) is that it’s user interface has the least common ground with FCP. While Adobe’s key advantages is it’s flexibility in working well with CG, graphics, compositing and text creation. Adobe PPro has the most common user interface similarity with FCP resulting in a lower learning curve.

Perhaps instead of think about migrating to a new editing application as “jumping ship”… you should probably consider it an opportunity (specially when you look at the unbeleiveable low prices being offered) to broaden your skills and making yourself more marketable or prepared for new business.

In a nutshell… perhaps it is good to look at it as if… you didn’t leave FCP… FCP and Apple left you. And the change will not be a negative but a positive in the long run.

[Douglas Morse]

We do need to know more about what you do. I switched to PP because of the integration of apps and 64 bit. (Though Avid will be 64 bit on the next version)

What kind of footage are you working with (DSLR, tape, P2) and what are you doing with it (web, tape, DVD, Blu-ray)?

I can’t advise Final Cut Pro X because it simply does not have the features we need and even simple things like OMF export (to work with a Pro Tools sound designer) is a $500 plug in.

Avid and Premiere Pro include that and a lot, lot more.

[John Chay]

As a FCP user I think the switch to Premiere Pro would be easier for you. Most FCP users find Avid very frustrating. It’s very different.

http://www.john-chay.com

Editor/Videographer