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Final Cut Pro vs. Premiere
I was wondering if anyone could point me to some rather definitive comparisons of FCP vs. Premiere. My office is currently engaged in a rather ridiculous debate because several of our other locations throughout the U.S. use Premiere, while the others use FCP. We’d like to move to one platform and I’d like it to be FCP.
So I’m looking for solid research to convince them to not take our macs away.
Any info would be great. Thanks!
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71 Replies
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You can run Premiere on a Mac… but I’d suggest that there are a lot more FCP editors out there in the freelance world than Premiere savvy guys…
Further, Premiere has never been looked at as a professional solution by most of the houses out there. Avid and FCP have been dominating this arena for a very long time.
Not only that FCP represents the ONLY NLE in the world where the OS, Apps and hardware are ALL made by the same company. This fortells faster updates and upgrades with more features coming at you at a faster rate… and making sure that bugs are fixed in a relatively timely manner… all apps have bugs. Premiere isn’t bugless… neither is Avid or any other NLE.
But a side by side comparison? not sure where to find this, but the above makes it much of a moot point.
Hey it was the NLE that was used for editing of this years Best Picture Oscar… that should tell you something about what’s considered professional right there…
That’s not to say that Premiere isn’t a decent app. It is. However NONE of the above can be said about it.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D
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Do a search on this forum for Premiere and you’ll find a lot of, ahem, “discussions” about this matter. They’re generally not pretty and turn into “Your NLE Sucks and Mine is Better” type of things, but there are some good nuggets of information.
Your office is definitely correct to come together under one editing platform. Both are good tools, really comes down to what you guys want to use.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow! -
[walter biscardi] “Your office is definitely correct to come together under one editing platform. Both are good tools, really comes down to what you guys want to use. “
And add to that workflow. Adobe’s dynamic link integration is second to none. I don’t know how much after effects you use, but going form AE to Premiere, then photoshop and Encore and back and all around is totally cool and the envy of Final Cut Studio. The problem with Premiere (for me anyway) is that it is not supported by AJA at this time, but they have announced that they will support it sometime in the future. Premiere might not be there quite yet, but you can’t ignore it at this point, especially if you use AE and other Adobe products.
If you need something right now, FCP is probably the way to go for Macs.
Jeremy
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Jerry is totally right regarding this. I think it’s safe to say that anything that can be done in Premiere can be done in Final Cut and then some.
Support for the software is probably the most immediate reason to go with Final Cut. Most existing editors and schools that are training editors are divided between Final Cut and Avid. A better bezier tool (I’m making this example up) does not make up for a smaller talent pool and less support from hardware and software vendors.
It’s probably the only reason why Avid is still selling as much as they are now.
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Jerry
Not only that FCP represents the ONLY NLE in the world where the OS, Apps and hardware are ALL made by the same company. This fortells faster updates and upgrades with more features coming at you at a faster rate… and making sure that bugs are fixed in a relatively timely manner… all apps have bugs. Premiere isn’t bugless… neither is Avid or any other NLE.
Good Point. However there are those who would say that because Adobe is NOT tied to any specific OS or Platform, they have significant motivation and resources to fix bugs and make great software that stands on its own.
(notice how i didnt play the “FCP is just a way for apple to sell more computers” card)
oooops, guess i did play it. my bad. 🙂
“I like video because its so fast!”
Bob Flood
Greer & Associates, Inc. -
[Jeremy Garchow] “The problem with Premiere (for me anyway) is that it is not supported by AJA at this time,”
Just to clarify that. AJA does support Premiere on the PC with the Xena line of products. It’s just that on the Mac they have not been able to get the support working.
And yes, the Adobe integration with all of their products is even better than Apple’s integration of Studio 2.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow! -
[Bob Flood] “(notice how i didnt play the “FCP is just a way for apple to sell more computers” card)
oooops, guess i did play it. my bad. :)”
Well, that pretty much goes without saying. When Apple purchases a $25,000 color correction application and just rolls it into Studio 2 for no additional cost, there’s no other motivation for that other than to sell additional high end Mac Pros. Ultimately that will bring Apple a lot more money than selling that $25,000 version of the software (or even the $5,000 version) to the folks who would spend that money on one app.
The real unfortunate side effect of this pricing strategy, at least for Adobe, is that in order to complete against Studio 2 they have to bring their pricing in line with Apple’s. As you note, they’re just selling the software so they don’t get the benefit of the backend sales of all that hardware to run their gear. Gotta be tough for others to compete against Studio 2 just from a pricing standpoint.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow! -
Premiere Pro may not be the best video editing program but then again it does not suck. Actually I like it and use it over Edius now. Edius is a great Program and I would prefer to use Edius over FCP or Avid because of the realtime editing horse power but Edius does not have the integration with AE, Encore, PhotShop, Audition and Flash. The thought of desinging a logo for print in Photoshop and then importing it into AE or Encore is great. I can even import into flash for a web version of the commercial as a banner. Adobe has indeed hit a home run by offering a full blown multimedia solution for video, print and the internet. I imagine that is one reason Adobe decided to write code for the Mac OS. It is true that Apple does not have anything like the CS3 Master Collection and probably never will but who knows for sure?
I agree that no software program is perfect or bug free.
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I don’t see where there is more or less motivation to fix up bugs with your theory here, but hey, I do believe Adobe is a first rate company and will always stand behind their products.
That said, the notion that roundtripping is not supported in FCP isn’t correct by any means… all the apps round trip in the Studio. Except for DVD SP. But it’s not as if that really hamstrings anything.
One thing I do like better with the Adobe apps is the consistency of the interfaces and terms used within each app. Apple bought most of the apps that come with FCS2. Therefor the time, effort, and cost to make them more consistent with interface apparently isn’t in the cards. I’d imagine over time that will change.
However. I still would go with FCS for the reasons stated earlier. Plus… I truly believe that if Apple hadn’t done FCP, we’d still be paying Avid 50-100 extra grand for the same thing… It’s FCP and DV that led the digital revolution that we’re all seeing right now, and Premiere has always been a sideliner in the eyes of most professionals. In 1999 it wasn’t an option at all for most of us… FCP was very viable by release 3.. very viable. Uncompressed HD, decent color correction et all… it’s certainly made my living… actually made it since FCP 1.
Jerry
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Jerry,
Not only that FCP represents the ONLY NLE in the world where the OS, Apps and hardware are ALL made by the same company. This fortells faster updates and upgrades with more features coming at you at a faster rate.
The last I knew FCS did not offer Blue Ray but CS3 has for months.
Hey it was the NLE that was used for editing of this years Best Picture Oscar… that should tell you something about what’s considered professional right there…
That’s not to say that Premiere isn’t a decent app. It is. However NONE of the above can be said about it.
Premiere Pro has been used in the production of a few movies (SuperMan for one). As a Premiere Pro user I do not brag about what other have done with Premiere Pro but rather I focus on how the editing program will satisfy my needs. I imagine Vegas Pro could be used for a movie production but know one has done it. If Vegas Pro is used in a movie next month it would still be Vegas Pro 8. I admit Vegas users could brag about it being used in movie production but why? The my dad is better than your dad argument is stupid. In the end it is personal choice and everyone will have different needs. FCP, Vegas, Avid and Edius all work. Stating that FCP or Premiere have both been used in movie productions does not mean they are the best choice for everyone or the best choice to edit a movie.
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