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Grin
You had posted farther down and I had responded but figured you would see it up top….
Grin,
You siad it perfectly in your first sentence! Going to school in the 90’s Avid was IT. A production house wasn’t a production house unless it had Avid, you weren’t an editor if you didn’t edit on Avid. So when we started our own company it had to be Avid, problem was we could only afford the XPress which even four years ago was 28500.00. We also felt as if Avid treated us poorly throughout our ownership because we didn’t shell out at least 60 grand for a higher end system. While it has had its ups and downs the system is fairly solid but it does have its limitations and IMO they are really starting to show with some of the new, cheaper systems out there. For the price of a trade in at Avid we can get a FCP system which does a hell of a lot more and still have money left over. So now I think we will be switching to FCP and I cross my fingers that we are making the right choice. BTW Grin I saw your reel and was reely impressed! What did you use for the effects and what system do you have? -
12 Replies
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thanks chris.
I have a Symphony, v3.1 with lotsa plugins.
I use alot of glows, as you saw.
I also use AE alot, as my DVE is close to worthless.
When time provides, I use SoftImage 3D and every now and again, I get to bust out some stop motion coolness.
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[Chris] “We also felt as if Avid treated us poorly throughout our ownership because we didn’t shell out at least 60 grand for a higher end system.”
I still find it hard to believe that people have had such bad support from Avid, especially jsut because they didn’t have a top of the line machine. My experiences have been very enjoyable and we also only have an Express. When we had a media drive go out I had a new one the next morning, and after 3 years, (still under warranty).
The guys at tech support told me one day that they talked about me and everyone there liked me, hmmmmmmm could this be a reason for bad support? They don’t like the way THEY were treated? Just a possible observation.
I personally commend the guys at Avid tech support and take my hat off to them, that is not an easy job dealing with irrate clients under pressure.
Charlie
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[Charlie King] “I still find it hard to believe that people have had such bad support from Avid”
Just an observation, but many of the folks I see posting negative feedback about Avids sound like they’re more from the producer or small business side of the fence. A lot are also newer editors that have logged more hours watching Star Wars with the audio commentary turned on, and less hours creating a solid reel. I don’t fault them, mind you, it’s just a side effect of the “click-and-get” civilization we’ve become. I don’t think any edit system is flawless. It’s just another tool on yer belt.
Here’s an overly simple analogy I like to use: FCP is a nailgun and Avid is a toolbelt of varying hammers. Different jobs require different tools. I’d put an extension on a house with an Avid, but replace a roof on with FCP. Senseless bickering usually starts with the homeowners that don’t have much construction experience… or from the small construction company that can only afford one or the other.
Where the bickering becomes fun to watch, is when you get a guy up on a roof who claims he can strip it, shingle it, tar it and guarentee it for 30 years with nothing but his 99
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I’ll completely agree with you Charlie. In the beginning we tried to be as nice as possible but it was always “the other companies fault”. Compaq however always tried to help us out even though the XPress wasn’t thier software product including having tech guys out here and they even replaced our workstation for a xw8000 now thats service! I will say that they did replace the Avid cards. Whatever it was it seems all the bugs have been worked out and things are running smoothly.
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As someone who has both in their edit suite, I have a love hate relationship with the Avid. I took a long break and used nothing but FCP for 2 years thus my avid skills are super rusty. They both have their place but in my humble opinion my avid is clunky and not very friendly. Its too rigid and the flow is based on how it wants to do things rather than how I want to do things.
I really like being able to pick up a piece of video and move it around without having to hit a special key, the same goes for extending a piece of video. I like that my FCP interfaces with AE seamlessly no conversions of any kind. That said for long form I wouln’t trade my avid for its great organization this is a place where FCP could really take a lesson. I could go on all day but my avid is almost finished creating its alpha data from QT
cheers,
and if anyone can help me figure out why the damn avid thinks crashing is a fun hobby I’d really be grateful
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[Shannon Brame] “why the damn avid thinks crashing is a fun hobby”
1st guess – upgrades to either your OS or to your QT (the term auto-update should be changed to auto-fubar). Updates make video cards angry at you.
2nd guess – when you reboot, go look in the Avid’s console (i think it’s cmmd-8 or ctrl-8) and see if any other actions happened during the process.______
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\`(=)`/…Pixel Monkey
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I haven’t updated anything on the avid….for that exact reason. Hence my confusion. I hate that the avid is beating me…Its making me look bad bad bad…stupid avid
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Maybe I should be asking ‘Which is good for what?’ A liitle background first; While at Emerson learned on Media100 and early version of FCP, while interning I got to learn some on Avid. I have worked on small films, commercials, corporate vid, weddings, events, pretty much the whole guantlet. When we started we actually had the Sony ES3 for a short time before switching to Avid. What we have been working on are dance studios, weddings and such but we are TRYING to move away from these and into corporate video, commercials, events, music videos etc, etc. I had too much fun doing these types of projects but when we started we needed some source of income. So now that you all know where we would like to go, which system? Should we save for a trade in with Avid or go FCP?
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See PixelMonkey’s reply above.
If you think FCP is better, go with it. I like Avid. I’ve not had a single problem that tech support didn’t, couldn’t or wouldn’t fix. In the fall, you’ll find me taking 45 minutes of top and field footage (including radio call), cramming it into the Avid and laying down to a 8 minute highlight package 6 hours later for a Sunday show. Of course Avid has it issues. So does FCP. No package is right for everyone. But there are a lot of packages out there that work for an awful lot of people.
Jon
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[Jon Zanone] “I’ve not had a single problem that tech support didn’t, couldn’t or wouldn’t fix.”
See?
Another satisfied with Avid Tech support customer. I’m not alone!!!!!!!
There are others that appreciate those guys, and I personally wish I could tell everyone of them, again, how much they helped me when I first started using Avid. They Rock. (Almost as much as the COW)Charlie
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