HD for Mac?

[Oakmozart]

I’d expect it by Dec. 31st of 2005. Not sooner. That way, Avid will still make due to their statement that Mac XPro HD will be delivered in 2005. Look at their HDV support: they said it would be available in mid-2005 (June), but nothing has come about yet. Now all Avid says is that it’s coming in 2005. Keep in mind that HDV has been in Beta since March.

Bottom line: Avid never hits their release dates. They’re always late. And that’s not a bad thing. Would you rather have a late product that works (for the most part), or a worthless, broken piece of software delivered on time?

Good things come to those who wait. Be patient.

[Derek Rose]

Most certainly I’d rather wait for a working version. I love Avid.

But it strikes me as odd that Avid isn’t speeding up the process, since FCP has been palatable to HD for quite some time. Therefore when it comes to HD projects, Avid forces their Mac-based clients to use the competition instead.

[Oakmozart]

Well, I can’t speak for Avid, but most of their sales (from my perspective) appeaer to be for the PC. Notice how there’s no Xpress Studio for Mac? That’s largely due to the fact that Avid 3D is based-off of softimage and softimage was originally formed by Microsoft in the early ’90’s. Therefore, it was designed to be inherently for Windows and not Mac. For Avid to port Avid 3D to Mac, they’d have to rewrite the entire software application from the ground-up, since softimage has specific Windows-only commands at its deepest, most fundamental core level.

Besides, Steve Jobs doesn’t want them creating products for his Apple platform…it cuts into FCP sales. He wants to create ALL the software himself and thus profit not only upon the hardware sales, but the software. (Think about it, if a PC user goes out and buys a copy of FCP, they must buy a computer at the same time, if they wish to use FCP. That’s a big way how Apple’s making its money.) Plus, Avid is trying to push forward and utilize the new processors/chipsets, graphics technology and RAM. Apple is still in the dark ages when it comes to that. That makes Avid have to create 2 “separate” versions of their software.

Long story short, they’re working on it. Give them time.

[Samuel A. martin]

HDV support for Avid = November
HD for avid on Mac = December

Tara…

[Oliver Peters]

[oakmozart] softimage was originally formed by Microsoft in the early ’90’s. Therefore, it was designed to be inherently for Windows and not Mac….
..Besides, Steve Jobs doesn’t want them creating products for his Apple platform…it cuts into FCP sales.
…Avid is trying to push forward and utilize the new processors/chipsets, graphics technology and RAM. Apple is still in the dark ages when it comes to that. That makes Avid have to create 2 “separate” versions of their software.”

These statements are pretty off-base. Softimage was developed independently of MS and was first developed for SGI machines. MS bought and briefly owned them before selling them to Avid.

Apple has repeatedly stated that it encourages any development for the Mac. They aren’t always as helpful to hardware partners as some would like, but anything that sells more Macs makes Jobs happy.

Avid has never been on the forefront of using advanced computer hardware in the first stages. If they were, you’d see Avid apps optimized for Quad processors or the new dual-core AMDs and 64-bit computing. They have traditionally lagged behind the market in responding in a timely manner to OS changes and hardware changes. Sometimes this is good because it makes things less volatile, but it can be rather frustrating to many of the users.

Sincerely,
Oliver

Oliver Peters
Post-Production & Interactive Media
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com