How does Avid compare with FCP?

[Ryan]

Download Avid Free DV and it will get you started on all things Avid. There are tutorials on their website.

Both systems are farely equal in their abilities. The multicamera of FCP seems to be a little better in that it displays more than 4 camera’s at a time.

I personally like Avids for their audio setup more then FCP. But that is just me.

[Edit Bay rat]

What do you plan to do with the skills once you’ve acquired them? That will, to a large degree, dictate which direction you ought to go. What’s your goal?

[Carl Amoscato]

“The multicamera of FCP seems to be a little better in that it displays more than 4 camera’s at a time.”

Depending on what version of Avid you’re using, you can display nine different cameras in multicam mode.

adios,
Carl

[Blub06]

I have been cutting with Avid for about 12 years, FCP for about 5 years, I prefer FCP for editing and Avid for effects.

FCP for my taste is way better than Avid MC. The timeline is , ironically, much closer to the timeline of Avids top of the line editor DS. For an editor the timeline is almost everything, the FCP timeline is a next generation timeline, modeled after DS.

When I do effects in FCP it seems they are trying to copy the After Effects methodology, for my taste it does not work. There are no master key frames in FCP and you cant copy and paste keyframes. You are essentially stuck in a world of endless clicking with the effects end of FCP with Avid its much simpler.

I love doing effects so I like the speed and simplicity with Avid MC, but, most of my time is cutting not effects.

Overall, I prefer FCP.
Chris

[Jenny]

I am a long time Media 100i user who edits multi camera weddings exclusively. I like the Media 100 interface because it is easy.

I need to move on to a new NLE system where I can edit with more than two video tracks. I was close to buying FCP, then drawn back to Media 100HD for the familiarity and now I considering Avid Express Pro.

I worry that Media 100 is too unstable of a company and it looks like Avid with their multi format is progressive. I will be in HDV probably in a year.

EASY is very important to me as I am more of a shooter than and editor. I hate editing and need something simple and fast. I have Attention Deficit Disorder real bad.

Can anyone advice me which is the easiest to work on? I do very few special effects and want a system that is as dummy proof as possible. I want to also edit fast. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Blub06]

If you are cutting with Media100 I think you are cutting with a system that is harder to use than an Avid or FCP. Just as Avid has several flavors of its software so does FCP.

For me a big difference between FCP and Avid is that Avid requires you to cut in a specific way all the time (red and yellow arrows). While some might find this restrictive after a short time it tends to become a logical and predictable methodology. After cutting for a while on FCP then going to Avid it become extremely apparent that this restrictive method has a logic which favors editing without thinking (as in the book by Gladwell Doing Without Thinking) you intuitively just do it and follow the narrow guidelines of what is required to get to the end. Of course with the Avid you can do workarounds to the Avid proscribed workflow but that

[Tom John]

(My opinion:)

FCP is much more user-friendly and is continuing to stack up well in light of Avid’s complacency over updating or otherwise substantially improving Avid systems (which are hilariously similar to those of the late 1990s). However FCP’s ease of obtainability has probably resulted in an perceived exclusivity of Avid, and unenlightened Producers continue to buy Avids. There is some reason to argue that Avid Editors see slightly higher wages as a result, but I have yet to test this. (I use FCP at home and Avid [Express HD and Adrenalines] at work.) I also see far more bugs with Avid Express than with any FCP versions, v.3 and up.

[Joe Ryan]

My personal goal is to make documentaries, but realistically getting a job will help with the bills.

[Alex Udell]

Well…

I don’t think Avid has been complacent.

Remember, like it or not Avid is the accepted “Standard” when it comes to editing. Any major editing change they make to the editing topology effects the army of already proficient Avid editors out there. So radically changing what “works” for a different approach would probably raise a series of red flags.

I think Avid has been quite innovative in terms of their approach to moving away from dedicated boardsets to the external hardware that currently drives their product line. Scalable peformance is also a really nice innovation.

I do admit that coming from edit* there are some things I REALLY miss in the Avid…
BUT I’d miss most of those functions in any other box.

I like Avid’s approach to CC a LOT especially at the Symphony level. It is extremely well thought out and implemented. Much more than just the effect, but how your work with it.

My .02…

Alex

[Edit Bay rat]

Your goals are somewhat at odds with one another. Independant doc makers tend to favor FCP. If it’s a paying gig you want, you’ll have a much better chance as an Avid editor.

As far as which interface is better, which is more intuitive, which is more stable, which is more cost-effective, which company gives better support, blah blah blah, all of these things are completely subjective and any answer I would give you would be informed by my own personal expericences and preferences. This holds true for every other editor on the planet. The only way for you to find out which one you like better is to cut on both. Truth is, they’ll both get the job done if you know what you’re doing.

The independent doc makers I know who are working the festival circuit tend to favor FCP because they were able to get into a system without mortgaging their house and selling their first-born child. They’re cutting their stuff and winning awards. As someone else pointed out, Avid continues to be the choice of producers within the industry and I don’t see anything happening to change that. FCP people will pound on the table and scream that this show or that movie was done on Final Cut, but the ugly truth is that 95%+ of all TV shows and movies are cut on Avid. It’s the industry standard. I have editor friends who are skilled on both Avid and FCP (I’m in LA) and they just never get any calls for Final Cut.

That being said, check your local market and see what’s going on. If it’s Final Cut, cool, learn Final Cut and start making phone calls. Good luck. That first gig is hard to get.

As for all this guff about better this, better that, forget it. Ask a thousand editors, get a thousand answers. Try to get some chair time on both and make up your own mind.

The Rat