MacBook Pros “underpowered?” Not for FCP X editors. Not AT ALL.

[Andy Patterson]

[Bill Davis] “For Apple the FOCUS of content creation has been X from day one. For Adobe, the FOCUS is a suite of a dozen plus separate entities that all exist outside any central hub – and only link up when the user of one program needs to exchange with another.”

You can create content for the printing production and the web with FCPX? I admit Premiere Pro cannot be used for printing production and web webdesign.

[Bill Davis] “FCP X is surely different – it’s focus is currently still on single seat video editing acting as the HUB application for everything else – a position that I don’t think Premiere Pro will ever occupy in the Adobe Universe.”

Can you please demonstrate FCPX being used as the HUB for webdesign? Adobe’s CC is a multimedia solution for web design, printing production as well as audio and video production. Premiere Pro cannot do it all but neither can FCPX as far as I now.

[Bill Davis] “That’s not a criticism, it’s merely a fact.”

It is your opinion Bill. Having said that what does FCPX do that Premiere Pro does not?

I think it would be wise to say Apple is more focused on audio and video production where Adobe offers a complete multimedia solution. At one time Final Cut Studio users though FCS would get a unified GUI for all the FCS programs (like Adobe’s CS) and complete integration between programs (like Adobe’s CS). Some thought “FCP 8” would import native files from Color. That never happened because Apple thought it would be to hard and to costly to implement. Apple took the easy way out. That is not to say financial it was not a success.

[Andy Patterson]

Interesting info about Smoke/Flame. Perhaps we will get more information about other NLE.

[Walter Soyka] “There’s Creative Cloud. I know a lot of folks here are opposed to subscription pricing, but this is a major game changer for small and large agencies alike that makes costs both predictable and scalable and makes it easier to stay up-to-date.”

I don’t mind the concept. It is the price. We pay more and get less. For $14.95 it would be awesome.

[Walter Soyka] “Premiere specific advancements? Adobe didn’t invent multi-format editorial or GPU acceleration, but they certainly popularized both. Then there’s dynamic link, VR support, the panels architecture, HDR support, touch/gesture support in the UI, integration with the Premiere Clip mobile app, Adobe Story integration, Cloud features like Libraries and Team Projects, marketing integrations over social media…”

I have mentioned some of those feature to Bill as well but I don’t think he really cares. I think he only wants to glorify FCPX. I feel others just want to glorify FCPX as well rather than sharing information about NLE.

[Walter Soyka] “Apple and Adobe are both innovating and moving the industry forward, but they have very different approaches.”

I agree and I think Avid should get some credit. I first started editing on an $80,000.00 Media Composer back in 1998. I think Premiere Pro is better as of now but I am not going to bad mouth Avid. Avid had top of the line systems back in 1998 but things change. I don’t like the fact that Avid killed Pinnacle’s Liquid Edition but there are pros and cons to all companies. I wish Adobe would bring back the CS but that is not going to happen.

[Oliver Peters]

[Bill Davis] “FCP X is surely different – it’s focus is currently still on single seat video editing acting as the HUB application for everything else – a position that I don’t think Premiere Pro will ever occupy in the Adobe Universe. “

Huh? Let’s limit the discussion to video editors. Photoshop, Illustrator, Audition, After Effects, Prelude and AME all service Premiere with Premiere as the center of that hub. How is that not the same?

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Bill Davis] “FCP X is surely different – it’s focus is currently still on single seat video editing acting as the HUB application for everything else “

I’m not sure experts in the field like the great Ronny Courtens would agree with this very narrow definition.

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Oliver Peters]

[Walter Soyka] “Smoke/Flame proxies are like a setting or a mode, not separate media which needs to be relinked; FCPX proxies works much the same way.”

In addition, I would also argue that the origin of the modern proxy concept goes to Avid Media Composer with its offline/online edit workflow. This included the ability to work with low-res and high-res linked media as the same time. Certainly not as elegant was the forked media system FCPX has today, but definitely there earlier as a concept and with a practical application. Also quite possibly Montage even before that.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Neil Goodman]

[Oliver Peters] “In addition, I would also argue that the origin of the modern proxy concept goes to Avid Media Composer with its offline/online edit workflow. This included the ability to work with low-res and high-res linked media as the same time. Certainly not as elegant was the forked media system FCPX has today, but definitely there earlier as a concept and with a practical application. Also quite possibly Montage even before that.
“

Not to mention Avid’s new way implemented in v7 i believe is a one click proxy system and you have a choice of resolutions to choose from, so while FCPX might have gotten there first with the one click – I think Avid took it a step further. Sure it still doesn’t have hover scrub but they’ve been updating the program like mad lately and adding super useful features that Editors have been asking for, and lately it seems like there listening. The program is running smoother than ever on all types of hardware and us DIVAS who have used the program since the jump are stoked.

[Bill Davis]

So a year later Premiere had a skimmer-like capability in what I presume was the rough equivelent of the X Event Browser?

I don’t remember seeing it IN THE TIMELINE (where the editor presumably does the vast majority of their actual editing in a traditional NLE.)

I know Premiere Pro has feature parity via “hover scrub” in the actual Timeline now. Right?

Did that also appear in 2012 and I just missed it?

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Bill Davis]

Simon.

That comment was in the specific context of comparing how I see X working against what I understand about the Adobe approach of preferring separate monolithic Apps for everything.

I thought that was clear.

Just as MOST Premiere editors host the software locally, most X editors do as well.

I’ve known Ronny for years and am fully aware of the amazing things he and Eric Altman and Sam Mestman and the LumaForge teams do in creating facility-wide adaptations of multi-seat X editing around the world.

It’s great stuff and I’m pretty sure he believes, as I do – that the X future is bright in this area.

But I think you’re doing the Apples and Oranges thing here.

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Bill Davis]

[Shawn Miller] “What keeps Apple from offering more powerful GPUs and CPUs in the workstations they do make though? That doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the offerings of other PC integrators…
“

I suspect maybe the cultural impact of the famous “4 quadrants” drawing Steve Jobs did about keeping the company focus on making fewer products, but making them as excellent as possible?

Purely speculation on my part.

But the fact that those famously “under spec’d and under RAM’d” Touchbar MacBook Pros are crushing some higher spec’d competitors in open comparative performance tests speak to the value of looking beyond the easy answers.

At one level (how much RAM is on board, etc.) they maybe shouldn’t work as well as they do – yet they actually DO work really, really well.

Maybe the path to satisfaction isn’t always more choice, but being given a choice that just works better than the other alternatives?

Again, just guessing.

; )

Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery.

[Andy Patterson]

[Bill Davis] “So a year later Premiere had a skimmer-like capability in what I presume was the rough equivelent of the X Event Browser?

I don’t remember seeing it IN THE TIMELINE (where the editor presumably does the vast majority of their actual editing in a traditional NLE.)

I know Premiere Pro has feature parity via “hover scrub” in the actual Timeline now. Right?

Did that also appear in 2012 and I just missed it?”

Bill you do realize Premiere Pro had GPU acceleration, 64 bit and good metadata capabilities prior to the release of FCPX don’t you?

Keep in mind upon release FCPX had no broadcast monitor support, no native Red One R3D support, no multi-cam editor and a bunch of other features were missing form FCPX when it was first released. Having said that FCPX has gotten better. I know you claim you started using FCPX from day one. Keep in mind some people could not. Not because the the GUI of FCPX was different but because it couldn’t support their work flow. Why make such a big deal out of the hover scrub? Also stating FCPX was a total rewrite of the program does not cut the mustard. Premiere Pro 1.0 was a total rewrite of the code form Premiere 6.5 but it did not lack any features in fact it had more. The bottom line is FCPX was released premature because Apple did not have another 14 months to wait to include all the features that most NLE already had. Apple had to release it as is because Premiere was starting to get recognized once Premiere Pro went 64 bit with GPU acceleration.

I guess it is cool you had hover scrub but you didn’t have multi-cam, broadcast monitor support or support for R3D files when FCPX was first released. Which feature listed above is the most important? I think that would depend on who is using it wouldn’t you agree?

I think FCPX is a good program but the level of cheer leading amazes me at times. FCPX, Avid, Premiere, Sony Veagas etc all have incorporated features form other companies. I don’t necessarily consider it copying or stealing. I consider it all part of software evolution.