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OT: And then there is this…
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[Scott Witthaus] “article from 2014 linked in the Boston Globe piece that stated Avid was being forced to the “top of the pyramid” catering to a small group of high-level professionals in film or aspiring to be there.”
The problem is despite all the “street cred”, there’s not much money at the top from NLE software sales. Avid’s total annual revenue from all video and related products and solutions is only $233 million. That is the total from their Hollywood monopoly, broadcast news, independent film, documentary — everything.
As the first linked article states, Avid exists in a totally different situation than when they could sell $100k workstations in 1990 ($182k current dollars). It is interesting that Avid’s roots included the former workstation vendor Apollo Technology. Every RISC workstation vendor is now out of business or long acquired by someone else.
When a high margin product becomes a commodity it is difficult to stay in business. Avid has actually done very well to survive this long.
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[Joe Marler] “The problem is despite all the “street cred”, there’s not much money at the top from NLE software sales. Avid’s total annual revenue from all video and related products and solutions is only $233 million. That is the total from their Hollywood monopoly, broadcast news, independent film, documentary — everything.”
I’d go one step further and say there’s not much money in NLE sales in general. The business model we mostly grew up with (buy a perpetual license, wait 18-24 months for a big upgrade to come out and buy that with an upgrade discount) is pretty much dead.
Apple went to a pay-once-get-free-upgrades-forever model (Mac required of course). Adobe went subscription only. Avid offers a subscription plan and a perpetual license (but the upgrade discount is gone so you either pay an annual maintenance fee or you have to pay full price again if you want access to any new software, including small point releases). Smoke, I think, went subscription only. Blackmagic just gives away a nearly fully functional version of Resolve (which requires BM hardware for I/O). Software prices continue to race to the bottom and if Avid didn’t have ISIS, and the best platform for large, multi-editor environments, I think they would have been skunked years ago.
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[Walter Soyka] “BMD’s decision to build an editor into their color system is pretty similar to Adobe’s decision to build a color system into their editor: they’re both attempts to flatten the workflow.
“Sure. The concept was started years ago when Media Composer was augmented with better color tools to make Symphony, and Quantel turned an NLE into a powerful grading tool. Resolve can make a good finishing tool if your goal is basic performance, however, there are some architectural problems. The color pipeline for a good grading tool seems to conflict with its ability to be a fluid editor. Unless you put some heavy iron behind it. Plus the way project data files are stored isn’t very editor-friendly.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Oliver Peters] “Could such a setup be made with FCPX or Premiere. Yes, but I question the solidify of it. And yes, I know about the TEDx conference case studies. For these sorts of jobs, Media Composer with ISIS is still a better option.”
But for how long?
When AVID was ascendent, part of that was that the only way to make the NLE work was to buy into a whole AVID CERTIFIED Ecosystem where you were forced to purchase branded hardware included “Certified” Hard Drives at WAY over retail in order to be sure everything would work. I’ve always suspected that was a HUGE part of why FCP Legacy succeeded. You could configure your own hardware and buy “off the shelf” and end up with a dependable edit system.
Fast forward to today. Premiere Pro REQUIRES the rental ecosystem to run – which is kinda a software equivelent of needing AVID approval to get your edit system to function – tho I doubt many editors see it that way.
And then there’s X – yes, running on only ONE brand of hardware – but it’s a brand that you can walk into ANY Apple retail store and replicate without the need for a consultant to insure that your drives are fast enough or that your network has enough throughput to get your work done.
When the hardware is all “off the shelf” – the software is a 10 minute download – and your clients are all hanging off the internet ready to be accessed and serviced from anywhere – and the worker can afford to maintain EQUIPMENT PARITY with the shop they work in – that’s a VERY different game than the old one where editing could only take place in an office with an expensive, robust infrastructure and dedicated personnel not just to DO the work, but to service the machines and people surrounding the work.
My 2 cents.
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[Bill Davis] “But for how long?”
I can run current MC software on exactly the same computers and drives that run Resolve, FCPX, and Premiere. PC, as well. No special hardware required at all. Even BMD and AJA I/O if I need it.
Yes, ISIS and its sharing components are geared for Avid, but I don’t need that. I could still operate with other storage under normal operations. I just have that extra edge if I have the need for it. Conversely, I can run FCPX and Premiere with ISIS storage if I wanted to do that, too.
[Bill Davis] ” and the worker can afford to maintain EQUIPMENT PARITY with the shop they work in”
Avid works exactly the same way today.
Plus the license is transferable, which FCPX is not. Technically as a business owner, not an individual, FCPX is only allowed by Apple on a single machine per license. Not all the machines you own, which are the terms for individuals (non-commercial). That FCPX install is locked to the machine (of course authorized through the iTunes account for that machine). A Media Composer license can simply be moved from one machine to another through simple on-line authorization, similar to Adobe.
[Bill Davis] “that’s a VERY different game than the old one where editing could only take place in an office with an expensive, robust infrastructure and dedicated personnel not just to DO the work, but to service the machines and people surrounding the work. “
That hasn’t been applicable to Avid for at least a decade, unless you are in a larger shared infrastructure, like a TV station news department. In that case, if you were on Premiere or FCPX, there would still be a lot of iron and support personnel required.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
This is a big sticking point. While appreciated, I think Resolve should be strictly for color grading. Trying to cram too many things into one package dies always work right. I wonder about the performance of Nuke Studio as well though it does not have a big color correction tool set as Resolve does.
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[Bill Davis] “But for how long?
When AVID was ascendent, part of that was that the only way to make the NLE work was to buy into a whole AVID CERTIFIED Ecosystem where you were forced to purchase branded hardware included “Certified” Hard Drives at WAY over retail in order to be sure everything would work. I’ve always suspected that was a HUGE part of why FCP Legacy succeeded. You could configure your own hardware and buy “off the shelf” and end up with a dependable edit system.”
How long is Avid going to have the best Until X, PPro, Resolve, Lightworks, etc., create a multi-editor environment as good as Avid’s (or until Avid goes belly up and someone else wins by default). The DV and desktop NLE revolutions kinda came in side by side around the turn of the century yet it’s 2016 and we are still asking “but for how much longer could Avid possibly have the best multi-user environment”? Honestly, no one else really seems interested in building a desktop NLE that has the mulit-user environment in mind. Saving happening in bins and the project just being a collection of folders on in the Finder is ingeniously simple, IMO. Being able to update Avid projects (which are currently being worked in) just by dragging and dropping files/folders at the Finder level makes disseminating media very quick and easy.
You can certainly setup other NLEs to function in a multi-user environment, I’ve worked with FCP Legend and PPro that way, but neither was a good as Avid in that capacity. Now, how much that asset is worth to someone is certainly depends on their workflow and budget.
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[Andrew Kimery] “Avid going to have the best Until X, PPro, Resolve, Lightworks, etc., create a multi-editor environment as good as Avid’s “
But isn’t the multi-editor environment just a niche at the top of the pyramid?
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
One way to think about it though, is that the editing backbone has to be there anyway for importing EDL or XML, so why not expose this to the user with an interface? If the edit is already done, you don’t need to touch it, but it’s there if you need it.
It makes me sad to see this kind of news about Avid. I loved my MC1000 back in the day. A station I later worked at in Orlando bought one on my recommendation, which caused problems with the union. (Producers couldn’t edit!)
Avid burned a lot of bridges though. There was a ton of politics going on between Microsoft and Apple and Avid I believe was one of the pawns. Microsoft put money into Avid, Adobe was moving development to PC first and I think that prompted the purchase of Final Cut from Macromedia.
But that just one stage. Where I’m working currently, we bought a large, multi-channel Pinnacle MediaStream video server, just as Avid was buying Pinnacle. Avid took on the product, but quickly killed it as it appeared they didn’t want to develop it or fix its flaws. We had to quickly jump off the burning platform. An investment that should have lasted 6 to 8 years became 3 to 5. Avid was a very expensive mistake, and I doubt they would buy from them again
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I for one love Media Composer, and will be sad to see it go (not that i think itll ever happen). Im not a dinosaur either. At 35 years old – I am considered pretty young in this field. Ive used all the NLES and keep on going to MC
If it does indeed cease to exist – ill move on. NBD.
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