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Overwhelmed: what is the best solution?
I work for a non-profit organization that has a very, very small budget when it comes to video. (I am the entire department, and I’m only part-time.) We work with a LOT of tape (we have thousands of tapes in the archives, and I pull stuff all the time for one reason or another). We haven’t even upgraded to HD yet because of the cost.
I’ve worked exclusively in FCP since becoming a professional (i.e. getting out of school). I use it here at work and in my freelance work at home, which is fantastic, because if I need to work on things from home (which I occasionally do for various reasons), it’s super easy to just dump everything to a portable drive.
Most of my freelance work lately (believe it or not) has been DVD authoring. Consequently, I’ve become an expert at DVD Studio Pro. To lose that would be absolutely terrible.
Meanwhile, I’ve been told at work that if I want anything new this year, I need to have it submitted in the next few weeks. Well, I’ve been looking at FCPX for the last year, and I really don’t like what I see. However, I’ve spent the past few days reading everything I can about it, looking at everything on apple.com, and going through CreativeCow archives. And now, I’m almost terrified to do anything new. I’m feeling VERY overwhelmed.
My situation is very unique. I work for a large zoo, and we turn out videos on a daily basis for one reason or another (we post to YouTube, produce PSAs, and do a LOT of internal video). I make several DVDs per week, whether it’s to give someone a copy of a presentation that was filmed on Hi-8, a compilation of animal behaviors that was pulled off a Umatic tape, or a copy of another DVD. So even at work, to lose DVDSP would be problematic.
To give you an idea of how ancient our equipment is (outside the video room), I only stopped getting requests for copies on VHS in the last year. Most people at least have a DVD player in their computer, but some computers are so old that they don’t even have a DVD drive. I work primarily in DV, though I often need to pull footage from Beta as well. I’m just now starting to get requests for copies in .mov format, and that’s only because people are starting to use video in their Powerpoint presentations. Everything else internally is delivered on DVD. Some local stations only accept Beta (especially if the piece is more than 2 minutes), and some sports teams (who put our video on their Jumbotrons) also only accept Beta.
The point is – we are very much behind the times as far as video technology, but it can’t be helped.
My concern with FCPX is that it will limit what I’m able to do as far as all this other stuff that most people don’t have to worry about. I know I can continue to use DVD Studio Pro for now, but what happens when I get a new OS?
Do I try to hang on to FCP7 for as long as I can, or do I switch to FCPX and then figure out what is just gone for good? I want to add PPro at home, but I also want to upgrade to FCPX. (Aside from the whole sudden DVD business that I’ve got going on, I certainly don’t have the worries that I do at work.)
One reason that I’ve really been avoiding FCPX in my freelance career is that I LOATHE the interface of FCPX. It looks like iMovie, and the few times I’ve had to work in iMovie (usually to teach someone else how to do simple editing), the interface has made me want to scream. It’s like a program you’d design for a 10-year-old. Granted, I haven’t played with it myself, just watched tutorials.
Anyway, it doesn’t seem like switching to FCPX is really simple, because you need so much other software to do the things that the FCP Suite did. I know I’d have to get a Kona LHi, but it’s not compatible with the way our myriad decks are configured, so to sort that out would be another expense. Plus, at this point, I have to choose between FCPX and upgrading to HD; we certainly can’t afford both this year. Part of me wants to just ditch FCP altogether and move to PPro (which I’ll be adding to my workstation at home), but then I can’t access my old projects anyway. I don’t relish the thought of starting over with everything (which is one reason I am glad that I put 90% of what I do on a DV master). Plus, some of our PSAs are reused from year to year with only a few changes – I’d have to rebuild all of those as well.
I honestly do not know what to do. Like I said, I’ve been inundated with information for the past several days; I’m overwhelmed and feel like there is no good solution. Being 100% responsible for whatever we purchase, I’m under a lot of stress here; if I make the wrong decision, it’s something I just have to pretty much live with. I worked very closely with AJA to purchase a Kona LHi last year, and it ended up not being compatible with our setup, despite assurances from them that it was.
If anyone has a similar situation, please let me know if you’ve come up with a solution.
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49 Replies
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[Lynette Gilbert] “Part of me wants to just ditch FCP altogether and move to PPro (which I’ll be adding to my workstation at home), but then I can’t access my old projects anyway.”
You can export your old FCP projects as an XML which can then be read by PPro. There are tutorials all over the place to show you how to do it. If that’s the only thing stopping you, then you don’t have to worry about switching to PPro.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
Download the trial versions and see what you think. You’ll get full function for 30 days with each. Should be time to for you to put it through some real world paces. FCPX or PPRO (and the suite) will do you just fine.
Take a breath and try ’em out.
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[Herb Sevush] “You can export your old FCP projects as an XML which can then be read by PPro. There are tutorials all over the place to show you how to do it. If that’s the only thing stopping you, then you don’t have to worry about switching to PPro”
You’re right – I did know about that, just forgot. Thanks! [One small bit of panic evaporates.]
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[Lynette Gilbert] “One small bit of panic evaporates.”
No reason to panic, and also no reason to change just yet. FCP still works, I’m using it for at least another year, many are doing the same. Unless you plan on switching to Windows, or you are getting tired of transcoding difficult codecs, there is no pressure to switch anything. Investigate your choices, there are plenty of free trial demos out there, and make a change when it helps your workflow.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
Lynette,
It sounds like FCP and suite are serving your needs right now, and likely for the next year. I’d suggest you think of this as a transition year and continue using your current tools while investigating alternatives.
FCP 7 currently works in OS X Lion (from what I have read) and should continue to work in OS X Mountain Lion (again, from reports I have read). Not sure about DVD Studio Pro but you could probably get responses on that in the DVDSPro forum.
There are many good postings here about PPro, Avid, FCPX and other alternatives. Adobe has a DVD authoring tool which is part of their package suite as well.
If you’re looking at it from a budget perspective, I’d use the free 30 day trials where you can and consider budgeting for PPro and anything else you wish to try. If you can find small, manageable projects that you can use to test new software over the coming year then that will go a long way towards building your confidence in making the right decision. In the meantime, all the software listed above will be evolving over the next year and there will be clearer feedback on a wide scale when it comes time to make your decision.
Franz.
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[Herb Sevush] “No reason to panic, and also no reason to change just yet.”
Thanks. My concern is that I only have one small window each year to decide what’s going to happen technologically for the next 3-5 years … It gets me incredibly stressed.
I’m going to step away from the computer for a while and go fix my Beta machine. As of this morning, it’s only accepting 60-minute Betas …
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[Paul Neumann] “Download the trial versions and see what you think. You’ll get full function for 30 days with each. Should be time to for you to put it through some real world paces. FCPX or PPRO (and the suite) will do you just fine.”
I do have FCPX downloading now – it’s just a matter now of convincing IT to install it …
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[Franz Bieberkopf] “If you’re looking at it from a budget perspective, I’d use the free 30 day trials where you can and consider budgeting for PPro and anything else you wish to try. If you can find small, manageable projects that you can use to test new software over the coming year then that will go a long way towards building your confidence in making the right decision. In the meantime, all the software listed above will be evolving over the next year and there will be clearer feedback on a wide scale when it comes time to make your decision.”
Thanks!
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[Lynette Gilbert] “I worked very closely with AJA to purchase a Kona LHi last year, and it ended up not being compatible with our setup, despite assurances from them that it was. “
I’m curious to hear more about that. I use a Kona LHi with Beta SP, DVCAM and SVHS decks. What about your particular setup precluded you from using the Kona card with your decks?
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[Alan Okey] “I’m curious to hear more about that. I use a Kona LHi with Beta SP, DVCAM and SVHS decks. What about your particular setup precluded you from using the Kona card with your decks?”
Honestly, I don’t remember now. It was something really stupid, like it wasn’t compatible with the switcher. Don’t quote me on that, though.
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