To stick with FCP 7 or not?

[Paul Escamilla]

here in NYC i have yet to meet a professional editor who plans to use FCPX. In fact, most haven’t been willing to buy it to try it out. They all seem to be planning an eventual switch to Premiere or Avid, just as we are at my company.

[Steve Knattress]

I agree with Neil, I’m a broadcast editor here in London editing for most the major networks.

I should say that 95% of my work in on avid.

My clients on FCP are sticking with FCP7 at present. (One large broadcaster with both FCP7 and AVID had moved some productions back to AVID even before the FCPX release)

I do have FCP7 on my laptop which I do use on OB’s via a MOTU interface box, but now have AVID and Premier there too.
As soon as I sort out my workflow, I properly shall be moving to AVID there also.

I have never seen Premier used.

Steve

[Justin Bergeron]

I really appreciate the thoughtful feedback this group has provided to the question I posed, your suggestions have helped me arrive at what I feel is the best decision for my project, which I can now confidently present to my superiors. Whether or not it’s adopted is another thing & will most-likely come down to money & the fact that everyone, besides myself, will need to be re-trained.

I’ve decided that, for my project in particular, it will be best to switch to the Avid platform sooner rather than later. The fact is there are too many uncertainties associated with both FCP 7 & X to entrust a multi-year project to. I have to base my decision on the facts that I have to work with in a multi-system environment to edit 100’s of hours of footage into broadcastable HD programs on a deadline.

The Details:

Although, for the most part, I enjoy editing with Final Cut Pro 7 & it’s easy to find editors & assistants that at least know the basics, it is a dead product. I agree with those of you who’ve basically said, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, however the reality of committing to a product (FCP) & platform (MacPro) that’s no longer supported by it’s developer for a project that will go on for another two years and because of the “evergreen” nature of the footage/subjects could be revisited for years-to-come, is risky.

Additionally, because FCP is project based, not Bin based like Avid, I’m already feeling the pain of juggling multiple versions of projects between editor’s & assistants and having to manually sync projects myself to make sure no work gets lost. I’ve set up a pretty good system to manage this but it would be much easier with Avid. Also, the fact that I can open a bin created on an Avid in 1997 today, gives me great piece-of-mind.

I feel the way we edit with NLEs needs to evolve to accommodate modern file-based workflows, the meta-date, mixed media, etc. & perhaps with FCP X Apple took a step in the right direction but I agree with those of you who say it’s a beta product that wont be ready for the day-to-day realities of broadcast & feature film editors for a few years. Even that opinion assumes Apple is still committed to the pro market, which is questionable given the tens-of-billions they make from average consumers who are far less demanding. If the MacPro line is discontinued we will know the answer.

These factors & more make me uneasy about entrusting my project & livelihood as a broadcast editor/producer to any version of FCP. Avid has been around for a long time, it’s products are mature & reliable (DS being favorite) and they get the job done, my only concern is that they will stay in business!

Side Note:

I’m a big Adobe fan & I seriously considered Premiere & although I’ve used their other products on a daily basis for fifteen years, I feel it’s a better, for my project, to go with a product with a longer track record as a broadcast editor.