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To Update or not to update to FCS2
Greetings fellow cowheads!
I should give you some background on myself. I am a professional Editor/DVD Author with 3 years experience under my belt. The production company I am employed by works primarily in critical high end to middle end broadcast commercials, and corporate video. In short we work on whatever pays the bills. It could be shooting for the web one day and crewing a documentary the next. We are known in our market by a very good reputation. Production company’s call and refer customers to us when they’re stuck because we are skilled, knowledgeable and critical minded.
When I first started editing in college it was on Software Media 100. My school soon jumped to Final Cut Pro. (It was much cheaper and the new trend in the industry at the time.) I have always viewed myself as an editor. I am not a Final Cut Pro editor. I am an editor. It doesn’t matter which editing software; I will learn, find the strengths and weaknesses of a program and edit with it.
Now I am at a crossroads so to speak. I currently use FCS1 and I have been happily editing on Final Cut Pro 5.1.2 for the past 2 years. I have not updated to newer versions because I was in the middle of large projects and due to posts on the cow about bugs, and issues. (Thanks to everyone who posted about this!)
Now I am at a point where I would like to update some programs. I will be buying Adobe Aftereffects CS3. I currently own Photoshop CS2, and Illustrator CS2. I have been happy with Final Cut Pro 95% of the time. I realize it isn’t perfect but there is no such thing as a perfect program.
I have read extensively about the problems and issues involved with buying FCS2. Sure the open timeline is great however there are bugs in just about all of the programs. These issues range from longer render times (Motion 3) to anti-alias issues (Motion 3) and many others that I won’t list. Any search on cow reveals some issues run into by users.
This question is for the FCS2 users out there. What is your consensus on the new upgrade? Is it worth it? My 3D motion graphics are created in Adobe Aftereffects because it works. I use motion 2.0 for quick and dirty effects, and Aftereffects for true 3D. I also author in DVDSP, and I am happy with Compressor. I use AJA KONA 3.3 to output for broadcast.
Is it worth me updating if there are specific bugs with programs that negate the advantage of updating to them? A $499 upgrade for two edit suites that will work most of the time isn’t my idea of a great investment. I know there are some updates for FCS2 available on the apple website. Have these updates drastically fixed things? And why should I buy this update if I don’t need Color, and DVDSP hasn’t been updated at all?
I am working on two identical:
4 x 2.5 Ghz PowerPCG5
4 GB DDR2 SDRAMChipset Model: GeForce 7800GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCI
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0092
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 2152.2
Displays:
Cinema HD:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Display:
Status: No display connectedThe way I see it I have three choices:
1. Update both edit suites to FCS2. Use Aftereffects CS3 for 3D and high end graphics.
2. Update one suite to Media 100 Producer or HD and one to FCS2. Use Aftereffects CS3 for 3D and high end graphics.
3. Update both edit suites to Media 100 producer or HD. Use Aftereffects CS3 for 3D and high end graphics.
Does anyone have specific thoughts or recent experiences with updating that they could relate or recommend? I realize this is alot to ask and I appreciate your time if you’ve read this far into my post. Any recommendations, thoughts, or brainstorming is not only welcomed but encouraged. Thanks in advance for your time and insight!
-Nicholas Bierzonski
Editor/DVD Author/Java Boy
http://www.finalfocusvideo.com -
4 Replies
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I’ve just starting using Motion 3 and I have to say that I really like it. It’s not perfect and sometimes it crashes on me, but for 3D graphics I must say that I’m really starting to like it.
I’d upgrade to studio 2.
-Russ
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Bang for your buck!
Our facility used both FCP and Avid and we recently upgraded to FC Studio2.
The latest version of FCP has greater HD compatability and control and for $500 this is a better investment than upgrading one of our older avids to an adrenalin.$500 V $35,000. hmmm…
Also, we use compressor enough to more than justify it. The latest version is much better and more user friendly. (though not perfect)
All the other updates are needed or appreciated but for us, we make enough money of FCP and Compressor, that the upgrade is already well paid off.
Though we’re a fairly top-end boutique post facility in NY and can easily justify it. hard to say that applies to everyone.
The CS3 update is another story. Just do it…
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[LandofNid] “I have read extensively about the problems and issues involved with buying FCS2.”
How often do you see good news on TV? Not very often… The same is true here–people primarily post online when they experience issues. So, your view of FCS2 is heavily skewed toward the negative. FCS2 is not perfect, but the issues are nothing that keep most users from getting their work out.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY
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Good points! Thanks everyone for their thoughts. I’ll have to mull this over a bit before I decide. Thanks again!
-Nicholas Bierzonski
Editor/DVD Author/Java Boy
http://www.finalfocusvideo.com
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