Why one user Switched to FCPX

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Neil Goodman] “For example, we all have Aja cards, need a place to stick those cards and our TD wont invest in anything without a roadmap for upgrades and expandability so we can future proof. “

When we moved to a nearly all thunderbolt infrastructure, we kept our pcie fiber cards and AJA pcie cards. They still work, many years later. Much longer than expected.

When we ditched all forms of tape capture/layoff, and all the infrastructure of THAT (patch bays, most AV Routing, and granted we are small, not large, facility) we switched to thunderbolt a/v output devices (but still have our PCIe cards in thunderbolt pcie chassis).

So future proofing in this sense, is more like legacy dragging. So far, Thunderbolt hasn’t stopped us from dragging a legacy, it has opened up more connectivity between disparate machines and devices (laptops/iMacs/whatevers hooked to fiber that was impossible before, etc).

It is a big decision to decide which legacy to drag, including the the new legacy a recent purchase inevitably represents.

[Tim Wilson]

[Jeremy Garchow] “So future proofing in this sense, is more like legacy dragging. “

VERY well said. I’ve never heard it expressed like this, but it’s perfect.

[Jeremy Garchow] “….including the the new legacy a recent purchase inevitably represents.”

The most fundamental shift in the past decade, certainly the most representative state of the current decade, is the shift away from new computers. This entire industry, both hardware and software, used to be driven by new computers every 12-18 months. In the early days of the COW, I’d say very nearly 100% of the folks here were swapping in at least one new box or laptop, or both, every single upgrade cycle.

Now, it’s not uncommon to skip multiple upgrade cycles, all of which are coming much farther apart. Can you imagine trying to run a cutting edge business with even a 5 year old box in 2002? Yet the number of 2011, and even 2008, computers that are out there doing the heaviest of heavy lifting is quite remarkable to me.

I think we’re all still figuring out what it means to live in a world where we’re buying stuff so much less often. ???? Heck, even Apple is running into (relatively little, but still measurable) trouble because people are even skipping upgrade cycles on phones. I don’t think it has anything to do with the economy, but more of a recognition that the stuff we have works pretty well, and moving to new platforms/devices/operating systems without NEEDING to causes more problems than it solves.

Don’t have a problem that needs solving? Want to avoid new problems? Easy. Don’t buy new stuff. ????

[Greg Janza]

[Tim Wilson] “I think we’re all still figuring out what it means to live in a world where we’re buying stuff so much less often.”

I completely agree. My switch to a PC work environment was predicated on this notion that my upgrade needs will be fewer overall and when they do arise I can swap out components and not be required to purchase an entire new system.

I Hate Television. I Hate It As Much As Peanuts. But I Can’t Stop Eating Peanuts.
– Orson Welles

[Bill Davis]

I think I’m firmly with Tim on this one.

Dismissing this area of new language and change is potentially dismissing EXTERMELY important new thinking in a rediculously fast moving digital landscape.

Master is Master
Share is Share
Final… is gasping and near death (beyond it’s use as a working editors joke in the sense of a file on your desktop labeled: Final Final – Rev C.)

It’s s new world, like it or not.

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

[Bill Davis]

I’m henceforth adopting the phrase “legacy dragging.”

It’s beyond brilliant.

This post Is a searchable record for future generations that I got it from Jeremy Garchow.

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

[Andrew Kimery]

[Tim Wilson] “Now, it’s not uncommon to skip multiple upgrade cycles, all of which are coming much farther apart. Can you imagine trying to run a cutting edge business with even a 5 year old box in 2002? Yet the number of 2011, and even 2008, computers that are out there doing the heaviest of heavy lifting is quite remarkable to me. “

I’ve been noticing this for a while too, and I it boils down to a few things

1. People/businesses continue to cross the ‘good enough’ threshold when it comes to computing power so the

2. Making a CPU faster isn’t as straight forwards as just cranking up the hertz anymore.

3. (and this one is obviously Mac-centric) Apple hasn’t released a widely compelling replacement for the cheese grater MP. If the 2013 MP was a cheese grater with modern CPUs, GPUs, I/O, etc., I doubt there’d be so many people running 5, 6, 7 year old Mac Pros (and figuring out how to put modern CPUs, GPUs, I/O, etc., in them).

If Apple kept releasing cheese grater MPs with new CPUs, new GPUs, Thunderbolt, etc., I don’t anyone

[Greg Janza]

[Andrew Kimery] ” Apple hasn’t released a widely compelling replacement for the cheese grater MP.”

This has been the achilles heel of staying with Apple. Users are at the mercy of Apple’s model release schedule due to their systems being almost completely closed. And even when a new model comes out (i.e., the new imac pro) another decision needs to be made of whether to commit to purchasing at that price point.

Lately it seems that the decision of whether to upgrade has been primarily motivated by whether one’s system can smoothly function with 4k media. And once 4k ready, the upgrade focus subsides. At least that’s my hope since I have no interest in moving to 6k as a baseline anytime soon.

I Hate Television. I Hate It As Much As Peanuts. But I Can’t Stop Eating Peanuts.
– Orson Welles

[Bill Davis]

[Andrew Kimery] “3. (and this one is obviously Mac-centric) Apple hasn’t released a widely compelling replacement for the cheese grater MP. If the 2013 MP was a cheese grater with modern CPUs, GPUs, I/O, etc., I doubt there’d be so many people running 5, 6, 7 year old Mac Pros (and figuring out how to put modern CPUs, GPUs, I/O, etc., in them).”

I think there’s truth to this.

Perhaps Apple is simply more interested in the younger market – where it’s reasonable to assume there’s less a fixed base of operation. The up and comers are likely statistically less likely to have an office and a desk in a leased space – and more likely to be moving around while they establish their careers.

Facilities are ALL about desks in fixed buildings.

So Apple simply focused on both portable MacBook Pro – and easily transportable (iMac) style units to fit the majority of their likely younger and less “facility bound” customers needs initially. And now that those markets are very well served – they’ll move more toward the “fixed base operator” style of machines.

One thing I hadn’t thought of before, is that if they DO decide to re-invigorate their desktop “fixed base” game – there is now a whole army of young (and not so young!) potential operators for those seats waiting in the wings.

FWIW.

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

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Tim Wilson] “I don’t think it has anything to do with the economy, but more of a recognition that the stuff we have works pretty well, and moving to new platforms/devices/operating systems without NEEDING to causes more problems than it solves. “

Well, when you say “economy” do you mean overall growth (or loss), or overall price of goods and services (including video services)?

I think that while yes, computer refresh is down, productivity with that one machine is up. Way up.

I remember the new computer every 18 months cycle. It was the time of g3 to g4, or single core to dual core, or SCSI to PCI to PCIe. There were real infrastructure changes that would ripple out to almost everything you owned. There were shifts like editing uncompressed SD to editing uncompressed HD and changing the entire infrastructure to accommodate. Buying a new computer also meant buying the new infrastructure around it.

Now, all of that is done with a single cable and perhaps an adapter or breakout box. It is a bit of a different world. Specialization is greatly reduced. One computer can do a whole lot more these days than those days, and ironically, the profit margins of yore could do a whole lot more than the profit margins of today. So while having stuff that works pretty well today is good, it means that you have to do a whole more with it in order for it to turn the business crank. There are also real world limits of processing power, corporate responsibility (waste, power management, etc) now that everything a chip in it, as well as having to buy everything else you need to run your business these days.

[Michael Gissing]

[Jeremy Garchow] “One computer can do a whole lot more these days..”

All the more reason why having to buy a new case, screen, keyboard etc is silly when the most likely thing that needs to adhere to the old 18months churn is the GPU.