Would like an objective comparison of Adobe Premiere CC and Avid Media Composer 7

[Oliver Peters]

Rather than rehash lots of old stuff, here are some relevant blog posts of mine:

https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/avid-media-composer-power-tips/
https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/final-cut-pro-x-versus-premiere-pro-cs6/
https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2012/05/03/avid-media-composer-tips-for-the-fcp-switcher/
https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/adobe-premiere-pro-cs6/
https://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/getting-started-with-adobe-speedgrade/

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Neil Goodman]

Also Media Composer 7 isnt out yet. Sure itll be basically 6.5 with a added features but who knows how those new features will perform

That said, Avid is a tried and tested environment, proven in high end complicated and low end easy workflows all over the world. CC came out yesterday and CS 6 didnt quite infiltrate quite as deep as some might have hoped. Its out there, but not nearly in the scope of FCP 7 and Media Composer. If coming from FCP 7, Media Composer will have a learning curve. Not too steep but its there. CC might be a smoother transition in that sense. Also for now, you actually own Media Composer.

Neil Goodman: Editor of New Media Production – The Esquire Network – NBC/Uni

[Jim Wiseman]

If you don’t want to pay forever, go with MC. You already own it. Wait for Adobe to shake out. Stay away from their subscription model, Creative Cloud, in my not so humble opinion. Do you work with others? What do they use? That could also affect your decision. What codecs do you work in? That is another one. Whole forums are based on your question.

Jim Wiseman
Sony PMW-EX1,Pana AJ-D810 DVCPro, DVX-100, Nikon D7000, Final Cut Studio 2 and 3, Media 100 Suite 2.1.3, Premiere Pro 5.5 and 6.0, AJA ioHD, AJA Kona LHi, Avid MC, Hexacore MacPro 3.33 Ghz 24Gb RAM GTX-285 120GB SSD, Macbook Pro 17″ 2011 2.2 Ghz Quadcore i7 8Gb SSD, G5 Quadcore PCIe

[Lance Bachelder]

Although I’ve used MC for years off and on I’ve never been a fan of it – yeah it’s used and proven in lots of scenarios but if you’re coming from FCP 7 Premiere CC is going to be a welcome relief. This silly hoopla over the Adobe subscription model is total crap perpetuated by a bunch of trolls who don’t use the software anyway.

Yeah you can buy MC 7 now for $999 – that gets you around 2 years of the entire Adobe suite and who knows how many automatic updates. Avid will most likely have MS 7.5 announced by next NAB – you’ll have to pay for that and about the time your $999 is used up Avid will most likely have MC 8 on the horizon. So there’s really no savings in “owning” the software unless MC 7 is all you’ll be needing for the next few years and you never use Photoshop or After Effects…

Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Downtown Long Beach, California
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1680680/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

[Chris Harlan]

Hey Jay!

I’m a long-time FCP editor, and I’ve spent the last year on both Pr and MC. I like them both. Pr is an easier transition; you’ll feel at home there in a couple of days, and once you navigate a few hidden gotchas (things you were able to do in FCP7, and thought you’d be able to do in Pr, but can’t) it very smooth operation. I’m just starting to play with Pr CC and find fewer gotchas, and even more similarities to FCP7.

While I am just still playing with the new Pr, I would say it is very similar to Pr 6, but with many small improvements. The timeline is cleaner, the audio is better, CODEC support is the best out there, and just generally, operations have improved. I liked Pr 6 quite a bit, and this version is clearly superior. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether the rental fee approach troubles you. Personally, I would prefer that it wasn’t exclusively this way, but that is also not stopping me from using it.

I’m very much looking forward to the next version of Avid; there are not going to be huge changes, but those few that are coming are quite welcome, if somewhat overdue.

Side by side, and just dashing a few things off, I’d say this:

Avid is still the best cutter. I haven’t spent quite enough time at Pr to see how closely its caught up, so I may amend this down the road, but what MC shines at is a million very effective ways to trim and cut. This is where the learning curve is coming from FCP, because the thought processes are not immediately obvious, nor are the key strokes, but once you get a feeling for it, your fingers will miss it–mine do, anyway–when you are cutting on something else. I also have to say that tackling the learning curve was worth it for me and has made me a stronger editor.

Premiere has better audio tools. Right now Premiere has the best audio interface around( except maybe Vegas, which I haven’t looked at in a number of years.) You can do sub mixes, mix at a clip level, mix at a track level, use sends, and, in this version, ADD Mackie compatible controllers! Hooray for that! The next version of MC adds some nice mixing improvements, but it hasn’t caught up.

Premiere is better with mixed or multi media. MC has gotten much better over the last couple of versions, and I’m hoping in this next one that AMA will be less of a token, but MC is really still about the notion of working in a single master format.

Pr is more configurable. Probably the the thing I like most about FCP 7 is how configurable the interface is–multiple timelines open, a bin here, a bin there, tabbed windows and sequences. Premiere is like that, and with its unique window docking, maybe more so.

So I like them both. Both fun, both good. And, I should add, that you can try both for free for 30 days. I’d wait a few weeks until MC7 is out, but if you are in a hurry, it won’t be THAT different from 6.5, which is one of the charms/curses of MC.

[Jim Wiseman]

A bunch of trolls, eh Lance? How broad minded of you,

Jim Wiseman
Sony PMW-EX1,Pana AJ-D810 DVCPro, DVX-100, Nikon D7000, Final Cut Studio 2 and 3, Media 100 Suite 2.1.3, Premiere Pro 5.5 and 6.0, AJA ioHD, AJA Kona LHi, Avid MC, Hexacore MacPro 3.33 Ghz 24Gb RAM GTX-285 120GB SSD, Macbook Pro 17″ 2011 2.2 Ghz Quadcore i7 8Gb SSD, G5 Quadcore PCIe

[Oliver Peters]

A key difference is that the underlying PPro philosophy is to work with media in its native format. If you prefer to work with optimized/transcoded media, you generally cannot transcode media within PPro as part of the import. Instead you have to use Prelude or AME to transcode first, or you have to suffer through often long renders/exports at the end of the line. Browse the RED User forums and you’ll see frequent complains about that. Native media is fine for most standard pro video formats, but not necessarily ideal with consumer media or high-compute advanced codecs like REDCODE.

Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Richert Goyette]

Actually, Lance, I feel some resentment at the label of “troll;” even if offered in jest. Some of us have valid concerns.

I have owned every version of PS, AI, AE (even the CoSA version) since they were introduced and was even an Adobe beta tester. In addition, I demonstrated one of the first versions of Premiere to the St. Louis Film and Video Society.

However, I will not buy into the subscription model. I used CC last year but, with the introduction of the software rental model, have cancelled it. I will stick with my perpetual license of CS6 and work to find alternative tools.

Rich

[Chris Harlan]

[Oliver Peters] “nstead you have to use Prelude or AME to transcode first, or you have to suffer through often long renders/exports at the end of the line”

It’s funny. I just think of Prelude as an extension of Premiere.

[David Cherniack]

[Oliver Peters] ” you prefer to work with optimized/transcoded media, you generally cannot transcode media within PPro as part of the import. Instead you have to use Prelude or AME to transcode first, or you have to suffer through often long renders/exports at the end of the line”

Oliver, that’s an inefficient way of working that’s out of date with CC. With CC you can work smarter than transcoding everything. You can transcode parts of the timeline in a specific or targeted way to a mezzanine codec (Prores or DNxHD) with any intensive added effects and smart render on output, in theory outputting as fast as a files can copy.

David
https://AllinOneFilms.com