Chris Harlan
Forum Replies Created
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[David Roth Weiss] “[David Roth Weiss] “informed decisions.”
[Chris Harlan] “What’s them things?”
It’s all them silly questions I’ve been answering on all those other forums for the last twenty years. 🙂
The perfect example is” “What’s a codec?””
You don’t need to know that! All you got to do is poor the videos in, churn ’em up, then spray ’em out.
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[David Roth Weiss] “informed decisions.”
What’s them things?
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[Frank Gothmann] “I didn’t think it was that great to be honest.
Most of the stuff that really sets MC apart wasn’t a topic. Collaborative workflows, project sharing, stereoscopic, video io, native workflows, AMA, DnxHD and MXF vs. Prores advantages and disadvantages etc., stability, support options, hardware support, control surfaces, roadmaps etc.
Also, what I really don’t find useful with such things is that its usually a feature comparison of stuff that’s there, on paper, but it hardly evaluates how things behave in real world conditions. How stable is an app, how does is handle large projects, how reliable are features that sound great on paper or look good when demoed.
In my opinion these are the aspects that truly set MC apart and make it the editor of choice for lots of people.
“Frank, on one level I agree with everything you are saying, but looking at it another way, I think it is great that those particular guys are sitting down with Avid at all, and that Ripple is putting out an Avid training vid, and that the discourse is opening up a bit. Despite a couple of sneers here and there, and a couple of weird misconceptions, I thought it was an open an honest discussion, and–while by no means comprehensive–is promising for NLE dialog going forward.
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[Walter Soyka] “One-man shops disrupted the post boutiques of the 1990s, which were funded much the same way — except with a little help from your bank (with your home as collateral) instead of unsecured credit card debt. Was it harder and riskier to start a post operation then? Of course, but it was even harder and riskier before that. Prior to the emergence of desktop NLEs, you needed seven figures just to open the door of a post facility.”
I think another memory that is being lost is that of “offline/online” post relationship, and that all early NLEs were offline editorial tools. A lot of people today have no notion that the product you got from an NLE was an EDL, so that you could make the vast majority of your editorial decisions before going to the post house. Prior to NLEs, this was done with small offline source/record systems from many different companies. So, NLEs were competing not with Post House, per se, but with companies like Convergence, GVC, and CMX.
The direct competition with Post houses began with the development of “broadcast cards,” and cartridge-loading high resolution decks where people could capture and finish.
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[Steve Connor] “[Chris Harlan] “Premiere–for instance–which I found unusable until version 4.5/5, when it became a viable editor.”
Barely viable I had 18 months on it at that time and I don’t look back too fondly!
“Oh, I agree! It certainly wouldn’t have worked for me. And by today’s standards it wouldn’t have been viable at all. But, at the time, it was kind of cool that you could cut video without having to buy a card.
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[tony west] “It also reminded me how Apple was such a game changer.
The money kept most people out of the game early. You had to work in someone else’s house.
When Apple put out FCP it ended up bringing the price down to the point where you could have your OWN house.
That’s a huge difference.
“This is actually not true. There were many other early NLEs that were competitive in price with Avid, and some that were competitive in price with FCP. At the “Pro” level, D/Vision was a lot less expensive than Avid. As was Speed Razor, which was one of the first actual “broadcast quality” capable editors. It was extremely plausible to build your own house back in the late ’90s. Of course, these were both on PCs so much of the Mac crowd may never have come across them.
The expensive thing–back in the ’90s–was the digitizing/playback card because computers were not capable of data rates that could support video, and needed supplementary hardware to play back even low res “offline” video.
There were also a number of software only packages that matured just before or at about the same time as FCP. Premiere–for instance–which I found unusable until version 4.5/5, when it became a viable editor.
When Apple bought and released FCP, they did in fact change the industry, but as much by chasing smaller companies out as by attacking Avid’s user base. Most of these companies are now unknown to newcomers who have the perception that it has always been some kind of Avid/Apple war. But that is just not true.
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[Walter Soyka] “A very nice and balanced look!”
Agreed. Good discussion.
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[Bill Davis] “Of all the people on the planet who are NOT over FCP-Legacy, I think you’re right at the front of the line.
Your own words – “Mostly people are trashing the parent’s decision to murder the Trophy winner in his sleep.”
“If you take it out of context, Bill I suppose you might have some sort of case. If you pair my response with what you said, I believe what you’ll find is that I was lampooning hyperbole. Sorry if I wasn’t clear about that.
I’m still interested in FCP X, and hope it eventually becomes useful for me. I’m also interested in what I–and others–are going to do in the interim. If it is an interim, and not an end.
But, Bill. Why are you here? If you’re such a butterfly, why haven’t you flown away to found your airline? (Ouch.) You’ve reached your decision in the FCP X or Not Debate. So why are you still here?
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[Jim Giberti] “Hey Bob,
An important question would be, “what are your editing goals going forward”?
As a FCP7 studio that’s switched to FCPX and explored the alternatives I’d recommend you pick up X (at least the trail version and see what you think after doing some tutorials and giving it a test drive.)
It’s a very nice program and, despite the issues for some users, it’s Apple’s current and future video software. I like it more everyday and I would (and have) advised new users, students and pros to give it a serious look.
Jim”
Bob, I think Jim’s advice here is good, as always. You can try it for free. And for that matter you can try Media Composer for free. And, I think Premiere, though I don’t quite remember, since I’ve always had it. X is not ready for my uses yet, and may never be, but it has a lot to offer, and depending on your needs, may be perfect for you. As for the tracklessness, that IS a problem for me, but others like Jim who have spent a lot of time mixing, as well, seem to like it fine. For the price X is a fairly powerful piece of software, and even people who are staunch critics of it recognize this. As much as I love and still use FCP 7, I would not recommend starting down that path now, and would instead suggest checking out Avid or Adobe,
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Kevin, I wasn’t trying to suggest that FCP 7 has any kind of long term life. I was just sharing a bit of irony with Oliver because, despite its death, it still has some legs. Even if it is a headless chicken.