David Cherniack
Forum Replies Created
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[Craig Seeman] “Currently there is nothing matching the description. That may change but there are no Thunderbolt desktops on Windows. Only a Sony Vaio laptop at the moment. Apple will have a multiport Thunderbolt desktop. It’s success will depend on the viability of the Thunderbolt market.”
And there’s nothing matching your further description of a thunderbolt desktop on the market yet, either.
This is good example of your rhetorical style – the subtle shift in frame of reference that colors your argument. Have you thought about changing careers to write political speeches? I recommend it 🙂
David
AllinOneFilms.com -
[Craig Seeman] “Think of a MacMini with one or two 16 lane PCIe slots for GPUs, SSD boot and one hard drive….”
Think of a similarly equipped PC costing less…Apple has to depend on its fan base to maintain its slight premium. My point is there’s much more money to be made by them in tablets and phones…at least until those markets encounter greater competition. Apple will likely concentrate there. My old argument that prestige matters to them essentially became null and void on June 21.
David
AllinOneFilms.com -
[Craig Seeman] ” It will have a lower point of entry, my guess”
But not necessarily higher profit margins. The desktop market is that much more competitive, after all.
David
AllinOneFilms.com -
[Craig Seeman] “Again my comments are guided by Apple being an extremely motivated company when it comes to making money.”
True for all corporate entities, alas poor world.
The things is though, that software, especially extremely complicated software such as NLEs, is expensive to develop and the profit margin for Mac Pros, on which FCX may eventually run at the higher end of the market, is much smaller than for iPads. The whole tablet market is a new one and the prices and margins are high until they shrink from the pressure of cut rate competition. Apple can command a premium mark-up at present for iMacs and tablets because of its leading edge design and cultish fan base. Those things don’t last forever (That Samsung is leap frogging them by a large amount in pads and phones can be attested to by Apple’s patent suits trying to slow them down.)
So I think your optimism about the future of FCX is not necessarily justified by the pursuit of profits argument, unless its at the lower end of the market.
David
AllinOneFilms.com -
[Craig Seeman] ” Once you put together a powerful professional PC workstation it’s not going to be that much cheaper than some Macs. Look at what a decked out HPZ400 or Z800 workstation costs. Consider why the cost what they do compared to other PCs.”
Craig, you keep tooting this horn, along with the rest of your repertoire of long play standards.
Those who follow this forum, and are reasonably knowledgeable, are aware of your biases…and your considerable rhetorical skills, not to mention a typing speed that must go well above 200 wpm. Does the lad work for a living? Despite being asked many times if Apple pays you, you haven’t replied, probably because you don’t want to dignify the question with a response, or maybe because you’d rather not admit to the nature of your relationship with the big red fruit. Either way, it doesn’t effect the essence of what you have to say, just your personal integrity, an area wise people appropriately leave to you.
Some of your analyses are thoughtful so I always skim your multitude of daily replies for interesting nuggets while bypassing the zealotry of hope you invest in FCX. While I don’t disagree with your vision…it may be or may not be true…the history of NLEs tells us it’ll be a few years, not one or even two, before FCX will be a mature NLE, leaving aside the speculation whether Apple ever intends to play in the high end.
A historical rule of thumb for the time frame of NLE development to maturity is four or five versions at 12 to 18 months per version. While Apple has the resources to throw at it to reduce the time, there’s a law of diminishing returns when more bodies are added. The problem is the complexity of functions that the NLE must provide across the wide spectrum of use that exists in the marketplace. Combine that with the second rule of thumb: that the architectural design of version 1.0 of an NLE sets a course that is difficult to change substantively, and you’re seeing today what FCX is going to resemble down the road. (In other words, those who dream of Apple providing the option of a fixed track timeline are probably dreaming an unlikely dream. BTW I know that’s not you, who invests a hope in the trackless paradigm.)
Now as to your assertions above, ” Once you put together a powerful professional PC workstation it’s not going to be that much cheaper than some Macs. Look at what a decked out HPZ400 or Z800 workstation costs. Consider why the cost what they do compared to other PCs.”
The reason why HP worksations cost more than other PCs is two-fold, they put a similar amount of effort into design as Apple does with Mac Pros but on top of that they throw in top notch technical support by phone and 24 hour on site replacement. Yes, I know, they’re exploring selling off the division. So? That just speaks to the general profitability of workstations. The real money is in low cost gadgets. And Thunderbolt, that you keep harping on about, that’s gong to future proof the Mac Pro? You don’t think that the technology won’t be on PCs? Sure, there may be a lag due to some unknown deal between Apple and Intel. Same thing that existed between Apple and Red and look what happened to that. A few years later Premiere Pro runs rings around FCP with Red material. Plus one can go to other providers to get the same performance without nearly the cost of the HP (or the Mac Pro, for that matter, without the disadvantage of the limited hardware ecosystem.)
So overall while you seed your comments with a certain amount of objective reasonableness, and admit your biases, the smoke you blow with your rhetoric should be inhaled with a thick, environmentally approved, filter of scepticism.
David,
NLE use: 21 years and counting.
Present NLE: Adobe CS5 on a rock solid Intel workstation board and rack mounted system that has biases, but no significant complaints. -
There are many things to consider. One is that the timeline and the scc file must begin at 0. Another may be frame rate and drop frame.
Examine the scc file with a text editor to see whether everything looks ok.
David
AllinOneFilms.com -
If you’re going to exchange media between PrPro and other software it’s best to be on the safe side and turn off |Preferences|Media|Write XMP ID to file on import|.
There’s another option, Enable XMP and File Metadata Linking, that can be left on without disturbing the clip.
David
AllinOneFilms.com -
There’s a preference in PrPro to write XMP data to file on opening. That’s the only way I’m aware of that a clip can get modified. Is it turned on? If not there’s some other issue.
David
AllinOneFilms.com -
Something’s probably wrong with your scc file. I’ve used the feature successfully. It behaves properly.
David
AllinOneFilms.com -
[David Lawrence] ” Each object was simply placed where it needed to be in time, like a note on a musical score.”
Here, I think you’ve put your finger on something.
Take the concepts behind the magnetic timeline and apply them to musical composition (which uses a grid based model that’s existed for hundreds of years, if not longer). Could it work for a composer? Could a multi-instrument score be sounded in his or her head as he works with writing and modifying the composition? Could he grasp the whole with a glance? I have no doubt that it could be done, should anyone care to apply the principle to Sibelius or any other composition software. But could it ever work better than a grid based model?
I think people can argue till blue in the face that Apple’s New FCP timeline is more efficient. And few would doubt that it may be so for simple assembly. But for complex editing those arguments are unsupported so far by any solid ideas or concepts. And the real world testing seems to indicate exactly the opposite. The arguments in favour seem to be little more than retreats to faith.
David
AllinOneFilms.com