[Ernie Nathaniel]

I understand the reluctance to want to pay for something that one feels should be free, especially feedback to a vendor. As a user of AVID software since the mid 1990’s and editing over 500 pieces, either commercials or longer programs that have gone to air, AVID has not failed me. Closed captioning now in SD and HD was implemented a few years back with the Data track and has worked excellently. Final Cut Pro has worked well also, although for me, I can edit a lot faster on AVID Symphony or Media Composer than on FCP v7. I liked the trimming tools better and AVID with their Smart Tools they adapted a Final Cut approach with augmenting their segment tools, to edit more like FCP, if you wanted to. Sort of the best of both worlds. I think part of the reason I was faster on AVID was mainly because I knew the keyboard commands so well.

If one thing has happened, Apple successfully humbled AVID into making their product pricing reasonable. And Apple makes a great stable, yet beautifully graphical operating system, to be outdone by none. But all I can say is that at least AVID is attempting to listen to people. I wrote them for a couple of years about closed captioning, and after a couple of years, we got the data track. Maybe AVID does listen. I cannot believe that the introduction of FCPX was ushered by the wishes of any of us, nor was the abrupt end-of-lining of FCP, a major tool that had become the heart of many production studios. That move did not show a commitment to the professional community to me. That wasn’t a professional thing to do. Sorry if I still seem a little bitter.

AVID with all it’s faults, still works very well, and is constantly being improved. Unlike Apple, that abandoned its FCP customers and their whole methodology, and even nomenclature that was well established in the industry, all the while experimenting and tweaking FCPX to bring back functionality that FCP had years before. As for the hardware, the new MacPro is beautiful, and hopefully more programs will start utilizing the dual GPUs. But it requires a larger investment to regain interoperability with the peripherals we had before. And all this is still evolving of course. NAB should be very educational this year.

But I digress… so AVID is charging to attend. I wish they weren’t. Yes, I paid the money and will attend the ACA meeting. But I like the opportunity to say what I like or dislike to the vendor. Can’t honestly say that would happen with Apple, as much as I love Apple, ever since my Apple IIe. I wish Apple would make us feel like they’re interested in our comments. So, I’ll try and get my money’s worth at the ACA, and I’ll gorge myself on the food, just to make sure.

[Ernie Nathaniel]

An excellent question, but I would go with the tower. Although I don’t often comment on this forum, I find the conversations very interesting and thoughtful.

A new tower would probably come in at a lesser cost than the tube, have multiple CPUs, internal storage capability, choice of graphics processors one could utilize, and I have a PCIe investment that leaves no slots empty. More PCIe slots would be nice too, and PCIe 3.0. If Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 were there, then it would at least be on par with the rest of the line. One could still be able to utilize other connectivity cards such as miniSAS directly from the PCIe bus instead of through Thunderbolt adapters, giving better and more stable throughput.

Just my thoughts. Not that the 2013 MacPro is not beautiful, it is, but a tower would be the one for me as it would be the best business decision. It depends on what one is doing with their machines. But a new tower would help to utilize existing hardware and make the transition to external thunderbolt chassis and storage less painful.

and Frank… I’ve got to read the fine print more carefully on the iTunes contract … not that the limitations are that onerous.

[Ernie Nathaniel]

That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the clarification Richard.

Ernie

[Ernie Nathaniel]

It would be wonderful if the Nitris DX would downconvert the closed captioning as well but alas, it does not. In fact, you’ll lose the HD CC output out of the Nitris if you have the simultaneous down convert turned on. You have to make an SD closed caption file and output the SD separately. Alternatively an AJA FS2 would do that for you as well from the HD SDI output.

Hope this helps.
Ernie

[Ernie Nathaniel]

Thanks for the advice and input. I have seen some Mac Pro’s with user upgraded CPU’s so it is indeed possible, but I tend to leave the CPU alone if it’s working well. Nevertheless, it looks like upgrades are possible. Thanks again.

Ernie

[Ernie Nathaniel]

Very likely After Effects, but I can’t tell how much use right now. It’s just that the current Nehalem series has been out for a year and a new model is apparently imminent. If I got a quad core and then waited for the 4 months or so that everything settles down with the new model (AVID qualification etc.) then it may be a better time to consider the new machine. But reliability and performance is still my concern.