[Frank Unger]

Do you have the ‘automatically save every 20 minutes’ turned on?

[Frank Unger]

Arnie: This is great! Thank you.

Frank

[Frank Unger]

Thank you, David; quite valuable. Will do. That’s a critical step – can’t imagine doing it incorrectly for that long.

Any opinion on the (newer) HD Cinema displays? They claim to have excellent color matching, etc.

Frank

[Frank Unger]

Harm; but I totally understand what you’re saying. I am in total agreement about the client who wants me to use tool B – goofy. Yet, look at the advantages from their standpoint – the possibility of them updating the project in the future, transfer to a larger post-house, etc. Am I correct?

[Frank Unger]

Harm; what isn’t senseless is the advice I’ve gained from professionals who are making similar financial decisions. This is solidifying my choice and for that, I’m very grateful. I hope to contribute what I can when the opportunity arises.

Best-
Frank

[Frank Unger]

Well, it’s come to the critical decision and I must admit I’m a touch worried. Why? Because I’ve been on the Premiere/PC side for many years.

It’s clear beyond a doubt that I would enjoy the transition – and from a mere 15 minutes with FCP on my outdated laptop, I can see the intuitive nature of FCP over Premiere. Some things are thrilling when I discover them.

My apprehension lies with the unknown; will I encounter errors that are entirely new? Will I be able to over come them like I’ve over come PC/Premiere problems?
A quick (and slightly embarrassing) example; a recent trip to the Mac Store showed me that the base model MacPro was showing rendering errors in FCP when adding blurs to HD footage. It said the graphics card was not sufficient for the clip. It’s obvious to me that it needs a professional card, but I haven’t seen errors like this with Premiere. Perhaps I’m accustomed to the lack of intelligence with the system. At least FCP was telling me the problem?

Any calm notions for the transition are greatly appreciated.

(And I’m aware that down-the-line I’ll have to invest in professional hardware upgrades for the video card.)

Frank

[Frank Unger]

Great point, Alex, thanks. I agree.

Well, it’s come to the critical decision and I must admit I’m a touch worried. Why? Because I’ve been on the Premiere/PC side for many years.

It’s clear beyond a doubt that I would enjoy the transition – and from a mere 15 minutes with FCP on my outdated laptop, I can see the intuitive nature of FCP over Premiere. Some things are thrilling when I discover them.

My apprehension lies with the unknown; will I encounter errors that are entirely new? Will I be able to over come them like I’ve over come PC/Premiere problems?
A quick (and slightly embarrassing) example; a recent trip to the Mac Store showed me that the base model MacPro was showing rendering errors in FCP when adding blurs to HD footage. It said the graphics card was not sufficient for the clip. It’s obvious to me that it needs a professional card, but I haven’t seen errors like this with Premiere. Perhaps I’m accustomed to the lack of intelligence with the system. At least FCP was telling me the problem?

Any calm notions for the transition are greatly appreciated.

(And I’m aware that down-the-line I’ll have to invest in professional hardware upgrades for the video card.)

Frank

[Frank Unger]

Thank you for all of the input – I do appreciate it much.

The purpose of my posting was to reaffirm my gut feelings that I should go ahead with FCP.
From what I’m hearing the learning curve won’t be tremendous, but it exists. A studio was promising me some work later this week on FCP, when all I have done is dabbled on the laptop with it. Yikes. Advice = learn FAST.

Frank

[Frank Unger]

I really appreciate the input, everyone. It’s helped and it makes much sense.

Agreed, that if one’s budget permits, owning a FCP system would be good as well; having more tools available if needed.

Good to hear Premiere users standing strong too – “look at the reel” – absolutely. It’s been fun to see the diehard Mac people pause and watch their gears turning when they find out “no macs were harmed during the production of this film.”

Since mac Intel cpu rebirth it’s made them all excited to know their babies are back in the game. And I’ve seen a sense of “if I use FCP I’m closer to the film industry in some way.” But those of us already using Premiere have enjoyed either buying strong, affordable workstations or building their own systems, as well as the stability of XP for several years, as well as strong integration with After Effects, etc. Is this right? I’m seeing an admiration from some mac editors that I am proficient with AE. They humbly admit that Motion and LiveType is all they have. Maybe they don’t know AE is available to them now?

RealTime solutions are another aspect that can warp the way people/clients perceive a platform/tool. I recall a local company investing much in a FCP rig – press release and everything. While visiting this smaller studio and sitting nearby during an edit session, the red-line of rendering was prevalent throughout the project. Maybe an inefficient editor perhaps. But they eventually had to tell the client that it would be another 20 minutes to output the project for viewing. Today, this studio has weeds growing through cracks in their parking lot, a big hole in their sign, and it’s terribly quiet – they let their editor go and their system sits on their floor gathering dust. This was humbling – I do feel for them in some way.

Frank