[Les Kaye]

[Walter Biscardi] “And if you don’t care about PPro, why the heck are we even having this discussion? Without PPro you can’t use Axio.
Usually when a person starts a thread like this it’s because they are considering purchasing one or the other. You don’t care to use PPro and I really don’t know a single person who is using PPro / Axio in production so honestly, who cares about a comparison?”

Hi Walter,
First, the reason we’re having this discussion is because I simply wanted to know how the cards compared. THAT’S ALL – HONEST. I thought that perhaps, just maybe, there was someone here familiar with both cards and who could answer my question without getting their hair mussed. So perhaps the question for you is… Can’t someone be interested in KNOWING about the Axio without being interested in PPro? I’m in a purely HD environemnt, and while some of the features in Axio would be helpful if they ACTUALLY WORKED in a real world scenario, I’m not prepared, nor is the company I work at, to compromise with PPro. I doubt that will change with the releases of PPro 2 or 3 or 4 or whatever.

As for my original motive in asking, could it be that perhaps I’m interested in the Axio simply because there’s been a bit of activity about the Axio over at the discrete edit COW forum and I wanted to be better informed?

[Walter Biscardi] “This is really a better question for the folks over in the PPro forum. “Is anyone using Axio and what realtime are you gettting?””

No. I asked here because I wanted professional responses, and I doubt there’s anyone over at the PPro forum working in a similar situation to mine that could give me a valuable comparison with the Kona2 card (which btw we’ve all been very happy with). Besides, if the responses here are any indication, there’d be someone over there getting their nose out of whack because I asked about the Aja cards…

Regards,
-Les Kaye

[Les Kaye]

[gary adcock] “Apple is a hardware company that wants to sell more machines, faster, newer machines, that is the driving reason not to allow for hardware acceleration.”

The first sentence is correct, the second not so. While the initial success of FCP (3.0 and before) was mainly due (IMHO) to the many Mac faithful having another viable and reasonably priced NLE option, FCP’s recent juggernaut (4.0 and current) IS due to it’s superior performance in many (not all) ways. If Apple is to remain competitive
it MUST continue to offer hardware performance in whatever way they can.

[gary adcock] “on the AJA vs Axio – how many broadcast pro’s are running matrox hardware? really?”

Agreed. As I pointed out somewhere here, I’m in no way interested in the Axio since it relies on PPro.

Finally it’s not really Apples & Oranges – performance is performance.

[Les Kaye]

[Walter Biscardi] “As for what you’re looking for, we get RT CC, Slo Mo, multiple graphics layers, plus a lot more here no problem running a Dual 2.0 with a Fibre Channel Array.”

We’re in HD – so this doesn’t work for us. Again, I’m not writing from frustration with Kona2, just curious about what Axio really does.

[Les Kaye]

Wow Bob, you’re even more down on Matrox then me… And yes I’m very well aware of Matrox’s history with discreet edit. So no, I’m not interested in Axio for my own (or anyone else’s) use – just simply want to educate myself since it’s always good to know what’s going on.

I personally don’t see Axio as being all that viable since it only works with a rather feeble application. PPro users seem to think that if they put a V8 into a Ford Escort they’ll end up with a Porsche…Nonetheless, I really am curious (Matrox hyperbole aside) if the Axio card is more powerful/versatile than the Kona2, as well as its limitations.

Thanks,
-Les

[Les Kaye]

How’s Boris Continuum for general fx, and would it be valuable for professional but only occasional or rare keying? Should have mentioned that we work soley in HD.

Thanks again,
-Les

[Les Kaye]

Thanks, will give it a shot.

[Les Kaye]

[andy stinton] “The few times that I have played around in FCP I found that rendering the whole file before mastering an interesting experience !!!!!”

Probably due to a timeline set to a different codec setting than your material. I don’t have this problem when working with DVCPRO HD, with 6 camera multicam. Works fine and I find most renders are pretty fast. OTOH, down converting HDV to DVCPRO HD is a watching paint dry exercise. Haven’t tried it with other codecs.

In any casem one person’s RT is another’s “what’s taking so long?” Your best bet is to take a test drive on all the systems suggested with the type of workflow you use. A hardware solution may work best for you, or it might not. After all, even if the car goes 60mph in 3 seconds, what’s the point if it doesn’t have power steering, airbags and a heater? Meaning, IMHO, that the editorial workflow needs to be considered as well.

Good luck.

[Les Kaye]

It sort of looks like a jagged stock market graph David. As said, with timeline overlays active, you can keyframe audio levels or opacity and scaling directly on the timeline. Also, holding the option key while using the selection tool (arrow) will turn the arrow into a pen when near a timeline level line. Saves time.

[Les Kaye]

Hey Alex,
You address some very valid points. I certainly don’t think Avid sucks (PPro OTOH…), and there are some very nice features that I miss in FCP. Sorta like edit & Avid…Now that you’re in the Avid world, don’t you think that Avid is a superior EDITING solution to edit*? So while it’s still easy to miss edit’s robust undo history & global search, etc, for pure editing, Avid IMHO is just superior to edit. And while I realize you’re still getting your head around the Avid fx workflow, it also is really quite powerful once you’ve “gotten it”. Reading the manual helps.

Well…that’s sort of how I now feel about FCP vs. Avid – I think FCP’s simply becoming a superior editing solution (I realize it’s a little unseemly to spout this on this forum – sorry). FCP’s multicam has some snags, but it also feels more versatile and much less rigid than Avid’s. I didn’t mind Avid’s modal nature, but it’s nice to get back to the more contextual workflow we had in edit.

Still, there are things in Avid I enjoy, and it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world WHEN I get back on one.

[Les Kaye]

[Alex Udell] “The reason why Apple has made an impact in such short order is because they were willing to give away “professional” features at rock bottom prices….”

This is not quite true any longer Alex. So yes. While you’re correct that FCP’s pricing structure has had an impact on the post world, IMHO, it’s success is no longer due to its cost, and if anything, I’d say Avid is playing catchup – and not just on pricing.

We made the switch from Adrenaline HD simply because FCP IS the superior solution for our needs – realtime multicam HD playback (couldn’t even do SD multicam PB in Adrenaline), MUCH faster rendering (seconds and minutes vs. hours), more powerful (and IMHO superior) gfx and fx handling via LiveType and Motion, and finally – better customer support from Apple (although our Avid dealer was great – Avid was – shall we politely say, not as responsive.

Avid certainly has SOME superior features that I miss, but I also prefer FCP’s less modular and more contextual workflow (similar to edit’s), to Avid’s now dated modal paradigm, and no doubt FCP will pick up the slack on what it’s missing. I was in no rush to move to FCP, but NONE of us have no regrets now that we have. I’m sure the same is true for others.