Marvin Holdman
Forum Replies Created
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Bob Zelin? The Don Rickles of tech support? LOVE that guy!!! Bob ROCKS!
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
I think the concern for a majority of network TV companies regarding remaining with legacy FCP7 is continuing to generate projects in a legacy program. While it is true that it still functions, it seems only a matter of time before they pull the plug on support of this 32 bit program. At some point, getting to your legacy projects is going to be a tremendous pain, the compulsion for facilities to migrate to another solution quickly is to mitigate this future problem. While no system is safe from this, why would anyone want to continue to produce projects for the next year while all this shakes out vs. moving onto a company which at least has a viable 64 bit program? Not as much of a problem for smaller independent producers, but a real problem where teams generate substantial quantities of media that will have to be dealt in the immediate future (2-3 years).
I think many larger facilities have moved on from FCS7 with a “wait and see” attitude to what might become of FCPX. That being said, with the substantial investment necessitated by Apple with this release, it’s going to be at least 2 years before anyone will even be able to consider FCPX for a facility. If I were planning on working with a facility that had more than 10 editors, I would not waste time with FCPX.
All that being said, if you think you might freelance smaller projects, it wouldn’t hurt to have FCPX under your belt. All depends on how you would like to work. If I had to do a startup tomorrow, I might consider FCPX and AVCHD. That being said, in jobs that have specific calls for camera and edit packages, that package will be pretty limiting. FCPX and AVCHD seem quite viable for jobs where equipment is not a consideration, such as many corporate communications jobs, most local productions and most internet projects.
At this point, FCPX is an inbred application capable of doing some jobs, but not really going to be very helpful on many resumes to network TV for quite some time to come.
Add the fact that there are a great many facilities managers that have some pretty strong negative feelings about Apple/FCPX at the moment, and I’m not sure I would even mention the fact you’ve tried FCPX to many (unless ask). The ham-fisted launch has left many with bitter feelings about this software that sometimes goes beyond the program to the users of the program. Not fair perhaps, but it’s there, as evidenced by the archives of this forum.
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
Chris Kenny – “It’s 15x the price, but a word processor is so much more of a mass-market product that it’s surprising to see a $300 video editing app selling even 1/15 as many units as a $20 word processor.”
Since the majority of market share for word processing is PC based ergo MS Word, it really doesn’t surprise me that FCPX surpasses Pages. Price is not as much of a factor as penetration. I don’t think Pages has as much “mass-market” as one might imagine. That being said, I like it better, but still have MS Word to so-exist with the bigger world.
That comparison is not really relevant.
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
Does anyone know if the tagging info for clips can be exported from FCPX in some form of vanilla data file? (such as XML, or tab delineated?)
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
You have to keep things simple for us Americans (motivation for FCPx?). We could have used a football reference (or as us simple American’s say, “soccer”) but we would have had to do too much googling to come up with proper analogies. Humble pardon’s to our international friends for such self-absorption. It’s a generational thing. We’re ALMOST ready to be a part of the world.
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
Craig Seeman – “Apple is in many ways like an expansion team.”
More like they won the world series, fired the championship team and came back as an expansion team. Bogles the mind really. Like betting on a single number in roulette (to continue the metaphorical escapade!) If it hits, it’s going to be huge, but odds are against it. Of course, in this case, Apple can keep making the bet, over and over, until eventually it does hit.
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
Craig Seeman – “I think a lot of people miss this bit of info. Dropping a clip on a keyword collection tags it.”
Not to be contentious, but I think many of those people you think “miss” simply require more data that the system, as it exist, will allow. Attaching an “interview” or “broll” moniker to a clip is handy, but a far cry from the amount of information needed to create a practical database of searchable footage. That being said, I agree that Apple realizes the need when they state partnerships with companies like Square Box. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they have deemed it necessary to pitch their history in exchange for their vision.
One of the very important aspects of starting a data system such as this is being able to anticipate the future needs of such data. Kinda hard to plan for this when the company you deal with refuses to give provide any sort of a roadmap for doing so. Perhaps, in time they will, and those who are just starting up will benefit greatly, but… in the meantime it would seem Apple has put themselves in the position that experience should be penalized. Guess that’s one way of “leveling the playing field” to create a broader market. Totally legal in business. Ethically questionable, but who really thinks that “business ethics” hasn’t become an oxymoron, in this day and age?
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
To expand on the metaphor…
Team Apple is in the big show with a high school pitcher.
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is deliverables. What are your playback system requirements? If it is some form or mpeg, then you might have problems getting it out of FCPX, especially if it is somewhat proprietary. That being said, you will probably end up with some flavor of encoding software, if that is the case. As mentioned before, the single task of “cutting a news piece” can be easily accomplished via FCPX. The question you need to ask is, will it work in the big picture for your longterm goals (data management, scalability and legacy compatibility).
The choices are many, but the consensus I glean from this forum is that FCPX has promise, but is not quite there. Do you want to gamble your future on an unknown? Some will say that FCS had a slow start, but that was a different time, and a much different company.
Good luck.
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv -
Yeah, we’ve been on a CatDV Enterprise Server for the last year and a half. Brilliant product, can’t say enough good things about it. Just wondered if you might have heard any recent scuttlebutt about it’s direction as it relates to FCPX?
Frankly, this association is one of the bigger reason’s I still monitor this forum. It has the biggest potential to bring FCPX from it’s current state of inadequacy to something that might possibly be a practical collaborative tool.
Marvin Holdman
Production Manager
Tourist Network
8317 Front Beach Rd, Suite 23
Panama City Beach, Fl
phone 850-234-2773 ext. 128
cell 850-585-9667
skype username – vidmarv