Mike Cavanagh
Forum Replies Created
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Hey Craig- hit this thread today, so I’m a year late. Just a topic of interest right now in Seattle where we’re looking at a follow up. Unbelievable how many people are still limping along with FCP 7.
On the school front…all over the map. In LA, a we’ve seen a move towards Avid, especially since there is such a pool of existing shows on Avid, as well the larger unscripted shops such as Bunim Murray and Authentic TV switching over to Avid. Believe it or not, Sony Vegas is making some dents in EDU.Mike Cavanagh
President/Founder
Key Code Media, Inc.
http://www.keycodemedia.com -
Once assurance is gone, you can buy paid upgrades. To get the 2.6x version would be $995. If you want a year of technical support along with upgrades for the year it would be $1,995. There are a lot of new feature enhancements, but the two biggest features, DNxHD and Phrase recoginition to scripts (I’m sure they have a better name than this when it is released, I just don’t know it), will be worth the upgrade.
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Good questions. The rendering on a G5 quad Media Composer (both Adrenaline and the 5k software version) screams. Macpro systems will be out at end of quarter. FCP can also handle multi camera, just the overall media management is not yet up to Avid speed, although Steve Bayes may change that come next April. Overall, if you like the MediaComposer and know it well, stay with the platform. The new ones work on software via firewire, Mojo (Analog or SDI) or with an Adrenaline bob. Adrenaline’s are mostly for compression and the DNxHD inputs. An FCP/AJa will be less cash up front, but not as much as it used to be. What the big factor is the learning transition curve. The Avid can work on either PC or Mac. If you’re used to the Mac and are not on a network, I’d stay that way. The Macs are actually a little less money than the comparably confirgured HP boxes.
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FCP assets can be checked into Avid Interplay, but there is no automation between the products. The bigger question is what is it that you are trying to accomplish? There are various technologies such as Konan and Proximity Group which have modules which integrate with FCP. The base core technology of Interplay came from a Company Avid bought called Alienbrain. Over time, if Avid decides to open Interplay up, the code should support an automated integration.
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As a student, you can buy XpressPro (The student version) for $295 (https://host117.ebm.bestsoftwarehost.com/iwwidb.pvx?;multi_item_submit). Proof of being a student is needed. You can use either Mac or PC with it. High end PC is the XW8200 costing around $4k, the HP 4300 is also solid. If you go Mac, the higher end laptops or G5 systems 2.5ghz or better. The above thread on pricing was pretty accurate for the overall systems.
As an interesting point of interest, we engaged in a shoot out of the Avid Adrenaline on local storage. The Mac (G5 Quad Core) outperformed the PC (HPXW8200) on rendering by a factor of 3X. The PC did scroll better in the timeline and gave better responsiveness. An Avid rep stated that the overall speed of the Mac was slower when multiple systems were connected to Unity. No tests have been done with the Quad Core on Unity yet, it is just now supported.