[Patrick Murphy]

Thanks so much for your response. Fortunately I understand how to use Prelude.
But my question remains that if one is handing off AVCHD files and wants to untangle the native .mts files to simple self-contained unique media files without compromising them (except maybe timecode) what are the best alternative formats? ProRes is not an option, I’m on a PC.

I know Cineform is a great option and maybe the gold standard. But I want to preserve the relatively small file size of the original AVCHD. My guess is that a straight h.264 at 30 MbS would suffice.
Does anyone care to argue there’s a better alternative?

[Patrick Murphy]

If you’re outdoors the 14-140 is a nice choice. It’s got a nice range from wide angle to telephoto. It’s Achilles Heel is that it’s pretty slow, but that shouldn’t matter much outside. It’s also relatively inexpensive.

[Patrick Murphy]

I had much the same experience. I followed download and prep to the letter and made at least a dozen attempts to load the upgrade with zero success.

I searched the internet for hints but came up with nothing that worked.

Finally I replaced the Class 10 SDHC card I was using and resorted to the high speed 280 Mbs card I had available. That worked.

In fact it worked for both lens updates as well. I have no idea if this a definitive solution, all I can say is that it worked for me.

[Patrick Murphy]

If your Reference Monitor is open, the “Gang to Reference Monitor” selection in your Program Monitor window should be unchecked. You access it from the Monitor options in the upper right corner.

There been a thread about this on Adobe’s Premiere forum for about the last 10 days.

[Patrick Murphy]

You don’t have a date on that do you? My guess would be early sixties.

Back in the day when you needed compressed air to run your quad VTR and 1 full 19″ rack for each of your studio cameras. A lot has happened in the media production in the last 50 years. In fact it’s hard to think of many areas of endeavor that have changed more. New tools, new jobs, new venues, new opportunities.

Anyhow thank for posting this reminder that change is the only real constant in media. And it’s likely to stay that way for awhile yet.

[Patrick Murphy]

It really depends on what type of shooting you will be doing.
If you are shooting a lot of interviews and b-roll and you know your way around a camera, you’ll be happy with a DSLR. It’s not the most convenient way to shoot, but the image quality, choice of lenses, etc. make it a great alternative.

Cameras like the Panasonic AG-AC90a and the Canon XF100 are more entry level video cameras. Their audio connections are simple, their lenses are adequate but not great. But they do create good images and if you’re shooting long form, events, sports, or you want something that you can pull out of a case and shoot quickly. They make a lot of sense

[Patrick Murphy]

You can be dismissive but he has an interesting point.

Really, how many FPCX users would have adopted the NLE had it been released by Sony, or god forbid, Canopus?

The value of the Apple brand in establishing X as a viable alternative has always seemed perfectly obvious to me. Whether that was justified trust in an established source, or simply an textbook example of cognitive dissonance is the harder call.

[Patrick Murphy]

Thank you for the links Kevin. They were helpful.

I read some of them awhile back, but it was good to be reminded of the difference, from a processing standpoint, of the variables which affect playback and rendering

[Patrick Murphy]

You’re distorting what I said. Whether Avid or Adobe are NLE based companies is entirely beside the point. Also to be clear I never made that assertion.

What I did say was that the economic impact to Apple of dropping their flagship NLE would be minimal relative to what it would mean to Avid or Adobe. Frankly I’m surprised you seem to be quibbling about this point. After all Apple has already did this in June 2011 and yet it’s stock price continued to rise for the remainder of the year. Are you really suggesting that Avid and Adobe could do the same without a significant negative impact on their value?

If you are comfortable with “commodification and dependencies” and other theoretical constructs about Apple’s future behavior that’s great. My perspective is based on past performance, not prediction. When you look at Apple in that light, partnering with them is the more risky proposition.

[Patrick Murphy]

“My question back is that if you put your trust in any company you’re making a mistake.”

“I do trust that Apple intends to use FCPX as part of a strategy to sell Macs.”

Well it appears that skepticism has it’s limits.

With corporations, I think the best practice is to look at past behavior. Apple’s track record is bad enough to raise doubts in any reasonable person. Of course Avid and Adobe are not angels, but at least their business model is narrow enough to suggest some restraint in alienating their customer base. Apple on the other hand has no such inhibitions. They could drop FCPX tomorrow and the negative impact, if any, on their corporate health would be relatively small.

Gaining true proficiency in an NLE is not a trivial task. It takes a lot of time, effort, and often additional expenses beyond just the cost of the NLE software. I think the number of editors still on FCP7 are a testament to this fact. Like it or not, the selection of your primary editing tool requires a unavoidable level of trust in who you buy it from.