[Torv Carlsen]

HI Wildman.

In a nutshell, FCP’s advantage over Avid Xpress is it’s scalability. That is you can add various third party hardware like the AJA i/o (uncompressed 10 bit SDI, component, etc.), Kona2 (uncompressed SDI and HD) or any one of the Blackmagic Design cards and increase FCP resolution indenpendent platform to edit any type of video you see fit to edit, provided of course you have a hard disk array capable of the demands of high end video. XPress DV is limited to DV only, no scalability to edit or output in anything but DV, unless you buy Avid’s XPress Pro with the Mojo box which at $3495 will set you back as much FCP & AJA’s Kona2 card but not give you HD or anything approaching the quality of video i/o that AJA is known for. That said however, Avid’s Xpress DV’s projects are easily transported to the higher end Avid systems like a Symphony for more advanced finishing. A knock on FCP is it’s project management, an asset the Avids are well known for, although frankly I have never had a problem with project management in FCP though others have and continue to gripe about that, but they predominantly come from years as Avid editors so they are used to a certain workflow. There are many other differences between the two projects, but all in all, FCP is far more versatile than the Avid product. If you’re predisposition is Avid however because of your experience, that might be a better choice for you. It all depends on what your needs are.

Good luck.
Torv