Walter Biscardi
Forum Replies Created
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[Herb Sevush] ” The same way FCP Legacy would have been picked up if Apple chose to spin it off – a prospect I sorely regret the absence of.”
Apple can’t spin it off. There is a lot of Apple intellectual property from the original studio used in FCP X. If they sold it off, they would have to license the technology back from the buyer. The Color Board for example lifts a lot of technology from Apple Color. So a sale won’t happen.
I was hopeful that maybe someone like The Foundry would purchase FC Studio, but then someone explained all the property / licensing issues.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
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[Greg Jones] “What are you guys using now? Are you still cutting on Final Cut Pro 7 or have you started making the transition to Premiere Pro or Avid? Just curious as next year seems to be the year of new things.”
We started cutting on Premiere Pro about two months ago. Once the AJA drivers were ready we started cutting projects on Avid MC 6 as well. We originate nothing on FCP 7 any longer except for the “Science Nation” series because the editor has not picked up either yet.
We still have not determined which will be the “primary” NLE yet, but we have decided that we will support all three major NLEs moving forward. It does me no good to box ourselves into one product being an independent Post house. So all of the editors here will be able to use Avid and Adobe moving forward and I’ll make sure at least one of them is VERY proficient in one or the other. Everyone will be able to use all the tools and at least one person will be able to give in house tech support to the others.
As for FCP X, we’ll have it in the shop, but we won’t originate anything on it. It’ll be here to support anyone who brings us a project originated in that application.
Over the Christmas break I’m also going to start getting up to speed on Smoke as well so we can support that workflow.
All of the NLEs support all of our hardware so I’m not going to pigeon hole us into one place. This opens up our facility to anyone who wants to use our services regardless of the application. Adobe / Avid give us cross platform support so that gives us more options from a hardware standpoint as well. As a business owner I have to put us in the best position to move forward easily and efficiently. Choosing one platform over the other is not going to allow us to do that.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
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[Chris Conlee] ” I’m getting fed up with Apple, and will most definitely be transitioning BACK to Win 7 after I use up this latest MacPro.”
What caught my attention was very hard care Mac folks I know telling me that “Windows 7 is pretty darn good, really.” When Mac folks I trust are telling me that, then it’s time to take at least take a look and consider all possibilities.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
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[Greg Jones] “The first thing I noticed was that it seems to be really peppy.”
That’s the thing that jumped out at us the first time we got everything working during the testing process. Even on our oldest four core Mac Pro, Avid MC6 is very snappy even compared to FCP 7.
AJA has done an outstanding job to support three major NLEs all on the single card and even using a single driver. I have no idea how they do that, but it sure makes life easier for folks like us. We’re running all three apps on the same machine and the Kona just stays right with us.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
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[John Davidson] “I had heard that AMA was best for preview purposes. Is that wrong?”
As Shane said, that used to be the case, but now AMA is truly just about there for all formats. Just a few still need to be converted but for the most part you can just edit away using AMA. Heck you can now record to ProRes in Avid these days.
Read Shane’s full review here for a very in depth look at what the new MC6 is all about.
https://lfhd.net/2011/11/03/the-more-open-avid-media-composer-6-0/
I also have an article here on the Cow about Avid keeping their promise with MC6.
https://library.creativecow.net/biscardi_walter/Avid-Media-Composer-6/1
Bottom line, all the tools play nicely with pretty much whatever hardware you now have in the shop so you’re pretty free to choose whatever you want to use for whatever suits your style.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “The truth is, no one really knows accept Apple. “
[Jeremy Garchow] “I have a question for you, where did you hear from Apple that these are the last MacPros?”
First you say nobody knows except Apple then you say where did you hear from Apple. Obviously he’s responding to the many rumor mills that the Mac Pro is going away. You and I both know that the current Mac Pro is getting long in the tooth and is overpriced for what it is today. If the machine was half priced, then maybe it’s a bargain now.
Truth is that Mac Pros do not sell, Apple is no longer interested in enterprise solutions so the dedicated desktop machine that is used by professionals is going away. Just look at the path of all the other machines and the push for Thunderbolt. All things that professional will require to do our work is expected to be carried by external gear.
Trying to shrug off the discussion by saying “Where specifically did you hear from Apple that the Mac Pro is going away” is moot. Whether it’s the current Mac Pro or they make one more, this is a very valid discussion of “what do we do with our hardware.” They are not long for the world and if you truly want a desktop machine, like we prefer here, then you will probably have to start looking elsewhere.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
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[Dylan Hargreaves] “It may be a few years down the track from now, but if the writing is on the wall for our Mac hardware, then where do we go from there? Back to Windows? The very thought makes me shudder…
“Apple is a consumer company first and foremost. Everything is now bet on Thunderbolt. We discussed this back in July at our first Atlanta Cutters meeting when we had Apple, Adobe, Avid and Autodesk at our event. The system of the future would be a Mac with a bunch of thunderbolt external devices connected.
That’s the main reason why we’re not even considering FCP X at this time and for the foreseeable future. All our AJA cards can run in a Windows box. Adobe and Avid are cross platform. So we have an array of choices moving forward from the hardware side on both sides of the aisle. If we go FCP X then we will be forced to choose from whatever Apple offers to the consumers that can be modified to meet our needs. If we go more open / cross platform, I can already design a desktop system today that’s about $2500 top end, or about three top end Mac Pros.
So what happens to your hardware is simple. Stay Mac then start your process of getting to know Thunderbolt. Go cross platform and then you can decide for yourself how you want to go.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
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And you downloaded the AJA Mac Open I/O plug-ins as well?
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
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[Dominic Deacon] “Anyway that’s where I sit and at this point I’d be surprised if Apple could do anything to change my mind. Which side do you fall on?”
Avid / Adobe. We’ve tested both, we like both. We’re going to run both in our shop. Still have not decided which will be our “primary NLE” just yet, but it will be one or the other. FCP 7 is essentially phased out as a “new project’ NLE.
FCP X is not on our radar for now, probably a few more years depending on the development if ever. Depends on whether we stay with the Mac hardware or switch over to Windows workstations.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
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[Craig RussillRoy] ” then all i have to say to Tim Cook is open the OSX code and do what Steve would be turning in the grave about – License the Operating system …. Hackintoshes for everyone ;-)”
That’s the big reason we’re moving to Avid / Adobe. Both are cross platform giving me MANY more choices for hardware moving forward. Yes, I’m a lifelong Mac geek, but I’m also running a business. The smart business decision includes keeping your future open to choices and not limiting yourself to one path.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.