Cold Mountain was a total PR piece. Yes it was cut in FCP - but yes it was a total nightmare. (they leave that part out)

They basically had Apple support with them the entire time from the people I've spoken to.

By Avid being more "professional" I mean it this way - as of right now one can trust Avid way more than one can trust FCP. Also their capture and output tool is completely wacky with random mystery meat buttons. The Avid capture/digital cut tool is much more intuitive in my opinion - it actually looks like a deck interface - FCP's looks like - well - a space age computer. (and that's not a good thing)

There is still a stigma attached to FCP as being low budget. All of the systems at the music video / commercial house where I work in LA are Avids. No one the editors there (including me) want to use FCP. Avid is just really fast (especially for Music Videos).

RFranco - I use all those buttons in FCP when I trim. The trim window is slow as hell - takes 6 seconds to come up (and this is on a Dual 2gig g5). I trim as much as I can using the keyboard in FCP. But it still stinks compared to Avid. Trimming on Avid is amazingly powerful. I should post some tips on it from the 201 class I teach on it soon.

[DISCLAIMER - Most of you already know this already but some of you might not. I used to work at Avid in Boston over 6 years ago and I've been using an Avid for over 10 years. I am certified to teach all of the Official Avid classes and teach about once a month here in LA. Take one of my 201 courses and you'll see how you can really cut fast on the Avid. I've also, used FCP for an entire year now so I'm not a newbie to the app - but I still vastly prefer Avid (if you can't already tell). FCP is making inroads somewhat (especially for low budget projects) - but Avid still is the cutting king in my opinion.]

-Chris
Studentfilms.com

Whatever your personal opinion on FCP, the fact that it's being used on professional productions makes it by definition 'professional.' My brother uses Avid constantly for his internship and reports that it's stuck in a paradigm that's several years old. There are some good features, but the general usability suffers next to FCP.

Who cares if Murch had Apple support? You're telling me that 'major productions' who cut on Avid don't ever contact the company with issues and suggestions?

If you've used Avid for a decade and FCP for a year, I'm not sure how you can make a qualified comparison...

I worked on 'The Hawk is Dying' about a year and a half ago and they were purchasing 2 turnkey G5 setups with Blackmagic cards and FCP to do their rough cut. Still, despite the number of 'professional' productions using it, FCP must be amateur and slow

Oy - I never said that professional productions don't use FCP. That's not what I mean at all. (context and tone can be hard in e-mail/postings)

I just mean that the editing interface and usability of Avid is in my opinion more professional. There is simply no comparison between the capture/output interface and Media Management on an Avid vs FCP. Avid wins hands down in that regard - even die hard FCP editors agree with me there.

And in my experience - on the feature that I cut - FCP is horrendously slow.

The usability of Xpress Pro might "suffer" when compared to FCP but definitely not a full blown Media Composer. FCP suffers considerably when compared to a Media Composer.

All of my opinions are vis a vis Media Composer and FCP and not Xpress and FCP. Xpress is crippled by Avid marketing and should not be used as a way to judge Avid's products.

-Chris
Studentfilms.com

quote:

Originally posted by Evan Kubota:
My brother uses Avid constantly for his internship and reports that it's stuck in a paradigm that's several years old. There are some good features, but the general usability suffers next to FCP.

It's not stuck anywhere - it's the merging of two styles of editing - linear tape to tape - and nonlinear film. Avid was designed long before there was drag and drop. And this is a good thing - once you learn how to use it.

The "Avid way" of editing may seem archaic to those who grew up cutting on Premiere or FCP but once you learn it - Avids are much much much faster as an editor.

The learning curve is high but once you master it - the rewards are huge. You can do everything you want to do in FCP - and faster once you know how - in Avid.

There are no "modes" as Apple marketing likes to say. Granted there is a source record mode and a trim mode - but once you learn how to quickly go in and out of them it'll be almost as if you never left any mode at all.

People who complain about Avid were never properly trained on it. I stand by that 100%.

Avid does have it's faults - it's not very good as an FX box. It's getting better with the Advanced Keyframe model - but once again you need to learn it before it becomes useful. Nothing in Avid is really intuitive at first glance - but once you know it - using Avid is really fast.

FCP does have an edge with it's interoperability with After Effects and its similar model to it - but the new Advanced Keyframe model that Avid has is pretty darn close to it. Too bad that option is hidden in the app a little bit before you can first use it.

Don't write off Avid until you learn to use it properly. It's easy to write off at first glance because it is quite hard to use at first. I really do believe that one really has to take a class on an Avid by a good instructor in order for the "lightbulb" to go off on how fast it can really be.

Sorry for the rambling.

It seems this forum has brought out the worst in all of us. By God we must do everything in out power never to let it happen again. Theres one thing we all should learn from this....(stabed in back before line is delivered). "Thus leaving a sequel open

Fade Out.

FWIW, I never said Xpress... Media Composer is used at his office.

Anyway, I started out editing on a Panasonic deck - no NLE there

I don't own or have access to Avid, and honestly I have no desire to learn it. Many production houses use it, but FCP is also widely used and I'm already proficient in it. I think I work fairly "fast," but since I'm not paid it doesn't seem like there's much to gain from being able to (possibly) do something in three minutes instead of four. FCP can be fast too, in the hands of a very skilled user.

Yes I'm sure FCP can be fast in the hands of a skilled editor - the same can be said for Avid.

It all comes down to personal preference. (I'm really not trying to start a flame war - honestly)

I just prefer Avid. Other people prefer FCP. Although - here in Hwood - the majority prefer Avid - but that could change years from now. Who knows. But currently as is - for the jobs that I'm doing - FCP isn't being used.

I've used FCP - just prefer Avid.

And now for something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT - Happy V-day everyone!

-Chris
Studentfilms.com