Avid or Premiere pro
 

I have versions of Avid media composer and Premiere pro but im ot sure which to use.
I know how to use premiere pro and the program seems to work well however the industry uses avid so I should start using that more.

Avid is just so annoying though, the windows dont stay where I put them, they snap right back to the middle of the left monitor and there are a few capture problems.
Is it really worth getting through these problems and the learning curve to use it.

Basically, is Avid better than Premiere?

I think you'll find a lot of OPINIONS in this forum. If you plan on getting an editing job in the "industry", for a pro company, I suggest Avid. If you are just doing your own thing, use what works best for you -not the masses.


IMHO

Moving Windows
 

Hi Rich in England. . . .

In regards to your moving windows in Media Composer, when you adjust one or place it in the spot you desire, do you "Save Current"? Whenever you alter one of your windows' settings, when you click on the "Windows" menu above, you can click on "Save Current" to maintain your new settings. Hope this helps. . . .

Eddie

I think this is one of those questions that can never really be answered "correctly or incorrectly". I've seen the capabilities of Avid, and while I find it to be quite powerful and impressive, Premiere Pro seems to have a much easier learning curve. My own opinions on this are biased, since nearly all my experience has been with Premiere (I've started working on version 4.0 in college)...

I've heard all sorts of negative things about Premiere, and also comments like "Everyone knows that true professionals use Avid...". If you're in business for yourself, it should come down what you're comfortable with. After all, they're only tools to help you get what the client wants. I'd also be willing to bet that most clients won't even be able to tell what program you edited with. A dissolve is a dissolve- no matter what program you use. In fact- and it could just be my particular market- a lot of clients I've dealt with think the simplest of transitions or effects are the most amazing thing in the world.

Anyway, to wrap up this long-winded ramble, both programs have their advantages and drawbacks. The best program for you is the program that you can easily get around in and get the results your clients need.

It won't matter that the end result might look the same, clients do care what you're editing with, even if it doesn't matter to you or to the final output.

Of course this isn't true 100% of the time and I'm sure people here will come up with stories about how many jobs they've gotten with Premiere, but the fact is that Avid is perceived as professional and Premiere is not. Telling clients you're an Avid editor carries much more weight than saying you use Premiere.

As for the original question, I'd say edit with what you're good at. But if you're out selling yourself to clients, I'd play up the Avid end of things.

my 2-cents

I hope things will change a little now that PPro 3 is on the Mac

If your clients are that much interested in your NLE environment, you may have a look at Autodesk Smoke 2007 Extension 1, which is somewhat in a different category of professionalism and price, but should duly impress your clients and put a significant dent in your wallet.

We need to understand that all of the higher quality non-linear editors pretty much do the same thing, just a little different way. If you're in the learning process, more important than the software is the understanding of the process. Put the basics under your belt, get some good books or video tutorials on workflow, understand color space, color correction, compression, etc... in other words, understand the theory behind the graphics interface of your NLE software.

If you did that, all you will need is a few days of learning the specifics of any editor other than the one you learned on.

I haven't had too many clients know what an NLE is or even care. If a client is hell bent on a specific NLE, their crazy, let them do the work then.

You said it, Marco!

Anyway, I just can't agree that most clients really care THAT much. It would be like me not hiring a contractor to remodel my house because he uses DeWalt tools instead of Bosch...

That's not to say that I couldn't ever see it happen though. I guess it depends on your market and what kind of services you're offering. Personally, I wouldn't want to deal with a client that was so specific like that. I've dealt with enough over-inflated egos, thank you ;) The only feasible reason I can think of would be if you were going to hand off the entire project file to the client for further/future editing on their system. Other than that, I can't see how it makes a difference. As far as I'm concerned, a straight cut is a straight cut, and a dissolve is a dissolve. Take 2 video clips, throw a 15-frame dissolve between them in any NLE, and I highly doubt that anyone would be able to tell the difference.

Anyway, to get back on track... Another thing you might want to look at are hardware requirements. Avid is VERY picky when it comes to supported hardware. If you don't have the right video card or motherboard or whatnot, it may not function correctly- or at all. Premiere, on the other hand, is quite a bit more forgiving in that sense. Just something to keep in mind.

It wouldn't hurt to look at your budget and overall goals as well. Avid is a bit more expensive and has a limited list of supported hardware that may push the cost up even higher. The benefit to this though, is that you'll probably have a screamin' system that functions efficiently.

If you're looking at creating custom motion graphics and editing stills, I'd recommend checking out Adobe's Production Studio. That give you Photoshop and After Effects- and several other titles. In my opinion, it gives you more bang for the buck and gives you a huge tool palette to work with that's not all that difficult to learn. One thing I very much enjoy with Adobe products: Most of the shortcut keys are the same from program to program!