Premiere
 

I have been using FCP for about 4 years now. There is talk in our group about Adobe Premiere. On it’s great integration with all of Adobe software, and no rendering going from software to software in their new addition.
Is there a advantage in using Premiere over FCP?


Ron

That's very subjective. I personally use Adobe Production Suite to do everything from web video to full length features and am very happy with it. I do have a nice set of plug-ins that I use that I find essential to my particular workflow, though. (Color Finesse PI, etc)

Well you have noted the main advantage of using Premiere, which is integration into other Adobe software. As far as an NLE, it's only advantage is the interface. I used FCP for a year or two, then started using Premiere also since we bought a PC (much easier to have both IMO). Premiere is very graphical and user friendly. Just open it up and you should be able to figure out the basics.

For professional production, I prefer Final Cut. I think it gives you more control over the footage, but if you are a great editor (I am not) it shouldn't make a difference. FWIW I love both NLEs. Also I believe CS4 allows you to import footage from an FCP timeline (don't quote me)!

JS

Download the free update and it can import FCP files, export OMF, and import/export AAF.

I've just really started switching with the demo and I'm loving it, so much that I haven't been on DVinfo for a few days! It was a little hard for me to switch from Vegas to Premiere in terms of how there are so many different edit tools (something I've never used before), but the key commands are all simple and if you know photoshop commands they have the same basic ones, and now that I have learned the different kinds of edits I find it is a lot quicker. Its audio can use VST plugins and can bus however you like so I don't believe it is a step down from Vegas, not to mention that Soundbooth CS4 has had many updates from CS3 (and with OMF and AAF you can even use a professional audio suite too). The templates for the tiler are amazing and it has a resource base to download more. I'm currently getting the hang of AE and it has a lot that it can do too.

It looks and feels very much like FCP too. Same dude designed both and you can tell. That's only coming from using FCP for a week and Premiere a few days but to me they seem really similar (as opposed to Vegas).

The no rendering with the dynamic links has to be the coolest part. However, if you make a few edits it may take 3-5 minutes (for a small edit) to load into the timeline of the other program, but that's nothing in terms of rendering time (and you probably have a faster computer than what I'm testing on too).

I love the media encoder too. I've read some things that it's a bit slower than CS3, but it's fast enough for me. I haven't found any network rendering, but other than that it's great. Easy to batch render in many different ways.

I'd say give the demo a try.

I think the one common feature about replies to these kind of topics is that there isn't really a 'best'. Everyone has preferences. I used (and still do) relatively cheap software from Serif to do various things. I quite their Draw vector graphics software and have used it for about 9 upgrades. I have had photoshop, a very early version for the same period of time, but rarely used it because it was too difficult to learn. I carried on using Paint Shop Pro, because it was 'better'. Then I started on video editing using software and bought Premiere Version 6, because the Avid I had at work seemed to work fine compared with old tape systems, but I couldn't afford it. I got to become quite quick with Premiere, quicker than I was with Avid, simply through repeated use. I still used PSP for graphics for video, despite having photoshop. Work provided me with CS3 and the integration with Photoshop made me use that more - suddenly I stopped using PSP and got proficient (at the most basic levels) with Photoshop. I've bought CS4 now and find that what has improved is my understanding of how to get things done. I still am rubbish with AE - simply because I'm lazy, and not because it's no good.

Once you are comfortable with software, then swapping to another system is always a problem. One of my edit machines has Avid Media composer on it - but I never use it, and on the few occasions when I have had a few minutes spare to fiddle, I give up quickly. There's nothing wrong with it, but I have to unlearn one 'system' to be able to be effective on another.

Two years ago, I spent a morning at the video show going from Avid to Adobe to FCP and round again and again. I have lost a couple of prospective clients because I know nothing at all about Macs, but I can live with this. To me, the advantages of a platform swap are minimal in terms of benefits to my income.

It's not just video this applies to, I run Cubase 5 now in the audio studio, and exactly the same discussions apply to Cubase V Logic V Protools. I guess if I'd been into Avid, then my audio would probably be protools, and if I was on FCP, I'd be using Logic. Same end product - just different ways of getting there!