Will Final Cut Pro Surpass Avid? or has it already?

[Ken Tanaka]

"My question is though, will Apple develop a high end FCP similar to Avid Symphony?"

(Actually, I think Avid superseded "Symphony" a while ago.)

What features do you believe FCP lacks (besides $100,000 pricing) to be a "high-end" system?

[Richard Alvarez]

Here's a clip from teh avid website. For more detailed info. Go to www.avid.com

When they say real time... the mean absolutely real time.

Avid Symphony
Available for Windows, and now Macintosh OS X, Avid Symphony systems offer a complete set of real-time creative and corrective finishing tools, multi-format mastering and versioning, and the industry's most widely-used nonlinear editing interface for professional video and film postproduction. Bidirectional compatibility with the complete range of Avid editing systems and media network solutions and support for dozens of the most popular third-party plug-ins and applications make Avid Symphony the finishing system of choice for creative professionals and collaborative environments.

Key Benefits of Avid Symphony
Total Conform: The industry's fastest and most complete conform of Media Composer projects, meaning users can seamlessly conform a Media Composer offline project in Symphony for online editing and finishing, thus increasing productivity and efficiency
Real-time finishing tools: High-quality, real-time built-in color correction (primary 10-bit RGB; HSL hardware; secondary color correction, and now with AutoCorrect technology), real-time integrated Ultimatte keying, real-time motion tracking and image stabilization, real-time moving mattes
Universal Editing/Mastering: Multiformat 24p/25p editing and multiversion mastering capabilities; the Universal Online capability extends Symphony by offering 24p/25p Universal Editing and Mastering for multiformat output of PAL, NTSC, 16:9/15:9, and 4:3-all at the push of a button.

[Ken Tanaka]

I was clearly mistaken with respect to Symphony.

[Dan Brown]

"Funny story ... especially since I'm sitting here using Microsoft Word ... makes you wonder, doesn't it ..."

Yes, but the reason Word surpassed Word Perfect was because of the unlawful, anti-cometitive, perhaps criminal, behavior of Microsoft. Indeed, the single biggest beneficary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks may well have been Microsoft. The federal anti-trust cases against them were settled to Microsoft's benefit due to the huge diversion of federal resources to deal with the national tragedy of 9/11/01. Microsoft should have been broken into peices, in accordance with federal anti-trust statutes. I believe some members of Microsoft management should have been imprisoned.

I, for one, will never purchase a computer who's operating system is provided by Microsoft. I have to use Word because of the de facto monopoly Microsoft has created for itself. But, in every instance possible I avoid Microsft products.

dB

[Jeff Donald]

Avid has it’s place, but in my experience in the Midwest and the south, my expericence as an FCP editor is more sought after than my Avid editing experience. My students are much more eager and exicted to learn about FCP than Avid.

[Rob Belics]

Dan, you aren't one of those guys who flogs himself with a whip every day, are you?

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My students are much more eager and exicted to learn about FCP than Avid.
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What a student wants and the reality of the world are two different things. In my dealings I rarely see FCP, even in small budget situations. So through my eyes you would be doing them a disservice.

(But, yes I also know FCP has growing popularity.)

[Richard Alvarez]

I think the best approach is to learn (or at least be familiar with) both interfaces. The more you can do... the more you will do.

[Jeff Donald]

Rob, no disservice, I subscribe to several job posting services (TV Gigs Online etc) and the postings run lopsided in favor of FCP. And besides, who would want to teach excited students, that can't be education.

[Rob Belics]

Jeff,

I should have reworded that post, after midnight and all.

I was trying to say, and I think you caught it, that just because students are excited about learning a skill that they should be taught it. It would be a wasted effort and a disservice to them if there is no demand for it. But I know FCP skills are in demand.

I'm sorry if I sounded like I was sounding negative toward you.

[Scott Dennis]

<<I do foresee that over the years as all the people who have grown up with FCP, will stay with FCP.>>

I disagree. Many editors actually know both programs. As one works in the industry, they often don't have a choice in the program their production company use. They learn and do what they have to to move up in the ranks.

Also, for the common consumer, many become so dedicated to a product that iot seems to echo iconography. I myself just navigate to the best product that I can afford. I do business meetings and weddings. There has never been a cliente who cared to ask what my editing program was.

[Christopher C. Murphy]

You guys were saying something about Apple needing Pro support like Avid? I think they just started their path to it:

http://www.apple.com/support/products/provideo

I just bought a dual G5 with FCP HD - and they were pushing the Pro support like crazy. They wanted me to know that Apple were serious about supporting video. If you walk into the Apple stores it's very media intensive...they're aware that video cameras are everywhere and they have an edge over all PC's out there. (being so easy to use) It would make sense to me that they seperate and "Pro" their FCP people.

They have easy (iMovie), medium (FCP Express), and harder (FCP HD). With this new support for "Pro" people...it seems to me they're doing whatever it takes to grab every customer....now and in the future.

Murph

[Jeff Donald]

I do business meetings and weddings. There has never been a cliente who cared to ask what my editing program was.

I suspect it's your cliental. I've had many an art director ask if I shoot with Nikon or Hasselblad. Likewise, I've had many a director or ad agency rep want to know if I was using AVID, FCP etc.

[Michael Horton]

For more information on Murch cutting Cold Mountain with FCP purchase the February "Lafcpug on DVD" Over 2 hours of him on the art of film Editing and Editing Cold Mountain and likes and dislikes of using FCP.

http://www.lafcpug.org/store.html#anchor812702

BTW this was never a Apple PR thing, It was Digital FilmTree in LA that put this together and supported the production the ENTIRE way.

Michael Horton
lafcpug

[Richard Alvarez]

I guess when more features and tv shows are cut on FCP than AVID, you could say it will have surpassed it. Untill then, AVID still holds more than 90% of the market.

Time will tell.

[Jeff Price]

Two comments that no one else seems to have touched on -

1) As I recall, if you read the interviews with Murch about editing "Cold Mountain" one of his complaints about editing "English Patient" (?) on Avid was downtime.

2) I think it was someone on Scrubs who commented that they thought the major feature missing on FCP for TV work was something to do with working with multiple cameras. His feeling was that is FCP could do multicamera work then TV would quickly switch to FCP. (??)

Also, the May issue of Videography talks about the positive reception that FCP HD received at NAB from the HD editors.

As for comments about the movies using Shake (LOTR, etc.). Are you sure they were using Shake on Macs? Aren't there other options for running Shake? On SGIs, for example?