Bunim/Murray drops Final Cut Pro for AVID

Arstechnica is reporting that, that top reality show producer and long time Final Cut Pro proponent Bunim/Murray has dropped final Cut Pro and is moving back to AVID media composer.Due to the large volume of media generated by our reality shows, we needed to re-evaluate our editing and storage solutions. At the same time, we were looking for a partner who would understand our long-term needs,Basically FCP X is not good enough, and FCP 7 is old and gettiing long in the tooth, and with AVID now being 64 bit, they felt the need to make the move.

Blackmagic released HyperDeck Update to DNxHD

MacTech has an article on Blackmagic Design having announced a Pulbic Beta of their version 2.0 software for the HyperDeck, which gives Avid DNxHD format to the device.I actually wonder if ProRES will stay as a big format now that FCP X is no longer pro software, looks like AVID and Premiere will be the way to go.

Avid Assistant Editor Handbook

The AVID assistant Edtitor’s Handbook has been released.The Avid Assistant Editor's Handbook provides new users a solid foundation for working in Avid, and it can accelerate an Avid assistant editor's transition to a coveted editor role. There is also a comprehensive chapter on multigrouping that details this often-used process and often-encountered job requirement.Sounds interesting, and anything to teach assistant editors is a good thing, and I am sure there are quite a few editors who could use this as well.

Scott Simmons on Media Composer 6

Scott Simmons from the Edit Blog at the Prod Video Coalition has a must have article on Media Composer 6. It is a must read for some of it’s gotchas on ProRES. While it can fast import ProRES footage like it can with DNxHD footage, it cannot then Consolidate ProRES footage, which means copying without recompressing, it can still only do that with Avid compressed footage. You have to Transcode ProRES footage, so it adds another layer of compression into the mix.

Walter Biscardi on AVID Media Composer 6 at Creative Cow

Walter Biscardi from Biscardi Creative, has a great article on beta testing AVID Media Composer 6 over at Creative Cow.It is most interesting because he was a die hard Final Cut Pro user, who only used AVID when it first came out, but now seems totally sold on AVID. And says it is more rock solid with an AJA Kona 3 than Final Cut Pro ever was, and way better with it than Adobe Premiere is.Way to go AVID! I just think they should permanently make the upgrade from FCP $1000 instead o $1500, but any which way they are going to slaughter the market, I just hope Adobe is up to making enough competition to keep the innovative, just like Apple did for them.

AVID announces Media Composer 6 64 Bit

AVID has announced the fully 64 Bit Media Composer 6, and if you buy or upgrade to Version 5.5 from October 15th you get a free upgrade to 6 when it comes out.They also announced a software only version of Symphony.The most exciting thing is being able to use AJA, Black Magic and Matrox I/O cards, no more need for expensive AVID hardware. And AVID has made the program completely 64 bit without losing features (yea screw you Apple). And it has a new interface which has added tabs to bins (taken from FCP 7, which FCP X does not use), but still looks familiar, if darker.Full ProRES support on a Mac (read only on PC) including being able to just wrap them in an MXF for full AVID support, without re-rendering. Nice!This is exciting as all hell!The prices are as follows:Media Composer 6.0 starts at $2499 with upgrades starting at $299. NewsCutter 10 starts at $2499 with upgrades starting at $499. Symphony 6.0 starts at $5,999 with upgrades starting at $499. Nitris DX starts at $5,499 USD.

Automatic Duck Plugs Ins are FREE!

I honestly thought with them moving to Adobe that the old plug ins were gone for good, but it seems not as Automatic Duck has released all their old plug ins for FREE!I already owned Pro Import AE 5.0, which allows you to import either Final Cut Pro 7 or AVID Media Composer sequences into After Effects. You use Free XML exporter for FCP and it works almost perfectly. A must have.Pro Export FCP 5.0 is for FCP X and is to allow OMF export.Pro Export FCP 4.0 lets you export either OMF or AAF from FCP to AVID, and I previously owned this.And their is Pro Import FCP 2.0 which allows you to import an AVID sequence into Final Cut Pro.And they are all FREE. So download them now. Sure they will not be updated again, but free is a huge price drop!

Splice now has a great AVID tip

Splice Now, have a great tip on Copying a clip to source monitor, that can really speed your up in editing.The shortcut, not visible in the menus, is Command-Option-C. Mark a region in the timeline and select tracks, or simply select a clip or clips. Then hit Command-Option-C. Your material instantly appears in the source monitor.

Apple has new FCPX Videos Comparing it to AVID

You can see them right on Apple’s front page for Final Cut Pro X. They Claim to show how superior FXPX is at Faster Editing, A New Way to Organize, Motion Graphics and File Based Workflows, but are obviously BS marketing speak from people who are not professional editors. Sure there are some cool new features, but they needed to be ad ons to the features and not replacements, because Apple’s way is not the better way, just a different way, that I do not believe is better.