SLC Cut on AVID

SLCCut, has a an interesting letter to AVID on how they need to update to keep it in line with Premiere and FCP X if they want to stay relevant in the future.

Some of it I agree with, but some I don’t. Yes, the interface needs updating in a major way, the title tool needs serious updating (as does handling of still photos and the like, which he doesn’t talk about), but the organization I do like, though it could use more, like Meta search.

Still I do think many of us left AVID because we found something that worked better in many ways, and now are going back and while it has seen some great little updates, there is nothing groundbreaking in the latest version over much earlier versions.

And I know they are trying to please their old customers, but it is true that that will only work for current editors, and new editors may move to other tools if AVID does not add some inovation on top of their old venerable tools.

Apple adds a 128GB iPad 4

Apple has added a 128GB iPad 4 to it’s lineup (at least within a week), but it is $799 for WIFI and $929 for 4G, so they are charging a premium for more memory instead of staying the same price as they get bigger.

Starting to get to be the right size, especially for video and audio, though I could still use bigger. I keep most of my music in Apple Uncompressed AAC, and it is huge, and I am constantly fighting it being full.

Larry Jordan on why FCP X is ready for Proffesional Use

finalcutpro

Larry Jordan has an article on my Final Cut Pro X is ready and in fact being used for Professional work.

Now I did try and use FCP X right from the start with lessons, and I don’t think it is a professional program at all. Yes it might be faster to teach to someone with no previous editing knowledge as Larry says, but that is because it forces you to edit in a very specific way, and for me not a way that I find faster or better at all. And yes I am biased by all the horridness of Apple’s launch of FCP X and killing of the Final Cut Pro 7 suite, and that may bias me, but I also think that Larry making his living doing Final Cut Pro lessons may bias him.

And I hate how no one ever talks about the things that Final Cut Pro 7 is not setup to do, like working in a multi-user environment on an X-Serve or Edit Share. He does mention it is not that good at going to Pro Tools, which is a deal breaker, but also the inability to organize tracks makes for a mess of a timeline when I often use 15-20 tracks on a commercial, all for different elements or graphics to keep it organized, and to have that all haphazardly put randomly into the timeline is insane and a mess, and not at all professional!

Now I do love the ability to mark clips by keywords and make it all easily searchable, but that could have easily been ported into a Final Cut Pro 8 and made it a really powerful 64 bit editing system instead of a mixture of 64 bit tech with iMovie conventions.

Even with all the additions I still see Final Cut Pro X as a mess and not-professional. It has too much wrong with it, and has so many weird bugs (see previous posts on Red Giant software and FCP X), and I just don’t see the magnetic timeline as being professional in a commercial environment or any graphics heavy environment where timeline organization is more important that clip organization, which I am perfectly capable of organizing myself.

StudioDaily on Dells over MacPros

StudioDaily has an article on editors picking Dell Computers over MacPro’s for editing, which may in fact be true (though the article is written by someone working for Dell), as the MacPro has basically stagnated for years now, but I also hate how they never bother upgrading a MacPro with more modern technology for speed tests. Like putting in a PC NVIDIA Geforce 675 GTX with 4GB of RAM. That will make a huge difference in speed, especially with CUDA compliant software like Premiere Pro or Black Magic’s DaVinci Resolve! It may not be a TESLA, but it also doesn’t come with the price, which could set you back well over $6000 for a QUADRO and a TESLA, vs under $500 for a GTX 675 which works with the Mac’s current power supply and can really upgrade your existing MacPro.

Now of course their is still the question of what Apple’s next MacPro will be like and if it will be a worthy and powerful successor to the current MacPro, but we won’t know till it comes out, hopefully at this years WWDC.