Filed under: Software, Video, Other Events, Apple Professional
Video pros weigh in on Final Cut Studio 2
I'll admit that some of the new features in Final Cut Studio are a little bit over my head, as a non-pro-video guy. OK, pretty much all the new features are over my head, so I asked a couple of pro-video friends for their expert opinions on the NAB announcements.First, Josh Apter from NYC's Manhattan Edit Workshop, a top training facility for Final Cut:
Three words - open timeline editing. Two words - color correction. One word - wow. From a training standpoint, MEW is going to offer discounted upgrade classes on this new package as soon as it hits the street. From a practical standpoint, users have one hell of a toy to unwrap.
Second, my colleague Matt Paleologos, video post supervisor at MJM:
Wow! Color is as good as a $50K color grading system and It's included in FCS 2. Motion has now officially grown a pair. 3D, motion ramping, better workflow. This is looking like a banner year for Apple and the death of Avid. And, we have to have Final Cut Server!!!! $1000 for 10 concurrent users, $2000 for unlimited. Runs on OS X Server and requires 1 Xsan client. Must have this! MUST!
"Wow." Works for me.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
pacheco said 11:22AM on 4-19-2007
I work at a Digital Film School, and my boss (and friend) has been in the industry for 25 years. He started out selling Avids, so he knows that system really well.
The first thing he said to me about FCS 2 was: "They really hit it on the head." Definitely a must-have for me.
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editblog said 12:07PM on 4-19-2007
"the death of Avid" is a bit premature as Avid won't be dead any time soon. FCS2 does have some nice advances. But you have to teach someone to run Color properly or you will have a lot of bad color correction. It is a high end app.
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David said 1:06PM on 4-19-2007
I agree with editblog, the death of avid is premature. BUT...Apple is definitely lining them up in their sights. Avid needs to be careful to continue to innovate as Apple catches up. While Avid still has the edge technologically, Apple's price point has them beat. As an FCS editor, I'm DEFINITELY excited about the new FCS2, as well as all future updates.
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Matt said 8:04PM on 4-19-2007
I'm well aware that Avid is by no means "dead", but Apple is quite confident about it's place with in the industry and it showed at NAB. Where as Avid once paid little attention to Apple in past NABs, the stratigic placement of "Avid on the Mac" signs at the entrance to the South Hall sent a pretty clear message that Avids position as industry leader was far from secure. With all of the tools at the editors disposal in FCS 2 and the low price point, Apple is (at least in my opinion) taking the lead.
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Rick said 9:19AM on 4-20-2007
I'm questioning the statement Runs on OS X Server and requires 1 Xsan client. Based on the Apple site a Xsan is not required. I can tell you after seeing the product at NAB we will be purchasing it.
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Michael Rose said 9:31AM on 4-20-2007
#5 -- Rick, it's possible he was thinking specifically of our environment, where Final Cut Server would need an XSan license in order to access and catalog the content on our SAN.
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JeffDM said 2:16PM on 4-21-2007
I really don't think Avid's place is insecure yet, but this shows that Apple is looking to place itself where their products are seen as a serious tool for post work. Every update that they make has advanced them toward that goal significantly. Hopefully FCS2 pulls the job off as well as the demos show. I think they've taken complaints about the previous FCS to heart and taken it up a notch, the tools appear to cut out a lot of tedious work. Both Soundtrack Pro and Motion look to be far batter than the previous iterations which had a lot of complaints that I've seen.
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