Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Apple Professional
Apple re-affirms commitment to video apps
Last February, Apple's Senior Manager of PR Anuj Nayar announced that the company would not have a booth at April's National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show. Customers hoping to receive information on the already delayed Final Cut Server were disappointed to say the least.When Final Cut Server was finally released in April of 2008, it was nearly a year late. Many began to question Apple's commitment to the pro-level video applications.
To extinguish concerns that Apple was "giving up" on pro video apps, their director of marketing for professional video applications Richard Townhill told TVBEurope, "I can categorically state, on the record, that is not the case." As for the delay, Richard said "... we wanted it to work without an IT department to support it."
Good news for Mac-wielding producers.
[Via Your Mac Life]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
conigs said 1:45PM on 5-05-2008
If I remember correctly, Final Cut Server was announced at NAB2007, but was said to ship later that year. So while Final Cut Server did ship late, it's more in the range of 6-7months later, not "nearly a year."
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tofu713 said 1:53PM on 5-05-2008
I was at NAB2008, and I found it amusing that Adobe was passing out these little button-pins that said "Adobe's Got My Back!".
Seriously, everyone from Sony Vegas to Adobe's AfterEffects and Premier Pro were stealing everyone's attention... including mine.
I think it was a bad decision for Apple not to show, considering they just came out with Final Cut Server... I personally wanted to see a demo of FCServer running.
Do the Apple stores let you play with Pro apps like that?
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FCP User said 2:25PM on 5-05-2008
Well they didn't steal too much of your attention. You can't even spell their product correctly: "Premiere".
FCP rules.
ted said 2:02PM on 5-05-2008
This "rumor" smacks of something the competition might anonymously seed, in hopes of spreading some Apple fud. Both Final Cut and Logic are doing quite well in their respective application spaces. Plus, both do a lot to sell Macs. That's the real value the pro apps division has for Apple - it provides a compelling reason for pro users to buy Macs instead of PCs.
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Nate Orloff said 2:28PM on 5-05-2008
As an student film editor, I ask all my professors what's going on in "the field" in regards to who-uses-what. While Avid is the standard for any film or television show you've ever seen (a.k.a. no one uses Premiere), Final Cut is making headway because it is so cheap. I've personally gone through nightmares trying to incorporate Final Cut into the workflow at the post house I work with (such as conforming back to film). The industry simply generated itself to work with Avid. I'm an Apple fanboy as much as the next TUAW reader, but Avid is a better editor. I can edit 4x faster with Avid. The learning curve is the steepest of any program I've ever used but I've had 5 years experience with FCP and 2 with Avid. This is no time for Apple to abandon their apps, they're making headway because it's cheaper but it can gain even more headway by making it better. I want FCP to take over because it's easier for amateur film makers to use and afford. I don't know where I'm going with all this. But yeah. Go Apple.
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badweasel said 4:29PM on 5-05-2008
Um.. don't be so sure about Avid being the standard. True 3 years ago, not true today. Avid is a workhorse and like the moviola it had it's time. Back then fcp had too many limitations to use in REAL production. Now I use fcp exclusively. I worked at Avid in the heyday but times are changing. The first time I used FCP I couldn't stand it - now I can't hardly stand to use Avid. FCP is way more flexible and powerful than Avid.
Don't get me wrong you should learn both (and forget about the rest). But if you are going to work in the real industry the most important thing to learn is all the technology behind the program - learn NTSC, HD, interlacing, pulldown, sample rates, sync... You should learn film too. What's wrong with FCP today is the people using it not having a broad enough background to avoid the technical problems.
Nate Orloff said 4:39PM on 5-05-2008
badwease,
I couldn't agree more :-)
FCP trumps Avid on flexibility. I've just had a hard time trying to use it within my film school's post production workflows which are Avid-centric. Maybe I just don't know Cinema Tools as much as I should because the EDLs I've exported are fine, I can't seem to export a proper scan list.
I'm glad FCP is making headway, sometimes Avid makes me want to take someone's head off it's so frustrating. I just might be the one person that sees the value of both editors. Also, ScriptSync is amazing and I hope Apple takes the concept and add it's signature elegance.
badweasel said 4:21PM on 5-05-2008
I certainly hope that apple keeps up the pro video products. I make a living off of these products.
However apple can say one thing and do another. They are experts at FUD. I remember SJ saying that they would not make a video ipod.
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Buckeye77 said 5:20PM on 5-05-2008
Avid is still the standard because it is a superior product. Unfortunately Avid blew it by not hitting the right price point and feature set to compete with FCP a few years ago. Everyone I know in the Television industry uses Avids to cut their shows, but a lot of them have FCP at home because there isn't an equivalent Avid software package that allows you to build a system with third party equipment like Kona cards or other breakout boxes. If they did, I'd never waste time using Final Cut. The software is just not as good.
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John Dews said 5:36PM on 5-05-2008
I've been reading similar posts for months: Prior to NAB this came out from provideocoalition.com: http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/fcapria/story/apple_avid_and_nab/
Now Apple is advertising on that site as well as others, and they've been quiet on the ad front with their pro apps. Food for thought I suppose.
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AA said 9:35PM on 5-05-2008
When will Apple update DVD Studio Pro to add in Blu-Ray authoring?
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