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RIP Avid Xpress Pro
- Thread starter opuslab
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Oh wow! I know lots of people, including myself, that use Avid XPress Pro. (I love and prefer FCP, of course)
Is it being merged to a higher end or lower end product? There are so many Avid products I don't know the difference.
Is it being merged to a higher end or lower end product? There are so many Avid products I don't know the difference.
AXP is being EOL'd and Media Composer software took a price cut from $5k to $2.5k. AXP users can upgrade to MC for $495.
Lethal
Lethal
If anything, this could help drive more people (small post places/indie film makers) to Final Cut. You could get FCS2 and an iMac+external drives for just the price of Avid's cheapest software package now.
I don't see how Avid eliminating their cheap product and making their new cheap version twice the price of Final Cut Studio will help them. But I suppose this is why final cut is making fairly big gains in the industry (besides the fact that the interface is awful-My college uses it exclusively so I'm pretty much stuck using it and it's the most annoying app ever).
I don't see how Avid eliminating their cheap product and making their new cheap version twice the price of Final Cut Studio will help them. But I suppose this is why final cut is making fairly big gains in the industry (besides the fact that the interface is awful-My college uses it exclusively so I'm pretty much stuck using it and it's the most annoying app ever).
There are still advantages to using Avid on large projects (despite its flaws). Avid still excels at multi-user environments and media management. The project I'm working on now (I'm an asst. editor) would be a nightmare in FCP.
I'm praying that Final Cut Server (whenever it comes out) remedies this problem. Finder-level management of projects is so important, however there is no indication this is coming.
I'm praying that Final Cut Server (whenever it comes out) remedies this problem. Finder-level management of projects is so important, however there is no indication this is coming.
I am fluent in both FCP and AXP, and each has their strong and weak points. I find avid nice for fast turnaround on stories, as it seems a bit more efficient with heavy renders and complex keys. However, it crashes all the time, and i have to restart once a day at least. FCP is much more stable, and integrates so nicely with the rest of the studio, CS3, and many other apps i use. Avid requires a bit more work to integrate as well.
we use avid at work mainly because its PC & mac, and while 95% of our editors and photogs are on mac, a few still use PC.
I have used Xpress Pro, Media Composer & News Cutter, and they are all basically the same, with exceptions in network sharing and some other small tweaks. And yes, avid is much better in a networked enviroment. At the news station I do some work for, you can capture on any deck in the newsroom, and then go to any workstation and immediately drop your bin into your project without jumping through hoops. But for my personal projects I work on 100% by myself, I prefer FCP.
we use avid at work mainly because its PC & mac, and while 95% of our editors and photogs are on mac, a few still use PC.
I have used Xpress Pro, Media Composer & News Cutter, and they are all basically the same, with exceptions in network sharing and some other small tweaks. And yes, avid is much better in a networked enviroment. At the news station I do some work for, you can capture on any deck in the newsroom, and then go to any workstation and immediately drop your bin into your project without jumping through hoops. But for my personal projects I work on 100% by myself, I prefer FCP.
Hopefully FCP7/FCS3 will remedy most of these issues and improve multi-user/networked projects & media management.
As far as the actual editing, Final Cut Pro is far superior IMO. We have Xpress Pro HD at my school and about a month ago we got 6 brand new HP Workstations with Media Composer. I've only done a few projects on Avid but it's very aggravating for many things.
zioxide,
Avid definitely has a steeper learning curve, but getting proficient at it so you know both Avid and FCP will help immensely when you get into the job market (assuming you want to be involved in the post side of things of course). If you go to a major market you'll need to learn Avid anyway so you might as well take advantage of having it free to use at your school.
bigbossbmb,
Unfortunately I don't see FCP's multi-user environment getting much better w/o a complete re-write of the app and I doubt that's going to happen any time soon. AE'ing on Avids and being able to work in the editor's project "behind the scenes" in the Finder is sweet. All my AE gigs were w/Avids and I think I would've been pulling my hair out if they were on FCP instead.
Lethal
Avid definitely has a steeper learning curve, but getting proficient at it so you know both Avid and FCP will help immensely when you get into the job market (assuming you want to be involved in the post side of things of course). If you go to a major market you'll need to learn Avid anyway so you might as well take advantage of having it free to use at your school.
bigbossbmb,
Unfortunately I don't see FCP's multi-user environment getting much better w/o a complete re-write of the app and I doubt that's going to happen any time soon. AE'ing on Avids and being able to work in the editor's project "behind the scenes" in the Finder is sweet. All my AE gigs were w/Avids and I think I would've been pulling my hair out if they were on FCP instead.
Lethal
Yeah, I've been hoping that Final Cut Server would be able to piggy-back onto the FCP project files some way and basically become an AE's dream. But I really don't think they had this functionality in mind. And, sadly, I agree that the needed re-write for these features is a long way off (if ever).
Edit Share has multi-user solution for FCP, but I don't know how effective it is in real world usage.
Lethal
Lethal
IMO, good riddance.
The only experience I've had with Avid has been bad..
That said, I totally agree about being able to harness multi-user environments and easily integrating various workflows, etc.
Also, you didn't need to render your sequence to play it back. Something even turning your RT to "unlimited" can't fix...
The only experience I've had with Avid has been bad..
That said, I totally agree about being able to harness multi-user environments and easily integrating various workflows, etc.
Also, you didn't need to render your sequence to play it back. Something even turning your RT to "unlimited" can't fix
...
I agree, my experience with it has been bad as well. But it's still necessary (MC, not AXP). Everything that I've seen from Avid has been significantly more buggy than Final Cut. And not just small bugs, but things like not being able to export to EDL manager and random "Main Thread Errors".
I'm definitely going to keep using FCP at home (for the foreseeable future). It is fantastic for single-user editing.
I'm definitely going to keep using FCP at home (for the foreseeable future). It is fantastic for single-user editing.