Inside Out

Gary, thank you very much for taking the time to comment here and bring us into the fold, so to speak. It would be nice if there could be some kind of similar event on the East Coast as well.

As a lowly moderator on the Avid MC forums, I'd like to thank you for taking time to post this message.

I am glad to see that Avid has made this move - before the USA goes on its long holiday weekend.

Thank you.

Regards,

Douglas

Thank you!! After getting burned so badly, the company that will win will be the one that understands and cares about OUR NEEDS,

Thx Gary. The extension of the cross grade is a great first step. I hope to see more of these steps during the next few weeks.

Thanks for your comments Mr. Greenfield, we'll look forward to July 13.  Avid has always been at the head of the pack, and that's more evident today than it's been in a while.  We're glad you're listening.

First post:

Thanks for this posting Gary.

As someone who has recently purchased the cross-grade, I am very happy with everything that has come from AVID since. I have been using FCP for many years but was disillusioned by the new FCPX offering for some key features. So I have decided to offer other platform to my clients.

It would be nice for a video presentation of your meeting to be made available, especially since some of us here in the UK obviously cannot make the meeting :-)

Would be nice to see if AVID would be willing to offer some sort of built up off - say like on ProTools to create a full production workflow system... :-)

Again, thanks to everyone for there welcome and assistance to the AVID family.

Steve

Gary,

a wise decision for a number one product!

thanks!

Thanks Gary,

I see no mention of DS. Surely DS more than MC is a perfect software to migrate to for a FCP user. At the very least I would think promoting both in that direction would pay dividends for Avid.

Declan

And  also Concentrate On Asia also  especially in 2nd class post Production Studios as well as TV channels .... from MC 4  avid is Really changed well but here my opinion is lack of Publicity problem i think so please listen and DO MORE AVID.......

Any plans for an FCP7 to DS promo?  Lots of folks will need to replace the features of FCP Studio that includes Motion an sometimes Shake.  

This is great news!

Now make it FRONT PAGE

Hi Gary, That is a great offer! I used Avid News cutter back when I worked in news! I have been using FCP since version 1.0.  My question is Avid going 64 bit and does the software support multicore. If not what is the timeline for that?

Thank You

Awesome Gary...that best response possible. To paraphrase Paul Simon, we turn our weary eyes to you.  Jonathan Moser

Great move Gary!

Please consider that many of the FCP 7 users currently own Kona3 hardware and are looking at either Adobe Premiere (which supports Kona3) or Avid MC (which currently does not).

These potential Avid clients are going to look at which company addresses their existing investments in the best manner.  

I hope Avid steps up the plate on this issue as well.

Cheers,

Jef

I'd love to see this advertised more widely AND if you bundled Boris Transfer with this you'd REALLY offer a great path for FCP editors to move to Avid.

The cross grade is a nice offer, but if you really wanted existing FCP editors to switch to Avid here a few tips.  Make importing FCP projects into AVID Media Composer 5.5 a built in feature ASAP.  Implement a custom keyboard preset layout that matches FCP7 existing Keyboard Layout.  These are two steps that existing professionals will find encouraging and supportive.  By adding these two small features you are showing a lot of professionals that your company isn't just jumping on a marketing opportunity but providing professionals tools that they can actually use today and a way to transition to a different platform.  I'm in no rush to upgrade to something that I won't be able to work as fast on starting day 1, FCPX, Premiere, Media Composer.  

Gregory Wilson

Creative Professional

wilgory.com

Gary,

Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I am a longtime Avid editor, having used Media Composer since the early 1990's. I've had a successful career editing network TV shows with Avid MC as my tool of choice, and been fortunate to win two Emmy awards. I was the first editor in Hollywood to use the Avid's multicamera option on a major network TV series, and one of the first editors to embrace your exclusive script-based editing. I can't imagine using any other software in my career. I'm not afraid of change, and eager to learn new software and embrace new workflows that will help me do the best creative work possible.

For several years I've used Apple's competing product to edit my home videos just so I'd be familiar with how it works. In my opinion, it's always been a second best application. However there were some cool features and the competition between your companies encouraged innovation and made the software more affordable and accessible for all.

I was one of the eager people to download the "X" product on June 21 to see what it was all about. It didn't take long to discern that that is not a professional product! As one of countless examples of badly designed application, the new software can't open projects created with previous versions of the same branded software. That's unthinkable! Avid has maintained compatibility of projects throughout the various releases of Media Composer, but your competitor essentially wiped out 11 years of their history with their new release. It's stunning that X won't open projects from their legacy software versions. However, it will open projects from the hobbyist version of their software. That's telling about the company's commitment to the professional market.

Although X introduces some interesting concepts, the entire workflow is a mess. As another example, I just checked how many sequences are part of the current project I'm editing on Media Composer. There are 27 sequences in the project. However, X allows only one sequence per project. That means I would have at least 27 X projects per episode of the series, a nightmare to navigate!

I have been dismayed to see your superior Media Composer product lose market share to the competition. Many editors who don't use MC are afraid of it, think it's somehow overly complex and perhaps a bit elitist. Not true! As we Avid editors know, Media Composer is the best friend of any serious editor. It was designed by professionals for professionals. But anyone with a few lessons can understand the Media Composer workflow and use it to their creative advantage.

I encourage you to boldly attack the competition IMMEDIATELY, especially in the educational market. Their X software should not be taught to students as it won't help them in their professional careers, no matter how tempting the cheap price. Prestigious schools like NYU Tisch have recognized this and will not allow their student to use the X software, and the school does not intend to install it on their systems. No other serious school teaching the craft of editing should consider it either. Now is the time to get more schools on board with Media Composer.

Avid must now aggressively promote Media Composer as the best PROFESSIONAL editing software on the planet. I hope you seize this golden opportunity.

Cheers,

Kris

Gregory Wilson said:

The cross grade is a nice offer, but if you really wanted existing FCP editors to switch to Avid here a few tips.  Make importing FCP projects into AVID Media Composer 5.5 a built in feature ASAP.  Implement a custom keyboard preset layout that matches FCP7 existing Keyboard Layout.  These are two steps that existing professionals will find encouraging and supportive.  By adding these two small features you are showing a lot of professionals that your company isn't just jumping on a marketing opportunity but providing professionals tools that they can actually use today and a way to transition to a different platform.  I'm in no rush to upgrade to something that I won't be able to work as fast on starting day 1, FCPX, Premiere, Media Composer.  

Thanks Gary, keep listening, it's the secret of keep leading...

Gracias Gary, sigan escuchando, es el secreto de seguir liderando...

SIAP, how long will this offer run?

This is what AVID does not want to hear.

AVID as it is now is a dinosaur. Yes... now you win. You'll get many users from FCP7 (don't think that many though)  but do not forget Apple have created a new A/V fundation and for a just released 1.0 version you have to acknowledge it is extremely powerful.

AVID better prepared with something really innovative that can compete for the future FCPX 2.0 or I see a new debacle in AVID in 12 months... but this time worst than 12 years ago.... wait and see... Apple is getting BIG very BIG... !!!

So you better run... before is too late...

my 2¢

Add more third party hardware support and you will see the customers happily running into the arms of Avid.

Great move!  FCPro X gives AVID a unique oppotunity to reverse the trend.  That said, as good as MCA is, there are few things that may turndown any FCP user on their first few sessions:

1. UI:  It's old and clunky.  Would be great to get the Protools UI team on it.

2. Background Processing:  We need basing background processing such as allowing the timeline to play while sifting through a bin or importing media.

3. Audio waveform:  Audio waveforms can be painfully slow to display or refresh, especially on AMA material.  This is a bit odd for the makers of Protools.

Looking forward to an exciting 2011!

Thierry.

Agree with grayplanet and many editors in the world out there: Expand 3rd party compatibility (ANY AjA, Blackmagic, Matrox, you-name-it, I/O Card) an we'll see each other in the same boat.

I'm not goin to crossgrade unless that change has happened at Planet Avid. I'm not going to spend thousands of bucks for new I/O hardware, i want to continue using the hardware i were using for FCS. Period. Don't be lazy! Media100 is supporting nearly any current I/O card, but Avid don't. How come?

As a longtime Pinnacle Liquid user,(Now Emmy Winner While Using Liquid)  I've become spoiled with its ease in non-linear editing. Now that AVID has shelved my product of choice, all I'm left with, (and I have tried and learned most every other computer edit system) is Media Composer.  It's archaic User Interphase is an utter major clusterfuck. I've bought MC and literally Shelved It, in hopes that the future UI will better mimic the very same program that AVID has also "Shelved" when it bought Pinnacle.

I am NOW betting in a brighter future, with AVID, (as it hopefully implements the obvious advantages of "legacy" Liquid). But for now... I'm left with an, now defunct, (but cleaner, easier, sexier, less complicated, more artistic & fluid) "technical" version of MC called AVID Liquid Pro!