Not that anyone with half a brain didn't see the end of Chrome HD coming, but does Avid intend to offer any options other than Final Cut Pro to those of us who are now orphaned?

 

 

 

The software is still in production with a new hardware option (Chrome Xe).  Avid has offered support options for the old product for another 5 years.  I honestly don't see that as being orphaned.

Please move to the new Pinnacle forum now (at link below).  There is a subforum for Chrome.  Pinnacle Support is active there quite regularly as well as other Chrome users.

Scott,

Forgive me if I sound grumpy, but I was at Immersion, and I gathered that although there will be some patches to the current liquid software that might apply to the Chrome software, there will be no further development of the software and that includes no more additional support of my format of choice, xdcam hd. That's where the feeling orphaned comes from, as I bough my chrome system about a year and a half ago and I need to be able to move along as things change. The new version of liquid, unnamed, evidently will not work with the $8K Bob I own.

I've used liquid since it was FAST 601 and am quite comfortable and happy with the product itself. I am a little exhausted by the ongoing instability, not of the software, but of the "what's going to happen next?" variety. At least I know that I have to make a change of some sort, to be able to work with new formats and such.

Perhaps Avid/Pinnacle could offer those of use with the full-fledged Chrome system a free ex software/bob combo as a reward for years of loyalty?

And we can take this discussion to the other board, surely.

 

 

John,

I don't disagree about sometimes not knowing what to expect next.  At this point, I don't know if Chrome is in the same situation with the "non-Chrome" Liquid.  I didn't get the sense that Chrome was facing the same future as Liquid when I watched Jan Piros' speech.  There's no way to know right now if your hardware will or will not work with the "NextGen" product.

So, I still can't say that you're orphaned.  There's not enough data yet to make that jump, in my opinion.

I'd like to see more info on the Media Composer upgrade offer.  It's not clear to me yet if only Immersion attendees were eligible or if all Liquid users are eligible (and I have asked for clarification on that offer).

We'll have to move this discussion over to the new forum before long (if not now).  This forum will go read-only in a few days on 11/6.

Scott,

I think I posted my question here because I don't entirely want to be so negative on the forum where I expect more people will be reading the posts. I keep hoping something will come about, but I think Avid wants to kill Chrome HD and the expensive Bob because it's good competetion for their broadcast products. I realize there are other things going on....

Also, NextGen designed to work with a no-longer-made Bob that (evidently) they haven't sold all that many of? It would be nice. But it seems unlikely to me. And, given Jan's speech, Avid wants to keep Pinnacle out of the broadcast area.

My plan is to keep hoping that I will be able to use NextGen, but in the meantime I'm getting a Final Cut system - it has a large presence in my area and just having it will open other doors for me. It also will give me a guaranteed path to use xdcam. And, given that it's one of Apple's flagship products, I don't see them stopping development on it. I hope to get a fair amount more mileage out of my Chrome system, but the time has come for me to stop putting all my video eggs in one basket.

 

 

I understand your points, John, and I can't blame you for looking at options.

Have you considered the AJA Xena board for Chrome?  If you're concerned about your Chrome HD I/O being obsolete at some point (such as if Chrome can't do what you need to do later on and another NLE can't use that I/O), you could use the Xena with Chrome and with other software as well, I think.  If Chrome still does what you need, there's not a rush to make any changes but using the Xena would maybe allow you to use more than one NLE with it.

That's an option to consider if you haven't so far.

By the way, Pinnacle is supporting Chrome Xe instead of Avid.  So, the distinction between who's professional and who isn't (Avid vs. Pinnacle) is not as clear as some have made it out to be.  I think it's safe now to say that Pinnacle won't be doing broadcast-type software or hardware but Chrome Xe is still professional, I'd say, even if not "broadcast."

At any rate, I hope some of this will help you find a solution that works for you and that you're happy with.