OliverPeters:

11. Forget Interplay in MC. Most of your user base could care less. It has value for a small percentage of users.

I think that is true as it currently stands. However if some of the Interplay functionality could be brought to bear on standalone MC then it could be hugely beneficial.

I'm thinking in terms of where it can expand the search capabilities beyond the media tool - so I search for sequences and bring them in from other projects.

Also it's encoding possibilities and dynamic relink could work well even on a one user MC. 

My big vote (as someone who regularly still edits in tape suites for tight turnaround) is an EVS style record train. The input is always recording to a section of storage - with anything I subclip or drop in a sequence being protected. I know it is *possible* with unity/evs/airspeed/whatever - but it should be possible on a single workstation. I don't even mind giving up SDI output, if I have to.

Otherwise those tape suites are going to be replaced with EVS products, rather than avid products.

Ds has neither the smooth total conform, or the market acceptance that Symphony has. This discussion really belongs in the "Clarify product line" thread in this very forum. Here is my response from there:

We are down to the Universal feature and Secondaries being the only delineator. The Symphony brand name is strong in the market though. Folks in my universe believe you offline on MC and finish in Symphony. The real issue is that building out a finishing bay, (scopes, reference grade monitors, legalizers, tape machines, proper lighting and room configuration, etc) cost serious money and any help marketing the difference in cost of the room is welcomed.

Contrast that to FCP. The "offline" editor pays 1,500 bucks for an edit system since he already owns a Mac. I spend over 100K putting a finishing room together. Try to explain the diffference to a Producer.

Terry are we not moving away from the traditional online kit approach for TV work ?

Expensive tape decks will be things of the past in tapeless workflow.

Expensive Scopes, hey it is all digital and computers are good at analysing , test and measurement will be a $999 software application.

Expensive reference monitors , they look like overpriced monitors these days.

Sure standards need to be maintained but all that online kit is starting to not seem right in this new world and new low budgets.

A nice room with good service and collaborative in house skills, rather than expensive kit in my opinion is the future of a post house.

It could be. Folks have been trading quality for price for quite a while. Once everyone watches TV on their iPods we are all screwed anyway. The good news is, the kids are learning iMovie and you are going to have to edit for 5 bucks an hour to compete.

It could be. Folks have been trading quality for price for quite a while. Once everyone watches TV on their iPods we are all screwed anyway. The good news is, the kids are learning iMovie and you are going to have to edit for 5 bucks an hour to compete.

TCurren:

We are down to the Universal feature and Secondaries being the only delineator. The Symphony brand name is strong in the market though. Folks in my universe believe you offline on MC and finish in Symphony.

This is a perfect reason for consolidation of the two products.  That "offline-online" workflow is blurry and becoming obsolete.  If Symphony and MC were one product (call it whatever), it saves you money, Avid money and eliminates some client confusion.  In the spot markets, for example, Symphony means nothing.  You are either on "Avid" or FCP.  DS is A finish box, certainly stronger than a Symphony for short form work,  but most clients neither know or care.  They just want their pretty pictures up there on the big plasma and do it as efficiently and pleasantly as possible.

Hi Terrence,

Just a simple question. Being a professional experienced editor, having a complete professional facility, you must have build up a reputation and network in your market. I.E. your work is of a certain quality and people know it.

I see that editors are particully selected by producers on the basis of their reputation. The producers primairy objective is still to get the job done. They do not win anything by cutting budget, having the job done by a newbie on a Mac with FCP in a bedroom and then having to redo the job cause it is not of the quality they wanted.

My question to you is: if you believe you are loosing cause the demand for your quality is less or is the demand for your quality (or even better) still there but the producers do not want to pay for it?

jveekeres:

if you believe you are loosing cause the demand for your quality is less or is the demand for your quality (or even better) still there but the producers do not want to pay for it?

The demand for quality is less. And less quality has the added benefit of being cheaper due to lower labor costs.

Back when I started in this business, you needed to get a special waiver to get anything less than perfect footage past the network QC. Then Vin Di Bona got a permanent waiver for this new show idea called "World's Funniest Home Videos." Suddenly VHS home video became "good enough" for broadcast.

And that was the beginning of the end. Now you can air highly compressed quicktime movies with green faces in it and no one cares. The new "standard" is the iPhone. If it's good enough for that, it's good enough.

If I sound a little bitter, it's because I care about quality. I've built a career on the motto "If it ain't done right, it ain't done!"

And now anything is "done" regardless of how it looks. I watch cable and see shows with un-color-corrected footage. I see really bad compression artifacts. Jump cuts. Lousy hand held shaky cam. Very poor picture quality shot on cameras that cost a tenth the cost of a decent lens. Lighting that would make the film students of my day gasp. I could go on but I think you get the point.

There was a time when you had to work your way up through the ranks to get a shot at a position in this business. by that time you could either cut it, (pun intended) or you were weeded out. And you had the advantage of learning from the folks who had already mastered their professions. Those days are over.

This doesn't mean that some won't work their way to the top and become the cream of the crop, it just means that the majority of folks don't care for the finest quality anymore.

And this isn't just in our profession. It is a problem throughout any area where craftsmanship used to mean something. 

TCurren:

...it's because I care about quality. I've built a career on the motto "If it ain't done right, it ain't done!"

 And now anything is "done" regardless of how it looks.

Unfortunately, this is all too true. I have to deal with this each and every day. It's totally frustrating. Too many people just don't care anymore.

TCurren:

The demand for quality is less. And less quality has the added benefit of being cheaper due to lower labor costs.

Then that's where the the market in Europe and America differ. Here quality still matters in almost all countries. (Greece is behind but catching up). Here only the "Vin di Bona" type of shows are that kind of quality. And that is just a small part of the market.

Why has the quality gone down in the USA?

What can be done about it?

I have never met a producer who did not strive for the best quality he could afford, it is a mindset rather than money.

NICKB:

I have never met a producer who did not strive for the best quality he could afford, it is a mindset rather than money.

The producers don't write the checks. The cable companies and networks do. Some suit up the chain is choking things as far as he / she can. They won't stop until they can't find anyone to make the product at that price. Then they will stay at the last price they could get it done for.

jveekeres:

Then that's where the the market in Europe and America differ. Here quality still matters in almost all countries.

Job ter Burg:

As far as The Netherlands go, I disagree when it comes to TV.

I watch dutch TV via satellite almost every day. I rarely see youtube or composite quality pictures. All 16:9, no drops or mpeg artifacts,. Most editing is of decent quality especially on the public channels.

Why do you believe, quality of Dutch TV is not good?