I just received the latest copy of EventDV magazine and there is an article "What's New in Final Cut Studio 2009?".  The very first line states: 

We finally have the latest upgrade to the reigning market leader in the professional postproduction market, Final Cut Studio 2009

On what grounds does Ben Balser, the author of the article, base his claim on? 

Read the article yourself at:  http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/News/Feature/What%27s-New-in-Final-Cut-Studio-2009-56530.htm

EventDV I find is usually full of fluff articles about gaining ground in the wedding/funeral segments, but they seem to be waayyy heavily biased towards PC based editors and FCP on Mac.  They rarely if ever mention Media Composer in any of their publications.  It's quite frustrating and it may be time for me to send an email to the editor.

Kenton.VanNatten:

reigning

Kenton.VanNatten:

but they seem to be waayyy heavily biased towards PC based editors and FCP on Mac.

Patienty waiting for our 2 current Nights (spelling intentional) in puce green armour to blindly hop to the defence of this open insult to FCS 2009

(on this Melbourne Cup day we have an impromptu sweepstake in the studio as to which Night will rise first and another on how long it will takes.)

Event videographery focus site, which is historically never been Avid's forte. Premiere, FCP and such appeal to videographers for many reasons.

Avid cannot address the lower end pro market with those expensive i/o box's needed just to get a picture on a monitor.

FCP / PP/ Sony Vegas makes more sense.

Well - just to be otherwise - there was Avid Liquid Pro with breakout box and all - very competitively priced.

I do wish Avid would offer a competitive breakout box of sorts for MC4

Dom Q. Silverio:

Event videographery focus site, which is historically never been Avid's forte. Premiere, FCP and such appeal to videographers for many reasons.

indeed...there was never any attempt to compare FCS3 to Avid in this article......or did I miss something?

adamsonn:

Well - just to be otherwise - there was Avid Liquid Pro with breakout box and all - very competitively priced.

I do wish Avid would offer a competitive breakout box of sorts for MC4

Isnt an SD Mojo about the same cost as an AJA Kona for an FCP?  I also know which performs better having used Gaussian blur effects today on FCP! Awful!

D

I think "Professional" has a lot of Layers these days. Everything from the highest levels of artistry and craft all the way to "I charged 'em for a video today". It's the reality of our watered down profession.

Todd -

I certainly agree.  Looking at the new iPhone app that lets you edit video clips on your phone is just another step in the extreme democratization (anarchy?) that is the reality of our business today.  The idea is that there are only a finite amount of truly talented people that can really make all these systems "sing", but our clients can take a long time to realize that fact...

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=334366844&mt=8

Yep! I love that App. Can't wait until a director comes in and asks if I can take his sequence off of his phone and just "Punch it up a bit".

BLKDOG:

Yep! I love that App. Can't wait until a director comes in and asks if I can take his sequence off of his phone and just "Punch it up a bit".

Please don't let any producers hear you say that.

Hey!  I was called a 'craft editor' the other day.  Times change - hackers and crafters it is then...

In-fact...maybe 'hacking' is the new 'offline'?

D

This going to go off topic a little, but stick with me.

switthaus:

Looking at the new iPhone app that lets you edit video clips on your phone is just another step in the extreme democratization (anarchy?) that is the reality of our business today.

Let's face it, the ultimate "democratized" art form is painting.  Anyone can walk into their local Art Riot or equivalent and buy brushes and paints for a few dollars.  It doesn't make them Leonardo da Vinci.

switthaus:

there are only a finite amount of truly talented people that can really make all these systems "sing"

If you are comfortable working within the constraints of a cheaper tool and it meets your needs, that's the tool you will use.  From time to time you might kick a little at the workarounds that you occasionally need, but you'll stick with it.  If instead you need the flexibility and ruggedness of a more expensive tool, then that's what you'll use.  What does this means in terms of "market leader"?  Who knows?  It's largely a subjective claim anyway.

Putting it another way: in terms of sheer quantity installed, Premiere is far and away the market leader.  Would anyone really suggest that it is though?  You can mount an argument that FCP is the market leader for a particular market segment.  But you can also do the same for Avid.

A bit of a ramble, I know, but I guess what I'm saying is, if your NLE suits you, who cares what some journalist describes as the market leader.  Your personal reputation is not built on the hardware and software that you use.

jwrl:

A bit of a ramble, I know, but I guess what I'm saying is, if your NLE suits you, who cares what some journalist describes as the market leader.  Your personal reputation is not built on the hardware and software that you use.

If I worked in Avid marketing I'd be  very worried why this forum is absolutely obsessed by Final Cut Pro.  I think MC4.0 users on this forum must have an inferiority complex, no?

In other news Avid is about to have its high-end business attacked by Autodesk as they are imminently releasing a software only version of Smoke for the Mac with Kona3 for IO.  Bye bye DS...

Did not read the article but I guess that THIS is where the journalist took the information to write the piece: too often software reviews are in fact advertisments pretending to be articles (paid for? No money involved, but, perhaps, HW and SW!), copied from product information supplied by the vendor itself; and this is true for art/film/music/Hi-Fi/food/wine/cars/You-name-it magazines reviews too... FinalCut is the leader for its market segment anyway, and it's spreading in other market segments too. Compare the FCS above linked page with the Avid MC 4 page and You'll see what should be obsessing the Avid marketing people: see for exemple how badly is mix and match described (and where it is buried down) and You'll understand why a better product may be disregarded by potential customers because of (very) bad communication... this is where the company should really improve, other than lowering down the outrageously/ridicolously high prices of the I/O boxes, making Avid an unattractive choice for too many people.