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FCP Editors: Time to Add Avid to Your Edit Mix?

By Beth Marchant   /   Apr 26, 2011
Regardless of what you think about the soon-to-be-released Final Cut Pro X, if you’re a Final Cut user, there are still some things you’d like to do faster or better with your current setup. Need to share project files across a mixed Mac and PC facility? Want more support for editing native formats, like RED RAW and Sony HDCAM SR Lite, without proxies? Need a more robust and stable bin structure and EDL manager? When Avid opened up Media Composer last year to include native editing support through AMA for QuickTime and other formats and introduced support for non-Avid capture and monitoring devices like the Matrox MXO2, it suddenly made business and workflow sense to include both FCP and MC in one suite. Now that MC 5.5 works with AJA’s popular Io Express (above) and includes new search and timeline features that could shave hours if not days off your edit, it makes even more sense. Unfortunately, MC 5.5′s street price of just under $2,500 puts it out of reach for many editors, particularly those in small or one-person shops. But what if you could add a seat of Media Composer for less than half that price? All Avid resellers have a special promotion on right now that lets FCP users purchase a full Media Composer 5.5 package for only $995, a pretty sweet deal when you consider what you get. Some dealers, like Glen Cove’s Videoguys and the New York- and LA-based CET Universe, are also offering bundles of the discounted MC 5.5 with a Matrox MXO2 Mini or AJA Io Express. You can pre-order a Thunderbolt adapter from CET Universe for the Mini for another $199. If you’re already an Avid user, Videoguys has a number of appealing MC 5.5 upgrade bundles with, among other things, a Pioneer Blu-ray burner, G-Tech’s G-RAID and the new Avid Artist control consoles. Most of these offers are good through June 17 (though CET Universe’s deal ends this Saturday). The only other catch? You must prove you are a regular FCP user with a legit serial number to get the discount pricing. Go to this Videoguys link, the CET Universe home page or Avid’s reseller finder for more information.

16 Comments

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  • http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com Tom Daigon

    No thanks!

  • http://mrvfx.com Mr. VFX

    FCP is dead… long live Avid!

  • martin kunert

    Nice Avid advertisement you emailed everybody.

    How much did Avid pay you?

  • http://intobolivian.com Scrody

    My opinion has always been that if I were an assistant editor, I’d probably prefer Avid. As far as media managing, bin sharing, edl’s, etc. it’s the superior platform. But personally, once I get into the timeline, FCP is so much more fluid. I learned NLE based editing on Avid but now feel like I’m editing with boxing gloves on whenever I have to go back to it. Especially when working on shows with heavy effects and graphics Avid just isn’t doing it for me. It has less to do with what formats it supports and more to do with the hoops I have to jump through to do something that FCP would take me a click or two to accomplish. But really, I think the whole debate is kind of silly. They’re two different systems that “think” two different ways. I prefer the FCP way. Others prefer the Avid way, and I’m totally fine with that.

  • David Maurer

    This offer is amazing. I keep getting emails from assists looking for work that I can’t hire because they never learned Avid.

  • Steve Rhoden

    That’s ok, Sony Vegas has everything covered.

  • Bob Aiese

    There really isn’t anything in this article that would motivate me to switch from FCP. The same people that make the software make the hardware it works on. To me it’s a no brainer. Maybe the reason Mr. Maurer can’t find hires for Avid is that they couldn’t afford the software in the first place as this article points out ,”Unfortunately, MC 5.5?s street price of just under $2,500 puts it out of reach for many editors, particularly those in small or one-person shops…”

  • http://info@tvoneproductions.net Philip ImBrenda

    Too bad Avid treated most customers in the past so badly, I had a sales rep tell me to buy the system or get out of the business, at least they wised up about being so priority with the software. Most of our editors use FCP, we have Adobe CS5, Premiere and Sony Vegas, they all do many things that are needed with the crazy codecs that we deal with every day. I tried Avid but it seems too cumbersome compared to the other programs and I find the most of the new people we interview don’t care for Avid as well.

  • Rob

    I been editing on the Avid since 1993. I have also edited on FCP which I find the opposite from the other post, Avid flows much nicer that FCP. They are both great systems. The best way to describe a Avid Composer is it’s like a Harley Davidson, best ride in the world, but you better know how to fix a Harley!!!

  • http://ctsbtv.org Leo Mahoney

    Right On Rob-
    MC is my NLE of choice for my personal video work. I am also the station manager for a small access station in MA.
    My operations manager and some members have asked me about adding Media Composer for member use and training. I am reluctant to add it because as Rob said above, you better know how to fix it when it acts up! Thankfully I run MC on a Z400 that is 100% certified by Avid, so I don’t get too many problems, but when I did on my old PC it could be a nightmare. I was down 2 weeks because of a firewire driver issue. Neither support or myself could figure it out & then a posting on the Avid forum got me going again… The point I’m making is that at a station where training is ongoing, I kinow there would be system problems on an Avid because one of the members changed a setting or corupted the OS or a project crashed because “I only touched this button…”. FCP has been easy to train & we haven’t had many issues with Mac computers. If we can train some editors who honestly want to learn MC and will stick to it, then I might be more open to opening an Avid bay. For now I’m the only person in my area running MC (and loving it).
    Leo

  • http://www.webvideostore.co.uk Sam Gale

    Anyone who is serious about editing should really get stuck into every pro suite going. That’s not me saying go out and buy a full version or download a cracked copy, but at least read up or download a demo of what is being called “Industry Standard” software. Each suite obviously has pro’s and con’s but at the end of the day it’s down to preference and whatever workflow is more efficient for you.

  • http://NexGenProductons.com Ralph

    If a streetprice of $2,500 is too steep… get a job at McDonalds!!

    Today everyone’s an editor, compositor, animator, videogtrapher, grip, audio engineer… and on and on and on! A couple of hundred bucks and few square feet in Mom & Dad’s basement, and hourly rate that averages out to less than minimum wage… and zwala!!! $2,500 is a lot of money…

    In the 1990s AVID shafted many of it’s original users… a SYMPHONY was in the range of $100K… and as AVID did then and still continues to do offered an upgrade several months later and offered an astounding $9K for your SYMPHONY as a “trade-in”.

    AVID, FCP, VEGAS, and Premiere migrated to the “desktop publishing” versions of their S/W enticing the public with a much more reasonably priced entry-level product. This made everyon an “editor”, much like PageMaker made every secretary a “publisher”. They introduced the S/W at a moderate price point and then started selling updates every couple of months… the updates require new hardware and again – “zwella”… a steady stream of income for them and a regular expense for YOU! Miss the upgrade and start back at square one!

    I invested in a full-blown DPS (later LEITCH and now HARRIS) VELOCITY HD system in 2007… it cost me about $18K. It can handle 25 variations of HD, 2 variations of PAL, 3 variations of NTSC; can handle 7 layers of uncompressed NTSC or PAL video or graphics with EFX in realtime (NO RENDERING); and 2 layers of 1080i video with 2 graphic layers in realtime; export to just about any digital format that has a CODEC; produces 1080i files for 1080i BluRay authoring; runs on a 32-bit system with only 4GIG of RAM and on and on and on; and virtual file system that stores EACH frame of video in 13 different file formats (TGA, BMP, JPG, etc.); and included eyeon’s Fusion compositing software… they provide FREE technical support and because the system was designed to do everything out of the box… there has only been ONE major upgrade since 2006… did I mention that it was FREE!

    The VELOCITY HD system has been retired because it had trouble competing with the AVIDs, FCPs, and other desktop systems… but still provides free technical and hardware support and S/W updates.

    I just priced a CS5 system with the same requirements as the VELOCITY system — it was just over $15K… Oh, add another $400 to that they JUST anounced an upgrade to CS5.5!!

  • David Maurer

    Bob, I don’t disagree that the normal Avid price point is probably too high. That said, Avid has a trial version for free, a student version for under $300, and now this offer. For all those making excuses about learning the system, I just don’t see why someone wouldn’t take advantage to learn it if they need to work. As already stated, real Pros know lots of tools not just FCP and this is a great way to expand expertise and value to prospective employers.

  • http://www.studica.com/Avid/avid_pro_tools_9.html Dacey

    Yes I agree with David that pro tools trial version is there and its student version is very inexpensive that anyone can afford it.

  • Amadasun Aimuamwosa

    Final CUT PRO is my tool.

  • Jeff Handy

    I think this was a smart move on Avid’s part. I downloaded the trial copy and went through some of the Lynda.com training I subscribe to. In the end, I decided not to pony up the $1k for now. It’s not because it’s not an outstanding deal – I actually think it is. Even with the training, I find the Avid interface unintuitive. I actually think it works pretty much the same way it did around 10 years ago when I got some workshop training at an NAB show. That’s great news for Avid editors and not great news for new potential-customers.

    This, I think, is where Apple is breaking away from the competition. When I saw the demo at this year’s NAB, it seemed like they made every effort to make the interface MORE intuitive. Having had some amount of training on Smoke, MC, Edius, Vegas, FCP and Premiere, I’m still convinced even it’s current rendition, Final Cut has the edge on usability. With the new version coming this summer, it seems it will be even more so. I’ll keep my $1k I’d have spent on MC and instead upgrade my system drive to SSD since I’m already maxed out on RAM. The new system is going to scream with whatever software I end up using; though it will likely be FCPX.