Which is better AVIDDV or FINAL CUT HD?

[darthmaul]

Which is better Avid Dv or Final Cut HD?

[ncarandang]

the best person to answer that question is Bob Serrano. you might want to u2u him.

[dude_funk]

Graphical User Interface wise, the Avid Xpress DV (lowest-priced software-only Avid, next is Avid Xpress Pro plus optional Mojo hardware option) is hands-down winner. Not sure about how much the HD variant costs (this needs additional 3rd party hardware, right?), but price per feature, Final Cut (software-only) is the choice. I see the interface as a bit less intuitive.

Then again, I _was_ Avid-support for years. So, I'm still having a lot of withdrawal symptoms I believe lesser "unbiased" opinions would be coming your way.

[Henjie]

Here's a couple of older but still enlightening articles comparing FCP 3 and Xpress DV 3.5. I reckon the articles will more or less still apply for FCP 4 and the new Xpress DV, except that FCP 4's got 300+ new features over FCP 3. ;-) Article 1; Article 2. And here's an article that's kinda like a transition guide for Avid users switching to FCP 4. Lots of comparisons.

Here's what Bob Serrano had to say about the whole Avid Xpress vs. FCP debate (Bob, I hope you don't mind me posting this here :-):

"Hi. I'm afraid I'll have to be unabashedly frank with my views here but AvidExpress doesn't hold a candle to Final Cut Pro--and I mean that in several levels.

Ease of use. Avid doesn't nearly have the kind of customizability that FCP4 has--where any of the 600 commands available can be mapped to ANY keyboard shortcut of your personal choice. Heck, you can even program your shortcuts to make FCP behave like Avid if you want to ease the transition. Almost every operation can be approached from anywhere from 3 to 7 different ways to adjust to right- or left-brained individuals.

Flexibility/Scalability. It's not really fair (to Avid) to compare AvidExpress to FCP--maybe FinalCut Express. Better compare Avid MediaComposer (AvE's big brother) to FCP. In this feature echelon, Avid locks you in on their hardware--from CPU to monitors to hard drives--even keyboards! We're talking US$50K easy. That's not counting the support contracts you pay for yearly. You sneeze and Avid bills you for it. And these high end systems will also lock you in on only one to a few flavors of video to work with. FCP is the first NLE to cover everything from the lowest-res off-line motion JPEGs to 8- and 10-bit uncompressed codecs. ALL BUILT INTO SOFTWARE. And you get to choose your own peripherals and 3rd party support.

Power. Double-sided asymmetrical trimming, canvas drag overlays, timeline keyframe overlays for just about every parameter, real-time audio mixing with 3 different modes of data thinning (the sort of thing you'd expect from a dedicated audio app like ProTools), customizable button wells on every window, bezier-enabled time remapping, 24-audio track mastering. Where does it end? And these are just a few of the features UNIQUE to FCP.

Value. No contest here. You get FCP4, you also get LiveType, Soundtrack, CinemaTools, and Compressor. Nuff said.

Popularity? What do these guys have in common: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MTV, ShowTime, The Discovery Channel and ESPN. They all use Final Cut Pro--NOW. The bomb: They all migrated from Avid and Media100. All the MAJOR film schools in North America, from the Motion Picture Editors Guild in LA to the Vancouver Film School, to the illustrious New York Film Academy, all use FCP. Obviously not because they can't afford Avid, It's because FCP is simply better.

Oh, did I mention that DV Magazine rated FCP4 as the fastest renderer of any NLE in ANY platform*? (DualG5 running Panther)"


~Henjie

[Edited on 5-28-2004 by Henjie]

[dude_funk]

Originally posted by Henjie
Here's a couple of older but still enlightening articles comparing FCP 3 and Xpress DV 3.5. I reckon the articles will more or less still apply for FCP 4 and the new Xpress DV, except that FCP 4's got 300+ new features over FCP 3. ;-) Article 1; Article 2. And here's an article that's kinda like a transition guide for Avid users switching to FCP 4. Lots of comparisons.

Here's what Bob Serrano had to say about the whole Avid Xpress vs. FCP debate (Bob, I hope you don't mind me posting this here :-):

"Hi. I'm afraid I'll have to be unabashedly frank with my views here but AvidExpress doesn't hold a candle to Final Cut Pro--and I mean that in several levels.

Ease of use. Avid doesn't nearly have the kind of customizability that FCP4 has--where any of the 600 commands available can be mapped to ANY keyboard shortcut of your personal choice. Heck, you can even program your shortcuts to make FCP behave like Avid if you want to ease the transition. Almost every operation can be approached from anywhere from 3 to 7 different ways to adjust to right- or left-brained individuals.

Flexibility/Scalability. It's not really fair (to Avid) to compare AvidExpress to FCP--maybe FinalCut Express. Better compare Avid MediaComposer (AvE's big brother) to FCP. In this feature echelon, Avid locks you in on their hardware--from CPU to monitors to hard drives--even keyboards! We're talking US$50K easy. That's not counting the support contracts you pay for yearly. You sneeze and Avid bills you for it. And these high end systems will also lock you in on only one to a few flavors of video to work with. FCP is the first NLE to cover everything from the lowest-res off-line motion JPEGs to 8- and 10-bit uncompressed codecs. ALL BUILT INTO SOFTWARE. And you get to choose your own peripherals and 3rd party support.

Power. Double-sided asymmetrical trimming, canvas drag overlays, timeline keyframe overlays for just about every parameter, real-time audio mixing with 3 different modes of data thinning (the sort of thing you'd expect from a dedicated audio app like ProTools), customizable button wells on every window, bezier-enabled time remapping, 24-audio track mastering. Where does it end? And these are just a few of the features UNIQUE to FCP.

Value. No contest here. You get FCP4, you also get LiveType, Soundtrack, CinemaTools, and Compressor. Nuff said.

Popularity? What do these guys have in common: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MTV, ShowTime, The Discovery Channel and ESPN. They all use Final Cut Pro--NOW. The bomb: They all migrated from Avid and Media100. All the MAJOR film schools in North America, from the Motion Picture Editors Guild in LA to the Vancouver Film School, to the illustrious New York Film Academy, all use FCP. Obviously not because they can't afford Avid, It's because FCP is simply better.

Oh, did I mention that DV Magazine rated FCP4 as the fastest renderer of any NLE in ANY platform*? (DualG5 running Panther)"


~Henjie

[Edited on 5-28-2004 by Henjie]

I totally agree. Avid, up to this day, keeps the "higher" features on the higher end systems. Believe me when I tell you that the clamour for "more features for less" has been going on from day to day _even within_ the Avid community.

You mentioned ProTools. Would you believe Pro Tools and Avid are one and the same company for the longest time now? I've been providing frontline "down and dirty" support BOTH platforms. The question from the Avid community is why hasn't the advanced audio features of ProTools haven't been incorporated in the Avid.

The only real advantage with Avid (regardless of price) is the project management features and integration with Avid Unity MediaNetwork. The Avid community has been seeing a trend that Avid is "more concerned" with dealing with the "big time large-scale players" at the expense of alienating the smaller "single system" houses.

But to be fair with Avid regarding your comment of "locking you into their hardware". Final Cut Pro _locks you to Apple-only CPUs_, right?

Avid still currently offers NLEs for Windows _and_ Mac OS. With the present Media Composers, the only proprietary hardware is the Avid DNA box (connected via FireWire). And the Mojo box for the lower end Xpress Pro.

Where Apple really shines is letting 3rd party hardware manufacturers have access to the code of FCP software. AJA comes to mind. End result, there are a lot more options for everyone.

Again, the only real advantage right now for Avid: while there are moves within Apple in the creation of its own SANs solution, it's still currently no match to Unity MediaNetwork, especially with media management. But Apple is a threat. That's why Avid since 2 to 3 years ago created the software-only Avid Xpress DV (not spelled as "Express&quot.

What can I say? Competition is great for the consumers :lol: Give it a couple more decades and we'd be editing using freeware software in iPods, he he he

[dude_funk]

A bit old article that migh help:

http://www.geniusdv.com/avid-fcp-whyupdate.php

(I've been looking for an article regarding Final Cut Pro _HD_ versus the current version Xpress or Xpress Pro.)

Lots more relevant articles in: http://www.dv.com/

Register for free to gain site-wide access to articles.

[Edited on 5-28-2004 by dude_funk]

[darthmaul]

That's right, i have beeen using avid express, composer,dv,symphony,media 100, premiere and jaleo. FINAL CUT is the most reliable and combination of everything of all the flaws of non-linear that i have tried. That's why i have been using the final cut ever since.And im glad almost everyone agreed. thx

[dude_funk]

Originally posted by darthmaul
That's right, i have beeen using avid express, composer,dv,symphony,media 100, premiere and jaleo. FINAL CUT is the most reliable and combination of everything of all the flaws of non-linear that i have tried. That's why i have been using the final cut ever since.And im glad almost everyone agreed. thx

Well, I agree with some reservations

Never really had the chance to fiddle around with the technical merits of FCP. But I hear good things about it.

Where have you been using Avids? We might have seen one another at one time. Until my fairly recent resignation, I've been doing tech support for the local Avid distributor for Eight(8) years. Your mugshot seems familiar but I wouldn't want to guess.

:beer: