Markets inevitably change, and that item you paid for a few months earlier frequently is available for cheaper just a few months after you bought it; it's part of life. I don't regret the $1k we paid for Da Vinci earlier in the year; we've already booked enough work with it to have paid for itself.
From where I'm sitting this is a brilliant move on Da Vinci's part.
Real coloring facilities that are billing regularly will end up paying the $1k for multiple GPU's or the RED Rocket card without batting an eye; it's the best deal in color grading. And then they'll have a few lite stations for prepping projects or grading small 7d jobs that come through.
The folks that lite will appeal too were never likely to pay the $1k in the first place; it just didn't make sense for them to do so, since they aren't likely billing their grading on to clients (as it would be hard to do without GPUs and RED Rockets). So why give it to them?
It gives thousands of film students, DPs, editors, directors and especially wannabe colorist an opportunity to learn the tools of color grading. The entire next wave of colorists will be learning on Da Vinci for free. And while most won't stick with it long enough, some real artists will come out of it. And they will have a lot of Da Vinci loyalty built in because it's the system they have on their home machine, that they learned on and know intimately, and when they book jobs at bigger facilities they'll expect Da Vinci to be there.
It's one of the major ways that FCP built market share vs. Avid; FCP was functionally free (through lax security and heavy student discounts), and it built a market of up and coming editors and directors who knew it and expected it when they did real jobs.
Secondly, Da Vinci is building their brand. I know to old school folks it feels like a dissolution of a hallowed name, but you have to remember that many, many producers don't know a baselight from a pogle. Most clients hiring colorist because they like that colorists work, or as part of a package deal, and for those clients, Da Vinci is a brand they've heard of that means "color," and by giving away Lite for free, Da Vinci is going to increase that direct connection for clients between "color grading" and "da Vinci." I've been teaching film for 5 years, and 5 years ago, 1 student in 20 had heard of da Vinci, and now they all have. It's a hugely powerful marketing tool for them, with little to no lost revenue (since, of course, those people using lite wouldn't have bought it anyway).
That's a powerful thing for a brand to do.
I think these guys are being absolutely brilliant.
Rates are going to come down (and, let's face it, already have) not because the software costs are decreasing, but because hardware costs are decreasing, and that's nobody's fault, it's a natural consequence of computer technology increasing. Might as well blame Moore's Law.
But in the end, they'll sell more $1k license's, and more panels, because of this, and it'll be for the best for our industry.
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