Re: Article: Real World Editing: From Avid to FCP and Back Again

[tony west] "I think that X will find it's way into "big broadcast" just like fcp did, first with individuals then with small
houses."

Tony - it took a decade for FCP7 to get the market share and trust of the professional editing community.

It took one day for FCP X to lose it.

Why would Apple trash a decade of goodwill and trust and then hope the pros will stick around until they get it right when other NLE's do all that and more right now.

I went to NAB in 2000 with a large bank loan to buy an AVID starting my own company - it was the year Apple had FCP 1 on the show floor - I sat at their booth all day using it and couldn't believe it did nearly everything I needed (remember DV was THE format for independent companies back then) for a 1000.00 AVID lost me at hello on price.

Now Apple's lost everyone who loved the complexity and flexibility of the product..and it's vast community of plug ins and external solutions. It's astonishing to hear so many "Apple will fix this in the next x number of releases" comments from people who don't have a clue what Apple will do. Personal feelings and thoughts about what a company that literally tossed the entire professional editing community under the bus have no basis in reality.

Companies must switch because FCP7 WILL break soon -- either with a LION update (remember Apple says no more FCP 7 support so good luck with that) or a new camera format that won't work with the program. Every FCP7 plugin developer's business vanished the day X came out. The few still in the game are producing nice, even stunning plugins for FCP X -- but all of them know they are taking a big gamble -- low prices, low margins, low return on a "we hope pros start buying this soon" because Prosumers aren't going to spend a lot for a plug in when the entire program's under 300 dollars.

Andy Field
FieldVision Productions
N. Bethesda, Maryland 20852