“Dear Apple, maybe we should just be friends” Welcome to blog number 2 here at The Target Audience. I hope everyone enjoyed the first blog post about my history with video editing. The feedback I’ve received has been very positive. This second post is going to focus on one of my weaknesses, my love for [...]
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Welcome to my first post here at The Target Audience (that I hope will be the first of many). Please don’t hammer me on my grammar and spelling, I’m a video editor, not a journalist. To get the proverbial ball rolling I’ve decided to do [...]
“Dear Apple, maybe we should just be friends”
Welcome to blog number 2 here at The Target Audience. I hope everyone enjoyed the first blog post about my history with video editing. The feedback I’ve received has been very positive.
This second post is going to focus on one of my weaknesses, my love for Apple products. Specifically how that love is starting to diminish a bit. For those who haven’t read my first blog I bought my first Mac in 2003 so I could run both AVID and FCP on the same machine. Of course the other reason was the pure beauty of the 1GHZ Titanium Powerbook G4 and the steady improvements in Mac OS X (10.3 at that time if I remember correctly). As an added history lesson I’ve included an album of pictures of my Mac’s over the years.
I operated in a mixed household for a number of years until late 2006 when I bit the bullet on a 4-Core Mac Pro system. I had built a number of powerful PC systems over that time but the new Mac Pro was so fast, and flexible (Boot Camp was pretty reliable at this point), that I didn’t need an actual PC in the house. This also marked my switch to Final Cut Studio as my primary video-editing tool of choice.
Basically I am planning to go over some of the things floating around my mind on this topic, in a hopefully thought provoking fashion.
Forced Obsolescence
A long time ago Apple had a reputation for increased longevity in their professional computers which basically meant older systems were often able to run productive professional software for many years longer than the equivalent PC. It was not uncommon for video and photo professionals to be using PowerMac systems for 5-6 years after purchase in a meaningful way. This usually included support for the latest OS updates for many years.
A funny thing happened though with the change to Intel processors (and I do think the change was needed) as Apple started to accelerate forced obsolescence on the software end of things. This started out with the abandoning of the PowerPC architecture sooner than was needed based on performance and rolled right into the relatively quick dumping of support for early Intel architecture. An example of this is Final Cut Pro 7 dumping PowerPC support in mid 2009. This left very fast quad core G5 computers that were sold in 2006 out in the cold. This cycle has also been noticeable in the Intel era as well with the changing requirements in video cards and processors with new OS/Software packages. For example I recently sold my 2006 Mac Pro, not because of performance, but because it was to difficult to get a new supported video card to help me run the latest Apple software.
I could no longer brag to my PC friends how long my Mac was going to last in comparison to their PC to justify the expense of my purchase.
Another thing to note about this is the 3rd party software developers are very much tied to Apple’s software cycle, as Apple is notorious for removing support for older SDKs (software development kits) in order to ensure everyone is on the same page as them.
Upgrade Cycle
This rolls right into the concept of the upgrade cycle. Part of the reasoning I always used in paying more for professional Apple computers was that I would be using the system for a lot longer than a similar PC. If I planned on 4-5 years of professional usage it was completely justifiable to spend more on a Mac Pro or Macbook Pro or whatever because I would be using it for a longer period of time.
If I am going to have to get a new system every 2-3 years anyway due to Apple’s use of software/hardware forced obsolescence, maybe it makes more sense to look at less expensive PC’s that I can actually customize to my actual needs.
Demise of Professional Products and Choice
This leads to the next part of this discussion, which discusses the question of whether Apple has an interest in supporting the needs of professional users. Apple has long had a reputation for believing they know what the customer needs more than the customer does. I believe this may be mostly true on the consumer end of things but professionals need a certain amount of flexibility to ensure their workflow is doing what it needs to do.
The first sign of this in my mind was the removal of the ExpressCard slot on 15-inch MacBook Pro systems. Apple was one of the first manufacturers to support this slot, which opened the door to faster external storage, I/O options, and various network interfaces. Sure newer machines have Thunderbolt on them but no one is rushing to create cost-effective solutions for this interface meaning this “Professional” laptop has very limited high speed storage options.
Another sign of this new attitude is the stagnation of the Mac Pro line-up of systems, its been left to wither since a pretty minor update in August 2010. I also see signs of this with the discontinuation of SHAKE, and the lack of meaningful updates to LOGIC PRO.
A big part of the professional equation is the need for choice. Professionals use lots of different software, have lots of different workflows, and by definition have varied computing needs. This is not a market that likes to be told you can only use this software, on this OS, with this hardware, and only the way we want you to.
Final Cut X
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on Final Cut X but it ties into the concepts of the lack of professional products, choice and forced obsolescence very nicely.
With X Apple has basically told professionals they must work a certain way if they want to use their software and that outside tools are to be frowned upon. Of course one of the biggest issues in my book with Final Cut X is that it is extremely resource intensive and barely runs well on the latest and greatest Mac Pro hardware. This is the same hardware that Apple has decided not to upgrade in over a year.
I find it extremely dismaying that Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5 and AVID Media Composer both run much better on my new MacBook Pro than Apple’s own video editing software. Of course I can also configure a PC to run Adobe and AVID even better due to the greater choices in video cards in that market.
Anyway, enough said about Final Cut X, it’s not the real point of this post.
Windows 7
Lion is not the end of the world as we know it for the Mac OS, but it is a sign of things to come in the future in regards to less control over what the OS does and more of a tablet style experience for Mac users. If anything Lion showcases Apple’s desire to go further down the path of the “walled garden” environment for application development and software distribution.
The thing that is more interesting for professional Mac users is that Windows 7 is a very good operating system. Vista was a disaster, no question at all in that regards. Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit is a stable, attractive, flexible, and customizable OS that is very pleasant to use.
It isn’t quite pretty as OS X, and it’s missing some cool features like Expose, and some things are a bit more complex than they need to be, but it works. With various add-ons a lot of things I like about OS X can be integrated into Windows 7.
Of course the included software in a Mac is much better than a PC but I’ve been finding myself using other alternatives more often these days. The same thing goes with the iLife suite of applications. At one time in my life I would have recommended a Mac just for iMovie, iPhoto, iWeb, iTunes, and Garageband. These days I find I don’t use these applications often as they have become bloated, buggy parodies of their former selves.
Windows is no longer the bad joke of the OS world.
It’s a consumer world
Apple makes great phones and tablets (even though I have moved to Android on both those counts myself), and makes wonderful consumer level computers that do everything that most users need. Unfortunately professional users are not most users for Apple anymore and are not a large part of revenue stream flowing into the corporate coffers.
Apple makes money from iPads, iApps, iPhones, iMacs, and Macbook Airs. They make a lot of money from these products. They don’t make a lot of money from Mac Pro systems, or pro applications, or even from supporting professionals. In fact the professional side of Apple’s world probably costs more in R&D and support than it brings in.
I understand why Apple does what it does, but it doesn’t make me happy. I used to be involved as an Apple reseller during the time that the pro market kept Apple in business. It upsets me to see this market neglected but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
So what about me?
I guess this is the end of the post, the part where I magically conclude a solid answer based on my research and deliberations.
Unfortunately life is never that easy and emotions get in the way. Yes that’s right, for me computing is an emotional experience and I enjoy identifying myself as a Mac user. Its been part of my daily life for so many years that the thought of change is hard, but I need to remember that change is good. Even though many of the advantages that I have commented on no longer exist or are limited in their appeal I have a strong desire to keep using Apple computers.
But I am not stupid either and I have a business to operate and a life to lead and if the Mac environment is no longer the best choice for me things will need to change. Change can be hard but it can often be good. I had a hard time moving to Android for my phone and tablet experience but I can honestly say I don’t miss my iPhone in the least.
As it stands I have probably purchased my last Mac as my primary work computer (my recent Macbook Pro) for video editing and professional purposes. Since I have moved most of my editing to Adobe and am looking at working more with AVID changing to a PC for this purpose should be a smooth transition. I’m actually looking forward to speccing out my next editing computer in the not to distant future.
Of course, I will almost always keep a Mac around in a secondary computing capacity since I know I will have clients who need Apple interoperability and it will always be good to keep myself abreast of whatever pro software Apple may be selling at the time.
So I’m not rushing out to sell all my Apple stuff but the change has started and it will be interesting to see how it all works out in the end.
Feel free to argue and discuss to your hearts content.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Welcome to my first post here at The Target Audience (that I hope will be the first of many). Please don’t hammer me on my grammar and spelling, I’m a video editor, not a journalist.
To get the proverbial ball rolling I’ve decided to do a little history of my history with prosumer/professional digital video editing software. The specific reason I’ve started with this topic is to create some discussion and thought about the constantly changing nature of this business. Of course the most recent catalyst of this thought has been the release and reception of Apple’s Final Cut X. So without further ado lets begin.
I’ve decided to lay this out based on each major platform that I’ve used and briefly chat about my experiences. These are not in-depth reviews, just quick thoughts about some of my experiences.
From my recollections it looks like I have spent serious time with at least 7 major video editing platforms in the last 18 years, and this is not even counting the various consumer based solutions that I have dabbled with at some time or another.
Please note that these experiences are set out and written down based on my somewhat fluid memory skills. Also please note that these are the same memories that tell me I may have possibly used my mad ninja video editing skills to save the entire world from the perils of an alien invasion featuring thousands of Michael Bay clones.
ADOBE PREMIERE
My first experience with video editing software was Premiere 4.0, of course at this time I had no way to capture video so all I could do was play around with a few animations but it was still a start. I didn’t actually do much of editing with software until Premiere 4.2 hit the market and I started to re-edit trailers/movies I had downloaded from the Internet (the Star Wars Special Edition trailer being a big one for me).
Premiere 5.1 was a big update for me since it was the first software (that I knew of) that supported the latest in cost effective real-time video editing add-on cards. Editing had changed for me in a big way now that I could preview fancy page curls, and 3D cube transitions using in real-time using cards like the Matrox RT2000 (Review of Matrox RT 2000) and Canopus Raptor RT (Canopus Raptor RT Review). Of course I quickly realized 3D cube transitions suck and never really used the power of these cards I bought to their full potential (expect for the real-time video preview output to NTSC, that was a gift from the video editing gods). I also spent some time with Premiere during my studies at Sheridan College in Media Arts.
I stuck with Premiere through version 6.5 (and the associated Matrox RT2500 card) and was fully comfortable with its very quaint A/B and transition layer style of working. I started to move away from personal use of Premiere at this time (even though I still used it at the places I was working at the time) and started moving towards AVID and Final Cut.
ULEAD
ULEAD Mediastudio Pro Site
Review of MediaStudio Pro 7
Ulead is a software company that most do not associate with video editing but there was a time that they were indeed a player in the market with their MediaStudio Pro software. Mediastudio came to me bundled with my first video capture card, the Matrox Rainbow Runner(Rainbow Runner Review) which allowed me to capture S-VIDEO or Composite video at up to 720×480 in M-JPEG. Of course due to the limits of IDE hard drives I was limited to 352×480 resolution (which was still better then VHS quality).
MediaStudio was remarkable for its time and was actually one of the first software solutions to offer OHCI Firewire support and I seem to remember some very early software real-time effects. Unfortunately Corel eventually purchased ULEAD and MediaStudio started to fade into the mists of video editing history. I seem to remember using ULEAD from 1997-2000 as it was my tool of choice while Premiere got its act together with versions 5.1c. and 6.0.
AVID
Avid Media Composer Site
Review of Avid Xpress DV 3.5
My first introduction to AVID was at Sheridan College in the Media Arts program. Unfortunately the number of AVID systems (Media Composer and Symphony) was so limited that I only ever got a few minutes here and there on them. I did get enough time with them to at least get comfortable with the basics of editing the AVID way.
I got reacquainted with AVID later on while working for a reseller who sold Xpress DV. I decided to spend some time with AVID (I even took some courses at Centennial College on AVID), so I purchased the current version of Xpress DV in 2003 or so and upgraded to Xpress Pro when that became available. I used AVID in conjunction with some other tools till sometime in 2006 when the software version of Media Composer debuted.
AVID was a real change of pace compared to the versions of Premiere I had been using at the time but I loved the way the media management worked and was really impressed with the robust nature of the colour correction tools.
Nothing really made me stop using AVID at that point in my life (except for the way AVID seemed to treat their dealers and their low end customers like dirt) but I had really started to become a mac head and was starting to spend a lot of my editing time with Final Cut Pro.
I haven’t used the latest version of Media Composer 6.0 but it definitely looks promising.
FINAL CUT PRO
Apple’s Final Cut X Site
Review of Final Cut Pro 5
My first introduction to Final Cut was sometime during 2001, which means it was probably version 3.0. I was working for the Canadian distributor of Matrox products when their very buggy RT Mac I/O real-time capture card was released. At this time in my life I was very much a PC person so it was a big surprise to me when my boss told me I was now his “Mac Guy”. Anyway I had been mostly using Premiere at that time and hated everything to do with Apple so I really only learned the bare minimum needed to do my job. I couldn’t believe that Final Cut didn’t have a dedicated transition layer like Premiere! What was an editor to do?
My next job was with a company that really had a strong focus on Apple and slowly but surely I started to get hooked. The hardware was beautiful, and Final Cut was in a lot of ways just like AVID, which was something I was getting myself re-acquainted with at the time. In 2003 I bought my first ever Mac so I could run AVID Xpress DV and Final Cut Pro on the same machine.
I used Final Cut and AVID as my primary personal editing solutions (while still keeping up on Adobe/Sony/Pinnacle due to work responsibilities) for the next few years.
2006 saw the introduction of Final Cut Studio and my switch to using Final Cut as my full-time primary editing tool of choice. The value inherent in the bundle was just amazing compared to the competition and each version of Final Cut offered me new tools that made my workflow more productive.
By the time Final Cut 7 in 2009 rolled around kinks in Apple’s armor were starting to appear. The application itself was still widely popular, the workflow was proven and robust but it was starting to fall behind the competition in many ways.
Memory support was still weak (2GB max I think), multi-processer utilization was almost non-existent, no native support for AVCHD/DSLR cameras, and very little GPU utilization. Final Cut was getting old, the base software code was ancient by computing standards and customers wanted more. Final Cut 7 was still a great tool for editing but other tools where starting to become much more attractive.
It wasn’t till July 2011 that something new came from Apple. Final Cut X changed everything. I’m not going to get into Final Cut X here, its been discussed to death in other places but lets just say it is different.
Personally I still use Final Cut 7 for quite a bit of my work but I find myself spending more and more time with Premiere Pro CS 5.5 these days. I’ve tried Final Cut X a number of times and still haven’t really become comfortable with it but I do intend to develop a strong degree of competence with this software in the near future.
SONY (VEGAS VIDEO)
Sony’s Vegas Video Site
Review of Vegas Pro 11
Sony Vegas Video is a really powerful and robust video editing tool for Windows computers, but I hate it. Vegas Video has a long history of being ahead of the curve in regards to technological advancements, like multi-processing, GPU acceleration, Blu-Ray authoring, Surround Sound Mixing, 64 Bit memory use, HDV support, AVCHD support, multi-cam editing and XDCAM EX support.
The issue for Vegas for users like myself is that it doesn’t work at all like Adobe, AVID, or Final Cut. Users who are new to video editing find Vegas easy to understand and to master, old school users like myself find the interface counter-intuitive and mid boggling at best. Part of issue may be that Vegas evolved from an audio editing tool.
Due to my employment requirements I had to learn how to use Vegas to a certain degree, but unfortunately I never got around to using it for my own work. It’s a shame though, as Vegas was and still is a very good video editing tool. The other shame is that Sony has no idea how to market this exceptional program.
I spent time with Vegas Pro from 2003 through to 2008 and I still recommend it to new PC users getting started with video editing (who are not planning to collaborate with other users).
PINNACLE Liquid Edition
Liquid/Premiere Comparison Document
Review of Liquid Pro 6
My dealings with Pinnacle started when they bundled real-time capture cards (like the DV 500/DC1000) with Adobe Premiere. The problem was the cards they bundled were no better than anyone else’s bundled cards and the constantly changing nature of CPU speeds meant cheap hardware real-time cards had no future anyway.
Pinnacle had been successful in the consumer market with their low-end Studio line of video editing software but needed something to help on the pro side of things for the future. What they did was purchase a software package called Fast DV and rebranded it as Pinnacle Liquid.
Liquid was different, it was designed early on to be a scalable software solution (though its was bundled with hardware cards for a while) that would lead Pinnacle into the future of video editing. It was PC only, which at the time was somewhat of a limitation as Mac products dominated the video-editing world but it offered a different way of doing things. It was completely different from the other major players but its colour correction tools, key-framing tools, and responsiveness made it a formidable tool. Liquid also featured strong GPU acceleration and was the first software package with background rendering.
Liquid was so impressive that I actually bought a PC to use at home to learn more about the software. Unfortunately support started to become and issue (bugs took way to long to get fixed), and new updates started to come extremely slowly. Eventually AVID bought Pinnacle and Liquid faded away.
ADOBE PREMIERE PRO
Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5 Site
Review of Premiere Pro CS 3
When Adobe Premiere Pro 1.0 came out I took a good look at it but frankly all I saw was a clone of the current version of Final Cut with some better After Effects integration. Of course Premiere Pro was a PC only solution from 2003 to 2007 and by this time I was firmly in the Apple camp in regards to computing hardware. I still ended up learning how to use the software since I was selling it at the time but I wasn’t using it for personal work or play.
It wasn’t until CS3 hit in 2007 for Mac and PC that I started to put some serious time into Premiere Pro. I found CS3 a pretty powerfully program if a little on the buggy side of things with performance that was a little lacking on a Mac. CS4 was even better with good support for XDCAM EX (which was big for me at the time).
The introduction of CS 5.5 really got me back into Premiere Pro in a big way with its very powerful Mercury engine, excellent DSLR support and extremely robust performance.
At this time due to the current limitations performance wise in Final Cut 7 and my relative dislike of Final Cut X, Premiere Pro CS 5.5 has become my primary video editing tool (and the most requested program to train with my clients).
Will that change? More than likely, these things always change.
CHANGE HAPPENS
I guess the whole point to the rather lengthy blog is that things change. Software changes, hardware changes, styles of editing change, workflows change, even your preference in operating systems change. What doesn’t change is the need to create good work, the need to deliver a product on time and on budget, or the need to actually enjoy doing the work you do.
I know a lot of people who have gotten angry about the changes in Final Cut X and this is what prompted this blog. I too don’t like a lot of what Final Cut X brings to the table but if my history with video editing is like anyone else’s (and I’m sure it is) people are quite willing and able to make changes, and often for the better.
Have fun cutting.
Hot Apple News
