The Death of Avid...

[Mark Toia]

Kodak... Mmm... Let's hope not. I'm hoping avid upper management are not as careless.

[BRANDON JAMESON]

As long as AVID insists on building it's software from seriously OLD code, there will never be a fast, sleek version that AVID users have been waiting for.

The new MC STILL relies on the original code from , I dunno..1980 something.

The speed, ease and elegance of AVID editing systems still make it the platinum standard for so many editors and production houses of merit, but I think we all wish they had had a serious rethink of the house of cards they were building.

And, yes, AVID DOES have a serious place in Audio post with ProTools, but let us not forget that ProTools waas built as a sister product to AVID MC,Symphony and DS.

At NAB, AVID pushed the heck out of ProTools and gave little real estate to their editing software, which I DO find seriously questionable when they had just released MC6, a program frought with so many bugs that it was a little LESS than a beta version should be.

Do I think AVID has a lot of work to do to compete with other new condenders (Edius,SMAC,Premiere)?

OH HELL, YES.

Do I think they will get off their pompous arses and actually LISTEN to their user base?

Well, if history is any indication..probably NOT.

As an AVID owner,editor and fan, the way AVID continues to do business the way they do confounds me.

[Steve Sherrick]

As long as AVID insists on building it's software from seriously OLD code, there will never be a fast, sleek version that AVID users have been waiting for.

The new MC STILL relies on the original code from , I dunno..1980 something.

The speed, ease and elegance of AVID editing systems still make it the platinum standard for so many editors and production houses of merit, but I think we all wish they had had a serious rethink of the house of cards they were building.

And, yes, AVID DOES have a serious place in Audio post with ProTools, but let us not forget that ProTools waas built as a sister product to AVID MC,Symphony and DS.

At NAB, AVID pushed the heck out of ProTools and gave little real estate to their editing software, which I DO find seriously questionable when they had just released MC6, a program frought with so many bugs that it was a little LESS than a beta version should be.

Do I think AVID has a lot of work to do to compete with other new condenders (Edius,SMAC,Premiere)?

OH HELL, YES.

Do I think they will get off their pompous arses and actually LISTEN to their user base?

Well, if history is any indication..probably NOT.

As an AVID owner,editor and fan, the way AVID continues to do business the way they do confounds me.

Pro Tools was not built as a sister product to MC, Symphony, etc. Pro Tools was previously owned by Digidesign, which was acquired by Avid. There is a huge userbase for Pro Tools. It's arguable that without Pro Tools, Avid may be in deeper trouble than their current situation.

MC6 has some nice new features, but admittedly is still being tweaked to bring it up to a solid release build. I can't speak to the actual code being used but the one thing I can say about Avid is they respect their backwards compatibility. They know older projects will have to be opened in new versions of MC, and they try to make that as seamless as possible. They also have a large user base that is very comfortable with the interface and they don't want to pull an Apple move and alienate that userbase. I do think there's a way to meet in the middle somewhere. It's in the customization of the UI. Add new features but let the user decide if they want to use them. For example, when they added the smart tool, longtime Avid editors didn't all love it. So, Avid gave you the choice to not use it. My list above are just a few of the things I'd like to see from Avid. With the right leadership and focus, they can survive this. In fact, I think they can do better than that. But they won't survive if we continue to see the race to the bottom that has happened in recent times. We can't have everything for $299. Avid doesn't have an iPhone business to bankroll it's professional video department. We need to be realistic about what it takes to run a niche business and that products don't magically create themselves over night. The boutique mentality, although valid has had some potentially negative consequences in my opinion. Certain segments of that market have been demanding companies to practically give things away for free. And then wonder why these companies cannot survive.

[Oliver Peters]

The new MC STILL relies on the original code from , I dunno..1980 something.

How do you figure that, since it was all rewritten for 64-bit? Old paradigms, maybe. Old code? Don't see that.

At NAB, AVID pushed the heck out of ProTools and gave little real estate to their editing software, which I DO find seriously questionable when they had just released MC6, a program frought with so many bugs that it was a little LESS than a beta version should be.

What?! Which NAB did you go to? I believe there was a single audio pod in the booth and multiple pods for edit software. In fact, the ongoing MC6 demo was the first pod you saw at the front of the booth to the right of the stage area. The main stage presented a lot of combo demos with end-to-end post workflow including both editing and audio post.

- Oliver

[Brian Merlen]

Dude I can't believe Adobe and Avid don't offer dividends! I am buying Apple instead....do they sell half shares?

[BRANDON JAMESON]

How do you figure that, since it was all rewritten for 64-bit? Old paradigms, maybe. Old code? Don't see that.



What?! Which NAB did you go to? I believe there was a single audio pod in the booth and multiple pods for edit software. In fact, the ongoing MC6 demo was the first pod you saw at the front of the booth to the right of the stage area. The main stage presented a lot of combo demos with end-to-end post workflow including both editing and audio post.

- Oliver

Oliver.....seriously???

I went to the NAB that featured PROTOOLS!!!!

That figures, because MC 6. is so buggy,clunky and unpredictable, even AVID advises you not to install it!!!!

MC 6 runs on a version of the Mac OS that is no longer easliy attainable, which makes it one step away from crazy, and NO you do NOT have to write all new code to upgrade software to 64bit....who told you that they did???

I am an AVID editor and AVID CLEARLY is concentrating on AUDIO right now, anyway you look at it..or WHATEVER entrance to the AVID booth you came in from.

Look, If you can find 4 working pro editors , who arent paid spokespeople, that find MC or Symphony 6. elegant and workable, please let me know and I'll buy you a drink.

Actually, if you can find ONE compositor who thinks AVID has their back after investing in DS, I'll raise you a drink and buy you a cupcake.


Until then, Oliver..SERIOUSLY????

[Nikhil Kamkolkar]

Kill Media Composer. Adopt, evolve and grow DS. I've been saying that since 99, Dear Avid.

[Peter Moretti]

Brandon,

You are delusional. MC and Symphony 6, when installed properly on certified hardware with the proper OS versions and drivers are very reliable. Are there bugs? Sure, but every other NLE's has bugs too.

As for old code base, all cores are being used by MC, so the code can't be that old. Also, if 32-bit code is written "properly," recompiling to 64-bit does not require a complete ground up rewrite.

If you don't realize that Avid is still the most popular NLE amongst professional editors, then you simply lack credibility.

[Oliver Peters]

MC 6. whatever is so buggy even AVID advises you not to install it!!!!

Huh? Blatantly untrue.

I am an AVID editor and AVID CLEARLY is concentrating on AUDIO right now.

Not my perception at all. Is that why they just released DS11?

If you can find 4 working pro editors , who arent paid spokespeople, that find MC or Symphony 6.?

Not sure what Bunim-Murray is running but it's a brand new installation, so that's probably 150 seats right there. I'm in Orlando, and most of the newer Avid installations are on 6.0. Definitely more than 4. Not sure what your issues with MC6 are and I certainly don't deny there are bugs, but you are making it sound far worse than it is. Though the nature of bugs and their effect is dependent on the type of workflow you have. So maybe it's impacting you more than it does the editors I know or on my own systems.

Listen, I'm not trying to offend here, but merely reacting to what sounds like a lot of questionable hyperbole to me.

- Oliver

[BRANDON JAMESON]

My offer stands, Oliver.

I DO enjoy how you take parts of my quotes and leave the rest very much alone....

So lets look at yours:


"Not sure what Bunim-Murray is running but it's a brand new installation"

"Not sure what your issues with MC6 are and I certainly don't deny there are bugs."



Find me when you can deliver instead of spouting random nonsense that youre not sure about, clearly have very little first-hand knowledge or a clear grasp on.

Oh, and Peter...FIND that special OS for me, will ya?

Thanks!