ProVideo Coalition.com: Themed Channel | Editing & Post by Kevin P McAuliffe: Avid’s New(er) Direction

When I ask you who the main NLE players are, most people mention Media Composer and Final Cut Pro right off the bat, with Premiere Pro and Vegas taking up the rear, and in the last few years, I think that Avid has really taken a beating from Final Cut Pro. Not to say that Final Cut Pro has taken the lead in the non-linear editing world, but Final Cut Pro has made real in-roads and has grabbed Avid’s coattails, and held on strong. In recent years, the Avid user base has become more and more frustrated with Avid’s,seemingly, lack of interest in what we (yes, I am included in there) have to say, and that frustration has made some editors jump ship for good. But, a funny thing has happened recently, and that is that Avid has sat up and taken notice, and has started to do something about it. They’ve gotten out and started pounding the pavement and letting everyone know that Avid is the company that editors want to stay with!

I had the opportunity to be a fly on the wall at a breakfast get together of some editors in Toronto, Canada (Bob Kennedy of Rooster Post Production and Steve Manz of Relish Post), as well as Burke Moody, the Executive Director of AICE, Taryn Unruh, Media Programs Manager, Video & Corporate Communications for Avid and Angus Mackay, Avid Segment Marketing Manger | Professional. Now, for those who don’t know, AICE is “an international association which represents the interests of independent creative editorial, design, visual effects and post production companies and their editors, designers and artists”, and AVID was in town the night before to not only show off the new Media Composer 5 to AICE’s Toronto user base, but they were also here to do something else that no other NLE company out there is doing right now, and that is get feedback from their user base. This is something that Avid in the past really hasn’t done. Avid has always worked in a very “It’s our way, or the highway” fashion, and thanks to the in-roads that Final Cut Pro is making (in my opinion), they are out there to find out not only what the user base is thinking, but to actually get our input on what they can do to make Media Composer better. This was a meeting that I was looking forward to, as I consider myself to be very…..opinionated what it comes to Avid, as I have been working on their products for the better part of 14 years, and have gone through the “what are they thinking???” phase, but I think that Avid is starting to get things right. First, the removal of Xpress from the product line was much needed, and that in combination with the price reduction of Media Composer has made it an application more within the “common” editor’s grasp. I do want to talk for a second about Angus MacKay. Avid could not have picked a better person to be out there talking to the user base. Here’s someone who understands not only what we, as editors, need, but he also understands what Avid has done wrong in the past, and seems genuinely concerned with making things right. In the past, on the rare occasions where the user base had access to someone in upper management, we were always given a smoke and mirrors, song and dance routine, and were always made to feel that our concerns would be heard. Well now, I think they are. I was pretty direct with many questions and concerns I have with Media Composer and Avid in general (XML import export, fixing things that don’t work properly like match framing pre-computers, and the thought that Avid really could care less about the concerns of the user base), and not once did Angus seem defensive about anything that I said. He listened to me, much like he did with the AICE userbase, and even took down notes and told us that he would take our concerns with him and look into them, and the funny thing is, that I believe him! Here’s a little video that’s show’s Avid’s new direction. It’s a promotional piece for the new Matrox MX02 mini, and Angus McKay is the spokesperson for it. In the past, Avid would never have done something like this!

I think that with the release of Media Composer 5, Avid is taking a turn, not only technically, but in the way they deal with their customers. If you get a chance to get out to an Avid Roadshow where Angus will be talking, get out there, and if you get the chance, talk to him, and I’m pretty sure that you’ll feel the way I did for the first time. Appreciated as a customer.

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Bizarre to be using the iMovie stock music clips in the video.

The big boys use Avid and will for many moons to come - an enormous installed and trained user base is near impossible to supplant - not to mention rock solid media management - it’s Avid’s game to lose at that level. If I owned a post house full of everything I needed to run an Avid efficiently - I wouldn’t throw it all overboard because FCP has ProRez or Apple adds another widget to the dock.

Out in the hinterlands - nobody cares what software you use.

Posted by Jim Hines on 08/03 at 10:50 AM

Great article Kevin. I recently interviewed Taryn and Angus for an article on Global Editing Workflows for HD Video Pro Magazine, (its in the current August issue) and I concur with your assessment, AVID is really getting their act together.

I have been on FCP since V1.0, was a co-founder of the LAFCPUG.com and have generally been quite satisfied with Apple and FCP, but I have to say, I think someone at AVID finally figured out how to gain back some of that market share that they lost to Apple over the past few years.

The new MC5 looks to be as product that I never thought I would see from AVID, an editing application that allows the user to decide on which method to use to accomplish a given function. The ability to use third party hardware for monitoring? My head is still spinning, that is unheard of for AVID. Smart too.

Including the ability to use ProRes media was a stroke of brilliance. FCP is getting long in the tooth. I still love it and use it daily but if Apple doesn’t pull a rabbit out of the hat with the next iteration and at least match all of the great new features of both MC5 and Premier CS5, I think you will see many, many FCP pros jump back to AVID (and Premiere).

Dan Brockett

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/03 at 03:44 PM

I gotta tell ya, I was at the Avid press conference at NAB, and when a company that purports to be the leader in professional video and film editing gives essentially equal time to MC5, their absorbing of Euphonix audio consoles and the unique needs of the education and disc-jockey spaces, I’d feel a little queasy about how much they love the high-end users. Combine that with Apple’s recent tendency towards ignoring FCP and the ProApps and I think I see a hole in the market developing.

One man’s opinion. My day-job is supposed to get MC5 in November. Then we’ll see how revolutionary it really is.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/12 at 09:03 PM

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