Three items of note

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Larry

Some interesting news this morning.

FIRST

Apple has quietly notified developers that it is preparing to offer volume purchases for business customers via the App Store.

MacNN has more about this.

The significance of this is that volume purchases of Final Cut Pro will no longer be tied to individual iTunes accounts. This might also presage the arrival of volume pricing and distribution for educational customers.

SECOND

I’ve had emails or phone calls from three different resellers telling me that Apple has notified resellers that it is offering them a one-time, two-day opportunity to buy as many copies of Final Cut Studio (3) as they want.

While this is not the same as putting FCS (3) on the open market, it does mean that the product will be available from selected retailers for a while longer. If you need licenses, contact your favorite, non-Apple store reseller.

THIRD

A large number of Final Cut Pro editors are thinking about switching platforms. Last week, my podcast – the Digital Production Buzz – had a series of discussions on switching to Avid. (Details here.)

This week, we have the product manager for Premiere Pro on the show, along with a recent Final Cut Pro post house that switched to Premiere. (Details here.) If you are thinking about switching, listen to this show first.

Larry

22 Responses to Three items of note

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John Vasey says:

July 14, 2011 at 1:04 pm

Hi, Larry….

I’m not sure if you were at the Avid dog and pony show last night in Burbank….but as a current FCP 7 user who is also exploring MC5.5 (and will be checking out FCP X later down the road), I wanted to report back that Avid sponsored a great event last night for pro editors that they hosted at the Warner Brothers Studio in the Steven Ross theatre.

They hammered away at at the following points: we are making Avid MC more open to third party options, a reminder of the lower price point of entry for FCP users, and on the big screen they threw up a roadmap of new features that they want to provide in the future (without losing the current editing paradigm and not pulling the rug on current editor’s muscle memory) and most important…user feedback. In fact, the time allotted to the theatre presentation was very short…as the idea was for the 200-300 editors to mingle and provide one on one feedback with the Avid staff — along with a hosted bar. Their message…we are listening…and we are acting on your suggestions. What a contrast to the Apple culture! They certainly got my attention and I will be trying out MC while still maintaining my FCP edit suite.

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- Larry says:
  
  July 14, 2011 at 1:37 pm
  
  Thanks for the report – I wasn’t able to attend.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Leo Hans says:

July 14, 2011 at 2:51 pm

Well, Adobe and Avid says they are listening, lets see how that is reflected in the short and medium term. Let’s see how fast they convert the act of listening in actual tools.

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Pat Neveux says:

July 14, 2011 at 3:58 pm

Larry, I find this whole situation a little bizarre. I produce documentaries and training videos for our provincial government. I have been using FCP since v. 1.5. and work with the software on a daily basis. Before the release of FCP X, I had been following your blog and found your approach to be very level-headed and realistic. I had seen the presentation from NAB was excited to get my hands on the software and to start using it. But as you had stated several times, I didn’t expect to use it in production on day 1. As with most editors, I was frustrated at first as the editing paradigm had completely changed; my FCP7 skills didn’t transfer to X. But my studio is still fully functional, I can still start, edit and complete client work in FCP7. FCP7 didn’t suddenly stop working. And to be honest, I am working more and more in X as the “new” way of editing is actually fun and more efficient to boot. There is without doubt some issues that need addressing and I have faith in Apple that these things will be ironed out but to completely uproot and change software ??? In the end, I wanted to thank you for not getting carried away in this crazy situation and for some common sense perspective. It is much appreciated.

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chus says:

July 14, 2011 at 8:22 pm

I think this post will not be published but if one person reads it I will be satisfied.
Could not The Foundry plug-in’s solve many of the lacks that Final Cut X have?
I am thinking in Keylight, Cameratracker or Ocula.
Perhaps now is the moment for Apple to expend money and buy these plug-in’s.

Reply
- Larry says:
  
  July 14, 2011 at 8:34 pm
  
  Chus: Nothing wrong with that comment.
  
  Happy to post it.
  
  larry
  
  Reply
Alan Hartman says:

July 14, 2011 at 10:31 pm

Larry the links to the above referenced Avid event at Digital Production Buzz are dead links. They take you to the page, but the links to view the videos only bring up question marks. I would assume they have dead links to the videos.
Just FYI

Al

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- Larry says:
  
  July 14, 2011 at 10:36 pm
  
  Hmmm…. not good.
  
  I’ll get these fixed immediately.
  
  Thanks,
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Nick Toth says:

July 14, 2011 at 10:32 pm

Larry
Was there anything new from AJA regarding support for broadcast out from FCP X? Thanks

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- Larry says:
  
  July 14, 2011 at 10:37 pm
  
  As of now, video out from FCP X is not possible, according to both Blackmagic Design and AJA.
  
  larry
  
  Reply
Keith Wright says:

July 15, 2011 at 1:58 pm

Larry,

All this talk of switching platforms is very interesting, and your podcast was excellent, but I’ve seen no mention yet of a NLE system that still refuses to die… Lightworks.

They’ve just gone open source with a free public beta and they are looking for feedback from users (in my mind the best way to develop software, none of this closed doors business). I suggest people take a quick look at their website to see just what their plans are
http://www.lightworksbeta.com/

It’s not for Mac heads yet (PC only) but support for OSX is coming later in the year, could be another option further down the road.

Keith

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- Larry says:
  
  July 15, 2011 at 2:02 pm
  
  Thanks for the reminder.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Craig Seeman says:

July 15, 2011 at 3:25 pm

Hi Larry,
I went to the Tekserve event in NYC presented by Evan Schechtman of OutPost Digital (founder) and Radical.media (CTO).
http://www.tekserve.com/learning-events/detail.php?id=12442

He has 50 seats of FCS, 30 also have FCPX. He said Apple has volume licensing now and he was also able to add 7 more FCS seats apparently confirming that he can now get them through VAR (which was probably Tekserve). I hope I’m not misquoting him. These were responses to questions I asked him directly after the event so he did not announce this to the audience.

BTW Tekserve said they had about 500 people register and it was the largest event they had ever held (this apparently including Apple product launches).

He also thought people jumping ship were a bit rash. He said they would be waiting a year before making that decision.

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Gasper says:

July 15, 2011 at 5:15 pm

I am still switching to Avid.

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Nivardo Cavalcante says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:02 am

If does not FCP X will output video broadcast, why is a pro?

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