HAS AVID CAUGHT UP TO FCP WITH MC5?

Post by Jonathan Moser

Note: I was happy to help out Jon with his research for the article. I thank him for including us in it. The quote did get edited down a bit. It should say "AMA’s ability to playback Canon H.264 DSLR files plus the new Canon XF format and other files."
According to Gary Bettan of retailer Videoguys.com, a whole new market is looking eagerly at AMA’s ability to playback Canon XF and other files. “There were millions of new DSLRs sold last year, and owners are looking at MC5 as the platform to edit their films,” says Bettan, “Media Composer 5 handles the files transparently. Avid is back in a big way, and people don’t have to drop their Final Cut; the two can work side-by-side.”

It was only a few years ago that Avid, trying to win back the hearts and minds of customers who were abandoning them and going to Final Cut and other systems, adopted the motto: “We’re Listening.” With the release of Media Composer 5, it’s obvious they didOne of the most anticipated releases in years, Avid’s re-realized Media Composer 5 is among the most robust, feature-laden and dynamic packages from the company in over a decade. It’s taken that long (some say even longer) for Avid to step up to the plate against Final Cut Pro.

While many can say FCP’s had all along what MC5 is just now introducing, truth be told, in most cases Avid went several steps further — historically changing its almost two-decades-old modal editing model without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, adding some abilities that FCP, in its current iteration, doesn’t have.

Additionally, by opening up to inexpensive third-party hardware, Avid’s removed a major hurdle to wider acceptance. Most importantly though, Avid has put its software where its mouth is and changed its business paradigm and overall corporate philosophy. The ultimate question is: “Will it will be enough to reclaim lost users and territory?”

As this is being written, MC5 had just hit the streets. (Avid reports 500 downloads from their site the first day). Reviews are out; judgments are being made. This isn’t your typical review about the release, but also about the company behind it: Avid, who only a few years ago had been written off as a bureaucratic and technological dinosaur — expensive and unable to adopt to changing times and new paradigms. That was then, and this is a very different now. read more...