OT: Avid won't be at NAB in 2008

Saw this post from Peter Wiggens over at Creative Cow.

Seems they are changing strategies to better serve the customer and showing up at NAB is not one of those strategies.

[www.avid.com]

Michael Horton
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it seems that they may have been scared off a little by apple and the fact that they can not keep up with apple releasing new products

Interesting...

I wonder if they heard my last round of ranting when the whole Unity system went down loosing 6 hours of another editors work, 2 hours of mine, leaving 3 Executive Producers with a wasted journey and 6 edit suites without footage for 8 hours...

...or maybe, just maybe they've decided that they should develop a Quicktime based Avid that can be used alongside FCP on a shared system without using OMF or MXF and decided to drop the PC support in favour of "Mac only" like back in the good old days when Avid was more reliable and didn't hang and need a restart 6 or 7 times a day. *spit-PC-spit-Windows-spit-grrrr*

...or maybe they've decided to update the interface to allow a more fluid edit experience instead of forcing us to cut in a ridiculously cumbersome and outdated manner "Remember folks! When Editing on Avid its our way or the highway!"

...or even unifying their interfaces and standardising keyboard layouts in the edit modes for all Avid products.

...or like Sega did when they knew they couldn't compete with SONY, Nintendo, etc and concentrated on games development instead of hardware maybe Avid will make hardware solutions for FCP ala Adrenaline/Nitris (go on Avid you know you would make WAAAAY more money and get WAAAAAY more respect).

Maybe the cost saving of not going to NAB will let them employ someone who actually has some foresight and who is committed to updating with the times.

[Aaaaaand breathe...]



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

Just look at the Avid forum for a bit...the Mac Avid users are constantly screwed everytime Apple upgrades. Avid cannot even keep up with the software updates - driving a lot of fed-up Avid users over to FCP. I was answering more FCP questions than Avid questions when I was moddin' over there (at the end of my stay). Their Admins got tired of my praise of FCP so they pulled the plug on me. I got tired of always waiting for my Express Pro to work with my new hardware as well.

...I don't miss it

Back on topic:

I think it's dumb of Avid to skip NAB... if you want to compete in this business, you have to go where the people are. That said, I am totally not surprised by this news. I have this image in my head from a story I heard a while back. Some of my colleagues told me when they went to NAB in the past, the Avid booth was across the hall from the Apple booth. David Krall (then Avid CEO) was standing in his mostly empty booth staring over at the bustling action-packed Apple booth with his hands in his pockets.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I am just REALLY curious what their strategy will be. Because as an editor, I like the software. Well, when it is on a Mac. When I used it on a PC I only had $&*%&*#&$%*$ to say.

I know many many Avid customers who are saying that the Software version is a GREAT idea, but that the pricing for it is WAY wrong if they want to stay competitive. Especially when FCS comes not only with FCP, but all the other great applications bundled with it. Avid MC is ONLY the Media Composer software. Want a bundle? They offer one, for a LOT more.

They seem to be trying to relegate themselves to the larger post facilities and higher end productions, and that is a huge mistake, as many MANY companies are looking to cut costs, and DUMPING Avid in favor of FCP. Yes, they have dropped their prices, but not by enough. They are still the KING of media management, and still what I would prefer on several workflows, but they cannot survive if they stay as expensive as they are. Although it is a BID change from their old model, their current attitude is the same, and they are STILL arrogant, and it is costing them.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

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...and they are STILL arrogant, and it is costing them.

Amen, brother.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I get the feeling they want to do "SuperMeets," rather than trade shows. Can't argue with that. They work and brings the community together, if only for a short time. And much less cost then a city block booth at NAB.

Smaller, more targeted shows have always seemed a better idea to me than a NAB or IBC or some of these huge trade shows. Companies seem to go there because they feel they have to, or risk bloggers and users speculating about bankruptcy or downsizing.

Michael Horton
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>>risk bloggers and users speculating about bankruptcy or downsizing.
<<

That's what it makes you think, though. Do they not want to risk looking like an empty stall opposite Apple's busy FCS stall again this year? It would reflect badly on the company to see that at a trade show, especially to new players.

[...or maybe they've decided to update the interface to allow a more fluid edit experience instead of forcing us to cut in a ridiculously cumbersome and outdated manner]

Yup, I think that's in the cards, Ben. they got an earful from me, too. (I don't turn away Avid clients, but there it is, that dinosaur timeline.)

I get the feeling they want to do "SuperMeets," rather than trade shows.

Before Steve bayes became part of the FCP team, some time after he left Avid, he showed up at a Boston FCPUG event and joined us for the after hours hoopla (oh we are so pagan up here). I remember his poignant comment, "Geez, we don't have this sense of community in the Avid camp." I was touched.

In fact, I wrote Steve Jobs and said, "Hire this guy." Yeah. That's the ticket. And I told Steve to forget AT&T, buy out the contract and open the iPhone to the world. Yeah, that's what I said... did he listen? Did Jon Lovitz listen? Sure.

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:
Invoke your Favorites bin with Command-6 !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

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Yup, I think that's in the cards, Ben. they got an earful from me, too.

Wooohooo!

I still do a lot of work on Avid and when I do I find I have to come home fire up FCP and cut a little bit of something to calm my nerves like an alcoholic needs a shot of JD to balance out low alcohol beer!

Excuse me whilst I go get my fix...



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

This is a facinating thread...noone has come out and commented on Avids fiddliness...there always seems to be an extra step needed for simple tasks. I do like Avid software but where Avid is like driving a Rolls Royce, FCP is like driving a turbo powered E Type Jag.

And Rolls are for those you are needing some type of high priced snobbery. While the E-Jag is not cheap either, it goes like a scaled cat.

Can we all agree, possibly a little too late?

""noone has come out and commented on Avids fiddliness""

Oh Yeah! - Ben King quoted " still do a lot of work on Avid and when I do I find I have to come home fire up FCP and cut a little bit of something to calm my nerves like an alcoholic needs a shot of JD to balance out low alcohol beer!"

That says something!

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Can we all agree, possibly a little too late?

You only lose when you give up...



For instant answers to more than one hundred common FCP questions, check out the LAFCPUG FAQ Wiki here : [www.lafcpug.org]

They haven't had a stand at IBC for the past two years so it's not a complete surprise but whichever way they spin it, the announcement sends out the wrong signals. It says to me "we're shifting to a policy of aiming to keep existing (high-end/broadcast) customers rather than trying to attract new ones because know we can't compete against the low/mid range users who have been flocking in droves to FCP".

It's certainly a strategy but whether it's the right one is debatable. The problem for Avid is that even at the broadcast end there's a big shift to FCP too. Broadcast is no longer the safe haven that it once was, and it's a small (and shrinking) market in comparison to the number of 1 and 2 person shops out there.

I've always said that one of the reasons FCP has taken off so much is the iPod. Apple is cool. Avid is...corporate, old school and not cool. Missing the song and dance show at NAB won't help them build buzz about the Avid brand, whereas you can bet that Apple's presence at NAB will be the usual dizzying technologyfest it always is.

IMHO the only way Avid will be able to save their editing business is by getting real with the pricing and putting real innovation back into the products. I suspect they've left it too late.

Martin Baker
[www.digital-heaven.co.uk]
Unique plug-ins and tools for Apple Pro Apps

Great thread

I believe every year FCP gets bigger & Avid scrambles to hold on to it's current user base that's dwindling. I hear many stories about whole shops dumping Avids for FCP stations.

BTW...I just got an Orlando Avid User Group notice to come see FCP & shared storage...go figure.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I'd say that Avid is slowly dying from a terminal lack of foresight-alitis. They aren't coming back. It is very hard to get old brain to create new synoptic paths. They need a super geek fcp editor that is under 45 to make their R&D decisions. I bet they wont even consider it.

Instead they will continue to think that the way their product is, is the best just to spite the Steve Jobs of the world. Steve is a big kid this is why his company is so cool.

I have only used Avid for 2 projects and if you look closely at my hand you can see where they reattached the middle finger that flew off while using it.

They are too high who wants to spend that much money to have someone do non-anesthetic brain surgery.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

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This is a facinating thread...noone has come out and commented on Avids fiddliness...there always seems to be an extra step needed for simple tasks. I do like Avid software but where Avid is like driving a Rolls Royce, FCP is like driving a turbo powered E Type Jag.

One always in need of repair...

At one time the hardware to edit on a computer was very expensive. At that stage, you won't sell much software as it's tied to high end hardware, so the price of the software is expensive too.

Now hardware is very cheap, so should the software be too. If you've sold expensive stuff forever, it's very hard to drop your prices without annoying people, but if you don't drop the price, you don't expand your market share. These facts are acting like a "vice" on Avid. I'd love to see them break free and adopt a new way, with new affordable software, and give new improved competition to FCP so we can all benefit.

[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

CHuck, I have worked on Avid's on my last two jobs. The first, an old media Composer meridian, running on OS9. That was a blast from the past, and fairly stable...but lacked MANY things, and the Unity it was on, crashed weekly.

Now I am on a sparkly Avid Adrenaline on a PC, and editing with that is like swimming in molasses...and the unity crashes DAILY. I have NEVER had this many issues with FCP...never. And now that I am on a PC Avid, my key commands are ALL messed up.

Avid is a nice tool, but HARDLY stable...especially on a PC. The Mac Meridian one was stable, it was Unity (on a PC) that had issues.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

I agree with Graeme. Make Avid do something new and GREAT so that FCP has to run to catch up. The whole idea is to get software that makes our working lives easier, more interesting and more fun. Or, for some people, more profitable.

I'd also vote for the concept that Avid is less stable than FCP. People who are Avid centric though, don't seem to notice.

The shop I have produced for for the past three years is in the process of dumping nine AVIDs and replacing them all with shiny new FCP workstations. Guess they finally got the idea when they kept constantly needing to use my FCP/Kona 3 system to do conversions and other operations that none of the AVIDs could do or do as easily.

Keep in mind that I recommended that they do this a year and half ago but instead they bought a $90,000.00 Symphony Nitris and kept all of their G4 Xpress DV systems instead. Bad move.

Oh well, better late than never.

Dan