OT: advice on upgrades/workflow for 2014

Hey all, looking for advice on re-structuring our current setup for the most efficiency and flexibility for the next few years. What we have has worked for us so far but all of our gear is getting old now and with the impending "death" of FCP7 we're in a bit of a gray area; I'm not sure what to hold on to and what to upgrade.

Any thoughts/wishlists/ideas appreciated. Everything from minor upgrades to break the bank -- go nuts.

THE SETUP: one upgraded 2006 Mac Pro running 10.6, with 3TB SCSI Raid and Matrox MXO2 MAX, two Apple 23" monitors and Panasonic plasma TV. Three Macbook Pros running 10.8; two are older 2008 models that need new batteries, third is a newer model with Thunderbolt (the ONLY Thunderbolt Mac in the shop, and he doesn't edit!).

THE SOFTWARE: we've been a FCP7 shop for years, and we fear change. Have not tried X yet, nervous about the transition. Have dabbled in Premiere Pro but not sold on it, plus we only have one Adobe CC subscription between us so we have to work between CC, CS6 and CS5 versions (and CC won't run under 10.6 on the tower). No interest in learning AVID. I regularly use Red Giant plugins (Looks, Particular, etc.) and some from FX Factory. Also rely heavily on After Effects, Color, Photoshop and Compressor.

Part of our decision with NLEs moving forward will be based on what freelance hires will be familiar with and how easy it will be to swap projects. So far in Los Angeles it seems like most peeps know FCP7 and Avid, no?

THE WORKFLOW: mostly working with DVCPROHD and DSLR footage. No decks, all digital input and output; haven't captured or output to tape in years. That could change (see below) but for the most part the MXO2 is just used to preview out via HDMI and to compress H.264. I'm interested in shooting more 2K or 4K work, but only for the bump in quality and ability to reframe shots; otherwise we mostly deliver 1080 HD for the web.

THE WORK: industrials, EPK, web series and some commercials. We may be working on a couple TV series this year (one scripted, one reality) which would definitely change our workflow. We'll need more storage, plus extra workstations for Editors/AEs (rentals most likely). Would probably stay with FCP7 for those since that's what we we're all comfortable with (but what to do in the future?) Might use the MXO2 for tape delivery but taking a ProRes QT to a house with a HDCAM SR deck could be cheaper in the long run. Audio mixing and critical color correction work would most likely be outsourced.

TIA, and Happy New Year everybody!

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SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

What is it that's making you unhappy with Premiere? It could be tweaking some settings or workflow issues could clear up your reticence. If you are going to buy new software, it might as well be more CC licenses as FCPX or anything else.

Apart from that, if you don't want to go Avid, then maybe download a trial of FCPX and see how it runs and feels in your shop. Also, maybe check out Smoke - it's come a long way in recent years in terms of useability and pricing.

Jude Cotter Wrote:
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> What is it that's making you unhappy with
> Premiere? It could be tweaking some settings or
> workflow issues could clear up your reticence. If
> you are going to buy new software, it might as
> well be more CC licenses as FCPX or anything
> else.

If it was just the 2-3 of us in the shop doing all the work then I could see it, but I need to be able to exchange files with freelancers sometimes and I have yet to meet someone as well-versed in Premiere as FCP7. Doing a new TV show on an untested (for us) platform is scary. And we'd have to buy another CC license to get the 4 seats needed for all the machines, so it's $600/year for that software versus $900 flat for 3 copies of FCPX. And I say 3 because the Mac Pro only supports up to 10.7 Lion and the latest 10.1 update of X only runs on 10.9 Mavericks. Every way I turn I'm looking at major new hardware or software costs.

> Apart from that, if you don't want to go Avid,
> then maybe download a trial of FCPX and see how it
> runs and feels in your shop. Also, maybe check out
> Smoke - it's come a long way in recent years in
> terms of useability and pricing.

I do want to try X but now I need to throw Mavericks on my laptop to even look at it, and it doesn't solve my tower problem (see above). And Smoke feels just like Avid to me, in the sense that I would have to learn wholly unfamiliar software...

_______________________________________
SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

You can also get the single app license of Premiere for cheaper. So you can have one edit machine and one edit/finishing machine.



www.strypesinpost.com

I'd say that Premiere is gaining ground quickly in terms of userbase. Like you say, whichever way you turn you have to invest some money, so your choices are limited, but you have to go somewhere eventually.

You could try asking your freelancers what they are comfortable with and go with that?

I've personally cut probably about 60 or 70 spots on Premiere CC now, from broadcast to TVCs to corporates to promos and I've found the system to be pretty solid. Also, in CC you can set the keyboard shortcuts to the FCP7 set, so your FCP freelancers can work without much training. AND, Premiere will open FCP7 XMLs, so you get to retain your entire back catalog of projects.

FCPX can also do this with a plug in purchase, but I have no experience with this, so someone else would have to talk about how that works.

John,

Why not buy a cheap USB drive and install Mavericks and FCPX there for a trial.

I've also heard of several people who are happy with maxed out Mac minis - but depends on the jobs.

-Andreas

Some workflow tools for FCP [www.spherico.com]
TitleExchange -- juggle titles within FCS, FCPX and many other apps.
[www.spherico.com]

Thanks all!

I'm thinking a test drive of X is in order soon, and I have one extra machine at home I can put Mavericks on to test it with. Do you guys think FCP X will run OK an old dual-core iMac? Otherwise I'll need to upgrade a laptop to throw it on there…

I think it's obvious that my tower is the thing holding me back due to it's age and limitations. We don't have the budget for the latest MacPro but I think I'll look for for a used 2011-12 model and max out the RAM. That way I can run 7, X, and CC at the same time until we decide which NLE to stick with.

I don't think we're ready to commit to Thunderbolt RAIDs yet either (no guarantee that everyone has that plug, freelancer or otherwise) so I need to stick with eSATA/SCSI solutions for the time being, so best to stick with a tower that still has PCIe slots. I'm also leaning towards ditching the MXO2 for a Blackmagic card for basic monitoring over HDMI; that will also give me the option to test out Resolve for color correction down the line.

JVK

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SCQT! Self-contained QuickTime ? pass it on!

[ No interest in learning AVID. ]

Why not? It's the elephant in the room. Everybody should know Avid basics. Those who use Avid appreciate its commitment to continuity; thus, people like me who trained on it in 1994 can hop back on in 2014, with but a day's warmup and a look at a few Lynda.com video tutorials, provided you get used to the narrator's voice.

Which is how I'm learning Premiere Pro - lol.

Avid Media Composer 7 has a pricing today at US$999.00. And no more dongles.

- Loren

Today's FCP 7 keytips:
Copy clip Attributes with Command-C
Paste selected Attributes with Option-V
Remove selected Attributes with Command-Option-V !

Your Final Cut Studio KeyGuide™ Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

Jude Cotter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also, in CC you can set the
> keyboard shortcuts to the FCP7 set, so your FCP
> freelancers can work without much training. AND,
> Premiere will open FCP7 XMLs, so you get to retain
> your entire back catalog of projects.
>
Very true!
We're going through the transition FCP to PPro. Most editors were afraid to have to learn to use a totally new tool.
The reality is that once you load the FCP keyboard layout all you have to do is keep thinking FCP and you'll be able to do 90% of what you want to do. For the remaining 10%, a quick Google search will give you the answers.