I'VE HAD MY FAIR SHARE OF FINAL CUT PRO PAIN

Each and every year, I have people coming in to my suite with a pile of tapes, a FireWire drive and a panicked look on their face. It's the same story every time. They were cutting a show on FCP and it bugged out so bad they couldn't take it anymore or they began to fear meeting their deadline. I'm always tickled to pick up the pieces in a situation like that and help someone finish their project. FCP is a good editing application all in all, but the endless quirks and workarounds are maddening when a deadline looms.

FOR THE COST, FCP IS A STEAL

But you get what you pay for. Avid Xpress Pro costs a little more than FCP, but it's also better... a lot better. Media Composer carries a steeper price tag than both, but you are getting a product with twenty years of development behind it. A product that has been tweaked and changed over the years to fit the ever changing needs of the editing community. Money is the most consistent drum the FCP user will bang. Money is a huge factor of course, but take that factor out of the equation for a moment and then compare the two products. After truly doing so, it becomes very obvious that Avid is the better option.

AVID STREAMLINES THE WORKFLOW OF ANY EDITOR

So the deficiencies in the FCP platform lie not so much in its feature set, but rather in its approach to workflow, collaboration and project management. In this age of collaborative post-production environments, it is not enough to be able to perform a task on one system. Non-linear editing systems should have the ability to work in a collaborative environment seamlessly, and not have to worry about issues when it comes to moving or sharing media and projects. With the inclusion of battle tested shared storage and asset management systems, Avid’s advantage becomes even more apparent.

For more real world experiences, please refer to the Testimonials section.

If you would like another persons take on the differences between FCP and Avid, check this website out.

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