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Xaaron Swiftblade · Jul 3, 2003, 05:06 PM

I plan on buying my first mac (1.6ghz G5 i hope) and with it editing software. I'm currently in film school so I get great deals on software, but since money is tight regardless, I'm carefully considering what to get. Now I realize FCP is better than Premiere, but for the same price the Adobe Digital Video Collection offers, Photoshop, Illustrator, AFTER EFFECTS, and of course Premiere.

So I guess what I'm asking is what exactly does FCP4 have over Premiere 6.5 (I've worked with FCP3 only briefly, and a fair amount on Premiere 6.0) and what would you do in a similar situation?

Oh, and one other question: Premiere offers video track 1a and 1b, but I've heard this is considered more ameteurish and none of the higher end editing suites seem to offer this. Why is this?

Thanx in advance,
XSwift

willab · Jul 4, 2003, 09:19 PM

I am not a proffesional video editor, but I have used both. I prefer FCP. It has soundtrack and Livetype both great pieces of software. Livetype has great text effects and Soundtrack is great for making background music. I know someone who is a professional editor and he just got a new system. He uses FCP4. He said that it is the industry standard. I just use Photoshop Elements for image editing and I've been very happy.

Hydra · Jul 4, 2003, 10:03 PM

I like the suggestion above to go with FCP and PS elements (I've seen is under $40 occasionally and it gives you all the features most pro's even use except for some really high end stuff). For video work elements should be adequate. FCP 4 now offers Live Type which is far more than just a titling app. It really impresses me a great deal. Soundtrack is a pretty good loop generator for music. These two things alone in FCP4 make it a good value. Premiere is weaker than FCP and slower too.

FCP has more compositing built right in so you really don't need After Effects. But in all fairness AE is more powerful than FCP in this regard. Be careful with the Adobe education package - I was talking with a DV prof I know and he was telling me that the Adobe has some limits on it's educational packages ( like some plugin and whatnot don't work). This is second hand info so check it out as I'm not sure about the validity of it.

The ed version of FCP is exactly the same as the retail version - no difference I know of except the license agreement.

I am only an amateur hack who likes doing DV stuff for fun and I shelled out the bucks for FCP a few years ago because iMovie was too simple for what I wanted. Version 2-3 were not all that much different but I think 4 is a huge leap. Just keep in mind that to install FCP 4 and all it's media files requires almost 16 GB (yes GIGA). It comes with around 4GB of royalty free loops and around 10GB of textures and backgrounds ( think digital juice) that work with LiveType. If you had to go buy all that stuff it wouldn't be cheap.

Hope this helps a bit.

-Jerry C.

Axo1ot1 · Jul 4, 2003, 10:41 PM

The major advantage of FCP is its scalability. FCP 4 can edit everything from crappy movie files you downloaded off the Internet all the way up to film. With some of the higher end formats it needs the help of a PCI card (e.g. Cin�Wave). Anyways, if you're planning to be doing DV the only advantage FCP really has on Premier is its easier to learn/use.

FCP can also use a lot of AE plugins naitively.

subego · Jul 5, 2003, 01:38 PM

Originally posted by Xaaron Swiftblade:
Oh, and one other question: Premiere offers video track 1a and 1b, but I've heard this is considered more ameteurish and none of the higher end editing suites seem to offer this. Why is this?

Am I the only one who finds the 1a/1b setup in Premiere way more intuitive when it comes to setting up transitions?

I am also completely confused by FCP's default to a transition anchored in the center. Is this useful to people? I could see it being a time saver if you don't really care about precision, but isn't where a transition starts and ends more important than where its middle is?

Other than these (personal) issues, FCP shellacs Premiere.

Axo1ot1 · Jul 5, 2003, 05:39 PM

Originally posted by subego:
I am also completely confused by FCP's default to a transition anchored in the center. Is this useful to people? I could see it being a time saver if you don't really care about precision, but isn't where a transition starts and ends more important than where its middle is?

Double click the transition and fin tune it in the viewer.

hmurchison2001 · Jul 5, 2003, 05:41 PM

If you're talking about the Academic Digital Video bundle. Get it. You're going to need Photoshop and AE regardless. Illustrator is ok and Premiere has no momentum going for it. But it could get you started until you can grab the Academic FCP4. The new features of FCP like RT Extreme, built in Cinema Tools, Compresser, Live Type and Soundtrack are useable features that will pay off for you. Good luck.

subego · Jul 6, 2003, 03:02 AM

Originally posted by Axo1ot1:
Double click the transition and fin tune it in the viewer.

I'm not confused about how to use it (more or less), I'm confused about why it's so sucky.

Xaaron Swiftblade · Jul 6, 2003, 10:27 AM

As far as photoshop is concerned, I'm not too worried bout getting that program, the digi video collection is really only a consideration because After Effects seem to be very important. I plan on concentrating on post production, so I'd assume both a good editing and compositing suite need to be learned.

But it seems the overall concensus is FCP is better and to get photoshop/ae as an after thought

Now the question is, who wants to give me 'donations' to help buy all this crap?

Hydra · Jul 7, 2003, 02:08 PM

I think Adobe may have just made you decision a little easier if you want to stay on the Mac platform. I think Adobe dropping Premiere for the Mac is not only an admission of lost sales to FCP but also it may show that they may think its better too IMHO. The funny thing is Avid is bringing more and more of its products to the Mac seemingly unafraid to go head to head with FCP or maybe they haven't heard of FCP yet.

Adobe should just try to make a more competitive product and shut up.

-Jerry C.

Xaaron Swiftblade · Jul 7, 2003, 05:48 PM

Yeah I just read about them dropping the new version of premiere from mac. I'm glad AE and Photoshop are staying with mac, but it worries me as to 'how long' adobe's going to at all.

Axo1ot1 · Jul 7, 2003, 06:43 PM

Adobe will stick with those products as long as they're priftable, and that means Premier just wasn't competing with FCP.