<<<-- Originally posted by Craig Jones : Michael, do you use the 3Prong color tools? I tried to talk them into an AE version but they weren't biting.

I covet the full-time vectorscope/waveform monitor that Avid and VV both have. Thankfully Premiere will recieve that shortly. -->>>


I don't use the 3Prong color tools. Just the basic colour correction tools in avid which allows u to adjust 3 levels of colour correction. Its pretty advanced as it is similar to the CC in avid symphony from what i read.

"For example can I do everything in Premiere Pro that I can in Avid and vice versa?"

I guess that will be a question only time will tell. I haven't used Avid yet, and the new Premiere hasn't hit the shelves yet. I have thought about downloading the Avid trial, but don't know how that would compare to the Pro versions.

Where can I download the Avid trial? I have looked on the Avid site and see no trial! Thanks!

Note, I've pruned this thread a bit by removing some one-line meta-discussions and as few minor ambers of almost-borderline nastiness. Thanks to all for keeping this civil... in the long run, these are all tools, each with their good points and bad. What's right for you may not be right for others and often there can be no clear cut case of one being better than the other, because it's such a personal, individual decision. Thanks again for a very fair and cordial discussion which in any other forum outside of DV Info would have devolved into a flame war. As it is, with only minor culling of a few bits of off taste, we're back on track here. Hope this helps,

I use Avid Xpress DV. it's a really strong and robust NLE. It's stable and it has strong media management abilities, and the best playback and realtime rendering in the field right now.

It has some solid transitions and titling tools, but it doesn't have any fancy compositiing tools, you'll have to use a 3rd party program for that (such as AE). It excells at long form cutting as it also has the best media management. You dont have to worry about virtual clips because all of that is handled internally. You can have multiple instances of any given asset and make changes to it that are seperate from the parent.

You can also easily migrate your product up and down the Avid family of products if your production needs higher end assistant.

Okay, as an AVID user, I will weigh in.

First of all, most AVID users seeem to hang out on the avid forum. www.avid.com if you want to talk to a lot of folks.

Second, most NLE's will allow you to do what you want... after a fashion. Some directly, some indirectly. It's a matter of understanding the interface and it's limitations.

Third, price point. AVID costs the same as FCP right now. It's poised for the release of AVID PRO coming out... in August I think. It will include some options that were previously only on the high end systems, and will interface with the MOJO Digital Nonlinnear Accelerator (if you want to pony up the extra bucks) for an awesome realtime machine capabale of editing uncompressed sdi.

AVID comes with a "third party" effects program... BORIS that fully integrates with the system.

Search the form for the phrase "learning curve" and you will find someone, somewhere complaining that "X" nle has a steep learning curve for THEM.

AVID ships a MAC and PC copy with every purchase, so at the moment... it is the most "portable" nle when it come to cross platform capability.

And finally, the most compelling reason to go with AVID... the reason I chose it to begin with... it is still the MOST USED interface in the industry, and still the best one for cutting film. IF you intend to actually cut film, or work within the industry, or transfer offline edits to higher end systems, AVID is the best choice for you.

IF you think you will NEVER need a frame accurate EDL for negative matchback, Doubt that you will ever have to work on or with a Symphony System, and are more comfortable with a different interface you have already mastered... Then it's probably not your best choice.

Regards

John & Richard,
Thanks for your replys. That has helped me a lot. I do have one other question though. How does Avid work with multiple-camera shoots? I know with Premiere there is a plugin called "Multi-cam". Is there any such thing with Avid that you know of? Or, even better yet, does Avid have something already in it that can be used for multi-camera projects? Thanks so much for your help!