Stability: FCP V.S. Premiere CS3
 

Hi,

I've been on a Windows platform for years and I just bought a MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro.

I needed a new computer and wanted to be able to use the new Matrox MXO2.

I bought the Adobe suite for my Mac as that's what I've been using on the Windows side.

However, Premiere Pro will crash, just quit at least 2 times or more a day. I'll click on something, get the 'beach ball' and bye bye Premiere.

I'm seriously thinking about Final Cut, but mostly for editing as After Effects does stuff I can't do in Motion.

How stable is FCP? Does it just up and quit on you too?

My Mac Pro is a brand new dual quad core 3.0ghz with 8gb of ram and a RAID setup for my video storage.

Thanks,

Jim

Jim.
I've used Premiere for quite some time now (since Premiere 5). But after using FCP for the last couple years, I have to admit that FCP is a more mature program and acts up less frequently than Premiere. Please understand that I don't believe that any NLE is "crash-free". There are only ones that crash less often.

One thing that has been expressed to me, is that even though Premiere can run on Macs, it is certainly less stable than it's Windows-based counterpart.

Well, I don't want to turn this into a platform war but I've been using FCP since version 1.0 on Mac OS 8.6. With a "normal" system (without a slew of 3rd party hardware), I've found MOST releases to be quite stable. However, aftermarket I/O interfaces and the like CAN cause conflicts just like with any system. AJA Kona cards have been discussed as SOMETIMES unstable as have a few other devices. I've been crash free on my FCP 6.0.3 system now for over 6 months. KNOCK ON WOOD! My browser is FAR more prone to crashing than my NLE right now.

Just my 2 cents...

PS. Throw LOTS of memory at FCP and you'll be rewarded.

OT: Matrox MX02
 

Hey, whats your opinion on the MX02? Worth the cost? whats are its best bits?

James,

The stability of any NLE really has more to do with the overall stability of the OS it lives on rather than the application itself.

FCP like any other application will fail if it's living on an OS that's not routinely maintained and optimized for the task. Having said that, there will always be those odd situations where the app might become confused or overloaded and just "give up". This is one reason why constantly saving the project and having an archive backup of any current project is always a good methodology for keeping out of trouble.

Well, I would expect my OS to be VERY stable at this point as I have a brand new Mac Pro, less than 2-weeks old AND I only have the Adobe suite loaded on it.

I will say I am using the Cineform codec, so that could be part of the problem. I'll have to edit something with my native EX1 files to see if that's the issue. I doubt it, but who knows.

I do know that guys complain they can't edit any feature-length stuff on Premiere while I have friend who have done almost 2-hours worth of show in FCP without a hitch.

FCP is very stable in most set-ups. I can edit for months with a crash although sometimes it pays to just quit the program after a few hours and immediately reopen it. Clears up the RAM. The only times I've had a crash has been after a really long day of editing and the program has been open the whole time. Your set-up should provide a relatively crash free experience with FCP although as others have said, third party add-ons can be a cause for instability. Also research the FCP protocol for EX1 files to see if the way the program deals with them is acceptable for you.

FCP is good with long form projects and it interfaces well with After Effects. That's the combo I use as I can't get Motion to do the things I need.

Regarding memory: I try not to open and close applications (like my browser, mail, Photoshop, Toast etc) while editing. I open what I need and try to keep everything open for the duration of the edit. It's only my OPINION, but I'm not sure that the OS completely reallocates memory that was used by an application that I just closed, resulting in fragmented memory.