PC equivalent of "Final Cut Pro"? at DVinfo.net

Glen Evans · January 14th, 2003, 11:31 AM

Final Cut Pro is for Mac only right?

What is the PC equivalent?

Is there a demo download?

Thanks

Chris Hurd · January 14th, 2003, 11:56 AM

Howdy from Texas,

Final Cut Pro is indeed Mac-only, and probably the closest PC equivalent would be Avid Xpress DV 3.5. See http://www.avid.com for more info.

Ed Fiebke · January 14th, 2003, 12:44 PM

To be honest, I'm not familiar with other PC oriented DV editing programs. I can say that Vegas Video 3 is worth looking into. Additionally, there will soon be a new Vegas 4 program.

For more information regarding Sonic Foundry's Vegas Video 3:

http://www.sonicfoundry.com

Good luck with your search.

Ted

Bill Ravens · January 14th, 2003, 01:32 PM

Vegas Video 3 is beleived, by many, to be the best PC or MAC software NLE product on the market. For my money, it is...it has worked capably, simply, and reliably for me for over a year...no crashes, no lost files....and it's capabilities continue to grow with third party plug-ins. If you're working in DV, I don't think you can do better, and VV4 is promised to be even better.

...and, yes, a free demo is avilable from the Sonic Foundry website.

Richard Alvarez · January 14th, 2003, 04:29 PM

The "PC equivalant" of FCP would most closely be Avid XpressDV3.53. Both are suitable (and used) for actually cutting FILM.

Avid will be releasing a "free" version of XpressDV this summer. It will of course, be a limited edition, but it will be cross platform for Mac and Pc. A good way to learn the interface.

If Film is not going to be your medium then there are many NLE's for PC that have different strong points. YOu might post what your interests are - Long form? Short Form, Doucmentary? Narrative? Music Videos? Events?

Check some of the arguments on the board about "My NLE is better than your's," to get a sense of why people like the ones they have bought.
Regards

Jeff Donald · January 14th, 2003, 04:45 PM

This is the thread that Bill is referring to http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...&threadid=5622 That thread doesn't need a rehash so let's stick to new information for Glen.

Jeff

Ed Fiebke · January 15th, 2003, 02:44 AM

I just read much of the thread Jeff was referring to. . .

Made me smile! :)

(I learned a lot in the thread, though! Thanks!)

Cheers! :)

Ted

P. S. If I had my way, I'd own all of the software. I'm a software junky.

Martin Munthe · January 15th, 2003, 09:10 AM

As of now we have to revise this thread. Avid XDV, Vegas and others are really only equivalent to Final Cut Xpress. I'd say the only app that can do what FCP does is Premiere. That does not make many PC users happy.

Sure you can get all kinds of cool RT effects and stuff in many PC NLE's but remember it's all just DV. DV is fine to shoot but delivers poor prospects when editing. DV is so compressed that it deserves 1:1 compression editing. None of that is in DVX or Vegas.

Steve Leone · January 15th, 2003, 01:28 PM

I'd agree with parts of this post....Premiere is probably the closest in functionality to FCP...I happen to like premiere, its faster and easier to use than Avid, doesnt not use proprietary filing, and integrates really well with After Effects...I have been quite pleased with it, and I come from an Avid / Media 100 background ....
as far as compression is concerned, all digital video gets some compression in the camera as far as I know, mini DV getting the most at 5:1 / 4:1:1 / 25 mps, the same as DV Cam, and ideally, any digital footage will not get re-compressed in post. The way to avoid recompression is to stay with the inexpensive firewire(or more expensive SDI) capture products and avoid MJPG analog boards.

<<<<<<<As of now we have to revise this thread. Avid XDV, Vegas and others are really only equivalent to Final Cut Xpress. I'd say the only app that can do what FCP does is Premiere. That does not make many PC users happy.

Sure you can get all kinds of cool RT effects and stuff in many PC NLE's but remember it's all just DV. DV is fine to shoot but delivers poor prospects when editing. DV is so compressed that it deserves 1:1 compression editing. None of that is in DVX or Vegas.>>>>>>>>

K. Forman · January 15th, 2003, 02:11 PM

I like Premiere, and have used it for a few years now, However, it is still weak in several areas, including color correction tools. For those, I turn to the Canopus software that came with my DV Storm card.

I have never had the opportunity to use FCP. This is a shame, because I would love to try it out.
Keith

Jeff Donald · January 15th, 2003, 02:18 PM

Hey Keith,

Your near Orlando, aren't you? You should just stop in the Apple Store at the Millennia Mall and play. It never hurts to know what the competition is doing.

Jeff

Bill Ravens · January 15th, 2003, 02:49 PM

CQ....

The penultimate color correction for Premiere is Synthetic Aperture's Video Finesse. Best on the market.

Jeff Donald · January 15th, 2003, 03:04 PM

I agree, I find it better than the 3 way color corrector in FCP, just not as fast. On the Mac it works as a plugin to After Effects.

Jeff

Steve Leone · January 15th, 2003, 03:28 PM

Yes, I have tried the Video Finesse demo, and its a very nice product, very professional in its execution...Canopus Products work well, and are real time....In the meantime, After Effects can do some nice color correction, if I need it.....fortunately, I really only end up color correcting other peoples footage, and then only rarely....I am so damn good.....Muahahahahaha......

Joe Carney · January 15th, 2003, 05:15 PM

>>As of now we have to revise this thread. Avid XDV, Vegas and others are really only equivalent to Final Cut Xpress.<<

Vegas can work with any installed codec on the wintel platform, be it directshow or Quicktime plug-in. It currently does not have
3rd party HD support like FCP does, but that will change very soon. DV is the primary forte of Vegas, not the only one. Over at the cow, I've downloaded several quicktime codecs converted from the MAC platform (from onerivermedia), and used them in Vegas and After Effects. They were lossless 8bit,10bit and 16bit codecs. No problem at all.
Not as fast as DV either, but once again, no probleme using them.
These new quicktime codecs made it easy to render high quality animations from AE and pull them directly into the Vegas timeline for final polish and inclusion into final output.
I've done just that. None of that little test involved DV25 at any point.

You can render directly to Mpeg2 from the vegas timeline if you want to. VV currently uses the MainConcept Mpeg2 encoder included with the software at no extra charge. You can also render directly to Quicktime and share with your Mac friends if you want to. Or pull in quicktime files from a MAC as long as you have the same codec.

Vegas has never been only about DV25. It is comparable to FCP except in the HD side, but that will soon change too. In many areas it is superior, in a few it is not.

January 14th, 2003, 11:31 AM	#1
Glen Evans New Boot Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Jersey, UK Posts: 13	PC equivalent of "Final Cut Pro"? Final Cut Pro is for Mac only right? What is the PC equivalent? Is there a demo download? Thanks __________________ Glen Evans, Author. Recent short work. "How to get a Genuine College Degree in 5 days" download it FREE at http://www.ebookdata.com

January 14th, 2003, 11:56 AM	#2
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Howdy from Texas, Final Cut Pro is indeed Mac-only, and probably the closest PC equivalent would be Avid Xpress DV 3.5. See http://www.avid.com for more info. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

January 14th, 2003, 12:44 PM	#3
Ed Fiebke Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: New Lebanon, New York Posts: 240	Also look into Sonic Foundry's Vegas Video 3 To be honest, I'm not familiar with other PC oriented DV editing programs. I can say that Vegas Video 3 is worth looking into. Additionally, there will soon be a new Vegas 4 program. For more information regarding Sonic Foundry's Vegas Video 3: http://www.sonicfoundry.com Good luck with your search. Ted __________________ iMac Pro (3.2 GHz 8-Core Intel Xeon W ): OS X 10.15.6; 64 GBs RAM; Radeon Pro Vega 64X 16 GB graphics; 2 TB internal SSD; 3 external SSDs; MOTU 828ES

January 15th, 2003, 09:10 AM	#8
Martin Munthe Major Player Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 331	As of now we have to revise this thread. Avid XDV, Vegas and others are really only equivalent to Final Cut Xpress. I'd say the only app that can do what FCP does is Premiere. That does not make many PC users happy. Sure you can get all kinds of cool RT effects and stuff in many PC NLE's but remember it's all just DV. DV is fine to shoot but delivers poor prospects when editing. DV is so compressed that it deserves 1:1 compression editing. None of that is in DVX or Vegas. __________________ Martin Munthe VFX Supervisor/DP/Director

January 15th, 2003, 01:28 PM	#9
Steve Leone Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 116	FCP equiv I'd agree with parts of this post....Premiere is probably the closest in functionality to FCP...I happen to like premiere, its faster and easier to use than Avid, doesnt not use proprietary filing, and integrates really well with After Effects...I have been quite pleased with it, and I come from an Avid / Media 100 background .... as far as compression is concerned, all digital video gets some compression in the camera as far as I know, mini DV getting the most at 5:1 / 4:1:1 / 25 mps, the same as DV Cam, and ideally, any digital footage will not get re-compressed in post. The way to avoid recompression is to stay with the inexpensive firewire(or more expensive SDI) capture products and avoid MJPG analog boards. <<<<<<<As of now we have to revise this thread. Avid XDV, Vegas and others are really only equivalent to Final Cut Xpress. I'd say the only app that can do what FCP does is Premiere. That does not make many PC users happy. Sure you can get all kinds of cool RT effects and stuff in many PC NLE's but remember it's all just DV. DV is fine to shoot but delivers poor prospects when editing. DV is so compressed that it deserves 1:1 compression editing. None of that is in DVX or Vegas.>>>>>>>> __________________ Omens carry only as much weight as we choose to assign them.

January 14th, 2003, 01:32 PM	#4
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	Vegas Video 3 is beleived, by many, to be the best PC or MAC software NLE product on the market. For my money, it is...it has worked capably, simply, and reliably for me for over a year...no crashes, no lost files....and it's capabilities continue to grow with third party plug-ins. If you're working in DV, I don't think you can do better, and VV4 is promised to be even better. ...and, yes, a free demo is avilable from the Sonic Foundry website.

January 14th, 2003, 04:29 PM	#5
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	The "PC equivalant" of FCP would most closely be Avid XpressDV3.53. Both are suitable (and used) for actually cutting FILM. Avid will be releasing a "free" version of XpressDV this summer. It will of course, be a limited edition, but it will be cross platform for Mac and Pc. A good way to learn the interface. If Film is not going to be your medium then there are many NLE's for PC that have different strong points. YOu might post what your interests are - Long form? Short Form, Doucmentary? Narrative? Music Videos? Events? Check some of the arguments on the board about "My NLE is better than your's," to get a sense of why people like the ones they have bought. Regards

January 14th, 2003, 04:45 PM	#6
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	This is the thread that Bill is referring to http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...&threadid=5622 That thread doesn't need a rehash so let's stick to new information for Glen. Jeff

January 15th, 2003, 02:44 AM	#7
Ed Fiebke Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: New Lebanon, New York Posts: 240	I just read much of the thread Jeff was referring to. . . Made me smile! :) (I learned a lot in the thread, though! Thanks!) Cheers! :) Ted P. S. If I had my way, I'd own all of the software. I'm a software junky.

January 15th, 2003, 02:11 PM	#10
K. Forman Capt. Quirk Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Middle of the woods in Georgia Posts: 3,596	I like Premiere, and have used it for a few years now, However, it is still weak in several areas, including color correction tools. For those, I turn to the Canopus software that came with my DV Storm card. I have never had the opportunity to use FCP. This is a shame, because I would love to try it out. Keith

January 15th, 2003, 02:18 PM	#11
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	Hey Keith, Your near Orlando, aren't you? You should just stop in the Apple Store at the Millennia Mall and play. It never hurts to know what the competition is doing. Jeff

January 15th, 2003, 02:49 PM	#12
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	CQ.... The penultimate color correction for Premiere is Synthetic Aperture's Video Finesse. Best on the market.

January 15th, 2003, 03:04 PM	#13
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	I agree, I find it better than the 3 way color corrector in FCP, just not as fast. On the Mac it works as a plugin to After Effects. Jeff

January 15th, 2003, 03:28 PM	#14
Steve Leone Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 116	FCP equiv Yes, I have tried the Video Finesse demo, and its a very nice product, very professional in its execution...Canopus Products work well, and are real time....In the meantime, After Effects can do some nice color correction, if I need it.....fortunately, I really only end up color correcting other peoples footage, and then only rarely....I am so damn good.....Muahahahahaha...... __________________ Omens carry only as much weight as we choose to assign them.

January 15th, 2003, 05:15 PM	#15
Joe Carney Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Centreville Va Posts: 1,828	>>As of now we have to revise this thread. Avid XDV, Vegas and others are really only equivalent to Final Cut Xpress.<< Vegas can work with any installed codec on the wintel platform, be it directshow or Quicktime plug-in. It currently does not have 3rd party HD support like FCP does, but that will change very soon. DV is the primary forte of Vegas, not the only one. Over at the cow, I've downloaded several quicktime codecs converted from the MAC platform (from onerivermedia), and used them in Vegas and After Effects. They were lossless 8bit,10bit and 16bit codecs. No problem at all. Not as fast as DV either, but once again, no probleme using them. These new quicktime codecs made it easy to render high quality animations from AE and pull them directly into the Vegas timeline for final polish and inclusion into final output. I've done just that. None of that little test involved DV25 at any point. You can render directly to Mpeg2 from the vegas timeline if you want to. VV currently uses the MainConcept Mpeg2 encoder included with the software at no extra charge. You can also render directly to Quicktime and share with your Mac friends if you want to. Or pull in quicktime files from a MAC as long as you have the same codec. Vegas has never been only about DV25. It is comparable to FCP except in the HD side, but that will soon change too. In many areas it is superior, in a few it is not.