PC Premier or MAC Final Cut? at DVinfo.net

Brian Jeffries · March 16th, 2010, 06:27 PM

I currently have a PC with Premier, but all the other students (I'm in a film production class) all hail MAC and Final Cut.
Are their some significant differences between the two that I should know about before I get heavy into Editing?

Should I even be worrying about what platform I am running?

Thanks,
Brian

Shaun Roemich · March 16th, 2010, 06:40 PM

The BIGGEST single issue is: do you want to be a freelance editor OR do you want to edit your own stuff? The market for FCP editors on a freelance basis is MUCH larger than Premiere editors.

If you are looking to edit your own stuff, stick with Premiere for now (because you said you already have it) until you have STORY editing down (as opposed to "which button do I push to do THIS...", which is what I call "technical" editing) and then reevaluate your needs/wants. It's a spendy buy in. Well worth it for me and I made that choice 11 years ago when my choices were AVID Media Composer for $40k or FCP and Mac for $8k. Premiere wasn't the same tool back then.

Brian Jeffries · March 17th, 2010, 12:15 AM

So in the future when I do have the money and some experience do you think the transition from Premiere to FCP will be fairly seemless? Or will be like picking up a computer for the first time? I am not worried about the transition from PC to MAC, to me I can use them both pretty seamlessly.

Greg Donovan · March 20th, 2010, 06:33 PM

Transistioning shouldn't be that much of a problem. I find the actual NLE's themselves to be very similar in use, while the packaged programs with each respective editing suite to be more different from each other.

Greg

Shaun Roemich · March 20th, 2010, 06:53 PM

Greg is pretty right on with that.

The idea here is to grasp editing CONCEPTS here that will be portable. The methodologies and contextual stuff will be the pinch point in the transition.

Imagine it as going from driving an '88 Ford Tempo automatic to a Formula One race car - the FUNDAMENTALS are the same (don't hit stuff, turn the wheel, push the brake or the accelerator...) but the BUTTONS and SWITCHES and performance are different and will take some getting used to.

Sareesh Sudhakaran · March 21st, 2010, 10:28 AM

premiere pro gives you the option of linking with photoshop, after effects, flash and encore. These are much better (actually they are the best) than what FCS has to offer. to get fcp timelines into after effects, you'll need another software.

Also, when you use FCP, you'll have to have everything transcoded into a mov wrapper, and the only option you have is Prores (which isn't anything to complain about but is limiting). Plus, you'll always have to use a mac and not a custom-made PC. After having used both FCP and PPro, I hardly find any difference in either, and whichever path you choose, you won't go wrong as long as you just stick to editing. If you want to do grading, compositing, motion graphics and various export options to flash, blu-ray and DVD, then go with Premiere.

Shaun Roemich · March 21st, 2010, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sareesh Sudhakaran

and the only option you have is Prores (which isn't anything to complain about but is limiting).

This is hardly accurate. There are MANY options within a .mov "wrapper", some of which are Mac only.

Martin Mayer · March 21st, 2010, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sareesh Sudhakaran

...If you want to do grading, compositing, motion graphics and various export options to flash, blu-ray and DVD, then go with Premiere.

This is hardly accurate either. Color, Motion, Cinema Tools, Soundtrack Pro, Compressor, DVD Studio Pro, etc, are all bundled with FCS. Blu-ray output, does, I concede, require tools external to FCS.

Sareesh Sudhakaran · March 22nd, 2010, 02:39 AM

motion, cinema tools, soundtrack pro can hardly be compared to after effects and audition. They are all good programs, just isn't good enough when compared with the scope of what Adobe has to offer - you forgot to mention photoshop and flash.

As far was the mov wrapper is concerned, I'm not very impressed with Apple's lame effort at trying to keep its customers to stick to macs. It does not really help with trying to send files to people with different systems, etc.

Both are good programs. No let me correct that, both Adobe and FCS are great programs...just that Adobe beats FCS hands down in price, compatibility, codecs and exporting options (flash) and not needing additional software to mix and match.

Dean Sensui · March 22nd, 2010, 03:08 PM

Personally, for editing I use FCP. Everyone else around me is doing the same. With a milliion FCP users it's relatively easy to collaborate with other editors. When it comes to exchanging projects with people who use PCs I haven't had a problem.

Moving an After Effects project from Mac to PC and back is easy, as long as both sides know what they're doing and develop a proper workflow. But that goes for just about any aspect of production regardless of platform.

For color correction and grading it's Color. For audio I'm using Soundtrack Pro. For compositing I'm using After Effects.

And, yes, Photoshop can't be beat. Same goes for Illustrator.

Nothing wrong with Quicktime except that it's not yet 64-bit native.

Flash is fairly universal but eventually HTML 5 is supposed to change that.

Jeff Anselmo · March 22nd, 2010, 07:38 PM

Hi Brian,

I was in film school back in '99-'00 and the school edited on Discrete (was that integrated by Vegas?), but most of my classmates edited on a Mac; so that's what I learned off of mostly.

Flashforward to '06 when me and my wife finally went into business for ourselves. We had a budget for production equipment including post stuff, so we went ahead and bought the Adobe products. So I had to learn Premiere Pro, and all the other stuff. (My wife is a wiz at Illustrator and Photoshop already, which she learned on a Mac :)

Continue to '09 and we get hired for a yearlong project for a nearby university. We get to use all their brand new equipment, including a brand new shiny Mac! I had to "re-learn" Final Cut (but they have a subscription to Lynda.com, which is a great learning resource, and I continue to use for Compressor, Motion, etc).

But the bottom line is: use what works for you. And, like Shaun said, if you're planning to be a full time editor, use the NLE that's being used most in the industry (whether it's Final Cut or Avid). It really wasn't that complicated switching from Final Cut to Premiere, and vice versa.

Good luck,

March 16th, 2010, 06:27 PM	#1
Brian Jeffries Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Southern California Posts: 31	PC Premier or MAC Final Cut? I currently have a PC with Premier, but all the other students (I'm in a film production class) all hail MAC and Final Cut. Are their some significant differences between the two that I should know about before I get heavy into Editing? Should I even be worrying about what platform I am running? Thanks, Brian

March 16th, 2010, 06:40 PM	#2
Shaun Roemich Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia (formerly Winnipeg, Manitoba) Canada Posts: 4,088	The BIGGEST single issue is: do you want to be a freelance editor OR do you want to edit your own stuff? The market for FCP editors on a freelance basis is MUCH larger than Premiere editors. If you are looking to edit your own stuff, stick with Premiere for now (because you said you already have it) until you have STORY editing down (as opposed to "which button do I push to do THIS...", which is what I call "technical" editing) and then reevaluate your needs/wants. It's a spendy buy in. Well worth it for me and I made that choice 11 years ago when my choices were AVID Media Composer for $40k or FCP and Mac for $8k. Premiere wasn't the same tool back then. __________________ Shaun C. Roemich Road Dog Media - Vancouver, BC - Videographer - Webcaster www.roaddogmedia.ca Blog: http://roaddogmedia.wordpress.com/

March 20th, 2010, 06:33 PM	#4
Greg Donovan Regular Crew Join Date: May 2009 Location: Sydney, NS, Canada Posts: 53	Transistioning shouldn't be that much of a problem. I find the actual NLE's themselves to be very similar in use, while the packaged programs with each respective editing suite to be more different from each other. Greg __________________ GL2 - Lowel DVcreator1 - Dell E6400 - CS4 Production Premium

March 20th, 2010, 06:53 PM	#5
Shaun Roemich Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia (formerly Winnipeg, Manitoba) Canada Posts: 4,088	Greg is pretty right on with that. The idea here is to grasp editing CONCEPTS here that will be portable. The methodologies and contextual stuff will be the pinch point in the transition. Imagine it as going from driving an '88 Ford Tempo automatic to a Formula One race car - the FUNDAMENTALS are the same (don't hit stuff, turn the wheel, push the brake or the accelerator...) but the BUTTONS and SWITCHES and performance are different and will take some getting used to. __________________ Shaun C. Roemich Road Dog Media - Vancouver, BC - Videographer - Webcaster www.roaddogmedia.ca Blog: http://roaddogmedia.wordpress.com/

March 21st, 2010, 10:28 AM	#6
Sareesh Sudhakaran Trustee Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 1,385	premiere pro gives you the option of linking with photoshop, after effects, flash and encore. These are much better (actually they are the best) than what FCS has to offer. to get fcp timelines into after effects, you'll need another software. Also, when you use FCP, you'll have to have everything transcoded into a mov wrapper, and the only option you have is Prores (which isn't anything to complain about but is limiting). Plus, you'll always have to use a mac and not a custom-made PC. After having used both FCP and PPro, I hardly find any difference in either, and whichever path you choose, you won't go wrong as long as you just stick to editing. If you want to do grading, compositing, motion graphics and various export options to flash, blu-ray and DVD, then go with Premiere. __________________ Get the Free Comprehensive Guide to Rigging ANY Camera - one guide to rig them all - DSLRs to the Arri Alexa.

March 17th, 2010, 12:15 AM	#3
Brian Jeffries Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Southern California Posts: 31	So in the future when I do have the money and some experience do you think the transition from Premiere to FCP will be fairly seemless? Or will be like picking up a computer for the first time? I am not worried about the transition from PC to MAC, to me I can use them both pretty seamlessly.

March 22nd, 2010, 02:39 AM	#9
Sareesh Sudhakaran Trustee Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 1,385	motion, cinema tools, soundtrack pro can hardly be compared to after effects and audition. They are all good programs, just isn't good enough when compared with the scope of what Adobe has to offer - you forgot to mention photoshop and flash. As far was the mov wrapper is concerned, I'm not very impressed with Apple's lame effort at trying to keep its customers to stick to macs. It does not really help with trying to send files to people with different systems, etc. Both are good programs. No let me correct that, both Adobe and FCS are great programs...just that Adobe beats FCS hands down in price, compatibility, codecs and exporting options (flash) and not needing additional software to mix and match. __________________ Get the Free Comprehensive Guide to Rigging ANY Camera - one guide to rig them all - DSLRs to the Arri Alexa.

March 22nd, 2010, 03:08 PM	#10
Dean Sensui Inner Circle Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 2,054	Personally, for editing I use FCP. Everyone else around me is doing the same. With a milliion FCP users it's relatively easy to collaborate with other editors. When it comes to exchanging projects with people who use PCs I haven't had a problem. Moving an After Effects project from Mac to PC and back is easy, as long as both sides know what they're doing and develop a proper workflow. But that goes for just about any aspect of production regardless of platform. For color correction and grading it's Color. For audio I'm using Soundtrack Pro. For compositing I'm using After Effects. And, yes, Photoshop can't be beat. Same goes for Illustrator. Nothing wrong with Quicktime except that it's not yet 64-bit native. Flash is fairly universal but eventually HTML 5 is supposed to change that. __________________ Dean Sensui Exec Producer, Hawaii Goes Fishing

March 22nd, 2010, 07:38 PM	#11
Jeff Anselmo Major Player Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: New Mexico Posts: 566	Hi Brian, I was in film school back in '99-'00 and the school edited on Discrete (was that integrated by Vegas?), but most of my classmates edited on a Mac; so that's what I learned off of mostly. Flashforward to '06 when me and my wife finally went into business for ourselves. We had a budget for production equipment including post stuff, so we went ahead and bought the Adobe products. So I had to learn Premiere Pro, and all the other stuff. (My wife is a wiz at Illustrator and Photoshop already, which she learned on a Mac :) Continue to '09 and we get hired for a yearlong project for a nearby university. We get to use all their brand new equipment, including a brand new shiny Mac! I had to "re-learn" Final Cut (but they have a subscription to Lynda.com, which is a great learning resource, and I continue to use for Compressor, Motion, etc). But the bottom line is: use what works for you. And, like Shaun said, if you're planning to be a full time editor, use the NLE that's being used most in the industry (whether it's Final Cut or Avid). It really wasn't that complicated switching from Final Cut to Premiere, and vice versa. Good luck, __________________ --JA