Hi all,

I'm looking for a video editing application that will allow me to do a
range of effects, like blue/greenscreen effects, frame by frame
editing, lighting and special effects, etc. iMovie just doesn't cut
it, but I'm not sure which is the preferred way to go since many of
the products out there cost as much as $1000.

At this point I'm looking at the following apps:
Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5
Adobe After Effects 6.5
Apple Final Cut Pro
.... any others I'm missing?

I'd eventually like to learn the program I go with well enough to
throw together nicely done videos with some really groovy effects, but
again -- not having any experience with any of these programs I'm not
sure which to go with.

I have worked with Premier on Windows in the past, but since I've gone
Mac last year I'm wanting to stay with something Mac compliant. Video
will be introduced into the Mac via my DV camera.

Thanks for any assistance or help,

Sam

In article <b8d0e42e.0410061139.18e5bedf@posting.google.com>, Alex
<samalex@gmail.com> wrote:

Premiere for Mac is a dead horse (Adobe has announced discontinuation).
Final Cut Pro or Express would be good for what you want.

--
Spenser

FCP will do keying but has limited resources for it. After Effects is better
for fx and keying etc.. But you'll find thatyou need both an FX app and an
editor. On the lowly mac there are but two choices I believe. AVID and Final
Crutch.


"Alex" <samalex@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:b8d0e42e.0410061139.18e5bedf@posting.google.c om...

Just to give you a heads-up, Premiere Pro is Windows only.

"Alex" <samalex@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:b8d0e42e.0410061139.18e5bedf@posting.google.c om...

In article <b8d0e42e.0410061139.18e5bedf@posting.google.com>,
samalex@gmail.com (Alex) wrote:

Final Cut Express

On Wed, 06 Oct 2004 19:28:10 -0700, Steve Hix
<sehix@NOSPAMspeakeasy.netINVALID> wrote:

Avoid Final Cut at all cost. It caused me a major headache again today


For those who don't believe me try the following simple exercise:

Start FCP 4.5HD
Capture some vid in offline resolution (to save space on a full disk)
Synch some audio to it
Do an insert of your audio only, back to tape.

Now, that is fun (((

(n.b. you can't do inserts via firewire by the way, I am using a
Decklink card).

cheers

-martin-

--
Can the terror of spam be included in the war on terror?

"Martin Heffels" <tguei221@handbag.com> wrote in message
news:600am0hda6gr8b5d227d02qun3fe4m43ga@4ax.com...
Our FCP setup simply devolved into a mess that is just sitting... Would NOT
export to tape without crashing.. And on and on.. I am cutting with Premiere
Pro and even with a few quirks it is so very much faster... a pleasure
actually..

On Thu, 07 Oct 2004 16:42:06 GMT, "a-e-i-o-u-" <joseft@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

Hmmm, it can be worse then what I have to sit through then

For standard home-user work, I don't think FCP is too bad, so I don't
want to write it off completely. If the OP falls into that category,
I think he's better off then getting AVID because the user-interface
is rather intimidating for a novice. FCP looks a bit more familiar.

cheers

-martin-

--
Can the terror of spam be included in the war on terror?

"Martin Heffels" <tguei221@handbag.com> wrote in message
newshcbm0hb3ogs68uv1bc1tuitf2ipc7407b@4ax.com...
Agreeed.. and there are enough people actually getting work done on it.. But
mine is NG

samalex@gmail.com (Alex) wrote in message news:<b8d0e42e.0410061139.18e5bedf@posting.google. com>...


Hi Sam,

I have experience with both the Avid and Final Cut Pro, and I find
both of them good and flexible enough. FCP is better for editing Audio
I think, you can play around with the wave file more directly.
However, $$ is a serious issue... They both cost over $1000. But if
you want to do this commercially, it will pay back, and it is
definitely an advantage to have your own equipment.

If you are not thinking about commercial usage for now, and if you are
computer savvy, there are ever more FREE things available for Linux.
It is really a great alternative market, the graphics programs are
already very advanced, and video is catching up. And you can install
that platform on a Mac.

Iguana.

Martin Heffels <tguei221@handbag.com> wrote:

Just because you have trouble with that particular sequence is not
really a reason to say FCP is junk.

I have used it daily for ages, and produced several commercial videos
using FCP ever since version 1 (these are community documentaries plus
commercial how-to craft videos we sell). Each version of FCP has been
better than the last. V1 was a real pain, but the current HD is just
downright excellent.

Disk space is so cheap that I never bother with offline resolution.
That was a big issue back in the 90's. In 1996 I had a bank of size 3GB
drives with my Avid Composer. That darn stack cost me $20K and only had
18GB storage!

Now I can get a 250GB drive for $300. At 14GB/hr, that means one of
those drives can handle about 18 hours of video. I just loaded up my G4
with 4 internal drives, and then added an external one for some archive
stuff I want always available.

Digitial video takes disk space and it takes RAM. If you don't have
both of those, there isn't a video editing package out there that will
make you happy.

iga <iguanacz@wp.pl> wrote:

For that matter, iMovie and iDVD are free on the Mac. If not thinking
commercial, then those might do.

A step up is Final Cut Express. Around $400 if I remember correctly.

Or go with the full blown Final Cut Pro HD. $1000 and worth every penny
if you are into serious video editing.

btw, I had an Avid Composer that I paid $90K for in 1996. I sold it for
$20K when I heard Final Cut Pro had come out. FCP version 1 was a bit
of a disappointment, but that program has gotten rapidly better and now
outshines anything I could ever do with the Avid at 1/90 the price.

And yes, I know I am comparing 10 year old Avid with a new FCP. Just
noting how far video editing has come in the last 10 years. Back then I
was the only kid on the block with a video setup. Now my 12 year old
nephew has one. :-)

"Burt Johnson" <burt@mindstorm-inc.com> wrote in message
news:1glo5sa.1ni9n66bj8754N%burt@mindstorm-inc.com...

It isn't junk it's shit. Go to the Apple forums to see how many people can't
even keep the latest version running! There's many threads with people who's
systmes crash repeatedly and can't even output to firewire. Ours sits idle
until someone who has a lot of time wants to fuck with it. But even if they
did.. we'll have to wait for the airheads at Apple to release new versions
of both the OS and FCP. 10.3.5 is fatal for FCP. How funny is that? The same
company makes both the OS and the app. Their failures at Apple for sure.






It is a downright failure. A tru piece of unfinished shit.

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 06:32:17 GMT, burt@mindstorm-inc.com (Burt
Johnson) wrote:

It's my opinion that it is a piece of junk. You are happy to use it,
without problems. On ya mate! I constantly run into problems. And, ask
a-e-i-o-u, aka nappy. He can tell you a story or two.

And I found V3 a pain, so am glad I have never even been close to V1.

It is still an issue, especially in education, like in my case, when
the academic year comes to and end. No more money, and I wish I could
buy a small RAID because we recently switched to a Decklink-card.

I know

-martin-

--
Can the terror of spam be included in the war on terror?