Former Premiere 6 and AVID Xpress DV 3 user

Togotoon wrote on 7/18/2002, 2:25 PM
Hi,

Just joined the SF family with my first trial of VV3.0. I must say that I will have to learn it, but it seems as though it can handle professional work with the control features I need. I have been very frustrated with Premiere lately because of what it lacks in controls as well as workflow comfort. I played with AVID XPress DV 3 and almost jumped out of my office window in frustration. $2500.00 for that headache!!! You have got to be kidding! I don't see what makes that program any more professional than most of the NLE's out there besides the price and over-inflated file size storage. Those OMFI files are killers!
Anyhow,..I will mess with VV3 this weekend and come back with a verdict(not that my word means anything anyway)
Listen,..I know Premiere has the benefit of all of those juicy plug in filters and transitions,...but in the professional's eye, they are considered pretty cheesy and reserved for wedding videos or family reunions. There are some nice ones too though and I will no doubt miss them, but I hope VV will have similar plug ins in the future as well as an open plug in architecture to allow for Premiere plug ins too.
Features that I use the most are slow mo, PIP, and mattes. Features I want to use the most now are ones that I can layer on top of one another. Premiere does not allow for this. Avid does, but it is not very intuitive...

Done,
TD

Comments

EW wrote on 7/18/2002, 2:31 PM
"Features that I use the most are slow mo, PIP, and mattes. Features I want to use the most now are ones that I can layer on top of one another. Premiere does not allow for this. Avid does, but it is not very intuitive..."

Vegas can do all of this very easily and much, much more. It can do PIP, slo/fast motion, chromakeying and complex layering/compositing.

HPV wrote on 7/18/2002, 2:35 PM
Hang on, you're going to have a great weekend messing with Vegas. Very easy to use, but very deep at the same time. Have fun and be sure to ask questions here.

Craig H.
Togotoon wrote on 7/18/2002, 3:30 PM
Thanks!! I do look forward to checking it all out. I think I may have found a home!!
I hope it's not too hard to add filter FX to just certain frames of a clip as opposed to just being allowed to slap it on an entire clip.
jetdv wrote on 7/18/2002, 3:35 PM
"they are considered pretty cheesy and reserved for wedding videos or family reunions"

Please don't relegate ALL wedding videographers to those using "cheesy" transitions/tools. Yes, there are many wedding videographers that use these effects. However, Professional Videographers use what you indicated - cuts, dissolves, slo-mo, pips. Don't classify a style of event videographer to the cheesy category.
EW wrote on 7/18/2002, 3:40 PM
"I hope it's not too hard to add filter FX to just certain frames of a clip as opposed to just being allowed to slap it on an entire clip."

Easy, use keyframes.
fuzzzzy wrote on 7/18/2002, 3:50 PM
Hi ,
One thing I'm trying to find out from the AVID'S web page is whether it's possible to show the actual scene in the timeline ie. the actual picture frames of a clip?

All I seem to see is the two bars in the timeline ?
fuzzzzy
HPV wrote on 7/18/2002, 5:13 PM
Keyframes will do what you are looking for. But know that a fx/filter set to a "none" value will still render. If you use the split clip/event feature (S key), you can apply the filter to just a part/parts of an event. The other parts of the clip won't need to render if there are no other adjustments to them and you're going back out to DV tape.
Is sure is hard to look at the other NLE interfaces and not laugh after using Vegas Video. In a class all it's own in so many ways.

Craig H.
Togotoon wrote on 7/19/2002, 10:56 AM
First of all, Jet,

My apologies, You are right. I should have clearly stated that those cheesy effects are reserved for 99.9% of all wedding videos and reunion specials. But NOT 100% "all"! There are always a few that seem to have the knack for when and when not to use certain effects. You are obviously one of the few. This indeed should make you a rare breed and much in demand! Congrats!!

Secondly, Fuzzzz,

All I can say is best of luck with AVID! I could never get the program to work in a sensible manner and for close to $3,000.00, my thought is that program should have danced and read me bedtime stories!! It failed on all accounts! Thank goodness, all I had was a demo copy from my brother. For more info,...try here: http://www.creativecow.net/index.php and check out the AVID forum.



fuzzzzy wrote on 7/19/2002, 12:58 PM
Hi,
thanks, for the reply,
No, I don't think I will get Avid, but wanted to know whether it's possible to show the actual scene in the timeline ie. the actual picture frames of a clip?

All I can see are two bars in the screenshots on avid's web page

fuzzzzy
seeker wrote on 7/19/2002, 10:03 PM
Todd,

"All I can say is best of luck with AVID! I could never get the program to work in a sensible manner and for close to $3,000.00, my thought is that program should have danced and read me bedtime stories!!"

Perhaps there has been a recent price reduction on Avid. Their site lists Avid Xpress DV Version 3.5 at $1699. For more info, click on:

http://www.avid.com/products/xpressdv/index.asp

-- Burton --