Final Cut Pro X= Fail

A laymen’s example of why Video Pros are so upset

Much has been made of the new Final Cut Pro X release. (Some may say much ado about nothing) Video professionals are very angry at what FCPX doesn’t do and its potential impact on the end of Final Cut Pro as a professional editing tool.

To understand the technical aspects of everything and why it’s got the film community all fired up, you can read a great piece by Richard Harrington
http://www.richardharringtonblog.com/files/fcpx_response.php

This goes into incredible detail and explains things far better than I ever could.

Or there's this article by Jan Ozer and Larry Jordan on the pro and con arguments of the release

http://www.onlinevideo.net/2011/07/is-final-cut-pro-x-ready-for-professional-use/

But to hear it in terms that most people can understand and identify with, read on.

First a disclaimer:
I consider myself a video production professional. Editing and encoding video is part of my job. My video work is in the corporate arena editing mostly live event recordings and short form productions. I don’t use the same work flow as long form dramatic or documentary filmmakers and don’t have to deal with the complexities that are being referenced in the various posts around the web. For that matter, I don't really use Final Cut Pro. I use Adobe Premiere CS4 as my editing tool of choice. However, I have used Final Cut Pro occasionally and I like it. Regardless of all that, I can completely understand why everyone is so upset.


“So, big deal!” you say. “These guys are making too much out of this.”

"Why can’t they just keep using the old version?”

These are some of the things being thrown around the web. In an effort to promote a better understanding of both sides, especially for those who may not know a bin from a container, I submit a Laymen’s example of what the FCPX debacle feels like- the fictional upgrade to a famous word processing program.

(The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Namely me, so I hopefully don't get sued.)

MegaCorp releases Wordy 2012!

That’s great, right? New features. Better performance. I’ll be able to do things that I couldn’t do in that old "Whole Printing Press 2010." Life is good.

But wait a minute. “Wordy 2012?” What happened to Spreadsheety, SlideThingy, and Vizitally?

MegaCorp:
Oh, didn’t you hear? They’re being "phased out.” (Already been discontinued)

Huh. Well at least I can do all the usual things with Wordy, like create Wordy documents, use it to publish my blog, output to HTML files, XML files, export to Spreadsheety, SlideThingy, Vizitally, maybe even PortaDocForever.

Oh, no. You can’t do all that anymore. You can only create Wordy Docs (the new docxy files only) and plain text.

Oh, OK. Well then I guess I’ll just use my old Whole Printing Press 2010 and then import it into Wordy 2012.

Nope. Can’t do that. Wordy 2012 won’t open old WPP 2010 files.

So how can I create SpreadSheety from my new Wordy docs or import them into SlideThingy?

Oh that’s easy. You just have to use the Wordo Converter.

OK, great. Where is that located on the toolbar? I haven’t found it yet.

Well, do you have any Wordo converters on your system?

What???

Wordo is a third party tool that integrates with Wordy 2012 and legacy Whole Printing Press 2010. It allows you the flexibility of transfering files between Wordy 2012 and Speadsheety or SlideThingy. It’s available from the Wordo company for $200 as an upgrade or $500 for new users.

Are you kidding?!!

No. But don’t worry we’re working on restoring some of those functionalities in upcoming releases. We know it’s different, but we think that once you learn it, you’ll really love the new version...

(End Scene)

OK. Throw in a parody of no longer being able to output video signals from your computer to pro grade video monitors or a parody about taking away the server infrastructure to manage all your video files and you kind of get the idea.

It’s not just a “Who Moved My Cheese?” feeling from video professionals. It’s the feeling of betrayal.

The realization that the company that you trusted -after you stood by them, evangelized their products, built a business around their tools for the last 10+ years, and thought they got you; suddenly doesn’t care about you anymore as a market. Instead they’re putting all their efforts into the new mobile/consumer market.

It’s like the spouse who gets dumped during a mid-life crisis for the young hottie and the sportscar. That’s why they’re so angry.

You hear that Apple?!!

-ARK

5 Lessons Learned from Streaming Media East 2011

I was fortunate enough to attend Streaming Media East this year. It's 2.5 days in New York City plus an additional day of classes on Monday. Throughout the days' classes, sessions, and throughout the tradeshow floor, I ran across five main themes.


1. H.264

Everything is going h.264. It seems to be the codec of choice. It works with many different wrappers including MP4, F4V, even Silverlight. There are also many tools that can convert h.264 to multiple devices and formats. But more on that later.


2. Adaptive streaming (smooth streaming, bandwidth throttling, whatever they call it)

Not new but "the next new thing." Nearly every major format has a version. The basic gist of it is that there are multiple versions of your streaming media file at various bandwidths (300kbps, 500kbps,...1500kbps, etc) The server determines what amount of bandwidth the viewer has available and chooses the correct file to play back.

At prescribed points in the file (usually every 2-5 seconds) the server can determine a different amount of available bandwidth and send a higher (or lower) bandwidth stream to the viewer. This is transparent to the user and provides a better experience for the viewer with no (or at least minimum) buffering.


3. Transmuxing

This the process of modifying the wrapper of the file to change its playback properties instead of transcoding the video. This is a much more efficient process than re-encoding the video. This process only modifies the wrapper leaving the video file intact.

Again, as I mentioned above, h.264 encoding helps to make transmuxing possible. Products like Wowza are making this easy. Wowza can transmux an h.264 stream to almost any format or device.


4. iDevice encoding

There is no doubt that people are consuming more streaming media on devices like iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, etc. If you want to maximize your viewers, it is important that you create content for those devices and formats.

Again, h.264 appears to be a way to leverage a streaming file across multiple devices. You just need to make sure that you are encoding it with the proper parameters to work on those devices.


5. HTML5

Proabably the biggest buzz in the streaming media industry right now. If you are not including html5 video files on your web page, you should. It takes all of two lines of code to embed a video in html5. Plus, 4-6 more lines to include fail overs for flv and mp4.

With Chrome and Firefox (4.0) claiming html5 support and a rumored plug-in coming for IE9, the time is right to start using html5 video.

It also doesn't hurt that MPEGLA is proportedly claiming tthey will not collect royalties for "free" h.264 content. (This rumor does not and should not qualify as legal permission or even legal advice. In other words, if the statement is incorrect, don't blame me.)



Well there you have it. Five things learned at Streaming Media East this year. I wonder what next year will bring.

Well until then, happy streaming


-ARK