We
have noted that Avid is a very different vendor than anyone else NBC deals
with. Generally, when we talk to a vendor about problems -- especially right
after a sale -- they really work to fix the problems because they can crow
about their success to the rest of the world.
Avid has offered a "mea culpa" and has done very little to solve some
of the problems. That's wierd.
Mind you, NBC has some management issues that nobody, save NBC can
solve. One cannot blame Avid for managers in one department not agreeing
with managers in another in all fairness to Avid.
A
note about the NBC - Panasonic "M-2" decision (for
Sean):
When NBC decided on M-2, Sony Betacam-SP was not out yet. Sony showed
Betacam-SP at NAB but they did not have the kinks worked out on it. The tape
cassettes for 90-minute or 60-minute playback or record required a
reconfiguration of storage space (versus U-Matic) to a taller cassette. The
quality just wasn't quite as good as what Panasonic was
showing.
Also, Sony was this really arrogant company back then -- and they
still are today. Their gear sells for a lot more than anyone else's. The
quality varies.
NBC found out that M-2 was a bad decision in Vietnam. When Vietnam
opened up to the world and all of the US networks went there to do reports,
NBC had shipped out their M-2 gear. It got totally messed up in the jungle
and didn't work. NBC could not get tapes, other than those shipped in from
the US or Japan. They could not get parts. They could not get on the
air.
They adopted Betacam-SP at that point and, in order to get their foot
in the door, Sony turned themselves inside out to offer deals on their
equipment.
The managers who wound up "owning" the decision to adopt M-2 were
promised positions by Panasonic. They got them. Now this is not as sleazy as
you might think because it was those managers that made Panasonic more
responsive to broadcasters over time. The end result was the DV format,
which even Sony had to adopt for a while.
Sony has come back with a new tape format that records 60 frames per
second in 1080 for high definition and then plays back whatever you want it
to play back at whatever frame rate you like. That's the only way they could
compete and everyone wins because of the competition.
When I started working at NBC, we all used Betacam-SP and each linear
newscutting room had one M-2 machine for backwards compatibility. I used to
use those to record voiceovers and, sometimes, b-rolls. A four-machine room
is superior -- even with an M-2 deck -- than a three-machine room if
you're trying to be creative.
NBC used other such "non-standard" equipment for editing as the Grass
Valley 151 and 251 editors, the GVG 100 and 110 switcher (as well as the 200
and 300). The GVG DPM-700 digital effects box was the only real oddball but
I had previously learned it and was really good on it.
So
a sale to NBC does set a trend -- even though they made one mistake in the
past.
The big difference is that NBC no longer dictates to the local
stations like they used to with respect to hardware. And that is why M-2 was
such a nightmare. But it's all in the past now. Nobody can say that choosing
the Avid Newscutter Adrenaline was an M-2 decision for editing news.
--
So
a sale, like Avid did with the DS and the Newscutters, the huge Unity Server
for recording feeds and the other little Unitys that serve the DSs (mostly
in the HD post area) are something they can certainly crow about to any
network, to any television station, to any post house.
Hi Bob,
An email for your return from
the land of peace ;-)
<rant>
I agree with absolutely all of
your points. In particular I would HATE to have to go back to the
clunky and ancient MC interface. It was very clever when they
introduced it back in 1988 and has undergone many improvements over the
last 17 years. However, Softimage demonstrated with DS that by
thinking with a fresh mind, and asking as many editors as they could get
their hands on what features they actually wanted as opposed
to what a technician could make they could come up with
a far superior editing workflow.
Unfortunately, when you try to
point that out to any of the long-term Avid suits you are confronted with
a brick wall of monumental arrogance. They will tell you with a
totally serious face that "MC
has been going for many years (yes we know - seventeen of
them) and all of the improvements have been included in
response to users' requests. We therefore now have the perfect
editing interface." They really mean
this - with total sincerity. They are completely blind to the fact
that how ever many improvements you add to a fundamentally flawed
interface you are still left with a flawed product. Of course they
think that the MC workflow is superior to the DS workflow
because they have never taken the time
or trouble to understand the DS methodology.
I completely agree with your
offline/online points too. Our biggest arguments with our biggest
client is that their editors really shouldn't be wasting their time
tweaking effects on their Adrenalines because all we'll do is throw those
effects in the trash anyway, and then rebuild them "properly". It's
what we do. We specialise in making quality broadcast programming -
creating believable keys, snazzy graphic inserts, quality grading etc
etc.
We now get 95%+ "Total
Conform" and, mostly, are very happy with the way conforms, well,
conform. AVX2 would be very welcome, but you don't need Phony Nitris
for that. Animated curves on the CC would be welcome, but you don't need
Phony Nitris for that. RT Secondaries would be very welcome, but you
don't need Phony Nitris for that…. The list goes on and
on.
I really don't know (exactly)
what the future holds for DS. I despair at the continued silence
from Avid despite the assurances I have had from certain executives (you
know who you are) to the contrary. I even offered (back in July!) to
write an announcement for them to amend as they saw fit… and still we have
silence.
</rant>
I just feel
drained.
Regards,
Tony
-----Original
Message-----
From: owner-ds(at)Softimage.COM
[mailto:owner-ds(at)Softimage.COM] On Behalf Of Bob Maple
Sent: 23 November 2005
10:57
To: DS(at)Softimage.COM
Subject: Re: NEW - Tell Avid
What Makes DS Special
> So, if Phony Nitris were
to get DS's trees, what would you miss from
> DS?
Even if they stapled effects
trees into SymPhony, it will wouldn't be a DS.
It's still the same crappy box, with
it's archaic editing interface.
What is the point of putting
all the good stuff from DS into a SymPhony? It seems like the same
situation we're already in, except in the opposite direction - The MC
editors who want SymPhony are just lazy and don't want to learn something
new. Wouldn't they all rather keep going with nested effects, the
horrible effects pallete, and video mixdowns, than learn how to use trees,
etc?
[soapbox on]
Personally, editing on the MC
interface drives me crazy. It's not intuitive. It's
ancient. You have to click 10 things to perform 1 action, and
there's a sea of hieroglyphic buttons on the interface to support this
insanity. On DS, if I want a clip to go over there, I just pick it
up and put it over there... why does it need to be more difficult?
With timeline magnetism, it's the perfect balance between having a
drag-and-drop interface and not being able to screw up your timeline too
easily (like in Vegas).
And the way DS thinks of media
is SO much more intelligent than MC.
To me, AVID does not
understand DS at all and never did. They are "giving the customer
what they want" with SymPhony, to make a quick dollar - and unfortunately
it's probably what they SHOULD be doing. AVID is out to make money,
not please a minority. It sucks for us, but it's the truth.
Clearly they don't want put themselves behind DS anymore.. fine, I get
that. They bought Softimage for the 3D, and DS was just the
stepchild that came along with the marriage that they really didn't want
in the first place.
The main thing AVID doesn't
seem to truly understand, to me, is compositing & effects for
finishing work. Symphony is not that box. Marquee is not that
tool. They haven't done anything themselves, they've just keep
buying other companies to try and solve their problems - it's like they
just don't understand it. They get excited over saying things like
"Total Conform".
So WHAT if I have "total
conform" from an MC, if it's still the same crappy toolset?
Personally, the stuff that
comes across into DS currently is pretty much what I need, because the
rest winds up getting rebuilt anyway. Perhaps other facilities work
a different way (I'm sure), but at our place the MC is an OFFLINE
system! The rate is like 1/4 of online. You're there to spend
your time and money doing your editorial, cutting your content, telling
the story.. not spending all day trying to pull a perfect key, or track
shots into monitors. Thats MY job, to use my expertise and visual
creativity make things look pretty... so when I get an AAF with a chroma
key or a color correction, it doesn't really matter, cuz it's going in the
trash anyway.
But, I digress.. It's
late, and now I'm just cranky, so I'll shut up :) I just wish AVID
had the balls to come out and state their intentions, for better or for
worse, instead of just leaving us in the dark to rant like fools on this
list. But of course they can't do that for their pinhead business
reasons (I have a very low tollerance for BS in general, particularly the
games that these businessmen play.)
[soapbox off]
| Bob Maple
| bobm_at_burner_dot_com | [http]
burner.com
|
| I don't want the world, I just want your
half.
| - They Might Be Giants
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