Avid today announced in a press release that television production company, Bunim/Murray Productions, has selected Avid Media Composer 6 and Avid Symphony 6 editing software for all of its programs beginning in early 2012. Bunim/Murray joins a growing number of professional users who have returned to using Avid solutions from Final Cut Pro to meet their production workflow requirements. Additionally, as part of this implementation, Bunim/Murray also plans to deploy an Avid ISIS 5000 shared storage system to effectively store and share media across its organization.
Widely credited with creating the reality television genre with its hit series The Real World, Bunim/Murray is an Emmy Award-winning production company that continues to lead the way with popular programs, including: Keeping up with the Kardashians, Kourtney & Kim Take New York, Project Runway, and more. Following recent market shifts, Bunim/Murray reconsidered its professional video editing software options and was looking for a software provider whose professional editing solution met their needs – today and into the future.
“Due to the large volume of media generated by our reality shows, we needed to re-evaluate our editing and storage solutions. At the same time, we were looking for a partner who would understand our long-term needs,” said Mark Raudonis, senior vice president of Post Production at Bunim/Murray, in the press release. “As we talked with Avid, it was clear that the company has really forged ahead since we worked with them years ago. Their commitment to the needs of their professional customers, like us, is clear. And, with the introduction of Media Composer 6, they really raised the bar and have a vision for the future that makes them the right choice for our business.”
Working closely with Avid and its reseller partner Key Code Media, Bunim/Murray ultimately selected Avid for its long-term commitment to the professional market as well as continued technology innovation, including the ability to integrate Media Composer 6 and Symphony 6 into its existing infrastructure with the new Avid Open I/O and enhanced Pro Tools interoperability. With the addition of the new Symphony 6 software solution with Total Conform, which allows for smooth transfer of offline projects in Media Composer to Symphony for online editing and finishing, and advanced finishing and mastering capabilities, Bunim/Murray can more easily complete all of its mastering work in-house.
“With the Avid Open I/O, we won’t need to change out any of the hardware from our existing editing stations. Instead it’s just a software install. In addition, we’ve always used Pro Tools, so we’re looking forward to saving time and gaining added efficiencies through Media Composer and Pro Tools interoperability,” added Raudonis.
“Bunim/Murray is a recognized leader in reality television, and we’re honored to have the opportunity to work closely with them and provide them with the capabilities they require to support their demanding production requirements,” said Kirk Arnold, chief operating officer at Avid. “This announcement also reflects our continued customer focus, and we will continue to listen and work together with our customers to deliver powerful and versatile solutions.”
Source: Avid Technology, Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: Short-sighted, time-wasting, instantly regrettable, regressive stupidity. Just like their TV shows.
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Editor Walter Murch is feeling better about Final Cut Pro X – November 8, 2011
Apple releases major Final Cut Pro X update; debuts free 30-day full version trial – September 20, 2011
Film editor: Apple’s Final Cut Pro X is flexible, powerful, incredibly innovative software – September 12, 2011
Gartenberg on Final Cut Pro X: Why Apple dares to change your apps – July 17, 2011
IT Enquirer reviews Apple’s Final Cut Pro X: Very much a professional’s tool – July 8, 2011
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Why Apple built Final Cut Pro X – July 1, 2011
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Apple answers Final Cut Pro X questions; promises multicam editing and more – June 29, 2011
Change.org petition demands that Apple not change Final Cut Pro – June 27, 2011
Final Cut Pro X ‘backlash’ coming from competitors scared to death over Apple’s $299 price tag? – June 24, 2011
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Answers to the unanswered questions about Apple’s new Final Cut Pro X – June 23, 2011
‘Professional’ video editors freak out over Final Cut Pro X – June 23, 2011
Apple revolutionizes video editing with Final Cut Pro X – June 21, 2011
I just hope Apple doesn’t screw up Logic and make it look like Garbage Band.
Unless… Avid switches back to the Mac platform. Maybe some secret negociations have happened that we don’t know of yet.
Avid has always been cross-platform.
‘Bunim/Murray Productions’, will have a lot of excellent second hand production equipment for sale real soon.
Short-sighted stupidity. Funny, that’s what I said about Apple when they F’ck the pro vid market with FCX.
Apple were the shortsighted ones here. And MDN is following suit.
The writing is on the wall. It won’t be buts few years (if that) before the MacPro line is discontinued. The transitions way from pros to IOS is nearly complete. Those of us who make our livings using computers will have no choice but to look elsewhere. That’s a real shame. The pro market is too small and “difficult” for Apple to properly service now.
I agree. Too bad… Im a big mac guy. It will kill me to buy a PC for Adobe Premier, but that day is coming.
“The pro market is too small and “difficult” for Apple to properly service now.”
That’s what I said back in 1998.
ALL of Apple’s success since then came from markets where previously Apple had no presence.
That’s true. But the pro market gave Apple credibility. In turn we got top notch tools. Now they don’t need us to make them respectable anymore.
I am looking, with the utmost dread, to the day I have to transition everything away from the Mac. Nothing else even comes close…
As an aside, I no longer think Apple really wants creatives on their side. Seems they only want to make the average user feel empowered by letting them think they really are creative and artistic by using a cookie cutter approach to all things artistic. More clipart for the masses. Meh. Color me underwhelmed.
valid points.
Just adding my agreement with those in this thread. Apple is the short sighted one in releasing the FCX joke, and MDN’s take is clueless. I’m desperately hoping Apple will wake up and reverse their direction before they kill their golden egg. And please Apple leave Logic alone!
Wow, a cacophony of MDN trolls, howling at the straw-man. You know, It really dosen’t seem like any of you actually work in the film industry.
We have begun to use FCPX in a couple projects and the almost unanimous opinion is that it is the next revolution in post. Having the flexibility of real time everywhere (even down to real time dialog settings) is literally game changing. FCPX defines what the next generation of video editing software will be in the next decade and will no doubt totally disrupt the (post software) industry, again. If I were an executive in Avid or I would be worried too 😉
… I find it “amusing” that Avid would decide to make a splash about their regaining a lost customer.
Second … you use that software, you GOTTA buy the storage array. DUH ! ! !
Third … I must watch an hour of all their shows, combined, in a period of a year – while surfing between shows I WANT to watch. Total. Dreck!
The source is Avid. ‘Nuff said.
Although, since I’m here… 🙂
Kudos to Mark Raudonis, Bunim/Murray’s SVP of Post, for his positive way of spinning “Apple’s so incredibly inept at communicating with its pro customers that even Avid looks good in comparison.”
Many companies dumped Avid to go to FCP because the prices were ridiculously low. Now they’re paying the price.
I say this as a 27-year Mac fanatic and one-time 4KB Apple II programmer. Apple’s awesome. But they’re absolutely horrible at serving pro customers.
Yes we are editing a full length HD feature in FP7 and it’s crashing far too frequently despite a very healthy setup and due diligence on system maintenance and swapping our preference files. The memory limitations are galling. We can barely can keep one 85 minute sequence open before getting memory error messages (on Mac Pro’s loaded with memory). I have been an FCP user since V.1 but it pains me but I may go Avid after this if FCPX isn’t up to snuff soon (MULTICAM,etc.). If they had a version of 64 bit FCP 8 finished as is rumored they should have released that first and waited another year or two for FCPX.
Obviousny none of you work in the TV industry.. how apple handled the FCP X evolution was a joke – doesn’t work with any past projects.. doesn’t do 80% of the things true professionals need. AND the biggest issue – Apple has made no real effort to reach out to pros about their roadmap and if they plan to add features desperately needed.
FCP X has many neat ideas, but so do several other NLEs out there. As much as I love apple, they really dropped the ball on this.
Indeed. My FCS based clients are pretty much all looking at moving off the platform at next tech refresh. Apple have seriously screwed this up and pissed away a lot of goodwill. Something which will eventually come back and bite them.
Agreed. It’s sad to lose the pro support they used to stand by. MDN – pros are switching because FCPX is not currently a professional platform. End of story. I love Apple too, but get off your high horse.
I don’t really think Apple cares. Apple is more interested in the consumer market, which is much more lucrative and more diverse. Apple’s goal is to provide creative consumers with powerful tools that allow them to create professional-grade work, not to cater to the small, entrenched professional creative industry. Small markets like that carry too much risk of the customer dictating to the provider, which as we all know is a situation Apple absolutely loathes.
Apple would never admit it, but they wouldn’t mind losing the professional market altogether, provided they can do it in a way that doesn’t make them look bad with consumers.
——RM
You’re right, Apple’s moves the last couples years have been decidedly anti-professional/enterprise in favour of consumer technologies. If it’s Apple’s goal to move away from the pro market, and improve their bottom line by doing so, then so be it.
But MDN shouldn’t then whine that the pros/enterprise people are “Short-sighted, time-wasting, instantly regrettable, regressive stupidity”, even if these reality shows happen to be exactly that.
What, you mean those shows *weren’t* all that when they were using FCP, but suddenly are now because they switched to a product and company whose bread and butter is exactly what Apple isn’t supporting properly?
Pros and enterprise customers need some timelines and expectations of if/when requested features will be released. That’s not Apple’s style. So after the FCPX furor it was only a matter of time before a press release like this came out from a major competitor.
i agree with you on everything but one point: providing creative consumers with the tools that allow them to create professional grade work. FCPX may cater to one type of professional – the completely self contained one man shop. But that’s it. And as far as professional results go I’m not buying it. The app isn’t up to speed. Color grading and audio sweetening are just two of the areas that are less than professional in the app. Andim being generous with that assessment. Ametuers now have a way to make there projects look slicker. That doesn’t automatically raise the quality to that of pro level output.
You can kill a tree from the top down, too.
I can just see the in house Apple meeting now…
A. We can continue to service 50,000 professionals that want us to do things their way at an increasingly lower profit using 10-15 year old tech.
B. We can shake things up with a feature-shy future-rich ground up product that will immediately appeal to a multi-million person consumer market. Problem is we might loose 40-50% of the professionals.
If it were my company it wouldn’t be much of a decision.
Well Joe, there would not be a consumer market today if Apple hadn’t pleased the Pro market first. Apple would have gone the way of the dodo bird long ago.
Plus ONE. And what he doesn’t realize is that they will lose the entire pro market except the one man shops.
I think that, although low numbers and profits, the pro creative customers have a huge effect on the overall impression of the brand.
When people use apple they love it – and it is much easier to buy a tool you know is the top tool for pros.
But as Apple keeps up these tactics and the pros among us leave, they are adding to the mindset that another brand(s) are better than Apple.
I believe if this happens and the leave pros out, it signals the beginning of the end for Apples reign.
Sure they will keep doing well and be a great product, but only one of, not THE one to own
Sad, but probably true. Apple doesn’t need us pros anymore.
But they better be careful they don’t take it so far they lose even the consumer market. My wife yesterday was frustrated that she couldn’t save a PDF on her Air (recently upgraded to Lion).
From an HTML link in an email it opened into Preview. She went to “Save As”, and it was gone (no Save As in Lion!). Save a Verion had no visible effect. Stumped. (it was probably “saved” into a Mail temp folder somewhere and we were saving identical versions into that folder repeatedly, but no way to know that).
Only way to save the file was to “File > Duplicate”, then Save As. I figured it out by Googling. A normal user would have said F-Apple.
And this is coming from a 20 year Apple user, and a 10 year AAPL owner. Love them. But don’t toss away the things that made you a success
If you’re using Lion mail then all you have to do to save is click on the “Save” link that shows on the top of the mail app below the title bar when you click on the attachment. Then select the folder you wish to save the file to. It defaults to the “Documents” folder if none is selected.
You don’t need “Save as” in the sense that you have to forget the additional step of opening the document and saving it. Lion mail allows to save the document within the app itself saving you the extra step of opening it.
You can also quick view the document on the mail app by pressing the space key.
It was a link in an email to retrieve a PDF online (and I believe Lion either opened Safari, downloaded, and then popped it open automatically in Preview (strange), or somehow Mail or the Finder downloaded the PDF and then automatically opened the PDF in Preview.
I wasn’t there when it actually popped open, but when I looked at it, it was definitely strange to have a file open in Preview that had never been “saved” anywhere (and it wasn’t in the Downloads folder), and no “Save” or “Save As” commands available to put it on the hard drive.
Literally the only option was to “Duplicate” and then save the copy somewhere.
@disposableidentity
How about using SaveAs to save it to a different folder…sorry…can’t do that. Here’s the thing…for all the anecdotal evidence of people losing files from a crash or for whatever reason…it wasn’t THAT big a problem that forcing a global solution was necessary. It’s a little like the gestural features in Lion. Had to turn them off. Too often a new page would just suddenly appear from a casual move. WAY too annoying to “get used to” so…Apple made it possible to turn it off. If I could get Save As back I’d be a lot happier and able to put up with the totally screwed up Spotlight functionality.
We all religiously use a file versioning naming convention to make sure we have a number of states of any file we’re working on. So the new “Save a Version” doesn’t help (this new approach really gets in the way, and I’m not sure I trust it for saving out really distinct versions that I may want to return to).
As for corrupt files and losing work? Funny enough Keynote is the only app that screws us that way.
Fuck. A minute after I clicked the Post Comment button on the note above, every image in my Pages doc was replaced with a square with an X and a ? in each.
Just use File/Print, and in the full print window choose Save as PDF from the PDF pulldown.
Been there for years.
And as to FCPX, it is a good product. It’s not equal to FCP7 yet, but will get there. Folks are mostly griping because FCPX is not what they are used to.
This has all happened before and it will all happen again.
FCP came in from the bottom, not the top. It wasn’t editors who chose it, it was the folks writing the checks who said “I can pay $5,000 a month to rent a machine, or I can spend $5,000 once and own the system, hardware and software”. So now, some ten years on Apple still makes the best hardware and their software is still less expensive than Avid.
Consumers will love it, and the next generation of professional editors will most likely learn to edit in junior high school and it will not be on Avid but iMovie or its big brother FCPX because schools can’t afford Avid.
Apple may loose the top NLE spot for a little while, but not for long.
You’re correct that is not what we’re used to. But our workflows have been honed over many years and work well. Now they’re telling us we don’t need the high end tools anymore.
Sorry. But I never saw Apple as just another “good enough” company. Jobs didn’t either. But this product isn’t good enough (and won’t be for years) to produce large and varied productions. Again, the audio and color grading tools suck. And file management is a joke. And things even small but professional production houses do every day are now to difficult, and therefore time consuming, to do efficiently. 6 clicks to do many things I used to do with one? And no broadcast output? The list goes on and on. If newbies learn on this they won’t be learning how to really make something unique and polished. The app will do the bare minimum for you and it will be “good enough”. Not great. Nothing more than cookie cutter drek.
I can see the next meeting, too. That’s the one where they tell professional welders that nails are cheaper and better for most users, so they are taking welding equipment off the market, effective immediately, to be replaced by a nailgun named Welder Pro X, without any transition plan for existing customers. If the hidebound professionals can’t figure out a way to build safe submarines full of nailholes, or repair existing welded submarines with a nailgun, that is their fault, obviously.
Makes perfect sense to me, apple has been telling the pro market for years through their actions that they are more interested in itoys now. I wouldn’t bet my business on a company that may or may not be there for you in a few years. Final cut x is a joke, certainly not a pro grade product. Pretty soon we’ll all be walking around on dumbed down ipads as our only option.
Truly creative people tend to make more from less. It’s the people that become dependent (and ingrained) on things that tend to fall away due to their inability to adapt.
Tools are a convenience, they are not outlets that allow creativity to flow, that comes from the artist behind the tool. If you need a tool that does everything for you, then maybe you’re not the artist you think you are.
and what do you do for a living Michael?…I didn’t think so
Yeah I’ll shoot that spot news story on 8mm film and I’ll have that ready for you on… Tuesday.
Man is a tool maker. Our tools have taken us from starving in our own filth, to the moon and back.
Artists and craftsmen research, maintain and improve their tools as they do their skills.
Only a dumb ignorant fuck would think or say otherwise.
What a ridiculous comment. The right tool for your work is essential in letting you get on with the creation. Anyone who wastes time battling the limitations of the tool they know when there are most adaptable options available is anything but creative.
What you people don’t realize is that Apple has not finished transitioning all the features from FCP 7 to there latest version. Once Apple moved to 64 bit environment, they had to retool the entire application. The decided to make it more approachable. Look to see updates to this software that will regain it’s former status, except with out the memory limitations of it’s older deprecated sibling. If Apple updated the Mac Pro his March, look to see a point update of FCX before years end.
That sound like a MS strategy!
Just wait until the next version. Keep suffering with our old crap while waiting!
Moving complex code to 64 bit is not an easy endeavor. It took Adobe and there army of programers more than three years to transition Photoshop. Apple should have done this transition a lot sooner, but they didn’t, and here we are.
But that’s a cop-out. It doesn’t matter how hard it is, Apple should have planned ahead. Look how seamless the PPC to Intel transition was, and that was *the whole OS*! Shame on Apple for not finding a way to build a smooth transition.
Moving code to 64 bit is pretty darned easy. Adobe took 3 years because Apple cut them off at the knees forcing them to abandon the carbon API by not providing a 64 bit version, even though they had it internally. Apple didn’t have to suffer this problem.
Uh… Yeah. We realize it. What you don’t realize is that a “point” update won’t give us back the 80% or more of the features that are missing. And it certainly won’t restore it’s usability as a pro tool. They buried things we use many times a day because consumers rarely use them.
When you’re editing the family’s home movies time may not be important but it is to those of us on deadlines.
is any of this conversation necessary? commenting on websites is like bitching about the neighbors and shutting the blinds. losers.
Stimulating conversation beneath you? You must know it all – good for you!
Wait until Apple decides that iOS is now dominant and “We no longer see a need to sell MacBooks, as 85% of our sales are flat gadgets.
Like FCPX but how apple treated their FCP customers (and plugin vendors) was quite bizarre.
Any chance FCPX will get all the pro features back before the pros jump ship?
So much has been stated by no other than Apple.
I guess FCPX is aimed at me but after reading all the anger and frustration from the multicamera operations why would I put my money behind Apple? The same sort of things were being said about Aperture because Apple was slow to update it. When the time came to purchase I choose LightRoom. I don’t really like it but it adobe does stay on top of it and provides decent updates.
Avid costs 10 times as much.
I wonder what Pixar uses.
Pixar will mostly be using 3D modelling and animation software. Their footage editing needs compared to those of live action production houses will be quite small.
I don’t think Apple can keep up with it all. Have you ever seen a company grow so fast on so many fronts before?
I can’t blame them for focusing on the lucrative markets they’ve opened up for themselves, but I’m concerned they’re alienating professionals in the arts and sciences.
It’s was hard defending Apple back during the dark ages. It’s hard defending Apple, now during it’s renaissance. The irony is its Apple, not Microsoft, now who is making it difficult for us.
People chose the tools they need.
Apple has good tools for some needs, and others have tools for other needs. That’s life.
Now, i personally hope that Apple still will build “trucks” and strong applications for the creatives…
I dunno you guys.. I’m in the middle of cutting several shows on FCPX on iMac, and I gotta tell ya, it’s some kinda fun! Cutting from the gut has never been better, and the accuracy is there too.
I know, Apple moved the cheese.. I gotta learn something new now?! Yup.. Fraid so. That’s evolution for ya!
I believe that once we rewire our thinking to grok the new 64 bit world, and yes, Apple responds in kind, a new dawn will be on the horizon, with a direct pipeline to the cloud!
Content creators could be on the virge of a digital video renaissance via FCPX. Imagine cutting your show then uploading to a monetized Apple TV Network.
Apple TV Apps may well be the TV channels of the future, and FCPX seems well positioned to take advantage of that scenario. Quit crying and start learning now! Time to get busy. .:.
“Imagine cutting your show then uploading to a monetized Apple TV Network.” – Now that is a multi-billion dollar idea! Seriously!
Exactly.
Remember… Apple is skating to where the puck will be.
In about five years (to ten at the latest), today’s video pro is going to find themselves in a similar position to that of traditional, cut-n-paste graphic designers during the early 1990s, and that publishers are in now.
Just like in desktop publishing, most new video people will be producing garbage (Sturgeon’s Law) and diluting the quality and value of everything. However, the remaining 10% (who will far outnumber the number of old school video pros of today) will be using the new tools to produce good to excellent stuff faster, better AND cheaper.
Because, in the end, most clients of video pros (like everyone else’s clients) don’t care about the tools of the video trade… the number/make of workstations, editing software, or anything else, except the end product… and only two aspects of that.
What it looks like and how much it costs them. And a great many will care more about the latter than the former.
That 10% will eat the lunch of old school video pros…. except those who can make the transition.
Avid is a small company (around $300 million) – if Apple wanted ALL the business they could simply buy AVID.
But thats a waste of time because the ‘Pro’ level business just isn’t worth much to Apple.
Having said that, they will fix up FCPX and keep most of the business, but it aint the main moneymaker, is it?
If Avid is only worth $300m. then how much is ALL the film editing biz worth? Maybe 1-200 million a year?
Its not worth the hassle.
Their shows are indeed stupid. But this was a simple business desicion. Avid is committed to the high-end of the video and audio production industries. Apple’s target are consumers. Professionals need professional solutions and FCP is a fabulous product for its price but it’s semi-pro. Apple doesn’t have the commitment and interest in such a small industry. This is absolutely the trend, pro clients are coming back to Avid in a big way after Avid almost killed itself with arrogance and bad management just like Apple in the 90’s. They seemed to learn, listen to their customers and do actually way better products now.
I agree with you guys 90% of the time, have been Mac-only since 1986 but that was a bit childish commentary at the end. Pro video/audio/film industry is something you don’t seem to understand at all so please don’t make big statements of stuff what you simply get, only on emotional basis.
All this talk of the pro market not being worth while because the money is not so great kind of contradicts the whole ‘supposed’ Steve Jobs ethic about money not being the most important criteria. Also flag ship products that bring kudos don’t need to be big earners if you sell other stuff of the back of it. Apple is dumbing down too much of its pro market and loosing credibility which ultimately is priceless.
Years from now, many will look back and reminisce about the good old days when Apple made insanely great products like computers and software.
plus one… RIP SJ