Please tell me why avid is industry standard...

[Castor Troy]

I ended up doing a freelance video for a presentation and my client was very impressed with my work. My former client's willing to send my name around so I can start getting more gigs, hopefully even landing a full time job editing, but I needed to know Avid before I could get recommended.

So I get the program and start toying with it a bit... first of all, avid isn't compatible with huffy...

I have to turn one of my huffy clips into either DV or uncompressed format which pretty much takes up MORE space...

I finally import something and put it on the timeline. Sadly I can't move anything in the timeline....

I do some kind of edit and I decided to close the program. It didn't ask me if I wanted to save, so I assumed it didn't save my edit. When I reload my project, the edit is there...

Why is this program industry standard?!

Is avid TRYING to be as irritating as possible?!

Avid is like having the choice to draw either with a computer or a giant rock. You know you can draw better on the computer, but in order to get better opportunities, you need to use the giant rock. Is there seriously anything that avid can do that I can't do in premiere or after effects? Better yet, I have a much better chance making a full video loaded with effects in AE as opposed to using avid.

Maybe I can understand if Avid has the capability to export at 1000000 x 10000000. Does avid simply export better? (not that I saw a big difference), have some magical awesome function that no other editor has?, what is it?!

I know Photoshop and After Effects are also industry standard, but those 2 programs are soooo much more forgiving and flexible that it makes me wonder why people use avid.

I've heard Final Cut is alot like Premiere Pro and is quite flexible as well. I know there's more industry jobs geared towards Final Cut than premiere, but I heard that it's easy to adjust to Final Cut if you've been using Premiere Pro alot.

I've been going onto various forums and all they say is "Just get past the learning curve and you'll realize how great it is!". I've gotten far enough in the program to know how to somewhat do a simple video, but god forbid I do any heavy beat or lip sync with this thing...

I'm still willing to learn more of the program, but I can't see what it does that I can't do in Premiere or After Effects.

If anyone can give some detailed reason why this program is industry standard besides "get past the learning curve, but I won't tell you why it's so great", let me know.

Julian Milo, you're my only hope.

[NS]

It could be very simply that some guys know some guys that are buddies with the company that makes AVID... therefore everybody uses it to satisfy their buddies. That type of thing wouldn't surprise me :O.

[Castor Troy]

It could be very simply that some guys know some guys that are buddies with the company that makes AVID... therefore everybody uses it to satisfy their buddies. That type of thing wouldn't surprise me :O.

Avid was one of the founding forefathers of non linear video editing, so I guess that's why the industry is still dependent on it. I've been researching that avid also has less problems than FCP and Premiere in terms of rendering.

I know how to use avid enough to make a simple action or drama video, but I still haven't found anything I can't do in premiere or after effects. Sure avid has better looking transitions, but who uses those anymore?

[Kionon]

You want the truth?

Because Avid has always been the standard, so it will always be the standard.

I messed around with Avid early in my broadcast career, and said "screw this, premiere makes more sense." Haven't touched it since. And any job that has told me I needed Avid I laughed and said I'd rather bring in my own desktop and do the work on my personal property.

Twice the person said "okay, do that."

[leahzero]

My former client's willing to send my name around so I can start getting more gigs, hopefully even landing a full time job editing, but I needed to know Avid before I could get recommended.

It depends where you're looking for a job. Avid is entrenched in older establishments, like TV broadcasting. In my neck of the woods, everyone is bananas about FCP because every hipster production house is a glorified Apple Store.

It's good to become familiar with all the software that is widely used in the industry, but I wouldn't kill myself trying to get Avid to lay golden eggs. Nobody is bound to specific hardware platforms anymore so these legacy editing packages are going to eventually die out.

[Castor Troy]

If I can bring my pc into the workplace, I'll definitely buy another one just for that purpose. I think Carlos (Mindwarp) did that for his old TV job.

Everyone in the video editing community says it's not the program that's important, but the person who uses it which is true. But how the hell are editors going to get their foot in the door if the majority of the jobs force them to use something they can't use?

Hopefully if I can accumulate enough work, I can join the union where it's more freelance and I can use whatever I want.

[Kionon]

If I can bring my pc into the workplace, I'll definitely buy another one just for that purpose. I think Carlos (Mindwarp) did that for his old TV job.:

You mean KVUT?

I should know, honestly, but he was one of the higher floors, and I was squirreled away in the basement of that same building...

[milkmandan]

my 2 cents:

Avid is better for real time effects, such as those used for live broadcasts, due to the dedicated render hardware you can buy (such as the Avid Mojo)

also

Avid has been around the longest.....god knows when.

I used to work for the mediavision department at my school, and we always told to edit with Avid for our official projects.
I remember editing on the PowerPC with System 8 and Avid, it was OLD.

I feel it's an industry standard because hollywood demands it, they've been using it ever since the beginning and they feel since it's not TERRIBLE, they won't switch to something else :\

oh well, its good you know some of it already castor_troy~~

[DeinReich]

my 2 cents:
I feel it's an industry standard because hollywood demands it, they've been using it ever since the beginning and they feel since it's not TERRIBLE, they won't switch to something else :\

A lot of studios have begun to switch to alternatives, especially Final Cut Studio, for their post production needs. No Country for Old Men is a great example. It won both Best Picture AND Best Editing and was edited in Final Cut Pro. Not only is it an extremely powerful program, but it is also far cheaper then high end Avid rigs, which can run in the millions of dollars (where as FCS rigs run at a much cheaper price, mostly topping out at $50K or so.)

Avid is standard just for the reason, as has been said, that is has been around since the beginning of Non-Linear Editing. It is what the industry started with, and what most Hollywood editors started out with and have mastered, where as the new generation of editors is switching to FCS with Avid background.

[post-it]

I remember editing on the PowerPC with System 8 and Avid, it was OLD.

Avid 3.0 .. wasn't it?!?

Avid started with a simple vision and stayed simple. Later, they expanded to PC's

Avid is not that complicated -- AiST and Magix are both sub company spin-off's of Avid.
(which is one of the reasons I love AiST Extreme 4.0 soo much.) Magix 14 Pro is OK too.