Avid Cinema Soft Pak vs professional?
Avid Cinema Soft Pak vs professional?- special effects and filmmaking
Has anyone used professional avid or avid cinema? If you've used them both what are the major differences aside from the use of hardware? I'm wondering if perhaps the interface is about the same between the two systems with some allowances for hardware differences. I ask because a friend is considering taking a professional avid class for $4100. I always scoff at these outrageous prices they try and sell training for when the technical knowledge is relatively simple. Any thoughts? I use premiere but I'm willing to try Avid if it's any good.
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"I like to see things as I remember them, not as they were."
-Bill Pullman "Lost Highway"
Avid Cinema is the stupidest editing program I've ever used. If you are already using premier and know it, stick with that. I don't know anything about the avid professional, sorry.
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Galactic Empire Films
I've used Avid MCXpress, it sucks balls also. I'm not a big fan of premiere but it kicks ass compared to mcxpress. To make a low-end Editing app, Avid had to really strip down the Media Composer, so all your left with is this crappy interface that doesn't do much. The part that bugged me the most was its bad file support. On NT it doesn't support Quicktime and I could never get it to export a decent AVI, so getting my footage into after effects was very cumbersum.
As for Avid classes, I recommend looking in to your local Community college, thats where I used MCXpress. I think the semester class
cost me $45. Also see if you can find out how the class helped past students. If i were taking a $4100 class, it better lead to a job. 
[This message has been edited by brandon8me (edited 10-18-1999).]
Well the $4100 class is apparently to learn the software and equipment used for professional avid in network studios, etc... What they offer aside from the mastering of avid is also some help in job placement. Avid claims to be used for the major network news programs and sitcoms and crap like that. I hardly watch TV so I don't pretend to be knowledgable about it.
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"I like to see things as I remember them, not as they were."
-Bill Pullman "Lost Highway"
If I were your friend, I would definately not spend $4100 like that. I would instead buy a Mac G4 w/ Premier and a nice DV camcorder. Then I'd read the manual, and recieve guidance from a certain SFX Bulletin Board.
I've used the Avid Cinema for consumers also. This program is definately the biggest disgrace to DNLE systems ever.
Its entire design is screwed up big time, because it tries to guide you through capturing video, editing, deciding shots, and so on. What ever happened to nonlinear, free-form??
I understand that this software is geared toward the "Video Editing for Dummies" type of people, but they should've started with linear systems anyway!
Even buying Avid VideoShop 3.0 for $30 would be better than buying Avid Cinema. Speaking of which, it turns out that Avid VideoShop (the predessor to Avid Cinema) was bought out by Strata, so now they have "Strata VideoShop 5.0 3d," which I understand is pretty good, and around $100.
Whew! Sorry about that long post, I just had to vent that frustration... 
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