Pro's and Con's of Premiere vs. Avid

[razerfish]

Hello Guys,

I'm new to editing but I have both Premiere and Avid on my computer. I spent the last two days working on Premiere and haven't messed around with Avid.

Can anyone that knows both give me the plusses and minuses of both so I can dedicate my time to one or the other. I realize this is a Premiere board, so the answers will be biased towards Premiere, but I plan to ask the same question on the Avid board.

So, for those familiar with both, what would you say are the differences, and why do you prefer one to the other?

Thanks.

[BLUESPIDER]

If you're movie is just simple cuts n dissovles then either program will work. Avid of course has a lot more features but Premiere works just as good. I notice the video quality on the Avid looks better, dont ask me why it just does. :)

I'm happy with my Premiere though..

BS

[razerfish]

What about the effects program -- I forget the name -- for Premiere? Does that even the playing field?

Are there ways to drag whole sequences over in the time line, or do an insert and get space between clips? That would really be helpful.

So Avid's just a little deeper than Premiere?

If you were doing the same job on both, which could get you there quicker? I was told that Avid doesn't have the "razer blade" tool for putting in cuts. What exactly do they use then?

[BLUESPIDER]

What about the effects program -- I forget the name -- for Premiere? Does that even the playing field?

You can install 3rd party plugins to spice up premiere. Boris Red is a nice plugin. I don't know a whole lot about it because I've never used it before.

Are there ways to drag whole sequences over in the time line, or do an insert and get space between clips? That would really be helpful.

What version of Premiere are you running? Pro 1.5 allows you nest sequences. If you want more info go to the Adobe website or read your manual.

So Avid's just a little deeper than Premiere?

Avid is an all in one package, well, this is what the big big boy uses. Doesn't mean anything though.

If you were doing the same job on both, which could get you there quicker?

I've been using premiere since 4.2 and though many things have modify, Im very comfortable with Premiere, plus also uses less memory than AVID. Yeah, Im way quicker in Premiere than AVID.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

[Michael_Capulli]

If I were to ever edit a feature lenth program, I would definately do it in Avid. Its a much more strict and limiting editor, which is exactly what you need when you have hours and hours of footage in my opinion. It relies heavily on keyboard shortcuts rather than using your mouse. So if you're used to dragging and cutting with a razor on your mouse pointer, Avid might put a sour taste in your mouth. It's all about inserting clips into a timeline based on your in and out points. Then you use Avids great trim tool (unlike premiere's) to tweak your cut.

I would never edit Weddings, Mitzvahs, or any short format programs in Avid, however. Transitions, titles & effects are not as easy to work with, (although im not saying Avid doesn't have good effects...) I just dont think its meant to be used for something like that.

Personally im stuck between Premiere and Vegas. Premiere is a better editor than vegas, (I hate trimming in Vegas) but Vegas' color correction and effects controls are worlds better in my opinion. The rendered output seems to look better as well.

Just my 2 cents

[disjecta]

The other thing to remember is that you can view 24p footage on a monitor without external hardware using Premiere Pro 1.5. This is a great plus.

With Avid Xpress Pro, you need to also buy their "Mojo" hardware which allows you to watch 24p on your monitor but without that hardware (total package ends up being a lot more than Premiere), you are stuck with seeing your footage on the Avid on-screen monitor...not a good idea.

[AndyJ]

I actually use both and like Michael said; Avid is great for long features and Premiere for shorter projects.

That said, I've done long projects in Prem and short in Avid. Sometimes you just get a feeling about something. I'm personally much more comfortable about Premiere.

BTW, I know a filmmaker who works on big 35/70mm projects, the footage is teleclined and timecoded into DV and roughly cut using this footage in Premiere and then prefected in Avid before the final export back onto inverse telcined 70mm.

Inbetween the process, the footage goes through AE, and all sorts! Apparently, lots of people in the 'high end' of the industry do things this way. Interesting stuff...

[sonnyboo]

The difference is with Film (celuloid) projects. Doing a negative matchback (meaning editing on video and then cuttign the physical film to match via screenburns and frame #'s) is availalbe with AVID (and Final Cut) but not Premiere.

Now that Premiere Pro 1.5 has 24p settings (set for the DVX100), it can be better, but it's still not as automated as AVID.

That said... I have yet to work on a project that needed a negative matchback yet, so it hasn't been an issue, as I am a hard core Premiere fan.

and now THAT was said, I will say THIS... it doens't matter what program you use to edit. These are just brushes in artists' hands. DaVinci and Picasso don't argue who's brush is better, they found what they liked & went with it.

[Michael_Capulli]

Are you guys talking about EDLs? I thought the new Premiere had EDL support. So now you should be able to edit an offline version with burned in time code and have it line up with your timeline. So then once you're done editing, you save an EDL and give that to the negative cutter.

[AndyJ]

I thought Prem had EDL support to... ???

[PrestonH]

Yes, you can export a project as an AAF or EDL - assuming you properly logged your footage. I think there would still be a lot of manual work to do a film conform as it doesn't support flexfiles or keycode. These guys have software though to do the conversion: www.trakkertech.com

[speedbump]

It's all about the content, man.

I guess that's a flip answer, but what are you expecting from the Premiere section of the forum?

AVID at the low end sucks. Their product line has a feature set which is geared towards people who can spend $250,000 or more on an editing solution that supports collaboration amongst multiple artists.

Premiere is designed to cater to the prosumer market, especially those who are already using other Adobe products. Are you making a movie with a team of people, or are you shooting a low-budget short financed with your own credit cards?

[BLUESPIDER]

"Doesn't matter what you used, it all comes down to the final product." - Jenna Jameson

[AndyJ]

Amen to that, brother!

(And the congregation go "Yes sirrr!!" )*;D