Final Cut Pro Versus Avid

It's the quickest way to start a fight among film and video post-production professionals: what's the best non-linear editing platform on the market? In one corner, you've got Apple Final Cut Pro, the young, plucky upstart that's gone from fringe, sideline software to a legitimate contender in the corridors of Hollywood. In the other corner, you've got the heavyweight champion, Avid, still the recognized way to edit digitally. Who wins the fight? Well, here's the secret. There's no best editing software. There's only the best editing software for you.

It's easy to compare Final Cut Pro and Avid to cars. Final Cut Pro is the slick red convertible with flash and speed. Avid is the big bulky SUV; you can load all your groceries in but it doesn't corner too well. Apple has made sure to plug Final Cut Pro's hip, friendly image at every turn, and they're not wrong; the program is smooth to use and you'll find your footage cuts like butter. Seamless integration with other post-production software like DVD Studio Pro and Photoshop is a huge plus. Final Cut Pro is, let's face it, fun. Skate through your timeline and turn your edit around on a dime. Yee-hah.

While the scoffing is less vocal these days as Final Cut Pro gains legitimacy, Avid editors still have the upper hand in the fight when you get up to the professionals; sure, Final Cut Pro's okay to edit an indie short or some TV stuff, but for a feature, grow up and go the way of Avid. And it's true that Avid will get you there in ways Final Cut Pro can't. It wasn't a program designed to be used on a stand-alone Macintosh that you also use to do your taxes, it's a behemoth and it can handle behemoths in turn.

But the price is big too. With Avid, there's always something else to buy, often in hardware form; Final Cut is a set of discs in a box, following Apple's use-it-right-out-of-the-box philosophy. As low as $700 and you're good to go. That won't cover the software on an Avid setup, let alone the hardware. Indeed, price is one of the main reasons so many stick with Final Cut Pro; lack of funds to proceed to the more upscale option. It's an important reason.

Right next to ease of use, of course. Final Cut Pro is turnkey and slick, Avid is clunky and stodgy. If you're detecting similarities to the great Apple Macintosh vs. Microsoft Windows debate, you're not the first. Avid is the de facto standard, like Windows, and Mac users are rebels.

It's easy to split hairs here, as computer people love to do. You can sit down and compare each Apple feature to each Avid feature, count up the numbers, note what one version has in comparison to another. But in the end it's not each individual feature that sets the two platforms apart. It's the philosophy. The experience, if you will.

So stand back. Assess your situation. Do you see yourself working all-digital, for yourself, on the fringe? Maybe you're a Final Cut Pro type. But if you envision yourself getting lots of tape decks and having long conversations about conforming to broadcast standards, with big projects to mastermind, Avid could be for you.

Or maybe it doesn't matter. What's surprising is how these platforms are gradually beginning to blur the lines between them. Responding to the demands of professionals, Apple is bringing Final Cut Pro into a new age of power, such as native editing of HD content and add-ons like Motion and LiveType for advanced graphics and titling. And Avid, mindful of being outdistanced by the new kid on the block, is making their software more user-friendly.

So who wins, from all this competition?

The editor. With choices and competition, the consumer wins, as two rivals strive to create the best software at the best prices. Final Cut Pro's increased foothold in the industry only spurs Avid to rise to the challenge, and neither company shows signs of slowing. The key, then, is to understand what each corporation is looking to accomplish. Whether you're the corporate hotshot with an Avid cheerfully whirring away or the maverick cowboy with Final Cut Pro and a six-gun by your side, there's something for each individual editor's style. Just remember that there's one thing no non-linear editing software can do, and that's make the right creative decisions. It's not the software that matters, but the person using it.