What is equivalent on PC to Final Cut Pro on Mac?

[johnharlin]

Everyone tells me that you can't edit video well on a PC -- that you can only do so on a Mac with Final Cut Pro.

If so, then why is there an incredible site like this one. So can someone tell me what might be a good video editing program for the PC. I took a quick look at Adobe Premiere on their Web site and it seems that they have awfully high system requirements plus they want 4 gigabytes of free file space. I don't like big bloated programs like that.

One other thing I want to mention is that I have a Pentium 4 Northwood 1.6ghz processor with an ATI All In Wonder 9600 card that has 128 megabytes but I don't think it comes with any video editing software.

[edDV]

Everyone tells me that you can't edit video well on a PC -- that you can only do so on a Mac with Final Cut Pro.

If so, then why is there an incredible site like this one. So can someone tell me what might be a good video editing program for the PC. I took a quick look at Adobe Premiere on their Web site and it seems that they have awfully high system requirements plus they want 4 gigabytes of free file space. I don't like big bloated programs like that.

Because they are lying to you.

High end editing is done on the PC or other platform and the majority of consumer and prosumer is done on the PC. MAC has a mid level niche in the freelance high end prosumer and low end broadcast post production business similar to Adobe's Photoshop / Illustrator graphics artist mobile freelancer segment. Apple has done a good job developing and supporting a commodity freelance editor labor market. Adobe is in a similar postion for more corporate oriented multimedia authoring "artists" and Sony is trying to catch up with both at this level.

Avid currrently owns the higher end, mostly with PC hardware but some Avid software still runs on the Mac.

Describe what you what to do and if you are looking for a job. For home editing either can work for you.

[edDV]

... I took a quick look at Adobe Premiere on their Web site and it seems that they have awfully high system requirements plus they want 4 gigabytes of free file space. I don't like big bloated programs like that.

One other thing I want to mention is that I have a Pentium 4 Northwood 1.6ghz processor with an ATI All In Wonder 9600 card that has 128 megabytes but I don't think it comes with any video editing software.

Final Cut Pro has similar stiff hardware requirements and is targeted at high budget semi-pro users.

Apple's entry product is iMovie. Adobe has Premiere Elements, Sony has Vegas Movie Studio and ULead has Video Studio.

Full Sony Vegas fits nicely in between this entry and full pro level and is intended for the one man band independent producer. Sony is trying to move the product upmarket to go more head to head with Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. Other upper middle products are ULead Media Studio, Canopus Edius and Pinnacle Liquid.

[videopoo]

I'd agree but this line between FCP and Avid is fading fast. Especially with newer facilities and production companies. I'm seeing so much more Apple these days. All editors MUST know both platforms well.

High End vs Mid/Prosumer/Low End is a thing of the past from a technical standpoint at least

[edDV]

I'd agree but this line between FCP and Avid is fading fast. Especially with newer facilities and production companies. I'm seeing so much more Apple these days. All editors MUST know both platforms well.

High End vs Mid/Prosumer/Low End is a thing of the past from a technical standpoint at least

The high end facility needs are very different from consumer/prosumer (one man band workstation).

Avid is all about infrastructure and collaboration support with massive central video servers and shared database. Apple and Adobe tend to exist as islands in a facility but still with central server access.

Sony wants Vegas to move up to server based uncompressed SDI at full HDCAM/XDCAM HD level and use it to get more of a cut of broadcast news/promo growth. I think this is at the expense of the prosumer in versions 6 and 7. Not much new for the little guy other than HDV and Dolby Digital.