Media Composer Advice

[SameSelf]

I have been using Adobe Production Studio since CS2. With Adobe moving to CC and monthly licensing, I feel like this is the end of the road for me and Adobe. I had a look at Sony Vegas, but then I felt like I was better off with the devil that I know, even though I am constantly running into problems (see my many threads, and many thanks also to all those who have helped me immensely, I have learned more about video in the last year than I ever bargained for, and I owe it mostly to the wise gurus here).

Recently I stumbled across Media Composer. I always thought, well, that is like ProTools in the DAW space, no need to look there. However, they have a student/educational discount for only $300. Since all the editing I do is mainly for my son's band (e.g. I shot 60 minutes of FHD video Tuesday that I still need to master i.e. de-noise, color grade, edit, mix the audio, render, etc). I am feeling like maybe this is the time to make a move?

Can anyone tell me if my workflows that involve AE, PP, and occasionally Encore (with a bunch of frameserving to other codecs like HCenc and x264) will be compromised or enhanced if I move to MC? The main reason I think I can make the move is I own an Atomos Ninja 2.0 which can encode in either ProRes or DNxHD. And, I want to be able to move up to 4K soon.

Thanks

[smrpix]

Avid is a nimble, rock-solid editor. It is fast and particularly strong working in a collaborative environment.

That being said, it is not as effects friendly as PPro, and material needs to be transcoded except for short, quick turnaround projects. Also, Avid has gone to a subscription model as well, theirs is annual. I believe the student version is substantially discounted.

I love my Avid, and hate cutting content on anything else -- but go in with your eyes open. There is a 30 day free trial.

[SameSelf]

Wow, that is a solid referral. I don't do a lot of effects in PPro since my videos are more documentary in style than films. What I obsess over, I find, is getting the best quality possible from a footage acquisition and render perspective. And I lean on effects to clean up problems versus achieving a certain "look". The student version (non-subscription) is only $300. But you're right, there is a 30 day free trial. Just hard to find time to demo stuff since I have a day job

[Cornucopia]

You ought to also re-look at ProTools!
AVID/Digi has lately tried to greatly update their underlying engines to better accommodate Pro users' needs & workflows, as well as returning to giving weaker/lower-tiered versions to consumers at much better price points. And they have made most of the lines open to (some) 3rd party hardware.

IIWY, I'd use either Adobe PPro or AVID MC (or Vegas for that matter) and choose according to workflow style & edit featureset, not FX. Leave complex FX to AE, Nuke and the 3D apps. All the NLEs can give you GREAT acquisition & rendering, but it is the export/compression (particularly of HEAVILY compressed web stuff) that might show as a weakness. You won't see any of them giving bad quality to DI/lossless formats, however. If you really need good compressed stuff, save your HQ master and then compress externally with AVISynth/Vdub, ffmpeg, or other well-known high quality compression workflows.

Scott

[newpball]

With Adobe moving to CC and monthly licensing, I feel like this is the end of the road for me and Adobe.

I hope I won't disappoint you but subscription based software is the trend and is for here to stay!

Soon all the major software companies will take this model.

It is actually a good thing because now software companies have to support endless branches of old software because some consumers never or are very slow in upgrading.