Video Editing: Which do you use and why: Final Cut Pro, Avid, Adobe Premiere?

Premiere is the best NLE for me because of the many other programs in the Creative Suite. Avid DV Express is similar, but I think it has the fewest VFX controls for clips on the timeline. I once used a lot of video effects before I got into After Effects and I still like that option today. To me, FCP is Fatal Crash Prone because of the way Macs use external hard drives. Accidnetally disconnecting a mounted drive or storing a lot of heavily trafficed data on external drives can cause irreversible offline media problems or missing media at start up. In my opinion Windows applications are better for Non-Linear Editors (NLEs) because of their metadata controls.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... I began my studies in Film Production by cutting on Final Cut Pro 7, and Avid because these were the only tools available at my college. Avid always felt clunky and counter-intuitive; a holdover from and older generation of editors accustomed to using tape-to-tape editing systems, and physically cutting film. Final Cut Pro was useful, though its lack of updates, limited codec support, constant need to render, and eventual abandonment by Apple, left much to be desired. Once I graduated from college, I learned to use Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, and never looked back. Premiere has an amazingly wide range of support for camera formats, an excellent selection of built-in effects, the Mercury Playback Engine, GPU acceleration, and a huge assortment of 3rd party plugins to make your life easier (twixtor and neat video are amazing). As a multimedia artist, I often combine my video with animations, motion graphics, design elements and still images, so the unsurpassed integration Premiere Pro has with the rest of the Creative Suite (or Creative Cloud, now) is invaluable.

I use Premiere Pro, mainly because I've been using it for the last 10 years - for better and for worse. I've always been just out of the budget range of upgrading to a Mac, so I've made the best of Premiere Pro until it got good. Until CS3, Premiere Pro was pretty buggy and crash-prone (before Premiere Pro, Premiere was even worse). Ever since CS3, Premiere Pro has gotten significantly better, and without fundamentally changing the editing paradigm. Adobe's  updates to all of their software tend to be very gradual, so in that  sense the Creative Cloud transition has been beneficial, as it has  reduced the amount of time between significant feature additions and  bugfixes. The overall gradual pace appeals to editors that like to keep their editing interface basically the same, at the cost of missing out on some interesting new features for a version or two. I have been consistently impressed with the stability of Final Cut Pro (pre-X), but not by the built-in titler or the reliance on transcoding. I have yet to seriously try out FCP X, but some of the features attract  me, and I like how it includes a lot of decent functionality in one program - as opposed to splitting it over several seperate programs. I've tried to use Avid occasionally, and I think it's a different enough paradigm  that I'd have to take a class to really understand how to use it  effectively. However, it is absolutely still the predominant editing  program in "Hollywood", so if you're looking to working in that  industry, learn it. Also If you want to edit collaboratively off of a giant media server, Avid is designed for that. Notes from my experience with Premiere CC: With a reasonably decent system, you can edit just about any codec  natively in Premiere CC, and the output options are right up there with any  of the other NLEs. Creative Cloud has significant value for the price. With most other NLE options, you would need to also buy Photoshop and/or After Effects to deal with pro jobs. With CC, it's all included. Need to mock up a flier? You've got InDesign. Need to do a logo? Illustrator. Etc. You can install the apps as you need them, then remove them when you don't. However... The authentication system for Creative Cloud is prone to bugs, including randomly logging you out and forcing your to re-activate the programs you have installed. I also don't really trust the security of their cloud storage system after the recent breach. You may or may not experience issues with these systems. If you hate the monthly payments part of Creative Cloud (or have an erratic income), you can get a prepaid card from Amazon (and other places) for a year's subscription. It's the same price, but potentially less hassle. You get legal access to a bunch of Adobe fonts. If you work in a job that requires you not to steal things or download free fonts/programs from a dodgy website that could try to infect your computer with nasty malware, this is a plus. The downside is that you're just renting the fonts - without a CC account, the fonts you get from Adobe disappear from your system. Dynamic link can have issues not present in previous editions, which may need significant time and/or redownloading/reinstalling apps to correct. If you have a good enough GPU, Premiere will let you edit DSLR footage reasonably smoothly without transcoding. With any processor-intensive codec, you basically have a choice: spend time and hard drive space transcoding for easier editing, or spend money on better GPUs and a decent RAID (0, 5) array for real-time performance. I have chosen the latter. However, I feel that if you need to transcode to edit, then the advantages of using Premiere Pro are significantly less. One caveat, though: If you're going to speed up or slow down a lot of footage, transcoding to a less processor-intensive codec really helps with playback - unless you have a really strong CPU. You can use "unsupported" GPUs by adding the card's name to a text file. However, it needs to be an NVIDIA card (preferably a 670 GTX or better) to get decent performance. For AMD support, you'll need to use Final Cut Pro X. Once you realize that you can work on a title sequence in After Effects, import it into Premiere and have any subsequent changes to the sequence  immediately update in Premiere, you'll realize how great the workflow can be. Premiere (like most editing programs) creates a lot of temp files. It's not too difficult to find the options to change where those files go. Read the Adobe official recommendations on where to put them, and go from there, but in general: Think of the overall data rate of playing back several files at once, and the max sustained transfer rate of the drives your using. Don't put temp files on the same drive as your footage, unless it's a RAID 0 and you want to be able to put your project files, media and temp file all in one folder for easy backup/transport. Don't just put all your footage on a single drive and expect editing to go smoothly. You will need at least 16GB of RAM. Technically, Premiere doesn't need that much, but you likely will want to use other programs and/or plugins at the same time. After Effects can eat RAM for breakfast, and so if you want to do a lot of After Effects work, 32GB or more is preferred. If you have less than that, you can set how much memory Premiere and After Effects can use. Monitor your RAM usage, and then set it sensibly.

While I am familiar with Adobe Premier the NLE I use does not appear on your list: Sony Vegas Pro. It does not get the most press but since I am most familiar with it I can get the job done a lot faster than if I try to pickup a package I am not as comfortable with. Vegas can ingest more formats much easier than the other NLEs. I was part of an award winning team for a web based nightly news cast where I was the editor using Vegas. We utilized footage from DSLRs, Canon videocams and Panasonic P2 cards as well as Final Cut without any transcoding. As the awards were handed out no one asked, "What did you edit your video on?". Matthew Phillips is correct that Avid is well used in Hollywood and knowing how to use Final Cut appears to be a big deal to some people but my years of experience with Vegas makes it top choice for me.

I know there are great things about Premiere and Avid, but I am a Final Cut Pro X user. Many people have knocked the program since its launch, but those are people who evaluated it in version 10.0, criticized it for its faults (which were fair criticisms), and then wrote it off forever without ever really using the program again.  There have been 7 upgrades to the program since, and having used it in-depth, it is a great piece of software and a timesaver as well. Stephen wrote below about all the other pieces of software he can send his project to; well, in FCPX, I can do most of that right in the FCPX interface itself.  Powerful plug-ins from third-party companies make the software even better (and the possibilities for creativity endless).  And although the software allows for easy use by non-professional editors, it is truly a professional program as well, more and more powerful with each upgrade and able to do whatever I can think of. I edit professionally for companies who pay for their web or corporate videos; I also do a lot of sports and other event productions.  I was an FCP7 user and having gone back to it to work an old project recently, I actually hated it - FCPX has made things so much easier and it is my preference. That said, I am currently learning Premiere so I am versed in all software; I started on Avid so I do know that.  But Final Cut X, if you learn it and use it for a little while, will win you over.  If it doesn't, that's fine too.  Every editor should use the program they're comfortable with.

Having used all the Big Three NLEs, I have to say that Final Cut Pro X is the quickest to edit with. One thing I can't stand about Adobe is they love to cram their interfaces with palettes, tabs, tool bars, folders, endless menu options and floating windows.  Avid MC is even worse. I like that FCPX stays out of my way. It can do basically all the same things as other NLEs just with a clean, uncluttered interface that gives focus to your content. Basic things are also much quicker to do in FCPX. Here's how you crop a video in Premiere: you go to the Project pane, click the Effects tab, type in a search for the Crop effect then drag it onto your timeline clip. Then you go to the Effects Controls tab (in the top pane this time) to crop. If you want a wireframe to crop with, that's another thing to click. (Avid works similarly). To crop a video in FCPX, you just click on the Crop/Motion button tight beneath the Viewer and you're good to go with a wireframe all ready to crop with. That's just one example of FCPX removes extraneous clicking and other barriers to fast, intuitive editing. Then there really useful features that are totally unique to FCPX. I use Auditions a lot, which basically lets you combine multiple takes into one clip in the timeline and toggle between them to see which one works best, automatically rippling to accommodate any differences in the lengths of the clips. I love being able to preview effects, transitions and audio filters in real time just by skimming over them in the Effects section; no need to add an effect to a clip just to see what it looks like. The magnetic timeline is so amazing and precise. It's nice not to ever have to worry about patching audio and video tracks or about things slipping out of sync. It is amazing to move a clip and have all its b-roll clips move along with it. People say it's dumbed-down, but no one can ever explain to me what the advantage is of making things needlessly complicated. Isn't everything in tech about making things faster, simpler and more intuitive?Anyway, I do have to use Premiere sometimes and Avid occasionally but I'm always so relieved to get back to FCPX. It just seems like I'm fighting with the software less and focusing on my editing more.

Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, AVID? Which video editing software you ultimately choose is going to depend on a number of factors ranging from what capabilities you need to how much you are willing to spend. These days, professional video editing software often means one of Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple Final Cut Pro. Each of these are packed with features to get you from a collection of source footage to a final cut as quickly as possible and with the highest quality possible. There must be a best one in everyone’s mind. Here listed the main features of Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, AVID objectively. http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html Adobe Premiere is a software program for editing video and uses timeline to accomplish that. Its presence in the market has surely revolutionized the video editing industry thanks to its standout features. One of such features is its support for high resolution editing. This has been one of the biggest headaches for many video editors but Adobe Premiere gives you a way out. In other instances, the program has support for 3D editing and that makes it possible to view such material with 2D monitors. If you want to have adjustments made to the right and left eyes, you can with this program. http://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/ You can edit your videos smoothly with Final Cut Pro program and can handle more than one stream with maximum resolution. Its playback is very powerful and that adds to the easy editing experience. You will like the user-friendly interface because it comes with four windows for editing. With the timeline, editing is taken a notch higher with this program. If you want to edit one file at a time or many, the timeline makes that possible. It can handle up to 99 files at a go. http://www.avid.com/products/media-composer AVID is the best software to help you connect with other people in a very efficient, powerful and collaborative manner. It has very many features to allow you customize your video during editing and you must get maximum value in return for that. It might not measure up to other popular programs but it’s well suited for video editing. Every editor has its own features. Make sure you have chosen that which suits you best. Here give the a tutorial about importing video into each for smooth editing. http://www.multipelife.com/hd-video-converter-mac(read the http://digisns.com/product/pavtube-hd-video-converter-for-mac/) would help you do this task. It can convert any video into Apple ProRes 422 for Final Cut Pro, Avid DNxHD for Avid Media Composer, WMV(VC-1)(*.wmv)”/“MPEG-2 (*.mpg)”/“MOV (AVC) (*.MOV).”for Adobe Premiere.

They all cut, but each system is a different language, and each room likes to speak one language, and for now, Avid is English. Having worked at Avid (Critical Accounts) for nearly seven years, years ago, the big picture question revolves around connectivity, stability, and editors who are attempting to climb the editorial ladder to the biggest productions that pay the most. If the big show is using 4 editors on Unity, with Avid then you might need to be fluent in that language to get the job. To date the Vast Majority of projects with budget, especially those that contend for Oscar or Academy awards use AVID. In fact, Avid use in Hollywood for projects that gain distribution, I'm told, is still in the 90% range and more likely closer to 95% Avid. If you write screenplays there are also a number of options and everyone has an opinion... But the vast majority of successful writers use 'final draft.' Also its good to keep In mind, the timeline for creating a show is no where near the mindset of minute by minute app updates... The wrong update by one inexperienced editor, could take down all the editors and risk the loss of data, if not properly backed up, so many don't update any software until the show is finished. Which could be 6 months to a year on a feature. This is one reason why final cut took such a hit with experienced editors who push the envelope of software and hardware, and watched it crash and burn under the load. Premier seems great for what it can do if you are a one man/woman show or have a very small team. Premier is a must to have for sure. Final cut is apple so it will always be around and could make a comeback if apple invests.... But it seems Avid is still the majority choice in Hollywood, especially for teams that are connected together and swinging for the fence. The real secret: ALL the editors I work with speak three languages and have their tools labeled with all three loaded for bear: Avid, final cut, and Premier.