Well, I'd disagree with calling it "minutia."
You are correct that it is the same voice recognition. It's the same voice recognition that powers ScriptSync as well. But there is the Nexidia part of the patents (the people that do the actual "listening" to the phonetics) and then there's the Avid side, that ties the phonetics to the script or that allows the links in the audio to call up actual clips.
With Get and Soundbite, you have to run these as EXTERNAL operations. You also have to SHOW it the media you want to look at. If all your media isn't in one place, then it doesn't look at it at all. With Avid, the phonetic search runs in the background at all times, so your audio is constantly analyzed and searched. With Get and Soundbite, you have to run these searches and allow them time to do their thing. In Avid, it's much more instantaneous.
Also, with Get and Soundbite, you search for CLIPS that have the audio, THEN you search for the words inside those clips. Then you have to export those searches back into Final Cut or whatever app you're using. So it's a FOUR step process to get to your searched word: 1) launch a separate app, 2) point to a limited media selection and find a clip, 3) search for the word inside the clip, 4) export markers back to your app. And if you wanted to you could claim it's more like an 9 step process: 1) leave NLE, 2) Launch Soundbite, 3) point to specific folder of limited media (as opposed to ALL of your media, potentially in Avid), 4) run search to find clips, 5) run search inside a specific clip to find words, 6) Hop between clips to find more words, 7) Export the markers for each clip, 8) Import the markers for each clip into NLE, 9) search through markers again to find specific instance of soundbite you wanted.
In Avid, this is a much faster 3 step process: 1) command-F to launch a search, 2)run the search word, 3) click on the found soundbite.
The issue is definitely the llcensing from Nexidia. But we are not privvy to those negotiations so it's a little hard to criticize them. Maybe Nexidia knows it has Avid over a barrel with one of their key features. Maybe they felt like they got hosed in previous negotiations and are trying to make good now. Maybe they have multiple suitors for their technology and are realizing the value of their end of the patent. Maybe Avid is broke. Maybe Avid's lawyers are stuck on a single small part of the agreement. Maybe Nexidia has poured a lot more into the R&D of their side of the product, making it more valuable and successful.
But Avid definitely integrates their technology far better than anyone else does, so I refuse to recognize that as "minutia." You use Soundbite, and I'll use PhraseFind for a project and then we'll add up all the lost hours you spent and subtract them from your family time or your ability to do actual creative work and talk again about "minutia."
Steve Hullfish
