This IS the Avid L2: Re: [Avid-L2] A "Best NLE" review

Friday, October 4, 2013

Re: [Avid-L2] A "Best NLE" review

I only took a quick glance at this review, but even that sufficed to give me pause. The author starts by claiming "I'm taking no prisoners. There will be one and only one winner." and he shows us a still from Kurosawa's masterpiece "Seven Samurai."

But that film ends with the surviving (three) samurai watching the now-fearless villagers joyfully planting their rice crop, and Kambei (the wise leader of the ronin) ruefully notes "Again we're defeated. The winners are those farmers. Not us."

The author sounds like he's had but modest experience with post. As with "Seven Samurai" there isn't "only one winner" in the NLE world. NLEs have different strengths and weaknesses, so there isn't one that's best for everybody. Just to give one example, if the author had ever managed a project with thousands of hours of material, he might have added media management to his list of ways "an NLE can. . . stand out."

But hey, it's on the internet, it must be true.

On Fri, Oct 4, 2013 at 12:06 PM, <pixcutter@earthlink.net> wrote:

http://wolfcrow.com/blog/the-best-video-editing-software-2013-part-one-the-beginning/

I find his reviews usually in-depth and worth the read, but early in part one this gave me pause:

"Therefore, an NLE can only stand out in these ways:
It can import more file formats than its competitor.

It can export to more file formats than its competitor.

It can work with native file formats (non-destructive editing) if that's what you want.

It can handle more frame rates and resolutions than its competitor.

It can handle more color information than its competitor.

It can handle more audio information than its competitor."

and later:

" It all comes down to which NLE can support the most diverse workflows."
I read his definition of workflow here as what I would consider, well, signal path; the formats or codecs used at various stages through post.

So, is he focusing too much on this aspect, or is he weighting it appropriately?

For me, yes, it's critical to know what formats and codecs to expect, to nail down frame rates and compression, to get deliverables precisely defined, but I consider this more about planning and setting up a project, and just one aspect of workflow.

I find the interface and the NLE's tools ultimately contribute more to an efficient workflow. Or am I giving too much consideration to the day-to-day work of editing?