It's official: Apple is shipping off-the-shelf digital video workstations, starting at $1,599. I've been saying for years on this forum and on others that digital video was going to be on everyone's desktop in the future (well, at least on the Macintosh platform):
>>Hoping to capitalize on the emerging FireWire and DV standards, Apple previewed Final Cut Pro, the long-awaited editing, compositing and special effects package acquired from Macromedia last year.
Tim Meyer, Apple senior product manager for video products, said with built-in FireWire, high-capacity hard drives and Final Cut Pro, new G3 Macs will be off-the-shelf video workstations.
"Plug in your FireWire camera and you've got everything you need in one package," Meyer said. "You won't need to add capture cards or RAID drives."<<
full article here: emediaweekly.com
Ok, so it's not an Avid Media Composer (yet), but many users are focusing on what they CAN do on entry-level systems without spending upwards of $25K on an Avid system, much less over $75K for a decent Media Composer workstation. IMHO, Avid's clear feature and user advantages are eroding on the low end, while facing significant R&D costs to bring out the new technology for high-def video production. In other words, Avid will continue to be a leader in the professional NLE marketplace, but this is a niche market that will not give them the kind of explosive quarter to quarter growth they saw in years past, nor the same high profit margins if they want to compete at the low end.
As always, do your own research,
D. Kuspa |
