Post Production

Report: Avid explores a sale of the company

Report: Avid explores a sale of the company 5
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Scott Simmons
May 25, 2023
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The post-production internet has been all abuzz in the last day or so as it was reported that Media editing software vendor Avid explores sale -sources, according to Reuters.

Anyone who has been in the video editing and post-production business (and I think that would be both as an editor and in management) wasn’t shocked by this news. Avid has been through its ups and downs and CEOs over the years (I interviewed current CEO Jeff Rosica at NAB not long after he was appointed) as both Media Composer and ProTools have struggled to key up with their video editing and audio mixing competitors from a technology standpoint. Other non-linear editing applications have long eclipsed Media Composer in both functionality and modern hardware support. We’re still waiting on native Apple Silicon support for Media Composer.

But despite that both Media Composer and ProTools solider on stalwarts in the post-production industry. They are solid workhorses with a large built-in market share in post houses and facilities all over the world. While neither has made huge inroads in corporate media and branded content Avid products still cut and mix most of what you see on television or in the movie theater. And while the dedicated user base is aging, they (we) still know how to cut and mix on time and on budget with Avid’s tools.

Oliver Peters has a great analysis of this as well on his blog.

Our post-production community on Twitter had quite a chat about this news.

I like this take from Christian Glawe.

Report: Avid explores a sale of the company 6

 

I don’t think I would agree with this above these days as much as I would have in the past. Both Adobe and Blackmagic are working very hard at collaborative workflows with their toolsets. The biggest advantage that Avid Media Composer currently has over its competitors is an established infrastructure. That’s partially due to Avid shared-storage but also due to the large investment in the Avid infrastructure that many facilities have made so they are very reluctant to change. If it isn’t broke, why fix it?

 

The investment folks were talking about this too but they don’t care about media creation like we do.

 

And, of course, Avid’s stock climbs on this news.

Commentary has run rampant that people think that Adobe, Apple, Blackmagic or even Telestream might buy Avid. I hardly believe any of them would want Media Composer since most have much. more modern editing applications. Maybe they would want the Avid hardware, both the shared storage and/or the ProTools rigs.

Perhaps one of the best takes I saw was this: Slight problem for Media Composer users: I suspect ProTools is much more profitable than MC. For every $1 investment in software development of PT, Avid might get $5 back. Maybe MC doesn’t break even and is being supported by PT sales. If so, why include MC in the sale?

The idea that things could be split up where Media Composer goes to one place and ProTools goes to another is the most plausible that I’ve seen. Who knows what will happen.

This LinkedIn poll has some ideas.

Report: Avid explores a sale of the company 7

Apparently, LinkedIn polls are limited to the number of answers so I don’t think this is very scientific.

We’ll be watching this one but in the meantime, both Media Composer and ProTools will keep working and we’ll keep editing and mixing with them!

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C Matador

Wow.How wrong can you be.

If you are interested in media management, collaboration, shared projects and work groups along with core edit functionality and interface response then NO NLE HAS SURPASSED AVID MEDIA COMPOSER, unfortunately.

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Scott Simmons

You are correct that media management and collaboration is where Avid shines. But it does not shine in edit functionality and interface response anymore as it is old and dated and sadly behind in both modern features and overall speed. Even when working with DNx media it is slow and lumbering compared to its more modern competition. It’s a difficult thing to admit as I learned on Avid before any other NLE but they just haven’t kept up with modernizing like the other NLEs.

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C Matador

Scott, disagree strongly.

JKL shuttle, transport, and edit inputs on both source side and timeline is incredibly responsive in Media Composer compared to Premiere and that includes non-transcoded newer Sony AVC – MXF media. Stop means stop, low delay, etc. Avid trim mode is still the rock star of them all.

All you have to do is look through Premiere forums at the basic performance problems the application continues to have with shuttle and playback. A situation made worse when break out boxes are used. Even on top spec systems (like mine) folks still complain about video lag and dropping audio samples. (I hear the clicks often).

Avid timeline behavior like auto-patching and the ability to modify media parameters for clips already in sequence rivals Premiere and speeds work.

Basic organization is far more flexible. Premiere still doesn’t understand the relation between subclips and masterclips while inside a project and absolutely makes a mess of relinking – restoring archived media for multiple subclips from the same master clip on a finder level. .

The physical act of creating subclips is far more cumbersome in Premiere and illustrates how fragmented and over focused the interface is. Keyboard shortcuts are not “modal” and far harder to manage and use vs Avid. You really can’t effectively manage multiple user settings and preferences on the same install from inside the application either. Even things like bin views are buried deep inside OS system folders. Very difficult to share vs Avid.

Same with custom effects presets. Avid generally thinks of this stuff on a project by project and bin by bin basis. Premiere seems to more often think of things as a giant basket of everything on your computer.

Premiere is an ABSOLUTE DISASTER in managing metadata. XMP is hack-ish and does not work well. Creating,managing, using, and sharing custom bin columns, fields, and data in Media Composer is not only elegant but it works FANTASTIC. Premiere falls apart.

And let’s not even crack the door open on project sharing, projects with multiple editors, and bin sharing across different projects. This is just core base functionality with Avid. Premiere is very clumsy and inflexible whether through the grafted on teams or productions.

Keep in mind Media Composer’s foundation was designed by people that obviously paid close attention to the craft of editing, in an age when software like that cost 10’s of thousands of dollars (if broken out). Premiere is a pro-sumer application that grew up and has the feel of “software guys”. It is also aging and stretching as feature upon feature are plastered on. But it is much more of a Swiss Army Knife than Media Composer ever thought about being. It does an awful lot (integrated transcribing features, srt features, AI, etc). Resolve is catching up on basics while always been advanced on slick features (re-light).

The core of Media Composer is a robust database engine and media management architecture required when offline / online / cut-lists were the workflow.

This serves users very well today. It is why all you need to re-create or move an entire edit is ONLY the actual sequence, not a monolithic giant project (which Premiere can occasionally corrupts).

Everything used in an Avid sequence is LOCKED in the sequence. It is far too easy to have errors happen in Premiere. Any guesses what happens to references of clips in sequences if they accidentally get deleted or disappear on a project level in Premiere? GONE. Like they were never there.

Premiere seems to lose track of renders / pre-computes easier and doesn’t seem to be as robust on a frame by frame basis managing renders. Using helper apps like Media Encoder and “scripts” to mange transcoding, proxies, and even some imports – moving via Media Browser can cause havoc. Clips can literally have custom names reset. And there can be duplicate media issues.

While the Symphony color corrector is extremely old it’s ability to be RELATIONAL across clips, sequences, and cameras is unmatched, provided the color corrector gets you where you need to go. It also allows for surgical input via keyboard or numerically. Both things Lumetri cannot do, although Lumetri has far more features to actually do the grade. Resolve absolutely kicks Avid’s ass here.

Where you are right with functionality is Premiere’s greater video and audio effects flexibility which extends to titles, mogrts, and tie-ins with After Effects or etc. It is also far less restrictive than Media Composer when using multiple resolutions or non standard resolutions. And there are other areas where Premiere and certainly Resolve are far more contemporary, advanced, and integrated than Media Composer.

But IMHO you have colored the term “edit functionality” entirely wrong. In core, base, edit functionality and media management, nothing surpasses Avid product. Nothing even comes close in professional, non-single seat, environments. It does the BASICS better than anyone else and triumphs when used to edit large story driven projects like narratives, serial television, news – infotainment, and documentaries.

This is unfortunate. I use Premiere as much as Media Composer so I am well exposed. My choice of application is based on the project.

After many conversations with Adobe, they do not seem the least bit interested or capable in addressing long standing basic short comings. And in many cases they can’t even explain what the software is doing and why. And in their defense it is daunting task for either company to deal with aging architecture and legacy code base.

For me the basics and foundation matters. Avid had such a head start here it still rivals the field. Bells and whistles, that is another story.

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Scott Simmons

I don’t disagree with lot of what you said and I’m not going to get into a point-by-point feature debate on Avid vs PPro. Premiere has always had a few frames lag when using Mercury Transmit to a client monitor but then Avid has a lag when working with AMA linked media. But a lot of what you list is doing things the Avid way and that’s not going to work in PPro as they are differnet applciations. I gave up on subclippning after my first Premiere edit years ago and organize much differently and arguably much faster in Premiere as there are more and (better options IMHO) that subsclipping.

You can’t take what complaining is going on in internet forums as your basis. Premiere is being used in thousands and thousands more installs on systems of varying quality with native media by editors of questionable technical ability. Yep they are going to have a lot of problems and complain about it loudly. Avid is being used but a lot more expereinced editors using transcoded, managed media, often with IT support on older systems running older software that has been pretty well stabilized. I can edit a BASIC cut and dissolve edit equally fast on Avid, PPro, Resolve or FCP. They all do that very well and very fast if you use that tool’s strengths. And that’s great if that is all you have to do. Start doing the things that many, most, modern edits ask for (graphics, titles, compositing, color, effects) then sadly Avid hasn’t kept up with the competition and lost a lot of markert share over the years.

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Alex ‘4D’ Gollner

Sadly the specifics of one NLE being better than another – be it in media management or titling – is irrelevant if Media Composer doesn’t contribute to Avid’s profitability.

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David

Let me be the first to shovel Avid into it’s well-deserved grave.

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Alex ‘4D’ Gollner

Scott,
I understand that a comment on a Facebook post doesn’t give permission for my take being credited, but I don’t mind being credited for my “Slight problem for Media Composer users” take.
Cheers!

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