Television production company Bunim/Murray, the company which pioneered reality television with MTV's the Real World, has dropped Final Cut Pro in favor of an editing system from Avid, according to a press release from Avid.
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Avid today announced that renowned television production company, Bunim/Murray Productions, has selected Avid Media Composer® 6 and Avid Symphony® 6 editing software for all of its programs beginning in early 2012. Bunim/Murray joins a growing number of professional users who have returned to using Avid solutions from Final Cut Pro to meet their production workflow requirements. Additionally, as part of this implementation, Bunim/Murray also plans to deploy an Avid ISIS® 5000 shared storage system to effectively store and share media across its organization.
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“Due to the large volume of media generated by our reality shows, we needed to re-evaluate our editing and storage solutions. At the same time, we were looking for a partner who would understand our long-term needs,” said Mark Raudonis, senior vice president of Post Production at Bunim/Murray. “As we talked with Avid, it was clear that the company has really forged ahead since we worked with them years ago. Their commitment to the needs of their professional customers, like us, is clear. And, with the introduction of Media Composer 6, they really raised the bar and have a vision for the future that makes them the right choice for our business.”
Apple introduced a completely rewritten version of its Final Cut Pro video editing suite earlier this year to mixed reviews, especially amongst professional editors. The reception was so poor that Apple put its legacy version of Final Cut Studio back on sale in September.
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(View all)This should really surprise no one. The quote, "Their commitment to the needs of their professional customers, like us, is clear." should sting. Apple, Inc's entire direction is away from the professional consumer who helped build their success in the first place (killing Xserve, the FCP debacle, nebulous MacPro future, Lion!). You've made your choice, Apple. Now sleep in the bed you've made.
Spot on. IMO the last 18 months has shown that Apple no longer have a long term commitment to the Mac past consumer use.
Apple was always the professionals choice for hardware/software in the video and audio industry, now they are geared towards phones and Ipads.. O well..
Companies and editors are not going to stay on FCP7 for another few years waiting for FCPX to be brought back up to standard. Many of them will likely switch to Avid or Premiere as well as replacing their machines with Windows PCs. Once this happens, it will be another 3-5 years before they would even consider switching back to FCPX, and many wouldn't do so just because of this previous headache and lost trust in Apple.
What really bothers me about this is that Apple has many editors and creative professionals who have had their back and have been pushing for them for years within companies. They have had to fight long and hard to get managers and others to justify spending more on Apple Hardware. Now they look bad, and will likely have a harder time being trusted when it comes to purchase decisions. I really feel sorry for anyone who had their news stations or other large scale companies fully invest in FCP Server to only have it be discontinued 2 years later.
I for one will not be sticking my neck out for Apple anymore in professional settings, as I've been burned by them enough to where it's making me look bad. I have begun advising clients and others to switch to Avid or Premiere if they are going to upgrade their systems. As someone who has been a long time supporter of Apple since the early 90's using Adobe products and then onto FCP and Logic, it's sad to see the company that helped inspire me into my current career begin to abandon my field and turn almost all of their focus on consumer goods.
This is no skin of Apple's......apple?
Actually, it is. You just can't see it happening because it's a trickle-down effect. The professionals are "influencers" and if Apple loses them, they'll be losing the inner foundation and core that saved them in the first place.