The editing world includes a number of software options, such as Autodesk Smoke, Grass Valley EDIUS, Lightworks, Media 100, Sony Vegas and Quantel. The lion’s share of editing is done on three platforms: Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer or Adobe Premiere Pro.

For the last two years many users have been holding onto legacy systems, wondering when the dust would settle and which editing tool would become dominant again. By the end of 2013, these three companies released significant updates that give users a good idea of their future direction and has many zeroing in on a selection. 現今的市場上有幾個重要的剪輯工具，像是 Autodesk Smoke、GVG EDIUS、Lighrtworks、Media 100、Sony Vegas 和 Qualtel。大部分的剪接市場集中在三個軟體平台： Apple Final Cut Pro、Avid Media Composer、Adobe Premiere Pro。過去兩年間，很多仍舊在使用舊版的使用者，都在等待塵埃落定，看看哪一個軟體會再度稱霸市場？2013 年底三家廠商都推出了可觀的軟體更新，讓大家看得出這些軟體將來的走向，同時也給予很多選擇軟體上的判斷基礎。. Differing business models 不同的商業經營模式 Adobe, Apple and Avid have three distinctly different approaches. Adobe and Avid offer cross-platform solutions, while Final Cut Pro X only works on Apple hardware. Adobe offers most of its content creation software only through a Creative Cloud subscription. Individual users have access to all creative applications for $49.99 a month (not including promotional deals), but when they quit subscribing, the applications cease to function after a grace period.

Users may install the software on as many computers as they like (Mac or PC), but only two can be activated at any time. Adobe、蘋果、Avid 有著三種不同的採買模式。Adobe 與 Avid 提供掛平台解決方案，而 Final Cut Pro X 只能在蘋果的機器上跑。Adobe 透過購買 Creative Cloud 會員帳號來提供軟體工具，個人帳號每月會費為美金 49.99 元 （台灣售價為新台幣 1620 / 月） ，該公司所提供的特惠促銷活動會有其他的價格。用戶退掉會員資格後，軟體經過一段時間會無法使用。使用者可以安裝於多台電腦，（Mac 或者是 PC）不過只有兩套可以同時間打開運行。 Apple’s software sells through the Mac App Store. Final Cut Pro X is $299.99 with another $49.99 each for Motion and Compressor. Individual users may install and use these applications on any Mac computers they own, but enterprise users are supposed to purchase volume licenses to cover one installation per computer. With the release of FCP X 10.1, it appears that Apple is offering updates at no charge, meaning that once you buy Final Cut, you never pay for updates. Whether that continues as the official Apple policy from here on is unknown. FCP X uses a special version of XML for timeline interchange with other applications, so if you need to send material via EDL, OMF or AAF – or even interchange with previous versions of Final Cut Pro – you will need to augment FCP X with a variety of third-party utilities.

蘋果經由 App Store 販賣軟體，Final Cut Pro X 售價為美金 299.99 元 （台灣售價為新台幣 8990 元） ，另外採購 Motion 與 Compressor 的售價都是美金 49.99 元 （台灣售價為新台幣 1490 元） 。個人用戶可以將軟體安裝在自有的任何一台蘋果電腦上使用，企業用戶可以採購大量授權方案，以安裝於多台電腦供多人使用 （在台灣多人授權的蘋果商品，比美加地區困難） 。蘋果新推出的 10.1 更新，並未對使用者收升級軟體費用，這意味著購買軟體之後，後面的升級是免費的。將來蘋果的軟體是否採取這樣的政策，目前還無法確定。FCP X 採用特殊的 XML 與其他的軟體銜接工作流程，但是需要經由 EDL、OMF、AAF，甚至與舊版 FCP 7 銜接，則需要經由第三方軟體來進行轉換。 （ DaVince Resolve 10.1 已經可以直接讀取，轉換的第三方軟體有 Xto7 for Final Cut Pro）. Avid Media Composer remains the only one of the three that follows a traditional software ownership model. You purchase, download and install the software and activate the license. You may install it on numerous Macs and PCs, but only one at a time can be activated.

The software bundle runs $999 and includes Media Composer, several Avid utilities, Sorenson Squeeze, Avid FX from BorisFX and AvidDVD by Sonic. You can expand your system with three extra software options: Symphony (advanced color correction), ScriptSync (automated audio-to-script alignment) and PhraseFind (a dialogue search tool). The Symphony option also includes the Boris Continuum Complete filters.

Thanks to Avid’s installation and activation process, Media Composer is the most transportable of the three. Simply carry Mac and Windows installers on a USB key along with your activation codes. It’s as simple as installing the software and activating the license, as long as any other installations have been de-activated prior to that. While technically the FCP X application could be moved between machines, it requires that the new machine be authorized as part of a valid Apple ID account. This is often frowned upon in corporate environments. Similarly, you can activate a new machine as one of yours on a Creative Cloud account (as long as you’ve signed out on the other machines), but the software must be downloaded again to this local machine. No USB key installers here.

Dealing with formats 檔案格式處理能力 All three applications are good at handling a variety of source media codecs, frame rates and sizes. In some cases, like RED camera files, plug-ins need to be installed and kept current. Both Apple and Avid will directly handle some camera formats without conversion, but each uses a preferred codec – ProRes for Final Cut Pro X and DNxHD for Media Composer. If you want the most fluid editing experience, then transcode to an optimized codec within the application. 面對當今多樣的檔案格式，三種軟體都有很好的處理能力，媒體的編碼、格數、影片圖像大小。在某些狀況下需要安裝最新第三方套件，來確保讀取能力，比方說：Red 攝影機所產生的檔案。蘋果與 Avid 都可以直接處理攝影機所產生的檔案，但兩者都有偏好的編碼器，Final Cut Pro X 的 ProRes 和 Media Composer 的 DNxHD。如果你希望剪接的過程很流暢，請你將原始檔轉成剪接軟體所偏好的格式。 Adobe hasn’t developed its own mezzanine codec. In fact, Premiere Pro CC has no built-in transcoding tools, leaving that instead to Adobe Prelude or Adobe Media Encoder. By design, the editor imports files in their native format without transcoding or rewrapping and works with those directly in the sequence.

A mix of various formats, frame rates, codecs and sizes doesn’t always play as smoothly on a single timeline as would optimized media, like DNxHD or ProRes; but, my experience is that of these three, Premiere Pro CC handles such a mix the best. Adobe 沒有發展自己的編碼器，事實上 Premiere Pro CC 並沒有轉檔工具，而是將轉檔的工作交給了 Prelude CC 與 Media Encoder。設計上，Premiere Pro CC 讓你直接輸入素材，然後就直接在 Timeline 上開始工作，但混合的格式、播放速率、編碼器、大小，往往讓你的剪接變得非常不順暢，最好還是可以將素材轉檔成為 DNxHD 或者是 ProRes 為佳。我個人的經驗（指 Oliver Peters）三者之中， Premiere Pro CC 處理多種格式的能力最好。 （這個我也存疑，因為 Adobe 對於素材的處理能力，要端看硬體加速的能力如何而定） Most of us work with HD (or even SD) deliverables, but higher resolutions (2K, UHD, 4K) are around the corner. All three NLEs handle bigger-than-HD formats as source media without much difficulty. I’ve tested the latest RED EPIC Dragon 6K camera files in all three applications and they handle the format well. Both Adobe and Apple can output bigger sequence sizes, too, such as 2K and 4K.

For now, Avid Media Composer is still limited to HD (1920 x 1080 maximum) sequences and output sizes. Here are some key features of the most recent updates. 我們大多數的工作可能處理的是 HD （甚至是 SD）來交片，不過更高的解析度時代即將來臨（2K、UHD、4K←他應該說的是cinema）。這三種軟體在處理 HD 以上解析度的素材都沒有什麼問題，我測試了最大的 Red Epic Dragon 6K 檔案，這三個軟體都有不錯的表現。蘋果與 Adobe 皆可設定與輸出 2K 與 4K 的畫面，Avid Media Composer 目前還是限制在只能輸出 HD 的 Sequence 與輸出的影片在 1920x1080 的尺寸。以下是這幾款軟體最近的更新訊息：. Adobe Premiere Pro CC (version 7.2.1) The current build of Premiere Pro CC was released towards the end of 2013. Adobe has been enhancing editing features with each new update, but two big selling points of this version are Adobe Anywhere integration and Direct Link between Premiere Pro CC and SpeedGrade CC.

Anywhere requires a shared server for collaborative workflows and isn’t applicable to most users who don’t have an Anywhere infrastructure in place. Nevertheless, this adds the client-side application integration, so those who do, can connect, sign in and work. 這個更新的版本是在 2013 年底釋出，Adobe 一直不斷的更新中推出更好的剪輯功能，這個版本的最大賣點有二：Adobe Anywhere 整合，還有與 SpeedGrade CC 的 Direct Link。Anywhere 是一個系統，必須要有相當的硬體建設和分享伺服器，讓有 Anywhere 功能的工作站可以登入進來工作。Premiere Pro CC 除了在本機作業以外，現在也有能力可以登入 Anywhere 來工作。 Of more interest is Direct Link, which sends the complete Premiere Pro CC timeline into SpeedGrade CC for color correction. Since you are working directly with the Premiere Pro timeline, SpeedGrade functions with a subset of its usual controls. Operations, like conforming media to an EDL, are inactive.

Direct Link facilitates the use of various compressed codecs that SpeedGrade wouldn’t normally handle by itself, since this is being taken care of by Premiere Pro’s media engine. When you’ve completed color correction, the saved timeline is sent back to Premiere Pro. Each clip has an applied Lumetri filter that contains grading information from SpeedGrade. The roundtrip is achieved without any intermediate rendering.

更有趣的是 Direct Link 讓 Premiere Pro CC 的 Sequence 得以直接送進 SpeedGrade CC 進行調色，SpeedGrade 等於是透過 Premiere Pro CC 對 Timeline 工作，這個時候的 EDL 輸入功能就會失效。對於眾多不同的編碼器，原本 SpeedGrade CC 無法辨識的，現在也可以經由 Premiere Pro CC 的機制得以用於工作。當調色完畢之後，儲存並返回 Premiere Pro CC 每一個 Clip 都會含有 Lumetri 濾鏡，而其中含有 SpeedGrade CC 所有調色的資訊。這個工作往返的流程，完全不需要特殊的轉檔即可完成調色。 This solution is a good first effort, but I find that the response of SpeedGrade’s controls via Direct Link are noticeably slower than working directly in a SpeedGrade project. That must be a result of Premiere Pro working in the background. Clips in Premiere Pro with applied Lumetri effects also require more resources to play well and rendering definitely helps. The color roundtrip results were good in my tests, with the exception of any clips that used a filter layer with a LUT.

These displayed with bizarre colors back in Premiere Pro. 這個解決方案是個很好的第一步，但我發現使用 Direct Link 在 SpeedGrade CC 下工作，明顯的感受到軟體反應變慢，不像是直接使用 SpeedGrade，一定是因為 Premiere Pro CC 也同時在背景工作的關係。Timeline 上的 Clip 如果含有 Lumetri 效果，播放的時候明顯的需要很多硬體資源，經過算圖之後會很大的幫助。我所測試的調色工作流程，結果非常令人滿意，不過發現在素材中，若事先套有 LUT 的畫面，回到 Premiere Pro CC 時，顏色會變得非常詭異。 （進入調色軟體前，本來就應該將原來的色彩效果去除，老師在講都沒有在聽嗎？） You can’t talk about Premiere Pro without addressing Creative Cloud. I still view this as a “work in progress”. For instance, you are supposed to be able to sync files between your local drive and the Cloud, much like DropBox. Even though everything is current on my Mac Pro, that tab in the Creative Cloud application still says “coming soon”. Others report that it’s working for them. 說到 Premiere Pro CC 就一定要提到 Creative Cloud，我依然將它視為一個「仍在進行中的工程」。舉例來說：你應該可以同步將 把本地磁碟上的檔案 丟上雲端，就像是 Dropbox 一樣。雖然現在所有的東西都在我的 Mac Pro 上，Creative Cloud 軟體仍然告訴我「即將到來」，也有人說他們的軟體沒問題。 （這我完全同意，Adobe 應該要幫幫自己的忙，因為就算想寫書、寫介紹，也不可能替 Coming Soon 的東西寫啊～說不定寫完就改了！）.

Apple Final Cut Pro X (version 10.1) This update is the tipping point for many FCP 7 users. Enough updates have been released in over two years to address many of the concerns professional editors have expressed. 10.1 requires an operating system update to Mavericks (10.9 or later) and has three marquee items – a revised media structure, optimization for 4K and overall better performance. It is clear that Apple is not about to change the inherent design of FCP X.

This means no tracks and no changes to the magnetic timeline. 這一次的更新是對於許多仍在使用 FCP 7 的用戶是個轉捩點，許多愛用的專業剪輯師所題出的專業功能，在這次的更新中已有足夠的提升。10.1 必須在 Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks 以上才能夠運作，工作介面與檔案結構上也有改善，為 4K 環境的最佳化以及整體效能的提升。蘋果並未改變原來 FCP X 的設計結構，這代表著 tracks 與 magnetic timeline 都沒有改變。其他很多小的功能更新，包括了變速的改進、每一個音軌可以作淡入 / 出、改進了 split edits、鏡頭穩定跟蹤的新運算引擎。. The most obvious change is the move from separate Events and Projects folders to unified Libraries, similar to Aperture. Think of a Library as the equivalent to a Final Cut Pro 7 or Premiere Pro CC project file, containing all data for clips and sequences associated with a production. An FCP X Library as viewed in the Finder is a bundled file, which can be opened using the “show package contents” Finder command. This reveals internal folders and files for Events, Projects and aliases linked to external media files.

Imported files that are optionally copied into a Library are also contained there, as are rendered and transcoded files. The Libraries no longer need to live at the root of a hard drive and can be created for individual productions. Editors may open and close any or all of the Libraries needed for an edit session. 最明顯的異動是將以前分離的 Events 與 Projects 檔案夾，改為統一的 Libraries，有點像是 Aperture 的架構。Library 等同於 Final Cut Pro 7 與 Premiere Pro CC 的 Project 檔案，裡面包含了所有 Clips 與 Sequences 的資料。一個 FCP X 的 Library 檔案，在蘋果的系統中被打包在一起，可以用「顯示套件內容」指令打開，其中包含了檔案夾、專案和連結外部媒體檔案的連結。輸入的素材若選擇拷貝進來，也會在這裡，轉檔與算圖後的檔案也在此。Library 檔案現在可以存放在任何地方，剪輯師可以打開任何需要的 Library 來針對手上的專案進行剪輯。. FCP X’s performance was optimized for Mavericks, the new Mac Pro and dual GPU processing. By design, this means improved 4K throughput, including native 4K support for ProRes, Sony XAVC and REDCODE camera raw media files. This performance boost has also filtered down to older machines.

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10.1 brought better performance with 1080p ProRes and even 5K RED files to my 2009 Mac Pro. Clearly Apple wants FCP X to be a showcase for the power of the new Mac Pro, but you’ll get benefits from this update, even if you aren’t ready to leap to new hardware. Along with Final Cut Pro X 10.1, Apple also released updates to Motion and Compressor. The Motion update was necessary to integrate the new FxPlug3 architecture, which enables developers to add custom interface controls. Compressor was the biggest change, with a complete overhaul of the interface in line with the look of FCP X.

FCP X 是針對新的 Mac OS X Mavericks 和新的 Mac Pro 雙 GPU 所調校。設計上為了增進 4K 的流量，包括了 4K ProRes、Sony XAVC 和 REDCODE RAW 檔案。這些效能上的提升，也因為硬體的新舊而有所差別。我的 2009 年 Mac Pro 在 FCP X 10.1 在 1080P ProRes 與 5K Red 檔案還可以勝任愉快，就算是沒有追新的硬體，這次的軟體升級還是能在舊機器上有不錯的表現。. The biggest feature of Media Composer 7.0.3 is optimization for new operating systems. It is qualified for Windows 8.1 and Mac OS X 10.8.5, 10.9 and 10.9.1.

There are a number of interface changes, including separate audio and video effects palette tabs and changing the appearance of background processing indicator icons. 24fps sound timecode is now supported, the responsiveness with the Avid Artist Color Controller has been improved and the ability to export a simplified AAF file has been added. Transcode choices gain a set of H.264 proxy file codecs. These had been used in other Avid news and broadcast tools, but are now extended into Media Composer.

Support for RED was updated to handle the RED Dragon format. With the earlier introduction of 7.0, Avid added background transcoding services and FrameFlex – Avid’s solution for bigger-than-HD files. FrameFlex enables resizing and pan/scan/zoom control within that file’s native resolution.

Media Composer also accepts mixed frame rates within a single timeline, by applying Motion Adapters to any clip that doesn’t match the frame rate of the project. 7.0.3 improves control over the frame blending method to give the editor a better choice between temporal or spatial smoothness. There is no clear winner among these three. If you are on Windows, then the choice is between Adobe and Avid. If you need 4K output today, Apple or Adobe are your best option. All three handle a wide range of popular camera formats well – especially RED. If you like tracks – go Avid or Adobe.

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If you want the best application for the new Mac Pro, that will clearly be Apple Final cut Pro X. These are all great tools, capable of any level of post production – be it commercial, corporate, web, broadcast entertainment or feature films. If you’ve been on the fence for two years, now is the time to switch, because there are no bad tools – only preferences.