Having been a "Hollywood" motion picture editor for many years leading into the digital revolution, I've seen NLEs (non-linear edit systems) designed and used on both Macs and PCs through the years. Each platform has its devotees, but most of the choices have evolved around the initial exposure by the editor to a specific system and/or the system that has/her employer has made available. All of the above editing software/platforms do the job and have similar features. Avid has made most of the systems that are used in Hollywood today and is the ipso facto standard, but the majority of its systems are PC based if I'm not mistaken. This also has to do with the hard drive database sharing (digital motion picture and sound track) with multiple editors working on the same project at the same time. So, the software/hardware has to be the same, of course. Still, the Mac based Final Cut Pro is popular with some people, but not to the extent of the Avid.
Rod Stephens Family Theater Productions
FWIW, I've recently been told that Avid/Digidesign has been working on migrating everything to PC. Whether that is now their recommended platform these days, I haven't been able to confirm.
Angie Dickinson www.avocadoproductions.com Arvada, CO
Klara Foeller wrote:
Dear Colleagues -
I'm at war with my supervisor on the subject of Macs vs. PCs when it comes to digitizing analog audio & video. He has a bias against Mac, while all my periodical & on-line research, plus many consultations with colleagues in media archiving, broadcasting and production, clearly indicates that Mac is the strongly preferred system.
Please send ammunition. Especially if you can quantify in $$$ and/or lost productivity. All apocryphal stories welcome.
Klara Foeller, Curator, Moving Image & Sound Collections Missouri Historical Society 314 746-4513