Little Frog in High Def by Shane Ross

I didn’t always use Final Cut Pro, and I didn’t start using it from version 1.  I was a late convert.  I started out using Avid Media Composer.  But I did start using it after version 3 came out.  Before that I, and many other editors, begged and pleaded with the companies we worked with to use their Avids, after hours, to do our side projects.  But then FCP came out, and was cheap, so we could then use it to do all of our side work.  And I did use it for a lot of projects, but nothing for broadcast.

Then FCP 4.5 came out.  Now it not only had external hardware for it (Targa Cinewave, Matrox RT Mac), but it also worked with DVCPRO HD natively…capture directly via firewire, at full quality.  And that was the HD format that was taking the documentary world by storm. I did work on a TV series that was shot with that format.  720p 24over60.  But the Avid Meridians, that the production company used at the time, didn’t edit HD.  So all the tapes were converted to SD and then captured.  And we were going to online with the Avid Adrenaline.

Well, the Adrenaline was Avid’s big mistake.  It was slow, ploddingly so…and it was difficult to get accurate captures and outputs.  And at the time we went to online…it only did 1080i.  Well, all of our tapes were 720p…so we had a problem.  The tapes had to be converted to 1080 and then captured…and that was a HUGE expense.  The nine-episode series went $200,000 over budget.  That hurt. read more...