Final Cut Pro Vs. Avid Xpress

[Morningstar]

I am currently on the fence as to what I want to purchase: Final Cut Pro, or Avid Xpress. My avid pals all swear up and down that it is the industry standard and that I should get Xpress. I've seen some friends Final Cut Pro set ups, and it seems like a great system too. What does one have over the other? If anyone knows of any significant differences (or would just like to share their experience with one of these systems) that might aid me in my decision, I would be most appreciative.

 

[Ute Giddeon]

By "Avid Xpress," do you mean the same thing as "Avid Xpress DV," or are they different products?

Off the top of my head, I would say the advantage of FCP over Xpress DV is scalability. Avid Xpress DV can only handle DV. FCP is resolution- and format-independent, so If you ever to upgrade your equipment to handle formats other than DV, you don't need to buy or learn different software.

The impression I get about Avid is that its superiority lies in its workflow optimization. I imagine a lot of this has to do with experienced editors being familiar with the Avid workflow. I can also tell you that the recently-released FCP 4 includes many features that Avid editors have been asking for, including a pre-set Avid-style keyboard map.