


The late comer to the NLE world is Resolve. Now with over 60% of the editing market share, what many people used to consider a hobbyists program is now cutting major budget Hollywood motion pictures and has dozens of features that no other NLE (or DAW) has. So since, Apple left “normal” editors out in the cold with FCPX, Premiere really became FCP 8, and then some. Many folks find it faster to work with once the steep learning curve has been crested, and in fact I use FCPX for small projects that have a lot of motion graphics that need to be rendered, because no software renders faster or more efficiently on a Mac than FCPX. For many of us, Final Cut 7 was so good at what it did (back in the day) that we were sure that we’d never need another NLE – until Apple decided to make FCP 8, FCP “X” and completely throw its user base under the bus with a “revolutionary” way of editing: ie, snap-based timelines. Both Premiere and Resolve are what I’d consider versions of what Final Cut 8 would have been. No Avid.Īs to the others, each of these programs has powerful strengths and eye-rolling liabilities that I wish they’d fix. And the only folks you tend to use it are those who are from the “old country” in Hollywood and who are emotionally latched to the software and either don’t want to move forward or are forced to work with antiquated file formats. It doesn’t really even stack up to its competitors. But Avid is just another silly editor trying to keep up with the times and is about 2 years behind everyone else. Especially when it comes to massive track counts and hardware acceleration. I use Pro Tools on all kinds of things because it does certain things which no other DAW will do. And just because I hate both of these software juggernauts which have become the de-facto standard in both DAW and NLE, it doesn’t mean I have to like them. Not only the NLE, but I also hate the company. “Why aren’t you mentioning Avid?” Good question. And while everyone has their own preferences, when it comes to general “which one is best” I’m giving you my opinions on all three NLE Showdown (and I use all three).įirst, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Over the years, NonLinear Editors have risen from the depths of Mickey Mouse software code that takes longer to cut a feature on than using a movieola, to the pinnacle of effectiveness and efficiency.
