Jeroen van Eekeres:

- Why not enhance Symphony so it becomes an alternative to Resolve or Baselight and make it again a paid option for the standard subscription license?

Or better... 

Buy baselight for Avid and work on intergrating that into media composer nativley. 

I've spoken to filmlight and of course... They'd be open to do that. 

If it would be more affordable for Avid to buy Baselight for Avid or develop their own finishing solution I don't know. 

 

Jeroen van Eekeres:

- Why not enhance Symphony so it becomes an alternative to Resolve or Baselight and make it again a paid option for the standard subscription license?

You are talking about the guys who OWNED and KILLED one of the best finishing systems ever (Avid DS).

Now their users have to go and buy Resolve, from a company that, years later, have shown Avid (and the world) how one can make great business with an online/finishing product.

Dragos:

You are talking about the guys who OWNED and KILLED one of the best finishing systems ever (Avid DS).

Oh Yes! But it was another product Avid could not Frankenstein in its Mediacomposer/Interplay world or wider portofolio, like Pinnacle (Deko, Liquid).

You would have hoped that the focus on the Media composer + Mediacentral product line would have focussed the resources into making those the best products they can be. Not the Symphony 'abandonware'.

Jeroen van Eekeres:

they should define which user base they want to target with Media composer and its options resulting in a licensing scheme that gives the users choices to buy the features they want.

.

I'd prefer one of the following:

1. The price of a Media Composer subscription should depend on how long the subscription is (day/week/month/year), and every option that exists should be included.

OR

2. The price of a Media Composer subscription should depend on how long the subscription is (day/week/month/year), and you can pick whatever options you want as add-ons, paying for each of them separately, mixing and matching options in whatever configuration you want. (You could turn add-ons on and off as you wanted, so if you wanted a 3 month license of the basic Media Composer, but you wanted to add Symphony Color Correction to the final month of it, you could do that and only pay for one month of Symphony.)

The main benefit of option 1 is simplicity, plus nobody feels like they're a 2nd class citizen due to some feature being left out of whatever version of whatever subscription they've purchased. The downside is this would probably cost more than option 2.

The main benefit of option 2 is flexibility for the end user, plus their cost would (presumably) be lower than option 1 if you didn't have to pay for add-ons you don't need. The downside would be complexity, but if Avid got rid of all the 'Ultimate' 'Enterprise' stupidity and just provided Media Composer and a selection of optional add-ons I don't think it would be too hard for people to figure out what they're getting and how much it costs.

So You think that Adobe and BM with their simple and clear pricing, that is one fee for the full product, don't know their way around? Please do not make my work unnecessarily overcomplicate with crazy main software and optional licenses management, please, please, please. I have to spend my time cutting, not getting mad after mantaining licenses. 

luca.mg:

So You think that Adobe and BM with their simple and clear pricing, that is one fee for the full product, don't know their way around?

That's what I put as option 1! :)

brk95:

·         Bug Number: MCDEV-16346. Edit Master Caption List was difficult to read when using a dark interface.

 

 

Hi, 

I've had a look... and it looks like this has been resolved. I’d wonder if users who are seeing this are using new user settings, or if they’re running old settings which is causing the issue?

luca.mg:

So You think that Adobe and BM with their simple and clear pricing, that is one fee for the full product, don't know their way around? 

Sort of but Adobe have different pricing levels for different products (eg PP only or Everything) plus you have to 'cancel' once a year to get the subscription at the best price.

 

BM are funding software on hardware sales (I believe?) Plus it's a private company and Grant's a law to himself (thankfully).

Hey Philip,

 

When I saw that the issue was persisting in the new update, that was one of the first things I tried, making new user settings; the background are still dark in the Edit Master Caption List even with new User Settings

Dragos:

Now their users have to go and buy Resolve, .

A once only payment (Perpetual??) for less than a one year perpetual fee to be kept current.

Dragos:

from a company that, years later, have shown Avid (and the world) how one can make great business with an online/finishing product.

To be fair BM brought one of the, at that time, industry standard Colour grading programs and brought it into their existing infra structures

I Invested in it the day it was released, at 4 time the subsequent price, and have never regretted it and it has not cost a cent in the subsequent fourteen years. I have never been remotely tempted to edit with Resolve but I do all my titling, simple to 3D in the Fusion Module. Every MC project here does at least 2 round trips to or from Resolve. So far no issues with the AAf's

Luca, 

A 1 product with all features with 1 price is a viable option. It does make things a lot easier. But did this idea

luca.mg:

do not make my work unnecessarily overcomplicate with crazy main software and optional licenses management

result in you buying a $1300,- enterprise yearly subscription license with distributed processing, remote worflows/Nexis edge and Media composer in the Cloud from an Avid reseller?

I personaly do not know what price Avid should ask for a license in that case. Somewhere in between the price for a Ultimate yearly subscription license at $500,- and $1300,-. Let's say $900,-? And is the discontinuation of perpetual licenses also an acceptable choice within this simplification strategy? 

While I can definitly see the simplicity advantage in the

camoscato:

option 1!

idea you and Carl put forward. My primary objection against it isn't that it would probably make media composer more expensive for all of us. My main objection against it that it takes away our ability to value the individual features and enables Avid even further to keep introducting unfinished new features (Titler+) and/or abandon features (Symphony). You pay for all of them regardless their state. 

As an example: Do I/we want Avid to buy Filmlight to include Baselight as standard with media composer, with the option for Avid to leave it in its current state, or do we prefer for them to stay independant so we can choose ourselves if we want to pay the $ for it instead of (also) paying for Symphony? (You could also argue if the Baselight plugin or even the Filmlight company would exist if Avid would have kept enhancing the color correction abilities of the Symphony option.)

Our interest is for Avid continuously evolving their products so they meet the needs of our market(s). If Avid would (always) have had the right policies and strategies in place to make that happen we would not be having this discussion, and many others in other older threads, but obviously Avid has to manage costs and profits to also keep shareholders and investors happy. But the evolution and current state of Titler+, Symphony, Dynamic relink in Media composer and the Long Term Maintenance policy for Mediacentral, and several other issues with other products besides Media composer, benefit no user!

I have strong doubts simplified and/or cheaper solutions are the way forward. I believe good long term leadership and management should be able to provide the best product roadmaps forward with insightful options with relatively simple processes to add/remove them to our licenses. But that is just my 0,02$ opinion.

Philip Kapadia:

Or better... 

Buy baselight for Avid and work on intergrating that into media composer nativley. 

I've spoken to filmlight and of course... They'd be open to do that. 

If it would be more affordable for Avid to buy Baselight for Avid or develop their own finishing solution I don't know. 

I doubt that would happen, since Baselight are doing OK and major acquisitions of Avid have slowed markedly - it was a Jeff Rosica policy shift. 

Avid have stated in response to a feature request I made for Symphony development that they are working on it. However whether that will take years like Titler +, we cannot forsee. For me the Avid landscape has changed hugely. I built my own small online facility at home, before lockdown, with the intention of bringing clients in, centered on Avid Symphony and Resolve Studio. The pandemic changed all that and since the remote technology has become better, I either work on Teradici or ZCentral, when offlining or go into facilities to online. The tech to remotely grade with remote 10bit media and local reference monitor is there but it's very expensive in IP terms and facilities are reluctant to invest. The kind of long running series I work on, obviate media on drives being delivered.

And so... I have not really used my own Avid for a paid gig in 2 years - it's all remote desktop or facility gear. I have continued paying for the upkeep of my perpetual but when the annoucement came that that was being phased out, I decided that my paying Avid would end after over 20 years and going forward I will rent, billing on to the client, if I even need to, since the latest version, apart from my own, I work on anywhere, is 2020.

I have invested in Baselight Editions though, since I see more and more facilities and work using it because of the limitations of Symphony for finishing and grading and I intend to maintain my online suite for other business case uses. I am happy in the short to medium term that it will keep my last perpetual version working well, for the forseeable and Resolve Studio too was the best £295 I spent anywhere in any way.

Mercer:

Avid have stated in response to a feature 

Hi

Mercer:

Avid have stated in response to a feature request I made for Symphony development that they are working on it.

How often have we read or heard a similar thing... (Me looking at my signature)

Jeroen van Eekeres:

How often have we read or heard a similar thing... (Me looking at my signature)

True Jeroen, sadly! I should add and with due respect to Avid, that I truy hope they don't buy Baselight, since it's essentially still perpetual, with only perhaps future major versions needing paying for. And with Avid's mania for all things subscription, that prospect would send a shiver down my spine, LOL!