här är några andras synpunkter angående MM och aviden.
I've had the same question Paul does, many people say if the Media Manager was more of a Database driven product, they'd be so happy, or if it was more like Avid's Media Manager.
For those of us who don't have an Avid background, can you explain the difference. I.e. why an database driven MM, how is that different then what we have now? And what features in particular do other programs implement that you want to see in FCP, and how are they different then what we have now.
I'd be interested in learning the difference. As for me, I see so many people wanting media manager improvements. As someone who FCP was their first software, I am very happy with how things work.
At present, if you import a sequence from an EDL and try to reconnect this to existing media files on the disk, FCP searches for media files that matches the clip names in the sequence. The result is that the timecode and reel info from the sequence gets overwritten by the media files info and the clips editing points in the sequence are misplaced. If instead FCP could look in its media database and find the matching media files based on timecode and reelnames and reconnect it to the timeline using the timecode from the EDL, it would improve FCP a lot I think.
As for the Media Manager and data bases, I think what most of us would like to see is merely that the Media Manager be as robust and fail-safe as a true data-base would be. The Browser is actually a very powerful data-base in it's own right, as far as i can see. But for whatever reason, it doesn't talk to QT and the disk file system very well, beyond a simple Hi, how are ya.
Unfortunately, so many of us have found that once your project gets somewhat complex with FCP, using the Media Manager to consolidate, or "delete unused" or anything beyond simple stuff - well, it just fails. You simply can't rely on it, in the way you can rely on a true self-consistent database. Like Avid has.
Running a project through MM you've spent weeks or months on, with linked and carefully synced and edited audio and still frames and nests and animations and music - all the good stuff that FCP makes so easy and Avid makes tedious - and then to find the audio out of sync and the wrong feeze frames and the motion graphics all misplaced - well that's what I think folks are tearing their hair out about.
FCP makes it really sweet to create stuff, which is why I love it, but makes it really really tough to manage what you've created, once you've created it. Which is why I hate it. It's a love/hate thing.
Let's hope this new FCP 4 release is more solid and robust for us, when it comes to the media manager.
