The video editing world is ever evolving. An industry standard for the film industry has been to use Avid Media Composer. It is a dominant force for sure, but Adobe Premiere has been able to grow its market share in recent years, especially since 2012 when Avid announced they were leaving the non-linear editing system market.
Adobe Premiere is an NLE that continues to improve. Avid is getting back into the market and its historical stability is something that cannot be ignored. Here are the key comparison points that are worth considering.
1. Cost
Adobe Premiere is a much more affordable video editing platform compared to Avid Media Composer. You can choose to purchase a monthly subscription from Adobe as a single app for Premiere at just $19.99 per month. You can also use it as part of the complete Adobe Cloud subscription package if you prefer for $49.99 per month.
Avid Media Composer pricing begins at $49.99 per month for a composer subscription. If you want the Perpetual License for Avid, then pricing currently begins at $1,299.
2. Script Syncing
Adobe Premiere allows users to drag and drop a scene from Story onto a clip. This will allow the information to appear within the Metadata Panel. From there, you can compare the story script section of Adobe with the speech analysis menu option so that you can easily edit your scenes that are rich in dialogue.
Avid Media Composer offers a feature which they call ScriptSync. This technology analyzes all the clip dialog that is in your project. Then it syncs the relevant clips that it finds to your script, allowing the user to find the best takes with greater speed. PhraseFind will also index all the project clip dialogue, which makes it easier to find a relevant clip by searching for a specific keyword or phrase.
3. High Res Compatibility
Avid provides native support for multiple high-res media natively. With 2K, 4K, UHD, and 8K media all supported, along with a majority of today’s camera codecs from Panasonic and Sony, it is a simple process to acquire, edit, and deliver content. It is also possible to view both 2K and 4K media in its native resolution.
Adobe Premiere offers the same high-res media compatibility. The one issue that Adobe faces, however, is that there can be playback issues during the editing process for anything that is 4K or above. Adobe also allows for the editing of virtual reality in native format. To avoid the playback issues, it is possible to create a lightweight proxy so you switch between low-res and high-res formats.
4. Plug-Ins
Both Adobe and Avid offer a full set of plug-ins that help to maximize the potential of their NLE. Premiere does an excellent job integrating with After Effects and Audition so it becomes possible to eliminate intermediate rendering. This also allows users to collaborate easily on shared sequences across the entire Adobe platform.
Avid offers similar options through plug-ins from NewBlue, their proprietary production pack, and optimization through Sorenson.
Each NLE offers a set of recommended plug-ins, along with a complete set of options so each editing setup can be personalized.
5. Editing Speed
Both Adobe and Avid have a certain learning curve that must be followed if the user has not spent time with the NLE in the past. There is a certain argument to be made when choosing either Adobe Premiere or Avid Media Composer to stick with the editing program that you already know because that will improve your overall editing speed.
If you’re unfamiliar with both NLEs, then Premiere tends to be a little easier to learn and get started on a project compared to Avid. There is a complete series of instructional videos provided by Adobe to help new editors become familiar with the workflow and capabilities of the platform. On the other hand, new users can end up with a cleaner project with the helpful tips and built-in assistance options that are included with Avid.
From a pure trimming standpoint, the augmented process of Avid for contextual timeline editing, combined with the syncing technologies, tends to make editing speeds faster. Adobe Premiere can accomplish the same outcome, but it may take additional steps in the workflow in order to do so
In the past, Avid Media Composer dominated the NLE industry. Since 2012, Adobe Premiere has been the leading NLE. Both platforms give you the ability to achieve the results you want. The choice often boils down to the workflow that is preferred and what your budget will support.
Although millions of people visit Brandon's blog each month, his path to success was not easy. Go here to read his incredible story, "From Disabled and $500k in Debt to a Pro Blogger with 5 Million Monthly Visitors." If you want to send Brandon a quick message, then visit his contact page here.