Why does Avid Hate You?

I've been professionally Assistant Editing in the TV Biz for six years now, and I've come to realize one very important fact:  Avid hates me.

The software hates me.  The hardware hates me.  Even the company hates me.  It's constantly crashing, failing to autosave, losing my data, corrupting my media, and basically making my life a living Hell whenever possible.

At this point, a normal person would probably stop using Avid.  I mean, if it's so bad, why bother, right?  Let me explain via metaphor:  Editing is like building a car.  You have a whole bunch of parts that someone else made, and you have to put them all together.  Avid is like a wrench.  You can do a lot with a wrench.  It's a legitimate tool, and it does some real, honest to god work.  It's certainly not the right tool for every job, and a car made entirely by someone whose only tool is a wrench is going to look pretty goddamn ugly, but it's sort of possible in theory to make a car with this wrench.  Final Cut, on the other hand, is a fisher-price plastic bucket.  It's pretty and colorful but there's no fucking way you're ever going to build a car with it.  So is Avid the right tool for the job?  No way.  But it's the only tool that exists right now, and it's all I've got.

So yeah, Avid hates me because I hate Avid.  But we're all we've got.  Maybe one day Avid and I will end up on Jerry Springer's "dysfunctional families" episode or something.

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This blog is going to mostly deal with things that Avid does (or doesn't do) that piss me off.  Occasionally I'll also complain about workflow in general, but those things aren't Avid's fault.  I'll also try to solve any weird Avid errors that you're getting if you post them as blog comments, but please don't think of me as tech support.  I'm more like the guy who hits it 'til it works, and half the time that will be my advice to you.  Any damage done to you, your system, or your data is purely going to be your fault for listening to me.

Comments

  1. Avid, the most unintuitive tool I've worked with. Frustrated again, I just Googled "who hates Avid"....and I arrived here!

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  2. That pretty much sums it up. The sad fact of the matter is that none of the other tools out there even come close to the power and flexibility of Avid, either. One day a programmer will actually get a professional job editing and say to themselves, "Good lord, I can do this better!" I hope that day comes quickly!

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  3. I've been editing video since 1978 on 3/4" tape. Back when every other edit would have a corner tear and would have to be re-done. First NLE was D/Vision Pro in the early 90s. Followed by Discreet Logic Edit, Leitch Velocity, Harris VeloctiyHD, FCP7, Media Composer and now Symphony. Running 6.5.2 on HP Z820. Overall I find it to be the most stable of any of the NLEs I've used. I'm not saying it doesn't have room for improvement, but for me it gets the job done.

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  4. Welcome to my blog, SamDogDigital! I'm glad Avid doesn't seem to hate you so much. Even so, if you ever get any of the errors I talk about, at least now you have a place to get a solution. Albeit an angry and frustrated one, but a solution nonetheless.

    That being said, ask your assistant editors what they think of Avid - 90% of the problems with the code are on the back end, something an experienced editor will never have to deal with.

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  5. I look forward to this product coming out of its 15 year beta release. It's riddled with errors with ridiculously useless codes. There are 25 ways to do everything all of them drawing from a film editing or tape-to-tape paradigm. Drop that yesteryear nonsense, granddad. Editing goes like this now: "Here's a moment. How much of it do you want? Where do you want it? Next." This "arming tracks" and "selecting patches" are crutches for the old men who should be sipping sweet tea with their feet up on their retirement home porches.

    Every NLE I've ever used (whether audio or video) was a breeze to learn and, more importantly, to operate. Symphony has the interface of a Windows 3.0 program and the usability of a tax form. I can't wait for something better to come and snuff this company from the face of the Earth.

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  6. Truer words were never spoken, Ian. Amen.

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  7. I'm learning Avid (third attempt) and I'm in hell. I got here by googling "I hate Avid" in an effort to vent my rage at everything from the field order effects issue, to the segmentation fault and the crumb error. (Well stop dropping crackers on the f-ing rug already). I am laughing my head off at Ian's comment. Maybe I will come to love Avid but for now it's just a necessary thing. Avid hates me like a bad rash.

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  8. Judd, as a fellow Assistant Editor working in the film and television business I cannot even begin to describe the frustration and the the hell that Avid has put me thru...After numerous failed experiments trying to unravel yet another archaic Avid error message I found your blog by typing in the words "Why does Avid fucking hate me?" Fast forwarding a bit into present day, I am pleased to say that Adobe Premiere Pro is mopping the floor with Avid. More and more professional production companies are matching the switch. It is my sincere wish that Avid is wiped off the face of the map such is the pain and frustration they have caused me over the years. Fuck you Avid!

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  9. I work with avid since over 10 years now and it's unimaginable what I was going through. There is so much shit in this program I can't stand it.. Now I have the issue that avid tells me he can't import anything because there are no drives! Wtf I figured some out that my ex fat formated hard drive is the reason if I plug it of its works.. And yes it's a Mac thing too I guess, but Wtf avid fuck you the simplest fucking thing don't work in your God damn fucking shit program. Fuck this shit I really hate you. Sure not everything is bad but come one!?! And then those fucking errors when transcoding or importing like"(€&&%=+__-f¢¢§>>~cky0u) what the heck at lest you could try to tell me why you ain't able to do what I want you to do! At least try.. I just think that the programmers of avid don't care.. But OK still got to earn my money with this.. So what can I do? Ask Nintendo to make one:)

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