Arky
8th November 2002, 18:19
Hi, what follows is purely the musings of my own mind, not the result of any webpages or rumour mills that may, or may not, exist, on the topic.
Without, in any way, wishing to advertise (although I am happy to respond to inquisitive PRIVATE enquiries on the topic), there are some interesting deals on NLE software in the UK at the moment, from a company you are all aware of. This company is additionally bundling other familiar software (from it's own product line) with their NLE product. Most of you will probably know to whom I am referring, without needing to ask. The company's name begins with a "P". I mention this **PURELY** by way of explaining the background for the musings that follow. I am not advertising, and I have no affiliation with any of the companies discussed. If you read this entire post, I hope you will appreciate the legitimacy of my mentioning certain products, and see that they were only mentioned for illustrative purposes, not in any way to advertise! :)
As I remarked some time ago, I strongly suspect that there is a new prosumer DVD app just waiting for the right moment to hit the market. And the way things are going, I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if "P" come up with the goods. I haven't played with it yet, but Ulead's DVD Workshop looks like a creditable foray into the £300 sector, and competes with DVD Impression Pro, to some extent. Neither of these apps, however, really go far enough for the DVD-authoring enthusiast, and let's face it, none of us can afford Scenarist or Maestro for personal use.
Basically, where I'm going with this is, is that, if you look at the surprisingly low price of some recent "upgrade bundles" from the afore-alluded-to company, a number of conclusions might reasonably (read 'speculatively') be drawn.
I speculate that, fairly obviously, the company in question is cleverly attempting to kill about 5 birds with one stone:
1) By attempting to establish market share with a product bought from Fast (i.e. Fast Studio was rebadged to Edition), by pricing it *WAY* below the likes of Sonic Foundry, Discreet, Avid etc., and most significantly, Adobe.
This would have a knock on effect. If this can undermine the Adobe Premiere customer base (and don't forget that Edition accepts all those Premiere plugins...), then they can begin to look at ways of re-coding the Edition pipeline to integrate with P's own hardware cards. This will also, then, give customers a reason not to buy Canopus or Matrox hardware, if they are supplied only with Premiere. Personally, I hope this happens, but NOT in the sense of completely succeeding to P's own ends, but rather for galvanising Canopus and Matrox into improving their competing products further. Clearly, "P" knows that Edition as it stands, while an excellent NLE, is crippled by not having a pipeline which supports hardware acceleration. Thus, they are looking at the lower end of the market, to get budding prosumers hooked on an upgrade ladder, and eventually to buy hardware prosumer products.
I really think that prosumers (at least those without access to top-league products in their workplaces), have a lot to thank "P" for, even if they are not customers, because "P" is really shaking up the marketplace, which, IMHO, can only serve to benefit the consumer.
Now, ADDITIONAL possible conclusions, and the specific reason why I am posting this in the Advanced DVD Authoring thread! :D :
Clearly, Edition, as discussed above, is being used as a weapon against directly competing software products, and, indeed, as a means of indirectly undermining future hardware sales of the competition. That much seems certain. BUT, it seems a little odd to me that the company in question have also seen fit to bundle two other pretty-significant products, with Edition upgrades, at an incredibly low price, given that Commotion has no absolutely-direct competitor (it's primarily a rotoscoping tool, above all else, rather than an out-and-out compositing tool a la After Effects), and that Impression, while co-existing with DVDit! (eeuch!) and DVD Workshop, is not really under any major competitive threat. I mean, let's face it, people would buy Edition by the bucketload for the price of the current basic upgrade, anyway, so why go further and offer a 3rd upgrade including additonal software? There has to be some strategic thinking going on here...
I think Commotion bundling is nothing more than a means of drumming up "Pro" upgrades, so I'll say no more about that.
It's the bundling of Impression, however, that is stimulating my interest. I speculate that this is indicative of an imminent, and highly-significant, DVD authoring product, and of a level of complexity which far exceeds Impression. "P" know only to well that a killer £800-1000 windows DVD authoring app is simply BEGGING to be released. It'd sell by the BUCKETload! Presently, DVD Studio Pro is the only thing with any clout, for under a £1,000, and this is MAC only.
Does anyone else share my suspicions, or am I alone in my speculations? :D
Arky ;o)
Apologies for the thinly-veiled crypticness of my post. I am only trying to avoid accusations of the type I spoke of at the top of the thread. If any mods (inc. Doom9) feel that I have failed to be discrete enough, then just PM me and share your feelings on the matter.
Without, in any way, wishing to advertise (although I am happy to respond to inquisitive PRIVATE enquiries on the topic), there are some interesting deals on NLE software in the UK at the moment, from a company you are all aware of. This company is additionally bundling other familiar software (from it's own product line) with their NLE product. Most of you will probably know to whom I am referring, without needing to ask. The company's name begins with a "P". I mention this **PURELY** by way of explaining the background for the musings that follow. I am not advertising, and I have no affiliation with any of the companies discussed. If you read this entire post, I hope you will appreciate the legitimacy of my mentioning certain products, and see that they were only mentioned for illustrative purposes, not in any way to advertise! :)
As I remarked some time ago, I strongly suspect that there is a new prosumer DVD app just waiting for the right moment to hit the market. And the way things are going, I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if "P" come up with the goods. I haven't played with it yet, but Ulead's DVD Workshop looks like a creditable foray into the £300 sector, and competes with DVD Impression Pro, to some extent. Neither of these apps, however, really go far enough for the DVD-authoring enthusiast, and let's face it, none of us can afford Scenarist or Maestro for personal use.
Basically, where I'm going with this is, is that, if you look at the surprisingly low price of some recent "upgrade bundles" from the afore-alluded-to company, a number of conclusions might reasonably (read 'speculatively') be drawn.
I speculate that, fairly obviously, the company in question is cleverly attempting to kill about 5 birds with one stone:
1) By attempting to establish market share with a product bought from Fast (i.e. Fast Studio was rebadged to Edition), by pricing it *WAY* below the likes of Sonic Foundry, Discreet, Avid etc., and most significantly, Adobe.
This would have a knock on effect. If this can undermine the Adobe Premiere customer base (and don't forget that Edition accepts all those Premiere plugins...), then they can begin to look at ways of re-coding the Edition pipeline to integrate with P's own hardware cards. This will also, then, give customers a reason not to buy Canopus or Matrox hardware, if they are supplied only with Premiere. Personally, I hope this happens, but NOT in the sense of completely succeeding to P's own ends, but rather for galvanising Canopus and Matrox into improving their competing products further. Clearly, "P" knows that Edition as it stands, while an excellent NLE, is crippled by not having a pipeline which supports hardware acceleration. Thus, they are looking at the lower end of the market, to get budding prosumers hooked on an upgrade ladder, and eventually to buy hardware prosumer products.
I really think that prosumers (at least those without access to top-league products in their workplaces), have a lot to thank "P" for, even if they are not customers, because "P" is really shaking up the marketplace, which, IMHO, can only serve to benefit the consumer.
Now, ADDITIONAL possible conclusions, and the specific reason why I am posting this in the Advanced DVD Authoring thread! :D :
Clearly, Edition, as discussed above, is being used as a weapon against directly competing software products, and, indeed, as a means of indirectly undermining future hardware sales of the competition. That much seems certain. BUT, it seems a little odd to me that the company in question have also seen fit to bundle two other pretty-significant products, with Edition upgrades, at an incredibly low price, given that Commotion has no absolutely-direct competitor (it's primarily a rotoscoping tool, above all else, rather than an out-and-out compositing tool a la After Effects), and that Impression, while co-existing with DVDit! (eeuch!) and DVD Workshop, is not really under any major competitive threat. I mean, let's face it, people would buy Edition by the bucketload for the price of the current basic upgrade, anyway, so why go further and offer a 3rd upgrade including additonal software? There has to be some strategic thinking going on here...
I think Commotion bundling is nothing more than a means of drumming up "Pro" upgrades, so I'll say no more about that.
It's the bundling of Impression, however, that is stimulating my interest. I speculate that this is indicative of an imminent, and highly-significant, DVD authoring product, and of a level of complexity which far exceeds Impression. "P" know only to well that a killer £800-1000 windows DVD authoring app is simply BEGGING to be released. It'd sell by the BUCKETload! Presently, DVD Studio Pro is the only thing with any clout, for under a £1,000, and this is MAC only.
Does anyone else share my suspicions, or am I alone in my speculations? :D
Arky ;o)
Apologies for the thinly-veiled crypticness of my post. I am only trying to avoid accusations of the type I spoke of at the top of the thread. If any mods (inc. Doom9) feel that I have failed to be discrete enough, then just PM me and share your feelings on the matter.