[Tig] DaVinci resolve

[Sean McKee]

I can't speak to Craig's assertion that da Vinci doesn't listen to their user base, as we went from 888 to DUI, skipped 2K and got Resolve. I assume you were talking about the early years of 2K. On the other side of da Vinci, we mainly use the Revival film restoration system as the core of our business. I was the first user of the system. In it's early stages, it was a tedius workflow, but I found the quality of the processing to be the best available, so I bought it, as the quality is of the most importance.

I constantly made suggestions and bug reports, and I must say they certainly responded quickly, and about 5 years ago when they changed the interface, added the Discreet support, lost the Quickframe requirement, the system truly became everything I wanted it to be. I've made plenty of suggestions since then, but I felt like they responded to me, and to the other users, and made a very specialized system, catering to our specific needs.

To give you one example of the response that I had, I had a client who flew in to restore a project. It was late on a Friday night. We weren't able to quite get the result we were looking for. I was on a one-to-one basis with the programmers, and was able to call one at home (in Singapore it was morning), tell him what our issues were, send some sample, and a few hours later we had a whole new build of the software that did the trick. These guys are hardcore dedicated to making it the best it can be. I can't speak to how other companies react to user requests, but I doubt Apple with Color will be writing code overnight for little old me.

That said, I do agree with Craig that the users of each manufacturers' system have private forums for suggestions, where the TIG is more of an informational Q&A.

By the way, da Vinci doesn't pay me to say nice things, or anything at all. I can only speak of my own experience.

Sean McKee
Screen Time Images
847-534-9000

> 
> Scott -
> 
> Seriously? I'm going to just calm myself down here for a second, but you 
> have to imagine that many of us are having *private* conversations with 
> folks at Baselight, Nucoda, Scratch, Chrome, Speedgrade, Color, Lustre, 
> etc. etc........
> 
> I respect your work, and your company's reputation a great deal, but Why 
> would anyone want to rehash anything that's been suggested privately - 
> in this forum? Besides, if you check the archives, Davinci was warned, 
> begged, and told flat out that they needed a digital platform as early 
> as 1996. I sat at a table with the then CEO talking about why he didn't 
> think anyone would ever pay for such a system 2 years earlier. How is 
> your request fair to any of the players that have emerged in the last 4 
> years? We went from 2 choices - to around 14 at my last count.. all in a 
> very short time.
> 
> I , for one, am not interested in helping Davinci figure out what 
> they're own politics and lack of vision prevented them from doing for 
> years. I will demo their box, give it a fair shake, as I think it's an 
> excellent place and finally worth considering, but not here, and not for 
> free ( that's how you get discounts with manufacturers for those of you 
> following along - the smart ones need beta testers and "user feedback" - 
> I mean of course, if you don't work for Ascent). I especially like 
> Splice as it's a great interim solution for a Post House looking to do 
> some EDL management, rez independent stuff, etc... at a great price, 
> using the tools their clients know and love. (Probably the colorist 
> too..... ).
> 
> Their ability to listen to their user base is well documented, as in 
> none, and they've suffered heavily for it. While I wish them no ill 
> will, I refuse to participate in this discussion, and I hope many other 
> agree with me. We are far past the "suggestion" stage. This is a time to 
> truly "Re-invent the wheel" and many of our suppliers already are. I 
> take strong delight in the possibility that we may be soon using tools 
> we've never imagined, creating looks and value we previously thought 
> unthinkable. Should it be on a tool called a Davinci something er-other 
> I will applaud them, but with around 90% of the US market in their 
> pocket at one time, you'd think they'd be well capable to imagine what 
> their user base not only would want, but would desperately need. And 
> maybe, just maybe, be smarter than their users and offer something truly 
> ground breaking instead of re-hashing the existing platform. Macros 
> Scott? Are you kidding? The node tree is far more interesting, as well 
> as being able to save *any* configuration at *any* time all recallable 
> with a mouse click. If you are talking about automation of tasks, well, 
> then call it that - and ask them to give you something as simple as 
> "Automator" in OSX.  Batching tasks might be equally as cool.... Hmm 
> I've made a suggestion haven't I?
> 
> Must go, time to flog myself.
> 
> Happy Knobtwisting -
> 
> 
> Craig Leffel
> 
> Senior Colorist
> Optimus
> Chicago
> > 	
> 
> 
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