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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Should I get the Nitris DX for RED?

theatereleven

theatereleven

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Does anyone know if there is any advantage that the new Nitris DX will have for RED footage? I saw one of the Avid engineers using some RED software on a Nitris DX system at the Avid event.

Prepping for a RED feature shooting later this year (Sept) and on a warpath to get my system specs where they need to be.

As of late I've just been cutting film based stuff with the MOJO. This RED feature is going to bump my system up to a newer one, and if the Nitris will help then that too I guess. Plus I need some way to monitor the content for playback for the director and myself.

THANKS.
 
The Nitris will have better finishing tools I believe, but will be limited to 1080p at best, I believe. If you want to finish at 2K or 4K you will still need to use a DI system like SCRATCH or Baselight. If that's the case, then you could offline on Avid MC Software only, or with HD monitoring with a Mojo DX (using DNxHD 36 or something).
 
I personally found editing in Smoke to be frustrating and a bit 'clunky' - it's got great finishing tools, and a much more complete editing toolset than many other comparable apps, but I wouldn't want to actually cut on it.

Personally I think I prefer Avid as a cutting tool, and for basic finishing. I think it's pretty much unbeaten for straight up editing - that's it's strength and what I like it for.
 
Cineform

Cineform

You owe it to yourself to properly explore Cineform's Prospect 4K. I stumbled upon it at NAB and was trully blown away. I would never have even considered Cineform because my mindset connected them with HDV. But I was knocked over by their technology advantage in the intermediate real 4K format that let's you edit 444 4K in real time.
 
Sycophant said:
I personally found editing in Smoke to be frustrating and a bit 'clunky' - it's got great finishing tools, and a much more complete editing toolset than many other comparable apps, but I wouldn't want to actually cut on it.

Personally I think I prefer Avid as a cutting tool, and for basic finishing. I think it's pretty much unbeaten for straight up editing - that's it's strength and what I like it for.
Click to expand...

You obviously havent used it in awhile. No doubt Avid is a better editing tool, but the latest version of Smoke is far from clunky, and for finishing nothing is better.
 
Sycophant said:
I haven't been in front of a Smoke for about 18 months, or longer. There was lots of room for improvement then.
Click to expand...

We have had 3 major version releases and multiple minor in that time, Smoke 2009 just released and the improvements are significant.
 
digitalfx said:
We have had 3 major version releases and multiple minor in that time, Smoke 2009 just released and the improvements are significant.
Click to expand...

Sadly the uptake costs of Smoke are a little prohibitive in my current place of employment, but I'm sure I'll get a chance to play with it again sometime.
 
thanks everyone...so from what I can tell, the Nitris DX (or MOJO DX) will do nothing for me in "RED land" other than allow me to monitor HD...

or will it allow me to import and transcode with a DNxHD codec? i don't need to finish...i'm just an editor and not a colorist, etc. i'm fast on Avid and would rather not abandon my NLE of choice if possible.

i'm just trying to figure out if I should just used MC software only on a hefty new MAC or get the Nitris DX for this feature.
 
I believe software only Media Composer supports all existing DNxHD resolutions. Although without hardware you won't have a way of monitoring on a proper monitor. Mojo DX seems like the best option there, if I understand correctly it should be similar to the existing Adrenaline HD system, allowing for SD and/or HD monitoring from an HD project. With a standard Mojo you'll need to be working in an SD project to support monitoring.
 
We've been sucessfully offlining RED footage on Avid Xpress Pro 5.8 in OS X on a Octo-core Mac for a while now. Once we get the footage in on the Mac we can use it on any Avid too.
 
Sycophant said:
We've been sucessfully offlining RED footage on Avid Xpress Pro 5.8 in OS X on a Octo-core Mac for a while now. Once we get the footage in on the Mac we can use it on any Avid too.
Click to expand...

oh really? so....if I didn't get a blown out Macpro but just a macbook pro and used it solely to get the RED footage in the right format, could I then edit that in MC 3.0 on Windows???

also, how is the Avid world monitoring RED right now? anyone monitoring with anything besides an Adrenaline? i guess i could get that new mojo dx, but if i'm only file based that doesn't make sense.

i need to kick stuff out to a studio monitor AND an HD display for the director.
 
We're doing our editorial at SD, so we monitor with a good old Analogue Mojo - although, to be honest, given that we're finishing from DPX in a Baselight, Pablo or Color, I'm not too fussed about monitor, the computer monitor is fine for what we're doing. The HD Adrenaline would give us HD monitoring, if we wanted to do that way (we don't have an HD Adrenaline) - or the Mojo DX when it becomes available.

Boy, I wish I could use my Blackmagic Decklink HD Extreme with Avid :(
 
Sycophant said:
We're doing our editorial at SD, so we monitor with a good old Analogue Mojo - although, to be honest, given that we're finishing from DPX in a Baselight, Pablo or Color, I'm not too fussed about monitor, the computer monitor is fine for what we're doing. The HD Adrenaline would give us HD monitoring, if we wanted to do that way (we don't have an HD Adrenaline) - or the Mojo DX when it becomes available.

Boy, I wish I could use my Blackmagic Decklink HD Extreme with Avid :(
Click to expand...

I just read on the Avid forums that you CAN use declink and matrox with Avid for HD monitoring. there is a whole thread in there about it:

http://community.avid.com/forums/t/57653.aspx
 
Not quite the level of support I'd like, but it's something I might explore sometime. If I run Avid with the desktop spanned 'onto' the Decklink card I might be able to get fullscreen playback to work like I want. Interesting.
 
theatereleven said:
Does anyone know if there is any advantage that the new Nitris DX will have for RED footage?
THANKS.
Click to expand...

No advantage over DS Nitris because Nitris DX does not work in full RGB. You can only finish 4:2:2. I'm not sure if this is a hardware limitation or the new Symphony Nitris DX will have 4:4:4 implemented in later releases.

Let me just sort ot the confusion to those who may not be familiar with the Avid's latest nomenclature. "Nitris DX" is a hardware box. "Nitris" is also a hardware box. "DS" is Avid's high end compositing/finishing software that runs on "Nitris."

DS Nitris is quite capable of conforming DPX files. You can generate DPX files in RedCine, conform and do 2k or 4k DI in DS Nitris and output DPX files for a film recorder. Or you can do versioning for Digital Cinema, DVD, etc.

Here's one Avid workflow for RED. I'm currently working on a RED DI in DS Nitris. I'll update this (outdated) workflow as soon as I can.
 
that's cool, but I can't purchase a high end Avid box.

is that the only way to finish 4K RED stuff? what about the Final Cut route? I despise the idea of editing this in Final Cut, but I don't have a Nitris DS either. my assumption is that you'd have to have some high end piece of hardware for final cut too....at least to finish.
 
FCP can't finish 4K. You can conform 2K DPX in Color but it's not ideal by any means - in my experience the EDL support is flakey, and it can do transitions or anything, so you still need FCP for that. You could take 2K DPX to Color I guess, then render uncompressed QT to FCP (with handles) for further handling.

Short of apps like SCRATCH, or Avid DS, or Smoke there's no obvious solutions for RED finishing at greater than HD/709 quality.

But I'm still pretty much a believer in offline/online workflow anyway - edit on Xpress Pro on your laptop in SD, and rent time in a Smoke or Avid DS to finish. You certainly don't need to purchase it.
 
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