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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 :)

Avid's $999 crossgrade program for Final Cut Pro extended through September.

Cüneyt Kaya said:
i am getting one....at least avid wont release MC X where you can not open old projects anymore hehe
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Yay, join us!

Cüneyt Kaya said:
i am getting one....at least avid wont release MC X where you can not open old projects anymore hehe
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Heck, I can open projects from OS 9 / Windows XP versions of Media Composer and Xpress Pro!

They actually go to the other extreme:

You can even trim the edit in current Media Composer... save... and the old versions of Media Composer could still read the file!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
axel ebermann said:
haven't used an avid in ages. anybody knows how fast and reliable this software is compared to FCP7 ?
Is this working on Mac and is it 64bit ?
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Yes to working on Mac. No to 64-bit, that's coming to both PC and Mac in the next major release.
 
axel ebermann said:
haven't used an avid in ages. anybody knows how fast and reliable this software is compared to FCP7 ?
Is this working on Mac and is it 64bit ?

thanks

axel
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Works on Mac fine. I have it here on a laptop with a FW800 drive cutting 1080P DNX120 material.

It's not 64 bit...yet.
 
Bruce Allen said:
Yay, join us!



Heck, I can open projects from OS 9 / Windows XP versions of Media Composer and Xpress Pro!

They actually go to the other extreme:

You can even trim the edit in current Media Composer... save... and the old versions of Media Composer could still read the file!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
Click to expand...
Yo Bruce, I want my Avid software back! lol
 
axel ebermann said:
haven't used an avid in ages. anybody knows how fast and reliable this software is compared to FCP7 ?
Is this working on Mac and is it 64bit ?
Click to expand...

Download the trial and give it a go! New version is very stable for me. More responsive than FCP for me too.

And unlike FCP 7, no gamma issues :)

Also, if it crashed often we wouldn't have like 30 copies at work. We are using Macs BTW.

Main thing versus the old days of Avid is that there is new management - who actually listen. Support is better. Does not feel like a money-making rip-off that made everyone hate Avid in the old days :)

They're doing their very best to make you happy - because they know that if pros forsake them, they are dead. The head of the company just wrote "you are our lifeblood" or something on his blog...

jaadgy akanni said:
Yo Bruce, I want my Avid software back! lol
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HAHAHA! Jaadgy! I'm not giving you my Avid back :P But will buy you many beers as thanks? :cheers2:

BTW for people wondering what the hell we are talking about - Jaadgy sold me his copy of Xpress DV cheaply, which I used to upgrade to Media Composer a while back :)

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
axel ebermann said:
haven't used an avid in ages. anybody knows how fast and reliable this software is compared to FCP7 ?
Is this working on Mac and is it 64bit ?

thanks

axel
Click to expand...

Avid has always been the superior option for editing imo. You won't be disappointed with performance compared to FCP7.
 
Bruce Allen said:
Download the trial and give it a go! New version is very stable for me. More responsive than FCP for me too.

And unlike FCP 7, no gamma issues :)

Also, if it crashed often we wouldn't have like 30 copies at work. We are using Macs BTW.

Main thing versus the old days of Avid is that there is new management - who actually listen. Support is better. Does not feel like a money-making rip-off that made everyone hate Avid in the old days :)

They're doing their very best to make you happy - because they know that if pros forsake them, they are dead. The head of the company just wrote "you are our lifeblood" or something on his blog...

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
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Yes, a different attitude for sure. I like what Adobe and Avid are doing. And it started way before this FCP controversy. Can't blame them both for taking advantage of the situation. They're going to get a a lot of converts in a short amount of time.

For me, I started with Avid. When the company I worked for back in the 90's gave up Avid tech support, I became the tech support. I got to take the machines apart, swap parts, got to know the systems in and out. So, it's like seeing an old friend I haven't talked to much in a while. Won't take too much time to be up to speed with each other.
 
how does avid handle R3D files if at all? Totally unfamiliar with Avid, but now i'm looking around. Premier was my first stop and they look like the best middle company to handle most complete digital acquisition at the moment. Just stumbled onto this thread.....
 
Johnny Friday said:
how does avid handle R3D files if at all? Totally unfamiliar with Avid, but now i'm looking around. Premier was my first stop and they look like the best middle company to handle most complete digital acquisition at the moment. Just stumbled onto this thread.....
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It can read R3D files natively - Avid calls this AMA.

If you're a demanding editor dealing with a lot of footage, wanting super-fast responsiveness, they do HIGHLY recommend that you transcode to DNxHD though.

But you can start cutting on the R3Ds, then just tell Avid to make DNxHD versions overnight.

DNxHD is a nice lightweight codec that Avid is optimized for and really flies on (eg like FCP & ProRes). But you can always get at the raw R3Ds.

Avid are a little more conservative than Adobe... but that's because there are a heck of a lot of very demanding editors who will scream at them if they don't have perfectly fluid R3D editing.

Adobe can be a little more aggressive because they won't an army of angry pros saying "I want to make an OMF with a video track now - why is it taking so long? I don't care that I'm using R3Ds! This is Avid! You guys are supposed to be fast!" and "This feature film I'm trying to cut is crashing when I load it up on my old laptop!" Their user base is a little less demanding.

I think it's the best of both worlds for now (Adobe Mercury and Final Cut Pro ProRes). A smart compromise for real-world situations with larger or more complex projects.

You'll notice that even the Adobe Premiere users talk about falling back to ProRes or DNxHD for renders... Adobe's marketing that desktop computers can do full-quality native editing without ever rendering is a bit misleading! The answer is more that their users are a little less demanding in certain ways... Avid customers will be like "okay, I want to work with this nice 10-bit graded footage I have from Resolve - and I'm sharing 5 projects on a network so I don't have the data rate go uncompressed. And I want to send it to a guy using After Effects and he can render stuff back to me with alpha. And I want it to still be broadcast-quality." You kinda need a codec like DNxHD for that IMHO. Free, cross-platform, broadcast-quality, plays well with others. Professional. The reason Cineform exists is because there is a huge workflow gap for Adobe folks there.

Anyway, when computers get a little bit faster and everything is bug-tested nicely, Avid will likely recommend the native R3D editing method for more situations.*

But knowing them, they'll leave the old method supported for the next 10 years as well :)

*Though I don't know... for 4K editing methinks a lightly-compressed format like DNxHD would be a good fit!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
Bruce are they out there on the cutting edge so to speak....working to allow rocket card for doing some of the heaving lifting in playback or transcoding?

.....i am not at all a demanding editor nor colorist. FAR from, i only know what i want...sit down, cut, color to my liking and transcode out to client wishes....not doing any feature work. TV and my stock footage. So a high end system is not a need either....FCS 7 was perfect for me....with all hopes that we were going to see native r3d support--cross platfrom editing--or native timeline editing like premier and more....but last week was just a knife in the back, so now looking to what or rather who will be able to support those small needs.
thanks for your input and help here Bruce.
 
My problem with AVID is that I am frustrated by their pricing. I'd like to get a DX system.. But it's so damn expensive.. If it were priced better, I'd jump on board.
Jay
 
Johnny Friday said:
Bruce are they out there on the cutting edge so to speak....working to allow rocket card for doing some of the heaving lifting in playback or transcoding?

.....i am not at all a demanding editor nor colorist. FAR from, i only know what i want...sit down, cut, color to my liking and transcode out to client wishes....not doing any feature work. TV and my stock footage. So a high end system is not a need either....FCS 7 was perfect for me....with all hopes that we were going to see native r3d support--cross platfrom editing--or native timeline editing like premier and more....but last week was just a knife in the back, so now looking to what or rather who will be able to support those small needs.
thanks for your input and help here Bruce.
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Sure thing! But yes, give both Premiere and Media Composer 5.5 a go! DNxHD is I think the main advantage over Premiere for small shops. "Native editing" is cool - but you're going to need to render stuff at some point. Even FCP X does a big transcode to ProRes in the background when you are "working natively". DNxHD just works - the advantages of ProRes for efficiently knocking broadcast-quality stuff out and storing it without running out of drive space, without the gamma issues :) Plus Avid has a damn nice trim tool.

Jay A. Kelley said:
My problem with AVID is that I am frustrated by their pricing. I'd like to get a DX system.. But it's so damn expensive.. If it were priced better, I'd jump on board.
Jay
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I'm right with you! We have DX at work. It's really really responsive. But too expensive.

But... my 2c is: they will very likely support AJA or Blackmagic high-end hardware soon. I think that they can't promise it for certain because they are a publicly traded company.

So, get 5.5 for $999 then upgrade to 6.0 for cheap and use it with that Kona 3 or Blackmagic card that you use with Resolve :) That should be amazing price-performance-wise!

I do not have insider info but everyone who talks to the Avid guys gets that impression - that they are trying to open up as fast as they can but can't promise anything because it'd be illegal!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
Media Composer can work with Red Rocket, but not for playback, only for transcoding, and only when set to Full Debayer. Not sure if it works on the Mac as well as on the PC. Also, Avid is very specific about firmware and driver versions, so beware if you also need to install RedCine-X on that machine (need to make sure versions match).
 
axel ebermann said:
haven't used an avid in ages. anybody knows how fast and reliable this software is compared to FCP7 ?
Is this working on Mac and is it 64bit ?
Click to expand...

It's very reliable, it's in many point of view the most reliable NLE on the market. Compared to FCP7 it's much better in terms of stability.


Steve Sherrick said:
Works on Mac fine. I have it here on a laptop with a FW800 drive cutting 1080P DNX120 material.

It's not 64 bit...yet.
Click to expand...

At least we know that it's gonna be 64 bit in the next release, Avid isn't like Apple, they actually say their roadmap so professionals can plan their hardware.
 
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