Why no Avid Xpress Pro Section?

[Sean McHenry]

George. Nothing against the buy exactly, I think we all wanted Avid to stay with Pro stuff vs getting too deeply into the other markets. Just seems odd to have two distinctive lines running at the same time. I know they had some features Avid wanted but frankly, with the tiny user base in Liquid, it seems like they would have wanted to squash the competition and go for Matrox and get their card and chip making support as well as the Axio line assimilated.

If you ever have the chance to see an Axio demo, you'll see what a good thing Matrox and Premiere have done. It is amazing. Mostly, if not all in part to the Matrox hardware.

Sean

[Niki Shrode]

I'm just switching from Premier to Avid . . . why no thread? Are there any Avid users here? Is there a reason not to use Avid? I want to get Panasonic's new HD video camera and shoot a documentary in 24p. Am I nuts? The Panasonic isn't even shipping yet I see. I'm installing on an Intel Pentium 4 dual 3.2 GHz box with 4 GB ddram. I've got an ATI video card but am thinking of switching to nVidia, since that's what Avid recommends and supports. I also do animation and plan to use that in conjunction with video/film look. I want to use green adn blue screen a lot and have a studio I'm setting up.

[Richard Alvarez]

Niki,

Avid users are in the minority here. The "Search" function of the forum will help you find information, but as the thread implies, most of us get it at the Avid site.

www.avid.com

Welcome to AVID!

[Josh Caldwell]

Hey Nikki,

I love Avid. I've been cutting on it for 6 years. Haven't gotten to into HDV stuff yet, but as long as you keep your system clean (ie - not hooking it up to the internet) you should be good.

Josh

[Sean McHenry]

One caution. Avid as of yet does not support, last I heard, HDV in 24p. Hence the issues with the JVC HD100. See that and the P2 threads for more info.

Switched from Premiere to Avid about 2 years ago. Took the GeniusDV classes locally. John Lynn and his guys are pretty good. Nice bunch of friendly folks too. The GeniusDV site is pretty good too. They have a nice DVD on begining Avid Xpress. If you don't know anything about Avid yet, might be worth it. Premiere and Avid are quite different.

Sean

[Niki Shrode]

The new Avid Xpress Pro HD 5.1.5 does support 24p, but not inline with any other. They have new support for 1080p/24 format. Capture standard DV 25 24p and DV 50 24p with standard pulldown on firewire(1394) connection.

Thanks for the pointers to the class. Does anyone have experience with Avid on an nVidia e-GeForce 7800 GT graphics card? The Avid docs mention nVidia QuadroFx 1100 through 1400 and Quadro4 980xgl, but not the GeForce. Is there something wrong with the GeForce? Is it incompatable with Xpress Pro HD?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm new here and should walk a little softer till I get my sea legs.

I'm in the throws of having to upgrade a lot of old crap, and even need a new camcorder. I am looking to go Panasonic for 24p, and drooling over the HD ,models for versatiity, but my bankroll may not stretch to get the one I want, which looks like it isn't shipping yet anyway. I have an early Canon mini-dv called Optura, which has an early cmos, so I can't wait to get a better tool.

Thanks for the help, Sean, Josh and Richard. I'll go take a look at the Avid forum as well.


Niki

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Niki Shrode

Thanks for the pointers to the class. Does anyone have experience with Avid on an nVidia e-GeForce 7800 GT graphics card? The Avid docs mention nVidia QuadroFx 1100 through 1400 and Quadro4 980xgl, but not the GeForce. Is there something wrong with the GeForce? Is it incompatable with Xpress Pro HD?

Niki

Niki - one thing you'll learn about Avid is they are pretty particular about the hardware they spec (since they no longer force you to buy it off them!). I don't know much about the 7800 but I think it's the wrong class - you need the ones with the hardware OpenGL support to run realtime 3D, Marquee titles etc. For a dual monitor system I would go with nothing less than the 980 and even Avid are recommending the FX 1100 for trouble free dual monitor operation (are they still making the 980?). I think there are a couple of cheaper nVidia cards with OGL support that will work for a single monitor system - but I wouldn't recommend that for an NLE in any case.

Will you be running Mojo?

[Sean McHenry]

The current version is 5.2.0. It has worked with 24p for some time but will not work with 24p in HDV. Standard DV has been there for a while but HDV is not working in 24p yet. It's a major complaint as the one mode on the JVC HD100 everyone wants to use, is 24p. They'll get it eventually but by then a lot of folks will have migrated to Vegas.

Sean

[Richard Alvarez]

The current version is 5.21

[Niki Shrode]

Originally Posted by John Mitchell

Niki - one thing you'll learn about Avid is they are pretty particular about the hardware they spec (since they no longer force you to buy it off them!). I don't know much about the 7800 but I think it's the wrong class - you need the ones with the hardware OpenGL support to run realtime 3D, Marquee titles etc. For a dual monitor system I would go with nothing less than the 980 and even Avid are recommending the FX 1100 for trouble free dual monitor operation (are they still making the 980?). I think there are a couple of cheaper nVidia cards with OGL support that will work for a single monitor system - but I wouldn't recommend that for an NLE in any case.

Will you be running Mojo?

I don't have the budget for Mojo yet. Would you recommend it? I've decided to take the e-GeForce 7800 GT back and try to get an nVidia QuadroFX1400 past the accounting department. I finally found a comparison chart and the 7800 GT is missing almost everything, but shader model 3.0 and PC express.

They make the 980 still, but I don't think they support PC Express on that series.

I'm just getting my feet wet with Avid, and maybe all I can afford is damp, for awhile. :-)

Niki Shrode
Nut Road Studios
aka/Gypsy Nick
www.dailybrowse.com

[Sean McHenry]

It's a moving target - version numbers. Yep, just found it yesterday.

Sean

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

I'll go from Premiere Pro to Avid too, soon, so I wouldn't mind an Avid Board here too. Is there no possibility to stick all the threads about Avid in one board? Wouldn't that be a nice beginning filler?
I understand if Chris says he won't open that special board if there won't be enough threads, though.

[Richard Alvarez]

Mathieu,

The avid forum is really the best place for solid info on the program, its releases, bugs, upgrades, shortcuts... the works. Not a very 'sociable' forum like this one,but it's where I go when I have a questions.

And I SEARCH first... usually I can find the answer without posting.

www.avid.com

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

Thanks, Richard.
It's a bit a pitty because I love these boards so much, it would be wonderful if I could have all my postproduction questions here answered too, but that isn't a huge problem of course, and certainly not a reason to set up a complete board, which I believe eats up lots of time.
And indeed, maybe the most of them ARE already answered here, if I did a search on Avid problems/questions. and I can indeed always look into those AVID boards, little bit a pitty they aren't so friendly as here, but this place is difficult to top ;-)

[Sean McHenry]

Don't forget we can always post in the PC editing section too. I too would like to see one here but I understand Chris's concerns and reluctance. Avid boards are great, they are however filled with a lot of loud opinions and that sometimes hurts them there.

Sean