35mbit/s XDCAM HD FINALLY ACCEPTED BY AVID XPRESS PRO 5.7!
 

Hello folks,

I just found that info concerning the new version of Xpress Pro 5.7 on the Avid website:

Enhanced workflows for XDCAM and P2. Added support for bit rates of 18 and 35 Mb/s offers more flexibility to balance picture quality and recording length when capturing XDCAM HD. Need to archive? Version 5.7 now offers the option to write back to XDCAM and P2 media via FireWire. (P2 write back on PC systems and PowerPC-based Macs only. Intel-based Mac systems to be supported in a future release.)

and further down I found it again:
Sony XDCAM support for DV25, XDCAM HD support for 18 and 35 MB/s

So 35mbit/s AND writeback onto XDCAM is guaranteed on Avid Xpress Pro´s new 5.7 version and I´m personally more than happy about that. I was seriously thinking about changing over to FCP .....

Info taken from http://www.avid.com/products/xpresspro/featurelist.html

And you forgot to mentioned full support for proxy clips. That is is huge in speeding up editing workflows. That pretty much places AVID ahead of the pack for XDCAM HD editing.

Thierry.

Thierry,
I have found no mention of full proxy support for proxies in Avid Xpress Pro 5.7. Have you used the new version and can confirm this. It would be great if proxies are supported in this new release.

Thierry,

I thought that proxy editing only was for Media Composer? It's nowhere mentioned that Xpress Pro can do this. Please let us know, if you know more about this topic?

Transcode/consolidate
 

I couldn´t find this information about proxy editing either.
But I rely on Thierry as he´s always top informed about Avid issues. On the Avid forum somebody told me though that proxy editing would only be supported on Media Composer. But hopefully Xpress does it as well. Otherwise there´s still the possibility to transcode the HD material to DVCAM in Avid (you can see this workflow on the Avid tutorials´ page), edit the project in DVCAM, and then - when you´re finished go back to HD again. This might not be the fastest way, but it would still be an alternative.

Transcoding material is not an alternative to proxy editing. Proxy files allow you to edit in the field on a laptop with a small hard drive or send those files back to the post house to start a rough cut. The proxy edit workflow is a great idea but is only supported by Avid in Media Composer.

Full proxy support is included in the upcoming XPress Pro 5.7 release.

Thierry.

5.7 has been released. No support for proxy found.

It´s not an alternative, but you can at least work with "HD material" on your laptop, using transcoded DV. Of course it´s not an alternative. You´re absolutely right.

Again, I rely on Thierry, as he´s our Avid expert - and I´m happy to hear and can´t wait to download the new version:-)
Unfortunately the European store doesn´t yet sell the software....:-(

Bob, I just read your previous post. Have you tried 5.7 out?

Oh, okay.

Again, I would love to hear that someone is bringing in proxy files to edit in 5.7. I just can't get it to work on my system.

Guys,

I am running the "Gold Version" of XPress Pro 5.7 (i.e. customer release) and it does have full proxy support. Overall, XDCAM SD/HD works well with a few limitations:

- Write back is quite slow. Depending on your system, the content of your sequence and the number of FX to render, write back is on average 3 to 10 times slower than realtime. This is being optimized...

- Also 30p XDCAM HD clips will import and play in a 59.94i project, the frame rate is not officially supported. There are other issues when using 30p like timewarp, color correction and exports not working properly.

Thierry.

I noticed on the link given above, 24p is not mentioned. Can I guess because of it's omission, it's not supported?

I'd be so close to switching if it did.

Maybe that is my problem. 24P

Bob,

24P is fully supported when edited in a 23.98 project along with over and downcranked footage.

Thierry.

I forgot an other limitation, you can only write back two tracks of audio to XDCAM devices. Regardless of the number of audio tracks in use in your AVID sequence or clips to be exported in a bin, they will all be mixed down to 2CH stereo or mono, depending of the "output settings" in the audio tool.