Info from Avid Web-site
 

http://www.avid.com/products/media-c...o-dx/index.asp

http://www.avid.com/products/media-composer/editor/

http://www.avid.com/products/media-c...s-dx/index.asp

http://www.avid.com/products/symphon...s-dx/index.asp

Press Release:

http://www.avid.com/company/releases...ting_avid.html

Lots of new stuff.

Cheers, David

FWIW,

My take on the Avid announcements.

I think Media Composer 3.0 could be the most feature rich edit software to date. One of the new features will allow moving multiple tracks in sync which is very powerful. The DX and the Nitris, while still somewhat expensive at $9,995 and $14,900, provide very cool realtime features that will cut down on a lot of transcoding and rendering. Plus, XDCAM EX 25 and 35 mbit, and JVC 24p and 25p support. FINALLY!!!!!

I am curious if Avid is going to offer the Mojo DX as a separate item that you can migrate up to from the software version of Media Composer. Right now they're listing the DX with Media Composer for full price.

The fact that Mojo DX will only operate with a PCIe slot desktop is kinda of a letdown. but I understand in order to get the type of realtime performance with multiple resolutions, efx, and all requires some bus speed. I am glad that they included HDMI out.

So my plan is to upgrade to Media Composer 3 hoping I can get the DX at around $4k.

Anyone else have any thoughts??? Awfully quiet out there!

Not sure what you mean. Are you asking if the mojo dx hardware will be sold separately? I would imagine yes, as there will be many of us with MC and no mojo. I personally don't need it at the moment.

Tell me about it. With NAB on, I've been busy reading about all the releases.

Thanks for posting the links.

You should see everyone on the AVID-L2 list freaking out about the DX name for the new hardware...they're not impressed, to say the least.

Freaking about the name???? Whatever.
Yeah, one would assume you can buy it as an upgrade, but it doesn't appear to be listed as such.

I think the smartest thing they've done is drop the student price. They've got to get it back in the hands of the students and schools.

Hi Richard,
Can you direct me to mention of the educational prices? The Mojo DX is too costly for me (I will upgrade to MC v.3, though) - - but I'm teaching part-time at a college, and might try to turn some of the students on to Avid next term (right now its a FCP-only class, and I'm like a fish out of water).
Cheers,
Malcolm

http://www.avid.com/solutions/educat...aseOptions.asp

Should get you to the page for academic sales.

Thanks so much Richard.
Malcolm

Someone on the Avid-L2 list just asked this question, and Avid responded with "yes".

EXCELLENT. Thanks Vito!!

While not officially at the NAB show, Avid had a very big presence. They had in depth dealer meetings on Saturday and user events Sunday and Monday night. I attended these. They also had hands on demos at teh hard rock during the show.

Let me tell you, MS 3.09 is a MAJOR upgrade. here are just some of the goodies. From just the software!!

1) Truly multi-threaded app with support for Leopard and Vista. Under Vista 64 it will run 32 bit, but you will get to use huge amounts of RAM

2) CPU and GPU performance taps into all processing cores in your machine. MC Soft will identify what is the best way to handle the load and manage it. All you get is performance.

3) multi-layers of HD with support for all flavors in native rasters. So HDV and DVC Pro HD thin rasters are no longer an issue. Multi layers of HD footage are a breeze.

4) You can drag and drop muliple layers of footage together on the timeline - in multiple HD formats. Instant realtime performance.

5) Handling is superb. You hit the keyboard, the timeline reacts instantaneously. No delays, no waiting. Dead on accurate.

6) How much real-time HD? Depends on the speed of the computer. They were running 8-core Macs and HP workstations. 6 layers of DVC Pro HD in realtime ful resolution. I think they got up to 9 when they dropped to 1/4 frame. 3 or 4 layers of HDV. 6+ layers oh DNxHD (up to 10+ with the Nitris DX hardware. MNost impressive to me was mulktiple layers of mixed HD formats in realtime.

Upgrade for recent purchasers will be free. Grandfather back date not set yet, but from NAB forward you are 100% covered. grandfather dates are typically 30 or 60 days prior to announce of new version. For longer owners it will be a reasonably priced upgrade. well below the $495 cost of the continuing X Pro ro MC Soft up. I'm guessing int he $300 range.

Lets talk hardware. MojoDX & Nitris DX are PCIe based products. This delivcers 20x the bandwidth of firewire 400. You can still run it on a laptor. Avid was showing this. You just need a laptop PCIe card, these run about $50. Not sure if Avid will have one available or just certify a list of those compatible.

Lets talk hardware price. MojoDX w/ MC will be $9995. Do the math and the hardware alone is $7500. We hope to have upgrade bundles available with the X Pro to MC upgrade. We also requested some kind of trade in program for existing Mojo SDI and even Mojo owners. No word on that but our Aviod folks liked the idea. When I have the info, I will share it here.

Nitris DX will be $15K w/ MC Software. Same math puts the hardware onyl at $12,500. We will not be carrying the Nitris DX. That you have to get from you local Avid Premiere dealer. Upgrade programs for Adreneline and MojoSDI owners are in the works.

Lets talk hardware differences. The MojoDX hardware is for I/O. SDI (DS & HD) I/O plus HDMI. While it doesn't offer you true acceleration, there are some video related tasks that MC Soft will hand-off to the MojoDX allowing the CPU & GPU to take on more. HDMI output is HD video and surround sound. So go down to Costco or Wlamart and grab the best HD flatscreen TV you can for around $500 with HDMI inputs, then grab one of those $500 surround sound audio systems in a box. Hook it to MojoDX and you have your own HD surround studio.

Nitris DX includes Avid DNxHD encode/decode plus far more I/O. If you can afford it - GET IT!

That's my quick take. I'll be posating more in our NAB report coming in a week or so.

Gary

Any word yet on how many lanes are going to be required on the PCIe bus? 4 lane slot, 16; 8?

Mojo DX
http://www.avid.com/products/media-c...o-dx/specs.asp
* PCIe x4 slot (for workstations)
* ExpressCard slot (for laptops)

Nitris DX
http://www.avid.com/products/media-c...s-dx/specs.asp
A PCIe x4 card slot is required for connection to the Avid Nitris DX hardware.