Sonic lowered the retail on ReelDVD from $499.95 to $199.95 earlier this year. That is what the upgrade price used to be from le to the full version.

We still have a couple of ReelDVDle in stock and I just lowered the price on ReelDVDleto $149.95


Gary

Thanks Gary, for the quick response.

I'm using ReelDVD LE right now. Finally getting the hang of it, and liking it quite a bit. Don't need the added features of the full version just yet, but might in a month or so.

FluidFilm Progressive
 

Apply the FluidFilm Progressive effect from the effects palette. The project must be an interlaced based project in order to have access to this effect. Render time is painful. If the sequence is more than 8 mins. its not a bad idea to add edits every 4-5 mins. on the video track you apply the effect so as not to lose your renders if you make changes somewhere in the sequence.

thanks for your help

Exporting Avid project for Web Video
 

We want to be able to offer a web video service as part of our company services and also create web video for our website. Can anyone suggest best codec for this? We don't have sorenson or pro coder (should have but don't for some reason) and can't afford to buy either. Has anyone got an old version they don't use or know where we could get a cheaper version?

Matt,

If you have Avid, you have Sorenson. Unless you have a student version. Is this the case?

TMpgenc is a good one if you are looking for a seperate transcoder.

Encoders are all over the place now. I usually export a QT Ref file and then use either Sorenson or Canopus ProCoder 2. Occasionally I resort to CleanerXL but it has gone down hill ever since Discrete bought it. The interface truely sucks these days. And 5 used to be so easy to work with.

From any of those you can choose your format. I did a lot with Linux boxes and streeaming a while back. I favor either QT or Real Media for streaming. Most folks can't stand the real player as it is too nosey. There is an enterprise version of the player that doesn't ask questions, use pop-ups, etc. but you have to google for it. They made it for businesses whose IT folks refused to install anything with pop-ups and asked for user input or target markets users. Supposedly enterprise doesn't do that.

Anyway, QT with Sorenson is a good bet but the file sizes will be significant sizes. Windows media is an option but not everyone can play those. Never use cutting edge formats. Most folks won't have the codecs and will not bother to download them.

Good luck.

Sean McHenry

Videoguy goes to Avid Summer Camp
 

This past Tuesday (07/19/05) I attended a special Avid dealer training session called Avid Summer Camp. During the training session Avid demonstrated two very long awaited and important new features for Xpress Pro coming in the next two releases:

Tiger in the tank!

That’s right – we saw it first hand - Avid Xpress Pro running on the new Mac OS! I know this is a very important milestone and while many will complain that it took too long, I think you’ll see it was worth the wait. Avid didn’t just make Xpress Pro run on Tiger – they are tapping into some of the core performance capabilities of Tiger. Want even more good news – how about a target release date of August 18th!

HDV and more!

We also had the chance to see Xpress Pro HD with HDV running. I’ve said this before in previous articles and posts – when you combine native HDV support with Avid DNxHD CODEC, wonderful things happen. Avid was demonstrating a timeline made up of mixed HD and SD content, DV, uncompressed SD, HDV at 720p and 1080i and additional HD footage using DNxHD compressed files. Xpress Pro HD ate it up and spit it out – on a laptop! That’s right, real-time editing of mixed resolution HD footage from the timeline. Avid is calling this feature “Open Timeline” - I call it nothing short of amazing! But that wasn’t all. They ran this same mixed resolution footage in multicam! That’s right, you’ll be able mix and cut between your old reliable DV cams and your new HDV cams in realtime. The best news – Avid hopes to have HDV support for Xpress Pro HD by early fall.

Putting it all together.

Of course the question came up of when Xpress Pro HD would be available for Mac. The goal we were told was before year-end. At that time Avid hopes to get back to having both PC & Mac with the same features and versions in the box. Avid has always been committed to this strategy. Tiger is a significant OS upgrade and it has taken major efforts by Avid to make Xpress Pro the best performing and most powerful video editing available for Tiger. Avid was the first NLE to run on Macs, and they are and have always been committed to the Mac platform. While the Tiger release took extra time, the future for Avid on Mac looks very bright indeed. Over the next two years Apple will be switching over from the PowerPC CPU to Intel based chips. While this may make some devout Mac lovers nervous, Mac based video editors have absolutely nothing to worry about – Avid has years of expertise on both platforms! In fact, it was no surprise at all to Avid engineers that Apple would switch to Intel, they’ve been telling them all along that it was better for video editing!!

You can check out my complete article here http://www.videoguys.com/avidsummer2005.html

Gary

check out the free windows media encoder, you can download it from the microsoft website... wmv has the best combination of audio/video quality and player penetration of any of the formats out there.

your goal is to find an encoder that allows for two-pass video encoding at the minimum, and preferably variable bit rate capability for both video and audio, if possible... check to see if those are still possible options on the free wmv encoder.

if you are going to offer your web encoding services to people, you'll probably find that they want more than just the wmv format, so you could be forced to look at procoder or possibly sorenson squeeze.

Outputing XL2 material to Avid Nitris!
 

Hello there, thanks you for your time. I was wondering if you could help me with a post production question.

I have recenty finished a feature film project with Canon's XL2 camera. I am ready to take the standard 24P footage (not advanced) to the AVID.

Could I use a regular MiniDV deck to do this task?, or do I have to use the XL2 as a source deck?
Will a regular deck play this footage correctly, without damaging the tape?
Sorry about the silly question.

Since my footage was captured at 24P but then (As I understand it) translated to 29.97, could a regular, modern DV deck be able to output this footage into the AVID Nitris that I will be using?

Your prompt response will be greatly appreciated.!

Jose

Any DV deck can play back that material. It's okay to use your camera as a deck.

thanks Chris, another XL2 output question
 

Thanks Chris,

And now a final silly question.

I know I decided to capture at 24p standard because I know my final prouct will stay in TV and DVD land, I will not transfer to film at any point.

Even though I shot at 24P, I should stay with a 30fps timeline all the way, right?
Or do I have to ask the Avid to recognize that this is 24p footage, extract these frames or something like that. Just like when using 24p advanced.

What I am getting at is, I just want to make sure that I am getting the full quality of what I originally intended, 24p to be viewed through a DVD or with a regular TV.

Once I have the footage loaded, I should just treat it like regular 30 fps footage or should I tell the system this is 24P?

Jose

Sadly Chris, I have to report that I recently attempted to playback some material recorded by the XL-2 using my Pana 953 camera. The audio was all but non-existent and would fade in and out. Played back by either 2 of my XL-2 cameras, there was no problem with the audio. There has been some speculation about thinner track pitch on the XL-2 recording heads. I don't know what the problem is exactly.

But, we both know that it should theoretically possible to playback those XL-2 tapes on any mini-dv deck.

=gb=

Wow, really? I had no idea! Well, thanks for the update, Greg. There's usually some form of consensus around here against using an expensive primary camera such as an XL2 as a playback deck, but in my opinion, as long as it's not used in that capacity *too* much, then there's nothing wrong with that practice.

Avid stock price low
 

I noticed in the news that the stockholders for Avid are mad about the purchase of Pinnacle. I guess I would be too if I was expecting a juicy dividend for the year and the company instead used the captial to buy another company.

Anyway, their stock is very depressed right now, and it seems artifically low because of the Pinnacle purchase. I'm seriously considering buying some as I can't see Avid losing market share, especially after buying a low-end A/V toolset like the Pinnacle line. Am I missing something, is Avid on a gradual and continuous decline as a company? Or is Avid still an industry mainstay and this is just an anomoly based on the stockholder displeasure with loosing their precious dividend in favor of gaining marketshare for long-term growth?

Any insights?

Patrick,
Whether or not Avid represents a viable investment is a topic outside the realm of DVInfo. It's best to research the topic through financial sites and through investment-oriented resources.

I can say, however, that Morningstar gives them a 5-star (out of 5) rating and gives them a fair market valuation of $56, quite a bit above their current $43 price. If you subscribe to Morningstar you can access the full analyst report.

Ken,

I also subscribe to a couple of investment tools/newsletters. I was really wanting to get a sense from people who use Avid tools about whether they thought Avid was loosing its "industry standard" position.

I think the stock is quite under-valued, but whether they regain value lost during the Pinnacle buyout depends on the viability of their product line. And since Avid is the name-brand and the product, I thought I'd ask folks who use it if they thought the company was on the way out or on the way up.

As an insider, yes. Lot's of users think they went the wrong way. They should have sided a long time ago with Matrox. Matrox is going to whip some booty with Axio. Full HD uncompressed with (real) realtime effects like color correction, etc. I was in on the early demos. The company I worked for a few months back sells Avid, FCP and now - Axio. It should take the midlle ground by storm. The folks that were looking at Adrenaline are going to miss out if they don't at least look at the Axio.

In short, yes, the Pinnacle move was not favorable from the inside of their outside sales folks. Pinnacle was buggy, lower end and on the way out frankly. The DV 500 was a mess from the begining it seemed.

Anyway, I wish them all luck as they bed down for the future.

Sean McHenry (Still an Avid editor)

Matrox always looks good on paper and in controlled demos. They've been promising to kick butt for several years now. Buggy software and poor support has been their bane.
Maybe they got it right this time. but I'm skeptical.

I don't think Avid has been very price friendly either compared to others. The FCP Studio package is, from what I hear, a much better deal too. Vegas and Adobe are doing mighty fine themselves even in the higher end. I think Avid's problem is both support and pricing. Plus, what did Avid have to gain by buying Pinnacle? I don't know anyone who uses Pinnacle other than the usual hobbyist and the computer guys that buy the big expensive videocards and recieve it for free (mostly ATI Radeon All-in-Wonder sales). Dumb move in my opinion.

What's to happen to Avid Xpress DV 4?
 

Thanks for the update, Gary.

Is there any word on how long Avid Xpress DV will be supported? I am considering migrating to Avid Xpress DV but am concerned that, as a result of the Pinnacle acquisition, Xpress DV may be dropped soon. Think about it. Its price point puts it up against Liquid Edition 6 and Sony Vegas, which on paper offer more bang for the buck. In today's marketplace, $500 for a DV25-only editor is excessive. When Final Cut Express HD and Sony Vegas 6 can edit DV and HDV for only $299 and $399 respectively, Avid should consider again lowering the price of Xpress DV 4 to unload its inventory while advanced users move on to Xpress Pro and other high-end apps. Call me crazy, but I think $200 is a fair price.

Avid Capture Problem with XL2
 

I'm having some issues trying to capture footage from my XL2 using Avid Xpress Pro. Here's the rundown.

Windows XP recognizes my camera when I plug it in and I am able to capture video using the crappy built-in program that comes with windows (movie maker?)

Premiere Pro recognizes my camera and I am able to control the camera like a deck, but I usually get errors when I try to capture.

Avid Xpress Pro 5.0 does not recognize my camera at all.

I googled the problem, and the only information I could find was a database of cameras that Xpress pro 5.0 supports. The XL2 was indeed listed as being supported...so I have no idea what the problem is.

Has anyone else been able to get XpressDV or Xpress Pro to recognize their XL2? And if so, were there any special steps you had to take?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

No help, I know... cause I'm not running 5.0, but 4.31 sees my Canon. Should be in your pull down list in 'deck configuration', is it not there?

Matrox is a paper tiger imho. Avid is in most newsrooms internationally and most movies are cut on their systems. As long as they keep providing the product, the market will remain theirs. The pinnicle deal is simply to have a product at the consumer/prosumer level.

I was planning to buy their stocks the day before it dropped. Lucky that I did not buy it. I always get the impression that Avid is leading the broadcast industry and the increase demand in HD will lift Avid to new highs.

Anyone working in Network TV, etc. Are broadcasters planning to pour much money in HD equipment, or most are HD well equipped already??

I work part time and the CBS station in WY, it is a very small market. In our new building and conversion to an HD system, FCP-HD is currently the system we are going to employ. Being a PC guy I'm looking forward to FCP but not working on a mac. Several of the other stations seem to be going that route as well. However we will still be doing tape-to-tape as the primary edit solution as its still the fastest way to go.

Sound & Capture problems with Xpress DV
 

Hi there everybody.
I am in need of some advice & hope you can help.

I recently invested in a new NLE system & Avid Xpress DV software to do some serious editing work with, and so far i've been unable to actually use it properly as i've encountered some problems.

First of all, I haven't been able to capture video from my Camera (AG-DVC60) using Avid's capture/digitize tool, which at first could have been because I was using my Motherboard's onboard FireWire card. I therefore have now got the Avid-approved PYRO PCI 64 FireWire card, and still i'm having problems. Can anybody give me any assistance with this?

Secondly (and perhaps more importantly), when using existing video & sound files with Avid (I can capture video & sound using a different program, PowerDirector), no sound can be heard at all. This is an odd problem, as i can see the audio levels on Avid's audio meters moving up and down, and yet the audio can't actually be heard!
I know that the audio does work out of the PC though, as it works when using PowerDirector and when playing a CD with Media Player. One possible reason could be that I do not have a seperate sound card for my PC (the Motherboard has a built-in one i believe?) - could this be why i can't hear anything from Avid? It may have nothing to do with that at all, and if so I can't work out what the problem is.
If anybody can help me out with this problem i would be exremely grateful, as right now i've got almost $2000 worth of stuff which i can't use!

I thankyou for taking the time to read this post, and I sincerely hope you can help me out.

Many warm regards,
Alan

Alan,

I'm a 'filmmaker' not a computer tech... so I'm not real good at talking about boards being in the right slots etc. Having said that, yeah, you might need an independent sound card. About 35 bucks should do it, for a sound blaster. But check your window settings first, and make sure your audio is enabled.

Under the capture settings, you have to configure the device. Not sure if your camera is listed, but if not, choose 'generic dv device'. You may or may not have camera controll with the capture tool.

Your best bet for technical questions, is on the Avid forum. Check systems specs for soundcard recomendations. www.avid.com

Be forwarned. RTFM first, and do a search before posting questions. It can be a real burn for a newbie who asks something that can be found on page one in the manual.

Maybe Avid Xpress is trying to play the audio out through firewire. If your DV camera's LCD thing is closed, you may not be able to hear the sound.

(This can happen with FCP anyways.)

Things you can try:

1- You can try the free program DVIO to help isolate the problem.
2- What is the error message?
Try searching google, and the avid-l mailing list or other avid resources (i.e. the avid website, their support pages, and they might have a forum).

Thanks for the replies!

Firstly to do with the Capture problem, there is no error message as such, it just states that there is no deck available, and no signal present. I can get around this problem though i think as i can capture video using other programs and import that into Avid. I would like to and will try to solve this problem though as i'd like to capture with Avid if i can.

Secondly, the sound problem. I don't remember seeing any Sound Card requirments on Avid's website for Avid Xpress DV, as i based my new PC purchases based upon the stated requirments, which is why i hoped it would work!
The audio simply is not "emerging" from Avid, even though i can see it's there, and even though it comes out of other programs. I have tried to import video and audio into Avid (when the camera is not even connected) and when Avid is the only program running, and yet it does not give out any audio to hear. Does anyone know why this might be, or have any other suggestions on how to get the sound to come out? As if i can get this right, then capturing with Avid is a problem i can get around, but without sound from Avid it's useless!

Once again, thank you for taking the time to read this and for helping me out, i really do appreciate it.
Warm regards,
Alan

AVID HDV event!!!
 

take a look - this is first (at least by my knowledge) apperiance of AVID announcement connected with HDV.

http://www.avid.com/events/

(scroll to product showcase topic - pre release version etc...)


filip

Avid Xpress Pro on Mac OS Tiger at lafcpug, Aug 24
 

Avid Xpress Pro on Mac OS Tiger http://www.avid.com/products/xpressprohd/ will make its Los Angeles debut, at the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group, (lafcpug) Wednesday August 24 at the Gallery Theater in E. Hollywood CA. beginning at 6:45PM. Avid’s Senior Product Marketing Manager, Tim Wilson will demo. Also on the agenda will be author and trainer Kevin Monahan who will show off FCP Effects Tips and Tricks. Ripple Training’s Steve Martin will show how to animate titles to voice over using Apple’s Motion. FCP Guru and author Tom Wolsky will show different ways of working with filters in FCP. In addition, there will be Show and Tells, Stump the Gurus, and a raffle with prizes totaling into the thousands of dollars.

For complete details including directions to the Gallery Theater visit the lafcpug web site.

http://www.lafcpug.org/user_schedule.html

This meeting is open to the public and lafcpug requests a $5.00 donation at the door

Supported Video Card for Xpress Pro
 

I have purchased Xpress Pro and want to know if anybody has been successful in using a non-supported video card that Avid doesn't suggest. My new Dell is a 3.2 P4 with 2.5gb Ram and the typical integrated video card. The problem is that it comes with the new PCI Express bus and no AGP. Well, the PCI Express Quadro cards that Avid requires are at least $600 where as the AGP's are available starting at $250. Has anybody been able to use a high powered ATI or Envidia card without any drag or is the software designed just for the Quadro series?

Any guides to AVID?
 

I'm having a hard time trying to find learning material for Avid Xpress Pro. My local library nor my high school library has anything. I also tried amazon, but didn't pick anything up. I know nothing of Avid software, I have some previous experience with Adobe software. And also, what is the learning curve for Avid, I'm 17 years old btw.

We have customers getting very good results with the PNY Quadro 540 card $249.95

We haven't got the video output via the breakout box 100%, but the card works great as a dual VGA for Xpress Pro http://www.videoguys.com/PNY.html

Gary

Try this link to get you started. There are a few quick (free) tutorials that will help you get around.

http://www.avid.com/freedv/tutorials/index.asp

Several excellent guides available - One of my favorites is "Avid XpressPro" by Jame Monohan, it's a visual Quickpro guide.

Avid Unlocks Full Potential of Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger with New Media Composer Adrenal
 

Latest digital content creation products offer breakthrough effects and editing capabilities on newest Mac operating system

Tewksbury, MA – September 1, 2005 – Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced the availability of the Avid® Media Composer® Adrenaline™ 1.8 and Avid Xpress® Pro 4.8 editing solutions, optimized for Mac OS X Tiger to deliver improved performance and features unavailable from any other nonlinear editing manufacturer. In addition, new Media Composer Adrenaline and Avid Xpress Pro systems include bundled tools that tap the Core Image units of the Mac OS to create an entirely new category of video effects.

“The Mac is an important creative platform for a wide range of professionals who use Avid’s content creation tools – and optimizing our products for Tiger is a key step in serving the needs of these customers,” said Chas Smith, general manager of Avid’s Video division. “Our engineering team, along with Noise Industries, an AVX development partner, has enabled us to utilize power within the Mac OS Tiger that is untapped to date. In fact, in recent product demonstrations, our customers told us that they were blown away with how we’re pushing the bounds of our products. We’re confident that any Mac customer using an Avid product with Tiger will experience a significant boost in performance and functionality.”

- Click here for full press release http://www.avid.com/company/releases...iger_prod.html
- Check out the Avid “Do More with Tiger” page http://www.avid.com/community/mac/index.asp?dm=hptiger
- Click here for Videoguys Xpress Pro w/ Tiger report http://www.videoguys.com/avidsummer2005.html

Gary

Avid Announces October Availability of Native HDV Support
 

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 9, 2005–Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ : AVID - News) today announced that it expects to deliver native HDV editing and workflow support in its PC-based Avid Xpress® Pro and Media Composer® Adrenaline™ products by October 17, 2005. Customers who purchase either a Media Composer Adrenaline HD 2.x system with an assurance contract or an Avid Xpress Pro HD 5.x system before October 17 may receive free HDV software upgrades when the release ships next month.

“Although HDV is still relatively new as a format, there’s no question that it is having a significant impact in the marketplace, with early adoption among broadcasters, post-production facilities and independent producers,” said Patrick McLean, senior product manager for Avid. “Our customers have been asking Avid to support this new format, and we’re pleased to announce that we’re delivering it. More importantly, we’ve invested heavily to ensure that our HDV implementation addresses key customer needs such as mixing HDV with DV and other formats in the same timeline in real-time. When they begin working with HDV, they’ll have the same kind of seamless workflow experience as they do when working on an Avid system today.”

“I’ve been beta testing HDV on Avid Xpress Pro for over a month, and one of the best things is that my workflow hasn’t changed at all. Avid has clearly put a lot of thought into this implementation - they simply understand how professionals need to work,” said David Benjamin, an editor for IFILM currently working on Team Extreme, a film project for Fuel TV. “Plus, with Avid’s rock-solid media management, script-based editing, open timeline, and real-time effects capabilities, I feel truly empowered as an artist - which is more than I can say about the experiences I’ve had using other HDV-ready NLEs.”

Pricing and Availability

The planned October release of HDV support will be for PC-based systems, and Avid will offer HDV as a free upgrade to customers who purchase either a Media Composer Adrenaline HD 2.x system with an assurance contract or an Avid Xpress Pro HD 5.x system before October 17, 2005. Avid Xpress Pro 4.x customers can purchase the HDV upgrade for $50.00 USMSR

Click here for more Avid Xpress Pro HD info, pricing and specials http://www.videoguys.com/XpressProHD.html

Gary

As a footnote, Avid has also announced Service Release 2 for Liquid Edition 6. It may be available next week.