Why no Avid Xpress Pro Section?
 

Just wondering why there's isn't a message board for DV editing on Avid.

Josh

Thanks for the suggestion, Josh. With nearly 400,000 posts in our database, it's hard to keep up with everything going on around here. Do we have enough existing threads discussing Avid for SD or HD to warrant a dedicated forum? I don't start empty boards; we need about twenty topics or so already going in order to devote a specific forum to it.

Josh,

Those of us who cut on Avid are in a definite minority on this board. I usually get my tech questions answered at the Avid forum. Full of lots of knowledgeable people, but a lot of them are 'crusty old pros' who can be a bit short tempered when it comes to asking basic questions. RTFM is a big response to answers you could have gotten by doing a hand search of your manual. Still, for serious questions it's a good space. Not as friendly as this board. (Thanks in HUGE part to Chris and the generous moderators) But Avid tech does read it and respond occasionally to issues that arise. Marianne is the customer service rep, and a good lady.

www.avid.com

Under the "Support and Training" tab, click on forums.

See this is why there's no Canopus forum here either. They do a great job running their own forum and I see no reason to try to repeat what they do.

Hey Chris,

Thanks. I was just curious. I do use the boards over at the Avid forum. I didn't know that to have a board for it there needs to be a significant amount of posts regarding it already. (Thought it might be a Chicken before the egg thing, people don't post cause there's no board for it.)

It's not a big deal, I was just curious why one wasn't up.

Thanks,
Josh

Yeah, if there's one thing I don't like to do it's starting an empty forum. But lots of the boards on this site came about because folks were frequently talking about something on one of the other general boards here. That's how the whole "Alternative Imaging Methods" thing began, to cite our most famous example. I'm not at all opposed to firing up an Avid board but we'd need a couple of trusted, experienced people who enjoy talking about Avid in order to help maintain it... not to mention to help gather up all the existing threads, provided that we have that many. What, I don't know everything going on around here? That's right! It's too much to keep up with sometimes That's what the poor hapless volunteer moderators are for, heh.

I use Avid and while I'd love an Avid section and lots of discussion, I agree that there definately hasn't been enough posts about Avid to warrant a new section.
Just post the threads in Non-linear DV Editing on the PC for now.

I would post if there was one. The only thing I can say is that if there were an Avid section here, it would get some informal postings. The Avid boards, while they can be fun, are mostly serious. And while these forums are quite helpful, I think we have more fun here than the Avid forums can have.

Either way, I'm still here.

Sean McHenry

Definately - I feel like a naughty child sometimes poking around the Avid forum for information people learnt years ago.
Nice people, but like you said, a lot more serious.

Sorry about that, Sean and Matt, but the goal here at DV Info Net actually is to keep it serious and to keep things on-topic. While there is a definite sense of humor among our best members (and a rather elevated one at that), it's pretty subtle by intention. The main idea here is to keep the noise level down and stay focused on creating a friendly and easily searchable repository of solid technical information that's relatively free of distractions, like a library ideally. I want this site to appeal mostly to working professionals who are looking for a serious, distraction-free environment of information exchange. Thanks for understanding,

As an extreme avid amateur (Just bought Avid a month ago), I find the official Avid forums a little intimidating for the reasons outlined above -

Yup, if you ask a question that's 'in the manual'... you'll get a pounding. Lots' of 'crotchety old pro's' on the forum. BUT it is a great place to get solid information. Just SEARCH the forum first for your topic, then RTFM, THEN if you don't find what you need, ask away. Like I said, Marianne from AVID is really helpful.

Well, the new Avid Liquid forum is a little more polite. You should have gotten that instead ;)

See, there you go. Liquid was with a, how should I say this, less professional(?) company. So when those guys showed up on the Avid forums, I'm guessing there is some gumbeling going on. There sure was when they bought Pinnacle. We were all wondering what they were thinking.

They should have tried for Matrox. Then the Axio wouldn't end up being a small thorn in their side.

Anyway, I bow to Chris. It's his house. There is already so much going on here it staggers my mind.

Sean

Only the Avid folks were grumbling. The only whining from the former PCLE folks has been that the Avid forums are not well organized by topic (hardware, edit, import/log, output, etc.).

And are you misunderestimating the Fast product, Liquid and what Studio is morphing too? They have some things no one else have. You should sit with someone and watch the workflow. I like the unlimited undos, autosave, and background render while I am editing :D Avid also bought one of the biggest consumer NLEs, which they lacked. Some folks make a lot more money selling a lot of inexpensive things vs a few expensive ones.

Chris - For the future, you could dump all things Avid in it, which would include Avid Studio now. But I kind of agree that there is not that much traffic for it.

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

No Avid Express Pro HD Thread -- Yikes . . .
 

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.

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!

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

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

Avid Xpress Pro HD Version 5.1.5 and nVidia GeForce 7800 GT
 

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

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?

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

The current version is 5.21

No Mojo for awhile
 

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

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

Sean

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.

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

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 ;-)

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

Why Not an Avid Section
 

New Member

Judging by the thread there is some interest in adding an Avid Section.

I do use Avid Xpress Pro HD (am awaiting delivery of an HVR-A1 to test with the software) and would think it links through acquisition to NLE posts.

An old film, theatre and TV dog learning new tricks

Stewart Rein

And now (a year later) , by popular demand... here's your dedicated "All Things Avid" forum!

Thanks Chris!

Thanks so much Chris. It was about time. There's a certain magic to this board that made it painful to go somewhere else to discuss Avid. Anyone who visits here on a regular basis, becomes endeared to this comunity and its members. I'd been feeling left out as I usually read so much on FCP and Vegas, but rarely anything about AVIDXpress Pro, which many of us swear by. Thank you again.

Thanks for the new forum!
 

As a new Avid Xpress Pro owner, I'm pleased to see the new dedicated forum here. While Avid products are well supported on Avid's own forums, DVInfo is rapidly becoming a one-stop source for all information needs from pre- to post- and everything in between. And the friendly, supportive, encouraging userbase here can't be beat! Props to Chris and his wranglers for creating and maintaining such a pleasant atmosphere. The "signal-to-noise" ratio here is incredibly good!

Thanks Chris!
I don't edit on Avid, tried it once, but it didn't really work out, maybe this board can give me the confidence to try it again. (I now work with Premiere Pro)