We just upgraded a few of our Avid Media Composers to the latest software version 4.0.2. Here are a couple of the gems we’ve discovered in the very short amount of time since installing:

1. Mixing frame rates on the timeline is definitely a huge plus. Besides being able to mix and playback multiple frame rates without rendering, we’ve discovered the SD output to tape looks much sharper than in previous versions. There is no need to render the reformat or export to a 3rd party program like After Effects. We can edit an entire show or commercial in HD (or mixed HD/SD) at any frame rate then simply perform a standard digital cut to one of our SD tape machines. That’s a huge time savings!
2. The transition preservation feature is one of those nuances editors have desired for years. It does exactly as the name states: segments can be dragged without losing the transition, and sequences containing transitions can now be edited into another sequence without getting an error. Although fundamental from an editing standpoint, it may take a bit of time to get used to editing with transition preservation. Old habits die hard.
3. A couple other items of note: the 16 track audio mixer and some updates to Boris Continuum Complete are both welcome additions in this upgrade. You can also view stereoscopic material side-by-side for a more natural line of sight.

Media Composer 4.0 adds and improves upon many of the features in the editor’s arsenal, allowing for smoother, faster workflow and increased creativity. Editors appreciate that and so do their clients!

While we’ve only had a short amount of time to explore 4.0, a few features are noteable. What have you discovered about Avid Media Composer 4.0? What are some of your favorite features?

Just when I was starting to wonder if Final Cut Pro was beginning to catch up with Avid, I read this quote on Avid’s Facebook page:

“I don’t know anyone doing $200 million dollar movies who is not cutting on a Media Composer system. At this level, where there’s so much at stake, everyone uses it.” – Roger Barton, Editor, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

I personally don’t know anyone working on $200 million dollar movies, period; let alone ones using FCP on $200 million dollar movies. But I do know a screening room full of editors using Avid products on a daily, professional basis.

I cut on an Avid Media Composer in part because that’s what I started on back in 1997. So I may be an old-school creature of Avid habit, but I am acutely aware of many modern differences between these two battle bots that, for me and the clients I work with daily, continue to push Avid to the forefront of the editing world. Let’s briefly explore just a few…

For starters, FCP is Mac only. While that is certainly not a flaw of the editing software, it is a sizeable shortcoming nonetheless (unless you only ever intend to work on a Mac, or interface with other Mac based projects). Most clients frown on the inability to resurrect or even port projects as needed.

While we’re on the topic of projects, let’s chat a bit about media management. Any post house large enough to regularly need more than one edit system could benefit from some type of shared project/media storage device. FCP doesn’t offer a full-on solution to this need, there is an Xsan setup. While this does allow some sharing between edit systems, it requires much more organizational effort due to the fact that FCP is timeline based and not project based. This requires producers and editors to be tirelessly diligent in their organizational skills.

Guardian Studios has a 16TB Avid Unity safely holding all our projects and HD media. The beauty is this: multiple users can access the same project and the same media from different edit systems at the same time. Period. This means the client can walk in with an external HDD (or even a P2 card) and we can instantly pull the media files into the project and begin working. Or, we can resurrect an old project on one edit system while beginning a new project on another; all the while using the same media. From rough cuts in the Media Composer to Avid DS finishing, Avid’s tapeless workflow offers fast and seamless integration into any workflow.

One major time consuming task is the render. While every edit system needs to do some rendering at some point along the way, FCP needs to render when the sequence settings do not match the material. While you can mix formats on the timeline these days, it does not mean that the playback will be in real time. The only way around this is to convert all the material to a common native format. Most clients simply don’t want to sit through a long render or file conversion as they watch their budget click by 1% at a time! Of course with Avid Media Access, Avid’s new application programming interface (API), developers can now write their own codec wrappers, thus providing support for many video formats that has, in the past, been a downside to Avid.

Obviously, I am an avid Avid proponent, and not just because I cut my teeth on a first-gen Media Composer. In fact, if there was time, I could probably think of 200 million reasons why I edit on an Avid Media Composer every single day.

So let’s hear your thoughts. I gladly welcome any Final Cut Pro users to counterpoint this discussion.