Saturday 5 November, 2011

The new Avid Media Composer 6

Just after the Canon EOS C300 announcement came the announcement by Avid on their new Media Composer 6 editing software.






Broadly, here's what's new...


New interface but not radically new
Fully 64bit so better use of RAM and faster performance especially for large projects.
Works with other hardware like Aja Kona, Blackmagic Decklink, and, of course Matrox
Better Stereoscopic 3D workflows
5.1 and 7.1 outputs and mix within MC
ProRes encode and decode on Mac
New DNxHD 444 codec for high quality RGB444 workflows
AVCHD and Red Epic native support
Colour grading with Artist color panel
Purchase stock footage online from within MC 6
AvidFX and Boris in all versions


And,
Nitris DX will be available at a lower price of $ 5500
Symphony 6 will be a software product for $ 6000 and will work with the same third party hardware from Aja and Blackmagic.
This might mean some competition for Smoke on Mac.


The full specs on Avid's home page here...
http://www.avid.com/US/products/media-composer

Pricing at $ 2500 (about Rs 1.4 lakhs) 
Crossgrade from FCS any version to be unending at $ 1500 (about Rs 85,000)
Upgrade from older versions to be $ 300 (about Rs 17,000)


So, this is a whole new and improved MC 6 with definite performance improvement over past versions. But the changes are not as radical as the FCP-FCPX change which may have put off some editors.


There are huge new features which it is hoped editors will embrace and use more effectively. Actually some of the features even in earlier versions of MC made it foray into finishing systems territory, and this new version continues this trend.


This version of Avid works with the Aja Kona and Blackmagic, so for users with a Mojo SDI that could not work with HD without the pricey MojoDX, can now run Avid with the Aja Kona at $ 2000 or a Blackmagic HD Extreme at $ 1000. 
For more details on third party hardware support for the Avid MC here are links...

Aja's web site on the use of MC 6 with Aja cards...
http://www.aja.com/news/index_article.php?id=162



Blackmagic's page describes the use of MC 6 with Blackmagic cards...
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/avid

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