Today Avid announced their new 64 bit version of Media Composer, version 6. We even thought about giving it a whirl here on the FCP.co campus until we found out the price!
Pricing for Media Composer 6.0 starts at $2499 USD. Upgrade pricing starts at $299 USD.
Final Cut Pro (excluding Final Cut Pro X) users can purchase Media Composer with free online training to help them move from Final Cut Pro to Media Composer, for $1499 USD.
If Avid had bought this down to $499 i.e. a third, then they would have had a winner. We do like the new GUI and if we were not going the FCPX route, then we would take a serious look at the new version. Cost is an issue, but we should remember if it wasn't for the likes of Apple, Avid would still be charging $80,000 for this.
The five minute Avid video below is a whistle-stop tour of the new features. They just had to get a reference to FCP in there!
BURLINGTON, MA, 3 November 2011- Avid® (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced new versions of its flagship video editing systems -Media Composer® version 6, NewsCutter® version 10 and Symphony® version 6. Building upon more than 20 years of product innovation and commitment to its professional users, these industry-leading professional editing systems today deliver new levels of openness, performance, collaboration and productivity - enabling independent professionals, post-production houses, broadcasters and all media companies to get their work done faster, work together on projects more effectively and reduce costs through greater productivity.
What’s New
Media Composer version 6, Symphony version 6 and NewsCutter version 10 are rebuilt from the core on an entirely new open, 64-bit architecture that raises the bar for performance, flexibility and productivity. With this version, Avid is also introducing a sleek, new User Interface - designed to speed workflows while simultaneously preserving the same functionality that so many professionals have built their careers on. In addition, these systems include support for third-party hardware, AVCHD and RED Epic support with Avid Media Access(AMA), an Avid DNxHD® 444 codec, and support for Avid Artist Color.Together with existing Avid innovations such as AMA, for direct access to file-based media; Avid PhraseFind, powered by Nexidia, and Avid ScriptSync®, for phonetic searching and editing; and real-time Mix and Match, allowing multiple formats in the same timeline - this major release reinforces Media Composer, NewsCutter and Symphony systems as the ultimate professional editors on the market, specifically designed to meet the creative and technical demands of the broadest array of editing workflows.
More Open, More Flexible
- Leverage existing hardware investments and easily add Avid editing systems into current workflow configurations thanks to the new Avid Open I/O, which enables support for popular video and audio cards from AJA Video Systems, Blackmagic Design, Bluefish444, Matrox and MOTU.
- Easily incorporate Avid’s high-performance hardware video accelerator, Avid Nitris ® DX - the most versatile and powerful video hardware system optimised for Avid editing systems - into high-profile film or TV workflows through its availability as a standalone hardware purchase at a new, reduced price. Nitris DX is available with one or two
Avid DNxHD or AVC-Intra chips and supports full resolution and full frame stereoscopic workflows.
- With Symphony software, experience greater flexibility and choice for on-set and mobile editorial and colour work, or meet increased facility capacity - now available as a software-only solution, at a lower cost.
Enhanced Integration for the Most Demanding Post Production Workflows
- Increase flexibility for editorial and finishing with enhanced Pro Tools® integration and 5.1/7.1 surround and extensive metadata management, which allows the transfer of more session data from Media Composer to Pro Tools. Additional metadata is available in the AAF interchange format. Extensive 5.1/7.1 surround support is also fully compatible with Pro Tools through the improved AAF capabilities.
- Maintain a familiar and trusted editorial process with new, industry-defining 3D stereoscopic workflows that offer full resolution, real-time editing, mixed eye workflows as well as a deep toolset, with title and conversion control. Editors can also easily export metadata into Avid or other third-party finishing systems for grading and high-end effects.
- Preserve full colour information from HD RGB 4:4:4 sources without compromising system performance or storage through the newAvid DNxHD 444, a high-quality HD codec. Avid DNxHD 444 can help significantly enhance real-time HD production productivity with the highest colour detail possible, is suitable for the most demanding productions, and is also an ideal archiving format.
Additional New Editorial Capabilities to Increase Workflow Speed and Productivity
- Gain greater power and flexibility in high performance color correction with support for the Avid Artist Color control surface within Avid editing systems.
- Speed time to editing by eliminating timely transcode, re-wrap, and log and transfer processes through expanded AMA, which now offers native support for AVCHD and RED Epic as well as the ability to encode Apple ProRes (Mac OS-based systems only).
- Get questions answered quickly with a new Customer Assist Tool, offering direct, in-app access to guides, help, and configuration information.
- Gain up to 2.5 times faster encoding with Sorenson Squeeze v8, included with Media Composer, NewsCutter, and Symphony software.
- Ease and expedite workflows and toolset expansion with the new Avid Marketplace, which offers in-system access to stock footage from Thought Equity Motion. The Avid Marketplace also enables customers to browse available video and audio plug-ins along with other products in the Avid Store to complete a suite.
“Time and creativity is money for our customers, and they are looking for solutions that can help them continue to advance the art of creative storytelling without adding technological complexity,” said Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of products and solutions at Avid. “As we debut the most open, accessible and highest-performance versions of Media Composer, Symphony and NewsCutter ever, we are thrilled to take a significant leap forward in providing our customers with new industry standards in speed, ease and access that can help them do their jobs more effectively.”
What Customers are Saying
“The real value of the new Media Composer and Symphony systems is enhanced interoperability and openness - it all comes down to labour,” said Terence Curren, colourist/editor, AlphaDogs (Life as We Know It, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Eagle Eye) “The bottom line is if you save 15 minutes a day, times four people, times 10 weeks, that's a lot more than the difference in cost between any of these software systems.”
"With Media Composer 6, those of us who invested in hardware for Final Cut Pro can transition to Avid, easily and painlessly. I'm pleased,” said Shane Ross, freelance editor.
“Anyone who works in 3D is going to work on Media Composer going forward. It's just THE system to do that on now,” said John Mauldin, director of operations and technology, Fotokem Non-Linear.
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
