Videoguy goes to Avid Summer Camp 2005 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:
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!
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!! Notes:
The Xpress Pro Advantage You know, when you sell so many different NLEs and you have so many different flavors of each to support, it’s easy to forget some of the core features that really set Avid editing apart from the competition. I’d like to take the time now to re-iterate some of these features that are found only in Avid Xpress Pro & Pro HD.
Automatic Color Correction and natural match
I’m not an independent filmmaker, but I love independent films. I can really appreciate all the work and effort it takes to shoot, edit and produce an independent film. So does Avid. The Script based editing tools is a feature that makes Xpress Pro the clear choice for feature work. Avid script based editing tool keeps track of all your takes for each scene and allows you to trim and cut them together while viewing the actual script. This tool alone can save you countless hours and will result in the best possible edits for your masterpiece. Avid Media Management
Avid Image Stabilize with pan & zoom
Avid Open Timeline
Avid Mojo is one of the most significant technological breakthroughs we have seen in video editing over the past few years. Basically what Avid did was replace propriatary hardware accelrator cards with an exernal device that delivers outstanding real-time performance and more. Becuase Mojo hooks up via FireWire you don't have to worry about hardware compatability issues or conflicts - and you can use it with any computer. PC or Mac, desktop, workstation or laptop. Mojo actually serves 3 functions. First it allows you to bring in and take out analog video via composit, S-Video or Component. Second, Mojo is a real-time hardware accelreator. Since Mojo offloads the encoding from the CPU, you can edit more layers of video and very complex timelines and still have real-time output. Attach a TV to the analog output of Mojo and you can preview all your edits, filters and effects inr eal-time while you edit. The third feature of Mojo is that it allows you to capture and edit uncompressed SD footage. When editing a timeline with HD footage, Mojo will give you SD output for previews. Avid Power Pack
Avid Studio HD Complete
Feb 2006 update - Avid Xpress Pro 5.2 is the latest version from Avid for Windows. Version 4.8 is the latest version for Mac and it is optimized for the Tiger OS.
Version 5.2 adds native HDV support. Xpress Pro DNxHD CODEC allows you to work with and manage your HD footage more easily without sacrificing any video quality. With the Avid Open Timeline you can mix SD, DV, HDV & HD footage on the same timeline and still get real-time playback. One thing that often gets overlooked when shopping for video editing software is the “bundle!” Back in the days of video capture cards and real-time accelerators the bundle was everything. Today’s NLE software is so powerful and feature rich that we sometimes overlook all the valuable software that comes with it. Avid Xpress Pro comes with a HUGE amount of software - all top notch and very valuable.
That's over a thousand dollars worth of third party software in the bundle! And let's remember that Avid includes a bunch of their own software - Marquee, Film Tools, Illusion FX, and Stabilizer with Xpress Pro. So not only do you get the best pure video editing tool, you get best of breed software to go along with it. All for just $1,495!! In addition to the Avid Xpress Pro 5.2 software bundle we offer 3 additional bundles that include even more hardware and software:
For more information on Avid Xpress Pro give our knowledgeable Avid Xpress Pro sales experts a call at 800 323-2325
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Tiger in the tank!
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.
I say it all the time – less than half the footage I shoot looks right. I’m constantly running into lighting issues and problems with color shifts. Avid offers you the most powerful and easy tools in the word to fix this. You can have Avid color correct your entire timeline with a couple of mouse clicks. Each scene will be individually analyzed and color corrected. Every time I use it I’m amazed at how well it works. More than 90% of my clips end up perfect! The few others require minimal tweaking by me beyond what Xpress did automatically! Natural match is a feature that many videographers don’t understand, but once you use it, you won’t be able to live without it. Basically what you do is pick two scenes with the same person in it, but in one of them the coloration is different. You select the correct flesh tones from one clip and the flesh tones in the second clip are automatically color corrected to match. This is an incredible feature if you use multiple cameras or you shoot performances.
Script Based Editing
If you are like me, you’ve got hundreds of hours of footage. How do you keep track of it, how do you find it, how do you move it, how do you avoid losing it? The answer is simple – you edit with Avid. Avid uses bins for you to keep track of all your clips. You can sort and sift through the bins. You can add your own custom fields for this purpose. As an example, you could add a field for signed release forms for the people in the scene, members of the bridal party in the clip, clips that need audio work, clips for the highlight reel etc. Avid also lets you rename your clips whenever you want, and when you do Avid updates it everywhere – so you don’t have to worry about losing links or being unable to find a clip after you rename it. Avid media management is the standard by which all current and future NLEs will be compared, and right now there is no comparison.
When Avid first shipped Xpress DV the stabilizer was one of the key features of the Xpress DV PowerPack. With the introduction of Xpress Pro the stabilizer and the rest of the PowerPack features were integrated into it. The Avid stabilizer is a very valuable feature that can save footage that would otherwise be unusable for your productions. You use it to automatically remove camera shake and or jitters. (Note: While this tool is great – it is not a substitute for using a tripod). The Avid Stabilizer works by selecting a region of the video to stabilize. After the scene is analyzed and stabilized you can select to have it automatically zoom and pan so that the footage fits the entire screen. The end result looks natural and smooth.
I know I mentioned this earlier, but I really think it worth taking a closer look. We are in the middle of a transition for DV to HD/HDV. This transition will happen over the next few years. Even if you jump to all new HDV cams tomorrow, the odds are pretty good that your still going to be using some older DV footage in your productions. You may also find that your having to edit HD footage from different camcorders shot at different resolutions. With Avid Xpress Pro HD this is not an issue. You can mix any of the supported resolutions on the same timeline and edit in real-time. Once the HDV update is released Xpress Pro HD will have support for HDV (720P, 1080i, 1080P), 24P, P2 (native MXF), DV25/50/100, XDCAM, uncompressed SD (with Mojo) and good old DV. No other NLE will offer this wide a range of support without any compromises. You don’t have to transcode the clips when you bring them in and you don’t need to render while you’re editing. That makes Xpress Pro HD with Avid DNxHD the most powerful HD editing solution available, and it’s only going to get stronger.
Avid Mojo
While XPress Pro comes with a very valuable assortment of 3rd party software (Boris FX ltd, Boris Graffiti ltd, Sonic Fire Pro, Sorenson Squeeze, Sonic ReelDVD) Avid realizes that it's customers want and demand the very best. For this reason they have put together the Avid PowerPack. The PowerPack includes over $2500 worth of additional software. 
Avid Studio Complete is the whole enchilada, everything you need to create fantastic video and audio. Studio Complete gives you Avid Xpress Pro HD with Mojo, the Avid PowerPack plus ProTools LE and the Digi002. If you or someone you collaborate with knows anything about audio/ music editing, the value of Studio Complete is nothing short of phenomenal. ProTools is an industry standard for audi workstations. It's used by some of the biggest names in music and film scoring and audio post prodcution. The Digi002 control surface is an 8 channel mixing console with all kinds of audio I/O. You also get all the software you need to move your audio and video effortlessly between Xpress Pro HD and ProTools. When you attach Mojo and the Digi002 together you'll get perfect audio sync and the ability to preview your video and audio together while you work in ProTools. 
With Xpress Pro you get to use the same industry standard editing interface used by Hollywood and the networks. When it comes to what editing really is – trimming, cutting and arranging your clips for the maximum impact – nothing comes close to Avid. Since it is a professional toolset, it can be intimidating and that is why we bundle Class On Demand Avid Xpress Pro training with every Avid Xpress Pro. This fast paced, easy to follow tutorial will have you up and editing in no time! Once you master Avid, you’ll never settle for any other editing solution.