Vista support for Xpress Pro? at DVinfo.net

Tip McPartland · January 7th, 2008, 02:07 PM

Anybody have any word when there'll be an update that enables Vista support for Xpress Pro HD? Is there already support and I don't know it?

Tip McPartland

David Parks · January 7th, 2008, 03:17 PM

There is currently no support for Avid Xpress on Vista. If it happens I think it will be in the 2Q timeframe and they will have Vista and Leopoard support released at the same time based on their goal of keeping Mac and PC as equal as possible.

Cheers

Larry Price · January 8th, 2008, 08:28 AM

I recently saw somewhere on the Avid web site that Vista support will be in the next release, but there was no word on when that release would happen. No mention of 64-bit support. I'd gues that will take longer...much longer! But imagine AXP or MC running on Vista 64 with dual quad-core Xeons and 8 gigs of RAM! I've got the machine (or will as soon as FedEx delivers it in a couple of days). All we need is for Avid's developers to massage the code.

David Parks · January 8th, 2008, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry Price

All we need is for Avid's developers to massage the code.

Which won't be easy/ Vista is such a resource hog and Direct X 10 has some quirks from what I've heard. I'm curious to see if Avid on a Mac will run faster on Leopard. At a facility here that have Apples and PC dual cores and the MC's run noticeably faster on MAC. I'm not a platform junkie, just that I've observed a speed difference in rendering, playback, and export functions.

But your very smart getting a Quad Core because I have a feeling that's going to be the new baseline processor requirement for editing Avid under Vista.

Cheers.

Larry Price · January 9th, 2008, 03:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Parks

Which won't be easy...

I never said it would be easy! ;) But Avid's developers have a pretty good track record from what I've observed, even if it takes far longer than many would wish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Parks

But your very smart getting a Quad Core because I have a feeling that's going to be the new baseline processor requirement for editing Avid under Vista.

Cheers.

I wouldn't be surprised at that either. Out of curiosity, are you aware of any reason that MC, Toolkit, Protools, etc. would NOT run properly on a machine with dual quad-core Xeons? I know they're not coded or optimized to use all the cores in their present form, but would having 8 processing cores do anything to hopelessly confuse the software?

I suppose I'll find out shortly. If things don't work properly, I still have my old HP xw8200 configured in accordance with Avid's specifications. The xw8400 I'm waiting on was a bargain I found on HP's overstock/refurbished site. As it's configured, it would have cost close to $7k new, but I got it for a little over $2.5k with a 3-year warranty! It only has one CPU, but I already have the second CPU to install the day the machine arrives.

BTW David, I've always found your posts to be very informative and useful. Thanks for your contributions!

Aloha

David Parks · January 9th, 2008, 01:03 PM

Thanks Larry. I sometimes wonder if my posts get much attention because so many use the Avid forum. I don't always have the answer, buy I try.

Man you got a steal on the HP. I'm sure it will run fine. I know that Avid MC is coded to allocate tasks to multiple processors so I imagine it would see all cores. You should see a difference in effects rendering.

Let us know when you get the monster breathing and give us an update,

Aloha, David

Richard Alvarez · January 9th, 2008, 01:22 PM

I think there are a relatively few AVID users that post here David. And I usually get my tech info from the Avid forum. Still, it's nice to have a dedicated space on DVInfo.net. And I KNOW that Avid checks this forum... "A little birdie told me so."

Jiri Fiala · January 11th, 2008, 06:17 PM

I've got Xpress 5.7 running on my Vista laptop... I didn't really put it through its paces, but everything seems to work so far.

Tip McPartland · January 12th, 2008, 02:50 PM

I got an error message that wouldn't let me install -- it said "operating system not supported." You didn't have this problem obviously, I wonder why?

Tip

Larry Price · January 16th, 2008, 05:17 AM

A quick update on my new editing workstation...

Actually, I feel like I'm hijacking the thread since I'm not even going to attempt to run Avid on Vista until they say it's supported. But since David asked me to follow up, here goes.

My new "OctoPC", not to be confused with one of the cheesier, yet still entertaining, James Bond flicks, arrived and has been "breathing" strongly for several days. It arrived with a single 2.6 Ghz Quad Core Xeon CPU. I immediately installed a second processor before the first power-on. The factory software image for the HP xw8400 decompressed and installed in a matter of minutes. Fastest initial install I've ever seen and I've been building systems for years!

I haven't installed Avid Studio Complete yet. I'm waiting for a few more parts to complete the workstation - 4 WD Raptor 150 hard drives that I plan on running as RAID 10 for the system drive, a Pioneer BR-202 Blu-ray burner, and a couple of additional cooling fans. Most of the parts should arrive tomorrow and I anticipate loading Avid products this weekend. In the end, it will be Avid Studio Complete with Mojo SDI and Digi002, upgraded to Media Composer, and I'll try upgrading ProTools LE to the new 7.4 version just to have the latest and greatest of everything.

I'm still absolutely amazed at how much machine I got for so little money (relatively speaking)! Once it's all complete and functional, I'll give y'all a final update.

Until then, Aloha!

David Parks · January 16th, 2008, 06:42 PM

Thanks Larry for the update. It will interesting to see how fast you can run Media Composer, Studio Tool Kit and Pro Tools at the same time. All the while talking to your 002 and Mojo SDI. If you can, let us know if Windows XP SP2 see all of the cores when running those apps.

As I result of your post I'm now keeping a watch out for refurbished PC's on the HP site. Hopefully this year, I can do a major upgrade to Media Composer. I'm sort of waiting to see what happens in the 1Q.

Thanks Larry. Aloha.

Larry Price · January 17th, 2008, 07:51 AM

David, the first app I fired up when the OS finished configuring itself was Task Manager. I clicked on the Performance tab and was rewarded with 8 little windows under the CPU Usage History section, one for each core!

While it's noticeably snappier than my xw8200 dual single-core Xeon machine, it's not dramatically so. I expect the new box will really shine when I attempt to run multiple tasks at once, as you suggested in your post.

BTW, the 4 Raptors arrived today. I set them up in RAID 10 (striping for performance, and then mirroring for fault tolerance), and set up two partitions. I've got XP SP2 on the first partition and put Vista Business 64-bit on the second just to play around a bit. I got the max possible performance score of 5.9 on everything but memory performance, which gave a respectable 4.8. The box has 4GB of RAM, the max that XP will recognize, but Vista 64 apparently wants more. I'll probably increase it 8GB in a few weeks for the Vista side, even though XP won't see anything beyond 3.5GB.

Now if only there were 64-bit drivers for the the Mojo SDI and Digi002...

I might try loading MC and Studio Toolkit software only under Vista 64 just to see if they'll install/run. ProTools LE 7.4 is supposedly Vista-certified now, but I'm pretty sure that's only 32-bit. In any case, I figure it's worth a day to experiment. Worst case, I uninstall or wipe the Vista partition and start over.

I'll keep you up to date.

January 7th, 2008, 02:07 PM	#1
Tip McPartland Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Crestline, California Posts: 351	Vista support for Xpress Pro? Anybody have any word when there'll be an update that enables Vista support for Xpress Pro HD? Is there already support and I don't know it? Tip McPartland

January 7th, 2008, 03:17 PM	#2
David Parks Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Houston Posts: 789	There is currently no support for Avid Xpress on Vista. If it happens I think it will be in the 2Q timeframe and they will have Vista and Leopoard support released at the same time based on their goal of keeping Mac and PC as equal as possible. Cheers __________________ David Parks: DP/Editor: Jacobs Aerospace at NASA Johnson Space Center https://www.youtube.com/user/JacobsESCG

January 9th, 2008, 01:03 PM	#6
David Parks Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Houston Posts: 789	Thanks Larry. I sometimes wonder if my posts get much attention because so many use the Avid forum. I don't always have the answer, buy I try. Man you got a steal on the HP. I'm sure it will run fine. I know that Avid MC is coded to allocate tasks to multiple processors so I imagine it would see all cores. You should see a difference in effects rendering. Let us know when you get the monster breathing and give us an update, Aloha, David __________________ David Parks: DP/Editor: Jacobs Aerospace at NASA Johnson Space Center https://www.youtube.com/user/JacobsESCG

January 12th, 2008, 02:50 PM	#9
Tip McPartland Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Crestline, California Posts: 351	Error message on install attempt? I got an error message that wouldn't let me install -- it said "operating system not supported." You didn't have this problem obviously, I wonder why? Tip

January 16th, 2008, 06:42 PM	#11
David Parks Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Houston Posts: 789	The Monster Breaths Thanks Larry for the update. It will interesting to see how fast you can run Media Composer, Studio Tool Kit and Pro Tools at the same time. All the while talking to your 002 and Mojo SDI. If you can, let us know if Windows XP SP2 see all of the cores when running those apps. As I result of your post I'm now keeping a watch out for refurbished PC's on the HP site. Hopefully this year, I can do a major upgrade to Media Composer. I'm sort of waiting to see what happens in the 1Q. Thanks Larry. Aloha. __________________ David Parks: DP/Editor: Jacobs Aerospace at NASA Johnson Space Center https://www.youtube.com/user/JacobsESCG

January 8th, 2008, 08:28 AM	#3
Larry Price Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 72	I recently saw somewhere on the Avid web site that Vista support will be in the next release, but there was no word on when that release would happen. No mention of 64-bit support. I'd gues that will take longer...much longer! But imagine AXP or MC running on Vista 64 with dual quad-core Xeons and 8 gigs of RAM! I've got the machine (or will as soon as FedEx delivers it in a couple of days). All we need is for Avid's developers to massage the code.

January 9th, 2008, 01:22 PM	#7
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	I think there are a relatively few AVID users that post here David. And I usually get my tech info from the Avid forum. Still, it's nice to have a dedicated space on DVInfo.net. And I KNOW that Avid checks this forum... "A little birdie told me so."

January 11th, 2008, 06:17 PM	#8
Jiri Fiala Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Brno Czech Republic Posts: 453	I've got Xpress 5.7 running on my Vista laptop... I didn't really put it through its paces, but everything seems to work so far.

January 16th, 2008, 05:17 AM	#10
Larry Price Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 72	A quick update on my new editing workstation... Actually, I feel like I'm hijacking the thread since I'm not even going to attempt to run Avid on Vista until they say it's supported. But since David asked me to follow up, here goes. My new "OctoPC", not to be confused with one of the cheesier, yet still entertaining, James Bond flicks, arrived and has been "breathing" strongly for several days. It arrived with a single 2.6 Ghz Quad Core Xeon CPU. I immediately installed a second processor before the first power-on. The factory software image for the HP xw8400 decompressed and installed in a matter of minutes. Fastest initial install I've ever seen and I've been building systems for years! I haven't installed Avid Studio Complete yet. I'm waiting for a few more parts to complete the workstation - 4 WD Raptor 150 hard drives that I plan on running as RAID 10 for the system drive, a Pioneer BR-202 Blu-ray burner, and a couple of additional cooling fans. Most of the parts should arrive tomorrow and I anticipate loading Avid products this weekend. In the end, it will be Avid Studio Complete with Mojo SDI and Digi002, upgraded to Media Composer, and I'll try upgrading ProTools LE to the new 7.4 version just to have the latest and greatest of everything. I'm still absolutely amazed at how much machine I got for so little money (relatively speaking)! Once it's all complete and functional, I'll give y'all a final update. Until then, Aloha!

January 17th, 2008, 07:51 AM	#12
Larry Price Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 72	David, the first app I fired up when the OS finished configuring itself was Task Manager. I clicked on the Performance tab and was rewarded with 8 little windows under the CPU Usage History section, one for each core! While it's noticeably snappier than my xw8200 dual single-core Xeon machine, it's not dramatically so. I expect the new box will really shine when I attempt to run multiple tasks at once, as you suggested in your post. BTW, the 4 Raptors arrived today. I set them up in RAID 10 (striping for performance, and then mirroring for fault tolerance), and set up two partitions. I've got XP SP2 on the first partition and put Vista Business 64-bit on the second just to play around a bit. I got the max possible performance score of 5.9 on everything but memory performance, which gave a respectable 4.8. The box has 4GB of RAM, the max that XP will recognize, but Vista 64 apparently wants more. I'll probably increase it 8GB in a few weeks for the Vista side, even though XP won't see anything beyond 3.5GB. Now if only there were 64-bit drivers for the the Mojo SDI and Digi002... I might try loading MC and Studio Toolkit software only under Vista 64 just to see if they'll install/run. ProTools LE 7.4 is supposedly Vista-certified now, but I'm pretty sure that's only 32-bit. In any case, I figure it's worth a day to experiment. Worst case, I uninstall or wipe the Vista partition and start over. I'll keep you up to date.