Any AVID Xpress DV3 users here?

Hi. This question is for Avid Xpress DV users. I've been using this software for about 4 months and it's great but I' get audio hardware under run errors. Does anyone have a solution to this problem? Plays about 10 frames before I get the error.

Have a Dell Precsision 220, 256mb Ram, 866 Mhz processor using 32mb Nvidia video driver.



40 GB IDE Hard Drive.

[Adrian Douglas]

To help solve this problem, could you post your system specs.

Audio and video underruns can be hard drive related.
Do you have a seperate drive for your audio and video storage? No?
That could be it.
Yes you do? What kind is it? IBM has had problems with some deskstar drives.

Are you on Avid approved hardware? There have been reported problems with
some configurations.

OR, many times
rebooting takes care of underruns. (the app is very large and still a little buggy).
I've gotten audio underruns before and I'm running a fibechannel drive on my
Xpress Deluxe, rebooting takes care of it.

If it persists, . . . begin the reinstall of ALL.

jacques

[Gary Almquist]

I've had good results using the XL-1 and Avid Xpress dv non-linear editor with one exception... sometimes when digitizing video, I get an error message that says record aborted due to discontinuity of time code (when there isn't) or that material is too complex. Quite a problem when it happens on the shot you direly need.
Does anyone have a "fix" or workaround for the problem I've described?
Thanks,

Gary

[Guy Pringle]

Gary...
I'm seriously considering buying an XL1s and Avid Xpress DV. Did you buy a turnkey system? I'm considering buying the software and capture card and "dropping" it in my P111/1GB/250mB/20GB.. (now don't laugh)....eMachine from Best Buy. I'll be buying more RAM and a Firewire Drive. Do you have any knowledge/thoughts regarding this route.

[Gary Almquist]

Guy,
I don't really know how xpress dv would work under the scenario you describe with your emachine. Avid sales or customer service MIGHT be able to help you @ 800-894-5654.
I went with the windows NT platform when I bought it nearly 2 years ago, as I was told that was the most stable operating system for Xpress dv. And to that end, it has NEVER crashed during normal editing work. You might also try the community forum under Avid pronet.
The computer/technical side is the toughest for me to master... I do much better in the journalism and photography areas, so I wouldn't do well in setting up a system like you are doing. I found that even with a turnkey system like I bought, there are still issues to work out, like the one I described. Avid offers ONE month of free technical phone support. I used that heavily and was pretty well set up when that expired.
As a sidenote, I understand the new XL-1s performs better with the Avid than the XL-1. Would I do it again (buy the Xpress dv and XL-1)? Yes.

Gary Almquist
Almquist Digital Video
308-772-4634

[Drewid20]

AVID has reported that they found that when using the XL-1 with Xpress DV the Xpress would report erroneous discountinous timecodes in the area of 41 minutes on the tape. I didnt see anything on their website about a patch though.

I built my system myself and run Win2k. It has worked very well and hasnt crashed. I dont think that you would have too much trouble putting it on your emachine. If you want some great help with Xpress DV check out the World Wide Users Group.

http://wwug.com/forums/avid_xpress-dv/

They can pretty much answer all of your questions about Xpress DV.

[Ozzie Alfonso]

I was wondering if there's anyone here using the new AVID Xpress DV system? Or at least anyone familiar with it. Since it is somewhat competitive in price (FCP- $1000; XDV- $1300) and features with Final Cut Pro v3, it seems likely that advanced amateurs and professionals will find it attactive.

We have three AVID systems -- an "old" Mac based Media Composer 8000; an NT based Xpress; and an NT based MC 1000. We've traditionally edited our DV material on our non-DV systems but since we've always used DV for inserts or "B" roll material, the awkward codecs and resulting degraded video has not presented a major problem. Our current project is fully mastered on MiniDV and will be released initially as QuickTime movies on CD-ROM (it will eventually be aired.)

We are purchasing an XDV3 system to do all our editing, off-line and on-line, of our current project. If we didn't already have three AVID sytems, the choice would probably be FCP3 since it has been recommended even by our avid AVID gurus. We're going with XDV3 based on total comaptability with our existing systems.

Not much to add at this point. Just an exploratory inquiry. If you've been using XDV - what are your thoughts?

[fargograf]

I have an additional question for Avid Express users. I used to edit on the Avid Media Composer. Are the controls similar between the two? Same icons, same screen structure? Major differences?

Thanks for letting me piggy-back my question here!

[Ozzie Alfonso]

If you're familar with Media Composer, Xpress DV will be no problem since the interface is the same. The only differences between Media Composer and Xpress DV are the same between the non-DV Xpress and MC - the keyboard is not as customizable and more keystokes are requred. Although I've heard XDV is much more flexible than the standard Xpress.

Editors I've switched (forced) to work on the old Xpress after getting used to MC complain at first but soon get the hang of it. I suspect the same is true of XDV.

[Mike Butler]

OK, here's a question, since you brought up XDV and the price has gotten down. I have one shot to do this right, and forget about "building the system around the card" that's not how the IT department does it around here. they pick the platform. I have the singular option of rigging out one IBM Netvista M41, this is a 1.6GHz P4 and we are putting in 1.5 gig of RAM.

Now they are saying "what card do you want" and initially I was all set to go a Matrox RT2500, it is real time, and comes with a full version of Premiere 6.0 (plus a few other chochkas), which is cool cuz they were about to spend $537 US for Premiere itself. This "Pro Pack" is $779 at videoguys.com a/k/a "The Electronic Mailbox." One thing useful about the RT2500 is that it comes with a breakout box so you can plug your analog devices right in thru the A/V or S-video jacks. Great for capturing aircheck tapes or old work.

But the Avid setup is $1300 and these guys are including a free Firewire card. (not with any kind of analog hookups like the breakout box above, I am sure) And the Avid claims real-time (preview) without invoking extra hardware, just like the new version of FCP (Final Cut Pro for those of you not familiar with Apple) .

So now we can get into the Avid system, which is more "professional" plus has an interface that'll be more friendly to a guy who has put in as many hours as me editing in FCP on the Mac side. But... Premiere has a handy export to Web feature (useful cuz that's where lots of my work ends up) and that breakout box can be a real time-saver in converting those old promo tapes.

So, what the dealie-yo? What can the real-life users of both systems (Avid & Premiere/Matrox) tell me that I am not learning from the advertising?

[Adrian Douglas]

I'd go for AVID over Premiere any day Mike, especially as you are an experienced editor. If you were just starting out then Premiere would be the go.

Your Elura or your Panasonic deck will do the same as a breakout box.

Premieres 'Save for Web' function is just a lite version of Cleaner Pro, and really isn't that crash hot.

I'd go the Avid and get Cleaner Pro for creating for the web.

[Ozzie Alfonso]

I agree with Adrian. Although a valid comparison can be made between FCP3 and XDV3, there's no comparing Avid to Premiere. Avid is simply a more robust system. The fact that you can interchange, not just EDLs, but entire projects (which include all data for sound mix, effects, color correction settings, etc.) between any version of Avid Media Composer, Xpress, and XDV3, is, alone, a huge plus.

We just installed XDV3 on a DELL we've been using mainly as a graphic station and have not run into any problems... yet. This, inspite of the fact that our video card, audio card and CPU are not among the AVID "approved" systems. This is both a plus and a minus - AVID rushed XDV3 into the market without sufficient testing. They were spooked by FCP3's popularity. So who knows what bugs are hiding inside that version waiting to be unearthed?

On the other hand, if you are committed to Macs and have a G4, it doesn't take much thinking to go with FCP3. The stregth of FCP3 lies in its color correction versatility. If you're going straight to the web with QT movies, FCP3 is the simplest and hassle-free way to go. If we didn't already have three AVIDs, we would have gone with FCP3.

[Mike Butler]

Thanks Adrian and Ozzie. I use FCP almost daily on the Mac side, and would be an "ambassador" for the product any day. (Kind of like people have seen me in this forum about the Frezzi Mini-fill light, just letting everyone know that I think it was money well spent) I try to do everything I can on the Mac side anyway, be it scanning. photo-editing, page layout for print jobs, etc. and FCP is a staunch workhorse.

But, now that IT is finally agreeing to replace my wheezing old Pentium 2 Windows NT machine on the PC side, I need to equip the new one once, and equip it right. Truthfully, it is I whom am a little bit "spooked" over "untested" systems...I already know that XDV3 is not approved for the Athlon processor or Windows XP (neither being a problem, since I know we are going for a P4 and Win2KPro) but am apprehensive about what else may get ugly. Not that I am any big fan of Premiere, having used it just a little bit--I'll take FCP's user interface over Premiere's any day. But what is really imperative is absolute reliability and turn-key simplicity of implementation...y'know, kind of like a Mac. :-) One thing I knew confidently was that when I installed the FCP disk on my new mac, I would be editing immediately with no fussing around.

The concern is firstly that I do not have the time or the technical knowledge to play Doctor Komputer, and additionally that the IT support staff is fine if you need help with Lotus Notes, MS Office or the Windows OS, but anything much past that I am on my own.

The Elura is fine for transcribing VHS tapes (EXCEPT the copy-protected ones, more on that in another thread) but is kind of time-consuming (double work really), and a true breakout box can save time in capturing analog directly to the NLE. But of course, one can add a Hollywood Bridge for a couple hundred.

The fact that whole projects can be transferred among Avids may be helpful going forward if I want to move a job between machines and I ever have the ocaasion to get XDV3 for the Mac.

[Rob Lohman]

Does anyone know what kind of color correction tools and wide-
screen options exist in Xpress DV? I've been using Premiere and
After Effects lately. I'd be interested to look at Avid sometime,
but I need to have color correction and black bars options. I
shoot my stuff in regular 4:3 and then adding black bars to get
a 16:9 picture. I need the option to move the footage
"underneath" the black bars to get the correct framing... Can
the Avid package do this?

Thanks!