Avid / Pinnacle discussions from 2005

Alex Filacchione · December 23rd, 2005, 12:58 AM

Well, you're a life saver! Got my old bin out of the attic. From Right before I exported to QT Ref. so it's got all of my fades and Color Correction in it. Whew!

Workflow is edit, etc. in avid, export QT Ref file, then use Sorenson Squeeze, etc. to make into MPEG-2 file, & then into Encore DVD.

Anyway, I'll try my export again, this time from the File menu rather than the other method, if it even makes a diference..

Thanks,

Alex F

Richard Alvarez · December 23rd, 2005, 09:16 AM

Alex,

Mark your timeline in and out. (Making sure all the tracks that you want exported are correctly selected)

RENDER ANY UNRENDERED ELEMENTS IN THE SEQUENCE. (You can either do this as you go along making it, or at the end when you're finished with the timeline.)

Once timeline is rendered. KEEP IT SELECTED AND MARKED.

FIND the timeline sequence in the BIN. Select it IN THE BIN.

Choose SEND TO.

Choose SORENSON SQUEEZE. Also select open application immediately.

Avid creates a QT reference file. This should take a couple of minutes, not hours.

The QT reference file will show up HIGHLITED in your Media drive. Drag it into the Sorenson Application.

Set your sorrenson for whatever compression you want. Mpeg 2, 4 whatever. You can pick more than one compression form if you want.

Hit SQUEEZE.

Go eat dinner.

The Squozen file (Squeezed? Squoze? Squun?) Is then used in your authoring app. I use ReelDVD... so I can't help you with Encore.

Sean McHenry · December 23rd, 2005, 10:10 AM

Be aware there is a known issue with AMD and Avid. Do a search on tha Avid forums for more. I personally have never experienced this issue but it sounds like the black and green bars mentioned in some of those posts. I can't point you right to them as I have never looked at it too deeply as my system has never had this happen.

I am running a laptop with AMD 3.4GHz 64bit processor and it is fine. I also have a home machine running AMD XP 2700+ chip in a small shuttle case with 1GB RAM and have never had this happen there either.

I second Richards comment. QT Ref files are fast. Sounds like you may have done a standard QT file with the interlacing set backwards or something if it took that long and looked that bad.

Good luck.

Sean McHenry

Richard Alvarez · December 23rd, 2005, 10:37 AM

Sean's post clicked with me. Yeah, I think the first time around, you converted to a standard quicktime file, unrendered, with the wrong field settings... and other possible missetings as well.

My first system ran fine on dual AMD chips, and yeah, they're not certified with AVID. Lots of people use them just fine, you should know that it might require some tweaking. I'm running dual Xeons now.

Carlos E. Martinez · December 28th, 2005, 08:11 AM

Next January I will probably be editing an HDV project, and it's quite likely I may need to upgrade my MOBO.

My present setup is a Gigabyte GA-7N400V with an AMD 3200, 1GB DDR, GeForce FX5700, plenty of HD storage and Sony/NEC DVD burners.

Even if this setup seems to be able to handle the task, I am not sure if jumping to a dual-core CPU based system would not bring further benefits in speed.

One problem I seem to foresee on some Athlon X2 MOBOs I have seen is that the video is not AGP but PCI-Express, which may limit my video options and probably increase my expense there.

At first I thought that these boards using type 939 sockets would allow using AMD or Intel chips, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

What are my best to options to go by?

Carlos

Mike Moncrief · December 28th, 2005, 08:37 AM

Hi,

First i am not an Avid user.. but i have asked the same question you have asked..I was interested in possibly learning Avid, and I was going to build a dual core systems.. I asked over on the Avid forum.. and it seems that most people advised against it.. I would suggest that you go over there and take a look at this forum..It seems that Avid is picky about the hardware it runs on.. and most of the Avid people seemed very paranoid about running somethin like a Dual core.. the people there talked like the Dual Core systems were to new and unstable..??

My advice would be to look around and talk to some experiienced Avid people before you decide to build anything..

Mike moncrief

Richard Alvarez · December 28th, 2005, 09:16 AM

Carlos,

www.avid.com is the place to get the specs, and advice on the forum.

Alister Chapman · December 28th, 2005, 09:43 AM

I run Avid Xpress Pro 5.2.1 on a dual core P4 3.2Ghz using an abit AL8 motherboard without any problems. It's pretty quick, but in many cases there are other system bottlenecks so the CPU is often no longer the limiting factor.

Carlos E. Martinez · December 28th, 2005, 09:48 AM

I am aware of Avid minimum PC requirements, but they can be misguiding too... or at least limiting.

They just list Intel based systems, completely ignoring AMD based ones. Does that mean AMD will not work? Certainly not!!!

A friend of mine that is quite up to date on video systems, told me that Express HD literally "flew" on an Athlon 64 based system, faster than on his own Pentium 4 system.

Of course these forums are the right places to look for comments on people that really operated the systems and got actual results, good or bad.

My own computer works quite fine with straight DV and my friend also thinks I shouldn't have any problem with HDV. Perhaps I should go higher on my memory, to 2GB, or get a better video card. But I am mostly interested in doing the first cut here, going to a better editing suite later for color correction and effects.

Carlos

Richard Alvarez · December 28th, 2005, 10:41 AM

Carlos,

Yes, Avid only 'certifies' Intel systems, yes Avid will run on AMD systems, but you can't get support for it from Avid. Your best bet is to inquire on the board for people with similar setups to find out the workarounds and bottleneck issues.

I'd definately go with 2 gigs of Ram.

Carlos E. Martinez · December 28th, 2005, 11:04 AM

Doing some looking around.

Yes, apparently there seems to be some issues with 64 bit dual-core and Avid, that is quite likely related to mobo incompatibilities. Until someone gets to tame them.

Of course I don't want to pay the price of paving the road for this, as I don't have the time or the background to do it.

The problem is where to find the answers. Will Athlon 64 bit based systems (non dual-core) do well with Avid? Perhaps it's just a question of getting a compatible board, that will also handle x2, and use a 64 type on it.

Carlos

Mike Moncrief · December 29th, 2005, 08:09 AM

Hello,

I read this thread again, and i realize when I responded that i was not specific.. I was talking specificly about AMD Dual Core systems..

Mike Moncrief

Ethan Cooper · December 29th, 2005, 10:09 AM

I'm a FCP editor and was tooling around on Avid's site today looking at their XpressPro stuff. I was wondering; can you capture HD footage with XpressPro? I didn't see anything that staed if you could or not. If not, what Avid products can you capture HD with?

Matt Brabender · December 29th, 2005, 07:27 PM

Are you talking HDCAM?
If so, then you need an Adrenaline System or higher

Ethan Cooper · December 30th, 2005, 05:01 PM

Thanks for the reply. What HD formats can you capture wth Xpress ProHD?

December 23rd, 2005, 10:10 AM	#168
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	Be aware there is a known issue with AMD and Avid. Do a search on tha Avid forums for more. I personally have never experienced this issue but it sounds like the black and green bars mentioned in some of those posts. I can't point you right to them as I have never looked at it too deeply as my system has never had this happen. I am running a laptop with AMD 3.4GHz 64bit processor and it is fine. I also have a home machine running AMD XP 2700+ chip in a small shuttle case with 1GB RAM and have never had this happen there either. I second Richards comment. QT Ref files are fast. Sounds like you may have done a standard QT file with the interlacing set backwards or something if it took that long and looked that bad. Good luck. Sean McHenry __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com

December 28th, 2005, 08:11 AM	#170
Carlos E. Martinez Trustee Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Posts: 1,138	Motherboard for Avid HDV Next January I will probably be editing an HDV project, and it's quite likely I may need to upgrade my MOBO. My present setup is a Gigabyte GA-7N400V with an AMD 3200, 1GB DDR, GeForce FX5700, plenty of HD storage and Sony/NEC DVD burners. Even if this setup seems to be able to handle the task, I am not sure if jumping to a dual-core CPU based system would not bring further benefits in speed. One problem I seem to foresee on some Athlon X2 MOBOs I have seen is that the video is not AGP but PCI-Express, which may limit my video options and probably increase my expense there. At first I thought that these boards using type 939 sockets would allow using AMD or Intel chips, but that doesn't seem to be the case. What are my best to options to go by? Carlos

December 28th, 2005, 08:37 AM	#171
Mike Moncrief Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: orlando florida Posts: 426	Hi, First i am not an Avid user.. but i have asked the same question you have asked..I was interested in possibly learning Avid, and I was going to build a dual core systems.. I asked over on the Avid forum.. and it seems that most people advised against it.. I would suggest that you go over there and take a look at this forum..It seems that Avid is picky about the hardware it runs on.. and most of the Avid people seemed very paranoid about running somethin like a Dual core.. the people there talked like the Dual Core systems were to new and unstable..?? My advice would be to look around and talk to some experiienced Avid people before you decide to build anything.. Mike moncrief __________________ Mike Moncrief mikemoncrief@gmail.com www.themikemoncrief.com

December 28th, 2005, 09:43 AM	#173
Alister Chapman Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bracknell, Berkshire, UK Posts: 4,957	I run Avid Xpress Pro 5.2.1 on a dual core P4 3.2Ghz using an abit AL8 motherboard without any problems. It's pretty quick, but in many cases there are other system bottlenecks so the CPU is often no longer the limiting factor. __________________ Alister Chapman, Film-Maker/Stormchaser http://www.xdcam-user.com/alisters-blog/ My XDCAM site and blog. http://www.hurricane-rig.com

December 29th, 2005, 08:09 AM	#177
Mike Moncrief Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: orlando florida Posts: 426	Hello, I read this thread again, and i realize when I responded that i was not specific.. I was talking specificly about AMD Dual Core systems.. Mike Moncrief __________________ Mike Moncrief mikemoncrief@gmail.com www.themikemoncrief.com

December 23rd, 2005, 12:58 AM	#166
Alex Filacchione Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Atlanta, Ga Posts: 129	Well, you're a life saver! Got my old bin out of the attic. From Right before I exported to QT Ref. so it's got all of my fades and Color Correction in it. Whew! Workflow is edit, etc. in avid, export QT Ref file, then use Sorenson Squeeze, etc. to make into MPEG-2 file, & then into Encore DVD. Anyway, I'll try my export again, this time from the File menu rather than the other method, if it even makes a diference.. Thanks, Alex F

December 23rd, 2005, 09:16 AM	#167
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Alex, Mark your timeline in and out. (Making sure all the tracks that you want exported are correctly selected) RENDER ANY UNRENDERED ELEMENTS IN THE SEQUENCE. (You can either do this as you go along making it, or at the end when you're finished with the timeline.) Once timeline is rendered. KEEP IT SELECTED AND MARKED. FIND the timeline sequence in the BIN. Select it IN THE BIN. Choose SEND TO. Choose SORENSON SQUEEZE. Also select open application immediately. Avid creates a QT reference file. This should take a couple of minutes, not hours. The QT reference file will show up HIGHLITED in your Media drive. Drag it into the Sorenson Application. Set your sorrenson for whatever compression you want. Mpeg 2, 4 whatever. You can pick more than one compression form if you want. Hit SQUEEZE. Go eat dinner. The Squozen file (Squeezed? Squoze? Squun?) Is then used in your authoring app. I use ReelDVD... so I can't help you with Encore.

December 23rd, 2005, 10:37 AM	#169
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Sean's post clicked with me. Yeah, I think the first time around, you converted to a standard quicktime file, unrendered, with the wrong field settings... and other possible missetings as well. My first system ran fine on dual AMD chips, and yeah, they're not certified with AVID. Lots of people use them just fine, you should know that it might require some tweaking. I'm running dual Xeons now.

December 28th, 2005, 09:16 AM	#172
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Carlos, www.avid.com is the place to get the specs, and advice on the forum.

December 28th, 2005, 09:48 AM	#174
Carlos E. Martinez Trustee Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Posts: 1,138	I am aware of Avid minimum PC requirements, but they can be misguiding too... or at least limiting. They just list Intel based systems, completely ignoring AMD based ones. Does that mean AMD will not work? Certainly not!!! A friend of mine that is quite up to date on video systems, told me that Express HD literally "flew" on an Athlon 64 based system, faster than on his own Pentium 4 system. Of course these forums are the right places to look for comments on people that really operated the systems and got actual results, good or bad. My own computer works quite fine with straight DV and my friend also thinks I shouldn't have any problem with HDV. Perhaps I should go higher on my memory, to 2GB, or get a better video card. But I am mostly interested in doing the first cut here, going to a better editing suite later for color correction and effects. Carlos

December 28th, 2005, 10:41 AM	#175
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Carlos, Yes, Avid only 'certifies' Intel systems, yes Avid will run on AMD systems, but you can't get support for it from Avid. Your best bet is to inquire on the board for people with similar setups to find out the workarounds and bottleneck issues. I'd definately go with 2 gigs of Ram.

December 28th, 2005, 11:04 AM	#176
Carlos E. Martinez Trustee Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Posts: 1,138	Doing some looking around. Yes, apparently there seems to be some issues with 64 bit dual-core and Avid, that is quite likely related to mobo incompatibilities. Until someone gets to tame them. Of course I don't want to pay the price of paving the road for this, as I don't have the time or the background to do it. The problem is where to find the answers. Will Athlon 64 bit based systems (non dual-core) do well with Avid? Perhaps it's just a question of getting a compatible board, that will also handle x2, and use a 64 type on it. Carlos

December 29th, 2005, 10:09 AM	#178
Ethan Cooper Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Houma, La. Posts: 1,400 Images: 5	Avid Xpress Pro Question I'm a FCP editor and was tooling around on Avid's site today looking at their XpressPro stuff. I was wondering; can you capture HD footage with XpressPro? I didn't see anything that staed if you could or not. If not, what Avid products can you capture HD with?

December 29th, 2005, 07:27 PM	#179
Matt Brabender Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 230	Are you talking HDCAM? If so, then you need an Adrenaline System or higher

December 30th, 2005, 05:01 PM	#180
Ethan Cooper Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Houma, La. Posts: 1,400 Images: 5	Thanks for the reply. What HD formats can you capture wth Xpress ProHD?