I work part time and the CBS station in WY, it is a very small market. In our new building and conversion to an HD system, FCP-HD is currently the system we are going to employ. Being a PC guy I'm looking forward to FCP but not working on a mac. Several of the other stations seem to be going that route as well. However we will still be doing tape-to-tape as the primary edit solution as its still the fastest way to go.

Sound & Capture problems with Xpress DV
 

Hi there everybody.
I am in need of some advice & hope you can help.

I recently invested in a new NLE system & Avid Xpress DV software to do some serious editing work with, and so far i've been unable to actually use it properly as i've encountered some problems.

First of all, I haven't been able to capture video from my Camera (AG-DVC60) using Avid's capture/digitize tool, which at first could have been because I was using my Motherboard's onboard FireWire card. I therefore have now got the Avid-approved PYRO PCI 64 FireWire card, and still i'm having problems. Can anybody give me any assistance with this?

Secondly (and perhaps more importantly), when using existing video & sound files with Avid (I can capture video & sound using a different program, PowerDirector), no sound can be heard at all. This is an odd problem, as i can see the audio levels on Avid's audio meters moving up and down, and yet the audio can't actually be heard!
I know that the audio does work out of the PC though, as it works when using PowerDirector and when playing a CD with Media Player. One possible reason could be that I do not have a seperate sound card for my PC (the Motherboard has a built-in one i believe?) - could this be why i can't hear anything from Avid? It may have nothing to do with that at all, and if so I can't work out what the problem is.
If anybody can help me out with this problem i would be exremely grateful, as right now i've got almost $2000 worth of stuff which i can't use!

I thankyou for taking the time to read this post, and I sincerely hope you can help me out.

Many warm regards,
Alan

Alan,

I'm a 'filmmaker' not a computer tech... so I'm not real good at talking about boards being in the right slots etc. Having said that, yeah, you might need an independent sound card. About 35 bucks should do it, for a sound blaster. But check your window settings first, and make sure your audio is enabled.

Under the capture settings, you have to configure the device. Not sure if your camera is listed, but if not, choose 'generic dv device'. You may or may not have camera controll with the capture tool.

Your best bet for technical questions, is on the Avid forum. Check systems specs for soundcard recomendations. www.avid.com

Be forwarned. RTFM first, and do a search before posting questions. It can be a real burn for a newbie who asks something that can be found on page one in the manual.

Maybe Avid Xpress is trying to play the audio out through firewire. If your DV camera's LCD thing is closed, you may not be able to hear the sound.

(This can happen with FCP anyways.)

Things you can try:

1- You can try the free program DVIO to help isolate the problem.
2- What is the error message?
Try searching google, and the avid-l mailing list or other avid resources (i.e. the avid website, their support pages, and they might have a forum).

Thanks for the replies!

Firstly to do with the Capture problem, there is no error message as such, it just states that there is no deck available, and no signal present. I can get around this problem though i think as i can capture video using other programs and import that into Avid. I would like to and will try to solve this problem though as i'd like to capture with Avid if i can.

Secondly, the sound problem. I don't remember seeing any Sound Card requirments on Avid's website for Avid Xpress DV, as i based my new PC purchases based upon the stated requirments, which is why i hoped it would work!
The audio simply is not "emerging" from Avid, even though i can see it's there, and even though it comes out of other programs. I have tried to import video and audio into Avid (when the camera is not even connected) and when Avid is the only program running, and yet it does not give out any audio to hear. Does anyone know why this might be, or have any other suggestions on how to get the sound to come out? As if i can get this right, then capturing with Avid is a problem i can get around, but without sound from Avid it's useless!

Once again, thank you for taking the time to read this and for helping me out, i really do appreciate it.
Warm regards,
Alan

AVID HDV event!!!
 

take a look - this is first (at least by my knowledge) apperiance of AVID announcement connected with HDV.

http://www.avid.com/events/

(scroll to product showcase topic - pre release version etc...)


filip

Avid Xpress Pro on Mac OS Tiger at lafcpug, Aug 24
 

Avid Xpress Pro on Mac OS Tiger http://www.avid.com/products/xpressprohd/ will make its Los Angeles debut, at the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group, (lafcpug) Wednesday August 24 at the Gallery Theater in E. Hollywood CA. beginning at 6:45PM. Avid’s Senior Product Marketing Manager, Tim Wilson will demo. Also on the agenda will be author and trainer Kevin Monahan who will show off FCP Effects Tips and Tricks. Ripple Training’s Steve Martin will show how to animate titles to voice over using Apple’s Motion. FCP Guru and author Tom Wolsky will show different ways of working with filters in FCP. In addition, there will be Show and Tells, Stump the Gurus, and a raffle with prizes totaling into the thousands of dollars.

For complete details including directions to the Gallery Theater visit the lafcpug web site.

http://www.lafcpug.org/user_schedule.html

This meeting is open to the public and lafcpug requests a $5.00 donation at the door

Supported Video Card for Xpress Pro
 

I have purchased Xpress Pro and want to know if anybody has been successful in using a non-supported video card that Avid doesn't suggest. My new Dell is a 3.2 P4 with 2.5gb Ram and the typical integrated video card. The problem is that it comes with the new PCI Express bus and no AGP. Well, the PCI Express Quadro cards that Avid requires are at least $600 where as the AGP's are available starting at $250. Has anybody been able to use a high powered ATI or Envidia card without any drag or is the software designed just for the Quadro series?

Any guides to AVID?
 

I'm having a hard time trying to find learning material for Avid Xpress Pro. My local library nor my high school library has anything. I also tried amazon, but didn't pick anything up. I know nothing of Avid software, I have some previous experience with Adobe software. And also, what is the learning curve for Avid, I'm 17 years old btw.

We have customers getting very good results with the PNY Quadro 540 card $249.95

We haven't got the video output via the breakout box 100%, but the card works great as a dual VGA for Xpress Pro http://www.videoguys.com/PNY.html

Gary

Try this link to get you started. There are a few quick (free) tutorials that will help you get around.

http://www.avid.com/freedv/tutorials/index.asp

Several excellent guides available - One of my favorites is "Avid XpressPro" by Jame Monohan, it's a visual Quickpro guide.

Avid Unlocks Full Potential of Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger with New Media Composer Adrenal
 

Latest digital content creation products offer breakthrough effects and editing capabilities on newest Mac operating system

Tewksbury, MA – September 1, 2005 – Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced the availability of the Avid® Media Composer® Adrenaline™ 1.8 and Avid Xpress® Pro 4.8 editing solutions, optimized for Mac OS X Tiger to deliver improved performance and features unavailable from any other nonlinear editing manufacturer. In addition, new Media Composer Adrenaline and Avid Xpress Pro systems include bundled tools that tap the Core Image units of the Mac OS to create an entirely new category of video effects.

“The Mac is an important creative platform for a wide range of professionals who use Avid’s content creation tools – and optimizing our products for Tiger is a key step in serving the needs of these customers,” said Chas Smith, general manager of Avid’s Video division. “Our engineering team, along with Noise Industries, an AVX development partner, has enabled us to utilize power within the Mac OS Tiger that is untapped to date. In fact, in recent product demonstrations, our customers told us that they were blown away with how we’re pushing the bounds of our products. We’re confident that any Mac customer using an Avid product with Tiger will experience a significant boost in performance and functionality.”

- Click here for full press release http://www.avid.com/company/releases...iger_prod.html
- Check out the Avid “Do More with Tiger” page http://www.avid.com/community/mac/index.asp?dm=hptiger
- Click here for Videoguys Xpress Pro w/ Tiger report http://www.videoguys.com/avidsummer2005.html

Gary

Avid Announces October Availability of Native HDV Support
 

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 9, 2005–Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ : AVID - News) today announced that it expects to deliver native HDV editing and workflow support in its PC-based Avid Xpress® Pro and Media Composer® Adrenaline™ products by October 17, 2005. Customers who purchase either a Media Composer Adrenaline HD 2.x system with an assurance contract or an Avid Xpress Pro HD 5.x system before October 17 may receive free HDV software upgrades when the release ships next month.

“Although HDV is still relatively new as a format, there’s no question that it is having a significant impact in the marketplace, with early adoption among broadcasters, post-production facilities and independent producers,” said Patrick McLean, senior product manager for Avid. “Our customers have been asking Avid to support this new format, and we’re pleased to announce that we’re delivering it. More importantly, we’ve invested heavily to ensure that our HDV implementation addresses key customer needs such as mixing HDV with DV and other formats in the same timeline in real-time. When they begin working with HDV, they’ll have the same kind of seamless workflow experience as they do when working on an Avid system today.”

“I’ve been beta testing HDV on Avid Xpress Pro for over a month, and one of the best things is that my workflow hasn’t changed at all. Avid has clearly put a lot of thought into this implementation - they simply understand how professionals need to work,” said David Benjamin, an editor for IFILM currently working on Team Extreme, a film project for Fuel TV. “Plus, with Avid’s rock-solid media management, script-based editing, open timeline, and real-time effects capabilities, I feel truly empowered as an artist - which is more than I can say about the experiences I’ve had using other HDV-ready NLEs.”

Pricing and Availability

The planned October release of HDV support will be for PC-based systems, and Avid will offer HDV as a free upgrade to customers who purchase either a Media Composer Adrenaline HD 2.x system with an assurance contract or an Avid Xpress Pro HD 5.x system before October 17, 2005. Avid Xpress Pro 4.x customers can purchase the HDV upgrade for $50.00 USMSR

Click here for more Avid Xpress Pro HD info, pricing and specials http://www.videoguys.com/XpressProHD.html

Gary

As a footnote, Avid has also announced Service Release 2 for Liquid Edition 6. It may be available next week.