Avid / Pinnacle discussions from 2002

[Paul Doss]

Hello,

Is anyone using an xl1s and editing with Avids Xpress DV? Any problems, tricks and tips, etc. Thinking about getting this set up and trying to learn all I can.

Thanks in advance.

[fargograf]

I'm looking to buy an editing program. I've worked with Avid Media Composer. My question: is the Avid express DV similar enough that I wouldn't have to learn it?

Here's another question: would you attempt an hour documentary for broadcast on a Premiere 6? Can it handle it? Anyone have experience with that?

Thanks.

[Ed Smith]

Hi,

I've made 2 1hour+ videos with Premiere 6. The videos were of the play Romeo and Juliet and are used for archival purposes by my local theatre.

It let me capture 3 hours worth of footage into the PC, allowed me to cut between 3 video channels and out put to my XL1.

Problems en-counted include:
While I play back what I am doing the video would speed up for no reason, but once that happened, and I played it back again it would sort it self out - could be premiere or could be hardware - I've never managed to work out why.

When I exported to my XL1 again for some reason it would speed up, and skip frames, even though it says that it had not dropped any frames and the data rate was constant - could be premiere or could be hardware - again I have never managed to work out why.

If you have the money I would suggest Avid express DV, it should have much of the same controls as most of the other AVID programs - not having much experience with the program I could be wrong.

Hope this helps,

Ed Smith

[Ken Tanaka]

One additional note re: Avid xpressdv, I believe that it's only "certified" for specific hardware platforms. I know that at least one of the Dell notebooks is on the list, as well as several other desktops.

So, unlike Premiere, it looks like you're making a platform and tool decision with the Avid.

[Ed Smith]

Avid would have you believe that it's only available on "certified" hardware platforms. But over in the UK you can get just the software on its own - Avid Xpress DV 2.0 £1200 or complete systems from £3650.

What you would have to bare in mind is that you would probably have to buy a separate capture card as well as the software.

Unlike Premiere you can get DV500+ with premiere, capture card and other software for the same price as the software on its own, £550.

[Adrian Douglas]

If you decide to go down the DV500+ path, be aware that this card is very picky about the enviroment it works in. You have to match specific components and settings to get it to work properly.

That said, once working, it and Premiere are very capable tools.

[Jerry Laurence]

I'm thinking to buying an XL1s to use with Avid Xpress DV (version 3.0). Does anyone know of any problems associated with batch capture or digital cut, or anything else I should know about?

Any help will be appreciated.

[Kai Leibrandt]

The only thing I have run into is that XPress DV is, as yet, not compatible with Windows XP. You can install, run and edit just fine under XP also, but Avid's DV driver seems to not play ball under XP.
If you must use XP you'll need to use dual-boot with a W2K installation. Else just stick to 2000. Avid has apparently released a beta of 3.1 which adresses this issue, but I don't know when the Beta program will end, or any other details.
In all other respects, it's just fine with the XL1 as far as I have seen.
For all info regarding XPress DV you may want to check out http://www.avid.com/community/, there's as lot of info and knowledgable people hanging out there.
HTH

Kai.

[Kai Leibrandt]

sorry to follow up on my own post, but this is probably what you're looking for...

ftp://KCUser:KCPull12@support01.avid.com/KCUser/XpressDVSupportedDevices2_0_B.htm


HTH,

Kai.

[Dan O'Bannon]

I have a Xl1s and avid 3. When capturing undo TC button and capture works ok. Seems to work best when I capture all footage unstead of starting and stoping.

hope that helps, good luck, dan

[Kai Leibrandt]

Capturing in one stream is a good idea anyway, especially if you use your XL1 for the capture. Using XPressDV's subclipping makes cutting sequences to bits almost unnecessary.
For those that _do_ prefer to work with individual clips, have a look at

http://www.scenalyzer.com

It's a great piece of software that will either capture your footage to individual clips immediately (ScLive) or cut single-file sequences into their constituent clips. I have no relation to them other than having used their software...

Kai.

[Chung Lee]

Hi!
I used to work with Premiere alot but now working with AvidXpressDV3, and Avid is much much better and very solid.Better than Premiere for sure.
The good thing is, AvidXpress DV is almost the same as AvidMC, and you also can import and export from Xpress to MC.
I hope I could help.
BTW, Avid only works with W2K right now, and no another Editing are allowed like Premiere , it cause lots of problems

[Kai Leibrandt]

I can only agree with Chunglee.
Although Premiere is no doubt capable of doing a 1 hour docu, you'll be much happier doing it in XpressDV, especially since you've got previous Avid experience. It's just so much smoother to play with, and you get almost every effect and transition in realtime if you use v3...
Just my €0.02

Kai.

[fargograf]

Thanks for all you insights. I think I'll start "from scratch" and get the hardware that will support the Avid DV.

[Gary Bettan]

We've found some excess inventory of Xpress DV3 powerpacks in the warehouse, so we have decided to run the following promotion.

Xpress DV 3 PowerPack on sale $2195 ( a $300 savings) PLUS a FREE EZ Keyboard ( a $120 value).

We are also offering a FREE EZ keyboard with the base Xpress DV 3 for $1499. (sorry, free keyboard promotion is not available for Edu and Student packs)

For more information on the Xpress DV PowerPack go to http://www.videoguys.com/XDV_PowerPack.html

For our hands on review of Xpress Dv3 check out http://www.videoguys.com/XDV30.html

Gary