6.5 is out there…

[Denise Quesnel]

Thanks Michael. I am thinking I am going to skip this update, in hope that the next will have even better stereoscopic support, and just maybe a means to edit in HFR timelines.

—–

Stereo 3D Post Production Specialist, adjunct researcher at the S3D Centre in Vancouver, BC.
The S3D Centre is a premiere research, curriculum/training, production and post-production facility.
https://www.s3dcentre.ca

[Michael Phillips]

I think part of the debate is whether this release really qualifies as a .5 release when there was no .1, .2, .3, etc. ever released. Depending on which market you serve, and needs in your own workflows, it could be considered a .2 or a .3 and not a full .5.

Now there have been several postings that there will be updates to 6.0.x which will be great. It just seems to me that in planning releases, and not to raise the ire of the Avid user community, they could have planned to release a .5 as well as a “fixes” update via a point release to 6.0.x at the same time. But that takes additional testing and marketing effort and with a reduced workforce is most likely not possible – maybe in the future.

And like many Avid MC features, a lot of them are the start of something bigger that will evolve over time (I hope) and AS02 has the basis for something post types would like which is expanding the J2K codec by rewrapping it with a DCP MXF file format but would also need a Rec.709 -> XYZ color space conversion which leads to input, output and monitoring LUT support…

I would suspect that most people in this community will not find use for Avid Interplay Sphere, AS02, etc. but there is a handful of useful features for “editorial” and conform that will be appreciated. Then the debate becomes how much is that worth. If you editing, 64 voices and ability to drag and drop filler with clips will be nice. If you do a lot of conforms starting with AMA or ending with AMA and use third party tools as part of the process, the ability to relink source on any column and timecode on any timecode column will be a lifesaver. Not the most intuitive UI for making it work, but it does work. Still have some limitations manly based on AMA limitation in my opinion with formats that allow 8 character REEL tracking (Alexa ProRes for example) and AMA’s inability to extract that natively could possibly cause some relinking issues if not planned for ahead of time.

There will be an update to the RED AMA plug-in that will support RedColor 3 science (only), unclear at this time is whether that will only work with 6.5 or if it should just work with v6 as well. I suspect the latter, but is only a guess on my part.

Michael

[Mike Most]

Those AMA changes might also lead to sequence support (i.e., DPX sequences), something I talked to them about at NAB. Right now, the only Avid product where you can get such support is DS. That needs to change, and they seem to know that.

[Michael Phillips]

They’ve “known” for years! It’s always been a matter of priority and a bunch of other stuff. Maybe now since the last RIF and sell-off of the consumer side, and declared commitment to the professional space, DPX and similar type functionality will be added. My guess is that Avid add DPX when they add resolution independence and LUT support.

Although anyone can get an AMA license and develop one, DPX seems more like something Avid should do as it is difficult to monetize AMA if you are not a camera company and it’s only a conduit to your format. A third party making an AMA plug-in will have difficulty other than a shareware type sale as their is no provision for licensing protection. At least last year at this time when I looked into it for a couple of AMA ideas.

Michael

[Gustavo Bermudas]

Avid is obviously in serious need of cash. In NAB they were doing the $1000 upgrade to Symphony promotion, which it makes sense if you don’t own a Media Composer, but since I do I wasn’t going to pay that money for color correction tools I don’t use, and I’m glad I didn’t spend that money, rather buy the Baselight plugin.
And now this half-a** upgrade for $500, it’s obviously another indication how desperate they are. Which makes me wonder the future of Avid. I’ll do the upgrade, I’ll support them, at least they haven’t abandoned us like FCP. If Avid is gone, what are the options then?

[Justin Barham]

I can now scroll horizontally if I hold Shift. Not sure if that was in version 6.0 as I skipped it.

– Justin Barham –

[Job Ter burg]

For the past few upgrades, if you skipped one, the next one would only be 100 dollars more. If you skip two or three, still only 100 dollars more. If you want the latest features, upgrade now, the more economical way is to run your current version and upgrade later.