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Media Composer Student
Anyone know of any drawbacks with media composer student?
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6 Replies
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From the Media Composer itself, there is no difference in functionality. The difference is no third party applications like Sorenson Squeeze, Boris FX, etc.
On the other hand, the student version also comes with 4 years of upgrades for that $299 price!
Michael
Michael Phillips
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As Michael already mentioned…
Software version (student version) does not have Boris FX/Squeeze program.
BUT, as far as everything being in-house, the Avid MC program is a seeeriously powerful program.
Sure, all programs can edit, but…
Avid’s style of editing is more intuitive, more keyboard & less cliking and dragging = way faster and less painful.
My favorite in-house effects/tools include:
-motion tracking (up to 4 per effect, which can be submerged, meaning you can have a ton of trackers on hand)
-spot color effect (don’t just ‘apply’ but mearly CREATE/paint your image composition by making certain parts of an image brighter/contrastier/flatter/darker/saturated/RGB adjusted/color-match, all of which can have it’s own motion tracker so say goodby to keyframing
-paint effect, I don’t even know where to begin on this one
-color correction, blows FCP out of the water, non of this Drag and drop for 5 different things, it’s all there in one sweep, and you can use color correction effects like a video clip and drag and drop it where ever you want and fade them in and out or make a ‘flash’ cut
-create huge sequences within a sequence in one layer of video, FCP can do this but it requires making another sequence, going to that sequence to edit it then going back to the master sequence
-native .mxf support = instant access to XDCamEX/P2 footage including all the metadata that was inputed in the field BEFORE it was brought into the AvidFCP has nothing like this. Yes it has color, but that requires ‘locking’ you edit, then sending it to Color, exporting it, then realizing your client wants something different, then you go back into FCP, make the change, then send it AGAIN to color, re-do everything, and repeat…
SO you have really everything you could ever want without stopping and sending a certain clip to a 3rd party program then re-importing it and re-linking it then managing where your files are bla bla bla.
None of that when you work on Avid, start and finish in Avid for almost any project requires a speedy delivery.
Oh and it works on PC = 1/2 the $ of a Mac, enough to buy a small light and audio equipment kit to go with that camera of yours.
Negitives of Avid:
AMA’ing is tricky with some files, this style of editing is new to Avid (it’s like FCP’s style), don’t try and edit h264 files natively, just don’t.
Student, started on Avid, learning FCP. Tapping into online/offline workflows & using XML/EDL between systems.
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Thanks Guys!
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last question
Can I run MC5 on a 13′ macbook pro with a 2.64 intel duo? The official specs say I need more power, but since I won’t be using effects I’m hoping I can get away with it.
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Well chances are you’re not going to be buying another laptop anyways whether or not you buy the [student] Avid software.
Basically it doesn’t matter. Just get the software, see if it will install, it should knowing Mac computers, if not, oh well then it’s time to upgrade so you can start editing.
When I got ready for my Avid purchase (student edition), I went straight to PC. Built up a completely capabile desktop for $1200 [Q6600 Quad 2.66GHz, 4GB 800MHz ram, QuadroFX1500, some legit motherboard, XP Pro] 3 years later today, I’m running Avid MC5 without a problem.
It’s up to you. Go Mac and spend $$$ and be set for a while AND have FCP at the same time. Or be me and spend $ on a PC, learn FCP later [and quickly realize that FCP is just a video editor, nothing else].
Student, started on Avid, learning FCP. Tapping into online/offline workflows & using XML/EDL between systems.
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My bet it is it will work.
The good thing is that there is a free 30-day fully functional trail version of MC you can download.
So you can test if it works on your computer. If it does work, buy it.
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