New Editor/New Equiptment

[Steve Clark]

G’day Jimmy,

That’s a pretty broad question. It depends on what you want to do with your Avid and how much you want to spend.

First of all, look Here.

https://www.avid.com/products/Media-Composer-Software/system-requirements.asp

and here.

https://www.avid.com/resources/qualified/MediaComposer-NewsCutter-Qualified-PC-Workstations.pdf

Avid is the best editor, but it is really fussy about what you run it on. Build your system as close as possible to the qualified PC specs as you can for the least dramas.
Personally I have been burned with Firewire & Sound cards, so get what Avid wants. Also get yourself a big monitor, you can never have too much desktop real-estate. I’ve got a full HD 24″ LCD with HDMI input at home, Dual 17″ displays at work. The latest Avid hardware also has HDMI output, so a spare HDMI monitor input is handy. If you are editing in DV or HDV you are good to go. You can capture from your camera or deck via firewire directly to your PC. I have a Mojo at home and we have Adrenaline HD at work, these are really just glorified In/Out boxes and are not necessary unless you need to capture analogue or SDI. They have an advantage with some real time effects processing but IMHO you are better off spending your money on fast storage and good supporting apps like DVDit Pro HD, Photoshop, Boris FX and Adobe After Effects.

Good luck, and good choice with Avid.

Steve

[Gary Hazen]

https://www.avid.com/products/Media-Composer-Software/system-requirements.asp

[Bob Zelin]

Jimmy –
I am an AVID expert, and I know exactly what it takes to run an AVID business from your home.

IT TAKES CLIENTS ! without clients that will pay you, you can have all the gear in the world – all the HD monitors, top audio equipment, fastest HP computer, largest drive array, and it means DOO DOO. Get some paying clients, and the rest will follow. It’s amazing how cheap the equipment becomes once someone is helping you pay for all of this.

Bob Zelin

[Grinner Hester]

Bob speaketh the truth.
Ingedient one… clientele.
Based on their needs, you may find you don’t even require an Avid. Based on yours, it’s highly likely you don’t.
I use to recomend any editor learn Avid’s interface. Now, I recomend learning FCP soon and well.
If editing for yourself, there is not more bang for the buck, period. If marketing yourself as an editor, you’ll see much more than half the post jobs are for FCP editors now. This is a direct result of their product growing while Avid’s arguably topped out 5 years ago or so.