Michael Hancock
Forum Replies Created
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I can’t imagine you’d have any problems, especially since MC is now software only.
The only thing you get with a Mojo, Mojo SDI, or Adrenaline box are multiple inputs/outputs and realtime acceleration. If I understand correctly, the Mojo and Adrenaline take some of the load off your computer’s processors by handling the effects in the box. By mixing Adrenalines and Mojo SDIs you’ll notice your Mojo SDI can’t do as many realtime streams as your Adrenaline can and will likely have more limited realtime effect playback, but you should still be able to burn through quite a bit of stuff before you have to render.
If you’re mostly going to be using the MC Mojo SDI for exporting quicktimes and tape dubs you should be running fine. As a matter of fact, an Xpress Pro might work just as well, unless your editors use a lot of animatte effects, or other effects not available on the Xpress system. Otherwise, an Xpress box will be much cheaper and work just as well.
Mike.
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If you’re exporting an uncompressed quicktime expect a long wait while Avid converts it to an .omf file. If you render it out in an Avid codec, say Avid 1:1 or Avid Meridian Uncompressed, it’ll be much, much, much faster. Export a quicktime with a shorter piece of media in an Avid codec and compare the import time and quality to the same file, uncompressed. It might give you the quality you need and save you a lot of time.
Mike.
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Before you reinstall, check your media creations settings and be sure “Filter based on Resolution” is NOT checked. If it is checked, uncheck it. Then do a File–>Mount All. This will mount any drives connected to your computer so that Avid can see them. You can also try File–>Reload Databases or something similar there. It should force a rescan of your databases after you Mount All.
Also, you say you have 2 external drives. Have you tried unplugging the one that Avid recognizes, plugging the one it doesn’t recognize into that drives slot, and firing up the Avid with only the bad drive plugged in. There might be a conflict with two drives plugged in…otherwise, it might be time for a reinstall.
Mike.
P.S. I understand your pain–I got to work this morning and two of my drives beeped–check their status and the RAID was about to die. Love mondays.
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Is your OS recognizing the drives ok? If it is, try copying all your media off your drive onto an internal drive, then reopen your Avid. See if it recognizes the drive then. If it does, start transferring chunks of media back in and let the Avid rebuild its databases. You should be able to find the corrupt file that way. Delete it and carry on.
Mike.
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When you apply a matte key, or import an image with alpha, go into your effects editor–you can adjust the scale, position, opacity, crop, etc… of the matte key, and it affects both the matte and fill. No reason to apply a resize as well.
Mike.
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If you go with Avid specs you’re going to have to spend some money, but your system will be stable and it’s the smartest thing to do.
For the best bang for your buck I’d suggest checking out HP’s refurbished site. I know a guy that got an xw8200 that met every Avid spec, and he paid about $1,700–about half the price of what it used to cost new (and still does, I think). Buying refurb will get you a great system, warranty, and will run your Avid happily. Otherwise, if you’re computer savvy, build your own system EXACTLY to Avid spec and hope for the best.
Unfortunately, there’s really no cheap way to run Avid. If you go outside of spec you’ll have a system that won’t run at all, won’t run well, or will run great–there’s no way to tell, so it’ s gamble.
Hope this helps.
Mike.
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How heavily effected are your promos–lots and lots of matte keys, rotoscoping, color correction…is secondary color correction necessary? What kind of timeline do you typically work on? If it’s necessary to turn and burn, then you’ll want as much power as possible, and if you’re loading up the effects I imagine DS will do it.
I say imagine DS Nitris will because I haven’t had the chance to work on one, but I cut promos for the local NBC affiliate–we use an older Xpress Meridien, Xpress Pro HD, and Media Composer Adrenaline. A lot of the stuff I do there are the more effects heavy promos, but I typically take it to After Effects or use Sapphire plugins and suffer the render times–I use the Xpress Meridien with the broken 3D board (they stuck me on the oldest system because I edit the fastest and have the most Avid exprience, so I can afford the render times and know most workarounds). The media composer is reserved for commercial shoots primarily, but I jump in there when I get a chance and it still amazes me how powerful it is with the Adrenline box. Nothing like bringing in a couple of uncompressed streams of video, throwing in a realtime chroma key (spectramatte is unbelievably good), some animated matte keys, color correction, and rarely do I have to render.
I would find a local reseller and get some time on each system to determine what’s best suited for the work you do. DS Nitris is really expensive and the interface is very different from the rest of the Avid line, like Xpress Pro, MC and Symphony. It may take some getting used to if you go that route. No matter what, though, have fun!
Mike.
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I’m not entirely sure I understand what you’re looking for. Are you trying to mask footage using a matte key, or something more like a letterbox effect? If you want a semi-opaque/semi-transparent mask that’s just a solid, use your title tool–make your solid using the rectangle or circle in the title tool, then lower the transparency in there. Otherwise, whenever you put a matte key effect on something you can adjust the opacity in the effect editor. What exactly are you trying to do?
Mike.
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Another user had an issue with the card recently. Replaced it and Xpress ran fine. I haven’t heard anyone having any success with it.
Mike.
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3D Warp doesn’t exist on Xpress Pro. If you’re used to MC, you will miss it every day. To get around it, add a PIP effect, scale it to 100%. You can promote it to 3D which will give you many more options, and now you basically have 3D Warp. To add a blur you have to download a free blur here:
Free blur effect: https://www.digitalfilmtools.com/cs-3/cs3dwnld.php Download the demo for “Composite Suite AVX”. It’ll put the whole list of effects in your Effects Palette–all of which will display a watermark until paid for–EXCEPT the CS_FastBlur. This one is free.
Xpress doesn’t come with a blur. Again, if you’re coming from MC you will miss it, but it’s part of the price to not have to pay such a high price. Xpress is MC but watered down. As you get further into editing you notice it’s the exact same editor, but without a lot of features–no Timewarp, no Animatte, no 3D Warp, 1 row of buttons versus 2 in MC, etc… Otherwise it’s the exact same. If you run into more questions throw them out here and we’ll get them answered. There’s really no stupid question except the one you don’t ask.
Mike.