[Michael Kammes]

A few notes:

The Nitris DX only accelerates DNxHD acquisition and playback. If you pay $2495, you can get the forthcoming AVC-Intra accelerator card for the Nitris DX for enhanced acquisition & playback.

It will also allow you to capture analog with deck control. If you loop your analog decks through your digibeta, deck control will be less then optimal.

Avid is also offering big discounts on Adrenaline trade-ins.

That being said, Avid will periodically stop qualifying older machines as their software matures. This means your 8600 will “expire” sooner. 5.5 requires 6GB of RAM, and the next version of MC (6) will also be 64 bit only. Thus, you have a few minor upgrades already.

After Effects is memory & CPU Intensive. A faster machine would certainly benefit you.

Me? I’d get a new PC (regardless of your IO choice), download the 30 day trial of MC 5, and buy an AJA IO Express. Beat up on it. If you like it, you’re golden. If not, you still have your Adrenaline, which you can trade in towards the purchase of a Nitris. The IO Express can then be used on a side station or re-sold. It’s a minor investment compared to the other gear.

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: twitter: @michaelkammes
.: facebook: /mkammes

Hear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .

[Michael Kammes]

Not a whole lot you can do.

1)As a *general* rule, finding software that can apply LUTs is really on the pro level.

2)Software that can wrap into an AVID MXF file is also kinda rare.

However, Glue Tools, as well as Nick Shaws Plug-in, can apply a LUT in an FCP Timeline. You can then export that into one of many quicktime flavors for AMA linking…OR, export to a DNxHD file and perform a FAST IMPORT into Avid. Avid will see the .mov as an Avid DNxHD and will wrap it into an MXF wrapper for you, which is 80% faster than importing.

If you have FCP, I recommend this workflow for Avid.

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: twitter: @michaelkammes
.: facebook: /mkammes

Hear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .

[Michael Kammes]

You’d think, Walter!

AJA has the HDP2, which is HDSDI-DVI, not vice versa.

BM has the DVI Extender, which can be set to a “video mode” instead of just being the first part of extending DVI over BNC. It involves installing drivers on the host CPU, and I’ve found is somewhat flakey at some resolutions.

The Convert DVI is pretty darn good.

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: twitter: @michaelkammes
.: facebook: /mkammes

Hear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .

[Michael Kammes]

Across the board, Avid does not guarantee playback via AMA.

And I quote:

“Please note that AMA is a processor intensive application, and older platforms may not offer optimum performance.”

and

“Playback performance of QuickTime AMA files might vary depending on a number of factors including storage type, CPU, and codec complexity.”

That’s the trade off for instant access to media: no guarantees of 100% playback. If you want 100% RT playback, transcode to an Avid DNxHD – it will work better for you later on if you do any kind of color or effects work, anyway.

I’ve even seen hiccups on the new 12 core Westmeres.

That being said, Avid 5.5 (shipping in about 3 weeks) is supposed to have improved playback for Long GOP codecs, but I cannot personally speak to it.

I recommend ensuring that all other bottlenecks are remedied: playback as little number of tracks if possible, go into yellow/green or yellow/yellow mode, other apps are shut down, you have enough RAM and a decent video card, and ensure your system meets Avid qualified spec list (gfx card, RAM, OS, etc): https://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=362919&Hilite=apple+macintosh+specifications

Good Luck (and have some patience while Post catches up with those pesky camera peeps!)

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: twitter: @michaelkammes
.: facebook: /mkammes

Hear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .

[Michael Kammes]

So, to sum up:

Deck Control via the Keyspan to the IO Express is good, but host based serial (i.e. onboard a PC) is not.

This is what I kinda figured *shrugs*.

I think Avid is still rolling out all of the webpage info on 5.5; it was still only being posted at avid.com in spurts last week.

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: twitter: @michaelkammes
.: facebook: /mkammes

Hear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .

[Michael Kammes]

Premiere runs fine on a Mac, and using a Matrox I/O is quite alright. The Matrox MXO2 works great.

FCStudio (which contains FCP and other applications) is not part of Adobe CS5 or vice versa. Various CS5 bundles have applications that are similar in function to Apple FCStudio apps, but are not the same.

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: twitter: @michaelkammes
.: facebook: /mkammes

Hear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .

[Michael Kammes]

I second the Matrox Convert DVI. The Plus unit – shipping shortly – allows for even more control. Check it out.

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: twitter: @michaelkammes
.: facebook: /mkammes

Hear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .

[Michael Kammes]

No issues getting to the site over here in L.A…..?

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: twitter: @michaelkammes
.: facebook: /mkammes

Hear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .

[Michael Kammes]

I always wondered that myself.

The only logical explanation I could come up with is that no extra money would have to be spent coding the logic for Media Composer to translate deck control from the various I/O devices (Mojo, Nitris, no I/O express, etc.)

I know: weak, right?

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: twitter: @michaelkammes
.: facebook: /mkammes

Hear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .

[Michael Kammes]

Did you retain the same file hierarchy from one machine to another? FCP wants to see the media in the same place it was before, or you have to SEARCH or LOCATE the media from within FCP.

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com
.: twitter: @michaelkammes
.: facebook: /mkammes

Hear me pontificate: Speaking Schedule .