[Pat Horridge]

I agree with Shane on most of his points.
Many of the changes suggested by the OP would break the backwards and forwards compatibility of Avid. I know this hasn’t been possibly with many if the other NLEs mentioned or at best tricky but its been a key feature of MC
For broadcast post houses like ours the ability to take a V6 project back tk clients V4 or earlier system us crucial. Being able to open a 3year old project is crucial.
Having portable bins rather than a full bloated project all day crucial for fast reliable jobs.
And a massive pool of talented editors who know that interface and can work any version is far more important than a complete overhaul of the look just to be pretty.
Its not a fashion show its a tool for a job.
And don’t forget there are many non Avid folks working on improving the interface and features in the background.
And finally the Avid community forms have a feature request forum that is read and managed directly by Avid engineers. There aren’t many other tools on the market so easy to gave an impact on. and why has all that impact produced such a slow pace to changes? Because Avid want afford to do an Apple FCPX !

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

It’s not useful to test your output by bring it back into Medi Composer. If that output is what the grading system uses then the only valid test is to import it into there.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

I’d guess its not Avid MXF files but some other MXF files.
How where they created?

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

Looks like MC didn’t see or like the timecode and defaulted to the general setting default timecoee which is normally 01:00:00:00
Be interesting to see how 2 of the files differ.
QTChanger is great for setting timcode and fps but i think setting reel id with it is still ignored with an import or AMA.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

The other danger of being to organised before implementing (or looking at a DAM) is that you can end up being inflexible and trying to bend the solution to fit your current needs.
Whilst most products can eb adapted and adjusted to suit those needs it’s very easy to try and make a new DAM replicate an older system and needs and lose some of those advantages.

The time spent looking at what you currently do and the systems and data you have in place already and how they relate to what a new solution offers is time well spent.

Being open to the new oppertunities in the new system but not diverted (too much) by cool or interesting features is key.

Then test with a small sample and experiment before you committ to a full conversion.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

Avid FX has pretty limited format support but you can always convert the file first.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

Avid FX which comes with MC can scale video and Pan and zoom without pre scaling to HD

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

That’s create.
We have a particular aim in mind of a solution for small to medium Post houses and CATDV seems to be the perfect front end solution.
And StorageDNA just the right backend hardware route.
We had looked at Cache-A which also interfaces with CATDV but Cache-A just isn’t offering the options we need.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

Sadly even with A MAM in place that sort of error could still happen.
Only if all content is managed via the MAM and somebody is responsible for the accuracy of the metadata would that sort of error be prevented.

It makes more sense to have a policy that ensures all content acquired from outside the facility is checked and doubled checked for clearance and usage.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US

[Pat Horridge]

Done it on an Z800 no problem.

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US