Avid Xpress Media Composer and Avid's New HD codec

[SJ_Lee]

This is directed to Michael:

Can you tell me the difference between Media Composer and Xpress? They look like they have the same interface, but the Media Composer I saw at one of your talks seemed like it was a complete new design. Did Avid buy out another company for the UI?

Also, can you tell me a bit about your HD codec? How will it integrate into Xpress in the coming months.

Thanks

[MichaelP]

Xpress Pro and Media Composer Adrenaline share a lot of the same feature set becuase they come from the same core code base. The differences lie in feature sets depending on the target market - feature film, DV, HD etc. There are also differences in performance and I/O between the two.

The product you may be referring to that has a different UI is teh Avid DS Nitris. This is the daddy of them all when it comes to performance - 2 streams uncompressed 10 bit HD in real time, as well as support for 2K, 32 bit float processing in RGB, full effects tree for compositing, 3D, etc. It is a far deeper tools set for effects creation and HD finishing.

The HD codecs are known as DNxHD and so far there are three of them: DNxHD220x, DNxHD220, and DBxHD145. The number represent the data rate. The 220 versions compare to the Panasonic D5 in quality while the 145 is HDCAM level. These codecs were built for post production knowing the amount of rendering and gneration loss that can be had using other codec types. For example, HDCAM and DVCPRO HD both scale horizontaly before applying the compression which can create high frequency artifacts. Also, HDCAM is 3:1:1 8 bit while the DNxHD codecs are all 4:2:2 8 bit and the 220 is also 10 bit.

As far as Xpress Pro, a lot of plans are still in motion, but DNxHD wil be used for renders of HDV codecs, DVCPRO HD, graphics, etc. to maintain a much higher quality for the production.

Michael

[SJ_Lee]

I'm quite interested in how the new HD codec will integrate with the existing Xpress Pro. Will the HD codec be one that installs onto the OS such that the media files can be viewed independent of the NLE, just like how the Avid DV codec work now?

If that's true, then I guess I can also assume that you would be able to cross transcode from difference codecs.

If true, it sounds great. When can we see it?

Thanks

[MichaelP]

There will be a QuickTime codec for these resolutions. These resolutions are on target for a mod Q4 release this year.

Michael

[FatDaddy]

Thanks for the info Michael.

I guess there was a big stir about the studio release coming out soon without some parts having Mac support. I am about to purchase a mid range Pro Tools set-up (60k) on the Mac and use this also for AXP. Mac is going nowhere right ;D

Also, I plan to keep my DP G4 w/2 gigs of ram and add the Mojo (was holding out for a new version w/SDI at NAB), I should not need to bounce to the G5 for increased performance for the new resolutions in the future should I?(easier to spend the money now in this project than to go back and try to get it 6 months from now).

Last question, what is your opinion of SATA technology for the new resolutions (from a company like Promax).

Thanks for your help,
FD