Long project (Many hours) in Avid vs Premiere

[dotconnproductions]

Yes, searched forum and haven't found a link to anything specifically about this:


I've been editing in Premiere for years with 6.5, ppro 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 now. I do a lot of documentary work and often am working on multiple versions of the same project at the same time in which I need access to all of the footage (ie. Because I am consistantly exporting a new version of one or the other I can't really do offline editing). My latest project utilized over 150 hours of footage and I still had another 70 hour footage project going simultaneously. All of the footage has been stored on IDE Raid 5 configuration drive bays on two different systems edited over a gigabit lan.

On the last project, towards the end of the project, Premiere kept crashing. I could usually edit for 5-10 minutes and then everything would lock up. At first I was rebooting every time, but I discovered I could just restart the program and then reload the project (Took about 4 minutes to load) and then keep editing while saving all the time. I know the project is pretty bulky, but I'd still like to keep this style of working if at all possible due to the project's requirements.

So, the question is:
Have any of you guys worked on large projects like this with Avid? I'm thinking about switching to Xpress pro or even Liquid if it can handle it. I don't really care about effects, other than cuts dissolves and color correction. Anything else goes to After Effects (Where I live and breathe!). I've heard media management is pretty good in Avid and I'm sick of having audio conforming files that take hundreds (Yes hundreds!) of gigs for these projects. Anyway, any recommendations?

FCP is not an option.

Also second part of question:

As I mentioned I edit on 3 different systems but they are all run by me. Two are right beside each other so that I can be doing effects/ rendering on one and the other can be actually doing editing. Can I install (1) version of xpress or liquid on multiple systems, so long as they aren't being used simultaneously. (I'm not trying to pirate out copies, I just use a lot of computers + my laptop).

Thanks,
John Conn
dotConn Productions Video & Multimedia
www.dotconnproductions.com

 

[krestofre]

So, the question is:
Have any of you guys worked on large projects like this with Avid? I'm thinking about switching to Xpress pro or even Liquid if it can handle it. I don't really care about effects, other than cuts dissolves and color correction. Anything else goes to After Effects (Where I live and breathe!). I've heard media management is pretty good in Avid and I'm sick of having audio conforming files that take hundreds (Yes hundreds!) of gigs for these projects. Anyway, any recommendations?

Yep. Large projects with tons of media is Avid's bread and butter (speaking for the Xpress Pro line, I don't know anything about Liquid). From my point of view, any project with that much footage is going to be cut in Avid, no questions asked.

Coming from PPro, be prepared to let Avid handle the media management for you. You won't have to tell Avid where to store the media, and you won't have to wonder what folder you tucked that one specific file away in, Avid will handle all of that automatically.

As I mentioned I edit on 3 different systems but they are all run by me. Two are right beside each other so that I can be doing effects/ rendering on one and the other can be actually doing editing. Can I install (1) version of xpress or liquid on multiple systems, so long as they aren't being used simultaneously. (I'm not trying to pirate out copies, I just use a lot of computers + my laptop).

Yes you can (again speaking for Xpress Pro). Avid is "unlocked" with a USB dongle. You can install the software on as many machines as you want, and then just plug in the USB dongle to the machine that you're currently using to get Avid to launch.

 

[Zak Forsman]

cut a 90 minute documentary with 200 hours of footage on an Avid without the problems related to project size that i experienced using FCP 4.5 to cut a 90 minute improvised feature with 50 hours of footage.

 

[dotconnproductions]

Sweet. Looks like that's where I'm heading. I'm sick to death of premiere loosing that one title overlay or something like that. Seems like every time I reboot it loses it's way. I've been using AE for years and all you have to do when a disc goes offline is just point it in the general direction and it finds all of the missing media. Sounds like Avid does the same as well. Now I assume I can edit over a lan with the multiple systems (ie. the project and media files can be on another computer than the one I'm working on?). All of my drives are mapped similar so Z on one is Z on the rest.

Second question on the Dongle. Do you know if you can get multiple user licenses for less than 2 entire copies of the program? At most we have two of us editing, but I do the primary editing (And rarely simultaneously... I'm a morning person my wife is a nightowl).

Thanks for the info guys!

 

[rsbush]

edit

 

[krestofre]

Now I assume I can edit over a lan with the multiple systems (ie. the project and media files can be on another computer than the one I'm working on?). All of my drives are mapped similar so Z on one is Z on the rest.

There are unoffical ways to achieve that with varying degrees of success. The only official network / share media option with Avid is an Avid Unity or similar gigabit-based server.

Second question on the Dongle. Do you know if you can get multiple user licenses for less than 2 entire copies of the program?

I think that you just have to buy two copies of the software. You could ask an Avid reseller about that to be sure.