Avid Xpress Pro & HP xw4300 Workstation Academic Bundle

Three-Dollar Beagle

Three-Dollar Beagle

New member
Hello,

I was wondering if anyone out there had any thoughts on a package being offered by Avid. It's designed for students, which I am, and as far as I can tell the idea is to get people like me in on the ground floor so that they then get used to/fall in love with Avid.

As far as I can tell the software, while being academic, is the same thing.

Here's a link to the page with the offer:
http://avidworkstation.avnetav.com/

My situation is this: I currently have a decent PC that I edit on with Vegas 6. I like Vegas and it handles most of my needs (I am a definite newbie when it comes to all things relating to shooting and editing) but if I want to add effects to a ten minute clip and render I start getting some serious wait times. I'd like to have a somewhat fast system (that would only be used for editing) and I can't really tell if this is a great deal or a so-so deal or if it is not worth my time. I know a bit about computers and specs to look out for, but once I start trying to understand Avid my mind turns to mush. Furthermore my efforts to contact them have yielded nothing so I am hoping to get some educated advice from the people here.

Before anyone recommends that I spend another three thousand dollars and buy a turnkey system or some other option let me say this, I know everyone cries poverty and that if you are going to spend X amount of dollars on a camera you should be prepared to spend X amount of dollars on an editing suite. I agree, but I don't have the money (the camera and the other equipment have put me further behind than I would care to admit) and I don't need a new computer and editing software. What I am really looking to find out is what the rest of you think about this deal and how you would rank it in terms of being a good deal or not.

Think of it this way, is it worth going to work at Burger King in order to pay for this system, that's my situation. So with that in mind, does anyone have any thoughts they would care to share?
 
Not a bad deal for $1123.... though any Academic version of Avid, while not cippled, is TECHNICALLY not licensed for business use (you can't edit anything you're getting paid for/selling). Maybe that changed since last time I looked, but that's the history.

As for the system, it's similar to what I built about three years ago for Premiere 6 (and STILL edit on today using Avid Xpress Pro)... but I am interested to hear your system specs. What would you be upgrading from?
 
Owen,

The computer I am currently using is my home PC, a computer that I bought without the intention of editing on, but once a camera materialized in front of me I began using it. Rather than try and copy all the specs here there is a full list of them here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/EMachines_T3958_Celeron_D_340_2_93_GHz/4507-3118_7-31315075.html?tag=nav

The only difference is that I have upgraded the RAM to 1GB.

I fully realize that by not having a computer dedicated to editing I am responsible for creating a lot of the problems I have regarding speed, which is partly why I am looking in to this.

So aside from the clause saying you can't make money (and how does that work anyway? I mean not to be dishonest, but how on earth do they enforce this?) there seem to be no down sides to this set up?

Let me ask more specifically, let's say you would have to go and work some lousy job and possibly strain things between you and your wife/significant other in order to get this, would it be worth it? I know that I would benefit from having a dedicated machine and I know that Avid is the industry standard. I just don't know if this particular deal is worth the money, for me, or not.

Also, am I the only person who gets a little muddled when trying to delve into the world of Avid? Perhaps it is because they have too many choices but I find it impossible to make any kind of decision when looking over their products.

Thanks for any and all input on this.
 
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Three-Dollar Beagle said:
So aside from the clause saying you can't make money (and how does that work anyway? I mean not to be dishonest, but how on earth do they enforce this?) there seem to be no down sides to this set up?
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It's honor system. There's nothing embedded into the video that says "Cut on an Edu version of Avid." The Edu version and commercial version are identical except for the licensing agreement saying don't make money with the Edu version.

Let me ask more specifically, let's say you would have to go and work some lousy job and possibly strain things between you and your wife/significant other in order to get this, would it be worth it?
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Well if she's anything like MY wife, then nothing is worth that. :laugh:

Also, am I the only person who gets a little muddled when trying to delve into the world of Avid? Perhaps it is because they have too many choices but I find it impossible to make any kind of decision when looking over their products.
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No, probably not. I've been using Avid for so long that it's second hat to me, but it is confusing at the start. Xpress Pro and now Avid Liquid are the apps that are geared towards most indie film types. Media Composer and up are more for post houses and Hollywood. Any specific question, just post 'em. There are tons of good people here.
 
Krestofre,

My specific question is the one you made light of (not that I don't get the joke mind you...) how would you rank this deal? Great, good, mediocre, or forget about it?

My problem with Avid is that so often the variations look to me to be quite similar and trying to choose which program, and then a computer to run them, becomes a bit daunting.

My point with all this is really just to get a sense of this deal. I have something right now, it works (not terribly well but it does work). If money wasn't an issue I wouldn't think twice and I would purchase the full versions of everything and forget about it, but money is a very big issue for me currently.

I am hoping to shoot and edit a feature length production this summer and in trying to plan for this I am just looking into various options.

Also, Avid is currently offering another promotion:
http://www.avidstore.com/index.cfm?page=templates/product_detail&PartNumber=0510-03714-01&manufacturerid=17&productid=58367

That for $50 you can upgrade Xpress Pro to Avid Xpress Pro HD. It occurs to me that if you were to do this upgrade you might no longer be using an Academic version of the software and you might no longer be bound by the agreement to not try and make money...
 
Sorry. Didn't mean to make light of your most pressing question. :)

Honestly, that bundle is an amazing deal financially speaking. You get a qualified computer, and the software for something like $2,000 off. Yeah, it's a good deal. The only caveat is the licensing agreement on the academic version. If you think you might want to move this into production at some point, you'll be good on the computer, but then you'll have to plunk down another chunck of change for a regular copy of Xpress Pro. I'm almost positive that if you upgrade an Edu version of the software, it's still an Edu version, but that's something you'd have to ask Avid.

The value to you outside of dollars is something that you'll have to weight out for yourself. Personally, my time and keeping my family happy is of more importance to me right now. If I had to take a crappy job, and possibly upset my wife to acquire an NLE, I wouldn't do it. But, I'm at a different stage in my life than you are. When I was just starting out I probably would have taken a crappy job and caused by wife stress to get an NLE (in fact, I did, but that's beside the point :) )

You say that you've currently got a PC with Vegas. I say use it. Avid may be my NLE of choice, but that doesn't mean that it's any better or worse than Vegas, or PPro, of FCP. If you've going to cause this much upheaval in your life just to get another computer with Avid, when you've already got a perfectly capable NLE, then it become more of a "why bother" scenario in my mind.

Anyway, good luck in whatever you decide. I hope this was helpful.
 
People tend to be very literal online, and I was really just trying to paint a dire picture on this one in order to get a sense of what others thought about this deal. It's not that I will have to move out of the house or start cleaning toilets if I buy this system, but I certainly will be one step closer to having a really good relationship with Visa.

I am quite happy using Vegas and it's not that I find I am unable to do anything that I would like to with the program. My computer is a bit slow and I can only imagine that if I start working with much larger projects (beyond twenty minutes) I am going to find myself with terribly long render times.

My interest in Avid is fueled, of course, but its status of being the industry standard among other things. This deal struck me as being a very good one from a financial point of view and I can only imagine that getting my feet wet with Avid would be a helpful thing in terms of having a skill set.

One final question for you: who would you contact at Avid in order to find about about upgrading an edu version? With most companies I would just call the direct number but Avid seems to have a very hands off (or go away don't bother me) attitude about customer service. Any advice?

Thanks for the input on this one, getting feedback is always helpful when contemplating a big purchase.
 
Three-Dollar Beagle said:
One final question for you: who would you contact at Avid in order to find about about upgrading an edu version? With most companies I would just call the direct number but Avid seems to have a very hands off (or go away don't bother me) attitude about customer service. Any advice?
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Mmm ... that's a tough one. There is an employee at Avid whose job title is actually "Customer Advocate" or something like that. She would normally be your best bet, but she's out of the office for an indetermaned amount of time due to illness.

In the interum, MichaelP (here on DVXUser) is an Avid employee. Maybe he could help.
 
What do you consider to be a long render time? I'm just wondering, because render time on a feature length project with color correction isn't exactly instantaneous. On the other hand, if CC on your 20 minute short requires overnight rendering then yeah, you'll be wanting to upgrade.
 
Here is my 2 cents. If Vegas is working fine for you, KEEP IT. AVID has a very steep learning curve. Plus, unless you have a top top of the line system ($6000) you are going to have long render times. If I were you I would spend $1500-2000 on a good PC. Then in 1-2 years you could updrade to AVID.
 
Okay, couple of questions for yah pros, what are render times for you guys and the systems you do it on? What would the render time be on that Avid HP Workstation that was linked?

Now milvid, so what you are advising is spend that money a good pc, use vegas and upgrade later in 1-2yr? if so why do you think that? What would the render times be on a 1500-2000$ pc compared to the 1,123$ that comes with avid? and lastly what would you call a top of the line system? is that a system you would buy complete or build something custom, maybe using a 955EE for example?

one last thing; Does anyone have some good info or a nice link to an article which talks about using a dedicated machine for NLE or effect work?
 
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Owen,

In terms of long rendering times, what I encounter, because I have only put together shorts so far (none that have exceeded twelve minutes), seems a bit excessive. It probably isn't, I believe it usually takes about three hours for the footage to render. That's with minor effects added (brightness and contrast) if any.

My real complaint about my system is when I wish to render a short clip, perhaps a minute of footage, and I add something like color correction and glow. Then I start having render times of nearly two hours. Perhaps this also is to be expected, but that seems terribly long to me for so little footage.

I have not yet used the Avid forums to find out about upgrading this system (if it were purchased). I appreciate the comments and feedback people have offered, although I am somewhat surprised that almost no one simply gave an opinion about this deal. I know that it is difficult to try and offer an objective opinion about an NLE and I am sure it is even harder to offer one about a particular package. My question about this system really pertained to the specs of this system and the price of it. I recognize that I could spend $2,000 and get myself a great new computer to use Vegas, but then, I don't really have the $2,000 at the moment and I am already using Vegas.... again with all things relating to editing so much seems to be a matter of preference. I tried to make mine clear at the beginning of this post but perhaps I didn't.

Anyway, from the looks of things I don't think I will be making the switch any time soon. My hope is that when he time comes there will be some new deal that turns my head.

Thanks again for all the input.
 
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