Avid Media Composer. Anybody used it?

[miker]

And how does it compare to something like Final Cut Pro?

[Generic Skinhead]

Yup, I've cut stuff on it.

Its not the industry standard for nothing. I find it quite different than FCP, it kind of involves an alternate way of thinking. Very keyboard based (no more clicking and dragging anything). That said theres no reason you can't make the jump.

Are you using it on a new project?

[miker]

Nope, but someone is trying to sell me on it. I'm trying to work out if I can be arsed to make the effort to travel over to test it out. If it's anything like the Xpress DV free version I'd probably hate it. Like you say, there must be a reason some editors swear by it. I think Composer also uses a dongle which would also no doubt annoy the hell out of me. Do you think Composer would be as laptop on-the-go friendly as FCP?

[Generic Skinhead]

Hmmm. I've never seen Composer on a laptop. You'd want a big ol Mac Pro with lots of ram I'd say.

And if you dont like DV express I wouldn't bother...stick with FCP if that does everything you need.

[assyrix]

The software-only version of Composer will set you back ?3.5K and would work on a laptop.

Composer is an industry standard for the same reason as ProTools: it was the first usable program of its kind back in the day (Composer's roots go all the way back to 1989) and a lot of editors grew up with it.

I never warmed to its "charms" (or to ProTools) - as they are both overpriced for what they are - but if you want to rent it out then it's probably a good investment since there are lot of experienced Avid editors out there.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 02, 2007 12:59 PM: Message edited by: assyrix ]</font>

[Xendar]

Personally I've never been a big fan of Avid, although I can see why people like it.

I thought Media Composer was a hardware and software solution? The software only version is Avid Xpress Pro isn't it? The actual editing interface should be the same though as that's the whole point of Avid.

[assyrix]

Originally posted by Xendar:
I thought Media Composer was a hardware and software solution?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Nope. You can buy a hardware-independent version. The only point of the hardware was to guarantee a certain output. Same with ProTools: they guarantee a certain number of tracks. Most other systems limit the number of edits/tracks by the power of your machine.