Studiodaily blogs by Bryant Frazer

One of the most persuasive product upgrades in Avid’s history happened today at noon ET, when a new family of Media Composer products was released. (That makes it a day behind schedule by our reckoning, but nobody’s perfect.) If you missed the news earlier this month, you can see our full coverage at the main StudioDaily site, or you can read on for a quick round-up of the most-anticipated features in the new software. Or, heck, you can hit this link to download the trial version of MC6: apps.avid.com.

Here’s what MC6 brings to the editing room:

Native support for AVCHD and RED Epic

Media Composer expands AMA support to handle bleeding-edge RED Epic files as well as the highly compressed AVCHD footage output by many consumer and “prosumer” cameras.

ProRes import and export

It’s limited to the Mac platform, but OS X users now have a way to fit Media Composer
into existing Final Cut Pro workflows. Avid and Adobe have both been pushing hard to get Final Cut users to “crossgrade,” so this is a key usability upgrade for the Avid.

A new interface, but not too new

Avid has toned up the interface, but company officials are stressing that this is a facelift, not an overhaul of the Avid editing process. Media Composer is still Media Composer, but with new stuff. read more...