DV by Ned Soltz

The annual NAB show saw major announcements, incremental changes and drifting rumors about some of the top non-linear editing systems. Here are the highlights on six major of the players.

Media Composer 3.5     
Avid    
Avid announced a whole host of new features in Media Composer and Symphony. Native XDCAM editing. Stereoscopic 3D editing. AMA IAvid Media Access Architecture) allows automatic linking of clips from devices such as SxS or P2 without transcoding or storing media on host system. Dongle replaced by msystem activation key. Keyframable color correction. New Fluid Stabilizer. General enhancements to FX. Media Composer and ProTools 8 integration allows control of MC system from PT. ProTools and MC can now be installed on same system. Enhanced audio capabilities. This is a major upgrade, and everyone can admit that Stereoscopic 3D editing is way cool. Also announced was the ability to store FCP files on Avid Unity system. I’m not mourning the phase-out of the dongle.       

Edius 5.1      
Grass Valley
This update adds tighter integration with Grass Valley Aurora allowing import of Aurora EDLs and create an Aurora smart bin directly from Edius timeline. Using optional Firecoder Blu H.264/MPEG-2 hardware transcoder board can quickly output to Blu Ray directly from timeline. Now imports partial P2 or XDCAM clips. Audio normalization tool. Capture reel names. Output finished edits to multiple discs. With this update, Grass Valley continues to position Edius squarely in news environments with Aurora integration and building upon Edius’ ability to read P2 and XDCAM natively. A worthwhile update to this fast and solid NLE.      read more...