 Videoguys' Avid Xpress Studio Review (June 3, 2004)
Yesterday was the most exciting day we've had in our demo/eval room since we finished building and testing our $1,000 DIY challenge machine in January. We had the privilege of an on site, in depth demonstration of the new Avid Xpress Studio Complete by one of Avid's best demo guys - Glen Seaman. We were blown away. The first and most important thing that stands out about this new offering from Avid is the integration. This isn't a collection of software and hardware thrown together to be sold as a bundle, it is a wonderfully integrated package that provides you with EVERYTHING you need to create professional video, audio, and DVDs.
The Software
The new Xpress Studio solution includes FIVE post production applications that have been designed and updated to work with each other. Avid uses metadata, AAF, MXF & XML to effortlessly move your media from one app to the other and back. The integration of these applications was actually pretty impressive for a first shot out of the box, and as the product matures we expect the integration to become even tighter and more seamless.
Avid Xpress Pro 4.5
This new version of Avid Xpress Pro will be shipping later this summer. It will be a free upgrade for existing Xpress Pro owners. This new version adds Windows Media 9 export (a great way to upconvert to HD), and new Fluid Motion filters that can give your videos different film looks. The other key feature of the upgrade is the “hooks” that allow the new applications and hardware to work together. You'll now get a pull-down menu that allows you launch Avid FX, Avid 3D or Avid DVD. (You can't open ProTools and Xpress Pro at the same time because they both want to call on the DAE (DigiDesign Audio Effects) File and this file can't be shared). You can send and import video clips, sequences and metadata to and from any of the other included applications in the Studio.
With Xpress Pro 4.5 Avid is also unlocking more streams of video. The new maximum setting is 12 DV streams, although I don't believe computers will be fast enough to support that many until late 2005. Unfortunately they are not unlocking a couple of other features that I know users have been requesting. So we're still going to have to wait for real-time multicam output via Mojo and the ability to edit more then one stream of uncompressed video in real-time. Perhaps we'll get these when Xpress Pro supports HDV and HD at year-end.
Here's one more thing for new customers to note: Xpress Pro 4.5 includes SmartSound SonicFire Pro, my favorite tool for sound track creation.. It's much more than a loop tool – with just a couple of clicks, you can create real music. Current Xpress Pro customers can add this amazing tool to their systems by getting in touch with Avid (it's a $99 add-on). Either way, you're going to love it. Don't forget that you can continue to build your SmartSound library with some great deals here at Videoguys!
ProTools LE
There are a lot of great audio tools out there. Pro Tools is the only one to win an Oscar for Technical Achievement, which they did in 2004 – and that's not even counting all the Oscars (and Grammys and Emmys) won by people who USE Pro Tools.
This version should really be called Pro Tools Video because it includes Digi Translator & DV Toolkit plus all of the “hooks” required to send audio and video back and forth to Xpress Pro and to make Mojo work with Pro Tools. With Xpress Studio you can export audio and video directly from Xpress Pro to Pro Tools LE, but you can't export directly from ProTools LE to Xpress Pro. You have to bounce to disk, then import your audio into Xpress Pro.
Pro Tools is an incredibly powerful audio editing, mixing and sweetening tool. When combined with the Digi002 hardware you have a full-fledged audio production studio. You can download and install a plethora of plug-ins to add additional effects, filters and capabilities to Pro Tools. The costs of these plug-in run the gamut from shareware to over a thousand dollars – some you can even download and 'rent' for a specific project or amount of time.
It's easier to learn than a lot of other audio tools out there, so it won't take you long to understand why this is by far THE tool that pros use.
Avid FX
This is essentially Boris Red with a little kick to it. They've given it a face-lift to look more like the Avid Xpress Pro interface, which I think makes it easier for Avid editors to learn and use. We're not talking about a light version of the software, this is the full package, with all features and capabilities, a $1595 value! For those who are not familiar with Red, it is a professional level 3D effects and composting tool that allows you to also create outstanding quality animated titles. Avid FX will take advantage of your OpenGL graphics card for faster-than- real-time previews in many cases!
Avid DVD by Sonic
This isn't DVDit! or even ReelDVD, it's a special version of Sonic DVD Producer software, which software sells for two thousand dollars! It includes everything you need to make spectacular DVDs. You can create multiple subtitle and audio tracks, full support for 24p and 16:9 - You can even mix 16:9 and 4:3 in the same project! - , motion backgrounds and advanced navigation. You also get Sonic's OpenDVD® technology that allows finished DVDs to be edited without having to access the original source files, as well as Sonic's JumpAnywhere™ technology that provides an easy point-and-click authoring experience to create exciting DVD interactivity. You can set your chapter points and pick your thumbnails in Xpress Pro then transfer that info over to Avid DVD.
You'll still be using the included Sorenson Squeeze as your MPEG2 encoding engine. Sorenson makes a pretty good encoder, but I was hoping for even better integration with Xpress Pro. At this level of DVD production I was hoping for AC3 encoding w/ Dolby 5.1 surround.
Avid 3D by SoftImage
Have you ever wanted to create and animated logo, or perhaps add animated 3D objects to your title sequence or your videos? Now you can, with professional results. Avid 3D is a template based animation tool from Softimage, the Avid division whose tools have been behind such recent movies as Van Helsing and games like Valve's Half Life 2. . I like that you can create animated 3D buttons and menus for your DVD navigation.
The user interface of the version of Avid 3D we saw was still a little rough, and as a result I'm not really sure just what you can and can't do with it as a 3D modeling tool. That said, we were able to create a rotating globe with custom text flying around it and some cool particle effects in a matter of minutes. You can also import video clips or sequences from Xpress Pro into Avid 3D. Avid 3D also comes with hundreds of pre-built models and customizable scenes, including models from the highly respected Digimation libraries.
You can also import video clips or sequences from Xpress Pro into Avid 3D. Thanks to Xpress Studio integration, your finished 3D animations automatically show up in Xpress Pro, and play back in real time there without additional rendering. And while you're working in Avid 3D, you can display the real-time 3D camera view on your broadcast monitor through Avid Mojo.
The Hardware
The stars of the Studio Complete package are the Digi002 control surface and the Avid Mojo Digital Non-Linear Accelerator. They work together to provide you a workflow and level of productivity that simply was impossible to achieve for under $25,000 before.
I'm not an audio guy or a musician, so I really only have a small understanding about just what ProTools and the Digi002 can do. But I do know Mojo – and when you combine the two together you get something very important – perfectly synced audio and video to your TV monitor. Now when you are composing, creating or sweetening your video soundtrack in ProTools you can watch and listen to it in perfect sync while you work.
 
Digi002
The Digi002 control surface integrates into Avid Xpress Pro and allows you to mix up to 32 tracks of audio, using the 8 touch-sensitive sliders across 4 banks. It also provides you with a vast array of audio I/O (1/4 inch, XLR balanced, mic w/ phantom power, optical lightpipe, S/PIDF, MIDI & RCA) for bringing in up to 18 simultaneous channels of music from instruments, professional audio recorders and standard audio gear. When you mix your audio using the Digi002 it remembers all of your settings and movements. When you play back the video not only does it play back the mix - the flying faders automatically move up and down just as you had moved them. As an added bonus you can use 002 to control Avid Xpress Pro, too – you can use the sliders for mixing audio in Xpress Pro, but also map virtually any keyboard command from Xpress Pro onto the 002 for a super-customizable video editing hardware control.
Mojo
Avid Mojo integrates beautifully with the applications included in the Xpress Studio. With Xpress Pro you get real-time analog & DV output direcxtly from the timeline, plus you can capture and edit uncompressed video. We already talked about the perfect audio sync you'll get with Mojo & the Digi002. ProTools LE users will LOVE this feature. Mojo turbo-charges the rest of the Xpress Studio as well.
When you are compositing & adding effects in Avid FX or creating animations in Avid 3D you'll be able to preview your output while you are working through Mojo. This makes these tools significantly more productive because you don't have to stop working and render your project in order to see how it will look on a television monitor. This gives you more time to be creative and allows you to learn and master these applications more quickly.
With the beta version we were working with Avid DVD did not give us real-time previews output via Mojo. That would have been very cool. I'd like to be able to test my DVD projects and see them exactly as my audience will on their TV, without having to burn it. Perhaps we'll get this capability added by the time the prodcut ships, if not I'm sure we'll see it in future versions.
Xpress Studio Tech notes
I had the chance to spend about a half hour with Glen just talking about the technical aspects of getting these apps to work together on a single computer. The following tech notes are based on this conversation. We have not yet had the chance to do any testing or configuring of the hardware or software. We hope to get our evaluation gear in by mid-June. We will be building a dual Xeon DIY computer specifically for this testing.
- Avid Mojo and Digi002 sync together by Mojo sending the sync code info to the 002 via direct connection. A new Sync chip has been added to Mojo. Existing Mojo owners who purchase an upgrade to the Studio Complete will be able to get their Mojo replaced directly by Avid at no charge.
- Mojo and the 002 are both FireWire devices. You will not be able to connect them to the same FireWire port or in series. Mojo should be connected to the built-in or primary FireWire card. Digi002 and any FireWire storage should be attached to a secondary FireWire card. Avid recommend the ADS Pyro 64 card for this.
- When you use Mojo with either the Digi002 or the Mbox (the Digi hardware supplied in Xpress Studio Essentials for 2 channels of pro i/o) the Digi hardware takes over the audio output function. So you would attach your speakers to the Digi-002 or Mbox. This is pretty cool, because now you can use some really nice speakers or headphones to monitor your audio from within ProTools LE and Xpress Pro.
- If you plan on using FireWire or external SCSI storage, you are going to need a computer with segmented PCI bus. Currently most dual Xeon motherboards support this. With new PCI bus technology coming, a segmented PCI bus should become more prevalent.
- Glen was running the Xpress Studio on an HP wx8000 workstation with Dual 3Ghz processor and 2GB of RAM. Initially the HP xw8000 will be the only solution certified by Avid. Avid will be working with integrators and the Videoguys to approve additional configurations. As I mentioned earlier, we will be building a dual Xeon DIY machine to run Xpress Studio in our demo/eval room, and we'll be posting our next DIY article with complete details for you.
- Storage is going to be a bit confusing; because the DigiDesign group has different requirements for ProTools then Avid does for Xpress Pro. We are recommending the following storage solution: System drive, a dedicated drive for your audio and a RAID 0 Striped pair of drives for the video and other media. This is not a minimum storage configuration. Glen showed us the Studio Complete running with an external FireWire drive and I was pretty surprised at how well it worked.
- Both Xpress Studio Complete and Xpress Studio Essentials are WinXP-only solutions. This is because Avid DVD and Avid 3D are PC only applications for now. In the meantime, the software apps available for Mac – Avid Xpress Pro, Avid Pro Tools and Avid FX – work just fine, with hardware integration coming soon. Stay tuned for details.
Avid is offering some very nice discounts to Xpress Pro or Xpress DV owners if you upgrade before June 25th. In addition we are offering a FREE Bella EZ Key Pro Avid keyboard with built in jog/ shuttle to customers who pre-order any Studio Complete upgrade or full version before that date. Want to save even more money? Buy our Xpress Pro & Mojo bundle today for $2,795 and pre-order the Xpress Studio Complete Upgrade for Xpress Pro w/ Mojo owners for $3,595. You get to start editing immediately and you save over $600 off the Avid Xpress Studio Complete $6,995 list price!
I'll be updating this article once we get our new DIY dual Xeon machine running and we can test and evaluate and learn more about the Avid Studio Complete.
Avid Xpress Studio Essentials
You've never experienced anything like Avid Xpress Studio. Integrated Academy Award® winning, professional video and audio editing tools from Avid and Digidesign with industry-leading 3D animation software from Softimage.
Whether you're a seasoned professional or first-time user, you'll appreciate its integrated, best-of-breed software and hardware, advanced interoperability, and unique combination of power and ease of use. No weak links. No missing pieces. The best of the best from the names that you trust, all working seamlessly together.
Avid Xpress Studio Essentials
- Avid Xpress Pro Real-time video and film editing
- Avid Pro Tools LE Industry-leading digital audio production
- Avid 3D 3D tools specially designed for video editors
- Avid FX High-quality titling, compositing, and effects
- Avid DVD by Sonic Expert authoring with a minimal learning curve
- Digidesign Mbox Portable audio hardware with professional I/O
Avid Xpress Studio Essentials
 $3895.00
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Avid Xpress Studio Complete
Avid Xpress Studio Complete is the ultimate content creation suite for DV and video professionals and includes video editing, audio production, 3D animation, compositing and titling, and DVD authoring tools plus the Digi 002 control surface and Avid Mojo hardware.
Applications this powerful demand dedicated hardware to match. Avid Xpress Studio Complete includes the Digi 002 automated audio control surface and Avid Mojo DNA hardware – for real-time output of video and effects to monitor, tape, and more. You get Real-time 3D camera views and composite output to a monitor. "Mix to pix" with perfect sync between audio and video hardware. Portable video processing with real-time video effects preview. Avid Xpress Studio makes it possible.
Avid Xpress Studio Complete.
- Avid Xpress Pro Real-time video and film editing
- Avid Pro Tools LE Industry-leading digital audio production
- Avid 3D 3D tools specially designed for video editors
- Avid FX High-quality titling, compositing, and effects
- Avid DVD by Sonic Expert authoring with a minimal learning curve
- Avid Mojo Real-time output of finished video and effects
- Digi 002 Powerful control surface with touch-sensitive faders
Avid Xpress Studio Complete
$6795.00
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Avid Xpress Studio Upgrades
Order today for these SPECIAL Prices and get a FREE Avid Keyboard!
(Videoguys' Studio Upgrade Prices Extended through 6/30/04)
Videoguy's Special Bundle!
Buy our Xpress Pro & MOJO Bundle w/ Upgrade to Studio Complete
$6,390.00
Xpress Pro Upgrade to Studio Essentials
$2,285.00
Xpress Pro Upgrade to Studio Complete
$5,295.00
Xpress Pro w/MOJO to Studio Complete
$3,595.00
Xpress DV 3.5 or older Upgrade to Studio Essentials
$2,495.00
Xpress DV 3.5 or older Upgrade to Studio Complete
$5,495.00
Xpress DV 4 Upgrade to Studio Essentials
$3,295.00
Xpress DV 4 Upgrade to Studio Complete
$6,295.00
If you own any version of Avid Xpress DV, Avid Xpress Pro, Avid Mojo, Digidesign Mbox or Digi 002 we have an upgrade deal for you!
Give our Avid Xpress Studio Xperts a call 800 323-2325
We'll make sure you get everything you need, at a fantastic price!
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