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Last year Avid introduced Xpress DV 2.0. This gave the world the first taste of an affordable Avid video editing solution that was 100% software based. This meant you could edit on a workstation or a laptop. Even cooler, you can seamlessly move your projects back and forth between them. If you thought Xpress DV 2.0 was exciting, then Xpress DV 3.0 is going to rock your world! We've got lots of screen grabs from the new interface and features. You can click on the image to the left to see it full screen. (It's a big file, almost 100k)Avid has taken their award winning and industry leading technology and made it Real-Time. You don't need to add expensive hardware and you don't need to build a killer dual processor computer to make it work. For this article I'm running Xpress DV 3.0 on a Dell Precision 340 workstation with a single 1.8Ghz processor and 512 megs of RAM. A pretty powerful machine that is also quite affordable. I also tested it on our older Precision P330 1.4Ghz that we were running Xpress DV 2.1 on. I've even seen demonstrations Xpress DV 3 delivering solid real-time on a 700 Mhz laptop with 256MB of RAM.
What makes Xpress DV so impressive when it comes to real-time performance is that the entire application is real-time. Avid uses a little green 'light' on the interface to let you see that real-time mode is on. When you are in real-time mode all your filters and FX light up. You are not limited to a handful of FX or filters. Avid counts over 100 real-time FX, but that sells it short. Every single real-time effect and feature can be fully customized and modified and it stays in real-time. So if you want to add a PIP, with a soft edge, motion, zoom and cropping it is all real-time. Other vendors may count this as 5 different real-time features. The folks at Avid just count it as one.
Multiple Layers of Video & FX in Real-Time!
Here is what I did. I added 2 PIP images and had them move around the screen on top of a full motion video. That's' 3 layers of full motion video in real-time! To each PIP I added a color border and edge softness. Next I cropped and resized each of the PIP images and had them move around on the screen. One of the best new features in Xpress DV is the new keyframer that gives you full control over all of this. And no matter how complex I made it, it stayed 100% real-time. Next I added some color filters to the base image and each of the PIPs. Still real-time. I decided to push my luck and added a title. I couldn't believe it when it still played back perfectly, with audio, in real-time. When we started adding animations or transitions to the title we did need to render, but by that time we had 3 layers of video and over a dozen fliters/FX!!
What makes this even more remarkable is that the audio played back perfectly. There wasn't any flutter, clicks, skipping or lost audio sync. Even on long format productions over 90 minutes long. All this with just a single P4 1.4 Ghz processor!! Simply amazing. Xpress DV delivers all this real-time power and performance with the rock solid stability Avid editors demand and expect.
Xpress DV does not have real-time output via the FireWire. You get real-time previews on the VGA screen and you can use a dual-head graphics card to output to a television. Avid refers to this as the real-time client monitor. Xpress DV allows you to toggle back and forth between real-time and DV output mode. Avid does this so that all of the CPUs clock cycles can be utilized for real-time performance. And let me tell you, they deliver a ton of real-time power!!
SInce Xpress DV does not have real-time DV you will have to render your project before you can output via FireWire. Avid has created their own special DV CODEC which delivers outstanding video quality, even with multiple layers of video and graphics. This new DV CODEC is P4 optimized and it will render your final DV output very quickly. The more CPU power you give it, the faster your render out to DV will be.
Expert Rendering
Since the entire application is real-time, you get built in intelligence and performance that other real-time solutions just can't match. An example of this is a really cool feature called expert rendering. When you are editing away on your timeline Xpress DV is constantly analyzing it's real-time performance. If it sees that you are pushing the envelope, a pixel high yellow bar will appear on the timeline under the portion of your work that may require rendering. The bar is line is red when you have to render and blue if Xpress DV detects that you are running into a drive performance issu. The yellow lines are only a warning. I found that almost every time I was still able to get full real-time performance, even with yellow lines.
If you make elaborate multi-layered productions eventually you are going to push into the red zone. But don't worry, it is only red for those exact portions of the timeline that require rendering. When you use expert rendering Xpress DV will go through and render only those portions of the timeline that are red or are yellow and adjacent to a red portion.
Scalable Real-Time performance
Avid realizes that we all have computers of varying performance levels. One of the biggest features of Xpress DV is it's ability to run on a laptop. Even the most expensive laptops are quite a bit slower then a mid-range priced P4 desktop. Fortunatley you probably do not have to go out and buy a new computer to get all the benefits of Xpress DV 3.0's performance and features. If you've got a Pentium III 750+ Mhz laptop or desktop you will get all of Xpress DV's real-time performance. If you are going to get a new computer, you can find great deals on fully loaded Pentium 4 1.7+ Mhz models for around $1,500!!
Note: Avid only recommends running Xpress DV on Pentium based systems. They do not list any Athlon based systems on thier approved hardware list. While we do not want to argue with Avid, we have many very happy customers running Xpress DV on new Athlon systems. If you are going to go Athlon we recommend you get one with the new 266a chipset not the older133a.
Avid also wanted to make sure that everyone who had purchased Xpress DV version 1.5 or higher with an approved configuration would be able to upgrade to Xpress DV 3.0 and get 100% real-time performance. I really have to compliment Avid on this commitment to their customers.
Xpress DV gives you a couple of easy to use tools to tweak its performance to work on slower machines. The first tool is the ability to lower the preview quality on your VGA screen. This has absolutely no effect whatsoever on your actual video quality. It just means that your preview window isn't as sharp. The second tool allows you to set a memory buffer. This allows Xpress DV to use memory to smooth out playback. You simply select your playback delay from 1 to several seconds. You will now have a very slight delay when you hit play, but the video playback will be real-time and perfect.
 
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<----- Real-Time PIPThe PIP control lets you add color borders and edge softness. One of my favorite features of Xpress DV is the dropper. This lets you pull a color out of the video and use it as an edge or background or base color for an effect. In the example image I used above I pulled the blue from my sons glasses and the pink from my daughters leotard for the edges on their PIP images. Another one of my favorite PIP tools is the ability to crop the image. You get independent control of the left/right/top/bottom of the frame all in real-time. This is really cool for putting a headshot from a moving image in a PIP.New PIP Real-Time Keyframer ---->The new keyframer tool gives you total control of your PIP settings all in real-time!
<----- Real-Time Color FiltersUnlike other real-time systems, you get Avid's professional level color filters and image correction tools. Luma clipping, chroma adjustments, RGB levels plus filter FX like posterization and solarization! |  |
Media Composer Style Dual Window Editing This was one biggest requests heard time and time again from experienced Avid editors. Avid listened, and Avid delivered!! |
Another really nice new interface feature is toolsets. These are pre-configured interface layouts for capturing, audio editing, effects work and more. The ability to choose customized toolsets is awesome, especially with a single monitor or laptop. You can also create your own toolsets. Avid has really thought of everything, you get the tools you need for the task at hand, well laid out for maximum use of your screen real-estate!
Superior Audio Tools
I can't talk about Xpress DV without mentioning the extensive audio editing tools you get. You get an audio meter right on the timeline so you can monitor your audio output level at all times.You get an 8 track audio mixer with equalizer. You can add audio FX like reverb and echo. You also get a bunch of Pro-Tools plug-ins and you can a buy and add more. Pro-Tools is Avid's award winning audio mixing and editing tool that is used by record companies and audio engineers all over the world. The 8 track audio mixer and audio editing and FX tools are far and away superior to those found in any other NLE application. Add in the Pro-Tools audio FX and plug-ins and you have a top notch audio editing suite built into the app. And of course, since it's an Avid, things like dropped frames, audio drift and poor audio sync simply DO NOT EXIST!
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Create DVD
With the proliferation of under $500 DVD burners, the ability to create our own DVDs has become very important. Avid recognizes this and working together with Sonic Solutions they have added a create DVD function to Xpress DV. You can now go directly from the timeline and burn your video on a DVD or put DVD quality video on a CD-ROM. If you want to author and create an interactive DVD you get DVDit!LE bundled with Xpress DV. Avid is also using a much faster and higher quality MPEG encoder.
Superior Work Flow
Don't let all this talk about how professional Xpress DV is intimidate you. It is not difficult to use. You get both a tutorial and a getting started guide. The Avid interface is fully customizable. You can add shortcut icons for the tools you use most right over the timeline. You can map your own keyboard shortcuts s as well. What makes editing on an Avid so enjoyable is the workflow. All your media is organized into bins that are instantly accessible. You can quickly and easily change your bin views from thumbnails to text or both. Avid has even created something new called a Superbin. Superbins combine several bins into the same piece of screen real estate. You have tabs that let you switch between the various bins within your Superbin. Once you start using all these usability tools – Superbin, toolsets, shortcuts and fully customizable interface - you will never be able to go back to other less productive NLE apps.
Avid also has a feature called Total Conform. Actually it's more like a corporate philosophy. Any project you make using Xpress DV can be moved to any other Avid NLE system. This is much more then a simple EDL export. Everything in the project gets transferred including your filters, FX, keyframe settings, audio mixing, audio settings, titles, bins, and notes. When you use Xpress DV you are an Avid editor and your work can be brought to any Avid house for additional post production.
When we say cross platform here, we are not talking about a Mac & a Windows version. We are talking about a platform independent NLE solution. You will be able to move your projects between platforms seamlessly.You can edit in the studio on a big dual processor Win2K workstation, then take your project on the road with you on your G4 powerbook. With Avid Unity LANshare support you can have an editing room with multiple users on both Win2K and Mac systems working on the same projects together!!
Most importantly, you aren't going to need a $4,000 dual processor G4 to get your real-time performance. I've seen pre-beta versions of Xpress DV for Mac running great on a single 700 Mhz powerbook with full real-time performance!
Illusions FX Plug-In
Avid has added a new feature to the PowerPack version 3.0 called Illusions FX. You get 29 super cool effects like motion blur, morph transition, sparkle, flare, page curl, film grain and lightning to name just a few. You also get a timecode window burn filter and a color bar generator. For now these FX all have to be rendered, but in the future they may become real-time as well.
PowerPack Image Stabilzer
The Stabilizer filter allows you to remove the shakes and jitter that all to often appear on our DV footage. What you do is select an area on the screen that the Stabilizer image will lock on too. The Stabilize analyzes the footage and then shifts the image around to keep your selection locked in. It then automatically crops and zooms the image for full screen playback.
The stabilzer tool that comes with the Xpress DV PowerPack is amazing. Since you get to control the area on the video that will be used as the lock in area for stabilizing, you can get exceptional results. Other stabilizers often use the foreground portion of the image, or a high contrast point. We have found that by picking an area in the background with horizontal and/or verticle lines we achieved the best results. In this footage I selected the edge of the balance beam with the climbing ladders behind it. The results were spectacular.
DV Film Makers toolkit
The DV Film Makers toolkit includes all the tools you need to edit and produce your own full length DV feature film. While few of us will ever produce our own independent movie, I have found the features in the Toolkit to be very useful for anyone making long format (over an hour) productions.
More PowerPack Goodies!
Rounding out the PowerPack is a full version of Pinnacle Commotion for rotoscoping and paint, and Sonic DVDit! SE for DVD authoring with chapter points.
Compatibility Notes:
If you purchased Xpress DV 2.0 after Dec 1, 2001 will be able to upgrade to XDV 3.0 for $99 directly from Avid (Those who purchased Xpress DV before Dec 1 will be able to upgrade to version 3.0 for $199 directly from Avid)
Already have Xpress DV base? Upgrade to the complete Xpress DV 3.0 PowerPack for $999.95!!
Click here to download our upgrade form (pdf file 26k)
Special OFFER! While Supplies last!FREE EZ Keyboard w/ Xpress DV 3 and Xpress DV and Xpress DV PowerPack!!! Sorry, Free keyboard offer does not apply to EDU or Student Pack |
The Xpress DV-FAQ Team;
Dale Reeves, George Graves, John Kilgour, Patrick Harris, Scott Carnegie, Corey T. Burns, Gary Bettan, Olias Sunhillow, Aaron Busalacchi
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