Videoguys' Avid Xpress Pro & DV Tips
The Desk Top Video Handbook On Line 15.0

1. Videoguys System recommendations for Xpress Pro & Mojo - Xpress DV
2. Multiple Windows Pop Up or other symptoms, remove Hotfix KB824141
   This hotfix is not compatible with Avid Xpress Pro, DV, or Studio
3. Flamethrower Errors
   General troubleshooting tips when encountering flamethrower errors on Adrenaline and Mojo systems
4. Optimize Windows XP before you install Xpress DV
5. Tips for making a DVD with Avid Xpress Pro
   • Phil Lowe's recommendedsettings for Sorensen Squeeze & Avid Xpress
   • DVD Export Tutorial Using Avid Xpress DV & Sorenson Squeeze
   • Basic DVD Authoring with Avid Xpress Studio Editors' Bin by: Alex Alexzander
   • DVD Workflow Using Avid.doc Avid's guide to help you with Mpeg2 creation for 29.97 NTSC video and Sorenson Squeeze
   • How To Update Dongle for Avid DVD by Sonic install errors
     
     
6. MPEG Export Failed. Check Console for details. Could not Initialize Authorscript
7. Audio Hardware Underruns
8. no supported audio cards
9. Using Avid Xpress Studio Workflow Guide
10. Great Tip for working with multiple still images
11. Scott Carnagie's "Things I' learned about Avid" Compilation
12. Avid Community > Toolbox > Tips & Tricks A cornucopia of information.  Enjoy!
13. Avid Xpress Pro HD Manual For the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts by Dave Kost with illustrations by Dan Pavelin
14. Configuring the Nvidia Quadro FX-540 professional video edition to display full screen video on a TV with AVID Xpress Pro HD.

Videoguys System recommendations for Xpress Pro & Mojo - Xpress DV

Reality Check - as long as you give Xpress DV or Pro enough horsepower you should get great results and have a VERY stable system. Sure, we've run into some hardware to avoid over time, but overall if you stick to an Intel chipset and a 2+ Ghz machine, you're going to get great results with Xpress Pro. Xpress Pro & Mojo are very new, so our database is still being built, but here's our best info to date. Here are some do's and don'ts.

1. Get a P4 Hyper-Threaded CPU (2.4 Ghz or faster) It's much easier to build a powerful P4 box for NLE than an AMD. Why? We've found that chipsets for AMD machines require more tweaking and tuning then a P4. If you're going to go with AMD make sure you load all the latest bios updates and patches first. These are not always easy to find, so do your research. Warning: We do NOT recommend the nVidia chipsets for NLE.
2. Get plenty of RAM 1.5GB or more. I use 2GB in our Avid Xpress Systems. For best results get a motherboard supports dual channel memory and make sure you use identical pairs of RAM (ie two 1GB sticks). We did some research and discovered that ideally the memory speed should be equal to ½ the front side bus speed. If your motherboard has a front side bus speed of 800 Mhz, go with 400 Mhz memory.
3. Get an nVidia Quadro based graphics card. These cards have superb OpenGL support. Avid Xpress Pro & Boris FX take advantage of OpenGL. Both use OpenGL for real-time previews of 3D transitions & filters. Down the road Avid will tap into OpenGL even more. This is the key the reaason why we recommend Quadro cards over less expensive 3D gaming cards. While you can do fine with a 3D gaming card, Quadro cards are designed and engineered for this kind of work - and the NLE engineers are optimizing their applications to take advantage of this GPU OpenGL power
4. Firewire. Make sure it's a TI based chipset. The ADS Pyro is a great choice here. If you are going to use Mojo and an exteranl firewire drive you'll need to have two firewire ports in your system - NOT on the same card. So get two Pyro cards. Install them at least 2 slots away from eachother. This should get them on different PCI buses and eliminate and bottlenecks. Should you run into issues, try moving one of the FireWire cards to a differrent slot.
5. Storage. SATA is cool for your dedicated video drive, an SATA RAID is even better! A single idedicated internal 7200 RPM EIDE or SATA drive is adequate for real-time DV editing with Mojo. It will also allow you to use uncompressed video. With uncompressed you will find that you eventually reach a clip length that starts to choke your system. If you plan on using uncompressed w/ Mojo often, go with SCSI. SCSI controllers are really good at what they do, and they have minimal impact on your PCI bus.
6. Xpress Pro and Mojo are scalable, so give them the most powerful system you can afford for best results. The more powerful your computer the more layers of video you'll be able to handle in real-time. With dual P4 3Ghz+ hyperthreaded CPUs and a GB of RAM you are going to get results that will blow you away!! That said, on a single P4 1.8 with 512 Megs of RAM you'll still have a pretty good system. You wont get as much real-time performance, but your editing may not require it. If you push beyond the real-time capabiliteis, Xpress Pro & XDV have intelligent rendering that will only render those segments of your timeline that require it.
7. Laptops. This is where we change our tune. Make sure you use an Avid recommended config or it's eqivilant. Many laptops involve custom hardware that can interfere with throughput. Note: Sometimes the same laptop is sold under different brand names. If this is the case and you can save some bucks - go for it - just make sure it is the same core hardware.

We've just updated our recommended systems page It's loaded with useful info for putting together your NLE computer.

Videoguys XDV System configuration recommendation (11/30/04)
One of the most frequent questions we get asked by customers is what is the best computer to get for running Xpress DV. Xpress DV runs GREAT on our DIY $1,000 machine. We have had excellent results recommending and using HP xw4100/4200 and Dell Precision 350/360 workstations. These systems are rock solid and they combine great components, quality and performace for a very reasonable price. If you decide to go with either of these workstations or build your own, here is our advice on the best new Xpress DV config for the money.

Videoguys Minimum Recommended System Specs for XDV

• P4 2.2 Ghz processor or faster
• Windows XP Professional
• 512+ Megs of RAM - even better get a full GB for best results
• nVidia based dual head graphics card
• Dual 17" Monitors
• ADS Pyro FireWire card (and Pyro AV Link for analog I/O)
• 40+ GB system drive and 80+GB dedicated video drive
• Integrated Sound & networking

Running Xpress DV on your existing computer

• Xpress DV will run on just about any computer faster then a PIII 750.
• We feel that Xpress DV performs best on a P4 processor.
• Avid does not officially recommend Athlon machines. We have found that they can work very well, but that they will require some extra tweaking on your part. Be prepared to upgrade the BIOS and install some updated drivers.
• If you have less then 512 Megs of memory I would urge you to add more.
• I also recommend that you upgrade to a dual head graphics card like the Matrox G550. Xpress DV really rocks on a dual monitor set up. With the extra real estate you can be more productive, or you can use one of the heads to drive a TV monitor for client output.

Multiple Windows Pop Up or other symptoms, remove Hotfix KB824141
This hotfix is not compatible with Avid Xpress Pro, DV, or Studio

Problem:
A warning message may appear on launch of Avid:

Your active Keyboard Setting will now be changed. Be advised, however, that some of the keys may not perform their desired functions unless the Keyboard Setting corresponds to the current Keyboard Input Locale

The project selection window starts to flicker around the buttons after approx 5 seconds. Once you are in the project the video overlay for bins and composer window stops updating so if you drag a window anywhere it leaves bunch of Pop up windows behind it. Also lots of settings windows open by default.

Avid application windows pop up when launching Avid. System runs sluggish and screen flickers.

This happens after installing Security Update for Microsoft Windows (KB824141)

Solution:

• Remove the Security update through Windows Control Panel Add/Remove Programs.
• Click on the start menu
• Click on Control panel
• Double click on Add/Remove Programs
• Find Windows XP Hotfix - KB824141
• Choose remove.
• Restart the computer.
• Optionally here is a patch:

Last but not least, any updates or patch changes to the OS carry some risk. If you are in the middle of a project or something important, back up your data and be prepared just in case the OS does not accept the change, and may require a reinstall of the OS. Have your OS installation CD available.

Flamethrower Errors
General troubleshooting tips when encountering flamethrower errors on Adrenaline and Mojo systems.

1. Bad reference #1 problem. Check to make sure the DNA or Mojo has a reference signal. If it does, ask if it is being generated locally as by a black burst box or coming from another house source. If it is coming from a house source and all other possible causes have been ruled out, ask if the customer can generate a sync signal locally, e.g. bringing the generator directly into the edit suite/location.
   
2. Uninstall the flamethrower.sys driver (in Windows Device Manager, Avid Technology under Sound Video and Game Controllers, right click, properties, driver. Uninstall and reboot, allowing the driver to reload via the hardware wizard during the bootup process.
   
3. Check for DV devices being chained on a specific port. Does a single device work ok? Is an unqualified DVD burner on the system?
   
4. Is the system qualified, fast enough, following PCI slot requirements? Check Avid specs for specific hardware models.
   
5. Try rendering in draft mode on the timeline. Try using video tracks only.
   
6. Devices with TI firewire chipsets work best.
   
7. Good firewire cables make a difference! Also, does the cable exceed standard length specs of 14.76 feet?
   
8. Try turning OFF confidence view in the Avid application, and/or other resource sucking applications and networking.
   
9. Mojo/DNA firmware MUST match the software release. If a customer turned off the Mojo/DNA improperly during an upgrade it might not get a proper firmware upgrade. Try reinstalling the software following the proper sequence per install guide.

Phil Lowe's recommendedsettings for Sorensen Squeeze & Avid Xpress
posted April 11, 2004 04:00 AM    

"Have you tried the other methods being talked about here? How does your personal experience with Sorenson compare to these other options?"

Larry...

I have not tried other options except those that had been included with XDV 3.5's built-in MPEG encoder and Sonic DVDIt! LE.
Maybe my workflow is a little different than everyone else's, but I don't mess with creating DVD menus and rarely do I create chapter points, since most of my work is shortform.
I find that Sorenson Squeeze with Sonic ReelDVD LE fits perfectly within both my workflow and budgetary needs, and more importantly, I find that this combination yields excellent results.

With that in mind, (and for those struggling with DVD creation issues) here's how I create a DVD using this workflow:

Select all the tracks in my sequence, and set I/O at beginning/end,
RMC (right mouse click) on sequence in bin and use "Send To" to bring up the send to menu,

Export using Send To with Pixel Aspect at 4:3, Audio File Format at WAVE, Audio Sample Rate at 48kHz, Audio Sample Size at 16 Bit, leaving Use Enabled Tracks and Use Marks both checked,

I then check Auto Launch Application making sure Squeeze is highlighted.

Once Squeeze loads, I drag the QT Ref file (no need to drag the WAV file, too) into the Squeeze work area, and select the encoding format of choice, in this case, DVD_NTSC_LARGE.

I then doble click the MOEG-2 file in the work area, and that brings up the encoding menu. There, I do the following for best results:

Stream Type: Elementary

Video Output (checked) and set for MPEG-2 Video. Under Options for MPEG-2, I make sure the Pixel Aspect Ratio is set for 4:3 (if doing a 4:3 project) and the Field Encoding is set for Bottom Field First. (Remember, this is NTSC).

I usually set my Data Rate for 7000 Kilobits/Sec., but recently went as high as 7964 Kilobits/Sec. This yields a Total Data Rate of 9500 Kilobits/Sec. when used with PCM Audio set at a Data Rate of 1536 Kilobits/Sec., well within the 1 Mbps standard for DVD playback.

Format is NTSC. Frame Rate is 29.97 (I don't shoot or edit at 24 or 25 fps, so this is one less variable I have to worry about). Method is Variable Bit Rate.

Now this, I think, is critical: My I Frame Rate is usually 6 but I have gone as low as 1. The I Frame Rate is especially important when you have lots of motion in your video or you're using lots of effects, like dissolves. The lower the I Frame Rate, the fewer motion artifacts and compression artifacts you will have with fast moving objects or during effects (displayed as "blockiness").

The tradeoff is that the more I Frames you have the larger your finished file size will be. That's not critical when you're routinely doing 5 - 10 minute projects, like I am, but someone doing a wedding will find they may not be able to fit a 2 hour wedding on a disc if the frame rate and data rate are set too high.

Finally, I click on the little wrench icon in Squeeze, and look at the Deinterlace pull-down, which defaults to Auto Remove Interlacing. If you are encoding interlaced material, even for web distribution, I set this to None. Squeeze does a horrible job of field interpolation when deinterlacing interlaced video. I ALWAYS set this to None, regardless of my delivery output.

I leave Video Noise Reduction Off and Cropping Off, and don't try to CC my material in Squeeze. With 5 x 256 ways to "tweak" video settings in Squeeze, you have 256 exp 5 (that's 256 to the 5th power) combinations to find a way to screw up video people should be correcting in Pro with scopes! GIGO. Fix it in post, not "post" post.

By the time this all gets to ReelDVD, all the hard decisions have already been made. Just drag, drop, and burn.

One more thing: I always add a little extra black at the top of my sequences (2-3 seconds) so that the word "Play" disappears from my DVD player by the time my sequence starts. It's a small price to pay for not having to mess with menu creation.

Here's hoping this answers a number of questions out there about DVD creation using Pro's included tools. As stated earlier, I find I am able to get excellent results using this workflow and settings, and I hope this will help someone else.

1. Go to your motherboard vendor's website and make sure you are running a chipset and BIOS that will support XP.
2. If necessary update your BIOS before doing anything else.
3. Make sure your graphics, sound, network, mass storage controller and modem all have WinXP drivers. Get these drivers from the Vendors websites directly. We do not recommend letting WInXP install it's own drivers. These may be fine for websurfing and spreadsheets, but desk top video demands maximum performance.
4. Get your system up and running with ALL drivers approved for XP.
5. Get the latest WinXP drivers for your video editing gear.
6. If there isn't an official driver for XP yet, check and see how other users are gettting along with the old Win2K driver or new XP beta drivers. Only experienced users should try this.