Scott Simmons of Studio Daily, The EditBlog and Pro Video Coalition (man is this guy busy or what?) has posted a comprehensive 2-part article on Avid’s new Media Access Architecture a new feature in Media Composer 3.5. For those not familiar with it, AMA is Avid’s new plug-in type architecture for instant access to tapeless media with no time wasted copying, rewapping or transcoding. This initial release supports formats such as XDCAM, XDCAM-EX and P2, but as Scott details in the article it doesn’t have to stop there. Because of Avid’s design there is no reason to think that this type of seemless access couldn’t or wont be applied to formats such as RED R3Ds, AVCHD, AVC-Intra in the future.

AMA is an entirely new protocol for getting media into Avid. It has been described as a “plug-in” type architecture. As of the initial release in Media Composer 3.5 (as well as Symphony) AMA currently supports Panasonic P2 media and Sony XDCAM, including XDCAM EX. To sweeten the pot Avid can now write XDCAM media as well, in a number of different bit rates. To sweeten the pot even more is the promise of what Avid Media Access might offer. RED R3Ds, AVCHD, AVC-Intra, Canon 5D Mark II H.264 files … the possibilities seem endless.

Read the rest of the 2-part series over at Pro Video Coalition.